N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

Hello,

My friend had this phone for over a year and it died, he tried to fix it, but he couldn't so I am trying. :D

I am using Ubuntu 10.10 and I also tried on Windows XP SP3 with the CA-101 driver installed.

When I run the command "flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_20.2010.36-2.002_PR_COMBINED_002_ARM.bin -f" I get:

Found device RX-51, hardware revision 2101
NOLO version 1.4.14
Version of 'sw-release': RX-51_2009SE_20.2010.36-2.002_PR_002
Sending xloader image (14 kB)...
100% (14 of 14 kB, avg. 690 kB/s)
Sending secondary image (106 kB)...
100% (106 of 106 kB, avg. 11875 kB/s)
Flashing bootloader... done.
Sending cmt-2nd image (79 kB)...
100% (79 of 79 kB, avg. 2839 kB/s)
Sending cmt-algo image (507 kB)...
100% (507 of 507 kB, avg. 5768 kB/s)
Sending cmt-mcusw image (5786 kB)...
100% (5786 of 5786 kB, avg. 12207 kB/s)
Flashing cmt-mcusw... done.
Sending kernel image (1700 kB)...
100% (1700 of 1700 kB, avg. 11264 kB/s)
Flashing kernel... done.
Sending and flashing rootfs image (149248 kB)...
100% (149248 of 149248 kB, avg. 13336 kB/s)
Finishing flashing... done
Erasing CMT: 18%CMT flashing failed

So I tried the cold flash using the command: "flasher-3.5 -c -h RX-51:2101 -S usb -FRX-51_2009SE_20.2010.36-2.002_PR_COMBINED_002_ARM.bin -f"
but it stuck on:

Using serial port usb
Suitable USB device not found, waiting.
Also tried using the RX-51:2101

I also tried to install the MMC and it shows
flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_10.2010.13-2.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R
flasher v2.5.2 (Oct 21 2009)

Image 'mmc', size 255947 kB
Version RX-51_2009SE_10.2010.13-2.VANILLA
Suitable USB device not found, waiting.



I appreciate any help, advises or ideas!!!
I wanna try everything before sending to a assistance, that I would have to pay :D

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

How log did you wait at
? It have taked 3-5 minutes with a bricked N900 from a friend and then the reflash starts.

The
looks bad... try redownloading the firmware images.

I had problems with a damaged image although the checksum was ok.

good luck ;)

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

I've waited for more than 20 minutes and nothing happens :(

I tried downloading all the flash versions and non of them seem to work :(

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

It sounds like you will need a cold flash.

I had some trouble with that last year. My notes on that follow (from another thread).

But first you should get the battery charged. If it needs cold flashing it will be unable to charge itself. Charge the battery in another N900 or something.

Then here's what I wrote about cold flashing:

"What finally worked for me was to remove the (charged) battery, connect to PC, start flasher program in cold-flash mode (-c -h RX-51:2201 (or possibly 2101) -S usb -F <fiasco image> -f -R) and then plug in the battery. There's an exceedingly short moment where the flasher can detect the N900 and do its cold-flash thing."

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

first of all check that the image you are trying to flash isn't corrupt , by checking it's md5checksum and comparing it with that on the server .

also,
this can be a battery problem , is it fully charged ? if not , charge it using another phone , or using an external charger and try again , or borrow a fully charged battery from another friend .

I see you have tried to flash the emmc first , this won't work so don't bother , as the phone is required to partially boot before the emmc gets flashed , and since the rootfs is corrupt , it won't boot .

before giving up you may want to try flashing rescue kernel from meego , it will export all the partitions on the n900 as mass storage devices , you may then have a shot at trying to fix them ..

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

TA-t3,

I tried that one, I actually found your older post.

Ivyking,

I had full battery and I think it is dead now, after several trying. I live in Brasil and this country doesn't believe in lowering taxes, so no one can aford to have smartphones hahaha. I will have to buy a external charger probably :D and continue after that.
Thanks for the tip.

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

I flashed my N900 several times in the last couple of days from Ubuntu. Basically, I start the flashing program and wait till I get the message aboutthe suitable USB not found, then I grab the USB cable and plug it and the N900 in and it starts flashing.

Interestingly, I found that after flashing the Emmc I had to reboot the N900 to continue flashing. I know, the wiki says NEVER to reboot between flashes like that. The Wiki can't always be trusted.

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

I agree , the wiki page on updating the firmware really needs extensive cleaning and rechecking of whats written .

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

I'm in Brazil. Where are you? Might I can charge it for you.

Re: N900 died - Cold Flash doesn't work
 

In Campinas, thanks!!!!

I just got a charged batteries!!!! The FIASCO doesn't fail!!! It installs all the way, but the EMMC doesn't install, still stays in "waiting" I don't know what to do :( I've tried cold with the USB address waited 10 min and nothing happend.

Good news is that I used the My rescue from Meego and I could mount the Mass Storage. I could recover all the files from my friend!!! :D