[cpitchford]

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DISCLAIMER

A moderator deleted an entire thread with details that have helped many many users with N900 phones that are rebooting because they believed we were discussing debranding N900s..

Firstly, the N900 is not branded..

Secondly, we were discussing changing settings on the device to stop the devices from randomly rebooting.. Something SUGGESTED BY NOKIA on the bugs.maemo.org bug tracker website.

Nothing in this thread will invalidate your warranty and all information is condensed from official Maemo websites.

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If your device is randomly rebooting:

RESTART YOUR DEVICE AFTER A RANDOM REBOOT

There is a counter inside your phone that increases by 3 every time it randomly reboots. If this counter reaches 50 (after 17 random reboots in a row) your device will probably stop booting ALL TOGETHER!

To stop your device from completely locking, you must power off your device normally. Use the power button then select "switch off". When you power your device back on, the counter is reset. Remember, if you don't reset your device, it will stop booting.

REPAIRING A DEVICE THAT NO LONGER BOOTS

If your device was randomly rebooting but now fails to boot it may have reached its count limit. When you turn on your device it may stop at the 5 dots loading screen and freeze.

Here's a method for getting your device working again.

• Download flasher-3.5:

For Nokia forums staff this is an OFFICIAL PUBLIC NOKIA TOOL. USING THIS TOOL DOES NOT AFFECT THE DEVICE WARRANTY. PLEASE DO NOT DELETE THIS POST AGAIN.
 
Flasher can be obtained from the Nokia website:
http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/maemo-dev-env-downloads.php
 
Download and install flasher onto your computer. For more information on using flasher, you can see the maemo page here:
 
http://wiki.maemo.org/Flasher

1. Turn off your N900
2. Remove the battery
3. Insert the battery.. but leave it off
4. Plug the USB cable into your computer.. This may not work in ALL ports on your computer. Sometimes ports at the back of the computer work better than those at the front.
5. Open the keyboard on your N900, press and hold the 'u' button and plug the USB cable into the N900.. keep the u button pressed.
6. The Nokia logo should appear on your device, a small USB icon should appear in the top right of the N900 screen. The backlight may not light up leaving the screen dark. You can release the u button now
   
   NOW ENABLE R&D MODE TO START THE DEVICE
7. Use flasher application. On windows 7 this may mean running in windows xp mode
   
   
   Open a cmd window (start run cmd) then enter these commands:
   
   cd "\program files\maemo\flasher-3.5"
   flasher-3.5.exe --enable-rd-mode
   
   
   Flasher should run for a few seconds then exit.. If it hangs "waiting for suitable device" Try another port on your computer. Try a different computer. Ask questions here. Flasher doesn't always work on all machines
8. Remove the USB cable from your N900 and turn it on. It should boot up. Note that there is a small spanner icon under the Nokia logo
   
   If your device still does not boot:
   Check that the spanner icon is present when you turn the device on. If it is not, the device is not in R&D mode.. Start going through these instructions again
   If the spanner logo is present and the device still does not boot, stop.. this process may not help you
9. Turn the N900 back off
10. Press and hold the u button on the keyboard and plug the USB cable in. Keep the u button pressed
11. The Nokia logo should appear on your device, a small USB icon should appear in the top right of the N900 screen. The backlight may not light up leaving the screen dark. You can release the u button now
    
    NOW DISABLE R&D MODE TO START THE DEVICE
12. In the cmd window on your pc, re-run the flasher command with a different option:
    
    
    
    flasher-3.5 --disable-rd-mode
13. Remove the USB cable and turn the phone back on

CHANGE ENABLE_OFF_MODE TO STOP RANDOM REBOOTS

 I have written a tool to help stop the random reboots on N900 devices. This tool issues the following command

echo 0 > /sys/power/enable_off_mode

and updates the /etc/pmconfig file to make the change permanent

To use the tool you will need to install the rootsh package:

 http://maemo.org/downloads/product/raw/Maemo5/rootsh/?get_installfile

 Now download the fixpm.sh file:

 http://chris.intrepid.cx/N900/fixpm.sh

 Open an x terminal and type the following command

sudo gainroot

sh MyDocs/.documents/fixpm.sh enable

If you would like to disable the update, you can use the following commands:

sudo gainroot

sh MyDocs/.documents/fixpm.sh disable

 Please click the kudos button if you found this helpful and please let me know if you have problems with the instructions, need help with them or if they didn't work

Message Edited by cpitchford on 28-Dec-2009 07:12 PM

[justin02]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the precious help you have brought to this forum, that trick worked great for me and I am now fully enjooying the use of my N900, which I must say is a hell of a machine.

