Hi there. Please be gentle as I'm a relative newbie. I've searched and didn't see a similar problem to mine. I'm wondering if this is fixable or if I should hurry and return the unit!

My 1 week old 770 has decided to enter an infinite reboot while I was attempting to download a new application (mozilla's latest browser).

I had the latest version of OS as of today.

While booting, the blue bar begins scrolling to indicate progress. It gets somewhere between 1/2 way to all the way and then BAM. White screen of death and up pops the Nokia logo again. This happens over and over again for about 10 minutes until the device shuts itself down.

I've already tried reflashing twice. If that doesn't work, I have no idea what else i could try to restore original settings. Any ideas???

A BIG thank you ahead of time.

Well thats your problem right there..... and I am sure it couldnt be any more clear in the maemo site but the latest mozilla browser is only and again I repeat ONLY for the latest OS2007 firmware which only runs in the N800..... Unles you had dual boot up setup your only choice is reflash... With dual boot you have a chance at mounting the primary rom and take out the offending packege... Also thats not a WSOD is just a reboot loop caused by watchdog...

"Unles you had dual boot up setup your only choice is reflash... "

Thanks for your reply SeRi. Two things:

I don't think the Mozilla ever even installed. The App Manager came up and probably just a few seconds later (about the time that it should have been downloading it), it rebooted itself. I may have shot myself in the foot on this one.

The second thing is that I've already reflashed several times. And what's freaking me out is that it's not fixing my problem. I'm using the Nokia Update Wizard. That is what we're talking about here, right?

-RS

Yes, reflashing with the Update Wizard (or flasher utility on Linux/Mac). Are you sure the reflash is completing successfully or failing mid-way? Mind you if the flash failed part way I'd expect you to be left with an unbootable device...

Odd that it isn't fixing the problem, you could try disabling the lifeguard-reset watchdog but for this you'll need access to an x86 Linux PC, or a LiveCD distribution (try booting from a CD using the Damn Small Linux ISO - it won't harm your Windows installation) and the x86 flasher-3.0 binary.

Then execute the following commands with the 770 in flasher mode (connect the 770 to your Linux PC with the USB cable then hold down the Home key and power on the 770)

Once the above command has completed without any errors, pull the battery, disconnect the USB cable, replace the battery after about 5-10 seconds and power on the device.

With luck this will stop your device from rebooting long enough for you to fix the problem at which point you can re-enable the lifeguard-reset watchdog as follows:

Yes, the Update Wizard flash is completing successfully - 3 times now.

Yikes. I should've known I was getting in deep with the Linux stuff. I'm a novice, but I do have access Linux boxes at work.

But if I am able to disable the watchdog timer, there's still no guarantee that the device will make it to the startup screen, correct? Then what?

Try using the LiveCD first, it's only a 50MB-ish download and will be useful in future - the Linux flasher is far more versatile than the Windows Update Wizard (which is dumbed down).

Note that the flasher utility needs to be run as root. You can easily get a root shell in Damn Small Linux, download the flasher binary to /tmp, chmod +x ./flasher-3.0, then execute the flasher command as described previously.

If disabling the lifeguard-reset brings no joy, I suggest you post back here to see if anyone else can suggest something but if not then your problem may be terminal and your device in need of replacement (or Nokia warranty repair depending on your vendors returns policy).

It's pretty hard to brick an Internet Tablet as re-flashing almost always fixes any boot issues, but it's possible some component has failed coincidentally (possibly memory) resulting in a failure to boot.

Ok. That's great help, Milhouse. I will give that a try and update tomorrow. Thank you.

-RS

I was able to get my 770 connected to a linux box and run this as root:

./flasher-3.0 --set-rd-flags=no-lifeguard-reset

I now see a "configuration" icon just below the NOKIA logo and some green text on the screen. But unfortunately, it still behaves the same, rebooting itself infinitely after the blue bar either gets slightly past the midpoint or all the way to the end.

Any other suggestions that I can do while I'm in Linux? Would a flash from here be any different from doing the flash from windows?


BTW, today I was able to contact both Buy.com and Nokia. No love from either. Buy.com says "no returns on this item under any circumstances." Nokia says "Based on the serial number, it's an imported item, which means it has no warrantee." Gee, thanks. So, I really have no choice but to fix this puppy. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Flashing from Linux should be the same as Windows, but it's worth a try. Also try enabling R&D mode (./flasher-3.0 --enable-rd-mode) just in case it gives it that extra kick.

I can't believe Nokia have refuse honour any waranty - they're a global company, surely they understand people move around? I'd use the excuse that I bought it when I was living in xx country and have now returned to the US.

Beyond that, if nobody else can help (and Nokia won't help) then try opening a bug in Bugzilla (longshot) or harassing the maemo mailing list. Nokia refusing to support their own product is absolute bollox, to be frank.

I've tried flashing from Windows, and Linux, using different images and using the R&D mode on and off. I've also tried suspending the watchdog timer. It seems as if I am out of ideas and maybe out of luck. Is it really possible that this thing is bricked already?

Does anyone know what's actually going on when the blue bar's going across the screen? Is it loading drivers? Copying stuff out of memory? I wish I had a better understanding and a way to get into this thing and really debug it. Argh!

I'm still hopeful but I'm not sure if there's anything else to try. Thanks to everyone who's read this thread and tried to help.