TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

Hey there guys, I don't mean to add to the whole horde of people claiming to have bricked their N900 (when in reality they only need reflashing), but I seem to have REALLY bricked my N900.

While it starts, it gets stuck at the loading screen after boot, indefinately (yes, I've left it trying to load for a day).

So, I did what any sensible guy would do and reflashed it. What I found out was while it COULD take rootfs reflashing, it seems to NOT be able to have its eMMC reflashed (gets stuck in the loading screen, flasher NEVER detects eMMC. (and yes, I have reflashed both successfully a couple of times before).

So, a dead N900 that starts but could never go to desktop and cannot be reflashed? I'd say it's bricked.

And no, this is NOT a hate thread or a flame thread or a rant thread (and I hope it could be KEPT THAT WAY). I just want to find out what went wrong so that I can avoid it in the future.

And as you can see below, A LOT could have gone wrong.

Okay, a bit of background, the N900:

1) Is 3 months old, bought back in April.

2) Is used constantly and heavily (I blame you guys).

3) Has most of it's system files modded directly by replacing the files in /usr/ and /etc/.

4) IS OCed with Titan's kernel, using starving voltage settings at 500-850.

5) (in respect to voltage adjustment) Has NOT shown any problems playing video files or recording them. Camera has been working fine as well.

6) Has NOT shown any obvious signs of data corruption, save for a few occasional reboots/lock-ups each week.

7) Has been dropped, say, a couple of times - usually clad in a hard rubber case of some sort (for the last week or so, an Otterbox).

8) Had 84.4MBs of free rootfs (prior to its demise).

9) Was running PR1.2. Has been reflashed a couple of times.

8) Used a symlinked dpkg cache relocated to /home/.

9) Had Nokia Maps relocated and symlinked to /home/opt/ as well.

10) Has the bootmenu-rescue stuff (by robbiethe1st) installed. Also tried to use it PRIOR to the first reflash - TO FLASH THE eMMC.

11) <ADDED> Has been partially disassembled a few weeks before to tighten the slider by a bit (it was getting uncomfortably loose) by liberal use of electrical tape (the TehkSeven way).


Next, these are the steps that led to the device's embrickment:

1) Was using the device as usual, 6 browser windows and was downloading something.

2) Device slowed down, most probably due to stuff being thrown into swap.

3) Restarted device.

...

4) DID NOT PROFIT.

So guys, what did you think went wrong.

And by the way, I'm intending to get the device repaired, or failing that, get another N900 and use the old one for parts. I just got TOO used to the N900 way of doing things, and can't go back to anything else now.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

Attempt to flash again.

Keyboard out. hold u. connect.
Flash the Fiasco. but remove "-r" from the flashing command. This should prevent it from rebooting after flashing rootfs. If it doesn't, and you see the n900 gonna reboot, keep holding the power button to turn it off.

Enter flashing mode again to flash the eMMC (hold u)

Then attempt to flash the eMMC. You can keep "-r" this time

The idea is. you shouldn't get to see the "white dots loading screen" at all between flashes. Only after you're done with both flashes.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

Did you try to flash the rootfs without eMMC first? Have you tried to flash with another OS? Is your battery charged >50%? Did you use a wall charger?

Found myself into that since I started to do more than only "use" the device.

Maybe the bootmenu-rescue stuff did something keeping it from flashing properly?!

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

Try flashing the eMMC from an Ubuntu boot CD if you've been using Windows, or from a Windows PC if you've been using Linux.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

@Corso85: Well, I did exactly that, a couple of times (ten times to be exact). What happened was both strange and amusing at the same time.

1) Reflash rootfs without -r argument. Completed normally.

2) Device stays in flasher mode (USB icon in corner of screen).

2) Reflash eMMC with -r argument. Device detected by flasher.

3) Flasher kinda sorta wants to mount eMMC so it can be flashed, but the dots come up instead. eMMC (suitable USB host) is NOT detected and flasher can't continue.

Might just try again later.

Oh, and I DID go into R&D mode for a while to see if things got better. It did not, and simply complicated trying to flash the device (device gets turned on AS SOON AS I PLUG IN THE BATTERY - how am I supposed to press-hold U to enter flashing mode like that lol).