[monomos]

what if I dont have a USB icon on top right corner of my n900 screen....???so I cannot find device in maemo flasher

[cpitchford]

If your device is OFF and you press and hold 'u' and plug it into a charger OR turn it on with the power button you will only see the Nokia logo on a dark screen.

If your device is OFF and you press and hold 'u' and plug it into a computer, you will see the USB icon.. 

The USB icon will only appear if you plug the device into a computer, not a charger

Follow the 13 steps above and that should get your device going again..

[monomos]

13.Remove the USB cable and turn the phone back on

-I understand,but i CANNOT shut it off or on...when i put it out of USB port,its still flashing a yelllow light in left side of phone and its still stuck on 5dods...
I cannot switch it off...Only way how to switch off is put battery out.I did that 5times,i cant see usb icon((

[cpitchford]

Have you downloaded and install the flasher application on your computer?

Have you pulled the battery out of your N900?

Have you put the battery back in?

Have you pressed and held the u button on the keyboard and then plugged the phone into your computer until the Nokia logo appears on a dark screen?

Have you run the flasher command

  flasher-3.5.exe --enable-rd-mode?

[monomos]

exactly every your step i did now !i dont work!

flasher writes  ,,suitable USB devise not found, waiting."

i dont know what to do and i dont want to interrupt u anymore...im feeling like stupid...

[cpitchford]

which I am traveling home now. I will be able to help more when I get home.
Which OS are you using? Windows? Which version?

[bsving]

If you use windows, you will have to try all your USB ports untill it works (untill it finds your N900). That is what I do, and for some odd reason it is not the same every time.

[monomos]

windows XP home ,32bit...

but i dont think so that is problem here,cause i already put here some music,so  no problem with sub...

but phone in this retarded mode wich I have,thats the problem...cause im not able to put it on USB mode or what with holding U

[bsving]

It doesn't really matter if it works (or used to work) with USB before in "normal" mode. When using the flasher, you simply have to try different USB ports untill one work. Have you tried them all?

[cpitchford]

This is interesting! I've tried exactly the same thing on my N900. I press and hold U whilst inserting the USB cable.. it powers up and displays the Nokia logo, but no USB icon.. It then displays a black screen (but with the backlight turned on) and the LED flashes a yellow colour.

The difference is my battery is completely flat!!

I suspect the process above will not work until there is some charge in the phone..

Try turning the phone off, pressing U and plugging it into a charger.. Does the phone eventually start flashing the yellow light?

[monomos]

I hold U and put it to the charger,but nothing happend.Just like all the time,only NOKIA LOGO and then freakin ugly 5dods
no logo or something else

I will try all my ports for USB and tommorow i will try it in my friends computer...If it wont work,after hollidays, i will put it to the shop but I dont want to...

[cpitchford]

I think you may have the same problem as guillem after all!

Do you know anyone else with a Nokai 5230, Nokia 5800 or X6? They use the same battery.. I think you'll need to charge your battery in another device before you can fix it  

[monomos]

how can i recharge battery in other devise? i dont know anybody with X6 or other types

so maybe thats the problem...Hmmm but i know somebody with N900

tell me what should I do,and im immideatly sitting to the car and going to do it

[cpitchford]

Bingo!

Swap batteries! Put your battery in your friends phone and ask them to charge your battery (leave it on charge for an hour)

If your friend is feeling particularly helpful, you could put their battery in your phone and use their computer to carry out the 13 steps!! This is assuming their battery is charged too!

[monomos]

okok i will...tommorow in morning,cause now is in my country snowstorm i cant go anywhere:-D

i will at first try his battery and then i will put my battery to his phone and charg itok!!!

then if it gonna work,we will charg it and then i will never  leave my phone uncharg:-D

im gonna let u know how it will finish!

thanks a lot and i HOPE!!!)))

[cpitchford]

If you carry out the steps above AFTER your battery is charged, that might protect your device from this problem in future!

Fingers crossed!

[monomos]

Im sooooo freakin happy

it worksi rented friends battery and do steps like u told me!It worksim back online :-DDD (like from some movie)

thank u very much and I hope I wont have anymore problems

[cpitchford]

Congrats!!

There are some steps you can follow to help stop your phone from rebooting...

Follow the steps in the first post under the section:

CHANGE ENABLE_OFF_MODE TO STOP RANDOM REBOOTS

Open these links on your N900:

Download and install the rootsh package:

http://maemo.org/downloads/product/raw/Maemo5/rootsh/?get_installfile

Download the fix script:

http://chris.intrepid.cx/N900/fixpm.sh

Save it in the Documents folder

Open an X terminal and run these two commands

sudo gainroot

sh MyDocs/.documents/fixpm.sh enable

Message Edited by cpitchford on 30-Dec-2009 11:57 AM