Updating the firmware

Beware that flashing a new image on your tablet will reset the device back to factory defaults and remove all data not on the memory cards—preferences, bookmarks, installed applications, with a single exception that any previously-set lock code will be kept and not reset to the factory-default of "12345".

The "Backup/Restore" application only saves a list of your repositories and installed applications (the applications you can reinstall after flashing), files in /home/user/MyDocs, some settings in /home/user, gconf and /etc, and additional files reported by applications on install. In general, properly packaged applications tell the backup tool what to back up, but if you've created extra shell scripts or files outside MyDocs, you'll have to back them up yourself.

Contents

Flashing your tablet

If you want to flash your tablet, follow the steps below:

  1. Download the flasher for your platform and tablet model from Nokia's Tablet Dev site
  2. In the same directory download the latest firmware image
  3. Make sure the battery of your tablet is fully charged.
  4. Unplug charger and switch off the tablet.
  5. Connect the tablet to your computer via USB without turning it on.

Flashing on Linux

Execute as root (or as a normal user with rights to use the USB port—if you see Error claiming USB interface: Operation not permitted then you need to run flasher as root), replace <FIASCO image> with the firmware image you downloaded from Nokia:

For the N800 and N810: 

./flasher-3.0 -F <FIASCO image> -f -R

For the 770: 

./flasher-2.0 -F <FIASCO image> -f -R

You should now see Suitable USB device not found, waiting, switch on your tablet while holding the Home-button (N800) or swap button (N810), and watch the messages on your console as the FIASCO image is flashed, after which it will reboot automatically—you're done!

Flashing on Mac OS X

There are two methods for flashing the tablet on OS X, using the GUI, with the 770Flasher application or using the console, much like the Linux flashing method. Both methods work fine for both the 770 and the N800/N810.

GUI with 770Flasher

This is the easier of the two methods, and should be used by most people.

  1. Download the 770Flasher (yes, it will work fine for flashing an N800 or N810).
  2. Follow the steps above to get the appropriate firmware image.
  3. Drag the firmware image (will end in .bin) onto 770Flasher.
  4. Follow the on-screen prompts.
  5. You should now see Suitable USB device not found, waiting, switch on your tablet while holding the Home-button.
  6. Watch the messages as the image loads to the tablet after which it reboots automatically.

Console with flasher-2.0

These steps cover flashing the tablet with OS X using the Terminal. This is the more difficult than using [[1]], but gives you access to the advanced options flasher-2.0 provides (like setting R&D flags, flashing only parts of the image, unpacking the image, etc).

  1. Follow the steps above to get the appropriate firmware image and flasher.
    The flasher-2.0.macosx may actually download as flasher-2.0.macosx, attachmen if it does, then rename it to flasher-2.0.macosx.
  2. Now, open up the Terminal (it's in /Applications/Utilities/) and run:
    It will ask you for an administrator password, enter it. 
sudo chmod 755 ./flasher-2.0.macosx
  1. Now turn off your device (make sure you unplug the charger or else the device wont power down completely, you can plug the device back into power once it starts flashing) and plug in the USB cable to a port on the computer and the port on your device.
  2. Then run this command to flash your tablet: 
sudo ./flasher-2.0.macosx -F <FIASCO image> -f -R
  1. It will say: 
Suitable USB device not found, waiting
  1. Take your device, and hold down the Home/Swap button (looks like a little house on the N800 and 770, and two overlapping rectangles on the N810), and while holding down the Home/Swap button press the power button to turn it on.
    If it doesn't doesn't boot and start flashing, make sure the USB cable is plugged in.
  2. It should start flashing and then reboot.
  3. You can remove the USB cable after it has booted to a normal desktop (just make sure to eject any cards that may have mounted on your Mac).

Flashing on Windows

Windows users can go to the appropriate support page for their tablet (N810, N800, or 770), download and install the Software Update Wizard, run it and follow the on-screen prompts.

Seamless Software Update

Main article: Seamless Software Update

[SSU http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maemo_(operating_system)#SSU] is Nokia's new method for upgrading the tablets over-the-air without requiring a reflash. When Nokia pushes an update over SSU, you will see an update notification and be given the option to install the update—just like with your computer.

Generally speaking, SSU updates should be relatively pain-free, but there are a few issues to watch out for. If you have an aftermarket kernel or intifs installed (like the rotation support kernel or fanoush's bootmenu) and a kernel or initfs upgrade is pushed, they will be overwritten and you'll need to wait for your kernel or the bootmenu to be updated to reinstall them.

If the update doesn't show up for you at all, you may have accidentally (or intentionally) uninstalled osso-software-version-rx*4, which is required to update. You can get it back by simply running an apt-get install osso-software-version-rx34, for the N800, and an apt-get install osso-software-version-rx44, for the N810. Then updating your repository list in Application manager.

Troubleshooting

  • If you get a "Permission denied" error then chmod +x flasher-2.0 or chmod +x flasher-3.0 to make the flasher tool executable. You may also need root permissions, run command with sudo or su to root.
  • It may help, if you connect the tablet directly to your computer by USB, instead of a USB hub. Also, avoid the USB ports on laptop docking stations.
  • If you need to flash your Nokia 770 with an image from 2005 then use the older flasher called "flasher" with no number in the name
  • On some distributions the USB filesystem is not loaded mount -t usbfs usbfs /proc/bus/usb
  • If you are running a newer kernel and you get "Suitable USB device not found, waiting" but nothing happens when you switch on the 770 as instructed above, try to patch the flasher: perl -pi -e 's-/proc/bus/usb-/dev/bus/usb\000-;' -i.backup $FLASHER, where $FLASHER is the location of your flasher 2.0 linux binary. This applies also for flasher-3.0 (tested with Debian 4.0 and an N800).
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