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Sep 16 21:02:11 <pere> hi.  I recently got a used N900 with no SD card.  When trying to turn it on, the led light up, but the screen stay black.  am I doing it wrong?
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Sep 16 21:09:47 <sixwheeledbeast> pere: no need for a card to boot, was it suppose to be in working order?
Sep 16 21:10:11 <sixwheeledbeast> if you have yellow light it maybe a flat battery
Sep 16 21:10:21 <sixwheeledbeast> ~flatbatrecover
Sep 16 21:10:26 <pere> probably, but years since it last was working.  likely to have a flat battery, indeed.
Sep 16 21:10:41 <sixwheeledbeast> ~flatbattrecover
Sep 16 21:10:46 <sixwheeledbeast> hmm
Sep 16 21:10:55 <pere> yellow blinking light
Sep 16 21:10:57 <sixwheeledbeast> no bot
Sep 16 21:11:21 <sixwheeledbeast> leave it on charge for a while and it may boot up on it's own
Sep 16 21:11:48 <sixwheeledbeast> preferably the nokia charger it comes with
Sep 16 21:12:21 <pere> only have a third party usb cable.
Sep 16 21:12:37 <pere> will it refuse to boot when plugged into power?
Sep 16 21:14:12 <sixwheeledbeast> possibly
Sep 16 21:14:44 <sixwheeledbeast> but if it's a flat battery it normally boots itself when on charge
Sep 16 21:14:56 <sixwheeledbeast> and there is enough juice to boot
Sep 16 21:15:11 <sixwheeledbeast> as long as rootfs is ok
Sep 16 21:15:45 <pere> 0xFFFF -I identified it as N900, which I suspect is a good sign, but do not know how good. :)
Sep 16 21:19:12 <pere> I was hoping to bring it back to life, but if I first need to get a replacement battery, it will take a while.  no nearby source of new batteries. :)
Sep 16 21:21:42 <sixwheeledbeast> try charging it for a while first
Sep 16 21:22:18 <sixwheeledbeast> third party charger may take longer.
Sep 16 21:24:21 <pere> it has been charged for a while before I got it.  will leave it plugged in over night. :)
Sep 16 21:26:13 <sixwheeledbeast> ~flatbatrecover
Sep 16 21:26:14 <infobot> Remove battery for 1 minute. Insert battery. Plug powered ***NOKIA WALLCHARGER*** to device. Watch steady amber. Let sit and charge. Do NOT try to boot. After 30 min, you got either a) a booted up N900, b) flashing amber which means you can boot, c) steady amber shut off -> start over again with ~flatbatrecover while already searching for a new battery. CAVEAT! Only works when ~rootfs OK (no ~bootloop)
Sep 16 21:26:29 <sixwheeledbeast> ~bootloop
Sep 16 21:26:30 <infobot> bootloop is probably when your device has broken rootfilesystem, so during reboot it fails on some service startup or kernel module load and thus reboots. This *drains* battery! And you can't reflash to stop bootloop when battery is drained. Recharge your battery by other means before reflashing. E.g. using ~rescueOS. Or external charger or BL-5J compatible other device.
Sep 16 21:29:46 <pere> what if I do not have a nokia wallcharger?
Sep 16 21:35:49 <sixwheeledbeast> I suppose you have to take your chances, a charger would be better than say a usb port with data like a pc
Sep 16 21:36:50 <pere> after disconnecting the battery, inserting it and inserting the usb plug, I first got a weak nokia logo, then the screen lighted up  and gave me some dots, then it went black.  the led is blinking.
Sep 16 21:38:39 <sixwheeledbeast> possible bootloop then?
Sep 16 21:39:00 <pere> could be.  expected some looping, then, not just black...
Sep 16 21:40:45 <sixwheeledbeast> even when the screen is off the device maybe powered "actdead" 
Sep 16 21:41:17 <sixwheeledbeast> ~bootprocess
Sep 16 21:43:37 <sixwheeledbeast> five dots is trying to boot anyway, so I would say it's either broken rootfs or exhausted battery
Sep 16 21:47:53 <akossh> The nokia charger had a connection from D+ or D- to GND or VCC, I do not remember, probably one of them to GND
Sep 16 21:48:52 <akossh> So the charger does not communicate, the phone knows that it is connected to a charger if it detects this "short"
Sep 16 21:49:33 <akossh> If you have a third party charger and a cable with this "short", it can work
Sep 16 21:49:37 <sicelo> D+ shorted to D- (not GND/VCC)
Sep 16 21:50:44 <akossh> sicelo: thanks
Sep 16 21:52:36 <akossh> If this short is missing, the phone will not take as mutch power from the USB socket, and it can not recover from a flat battery
Sep 16 21:56:23 <akossh> Connecting to a USB port via a normal USB cable, my N900 does the following (in case of a flat battery): charges a little, tries to boot, runs flat and resets, then this repeats
Sep 16 21:57:13 <akossh> however, using a third party charger with a "powerbank cable" works fine
Sep 16 21:57:35 <akossh> It boots up successfully for the first or second try.
Sep 16 22:08:24 <pere> moving to a usb charger instead of a pc usb port, got the boot going. :)
Sep 16 22:10:26 <sicelo> :)
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Sep 16 23:19:40 <pere> is there a 'factory reset' option?  would like to get rid of all the trases of the previous owner.
Sep 16 23:34:32 <sicelo> reflashing is the surest way
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