@chemist: That could be true as well. Did try to reflash rootfs through the boot-rescue-menu, which HAS been said to not work well. But didn't know it could mess up the hardware until it's unreflashable.

@gameboyRMH: Will try that... as soon as I locate a LiveCD torrent speedy enough. Net connection's... flaky... where I am right now.

ALSO: Merely plugging in the charger into the N900 (in its borked state) starts it up into the endless loading bar loop now. In other words, it wouldn't even charge as it was supposed to any more lol.

EDIT: New point added to the first post under "Things that might have borked my N900": I opened it up to take care of the loose slider a couple of weeks back.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

Liberal use of the word "borked". Love it. Feel for you though fella, gutted your phone is FUBAR......

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

@eiraku i've read somewhere someone having trouble flashing cos of the same issue with N900 booting up as soon as the usb plugs in. As far as i can recall you have to unplug the battery aswell. I think this is the steps to get it to flash.
1. hold U
2. plug in usb
3. push battery in with backcover (maybe it'll work without backcover).
This is just on top off my head of what i can recollect of something i read a while back ;)
Try it out if you like i'm pretty sure it couldn't hurt :)

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

Well, tried that too... It went:

USB Device Found at...
Found device....
NOLO version....
version of SW release...
Booting device into Flash mode... <--- in all my eMMC flashing attempts, this happens.
Suitable USB device not found...

And gets stuck after that.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

this is a flashing issue u troll
search first
anyways
it takes a long time to load the os after a reflash
and if ure formatting u emmc, first, u type the command
then it says
USB Device Found at...
Found device....
NOLO version....
version of SW release...
Booting device into Flash mode... <--- in all my eMMC flashing attempts, this happens.
Suitable USB device not found
then it restarts and it shows the os loadinng again
wait for a minute
flashing will start
and i gave these exact same instructions to some other guy
do ur research first

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

seems like i have the same problem, my thread here........

But im waiting for 5 minute now still seeing a few white dots waiting and "Suitable USB device not found, waiting"........but no EMMC is updating .....

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

r u using windows XP?there are some users who couldnt flash the phone using win 7 or vista..changing to xp does work..try flashng from other machine(be it ur boss's,gf's/bf's..mom's so on...)

and also,try different usb ports

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed to analysis
 

@fahadj2003: Sigh... *takes long breath*

And what makes you think I have not searched the forums BEFORE I posted this? Read the entire first post please.

Lemme put it another way:

USB Device Found at...
Found device....
NOLO version....
version of SW release...
Booting device into Flash mode... <--- in all my eMMC flashing attempts, this happens.
Suitable USB device not found... <--- FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS (the longest attempt was 4 hours, and still nothing. The N900 screen remains stuck on the loading indicator).

Still think it's a flashing command issue? IMHO, I think just doesn't detect the eMMC to be flashed... at all. I've gone through multiple tries (well, I've tried about 20 times already - using various methods listed below).

As for methods of flashing, I've tried flashing from a Linux liveCD (Fedora) as per someone's suggestion (same result) and flashing eMMC first and THEN rootfs (which was a no go, considering the eMMC doesn't get flashed in the first place. Also, I've tried flashing in R&D mode, flashing while pressing "u" AND inserting the battery at the same time.

Again, I have reflashed my fiasco and eMMC successfully a few times before this (I tend to screw with my system files too much to begin with), so I guess I know how it's generally done (though I could have borked something up, but borking something through 10 odd tries is just, weird).

Someone mentioned it fscking the filesystem due to a forced reboot, hence the long wait at the loading screen. So I waited after my 2nd fiasco refash. For about 3 hours.

BECAUSE the N900 starts, I feel I'm forgetting something important here. But I have tried everything - so I'm keeping my old hypothesis that the eMMC has died/dislocated unless somebody can come up with a better one.

@dammie: Try flashing the eMMC first. That works sometimes. But if it doesn't, welcome to the dead eMMC boat I guess.

