Nokia tips

Soft Reset will clear pending errors and bring your mobile to an initial state by restoring Factory setting. To operate this function on your mobile, the shortcut is: *#7380#

This function apparently works on almost all nokia mobile phones.

Hard reset

[back to top]

It may happen that despite you have restored your mobile to factory setting, the error still exist. In this case, it is recommended that you opt for Hard reset

Enter the code: *#7370# and press Yes to confirm initialization.
on/off + * + 3

Reset a Nokia 5800

[back to top]

Press simultaneously the 4 button:

Green button
Red button
Camera button
On/off button

If you perform properly the above manipulation the phone restarts and you must enter the time, date …

Reset a Nokia N97

[back to top]

If your Nokia n97 freezes at startup, and the nokia logo is displayed,

You can reset your N97 while pressing the 4 buttons describe above:
Power button
Space key
Delete key (left arrow logo)
Caps /shift button (up arrow logo)

The Nokia logo appears and then after a few moments you will be asked to configure your phone: country

How to hard reset Nokia N900?

[back to top]

Just follow these steps. It should take no more than 5 minutes. These are instructions for windows:
You will need:

PC
N900
MicroUSB Cable
Maemo Flasher: Download from: http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/maemo-dev-env-downloads.php. Install it.
Your IMEI. This is so you can download the following two pieces of software below (Go to settings>About Product or look at the label under the battery)
Place the two files above into C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5

Hard resetting N900 in 10 steps

[back to top]

NOTE: BACKUP All content.
Transfer any media (Pictures/Videos/Music) you want to your computer via cable as these WILL be wiped.
To backup settings/messages/contacts/bookmarks, Create a backup onto Memory Card. Go to the Backup application and instead of saving the backup to the N900, save it to a microSD. (Any backups on N900 itself will be wiped!)
Make sure N900 is at least 50% charged, you don’t want it to die half way.
OK. We’re all set.

1. N900 must not be connected to the cable yet. OK. Turn N900 OFF.
2. Hold “U” on the N900’s QWERTY keyboard and connect it to the MicroUSB cable.
3. Once you see the Nokia logo and USB cable on N900’s screen, let go of “U”
4. Go to start>run and type “cmd”
5. In the black command window, type “cd\program files\maemo\flasher-3.5?. “Alternatively, you can copy and paste “cd\program files\maemo\flasher-3.5?. You must copy and paste with the mouse as Ctrl+V will NOT paste into command window.
6 Then type: flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_3.2010.02-8_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R. Note, the text in bold refers to your particular file name, which is dependent on the regional firmware version you download. You must have “flasher-3.5 -F” before the file name and “.bin -f -R” after.
7. Wait for a few minutes as your N900 is flashed with this version of the OS. Once done, it will restart itself. Let the N900 restart.
8. Turn off N900. Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 to reconnect N900 back to computer
9. With the command window still open, type (or copy and paste): flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.41-1.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R
10. This will delete ALL content on your 32GB mass memory and replace back all the ORIGINAL content that comes with N900, like wallpapers that you might have deleted.. Leave flasher to do it’s thing and after a while you can restart your N900. Everything will be nice and fresh. This method helped me get my installation memory back to 1.93GB instead of the 144mb I kept on getting.

Restoring BACKUP!

[back to top]

Just go to Backup>Restore. Just OK everything and your N900 will have all it’s bookmarks, contacts, messages, emails, calendar appointments, homescreen widgets. It’s a very excellent Backup application.
To get your applications back, go to App Manager. Hit the toolbar at the top and click “restore applications”. It will give you a list of applications you can choose to reinstall. You don’t have to put all of them back.
Any photos/videos/music, just drag and drop them back in from your computer.

Restoring data

Restoring data after resetting Nokia phone

[back to top]

(i) Using the *#7780# sequence.
It will restore ini files from ROM keeping all your data (themes, 3rd party applications, video, photos, and music files)

(*ii) Using the *#7370# sequence.
Completely format phone memory. Default files are cleaned up and rewritten.
Note that data found on memory card will not be altered
Note: When using symbian60 v1 based phone such as nokia 7650, 3650 or N gage models these two key sequences can be entered in the same way you dial up a phone number. The phone will prompt you to enter a security code (12345 by default).

