Thread: N900 reboot loop - any way to rescue data off eMMC?
View Single Post
2disbetter's Avatar
2disbetter is offline 2disbetter
2010-08-24 , 12:41
Posts: 365 | Thanked: 98 times | Joined on Nov 2009
#16
Originally Posted by mwerle View Post
First of all an apology if this is covered somewhere. I am currently on an overseas trip and while I have done some searching for possible solutions I haven't exhaustively done so.

My N900 started continuously rebooting (while it was charging off a car-charger during a road-trip. No explicit action such as installing or updating a program kicked this off). It starts the normal boot sequence (the 5-dot animation) but after a short while the sequence always stops on the second dot from the left (unsure if this is of significance) and the phone reboots.


I have re-flashed the OS using flasher-3.5 several times. Regardless, the phone's behaviour has not changed. I have not yet flashed the eMMC as I don't want to lose the data on that, if at all possible, hence this posting.

Is there a way to boot the kernel into a minimal rescue mode which would let me access the eMMC from a PC to backup the content?

Alternatively is there a rescue kernel or custom firmware I can flash onto it to the same effect?

So far I have not found any info on kernel boot parameters for the N900 or special rescue/recovery modes it can be booted into. I have also not found a detailed explanation of the command-line switches to the flasher tool (eg, what is 'cold flashing'?)

Any help much appreciated!

- Micha.
(V.glad now that he took another phone with him on this trip...)
First off you don't need to flash your phone for this. You will need the flasher-3.5 program on a PC, Linux, or Mac. Then with the back cover off, and battery out, start to hold the u key on the keyboard, plug the battery in while keeping your finger on the u key (you shoudl only have to hold u down after plugging the battery in but just to be sure). Now plus the usb cable into the phone. It will show the nokia screen, with a little usb sign in the top right corner.

No in terminal (assumign linux or max) type:

flasher-3.5 --enable-rd-mode

for pc

flasher-3.5.exe --enable-rd-mode

This will enable rd mode on your phone. Unplug usb cable. Your phone will reboot, and shoud load all the way up. After it does, turn it off. Hold down the u key again, and plug in the uSB cable again. Now type in your terminal again:

flasher-3.5 --disable-rd-mode

for pc:

flasher-3.5.exe --disable-rd-mode

That will return your phone to normal operating mode.

As a curiosity have you already updated to PR1.2?

2d

Edit: If this was a kernel problem, you would not see the blinking dot process. It would go to the Nokia Screen, go blank, and then reboot continually. This is a seperate issue from that.