Okay, I bought a new N900. Would appreciate continued help in eliminating the problem.

You can call me a glutton for punishment, but I really want a handheld computer with an open platform. I was also hoping that, by ordering from Amazon, I would get a unit from a different batch that would not have the same defect, but ... guess what? Right after reflashing firmware+eMMC and restoring from backup, I got the Forever Dots bootup error again.

We can eliminate the following as potential causes of the error:

- symlink (from ext3 to vfat) is eliminated as a possible cause of this error, since this time there was no symlink
- SIM card is eliminated: I contacted my cell phone provider and got a brand new SIM card. No luck.

At this time, the salient point seems to be: why is it that I'm the only one who has seen this error? Why has no one else seen this error? Is it something that I'm doing wrong, and if so, what exactly? I'm trying to come up with all the things that make me different from any other N900 user that might cause errors:

- my SIM card (no: I got a new one)
- my microSD card (no: I got a new one)
- my software (no: I installed no software from extras-devel, and only "mc" from extras-testing)
- far-fetched ones:
- my phone holster has a magnetic clasp. Is it magnetizing the accelerometer triggering a rare bug?
- I am using a screen protector sheet. Is it causing a sensor problem?

I know this sounds crazy, but if anyone can confirm you're using a screen protector or a magnetic holster and are having no problems, it would be much appreciated.

I keep hoping for a magic solution like, "Oh, all you have to do is press B when it boots and this goes away" or something like that.

I'll try to contact cpitchford as suggested by Matthew Maude. Meanwhile, the only other thing I can think of is to reflash with a different eMMC image, like "specific to USA" or something.

Comments appreciated.