N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

Hello everyone.

Just got my brother's N9 to try to revive after he disassembled it t clean the lens around the camera or something silly like that. He is very good with that type of stuff, so I don't think he damaged anything in the process. After assembling back together, it won't turn back on. He claimed leaving it on a charger overnight and nothing. Light just turns on and off right after plugging in. Upon receiving, I tested it by pluging into PC USB Port, and the status light just keeps flashing. IF the power button is help for few seconds and then released - plug back into PC, the result is same as on the wall charger (light on and off).

I attempt to reflash by flasher (which I did 2 years ago for him when imported from china and flashed with EU firmware). So, using same files and same install, I launched the flasher.exe commands (tried -R, -i, -f -F firmware.bin) but it's like the phone is not recognized by the PC (Windows 7). I don't move past the initial Suitable USB Interface (bootloader/phonet) not found, waiting... tried cold flash (-c command) and same thing. No vibration, no sound/beep, no activity from PC (acknowledging the connection of hardware)... but the light on the phone keeps breathing (stays on and flashes assuming indicating some kind of activity) if connected by USB to PC (not when plugged in by wall charger).

Any ideas where I am going wrong or is this a hardware problem now? Thanks for your input and expertise.

Re: N9 not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

Easiest stuff first . . . Have you already tried flasher with a different USB cable and on a different PC?

Re: N9 not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

Tried a different cable, but not a different PC. Will try tomorrow at my friend's desktop, if all else fails on this machine. What does the flashing breathing light mean on the phone?

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

Are you flashing on Linux?
A dmesg output log could help identifying whats the cause .

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

No, sorry, don't have any Linux machines or even working knowledge of it. Tried Phoenix (dead USB flashing) and it won't recognize it as well. Will be trying a different machine tomorrow and will update the post if progress is made.

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

Update; Tried on 2 other desktops and 1 laptop (all WIndows), same symptoms. Friend of mine that also owned N9 for 2 years claims the "frantic blinking" which I see on the phone is not the typical breathing light when flashing and he suspects its a hardware-related warning. I guess my brother must have not connected something in the process of assembly. Will be selling As-Is on eBay, maybe someone can fix or use for parts. Unless I get some other advise here. Thanks again everyone!

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

Before you give up, try (or ask your brother) to open the phone again and recheck all cabling (and plug the battery as last thing). Maybe some connector didn't snap in properly and the phone gives 'NO GO' to a power up action.

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

Bumping this for similar situation...

I have already seen http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=87709 but whenever I try flasher -i and plug in my phone, it just says:
"Suitable USB interface <bootloader/phonet> not found, waiting..."

I don't get the sound from Windows indicating a USB device has been plugged in either.

What gives? I bought a new battery and plugged in, but no difference. Now, the new battery could also be complete drained of a charge, but if the phone won't charge it, what then?

Here's the back story, FWIIW:

My phone died yesterday, not being able to charge, so I bought a new stock battery and switched it, following a Nokia N9 disassembly tutor. Problem: It still won't charge. I tried taking out the battery for a few seconds and put it back in, and I tried the old battery again, both times making sure I didn't accidentally switch on the phone while reassembling.

When I plug the phone into the charger (using stock charger in wall socket), the charge LED turns on solid for 10-15 seconds and then shuts off. When plugging it into the USB, it get the same solid LED light, but sometimes followed by it blinking fast for a while, before going dark.

It does not, however, come to life, and the "breathing/pulsating" charge LED light never activates. The blinking light is much faster than it normally is, and I'm assuming it's indicating something, but I don't know what.

I sometimes get a small vibration when trying to turn it on, indicating to me that there is some kinda charge left on the battery, while faint. It shows no life, however. The Nokia logo never appears. It stays off after the initial vibrate and won't vibrate again if I try turning it on again. I have to mess around unplugging and re-plugging it to the charger to get it to vibrate again.

Tried charging it through the wall socket for at least 6 hours. Still, no life. Tried via USB, no life.

My phone's stock battery only died yesterday, after working two days ago, although with long times of huge charging problems (phone would only fully charge after a full 24 hours of charging, giving me the notification that USB charger is too weak to charge the device. Battery charge was gone after only a few hours of working, however).

So is my issue simply due to a dead battery, or are there other hardware problems? I will probably go to Nokia Care, if there's no other solution.

Is there any way to "force charge" the battery, since the phone doesn't seem to let it charge as it is now?

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

When you tried plugging in to use flasher -i did you try keeping power button depressed for 10 seconds, until you got that faint vibration which ensures that device is really off?
Crazily recently had N9 that ATF Nitro box couldn't recover, but earlier version of Lumia Software Recovery Tool did identify strangely.
You are lucky if Nokia Care will look at it, in UK as N9 was never marketed we were on our own with any issues!

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

Sadly I have no solution to this, it seems like the low battery damaged the N9 somehow, as even after taking it apart and replacing the battery with a charged one it still just does the same thing - light on for a few seconds, then off.

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

That faint vibration comes after a second or two, like when you turn it on, but it stays dead. I never get any vibration after holding the power button for 10 seconds. If it's no vibration after the first second or so of pressing it, nothing will happen.

Re: N9 DEAD, not recognized by flasher at all, light blinking on phone
 

An over-charged battery might hurt the electronics, since the higher amperage can burst fuses etc. I doubt a too low charge will affect the electronics in the phone. It should just mean the battery is bust and that it can't power the hardware in the phone, resulting in nothing.

What I'm wondering though, is that the charge circuit might be what's damaged and not the battery, and that whenever I wanted to charge the phone, the battery was never given a complete charge, until it at last died completely, resulting in this anomaly. I'm just speculating though!

I'm hoping it's just the battery that is dead, and that the new battery was stored in shitty conditions and had also lost its charge. Perhaps the store can charge the battery on an external charger. I'll contact them tomorrow, before contacting Nokia Care as a last resort! If anything changes, I'll update the thread.

But if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! :)