Hi folks,
I bought my N900 when it was released in London a while back. Its been awesome all this time and I just got back from a holiday to Rome and Perugia. On the way back it fell out of luggage and the screen has been dented.

The display and touch screen now only works in the top right corner. I cannot seem to press or select anything else. It shows a corrupted display for 60% of the screen. If I use TV out I can see the display fine. So Im pretty happy the data is safe, only the screen was damaged.

I have spent the evening reading articles on this site to help me access the file system and retrieve my photos and contacts and calendar but cannot work out how. Please help. Ill explain things I have tried.
Note: As a long term owner of the N900 I am aware of its Linux heritage but have not coded or gone "in depth" with the xterm at all. I mainly used the application manager and used the phone just shy of any hardcore scripting or hacking so please bare with me

I have tried plugging the phone into my PC using the USB cable supplied but because I cannot use the touch screen I cannot select Mass Storage or PC Suite. I read on this site that if the phone is turned off then it is read as a normal USB drive. I tried this but Vista began to install drivers and then failed. I then read this is only in Linux so I downloaded the latest version of Ubuntu and then booted from a CD running it and again tried the N900 both on and off. This time Ubuntu noticed the N900 as two differernt drives but complained every time I tried to open one of them. It gave an error like they were not folders to open(?).

I then found this article http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=64906&page=3 and tried using it to back stuff up. The MyDocs partially worked! I now have some databases of contacts on my microSD card. However Im not sure how I can add them to Ovi or integrate them somewhere usefull. Anyhow, it did not copy my photos over to the MicroSD card. I then found this article http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=48756 which showed how to copy music over. I tried replacing the folder named Music for DCIM (It was a guess, Im not sure if the N900 stores them there) and it through up a load of errors in Xterm complaining it could not copy the images to the media/mmc as it was a read only file system. But I have just ran the backup script fine a few mins back.

I really really wish there was a keyboard shortcut I could use to select the Mass Storage Mode button or PC Suite Button when it pops up. Is there a way I can enable either in xterm? Can I plug in my N900 to the PC via USB and somehow run xterm to establish the connection?

I would really appreciate all your help in rescuing my photos and details. I saw mention on this site of a way I could remote into the phone like a VNC viewer, it was something like openssh / x11vnc but Im not exactly sure what they do.
Apologies if the spelling is off. Its late and Ive been trying to fix this all night :P

Many thanks,

Joda

Ah Ha! I have had one tiny bit of success so far. I reformated the MicroSD card and tried copying the DCIM folder across to it again in xterm using the TV-Out to read the screen. This time it worked and filled up the 1gig MicroSD card. Im going to buy a larger sd card and hopefully be able to copy remaining pics (Theres a couple of gigs of vids and pics taken).

Can anyone advise on the syntax I would need to use to specify files to copy incase there are more than I can fit? How would I write in xterm: Only copy files with the year "2011" in the filename over to the MicroSD Card? That way I could break down the large copying of files a little.

Otherwise, does anyone know how I can enable either the mass storage mode or PC Suite mode without touching the screen. Either with Xterm or through a convoluted method of remote viewing

Many thanks,

Joda

I'm not sure I've fully understood exactly what content or data you're trying to get off the internal memory, or how much connectivity you've got right now.

Assuming that the phone connects itself to your home WiFi, is on your network, and you can access xterm, then you can:

1) install the openssh-server and shell into the phone from a Linux terminal or a Windows SSH client (try looking for "putty").

2) install x11vnc and start it manually with x11vnc -many & - this will let you VNC into the phone using a normal VNC client

3) if you want to just copy data off a filesystem, look at using rsync

4) if you need more specific support on how/where to find certain data, post back (I may not be the best person to answer though)

5) don't rule out the option of just getting the screen replaced or doing it yourself, N900s are all over eBay and there are plenty of phone repair services who can do it (but of course, the more you can backup first, the better)

(If you don't have WiFi I'm certain that it will be possible to set up USB networking at console, but, it is not something I have done. Either way I'd go the network route over the SD card route.)

If you install BackupMenuyou can activate USB mass storage mode using it.
Restart the device once it's installed.
During the load up a couple of errors will show up about some now unnecessary files so press enter twice.
Once BackupMenu is up just press w and you should be able to access the drives on your pc.

Edit: Restart the device with the keyboard open.
While you're in BackupMenu you can make a full rootfs and optfs backup which you could then restore in another unit should you get one. These backups can be found in the MyDocs/systemBackups directory.

Hi folks,
Thanks for the feedback and stuff to try! Ill get on this as soon as I can.

Let me clarify exactly what Im trying to do. I want to retrieve my Photos and Videos taken and also My Contacts and Calendar. Replacing the N900 screen is the last thing I want to do after I have backed stuff up.

I would ideally like to successfully connect the phone via USB or remotely control the screen via x11vnc.

From reading your suggestions so far, it looks like I will need to enable my Wifi on the N900. This is not on by default Its set up and will connect fine, but is there a way I can enable it through xterm? Or... I set up a desktop button that when pressed turns on my Vodafone Internet connection. If I could run this then I would be able to connect to the net and install the backupmenu program.

Is there a way I can launch applications on the desktop by using keyboard shortcuts? I can see the desktop fine through TV-Out. Or any way I can enable my wifi connection through xterm?

Cheers for your help guys!

Joda

The desktop button, was it a widget or was it a standard shortcut?

It was a widget "ConnectNow internet connection switch v1.1" http://maemo.org/downloads/product/M...w-home-widget/ Does this help?

You'll have problems setting up Wifi at console because iwconfig doesn't like passphrase-based encryption; it could be done using unsecured wireless or a good old-fashioned key, but it'll be hassle.

(Edit: if it's set up and just needs to be enabled, then you might just try an "iwconfig wlan0 up", or if it's been disabled by something like WiFi switcher unloading the kernel mods, try "modprobe wl12xx" beforehand.)

BackupMenu is probably the better call assuming your phone is functional enough to use it, and it'll be easier to get your existing Vodafone connection online at console than to configure wireless.

So, from your xterm:

gconftool-2 --set --type list --list-type string /system/osso/connectivity/network_type/auto_connect[*]

will change your Internet connection type from "always ask" to "connect automatically" and, if you needed to manually put the phone into 3G mode,

run-standalone.sh dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.set_selected_radio_access_technology byte:0

should take care of that. Provided your Vodafone 3G connection was previously configured, that will get you 3G mode and connect automatically, then you should be able to install BackupMenu as per mrsellout's instructions.

See how far that gets you; BM offers USB networking as well as mass storage, which might make the idea of setting up WiFi redundant.

Oh you wonderful wonderful people! As soon as Im back from work Ill give this a shot. Thanks for your help folks!
Wifi is already configured on my phone, just needs to be enabled.

A quick check... Looks like BackupMenu will work as long as the keyboard is open?

Ok I've tried what was suggested but it's giving me errors such as "No value set for key" and it does not even find the file iwconfig.

I think I need to be root to do this. I do not have rootsh installed. Is there a way for me to get this to enable root and there by enable my wifi? Can I somehow download the package onto a microSD card and install it that way?

Thanks again for all your help with this.