New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

I ordered an n900 from Amazon and it arrived over the weekend.

I installed the Nokia "suite" software (the one with the calendar/contacts/etc). As something of an aside, that software sucks. It seems it's "not fully" compatible with the n900. Bleh.

Anyway, after spending an hour or two trying to import my Google contacts into the suite software, I gave up. I left the n900 plugged into my laptop on the USB cable overnight and went to bed.

The next day, the n900 was black and wouldn't power up. I fiddled with it a bit and then it occurred to me maybe I hadn't left it with the right connection (I have other devices that only charge on USB if not 'mounted').

So, I plugged it into my wall usb cable for two days (I had other stuff happening and couldn't get back to it).

On my way out the house to work, I grabbed the n900. It appeared to be powered off (black screen) but there was a green light, which seemed encouraging. I put it into the phone pocket on my purse and walked out.

Now, I think the phone may be bricked. I can get a (mostly) black screen with some faint backlighting, and bright white dots, and then it goes to a totally black screen. If I plug it into a computer with the black screen, the pc wants to install new hardware so the phone is "on".

I can also get to the black screen with the faint (not backlit) nokia logo and the usb symbol in the upper right as described here:
http://www.maemofanatics.com/how-to-...ur-nokia-n900/

Could I have bricked it just trying to load in my contacts? Could the OTA 1.3 update installed automatically without me approving it? Would those white dots indicate some other problem?

I did take out the SIM card (before I put it on the wall charger) since I needed a working phone. Should I put it back in?

If it is bricked, is there a way to recover from it on a computer that doesn't have admin privs? My laptop's been temporarily lent out and all I have access to for the next two weeks is a work PC running Windows XP.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

The USB charging for N900 does not work very well, search the forums there was an extensive study on how N900 looses battery even though it was plugged in the USB. Ideal charging for N900 is always power outlet.
And also, N900 does not power the battery to charge or do anything once the battery has been completely drained, you will have to use either an external charger or if you or know anyone with Nokia 5800 you can charge your battery through that.
As you said that you saw the green light which I have never heard or experienced if the battery was completely dead.
Try to re-flash including the EMC, always flash the firmware first and then the EMC.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

"Bricked" tends to get used rather imprecisely. If you're asking "could loading contacts have wrecked my install", I doubt it - at least, not that in and of itself. "Could the PC Suite software have wrecked my install" is a different question, but I've never used it. :P
No, definitely not. Nokia doesn't pull that kind of nonsense, so no need to worry there. It's your phone, and updating is your choice - heck, you could go download the original version from Nokia's downloads site and flash that if you really felt like it.
The white dots are just a booting progress indicator. It sounds like the phone is just not booting fully, maybe due to power issues. There are plenty of discussions around here about how to fix such problems if they occur. I'm not sure, in your case.
To my knowledge, that should make no difference. I certainly used mine for months before I even bought a SIM card.
To be honest, if that were the case, I'd be tempted to recommend using the Linux flasher for recovery. It's more reliable, but it's a command line program. I guess that's not an option, though.

In conclusion, I can't help you at all, but hopefully I've clarified some things. :S

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

Note: Somedude is referring to the eMMC images, as per the relevant section of this wiki article.

Also, I just realized that the command line flasher (referred to ther as "Flasher") does work on Windows as well. I've never tried it on Windows, but it still is likely a better bet than the Nokia Software Updater in a pinch.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

I'm coming from Android (and still using my Milestone while getting through these growing pains), so I realize that things like putting contacts into a phone "shouldn't" brick it. I would have had to damage the firmware somehow in order to do so and the contact software wouldn't do that.

I was just trying to run through "everything" I did, because you never know what will be the important information. (I'm sure you folks know, but I don't :)).

Because I'm at work and have nothing better to do with the phone other than look at the black screen, I plugged it in to a usb cable and have a slow blinking orange light. From reading elsewhere, I think that's would indicate it "should" be charging properly. Regardless of whatever else happens, I will put it back on my wall charger when I get home.

I'm still stuck in the short term -- is there a way to reinstall the firmware using software that doesn't need admin privs on Windows? The Flasher won't work.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

First of all, "bricked" really means like a brick. Bricks don't light up at all.

You can flash it from the Windows command line; the process is very similar to flashing from Linux, which I hope is described in the Wiki. I don't remember the exact process.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

if you really need the flash and windows is not working, and you are willing to venture out a bit, the flash wiki with linux http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware#Linux will be your safest bet.