@one1002: I've tried Windows Vista (32-bit) and XP Pro (32-bit) - both of which I dual-boot = same result. Also, I've tried all my laptop's 4 USB ports, no dice. Do keep in mind that the rootfs flashes fine, and I have flashed the N900 using my laptop before without any issues.

But USB port power issues might also be a factor, will try again on a desktop when I get near one. I'm usually surrounded by laptops.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

@eiraku

I tried several options too.....it just cant see the device....

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

@dammie: rootfs flashes fine? Why did you wanna reflash in the first place, what happened?

Also, did you install Ovi suite? It's a long shot, but it might just be related.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

I have suddenly some scrolling problems and touchscreen problems.

Like to reset all to see if this problem still be there.......or not i hope.

UPDATE: followed this turtorial too (because its different then others), but did not succeed. http://themeegoblog.com/2010/02/05/h...factory-state/

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

I didnt install Ovi suite........where do you install this ? :)

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

I was stuck with the same problem. I thought I had bricked my N900 when I was unable to flash the EMMC. Rootfs flashed just fine. I tried flashing through Windows 7 (64 bit), Windows XP 32-bit, and even Windows 2000 through vmware. All of them hung on "Suitable USB device not found.."

I hadn't tried Linux because I was determined to get it working through Windows and I had heard others doing it before. But the results were so inconsistent, I caved in and tried Linux.

I boot into Ubuntu, went through the same process, and it worked on the first try. The USB device was found immediately.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

Hmm, maybe I should give Linux (maybe ubuntu this time) a coupla more tries. Will be back later with results of test.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

hmmm let me know please, i dont have any linux overhere to try...... :(

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

ok from start
the os take like 5 - 10 min to load on first start

2nd
enter the command to format ur emmc
connect ur mobile while pressing the u key
then it will write some ****
and say suitable device not found
and ur mobile will restart
first let it restart, dont remove the cable and was for like 2 min
if that doesnt work
pull the battery out
put it back in
then connect the cable again and press u untill phone starts to boot up
then wait for the white dots and wait for a couple of min, it'll detect and flash ur emmc

thing is, the emmc is only accessible if the device is fully operational ie, while loading the system
when u see the nokia logo, only the 256mb for os is available, not emmc
gets?

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

@ fahadj2003: to be sure, is there a fully reboot between stage 1 & 2 ??


1st: flasher-3.5.exe -F rootsf.bin -f -R
2nd: flasher-3.5.exe -F emmc.bin -f -R

Are there commands okay? and in a good line?

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

Regarding your point about not being able to charge your N900 (it gets stuck in the infinte loading-bar-loop):

This happened to my N900 when I had ran the battery down to nothing. It wouldn't charge, wouldn't boot past the dots. I tried to reflash a few times, but every time I tried, it just kept erroring out.

The only solution I found was to leave the device plugged into the wall charger for a few hours (overnight actually). Even though it wasn't loading the OS, the battery was still being charged slowly. Once I had enough battery, it allowed me to reflash both RootFS and EMMC.

Try leaving it plugged into a wall charger (the one that came with it) for a few hours. It'll continuously reboot for a few hours, but it should at least charge the battery enough to get you able to reflash.

Hope this helps!

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

u do stage one
then u remove the battery asap
then u go for stage 2, it'll ask u to connect the device
connect it, after a while, it'll ask u to connect it again
then u reconnect, let it boot, in a min, u'll see it flashing ur emmc on ur monitor of the pc
wait i'll find u the link to the thread proper thread

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

No need to remove the battery, just ommit the -R flash when flashing the images :)

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

remove the battery to make sure the os doesnt get loaded

*edit
its just a precaution
u can use any possible method to make sure the phone boot the os

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

This just wont happen (within 10 minutes), it is stuck with the 5 white dots....really strange, i allready put the old and the new emmc once before (same PC, Laptop, cables etc.)......looks like flasher cant write emmc after the new emmc is loaded once ??

Or isnt that possible ?

