[travellingred]

I've had my N900 on Vodafone UK for about a month now.

This evening I discovered it had turned itself off, and it won't reboot.

I get the Nokia logo backlit, and the indicator light illuminates. I get five flashing dots, the indicator light illuminates again, then fades. The screen goes dark.

Any clues what I need to do?

[cpitchford · Accepted solution]

That sounds a lot like the battery is flat..

Do the 5 flashing dots appear, then disappear, then the device appears to power off? That's more or less exactly what mine does when the battery is totally flat.

what happens if you plug the phone into a charger (not a PC/USB)? Does it power up? Does the light pulse yellow?

[travellingred]

I feel really silly now... 

I wonder why the battery drained itself completely today - I charge it each night and it's not usually completely dead by mid evening. 

Still, it seems to be charging (and booting) quite happily now - thanks!

[cpitchford]

I practically killed my battery on the train journey home by catching up on some TV! It doesn't take a lot to drain the N900..

It's good to keep an eye on it, though.. the N900 sometimes won't wake up from a dead battery.. and you have to find something else to charge the battery..

[MvdP]

I just got my new N900 yesterday. I inserted the battery and my old SIM card and started to charge. While charging I started to explore the device. Everything was well except I could not get access to the phone functionality (there could be good reasons why this is so, so this is not the issue here). I removed the SIM card and reinserted the battery. But since then I have not been able to boot the device. What I see is very similar to the situation described above: A white screen with the blue Nokia logo, then five flashing dots, and then nothing...

I have left the N900 in the charger all night and I have worked with it with the charging cable attached. I have numerous times removed and reinserted the battery. Can anyone please help me with suggestions on how to boot the device or do I need to send it to repair already?

/Mike

[cpitchford]

Are you a Three user?

On the flashing dots screen does it stop and hang on the second dot?

[MvdP]

cpitchford: Thanks for reacting to my post.

I am not sure what you mean by Three user. If you mean the "3" phone company then the answer is no. The phone is a Nokia retail version bought without any binding at some store. The phone does not hang on the second dot. The dots flash for a short while and then the screen goes black. But you can tell that the background illumination of the screen is still on. It does not make a difference if my old SIM card is inserted or not.

[cpitchford]

I did mean three / 3 (I hate that name.. it's like a mobile manufacturer called phone or an gas supplier called gas.. urgh) Three sims weren't recognised / supported until 2nd week of jan when a new firmware was released that solved this problem.. but that is unlikely to be what it is in your case, since you're not using three..

How long does the backlight stay on after the dots have disappeared?

It isn't conclusive, but could you try powering off the phone.. press and hold down the U button on the keyboard and power back on. Keep the u pressed down whilst it powers up..

It'll do two things:

1) the screen will stay dark but a Nokia logo will appear and a tiny USB icon will appear top right

2) the screen will light up and the phone will start to try to boot

[MvdP]

I did try to power on while pressing down U button and it did result in the USB logo showing. But still the phone was not responsive and I could not update firmware because the Nokia update software could not connect.

But now the problem is solved! The people at my company's IT support took a look at it. Somehow they managed to update firmware. They had also installed Nokia Suite on their PC and I don't know if this is the reason why they were successful where I failed.

But thanks again for the effort!

[cpitchford]

I don't believe you can use NSU (the nokia software to update the phone) unless the phone has booted.. catch-22

However, another tool called flasher allows you to re-install the firmware, providing you see the little USB icon when you press and hold the U button (That's why I was asking as I was going to suggest that)

Still, good that its working again!

[reboot_failure]

Hi, today i downloaded some soft from maemo org , and when i reboot my phone he didin't reboot an the problems still continues , let's say that the phone turns on , then shows NOKIA for a second , then turns dark , like an infinite on / of cycle...any help please , thanks

[cpitchford]

What software did you install?

