Sorry, but it doesn't look like that's the problem. My N800 has never had any power on problems, so I just ran a test for you. I shut my N800 down, removed the rear cover, and powered it up. It booted up just fine. My internal card was simply unavailable until I put the rear cover in place.

Are you using OS 2008 (rev. 50-2)? That's what I have running on my N800 (bought just one week ago).

The purpose of the magnetic switch is to let the N800 know that you might be removing the internal SD card. It has to know that in order to shut it down to prevent data loss or corruption. AFAIK that's the only reason for the switch. If the magnet comes loose from its location, the internal card won't be recognized, so keep an eye on it. A fair number of people have reported that theirs came out, apparently due to poor quality glue. I put about a half-drop of cyanoacrylate glue there, just to make sure it stays.

Hi,

I also have a faulty n810 with the same problem. The 3 minutes trick does not work even with removing the battery (and waitong for thee more minutes). Mine was OK for the first switch on. It booted up at the first tuch of the power button (no need to hold it down). Then I think I didn't switch it off for a few days. Then it accidentally went off. It was charging it (without turning it off) and then when the led showed that it was full I removed the charger and then it switched off and couldn't be turned on normally anymore.

Tomorrow I'll meet some of my ex-colleagues and then I'll have a chance to test it with other original Nokia batteries. (A few of them have e90's and those run on the same BP-4L's as the n810.)

Yesterday I mailed the Nokia customer support here in Hungary and asked them if they new about this problem, but haven't got any feedback yet. I think I'll also try the US guys. It's very strange (or should I say sad?) that basically there is no official information about this bug despite that quite a few of us have deffective devices. The first mention of the problem I found here is from July. It's been almost half a year since then...

Can anybody tell me that approximately how much time does it take to get a replacement including all the shiipping and handling? I ordered it from buy.com. A friend of mine is travelling back to the US this week and then she'll come back in almost three weeks and if they are not fast enough handling this then I'll probably have to wait until April to get it back.

Yes, I am.

Got my replacment N800 yesterday, and it has NO power on/charge trouble, so anyone with the problem should get a replacment. remember this may be discounted now, but it was a very expensive device not so long ago that should not have tis problem.

I noticed straight away that there was changes in both the internal Memory card lock And the external memory card door.

The 3 min trick worked for me fine, but no way was i putting up with that nonsense.

So long story short, get it replaced.

Glad i did.....

Not everyone can replace their unit, as many of you have suggested. I would *like* to replace mine, but I purchased it from Buy.com and their 14-days-from-when-it-leaves-the-warehouse return policy is preventing me.
I sent my unit to Nokia's repair facility and it returned (a week later) with the same problem. I'm waiting to see if there is a firmware fix from Nokia so I can turn it on without using the wall charger.

It seems that it can be corrected with software, at least some developer left a comment in the bug tracker. https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2673#c17 I'm glad I did _not_ send it back because that would have meant at least 4 weeks without the device. Actually there was some guy on the forum who got a replacement unit that also had the bug.