Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Hi guys,

Yesterday, after about a 1 year search, I found a N900 for 10€ in a website like Craigslist but in France (Leboncoin.fr).

I contacted the seller and bought the phone (he was happy not to have it anymore as he replaced it a long, long time ago).

Nice looking even with some scratches on the LCD and on the Battery, the only problem the vendor said:
the µUSB port is gone.

I know it's the N900 disease but here it wiped one of the pads on the PCB(the first one : VCC/5V).

anyway, I charged the battery externally lately yesterday when I got back home (2.5v to 3.97v in less than an hour at 1000mA, so it's fine) and I put everything back together, the phone LED goes white for some seconds and it vibrates, I also saw the keyboard lighting sometimes when I slided it, but not always (at some starts it works, all the other times it doesn't),
though, nothing on LCD nor in the Speakers,
this evening, I soldered some wires on the golden test pads, made some tests (not succcessful), then I removed them, I also cleaned the device a lot, 6 Years of dust...


So:
-Nothing on LCD
-I'll have to solder a new USB jack, but I'd love to make that MOD:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=90460
-I'm missing 4 screws (2 on the LCD and 2 that hold the front of the phone (not the hex screws)
-The "CMOS" battery is flat (500mV) but I don't know how to change it
-Inside the phone is a bit corroded, not a lot but that's noticeable


Please tell me It's just a matter of updating the firmware or something, I'm kind of lost and tired of waiting for this wonderful device (I already love it, so dense, so functional (except for the keyboard), so nokia :p ).

All thoughts are welcome

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

I looked at these pages:

http://wiki.maemo.org/N900_Hardware_Hacking#Debug_ports

http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_f...MC_in_the_N900

The replacement I think:
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Connecteur-a-...YAAOSwKIpV~Y~w

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

I forgot to mention:
I'm a student, not in electronics but I tinker, I'm planning to get an HAM license (I'm in a Radio-Club) and I'm beginning at making my PCBs and soldering SMT componnents, though I was never lucky with small devices like smartphones

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

It seems to be alive right now as when i press on lcd i got feedbac haptic (vibrating) and the keyboard is lit when opened but stil nothing on lcd :( :(

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

I just locked it and unlocked it a second ago with the slider on the side of the phone

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Connect it to the TV. Can you see anything?

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

I try in a minute

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Just need to find a video cable, is a camescope cable fine ? Jack 4 points

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Yes, jack, 4 points. I don't know what cameoscope is but my old Sony laptop, Panasonic video camera and Nokia N900 video cables were completely interchangeable.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Seems to be working I checked pinout, gnd and av signal reversed, I tested and got some signal (a "valider" button appared but very noisy) i'm soldering an adapter wait a minute, thanks for the great idea

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

waiting for an ad coming on the tv show my dad is watching
so i will be able to plug my n900 back, but it's optimistic.
What do you think can cause the internal lcd to stay black with no backlignt

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

"I'm waiting for an ad coming on the movie my dad is watching, so i can plug my n900 in"
Double Post

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

A lot of things. A broken cable. A loose connector. A broken LCD. A broken backlight (in that case you would see at least something no the screen though, only very dark). A missing magnet (that detects the keyboard is open).

EDIT: You can delete double posts. Open the post (click the Edit link in the corner), then scroll up to the top of the screen and select Delete Message. Type the reason and press the button. Finito!

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

OK, so my n900 would be fixable, for the backlight, already checked, nothing appears on the lcd, for the keyboard opening, is it the same sensor that enables the light, if so, i'think it's fine too.

But i'm now in a much better i'm relax (i don't know the exact word in english for "détendu"/"serein"

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

It worked, though I'm asked the security code and the one the seller gave me is wrong, I sent him an SMS but I don't think he will answer before tomorrow, any bypass ?
Anyway thanks a lot, now i'm serene and I have hope again. :)

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Finally found the code (25600 or 26500) It booted with custom screen then went back to sleep, it also showed 5 dots like a loading screen

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Broken LCD, i saw the cracks when backlight showed

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

well..having seen the evidence of the damage and trouble-shot the prime (pretty much obvious) reason ...
buying a new or even used lcd would solve your prob.
And 'twixt now and when it arrives you can use the cable and monitor/tv and have fun while waiting. :)
Good on you for scoring a n900 so cheap and bringing it back from the brink.
Kudos.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

I saw a nokia boot screen (with bugs because the looading dots stayed), I think there is also a software problem, is there any procedure to check/reset the machine ?

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

flashing the firmware...
reinstalling the operating system.
It seems like that is what you need to do from what little you mention of it's start-up behaviour.
yup.
Good idea to start with a clean slate anyway.

got all that fun stuff in the wiki. (read up on the process..."the perfect n900 setup" is a good article to read...)
and there are places hosting the requisite files.
internet archive...
https://web.archive.org/web/20131117.../#sdk_releases
and maemo-repos.com
are good places to start.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Thanks,
I hope I will reach the goal, are the 20$ lcd from china good ?

Anyway, thanks guys for the support, I think that made a good replacement for my today episodes planing from "Malcolm" and "Game of Thrones" :p
So now I should go for a new lcd and usb but I'm wondering about these bugs and reboots, Is it possible to fix all the software problems before the hardware ?

