Unbelievable N97

Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Europe, Planet Earth
Device: Nokia N97, flagship device
Story: Bought it 4 months ago. This device spent 1 month in Nokia Care Centre, 3 times.
So many problems.This morning I went to Nokia Care Centre (actually it is official Nokia reseller)to pick up my phone. They told me they changed mainboard so I got new IMEI. "New" phone in old shell. FW:21.0.045 I RESTORED CONTACTS ONLY and installed following apps: Skype, Garmin Mobile XT, Adobe LE, Accuweather. I transferred some music and few photos using USB. I paired my BH103 bluetooth headset with the phone, I connected wired headset so I can listen to the radio. Everything was going OK. When I tried to change the station phone got stuck and there's nothing I can do. I tried task manager, power button...No response from touchscreen. I pulled battery, left it for a minute or two without battery. I tried to turn it on again and "the problem" happened. Same problem that happened so many times: nokia logo and after approx. 45 seconds phone turned off.
Nothing I can do.
Except hard reset, of course. It helps.How many hard or soft resets do I have to perform to make it work? How many formats?
What now?
I am so disappointed in Nokia!

Man, if you cold only knew...
First of all. Many people do not even know where Bosnia is, so the can not be familiar with our "business" customs...
As for many products imported to Bosnia from the rest of the world, Nokia's warranty is a piece of paper that you can throw away when you unbox your phone. Seller gives new warranty conditions and they may include few sentences from Nokia's warranty and that's it. In case you experience some problems you practically canćt do anything except take your device to the "Official Service Centre" and wait...week or weeks, depends how desperate you are.
Replacement phone is what I got yesterday. Same shell with "new main module" as they call it...
More then 24 Hours and 5 master resets! I switched the phone off today and it took 2 hours of "hints" to turn it on again without hard reset. I like this phone because if it works you have almost everything in your pocket, so I bought 2 original replacement batteries in case I need extra power during my mountain bike adventures. Now I just have to find way to switch batteries without switching damn phone off!
Terrible mistake I made when I gave E71 to my brother... Now, he enjoys and I'm desperate with flagship device!

Similar Messages

Nokia N97 - faultiest phone ive ever had

Hi guys im new to the forum and its interesting to see just how many people are suffering with issues with their n97. How Nokia have managed to release a phone as buggy as this is unbelievable. I will never buy another Nokia, there are issues with EVERY software update, alarm doesnt work, keypad freezes, unlock/lock doesnt work, cant open SMS, memory always saying it is full. How is it possible to release such a bad phone? Why are they still not capable of fixing the problems?

@markmacdonnel
Nokia are defently one of the best companys to follow up their phones. Samsung and SE does hardly make updates at all.
Around on different forums you will find people complaining about any phone on the market. Today I read a few posts about the desire freezing and rebooting and peeps wishing they had never bought it.
If you buy a HTC with WM for instance, you will likely feel that it's a xtremely heavy and have a lot of wierd bugs or are non userfriendly. - Giving some time on XDA dev. site, you will find ways to tweak and do whatever you like with it, but it needs some effort.
I have an Iphone my self, which works flawlessly, but I have friends who also have a lot of problems with theirs. - Freezes, reboots, and gpu burn to death.
What I'm saying is that there are faults and issues with every brand and every model.
Nokia sells a enormous amount of devices every year, from cheap basic phones to expensive N and E series devices. Apple have one phone to work with which the majority won't afford. Iphone is great, but Nokia is "bleep" great too.
Take the HTC HD2 which has extremely great hardware, unfortunately a lot of users have now gone almost a year with problems of sms's beeing stuck in the outbox... I've read a "few" comments about that for sure - It was far more expensive than the n97...
Don't misunderstand me, I know that the n97 has been a pain for a lot of users, and I do understand your frustration, but the point is, you find it everywhere... Dell computers, HP computers, gps's, phones, tv's.
Now, if you want to, I and many more here would like to help you with your issues, and perhaps get it to work like it has worked a few months!?
You say it has been working for a few months... Do you remember doing anything to it right before it started to misbehave? - Installing any 3rd party apps, deleteing anything, change settings etc?

