Thanks again. I managed to find that option after but VPC still did not recognise my n900.

So, I got myself a livecd ubuntu and booted that way, installed the flasher deb and just flashed my n900. "CMT Flashed Successfully'.

However, nothing is displayed on the device screen. I fear it may be a problem with the screen.. might be time to open the device and check that the ribbon is connected properly, but I think that will invalidate my warranty.

Update, it's going back to Nokia for repair.

I was going to suggest trying the thread about the screen brightness settings - is there any chance you have set the screen brightness to 1 manually (i.e. via the terminal?)

It may be worth writing a large value to the brightness setting to see if the screen comes to life?

Thread here

You can easily see the screen even in minimum brightness anywhere. You may not be able to easily read it, but seeing it's on is not an issue.

You can even read it with direct sun using it in reflective mode.
If it's not visible at all, something more than backlight is going on.

Backlight is working fine, the screen glows. There isn't any content on the screen - it's black.. but backlit..