1. create a bootable live-usb with unetbootin http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
choose your flavor of linux, e.g. ubuntu

2. reboot your windows machine from the usb stick (typically F2 or F12 to change boot order during initialization process)

3. download the flasher http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/maemo-d...-downloads.php and firmware http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/nokia_N900.php

4. consult http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware#Linux for the step-by-step process

nice to see someone form Android jump onto this side. hope we don't scare you away :)

edit: the wiki does have detailed instructions for windows flash

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

I might have missed it, or not noticed, but did you remove the battery and put it back in?

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

haha yea it does sound like one of thoes ones! ive had it happen a few times and the battery romove trick sorts it out

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

*LOL* Well, I will admit that Google has its hooks firmly into my soul. I've come to the n900 because the <multiple expletives deleted> nitwits at Motorola locked the bootloader on my Milestone and it's gotten buggier with each update. I like to tinker with things and I'm already familiar with linux. Even at a year+ old, the n900 is a very nice collection of hardware.

I would have bought one of the new Samsungs but the GPS is flaky and by all accounts its a tossup whether the firmware updates fix the problem.

I figure the n900 will be good for me while I wait for the next year's worth of Android updates to shake out. It doesn't hurt that a somewhat-working version of Android is available on the phones (if only the GPS was functional!) I _am_ willing to be wooed and wowed by Maemo/Meego, I just think it will be something of a high bar.

My experiences with *Android* have only been good. My experiences with Motorola much less so.

The windows directions presume admin access to install the command-line software bundle. I'll have to see if one of my incredibly ancient backup laptops will boot up and let me flash the firmware.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

simple solution for getting google contacts to your device:

www.nuevasync.com

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

Have you tried pulling the battery out and putting it back in &&&&& Charging it using the phone charger instead of the USB cable. Not sure if you know this a lot of front port on PCs dont have enough power going through them to charge the N900. Especially when the screen is lit. & if you haven't got the charger try plugging it into the back of the PC. Remember some usb adapters that you can use to charge your phone won't work because it transmits data down the wrong line(s)?.?.? Or something like that which makes it beleive it's a computer which won't charge but will show the light glowing. I'd reccomend this before flashing could save time.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

Just charge the phone with the wall charger, if you bought the N900 as new, you should have the manuals - please do read them, atleast the first steps... The charging process is already described in this thread somewhat. After a full charge, just try to start it up.
The phone probably did not have enough power at your first sync, and your comp did not provide enough to charge it, so overnight it emptied the battery. This might have messed up something in your phone, but I hope not.
Also, the sooner you update to PR1.3 the better - I suggest that you try to flash the phone even before you install anything else. 1.3 has improved lots, usability and google sync support is improved. Also Ovi Suite support is better.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

As I said in my first post:

"So, I plugged it into my wall usb cable for two days (I had other stuff happening and couldn't get back to it)."

Wall usb cable=wall USB charger (in case that wasn't clear).

So, yes, I have charged it on the wall USB charger. It's still been unwilling to boot up since after charging on my wall charger.

Finally, I have removed the battery and let it sit for 30 minutes one period, and an hour for another period. Maybe I have to let it sit longer? But, an hour seems like it ought to be enough for any lingering electricity to discharge.

Update:
I charged on my wall USB charger again last night. It's still won't go past the sequence of the black screen with the white dots. I do notice it makes a very quiet "ding" or "chirp" noise before the screen powers off. Not sure if that's important.

I can't use my old laptop, it's on the fritz right now. My new laptop has been loaned out for a couple weeks. So the only computer I can use to communicate with the phone is my work PC (Windows XP). I don't have admin rights on the work machine, nor would my superiors be comfortable with me using a linux livecd at work.

Is there something I can do to troubleshoot the issue on Windows XP without admin rights? The Windows flasher at http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/maemo-d...-downloads.php requires admin privs to install.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

My advice is for you to try and use someone elses computer maybe a parents or a mates??. As for work i doubt you'd be able to use the work desktop abnd get away with it. Unless your in a secluded area of course. If you know what your doing and how to flash you'd beable to get throught the whole process in about 10 mins. But you have to be super stealth like 007 lol.

Re: New n900 owner _may_ have bricked unit
 

Thank you to everyone who tried to respond. I finally gave up and sent the phone back to Amazon. They mailed a new one and it's working fine (so far, still on the first day of fiddling).

It's a nice little unit now that it's working. It will take some getting used to.

I really hate the screen protector. This is my first phone to have a scratch-prone screen. If that's the worst of the experience I think that will be a good sign ;).