N97 v12 and 5800 v30 .. YAWN

You see, I have to say 'YAWN' because when I actually yawn, you don't get it do you Nokia..
Two phones. Both bought directly from Nokia "sim-free".. BOTH stuck on the old firmware.. how old is the 5800 v30 firmware now? 3 weeks old?
I'm hopefully getting my hands on a Sony Ericsson Satio in the next few days. A Symbian phone from another Vendor! Hopefully I'll see how a competitor to Nokia might've managed to have released a phone on the same platform that does not suck so unbelievably...
Get a move on with your mind numbingly convoluted release cycle with its secret change log and even more secret release dates..
Still no Mac support for the N97, ey... tut.. no chance you could add the USB Id's of the N97 to the existing Mac software so it would just work? I doubt very much it requires a code change and lets face it.. what's the worst it'd do.. break the phone and I'd need to *#7370* it? ooooooh.. not for the 85th time then?!
grrrrrr

Just follow up.. I did play with a pre-release satio at the weekend and I have to say it's actually pretty nice!
The screen is much more shiny than the N97 sort of like comparing a matte and gloss laptop screen.
It feels a little bit snappier too.. I put this down to a lack of theme effects (which were disabled. The screen rotate with the theme options turned off was "atomic" rotate the phone and almost immediately the screen swapped.. no slow redraw or fade to black..
The home screen was obviously very different and geared towards the SE look and feel but the main menu app felt almost identical to the N97. To be fair, the phone felt a bit more like a 5800 than a N97.
Size wise it is very similar, thinner but that would be down to the N97 keyboard.. It is certainly larger than the 5800. No micro USB.. that's a bit odd.. perhaps it will change in the final release? I thought SE was in on the standardising connectors effort.
It had a google maps app, but not much else GPS wise.. This I think was down to the fact it was really pre-release..
The camera (12.1mp) was phenominal, but what do you expect.. The slide on the back does look a bit like a blister.. but it does an infinitely better job of protecting the camera.. the flash is xenon too.. and shares no flat plastic for that **bleep** bleed problem (maaan. that really irritates me on the N97!) It has extra hardware buttons too.. more than the camera and volume. Although they're geared towards media functions, I'm sure that could be helpful when trying to map functions (like missing pencil button, for example)
On the whole, I was actually really impressed. I loved playing with the R&D tools Neat for looking around the parts of the OS that are hidden. It didn't have a file manager app so I couldn't tell you how much free memory it has.. I've asked for a follow up on that (especially as my N97 is back under 10meg again .grrrrr)
Compared to the rather old 5800, I *think* I'd prefer the Satio.. however.. the N97 and its keyboard (albeit a keyboard without a damn control key!!! COPY AND PASTE DAMN IT!) still beats it on the hardware stakes.. (asides from the **bleep** keyboard cover does and the loose screen/vibrate does anyone dislike the N97 hardware?)
Software wise, it was really very stable! At no stage did it play the Nokia ring tone instead of the ring tone set in the profile
What was really great was seeing yet another Symbian phone.. Forgetting the PC software (which really isn't of much interest to mac user's anyway.. the mac user base is large.. considerable larger than say the N97 userbase! Nokia, stop ignoring or atleast update your mac software!) the phone is a really usable symbian phone. For the day to day, stock symbian stuff you'd hardly notice the difference.. I'm not sure Nokia or SE would be please about that fact, but as a Symbian fan.. I'm really pleased
The software on the phone suggest that some of the N97 bugs are Nokia bugs.. This is good because it puts the blame at Nokia's door.. by that I mean Symbian aren't to blame, its what Nokia do that's causing a problem..
As more and more Symbian handsets are released and if Nokia don't fix their attitude to testing this will become more and more apparently.. the good news for the Symbian fans out there is that you might now have a choice of vendors..

Cannot pop up sms editor on Nokia N97

The Nokia N97 is a Symbian S60 v5 phone like the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.
We use the following simple script on the 5800 to pop up the SMS editor, but it does not work on the N97. Nothing pops up - strange.
on(Release)
getURL('sms:?body=abc');
Is this a bug on the Flash Lite implementation on the N97? The phone we used was new.
Thanks in anticipation.
jz

Hi Alessandro,
Our current solution is that:
For mobile phones like 5800, n97,n97 mini ...etc. we now use nokia library to popup sms editor. This is not ideal as we have to populate the "To: field" otherwise it does not work. For all others, we use getURL to popup the sms editor and it's a great solution. The n97 was the problem phone as getURL worked for the 5800.
Our engineers response was as follows:
"I think what he means is whether I put the getURL code inside on(press) instead of on(release).
At this time, I check that I use keylistener's keydown/keyup event in our semobile application and use on(release) in testing program.
I can't remember whether we tested some codes using on(release) before. But it's quite unbelievable that only on(press) works instead of others although we can try it."
Our applications are at www.stockexpress.com.hk/mobile
Best regards,
Roger Durn

N97 product support?

