N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

Ever since I got my N900 back in December I've had occasional problems with the screen being unresponsive for 10 to 20 seconds when I wake it up, on incoming phone calls or when an alarm sounds. I've been searching this forum for other people having this same problem but I've had no luck so far.

In an attempt to fix the problem I re-flashed the phone with the USA version of code only to have my T-Mobile SIM card quit being recognized. At this point I sent an email to Nokia about my problems and mentioned that I had re-flashed my phone trying to fix the unresponsive screen problem and that had stopped my SIM card from being recognized. After four days I was told by Nokia that I had voided my warranty by re-flashing my phone but that I could pay for them to fix it.

This seems really strange to me because Nokia makes available the phone re-flasher tool (in Linux, Windows, and Mac versions), all of the various versions of the phone software (USA, Europe, Global, Etc.), and the file to wipe the internal flash that holds the file system. Eventually I found a thread on this forum about using the newest version of the "Global" version of the phone software to restore the ability of the phone to recognize the T-Mobile SIM card.

Using that file I now have the phone working again with the T-Mobile SIM card but I still have the problem with the phone's screen sometimes being unresponsive after it wakes up on an incoming phone call or an alarm goes off or when I wake up the phone. If I use the button at the top of the phone to wake the phone then the unlock slider is frozen. If I use the side button to power up the phone then the entire screen is frozen. After the ten to twenty second delay the slider works again or the screen recovers and starts allowing me to use the stylus. I would say this screen freezing happens about every three calls out of fifteen calls (or wake ups). On incoming calls I am hitting the green "Answer" button hard enough to discolor the display from pressure and the phone never answers the call so I know the problem is not that I am using too little pressure on the green answer button.

Eventually the incoming call either gets answered by voice mail or the caller hangs up. At that time I can immediately call the person back and the phone works normally, with the screen again responding to all of the normal button pushes.

This problem has been driving me crazy for two months now. And Nokia, instead of offering to fix the phone, just tells me that I've voided my warranty by re-flashing my phone. I'd sell this thing on eBay and buy a Nexus One but I can't sell anyone a phone that has a known problem. Does anyone out there have a fix for this problem? I suspect that it has to do with the interrupt priority of the touch screen or something similar. I'd ask Nokia for help but they seem to be useless and probably clueless. This is my fourth and at this point last Nokia phone.
-- Don

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

didn't know that reflashing voids the warranty. o.O

did you flash your emmc too? or only your device?

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

I re-flashed both but the Nokia email didn't differentiate. Here is part of their email:

"Based on your concern, we regret to inform you that since you have flashed your N900, this voids your warranty priviledges. It is repairable but unfrotunately fees would be applied. If you decide to go through with the repair, you would need to go to your nearest NCP (Nokia Care Point) for further instructions."

This email was sent in response to my email about the SIM card becoming unrecognized after I flashed my phone to try to fix the problem with the phone being unresponsive upon wake-up or during incoming phone calls or alarms. As I said in my earlier email, I was able to get the SIM card working again but I still have the screen freezing problem.
-- Don

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

I have just started to have this happen to my phone too... It's been fine before, but now when waking up (from dark screen, or lock etc), it takes about 5 seconds or so before it registers my touch...

Any solutions to this?

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

MeeGo :) :)

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

How does that help with my N900?

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

im pretty sure this is a well known issue, its been affecting mine since day 1 that i got it, on receiving a call mainly. it flips from landscape to portrait and back, sometime the answer button works sometimes not.

having thinks like microb open while the phone is dark can cause issues i find because as soon as you wake it up the web, widgets and any other web connection on that screen or in background trys to refresh

No fix best i know, i regulary run OptimizeN900 script though to keep it running smooth

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

I'll have to check that out, thanks for the tip...

I've not changed anything recently, it's always been fine. No new widgets or anything...

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

messing with transitions.ini might help ("might" as in "i think perhaps there is a chance")

it's indeed quite annoying how bogged down the device gets when switching from portrait to landscape and vice-versa; i have the impression it might be in part due to all programs in the backgrounf being switched together with the program that has focus (i think what it is doing is more than rotating and rearranging GUI elements, it seems it changes the screen resolution itself and then renders the result at 90 degrees (or is that 270?) at the OS level, like how you can do in desktop machines)

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

its been getting worse here too, im so frustrated.

any ideas?