On the latest S60 phones you can try a Deep Reset, using the following steps:

Turns off the phone
Press simultaneously on the green/talk, 3 and* keys and hold the 3 keys.
Turn on your phone
Wait for the onscreen Format message then can release the three keys

This method may also work for Nokia phones that won’t turn on.
Note that before making a reset on Nokia’s latest phone (N96), using the *#7370# or the 3 finger method, better make a backup, as you will automatically delete important data:
The license for pre-loaded contents (music, video, maps, etc..) and pre-installed application (N-gage).
Better use this method (reset) as a last resort.

N900 applications NOKIA catalog

Repositories Extras, Extras-Devel and Extras-Testing for Nokia N900

[back to top]

Maemo, the operating system of Nokia N900, has 3 repositories of applications. Repositories are Extras, Extras-Devel, and Extras-Testing and in each are grouped the applications according to their compatibility and the result of the test in Maemo.

Repository Extra

[back to top]

In the N900 the repository Extras is pre-configured but is not compatible with the current firmware. The user has to allow this repository before use. Extras is a repository where they are applications that are tested properly and compatible, with a perfect functionality.
If you erase this repository you can return to install it. In applications manager we create the catalogue with the following information:

Catalogue name: Extras
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free

Repository Extra-Testing

[back to top]

This repository adds manually. Extras-Testing contains the new applications that have not yet been tested and verified.
In applications manager we created the catalog:

Catalogue name: Extras-Testing
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free

Repository Extra-Devel

[back to top]

This repository also adds manually. In Extras-Devel we find applications in the early stages of development or version “alpha”. This repository is the least indicated for the end users, since its operation can have too many problems.
To install the repository Extras-Devel we are going to applications manager and created the catalog with the following information:

Catalogue name: Extras-Devel
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free

Free up rootfs space in Nokia Maemo

Some instructions here may cause problems. When unsure, see General precautions
Backing up your data is recommended. In case of trouble you might need to re-flash your device.

Here’s a simple howto for those suffering from lack of space in rootfs. The first suggestion is more of a temporary matter, for example to get enough space to install an update, but it’s also the fastest and easiest. The suggestions are in order of potential threat to operating system. Least dangerous first and the most dangerous last. The rest are more permanent (and thus more useful), but they require root access.

Listing rootfs space on your device

[back to top]

Use this command to determine how much rootfs space is allocated, used, and available on your device.

df -h | head -n 2

If you want to see all filesystems, use only “df -h”.

Disable Extras-testing, Extras-devel, and/or any other third party repositories

[back to top]

Simply check the disabled box and save in the Application Manager’s catalogues menu. Wait for app manger to update the lists. This only helps if you actually had these repositories enabled.
Disabling extras-testing and extras-devel will (currently) give you an extra 5 MB in rootfs

Clear apt cache

[back to top]

Run following command (has to be done as root)

apt-get clean

Remove unused dependencies

[back to top]

Run following command (has to be done as root)

apt-get autoremove

List of big and rarely used files

[back to top]

You can’t just delete these files, this is just a list with ideas! You have to know what you are going to do with them (optify, backup+remove, etc.).

/usr/share/locale (10 MB, but you have to keep at least the one language you use)
/usr/share/themes/alpha and /beta (they use 5-6 MB each, keep the one you use)
/usr/share/fonts/arabic and /chinese (2,5 MB less for people who don’t speak those two languages)

Move apt cache outside of rootfs

[back to top]

If you run into a problem while using apt-get you can temporarily (for one command only) have the apt cache outside rootfs to be able to download larger deb files.
Create a download folder on the eMMC to be used for the downloaded packages instead of the default apt archive folder.

mkdir -p /home/user/MyDocs/apt-archive-cache/archives/partial

Now execute apt-get with the -o option as root:

apt-get -o dir::cache=/home/user/MyDocs/apt-archive-cache

for you can enter the command you normally would use after apt-get.
Examples:

apt-get -o dir::cache=/home/user/MyDocs/apt-archive-cache dist-upgrade

apt-get -o dir::cache=/home/user/MyDocs/apt-archive-cache install

Optify Python

[back to top]