Hi
Not been able to find proper product support on the Nokia site, just “usually asked questions, manuals and client discussions”. Any suggestions on how to get a Nokia person to answer questions to a client instead of clients having to search for other clients possibly knowing what to do? It would be much easier than to turn in the phone on a guarantee “repair?”. Many issues; during first 6 months already several software updates, phone memory constantly full, blue tooth does not work properly with PC, …

Having dad first hand experience with many Nokia N series such as N70, N71, N73, N80, N81, N91, N93, N95, N96, N97 and now proud owner of the N900, Here is my 2 cents.
N97 seems to be for those folks who 're not going to load it up with as many SW and Apps. I went through (3) N97 and finally realized that unlike my old N95 it was not bullet proof and reliable. So, if you own the N97, keep it as original as possible with minimum number of progams and it should work much better. But as far as upgrade if you are heavy web user, like to have power over what you install and how you install it plus if you want to be able to play almost any kind of video, use the built-in SIP function and want a fast respond speed (screen and all) + have the ability to right your own stuff (which is somewhat cool if you know how to) then N900 is the one. The speed, reliability and versatility of N900 is unbeatable (and it dont crash, freeze and give you headache because you spend $500+ on something that dont work proeprly). The screen has one of the best resoutions for a PDA/Mobile to date and it shows when you see it. The only issues I may add is that N900 is more of a Computer based PDA than Mobile base PDA. Meaning that as Mobile phone being used to the Symbian short cuts and their ease of use and friendly configurable menu, N900 lacks that. Like your PC, everything is in some order of alphabet or date, etc and it stays that way. N900 has 4 home screens that scrolls and loops make it possible to put lots of short cuts. One of the best thing about N900 is its open source SW, making it possible for yourself or any individual to write usefull programs (and they are coming out pretty fast).
However there is something about use of touchscreen which at first attracts everyone (such as iphone buyers) but its not for everyone. I personally prefer the pointer and mouse/scroll device use over the touch device. How many times are you going to try to hit the touch screen button before you get it correctly and it works. With the pointer and scroll it is effortless and much easier. My personal preference Nokia Model to date is the N95. The functions, ease of use and bullet proof (ness) of N95 is very hard to beat. It is an old phone but it still works perfectly as mobile phone, PDA, web browser (Ok, if you use Skyfire), great MP3 and video player, document viewer, one of the best GPS devices when using Google Map and last but not least the best camera for a mobile device (It has extended zoom which is not available on N97 or N900, not sure if X6 has it and clarity of the photos is unbelievably crisp, clear and colorful). Forgot to mention that unlike N97 and N900, The N95 built-in speakers are loud enough to hear phone converstions or music in a moving car. It beats me to why Nokia has degraded important features like this one on their "FLAGSHIP {$600} PHONES"
BTW, My friend just switched from N97 to X6 and he loves it, but........ I for one still like to use my N95 because it works and has yet to crash, freeze, break down and fail me. I can always rely on it, always.

Mail for exchange settings on N97

I have a N97 which mail for exchange was working happily on, synchronizing mail, contact's and calendar. The world was a good place!
The screen broke and needed replacing on my N97 and I have set up mail for exchange again. Now when it downloads mail, it downloads all of the other outlook folders inside my inbox as well as my inbox. It never used to do this and indeed this is not what I want.
How can I get my N97 to just download the inbox rather than all of the folders within the inbox on outlook. There must be some settings either on the phone or in outlook which defines what is synced.

Maybe you had earlier Mail for Exchange v2.9 in use and after setting it up again, you have got the latest MfE 3.0 version. The new MfE 3.0 version has as a new feature the possibility to view the outlook subfolders. These are, however, not automatically synced unless you subscribe to them. The unsubscribed folders show the mark (x) in front of the folder name. After you subscribe to a folder, the (x) mark will disappear from the folder name.

Problems with n97 apps connecting to network (Voda...