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

Flashing doesn't void your warranty, they are just not under any obligation to help you with support questions if you flash your device to something other than the proper versions sold with the phone, so running US firmware on non-us phone for example. Yes they are allowed to charge you to get your firmware back into a state that they can provide support, as you flashing to a non-supported firmware for your phone is not covered by warranty(but it doesn't void your warranty completely)

now to understand your problems

After reflashing the firmware and formatting the eMMC,did you try to use it in this state after this, and before restoring a backup? If yes, did it have the same problem?

Also, do you have a microsd card in the phone? if yes, have you tried removing the battery and the microsd card, and then replace only the battery, leaving out the microsd card, and reboot and see if you still have any problem?

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

have you used swappolube?? try that out. also if you phone is on for say 4 days or so, it becomes lesser responsive... it is better to reboot..

try overclocking an dusing ulv. PM me if you need help...

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

nokia is a realtime sucker !!!!

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

i have flashed my n900 5-6 times in the nearby nokia care its still in warranty dude

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

As far the 'get stuck' part is concerned, a N900 in mint coditions - i.e. just flashed, no extra app/widget installed - should not have too many hog problems, except perhaps flash running on some website. I never experienced missed calls with the phone 'clear'. Obviously the 900 is born to install stuff, but it is not resilient to much of them!
I made a (technical and boring, very long - http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=71115) post on the matter, since I like 'geeking' with my n900 but at the same time it is my production phone and therefore to loose calls IS NOT AN OPTION.
Usually it happens when some process hogs the phone and/or you have a very high swap activity when a phone call come in.
If you are not afraid to change some critical parameters, you could try to implement some of the modifications I proposed.
Swappolube could help, but IMHO only in the short term and from a 'feeling' point of wiev so definitively worth trying, other scripts, well... I think that it is better to reboot the phone every night. Alarms will turn it on anyway when you wake up in the morning!
What are your standard use-cases? Did you notice some patterns that lead to missed calls?
I had phone rotation disabled in order to avoid the extra stress related, and it helps a lot to not to miss calls.
Now I have it re-enabled again after all the job reported in that post.

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

was there ever a solution to this? My phone has just started exhibiting this behaviour.. If I lock the screen (so it's black) and leave it for a long time (half an hour), when I wake it up, or a call comes in and it wakes itself, the touchscreen won't respond to input for 5 - 10 seconds after the screen lights up

The phone isn't frozen, because I can still use the keyboard to do things like CTRL + BACKSPACE to see the running tasks - it's just that the touchscreen interaction has no effect

There's no lag or problem when the touchscreen does respond, it's just as if the touch digitizer is switched off for a while after the phone wakes - kinda like your computer would seem unresponsive if you unplugged the mouse..

As a workaround is there any key combination that will answer a call? I'm assuming as the keyboard still works fine from the first moment the phone wakes, that I could answer calls with the keypresses while the touchscreen is still unresponsive

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

I´ve had similar problem: Look for ereswap thread to pass your swap partition to a sd card and your problem will be gone since then I think I´ve never loosed a call again

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...hlight=ereswap
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...hlight=ereswap

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

Exactly. That is the solution. Putting swap onto SD (away from eMMC). And have it cleaned up / defragmented from time to time.
So best approach is to use two swap partitions on SD.

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

Completely agree, best thing I ever did.
Put two 800mb swaps on the uSD card after the main FAT space.
Works great, after a week or so when swap gets fragmented swapon to the second and swapoff the first. Vice versa the next time you require a fresh device.
Like a freshly reboot device again.

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

Yep, never lost a call since that double SD swap approach.
With single SD swap still from time to time. Earlier very often.
No lags at all (despite very few during reswapping).

Or greater.
And it is also possible with swap files on first/only FAT partition.

what kind of usage do you have? Mine reswaps daily or even more often (OK, sometime every two days only ;)).

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

But there was a problem that if the first partition was not FAT the card would show corrupt in settings.

I can currently get about 3 days or more with out the need for reswapping, I use it mainly for calls, texts, light browsing and very heavy OMP use.

I have been removing applications trying to find a bug, so my VM isn't being used much ATM.

It seems to be calls that are the worst for swap usage, weekends I generally don't need to reswap; due to less calls.

Re: N900 sometimes unresponsive on calls/wakeup
 

True for stock ke-recv. Not for CSSU ke-recv anymore afaik.
But that was not the point at all. First partition should always be FAT, if using windows or simple card readers or other phones.


I was not really serious here, of course it depends heavily on usage pattern. Browsing eats lots of swap.


Confirmed!