my maemo os is destroyed
 

Dear All

i am facing a real problem here,

i discovered that my home directory is full and i cannot save new contacts anymore, and i found that the old apps that were uninstalled are still there and whenever i try to remove it by "case" "permission denied" , so i searched and found this topic on our beloved forum :)
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...693#post682693

i followed the instructions there which were as follows

go to xterminal

root [enter]
rm -rf /opt/* [enter]

i closed xterminal without waiting for the process to finish and then the disaster began.

when i try to open any application, black screen shows with app's name above as if the app is loading and then this screen disappears and back to main screen. this happened with every app i tried to open. i switched the phone off and then back on

this is what happened: all the icons in desktop and status bar disappeared,all menu icons vanished and instead of app names there are strange symbols as you can see from pics below.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1...ot20101104.jpg
the menu icons turned crazy !!!
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8...t201011041.jpg
desktop went blank
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/6...t201011044.jpg
phone mode turned all white with all names disappearing

obviously the system is destroyed and i cant open any app , but the phone receives and make calls normally and the camera is working normally.

sorry for this long post

but how can i restore my os ( all i need is contacts and images)?

Thank you

Ahmed salah

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

looks like you need to reflash...

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Yeah, just trashing /opt isn't a good idea and hasn't been since PR1.2 when Nokia moved some space-heavy stuff out there.

You'll want to reflash your device so that it can rebuild itself.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Wow what you just did is comparable to like bombing the whitehouse of your n900 lol! Opt folder is where applications are stored. deleting it is like wiping out your n900 :p

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

mosh11: I'm sorry pal, really am, I'm quite sure you need to reflash your maemo os. Don't be worried, it's a pretty painful process. Just follow the guide on wiki maemo.org.

http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware

If you have any important docs or anything else (where they shouldn't be), rescue them first. Your MyDocs folder will be ok after a reflash of maemo, you don't have to rescue anything from there.

Oh, and in future, stay out of folder like /opt. never use commands like rm without great care.
Good luck!

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

no i didnt want to delete applications,

for example, i uninstalled forgatto and i still find the folder there and it is taking (120 MB) !!
so i wanted to delete this folder

actually i typed that command in xterminal and i didn't really know what it does

as i understood it gives permission to "opt" folder right ? it doesnt delete any folders , i hope:confused::(

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Unfortunately you didnt understand.

"rm -rf /opt/*" deletes everything in your /opt/ folder, which includes all applications along with (since pr1.2) several components of the OS itself which are required for it to function properly.
Basically, as you've stated in your thread title, you've fairly succesfully destroyed the install and need to reflash the device.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

so if i flashed my OS to PR 1.3 , contacts and apps will stay there unchanged ?

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Well your apps are gone, youll need to reinstall them after flashing. You will however retain most of your apps' settings as for the most part their config files get written to the emmc, which reflashing doesnt touch.
Regarding contacts, reflashing will wipe these. I hope for your sake you either have a backup (the device's inbuilt backup software backs up contacts + other stuff) or theyre also saved to your sim card.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

ohh this is an important information man :(:(

it seems that the only solution is to reflash

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

fortunately i used the maemo built-in backup software to make backup few days ago

will i find this backup when i reflash ?

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Yes - The backup's stored to the emmc so isnt overwritten by reflashing, when you've got the device back up if you simply load up the backup application itll be there ready to restore.

Do be aware that for this and my previous post re application settings to apply, you need to reflash the firmware image only, NOT the emmc image.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Like the others said, rm (remove) is the command to delete. I'm sorry there's nothing to recover those files, but the good news is your settings are hopefully unaffected. If you reflash I hope you'll still be able to access your contacts and images since they are not stored in /opt.

BTW - Do NOT flash the emmc image, because that WILL delete your settings, pictures and so on etc.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

okey i got it man

thank you very much guys

you did respond much quicker than i expected.

are there any cautions that i should take during flashing as i know any mistake can brick the phone ?