Problems with n97 apps connecting to network (Vodafone UK – 3G)
Recently a number of my apps which used to connect automatically to the internet (which ever was available – known wi-fi or 3g) have stopped doing this. They now only connect to one known wi-fi.
I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling each app, but this hasn’t solved the problem. I’ve checked for software updates and do not believe any have been applied or are available. All apps have been downloaded via Ovi on the phone. I still am able to access the internet by the web browser which was installed on the phone and via google maps (which also still manages GPS position, search, etc).
The apps which I notice causing a problem are:
Sainsbury’s/nectar
Tesco
Map my tracks
Snaptu
Opera Mini
Any one got any ideas???

I have the same problem since i updated my mac to 10.5.6.
Each time I have to do a diagnostic and retype the WEP password to have the internet connection.

N97 v2.0 firmware issues/bugs

installed n97 v 2.0 nam version
installed great.. didnt even delete all apps or loose most settings..
some issues
1. the fm transmitter app seems to be gone.. although in settings you can set the channel etc. and you can enable it from the music player. But the music player is not the only apI use it from ... what gives.. doesnt nokia think we use the fm transmitter for anything else..
2. performance.. maybe to save memory or something but multi-tasking is not as smooth.. when i run the audible book player at the same time while garmin is running it stutter every few minutes.. this did not happen with older f/w... it doesnt happen with garmin and the music player so does anyone know how to raise the priority off apps so i can raise it for the audible player.. fm transmitter seems stronger than old f/w maybe they raised the output power.
some big files in the install directory on c drive you can delete liek ms exchange 2 meg and other directories have the preinstalled **bleep** like spore, etc. that you can remove to get another 3 or meg free.
need to use xplore that lets you look in the private directory..

- SIP aka 'Internet Calling' is missing...Again. Could have sworn I heard that Nokia Rep in a video saying it was added back in.
- Skype - where is it? give me the link, i would love to download it. What kiils me is this is a working available app that is being held back for some silly reason and the only ones it affects are the users whom bough the phone.
- Need to reboot phone to load Music file to be added from removable Storage - it does not seem to do its own search for music, nor could I find the 'search for music' option on the context menu.
- MP4 (h.264) video files only play audio - strange part is that a thumbnail is generated of the video. Why Real Player and not VLC or MPlayer....RP is garbage, so 1992. It would be nice to have a video player that plays video from this decade.
- Still no way to remove Boingo and all those useless apps to free up the precious space on C Drive.
- Not a big deal, but it seems that some ring tones are gone - like the simple 'ring ring' tune.
- Ovi store is better - but it would be nice you could get more than 11 items per page.
- Still no soft keyboard we saw way back in February?
- On the home screen, all the status icons on the top right are still all gimped together in a messy tangle (wifi, bt, gps, mail icon, voicemail etc) - cant these be spread out like on the apps menu? It looks terrible!
- All these new widgets there was so much talk about?
- In the apps folder there are normal sized icons as before then HUGE icons like facebook - whats up with that?
- HTML mail still not supported in the Mail Client - and OVI Mail is terrible and not an option, not to mention going through a 3rd party to retrieve mail makes no sense. Cant we just get a slightly improved mail client? it is almost 2010 after all.
- Home screen - why not use a little more of the usable space such that the info displayed has a little more room to actually be relevant and readable, seems to be a lot of wasted space. like the separate clock/date/profile. Surely there is a tighter way to display everything. The profile can be changed by hitting the power button....
- Calendar Widget - why not show the next few events even if they are two or three days away instead of displaying "next entry on XXX" - sort of makes it pointless the way it is.
- Maps - why not throw us N97 users a bone and give us a free licence for OVI maps for say a year to make up for the wool that was pulled over our eyes when we all purchased this expensive 'flagship' phone that still does not have the advertised options on it. The way i see it, a phone is good for 1 year, and I'm going on month 5 where today after the upgrade does it seem we're coming out of BETA.
- Camera lens still gouges itself, so I am afraid to open the cover to test the camera unless I really really need to take a photo.
I love my purple screen, 1/2 day battery, sketchy touch screen and $800 price tag - I call it my Lumia 900

Why i can't get latest firmware update for n97?

I can see there is new update for n97 (21.2.045) but update check from phone and pc says i have the latest version. i don;t have latest version. i have september firmware on.

This subject has been covered 100's of times on the forum, USE THE USER SEARCH TOOL AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE BEFORE POSTING A THREAD !!!!!!!!!
jjegan, as an employee you should have realised this I would have thought (assuming you are speaking on behalf of Nokia !)
If I have helped at all, a click on the White Star is always appreciated :
you can also help others by marking 'accept as solution'

N97 V2 music player has more bugs than a hundred y...

