Updating the firmware

Beware that flashing a new image on the Nokia 770, N800 or N810 will remove all user changes to the system, including preferences, bookmarks, news feeds, user installed applications... Everything not on the memory card will be gone and the device will behave as if just purchased with the single exception that any previously-set lock code will be kept and not reset to the factory-default of "12345" (even the code is not preserved on some images).

The "Backup/Restore" application only saves stuff like bookmarks and documents inside /home/user/MyDocs; some settings in /home/user, gconf and /etc; and additional files configured 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 Nokia tablet

If you want to re-flash your Nokia 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 (currently OS 2008 Software Edition for N810 and N800, and OS 2006 Software Edition for Nokia 770)
  3. Make sure the battery of your tablet is fully charged.
  4. Unplug charger and switch off the tablet. 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
  • "Suitable USB device not found, waiting" is displayed on the console. Now switch on your tablet while holding the Home-button
  • Watch the messages on your console as the image loads to the N810 after which it reboots 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, 770Flasher will work fine for flashing an N800 or N810).
  2. Drag the .bin file onto the flasher .app file
  3. Follow the on-screen prompts
  4. Watch the messages as the image loads to the 770/N800/N810 after which it reboots automatically

Console with flasher-2.0

These steps cover flashing an N800 or N810 with OS X using the Terminal. This is the more difficult of the two methods, 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. Create a new folder on your desktop, name it "n800_upgrade".
  2. If you have an N800, go to http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/nokia_N800.php, if you have an N810, go to http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/nokia_N810.php, and enter your WLAN MAC address into the field (this is located on a sticker behind the battery panel).
  3. Download the latest firmware release.
  4. Move the downloaded firmware into the n800_upgrade folder.
  5. Go to http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/d3.php and download the flasher-2.0.macosx.
    The flasher-2.0.macosx may actually download as "flasher-2.0.macosx, attachment" if it does, then rename it to "flasher-2.0.macosx".
  6. Move the flasher-2.0.macosx into the n800_upgrade folder.
  7. Now, open up the Terminal (it's in /Applications/Utilities/) and type:
    It will ask you for an administrator password after the second command, enter it. 
   cd ~/Desktop/n800_upgrade
   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. Depending on which device you have, you'll need to type one of the following:
    • If you have an N800, type this (all on one line!): 
   sudo ./flasher-2.0.macosx -F ./RX-34_DIABLO_4.2008.23-14_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R
    • If you have an N810, type this (all on one line!): 
   sudo ./flasher-2.0.macosx -F ./RX-44_DIABLO_4.2008.23-14_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -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 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.

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, where `` 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).

Diablo Extras

With the release of Diablo, the Extras repository had a Diablo distribution section added, but Diablo Extras has not yet been populated (details here. Fortunately, Chinook Extras will work just fine under Diablo, so you can use it until Diablo Extras gets up to speed. To add Chinook Extras to Diablo:

  • Open the Application manager.
  • Tap the menu -> Tools -> Application catalog...
  • Double-tap maemo Extras.
  • Type chinook into Distribution field.
  • Tap OK.

When Diablo Extras gets up to speed (should be sometime around the beginning of August 2008), you can simply repeat the above steps, but remove chinook from the distribution field leaving it blank (a blank distribution field defaults to whichever distribution you're using, if you're on Chinook, it will default to "chinook", if you're on Diablo, it will default to "diablo", etc.).

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