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

There's no such thing as (bricking?) your N900... So don't worry just follow the wiki and your N900 will be in good shape.. ;)

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

It should be very hard to brick the phone, follow the instructions on this page:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware

Be sure to read them all the way through before you start doing anything, it's not exactly step-by-step guide and there are a few different options to accomplish the same thing. If you are unsure just ask us and we'll try to help :)

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

but don't flash the mmc, or you will loose more stuff

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

i have windows 7 64bit which according to maemo wiki there are various options to choose from to overcome the drivers problem

which option is the best ?

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

the best option is to use a different os

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Sorry, I don't have windows 7 64bit, so I can't answer your latest question.

However, just a quick explanation of the rm command so you can figure this out in the future:

http://www.computerhope.com/unix/urm.htm

I find that if you look up a basic command line tutorial online, and take the time to read through it, it will save you a lot of headache with basic commands. And if you don't know how to use some more advanced command, you can always look it up with something like "linux command [name of command you don't know of]".

Anyway, any windows 7 method should work. The one that sounds simplest to me is to disable driver signing, but you can do whatever you feel most comfortable with yourself.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

u can istall virtual xp and flash ur device

falshing ur device with firmware image only won't delete ur contacts or ur messages but flashing it with emmc will delete everything and ur backup will be deleted

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

please help

i already disabled drivers signing
i opened command prompt , wrote the command of flashing but a message appears that "Suitable USB Device not found, waiting "

phone is still connected should i unplug and connect again ?

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Yes, you can try to unplug and reconnect it. Did you make sure to power off the N900, then press down the U key, and keep holding it while you connect it? Sometimes I find that connecting to a different USB port helps - but I really don't know the details or technical explanation for why, other than that windows seems to keep its drivers for every USB port separate.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Should you not copy the BackUp file on the phone to a PC before flashing? When I updated to PR1.3 the other day, all the backups saved on my phone vanished. Luckily I had also copied one across to my PC.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Easiest way to do this, (this is what I do), is to download Ubuntu live CD and burn that then.. follow the linux instructions.. :)

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

i cant get windows to recognize even Nokia N900 (update mode) to start using one of the options mentioned

i am worried if the opt folder that i removed contains any required data for the usb connection to the pc :S

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

It does not. I'd actually recommend bandora's recommendation of using an ubuntu live cd. Not 100% convenient but it will probably work. I actually did it using Ubuntu in a VMWare virtual machine and it worked great.

Windows 7 is a decent OS but something about using flasher in it is flaky, and I'm not sure what.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

I too recommend either Ubuntu live cd, or installing Windows XP or Ubuntu in a virtual machine. I have 64-bit Windows 7 and couldn't get the flasher to work myself, but I hear it works fine in 32-bit one.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Just have patience, there are a number of inconveniences but once you get past them flashing is easy. When you got the suitable USB not found message you were probably almost through. Just understanding when to hold down the U key is well, key. It's a lot easier to do it than to explain how to do it.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

This is a great cautionary tale. Don't EVER EVER EVER type anything at a command prompt without at least a little bit of understanding of what it does.

The command you entered essentially said:
remove all directories under /opt recursively and force it to continue even if the OS attempts to stop you

Linux is a very different beast from windows and there are precious few safety nets.

---

At least you can just reflash and restore your last backup (which I am sure you have right??) and you will be back up and running.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

If your N900's USB cable is connected to a USB hub, try connecting the cable directly to your PC instead. If you're having trouble even when using a USB port directly on your PC, try a different port. In rare cases, USB ports on the back of the PC can work better than those on the front, for instance.

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

before u reflash.... try to shut down your n900... and plug it in usb.... it should apperar as removeable drive .... so u can backup your stuff....

i always had the problem when i didnt flash the emmc-img it ended in a endless rebootloop....

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

Actually, some of the greatest learning experiences are horrible blunders. I learned how to restore from backup more than 20 years ago when I accidentally formatted my work computer hard drive on a weekend when I snuck into work. I had the rest of the weekend to figure it out!

And another time I was in a co-workers office after hours and I accidentally erased a key directory of hers. Also a learning experience, and no one ever knew what happened :)

Re: my maemo os is destroyed
 

THANKS GUYS

DONE YEAAAh flashed PR1.3 and the mighty N900 is back on track

Contacts are there