My problem is back!
This is what I have done in the past hour.
Exported my contacts to vcf onto memory card. Removed the card.
*#7370# - hard reset
Went through all that... Then remembered I hadn't wiped mass storage.
Wiped mass storage (Which it kept complaining it couldn't do until I removed all the default active apps on the front screen). After removing them it eventually formatted it
*#7370# - hard reset
Let it get settled...
Connected to USB, did a firmware update check. 2.00.19, no update available. Disconnected USB.
Removed all the front screen **bleep**, added shortcut 2, put my normal shortcuts onto it.
Added my wifi destination
Opened the browser, went to google.co.uk via my wifi, added that as bookmark
Put the memory card back in (there are no apps on it, I never got round to using it for anything).
Imported my contacts back from the memory card.
Went into music player, zero tracks shown. Good.
Connected USB, started Nokia Music PC application (latest version, had checked). Right clicked on one album 13 tracks.
Let it send them over to the N97.
Disconnected phone. Started N97's music player. It says music library corrupt, scanning... Says 13 tracks found.
Artists shows one artist, 13 tracks. Albums shows 1 album. All looks good.
Go into the album, pick on a track, starts playing.
Volume control does nothing. Touch volume control does nothing. Headset remote control, volume, forward and reverse do nothing. Touch screen pause/play forward and reverse do work, but there is no way to control volume.
I've screwed up this music player app before the Nokia system has even got round to sending me the Welcome text message (which I have seen too many times!).
Okay, I'm going to write the next bit line by line as I do it... So bear with me... It's step by step. You never know, it might help anyone that gives a damn (Nokia hopefully), fix it!
*#7780# - soft reset
Front screen now just shows shortcuts1 and 2, but the shortcuts themselves have switched back to Nokia's defaults.
Music player volume now works!
Connect to USB, send another mp3 album. PC app says (and shows on the %age bar) transferring 5 tracks. Album has 18. Nokia Music system tray icon says complete after 5, but the little arrows shows things are still being transferred. Waited for them to finish. Click the N97 icon and it's showing both albums, with all 18 tracks the second one really does have.
Disconnect USB
Go into Music library on N97, no auto refresh message. Showing only the original album with 13 tracks.
"Options\refresh library" nothing shows as scanning, just appear straight back at the artist,album,playlist option screen. Albums still shows just the first one.
Option\music library details says 13 tracks
Playback and volume still work.
Using the file manager, mass storage, music there's my 2nd artist, the album, and all the mp3 files. I can click them and play them. Volume still works.
Select original (found) album, select delete. Everything shows 0, even though 2nd album is there in the mass memory, file mgr shows it. First artist and albums folders are still there, but empty (Nice house keeping Nokia).
Reconnect USB, Nokia Music just shows the "invisible" 2nd album, and will play it.
Pick a 3rd album of 11 tracks... Send that to N97.. No progress bar or anything shown, just wait for the arrows to stop flashing and then confirm N97 is showing two albums (the invisible on and new one) on the PC app.
Disconnect USB.
Back on the N97... Apps, Music.. Says Music Library 11 songs (that's the 3rd album)... Go into it..
Albums (no songs)
All songs (no songs)
Artists: The artist from 3rd album is shown... 11 songs!
Click it... Shows the album name, 11 songs.
Click the album, and click the first track to play it... Long delay of a few seconds...
Starts playing... Volume not working again!
Try refresh library... again, nothing, no progress bar...
No change, no volume control.
Now here's the really weird bit... If I go and find the mp3 file on the mass storage, and play it from there, volume control works! Come back through the music play app, play the same track, volume won't work.
*#7780# - soft reset
Welcome message, yeah yeah... Ooooh, very fast confirmation text message...
Apps, Music, Music Library (11 songs), go into that, click Albums.... "Cannot perform whilst USB connected" **bleep**?I disconnected that ages ago when i said I did. After that every attempt to go into Albums dumps me back to the Music app showing "Last player - blank" "Music Library 11" etc etc...
Exit all the way out and try to go back in...Artists does the "USB connected" error. Albums just dumps me out. Playlists says "File corrupt". All songs say "(no songs)". Podcasts and Genres say "USB connected", composers "General system error" and after that I get a couple of other system errors from other options and then it just dumps me back out.
*#7780# - soft reset
Ovi welcome... blah blah...
Apps, music, music library (11 songs), go into it, option\refresh... Ooooh, something happens, a progress bar! 18 files added! That's 3rd album...
Albums show both... Artists show both
Pick one for playback... Volume control is back!
Right... Time to try a different tack...
Connect USB, mass storage mode this time (all previous attempts have been PC suite mode).
Create a now folder in music for the artist name (as stored in ID3 tag), create subfolder in that for the Album name (as stored in ID3). Copy mp3 files.
Eject USB device, wait for windows to confirm... It does.
Disconnect USB cable.
App\music\Music Library (29 songs - Thats the two previous albums). Go into it, previous tracks shown, playback/volume okay.
Refresh library works again... Now 3 albums, volume works.
Back to USB (mass storage mode).
This time deliberately doing the storage structure wrong... \music\albumname\mp3s (normally \music\artist\albumname\mp3s).
Music library still showing the 48 tracks from the first 3 albums... Seems to open a bit slower... Still works though.
Refresh library... 13 files added...
4 albums... All working...
Looking with file mgr from badly arranged folder is still as I made it... I guess the Nokia Music PC app creates the tree format, and the N97 doesn't actually need it.
Okay, proof of pudding test...
Connect via USB (mass storage).
Delete the album I created with the mangled folder structure.
Copy 20 folders of mp3 albums across using just windows file manager to the mass storage drive's music folder.
Eject USB storage device from windows....
Oh... Up until now I was almost certain I would be able to use N97 as an MP3 player as long as I avoided the Nokia Music PC app...
Apps\Music\music library shows 61 songs, which is what it had...
Go into it, click albums and I'm getting the USB device connected message. It's not, and the icon isn't even showing on the phone, so I can't go into the player to see if volume works.
Refresh isn't displaying anything, or doing anything I can see. Playlists say the file is corrupt...
*#7780# - Soft reset
Apps\Music\music library (61 songs).. go in, "Repairing corrupted library. Searching for music and podcasts"
After a little while... 2 hundred and something found...
Yup, all there...
Guess what...
Volume control is screwed again!
Manually telling it to scan for new tracks doesn't do anything.
*#7780# - Soft reset
Apps\Music\music library (276 songs)... Go in "Repairing corrupted library....."
2 seconds later "Search complete 0 file(s) added"
All albums there, still no volume control.
Okay, that enough... No more...
Hopefully that is enough to give Nokia a clue as to what is wrong, and may I just make a slight suggestion.
TEST WITH MORE THAN HALF A DOZEN TRACKS YOU **^(*&)(*)(*(*£$%^*(#!
I'm off to buy a 7lb club hammer.

