2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

Hi, i recently bought a second hand N900. I am from Kenya. The device was at pr 1.2. While using the device for the first few days i noticed all the applications were being installed in the root partition. Since i wasnt familiar with N900 and Linux, i thought it was meant to be this way. After reading the forums and getting familiar with linux i realized the Opt partition was not visible at all although the fat32 is perfectly ok. I thought of updating the device to pr 1.3 but still the problem persists. When i try to flash the eMMC image with the latest vanilla image for pr 1.2 with Maemo Flasher, it stops midway displaying 'terminated with error code 1'. I then tried fsck on the Ext3 partition. It says superblock invalid and various other errors. I always press yes to repair any errors but it always ends with operation aborted. I am certain the Ext3 partition is corrupt. Please advice me how to bring it back. I can barely install 2 worthwhile applications. I am not able to use the full power of this really great device. I have formatted the 32gb to fat32 from the pc. I hope i havent messed up to the point of no return. Please help. Thanx

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

As long as your device still boots you should be fine.

You mentioned that you have already flashed the N900 before, but did you really flash the full PR 1.2 firmware and the PR 1.2 vanilla eMMC image to the device?

Have a look at this wiki section for more details. I strongly recommend to use Linux (try Ubuntu) for flashing images to the N900, as I've had problems on both Windows and Mac OS X.

Please make sure you flash the actual firmware image (without -R) and the vanilla eMMC image right afterwards, just like it says in the wiki.

If this does not help then the device's flash memory might be broken somehow, which would be bad.

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

You got PR1.3??? o.O

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

i meant pr 1.2....and i did flash the device according to the wiki. First i flashed the firmware without -R, then i immediately flashed the device with the eMMC image but it fails with the error code i mentioned above

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

Just flash the eMMC first then :D
Then flash OS then flash eMMC again.

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

lemme try doin that...i'll post the results but i have a hunch it will behave same way. I hope i dont brick the device.

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

if you try it with windows7 then forget it.
same with xp sp2.
there are 12000 threads about the flashing emmc issues.
use the powersearch
regards

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

i have windows xp sp3. I have no clue how to use Ubuntu

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

That's the problem :P

1. Get ISO-Image from http://www.ubuntu.com/
2. Burn to a CD
3. Boot from CD (no need to install!)
4. Open Terminal
5. Type
   Code:

   ---

   sudo su

   ---

6. Follow the instructions from the Maemo wiki.

Re: 2gb ext3 partition corrupt
 

on xp sp3 it should run fine.
but there are many things you have to look at.
-nokia cable driver installed
-ovi suite off
-use your back usb ports(usb hubs can cause probs)
-don't let your phone reboot between both commands

and what kind of error do you get?