Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

I think it is extremely hard to brick N900 through software (but don't try to prove me wrong ;) ), and when it's hardware related, well, no software manipulation will save/doom you.
As often advised, a quick solution can be to boot a ubuntu live CD or usb stick, and use flasher from that.

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

Hey, exactly, HOW do i do that? lol I just burnt a live cd for natty, 32bit, but how do i run the flasher through here? I am feeling slightly ridiculous because i can't figure out what i just did, i copied the maemoflasheri386.deb install package to a flash drive along with the two .bins i need, but after "installing" the package....i cant figure out how to run the flasher program...how do i do this? lol

i think what i need is a portable version of the flasher program for linux...but from what i could see, only the .deb install package was there...maybe i'm wrong, any tips?

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

Did you ever attempt to use the Windows box? If you were able to create the .inf file then the maemo flasher should work.

I'm actually reloading a windows 2008 server right now and for kicks i'm going to try to run the flasher off that and see how it goes.

Try following this guide, it has worked for me in the past (just make sure you get the correct .bin files)

http://thenokiaguide.com/2010/01/11/...sets-all-data/

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

When I used that utility that you reccomended, i did find one item in the list of things that popped up, there were 3 items...1 i cant remember, 2 was for a camera, and the 3rd was N900 usb data mode or something like that....i clicked on that one and went through it.

But when running the flasher program, it still did not detect "a suitable usb device"

i am leaning towards trying it on a system that is geared to normally work, and see how that goes as opposed to trying to jury-rig something up.

As of this moment, i am booting into a 32bit live cd of natty narwal, but for the life of me, i dont know how to run the flasher/install the flasher program .deb i downloaded...any help in this arena?

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

Have you looked through the steps on here?

http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_t...firmware#Linux

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

Ok, I'm an idiot, i found out that the utility is installed right now...but I am unsure of how to point to the .bin files i have...

I am going off of directions found here

http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_t...firmware#Linux

ASSUMING the phone is recognized and found by the utility, how do i point to the .bin files that i currently have on a flash drive connected to my comp for lines like this...in terminal;

sudo flasher-3.5 -F <firmware-image> -f -R

EDIT: Is this true???

If the USB logo does not appear, and the device turns off - ensure the battery is charged by connecting to the wall charger for an hour and try again. Bear in mind that neither the wall charger nor the USB cable will charge the N900 battery if the N900 cannot boot the OS.

I have had the phone plugged into the wall all night...does this mean that it hasnt been charging at all?

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

well, i may be just not too versed in linux, but i couldn't figure out how to tell the flasher program how to find the .bins i had using the live cd. if i had been using a 32bit version of linux i'm still curious how you point to those files, if anyone wants to illuminate me.

I ended up getting my hands on a 32bit windows box, and the flasher program worked as advertised, really quite well. also, i don't think its true that your battery wont charge when your n900 cant boot into the os, because my battery was 100% full after i had it in the wall for a while.

In any case, I've got a fresh copy of 1.3, and wanted to say thank you to all the helpful commentators.

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

The convention when describing commands is that compulsory parameters are enclosed in "< >" whilst optional ones are enclosed in "[ ]", so the "-F <firmware image>" means "replace <firmware image>" with the path to the .bin file".

So, for instance:

flasher-3.5 -F /home/magick/Downloads/RX-51_2009SE_20.2010.36-2.203.1_PR_COMBINED_203_ARM.bin -f -R

Oh, and you don't have to type all that. Linux supports tab-completion, so I would type "/h" (tab) "m" (tab) "Down" (tab) "RX-" (tab) and the shell fills it in. Much nicer than a DOS prompt.

Glad you got it sorted, though.

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

Sorry I couldn't help you then, it's true it might not be straightforward. I may try to write a small help on how to do that at some point.

Re: My reinstall of maemo 5 failed.
 

Wow. That is handy! You see, this is the problem with Linux for me, all of these things that for the most part I learned with windows and dos, I do not know on Linux, ie, the terminal.

I really do enjoy linux, especially ubuntu as an os, but i cannot tell you how many times i have had to do a google search and forum posting just to accomplish things that are either gui'ed and fired up and ready to go in windows, or for really simple stuff that is simply just managed through navigating and working through the terminal.

I guess its just a function of experience and time :) Thanks again!