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

Take out the battery and you should be able to get out off black screen with the dots

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

are u flashing the latest firmware and emmc imagE?
pr1.2 had new emmc and new rootfs
and did u see the other thread?
the link i posted?
perhaps that can help

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

i read the other thread i think im missing a very "minor" detail :-)

Im using:
RX-51_2009SE_10.2010.19-1_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin
RX-51_2009SE_10.2010.13-2.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

doesnt matter
same process

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

okay....thx for your support for now, i tried at least 30 times now in different ways, enough is enough :-)

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

@fahadj2003: Thank you for the attempts to help, although like I said in my case, whatever you do, the eMMC is simply not detected (in multiple versions of Windows and Fedora, I might add - thus the need to go to Ubuntu for a second try).

It just gets stuck in the loading screen (and what's different from the guy in the link you posted, it gets stuck for HOURS WHILE the dots are STILL MOVING, and it's not stuck on the second dot). I have tried popping out battery and popping in back again during the eMMC process, with or without pressing "u".

And yet, a few days before, I could reflash everything without even a single problem. Similarly, a few weeks before that. Something went wrong somewhere along the line.

Anybody has a rootfs image with the loading bars turned off and verbose boot mode turned on? Maybe that might help me to figure out which part is going wrong.

Again, like I said, will go to Ubuntu for another try. Something tells me my Windows drivers (in both Windows versions) are sorta toasted (as they have been ever since I installed Ovi Suite), and maybe that's causing this issue to reflash eMMC. Doesn't explain why the reflash on Fedora failed though.

@dammie: Well, keep on trying mate. On a side note, have you tried restarting your COMPUTER instead? Sometimes that sorts out the driver issues.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

I'm guessing that, like you said, the eMMC has died or failed in some way.
One last suggestion I can come up with is that I can send you a copy of -my- working RootFS and OptFS images, and you can try flashing the RootFS with the Flasher, booting into my tool(doesn't require OptFS to boot that far), and flash OptFS through that.
This has a chance of working, but is in no way guaranteed.

If this fails, you are going to have to look into alternate/custom OS stuff - Think mounting your RootFS image, editing /etc/fstab, and changing the /opt/ partition from the eMMC to a partition on the SD card.
As the RootFS is still intact, you can probably do this and get your N900 working again this way, but you may have lost part, or all, of the eMMC.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

@RobbieThe1st: Thanks, a rootfs with a working copy of your flasher tool would be much appreciated - I wiped it out the moment I reflashed to the stock PR1.2 fiasco.

But really, I'm thinking more of sending it to be repaired (at a cost) to the local Nokia distributor/service agent. But if it can be revived through any other means (however unlikely as that may be), the better.

As of now, chances look slim though. And booting from SD card sounds like a dodgy solution from a long term point of view.

Okay, now that we've kinda established that the eMMC might be dead, let's move on to discussing WHY, shall we?

Reasons I could think of:
1) OC related write errors (Can eMMCs/flash memory in general get bad sectors? I thought that was a HDD related problem).
2) OC related voltage issues (Was running it undervolted, but isn't that only CPU/DSP related?).
3) Me zapping the chip with static when I opened her up.

Anybody else?

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

@eiraku, I think your eMMC has been crashed. try reformatting it then scan/fix it in windows. there you check if it has bad sectors. :)

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

I'm uploading it to my Gmail right now, PM me your email and I'll forward it to you(120MB, zipped).

Yes, in fact flash is generally shorter-lived than HDDs, at least in write-life: HDDs have theoretically unlimited writes, whereas Flash have a limited life of 10,000-1,000,000 times, depending on design etc.

Probably a solder-joint got loose, or simply you had a "weak" chip - something happened and a bit of it that was "iffy" but working simply failed.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

My gut feeling, which may be wrong, is that you could send your N900 to a number of people here at this site and they could fix it. I don't think it's dead. But I'm not offering to take it.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

Just a quick bump to an old topic for an update. My local Nokia Care has - after nearly 2 week long wait - called me up to inform me that my N900 was truly and irreversibly dead.

To the point of being non repairable.

Lol, guess I'm one of the few people who completely killed their N900s out of overuse.

Re: TRULY Bricked N900? Help needed for analysis
 

So...
... do you still need your otterbox?!

I'm sorry... couldn't resist ;)

Will you get a new device, or did you tell them about OC and so on, so that you won't get a new one on warranty?