[kimcali888]

hi I just bought my n900 yesterday,  when I was connected to wifi, there's an automatic update for maemo, I updated my maemo but im not sure if it is sucessful or not. my n900 sometimes reboot by itself....I dont know how many reboot it was but im sure that it is not more that 10 times when my n900 reboot and went until 2 dots only, I removed the battery and try to open again but I only get into 2 dots.....I've read the discussion in this site, especially the one that cpitchford posted, I downloaded the maemo flasher already and followed the step, my laptop doesnt recognize the usb connected to my phone, i tried all the usb ports but still i dont have any luck, until my phone doesnt get connected to usb when i press "u" , I dont know what is the problem now, first, flasher is not working, then usb not working....please help me fix my n900... thanks...Im using windows vista for my laptop...

[cpitchford]

if your phone is freezing at two dots, it almost certainly isn't running the latest firmware, a version that fixes this fault.

if when you press and hold U and turn the phone on, the screen stays dark and you see a nokia logo and a USB icon, your phone can be flashed. if, however your phone seems to ignore the u button and starts to boot, your phone's battery is almost certainly too low to flash.

in that case you have a problem since the phone probably won't charge unless it boots.. and it isn't. sooooo.  you need to find another way to charge you battery. if you know someone else with a nokia N900, 5800, 5230 or X6 you can use their phone to charge your battery.. once charged, your phone should respond to the u button

now, if your phone IS responding to the U button, you should be able to use flasher. you might need to use a different usb socket, possibly one on a different computer. if you have a spare 2gig usb key, it is possible to boot from that key into linux. some people have had more success using linux..

let me know if your battery is charged and what exactly flasher is saying

[kimcali888]

I asked a phone technician to do the flashing for my phone....and it works fine but i think he wasn't able to flash the memory because when i was trying to send a sms it says"unable to send/receive messages, memory is full" I deleted all my sms and Im conversations and I was able to send/receive messages....I'm just wondering, what is the latest verson of maemo??? mine is 3.2010.02-8....but my husband n900 maemo ver is 3.2010.02-8.002 which is working fine without any problems at all...does this has any effects on why my mobile is encountering so many problems? maybe my n900 is an old version because when I was about to update my software, it says that the version that I have is the latest....do you have any idea about this???

[cpitchford]

The version you are using is the "global" version of the software.. The version your husband is the USA version.. They're essentially the same and you shouldn't notice any difference between them. There shouldn't be any "bugs" in your version that aren't in his, for example..

There are 5 variants of the latest version: global, USA, mid-east/north africa, UK and UK-Vodafone.. they all work and behave in almost exactly the same way.. no variant is "newer" than the other..

The error about low memory that you've seen is actually not that uncommon.. In fact there is a thread about ways to solve it on this forum

/t5/Maemo-Devices/Device-Storage-Full-Message-Unable-to-Send-or-Receive-Messages/td-p/578731/jump-to...

It is a long thread..

Anyway, if you're no longer seeing that error, that is fine.. And you ARE using the latest firmware version on your phone (though I wonder if the technician replaced the USA version with the global version.. he shouldn't have done that really.. but it doesn't really matter, I suppose)

[fubee2]

I don't know what happened to mine but it just doesn't show anything (even the dotted lines). I've tried several times, pressing the power button but not light at all. I've removed the battery and reinserted...no show! Any further help for me please???

[mohammedy]

I have the same problem. I think that the battery is totally flat just like you said.

So should I buy a new one, or is there some way to fix it???

[cpitchford]

Buying a replacement battery is one way, but I'd be more keen to try and find someone with a compatible phone.. (N900, X6, 5800 and 5230 all use the same battery)

Alternatively, you could buy a desktop battery charger.. Google for BL-5J charger.. they're usually between $5 and $10. Cheaper than a replacement battery, and you can use it again if you end up in the same situation

[mohammedy]

OK thanks a lot, I am going by a new battery

But do u know how we can avoid this problem?