N900: Do's & Don'ts with App Manager + Hard Reset
I thought I would give you guys a bit of a heads up about installing applications as a few people (my self included) have got to the point where applications just seem to stop installing or the phone crashes.
First thing first, before you install applications you are not sure of or just want to try, I would recommend that you do a backup (which i’m sure you already know how to do). The great thing with the N900 is that you can make as many backups as you like and you can save them either to your mass memory or your memory card.
Restart Phone
When you restart your phone make sure you:
- Switch phone off
- Remove battery and wait a few seconds
- Insert battery
- Switch phone back on
I’m sorry if this is obvious to you but most people don’t remove the battery when restarting and it sometimes means that the phone does not restart properly!
Backup Phone
Personally I have found this to be the best practice to backup up me phone:
- Run the default backup application and backup everything to either your mass memory or your memory card.
- Connect your phone to your computer in Mass storage mode and copy everything over
- Disconnect phone and reconnect in PC Suite mode and make a backup using Nokia PC Suite – for some strange reason since Nokia released an update I have not been able to get mine to backup this way but in all honestly it’s not really necessary.
Repositories
For 90% of people out there I would recommend that you do not add any more repositories then are currently there, as some of the ones like extras testing, and extras devel are likely to make your phone crash. If you insist on adding them then the details for the repositories are below:
Maemo Extra Testing (as Jay showed us in an earlier post):
As you can tell by the name of this one, it is a load of applications that are still being tested, so don’t expect them all to work properly and they can start to cause problems fi you install things you are not sure about.
Catalogue Name: maemo.org extras testing
Web Address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free
Maemo Extra Development
I DO NOT recommend this one for noobs or even pro’s, this is only really for Developers, as I know a lot of people who have completely bricked their phones after installing applications from it so only add at your own risk! (I’m only sharing it so that developers can see what applications are currently being designed)
Catalogue Name: maemo.org extras devel
Web Address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free
Troubleshooting
These are a few things you can try to fix common problems which I have found.
Error: “Unable to install XXXX”
Details say something like “xxx-xx-xx.img” needs to be installed first.
If you have got this error after adding one of the above repositories and there is usually a simple fix. The error comes up because you have disabled some of the other repositories and the files it requires are actually embedded within the default ones.
Solution: Enable all the repositories and it should allow you to install (If it still doesn’t just restart your phone and try again).
Error: “Unable to install XXXX – Not enough space”
This usually happens because the phone itself only actually has about 227.6MB for the main applications (I found this out after installing “DiskUsage” from the Extras Development repository).
Solution: Uninstall one of your current applications and restart your phone, I found that the phone does not allow you to reuse the space allocated by an uninstalled application until you have restarted the phone.
Error: “Unable to install XXXX”
Details say something like “opt” folder does not exist
This happens because you have installed and/or uninstalled an application from one of the testing or development repositories and it deletes the “opt” folder found in “/home/opt/”.
Solution: See Jay’s post: How to: Fixing “Unable to install application” error on N900
Removing all applications from your phone
Personally I started fresh on my phone by doing re-install using the Nokia Software Updater. This should not delete your user data such as contacts, calender, messages, media, etc but I would recommend doing a backup first anyway…just incase!
This should remove all installed applications.
Hard Reset of phone
Make sure your phone is fully charged before you do the following!!
The only way I’v found so far to do a hard reset of your phone is a method which is shown by “adamf” who appears to be an employee over at Nokia Support Discussions, you can find information about it below but I do warn you it is a very long procedure an would only recommend you do it if you have no other choice!
http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=topfaq&thread.id=168
p.s. I have not tried myself so cannot guarantee results but if you do please comment below, I would love to know how you got on!
Category: Applications, Maemo, Nokia
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I got an n900 but when i try to browse it tells me ‘address not found’. Kindly assist.
Have you entered the Web Address of the repositories exactly as above? just make sure you don’;t have any typo’s, if not can you go to each one and take a screen shot (Ctrl + Shift + P) so we can work out there you are going wrong or if something else is wrong!
hi i am iqbal ahmed and may mobile is not ok it is showing not
i’m sorry, what is your question?
[...] Nokia X6 vs N900 vs N97 06/01/2010 – Nokia X6 Unboxing (Stop Motion) 04/01/2010 – N900: Do’s & Don’ts with App Manager + Hard Reset 30/12/2009 – Nokia Configuration Tool 5.0 Now Available! 30/12/2009 – N900 Document [...]
can someone help me out about my n900 saying (unable to receive or send messages.Device storage full. Remove data to free memory…Now How can i get there?pls help me…thanks
I am looking for an app that is supposed to be available in ‘Extras’. I have the repository included in my Application Catalogs list, but am not seeing the app listed. What could be the cause of this?
(App I am looking for is AutoDisconnect).
Pls ignore my previous comment/question. I think I have found the app in Extras-Testing rather than in Extras. My mistake.
how do you uninstall a program on the phone? i cant seem to find anything which tells me i can uninstall something
Go to App Manager>Uninstall.
How can unistall application like advance power after install these apps my battery icon remove… And
in application manager – unistall there program show but there is no unistall option tell me
how can i remove apps
attention every body i have a big prob in my nokia N900
when i on my phone is showing
(softwares installtion update)
(please do not intrrupt)
(0%)
same like this
we are not in school or the army, nor is your statement a announcement, so saying “attention every body” is not really the appropriate way to ask for help.
What did you do to get it in that way?
If you read the entire post above you might have noticed a link in the “Hard Reset of phone” section which shows you how to re-install the software on your device via a PC when things have gone wrong on the device.
i have got the same problem 3 times by trying to install a software i don remember which but it was very big so i decided that i should sleep leaving the phone downloading and installing it but when i wake up morning i got same problem it happen 2 time for same reason and i had no option just reflash the phone
**********
COMMENT DELETED FOR BEING RACIST
NO RACIST COMMENTS IN HERE “XMAN”
hi
i dont compelet software on n900 what i do??
best and easiest thing to do is to take to your local Nokia Repair Center (you may need to take proof of purchase [receipt] with you) and they will usually just restore it for you.
If you are unable to do this and/or are very confident on your PC, then you can try flashing it your self by following the instructions here:
http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware#Updating_.26_Flashing_your_device
thanks but i remove soft ware example subtitles but reinstall still sitting first install.
sorry but i don’t know what u mean or are asking?
sorry
i install program subtitles and change font but not open so i remove and install for second but font not chenge and again not open!
is it the “Subtitles Support” app?
if so, the settings for it are at the bottom of the page in the main phone settings: Settings > Subtitles
all you have to do is make sure the option “Automatically load subtitle files” is checked, then just have the subtitles for the video/movie in the same folder as the video, and the named the same as the video such as:
Video A.avi
Video A.srt
it can take a few seconds, up to a minute to load the subtitles if you skip ahead through the video.
Hope that helps
thank you yes Settings > Subtitles but not support any language.I think because change font.course I cant change font.
what happens when you try to change font? and what language is your subtitle file in?
when i change font close program and write “internal error app setting closeed”
what i remove this program completly that it like first install course I test whit app manager and app faster.thank you
no body answer my question!!
Hi, I have tried to help where I can, I’m only one person!
You are best to try asking your question over at the official Maemo forum, as there will be a lot more people to help, including the app developer hopefully, I can’t think of anything else which might help.
Maemo forum: http://talk.maemo.org/