App Manager Broken
 

Hey guys,

Ive been having a problem with the app manager on my N900 for the last few weeks and I would really appreciate some help.

The app manager has stopped showing available apps with the message (no applications available) and if I try to uninstall any app I get the message Unable to uninstall 'app'.

In the app log it says e:lists directory/var/libapt/lists/partial is missing, if that is any help.

Has anyone else had this problem and knows how to fix it?

Many thanks

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Have you been trying to free up some root space by any chance?

It happened to me after I tried to enter some script on a webpage I stumbled across.
Finally sorted it by reading the wiki page on freeing up root space,sorry I cant remember the exact page.

Here's a link to my post http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=46124

I folowed the link from andre klapper (it wasn't a lot of help) but I got there in the end.think it was more luck than anything.

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Nope, I haven’t tried to do that. I never downloaded the command line program as I was worried I would break my phone somehow.

As far as I can tell, the app manager thing happened randomly

Re: App Manager Broken
 

You can recreate the directory and see whether that helps:

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Could be worth a try.

What do I need to enter that line in to?

Re: App Manager Broken
 

You will need to install rootsh then enter the commands in x terminal.

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Ok. Is there any way to install rootsh without the app manager?

Re: App Manager Broken
 

erm, yeah - you can goto the downloads section of this site on your n900 and click the install button (But... i think it loads up the app manager... worth a try)

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Good point
Navigate to http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/rootsh/ on your n900
click the install button (top right of page)

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Yeah, noobmonkey was right, it loads up in app manager and says that the application package was not found. Irritating.

Is there any other way to install it?

Re: App Manager Broken
 

I think you've managed to fall in the crack in the sanity of the Maemo 5 distribution: there's no built-in way to become root. This has been discussed but AFAIK not actually encountered by a normal user before. If HAM goes and can't be fixed without root privileges, flashing is the only way out.

Hopefully it won't come to that, though!

Re: App Manager Broken
 

I think you can do so via R&D mode - I've never tried this myself though.

Re: App Manager Broken
 

hmmm well that isnt good. How about restoring it to factory settings or something like that. Would that help?

Re: App Manager Broken
 

So the general consensus is that my phone is pretty dead then as far as apps go then?

Re: App Manager Broken
 

As I say, R&D mode might help, otherwise you'll need to reflash.

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Actually, having said that, I had a sudden thought. The following works on my N900, but that could be down to rootsh - it's worth a try anyway. In X Terminal, run:

Re: App Manager Broken
 

How do you run X Terminal? I probably should have said I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to the more complex parts of the N900.

Also, how do you reflash it?

Re: App Manager Broken
 

You can try clicking on this to install rootsh http://repository.maemo.org/extras/p..._1.5_armel.deb
It should use dpkg not apt-get so it should work.

Re: App Manager Broken
 

You run X Terminal by tapping on the application labelled "X Terminal" :p I think it's under the "More..." menu (but I've rearranged my menus so I can't be sure).

And for reflashing, see these instructions

Re: App Manager Broken
 

No idea how technical you are, but I'd recommend to download the .deb package that MohammadAG linked to by saving it somewhere on the N900. Then start the X Terminal and take a look at dpkg to install that package manually. The home folder displayed in the N900 File Manager corresponds to /home/user/MyDocs , some subfolders in there are hidden and hence have a dot prefix, e.g. ".documents". See http://wiki.maemo.org/Installing_applications#dpkg .

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Ah, that was a wrong comment by me, as I thought that MohammadAG had linked against the app manager deb instead.
Please ignore my last comment.

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Ok, i just tired installing rootsh with the dpkg command in X Terminal but it said that the operation requires superuser privilege.

How do i give myslef superuser privilege?

Many thanks for all the help so far guys

Re: App Manager Broken
 

That's what you call a catch-22 situation - the normal answer is to install rootsh. You can try using sudo - I'm not sure whether that's set up to allow it by default or not:

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Ok, il try that

It asks for a password again. I get the feeling this is becoming circular

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Yeah sorry, this is what i was referring to in my earlier post but didn't explain myself well enough.

We had a debate in a thread a while ago about whether rootsh should be included or installed by default because it was the only way to fix things if the app manager (HAM) gets broken. While that wasn't really disputed, it was opined that the scenario wasn't likely to occur for a typical user and that flashing the device is an expected possible solution for "powerusers".

Your case is the first one i've seen that actually provides evidence to the contrary. I realize that's not much comfort to you but i will have an example to use if/when this comes up again.

You're probably better off at this point backing up and getting it over with (the flashing).

Re: App Manager Broken
 

Oh well, if it has to be done, it has to be done. I will remember to get rootsh when I start over.

Is there an easier way to reflash than the method Rob1n gave?

Re: App Manager Broken
 

I haven't had to flash my phone yet so i don't know about easier/harder ways, but there are some good threads here about it and there's a wiki entry that explains it in detail.

Note that there's a chance someone could come along and figure out a way to fix your particular problem without reflashing, but the fact that has not happened yet indicates you should reflash if you need new apps. You could always play the waiting game if not... just saying.

Re: App Manager Broken
 

For anyone who had the same problem as me, it was fixed by reinstalling the firmware by using the Nokia Software Updater.

Thank you everyone for your help