[Maemo 5] Backup Menu: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

Hi all im new here and before you bash against me and tell me to search the forum and do this and that, well i did and have tried and found no solutions. I really need some urgent help as i only have one phone and need it for the next couple of days. I didn't think i'd brick it but i did.

Before i go on, here's some info about my N900:

1. Has PR 1.2 installed
2. Has Backup Menu installed (but did not create any backups)


Ok so what happened was i tried to follow this guide here:

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...2&postcount=16


I tried to set the page cluster from 5 to 1, and after that it just doesn't boot up anymore. It shows the Nokia logo screen, and then screen goes blank. It doesn't even show the 5 dots loading screen. It seemed that others who tried to set the page cluster to 1 also had the same problem, but i didn't read that far as the first page also posted similar instructions too, so i tried it in a hurry.


Anyway i did make a backup of the rcS file, i put it in the root folder. Since i have BackupMenu installed, it still works when i slide my keyboard open. So what i tried was using terminal, and did this:

which basically copies the rcS file (the backed up file) from the root folder (MyDocs) to the folder at /etc/init.d.

But that didn't work, and i don't even know if it worked or not as after i pressed enter, it showed a green message:

so i don't even know if that worked or not. BTW, i already typed "sudo gainroot" before i attempted to copy and replace the rcS file. But anyway, this didn't work as i still couldn't boot. Maybe i'm doing something wrong here??





So after trying that out and failed, i gave up and decide to just flash it with Maemo Flasher. But here's another problem, since i have Backup Menu installed, that means whenever i have my keyboard open while turning on the phone, it'll just boot into backup menu.

So the problem is, to flash using Maemo Flasher you'll need to press and hold the "U" key and connect the USB, but that'll mean you have to use the keyboard, and with that opened it just skips to backup menu instead so now i can't even flash it!



What do I do, please help me out as i'm fully stuck in this situation, otherwise i know how to reflash my phone if i didn't have this problem.

Re: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

Solution is easy,
Don't slide the keyboard until it's clicked.
90% slide up and half of the button U will appear.
Press hold U in that mode and Plug the USB.

Voila! Easy peezy!

Re: [Maemo 5] Backup Menu: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

At least in my experience, you don't actually have to press U. Try without the keyboard, and see what happens.

Re: [Maemo 5] Backup Menu: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

By the way that's why you don't change the System files that perminantly change the system behavior. You change something else to do it after boot to change the secondary file. Not the rCS file!!

You are spelling out disaster upon your own forehead if you modifying anything that others have warned you about :)

I hope the 90% slide up will fix your problem

Re: [Maemo 5] Backup Menu: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

I just tried that and it doesn't work, the usb icon doesn't show up on the top right and the screen should be dimmed when you're in flasher mode (but you'll still be able to see the Nokia logo).



ya well there're 2 reasons y i did. The first is that i tried to set the swappiness by using:

echo 30 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

but that isn't permanent as it just restores back to the default value of 100 after you reboot it.


2nd reason is that most people didn't have a problem with it, they had a success with it and i'm pretty sure it's only because i changed the page cluster from 5 to 1, if i kept it at 5 then it probably wouldn't have bricked my phone.


If someone can help me with the terminal part, i'll be forever grateful to you :)

I'm hoping it's just something with the way terminal works in backup menu, because the output doesn't correspond with the input on your hardware keyboard, if you try to type a symbol such as "/" which is something you enter almost all the time when you enter a path or folder, and it doesn't work. You have to press a combination of the blue arrow key with the CTRL/sym key and press the key "C" (YES, you press C, not V") and it'll output the "/" key.

So i'm assuming there's something wrong with it, if i could simply replace the rsC file with the original backed up file and try to see if that solves it, it'll be better than reflashing all over again.

Re: [Maemo 5] Backup Menu: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

Did you not read my post?
Half slide the keyboard!

LIKE The picture!

Re: [Maemo 5] Backup Menu: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

ok it worked this time. I did exactly as it shows in the picture but it didn't work, so this time i slide it to the point that u can only press it with a sharp object like a small thin knife or pin, and it worked this time lol.

Thanks for your help. I wanna hold off the reflashing if possible as i still wanna try out the terminal solution if anyone can help.

Re: [Maemo 5] Backup Menu: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

I cant add to anything thats already been said....except....BE CAREFUL!

...AND I'm really amazed how some people rush into serious software mods without serious thought :o

Re: [Maemo 5] Backup Menu: I'm in deep ****, bricked N900, please help!
 

ya ur right. I probably should've read more about it before i tried it.

But i wasn't rushing though, i was pretty certain i'd get this done successfully. I mean, i did try this as i mentioned in my previous comment earlier:

echo 30 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness


and that worked, just that it wasn't permanent. So i thought maybe i'd just set edit the file so it makes a permanent change, and that i also had the backed up file and can restore using terminal through Backup Menu (turned out it didn't work as i expected).

Besides, most people got it working so i wasn't being the first or 2nd to try it, it wasn't like i was a tester and risking it. I thought that if others got it working then it'll be ok for me to do it. After all, i've done overclocking and a bunch of other tweaks such as Optimize N900 (which requires you to add a file to the system folders) successfully.



But ya, lesson learned. I should probably make a post and ask about how safe it is to install and read more replies in that topic next time.