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

But I don't have any usb port (the µUSB is out and I don't even have it), Is it possible to flash from sd while waiting for the parts.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

The battery seems to be kind of damaged too:
Yesterday it was at 4v now it's at 3.28v
So:
-LCD replacement 15$
-(New Front glass/digitizer maybe) 10$
-New battery
-New clock battery maybe
-New USB

So I'll have a lot of work these next weeks ;)

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

yeah...
that usb ...forgot about that.
yeah if the usb is pooched...that will be a small task.
Are you certain that the microusb port is toaster strudel?
that is the big question.
you have tried to connect via different pc's ...
and / or different os's with it WHILE you had the monitor hooked up so you could see the results with your own eyes to verify that the micro usb port is smurfed ...right?
Otherwise triple check...quadruple check ...
if nothing is wrong ...for certain...then that is a tragic waste of labour and sweat to simply replace a possibly perfectly fine micro usb port.
Never take the word of the last owner as gospel.
For all we and you know... it is the operating system on device which started coughing up problems for the port. And troubleshooting with a good usb to micro usb cable and a few os's ...and possibly on device os re-installation may solve that...never know.
But if someone didn't take good care of the device ...then anything is possible.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

I believe the OP said the port itself is gone. This will require some soldering work before any reflashing.

Having said that, my N900 has been running for the past 5 years on hot-swapped batteries due to a faulty port, and I haven't been in a position where it's needed flashing. (If it's not broken, etc.)

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

It is to be seen if you need a new battery and you can live without the clock backup battery. Still, 3 out of 5 plus a lot of work with uncertain results (soldering the USB port when the pads are pooped)... Unless you like a challenge and/or have a lot of experience, it might be easier to cut your losses (it's only 10€ after all) and look around for another one in a better condition. You can still keep this one for parts.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

ooh. yeah..right..no port at all.
Yeah pichlo is right ...you gotta be pretty decent with a soldering iron to do it right.
hm...
and yeah...it is unknown damage to the device.
You could spend alot of time and money ...
do everything right and there could be hidden probs you can't see.
and yeah ...
10 euros for even a n900 for parts is a very good deal.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Well, I tested the device with my wonderful LG© CRT TV,
it works well, I watched the answers on the topic with it, kind of better than my 2G feature-phone with shitty softs, a lot of good softs on it like an emulator and Marble, no lag, some Pr0n images on it :confused: , maybe my poor buddy was a "fap-phone" for a moment :D

I tried the camera but it didn't work (blueish black tint but no image), then I tried taking a photo but it said me that there was no room for other photos (with more than 30GB free)

To answer your answers, I'm definitely going to try repairing this guy, but I don't think I'll will use the original µUSB but I will make the mod with the real USB port, a lot more useful, so first, I check what is dead and what is not, then I'll reflash everything with some wires inside, at that time I will have received the new µUSB, that I'll solder with hot air and solder paste I think finally if everything is good, New LCD and when I'll have some money to throw away:
New digitizer, screen protector and housing.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

No room may indicate the camera is set up to store pictures on the SD card. Or it can mean that the main file system is corrupt. That should be easy to find out. There are many cures for a corrupt file system; most of them involving the USB port (that you don't have) but some not.

If you manage to get your new toy online, there may be some chance even without reflashing. That way you can live without the USB port, provided you can charge the battery elsewhere. I know of a few people here who use it like that, one even replied in this thread. I myself use the USB port only for charging, everything else can be done y WiFi or Bluetooth.

Then your only remaining problem is the display. That is not that difficult, although I have been lucky with mine and never had to use the cheap Chinese ones from eBay and cannot vouch for their quality.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

The usb is going to be vital for me, large USB, so I'm going to mod my phone a bit, though, i'll try to put a new µUSB, a reinforced one this time, just for charging, I'll search for the pin I'm missing and make a brige-wire trough one of the test pins, I belive there is at least one pin that is 5VDC

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

But, what about the camera showing nothing but blue ?

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Here is a thread about fixing the USB port. It has some very helpful links in the first post, including to where on the board you can find alternative soldering pads.

Sorry, I can't help with the camera. Your USB port is your primary concern now: fix it and reflash, that may fix other things including the camera. If jot, you may need to look for a suitable hardware replacement.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Yes you're right, let's focus on USB then LCD and then all the not nessecary parts.

So, I'll order
-µUSB jack
-Battery
then:
-New LCD
eventually:
-New Digitizer
-New housing
-Screen protector

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Two more questions :
How does the N900 lock ?
(as when I slide the... slider, It locks the digitizer but the lcd is still bright)

Is this slider that useful ?
I really want to make the mod with normal size USB but that the thing that prevent me...

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

For me with rather large hands the slider always was useless. Before my fingernail found the little knob of the slider, i could easier slide out the keyboard or hit the power button.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

I have seen cheap non-branded ones on ebay - might be interested in buying one as well. Are they any good? Original Nokia's are still for sale but quite expensive.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Well, we'll soon now, I'll first contact the sellers to check the seriousness.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

That what I was thinking, the poor slider will maybe be replaced by a USB then.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

I use the slider every time i use the phone...

Nazmi: by default it will turn off the display.

Re: Waited 1 year for N900, but some more days of tinkering may be required
 

Thanks, I'll rethink about it then...