If you have installed python or a python program before it was optified, you can optify it with this method. First open a console, then type the following commands as root:

apt-get install pymaemo-optify
apt-get clean

When the program is installed, type df -h in the xterm to see if it worked. The output should now contain lines similar to this one:
/opt/pymaemo/usr/lib/python2.5
2064208 471712 1487640 24% /usr/lib/python2.5

Remove non-optified packages

[back to top]

Remove non-optified packages
If you have installed programs from extras-devel, third party repositories or rarely, but possible, extras-testing, the programs might not be properly optified. Removing these might help with rootfs space.
You can free space by uninstalling applications that you do not need. A problem is if you do not know how these applications are called. To find it out:

Open a console
Start the application that you do not need
In the Terminal/console, type:

ps -ef

You get a listing of all running processes, including the application you just started. To find out what package an application belongs to, enter

dpkg –search $(which processname)

Source: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=468063&postcount=1

Script to free up space on rootfs

[back to top]

This script will move some unnecessary files on rootfs to /home/opt/ to free up space on rootfs.
First, create a file, move-to-opt.sh for example, containing this script:

#!/bin/sh
# Nokia N900 Maemo 5 Script to free up space on rootfs
# ignoring errors when creating dirs that may already exist

# Moving ?? icons to /home/opt
mkdir -p /home/opt/usr/share/icons 2> /dev/null
cp -r /usr/share/icons/* /home/opt/usr/share/icons
rm -r /usr/share/icons
ln -s /home/opt/usr/share/icons /usr/share/icons

# Moving video on start-up to /home/opt
mkdir -p /home/opt/usr/share/hildon-welcome 2> /dev/null
cp -r /usr/share/hildon-welcome/* /home/opt/usr/share/hildon-welcome
rm -r /usr/share/hildon-welcome
ln -s /home/opt/usr/share/hildon-welcome /usr/share/hildon-welcome

# ??
mkdir -p /home/opt/usr/share/pixmaps 2> /dev/null
cp -r /usr/share/pixmaps/* /home/opt/usr/share/pixmaps
rm -r /usr/share/pixmaps
ln -s /home/opt/usr/share/pixmaps /usr/share/pixmaps

# Moving ‘apt cache’ to /home/opt – Valid until Bug 5746 is fixed.
mkdir -p /home/opt/var/cache/apt 2> /dev/null
cp -r /var/cache/apt/* /home/opt/var/cache/apt
rm -r /var/cache/apt
ln -s /home/opt/var/cache/apt /var/cache/apt

# Moving locales Source
mv /usr/share/locale /opt
ln -s /opt/locale /usr/share/locale

Set the script’s permission for executable:

chmod +x move-to-opt.sh

(note that this step will – without warning you in any way – not work on partitions which are only fat formatted, as maybe your micro sd card will initially be; in such a case, move the script somewhere else)
Run the script as root:

./move-to-opt.sh

Script to safely free space on rootfs

[back to top]

This script shows you how much space will be freed and automatically detects whether some directories have already been moved.

Move some of the pre-installed applications into /opt

[back to top]

Some applications like Nokia Maps and the microb-engine are placed in /usr/share taking up valuable root space, moving these files will not affect the apps. Moving Nokia Maps (has to be done as root) will save 8.7 Mb:

mv /usr/share/nokia-maps /home/opt/
ln -s /home/opt/nokia-maps /usr/share/nokia-maps

Moving the microb-engine (has to be done as root) will save 13.9 Mb:

mv /usr/share/microb-engine /home/opt
ln -s /home/opt/microb-engine /usr/share/microb-engine

Moving the “Getting started” app/tutorial (has to be done as root):

mv /usr/share/tutorial-applet /home/opt
ln -s /home/opt/tutorial-applet /usr/share/tutorial-applet

Move themes

[back to top]

This may cause problems when changing themes, and reversing it is NOT possible unless the device is reflashed

Add the following into the script above OR add into another script (with #!/bin/sh at the start)

# Moving themes to /home/opt
mkdir -p /home/opt/usr/share/themes 2> /dev/null
cp -r /usr/share/themes/* /home/opt/usr/share/themes
rm -r /usr/share/themes
ln -s /home/opt/usr/share/themes /usr/share/themes