Last night I had a thought...
I wondered if the N97's Music player was getting upset when scanning my music because I had the jpg of the album cover in the folder with it (I tend to do that). As I hadn't bothered reloading any music since my last hard reset I thought I would give it a try.
I removed all non-mp3 files from my music folders.
Connected N97 in PC Suite mode
Started Nokia Music PC app and transferred one album. Let it finish, closed the PC Nokia Music app, gave it a few seconds to settle, disconnected the N97 and had a look.
It appeared in the music player and worked.
Ooooh, right, in for a penny, in for a pound as they say... I connected it back up and sent over another 6 albums. Again closed the Nokia Music app... Waited a few seconds and disconnected the N97.
Went and had a look... "Library corrupt, scanning.... blah blah"... Oh dear, here we go again. But no, a progress bar actually appeared, and after a minute it said "0 file(s) added", but they were all there. All the album art appeared (I'd already embedded that in the mp3 files days ago). All the albums, all the music.
They played, and the volume worked!
Yay! Thinks me... Solved... And goes to bed a happy man.
I set my alarm (on the phone) for the morning and turn the phone off so nobody can phone me before my alarm (which really screws up my sleep!).
This morning the alarm goes off.
I hit stop. It asks if I want to turn the phone on, I say yes.
It asks for my lock code (which I have enabled). I enter it. It says code correct.
Flash of white on the screen... and it asks for my lock code again, which I enter... It says correct again.
This time I get the Nokia tune.
It comes up to the normal front screen, jumps itself onto the application screen, throws up a system error and reboots.
It comes back up (without asking for a pin) and this time settles at the front screen looking for all the world like a working phone... A text message arrives to prove at least that's working.
Hmmm... I wonder about my music...
Well it's all there... But guess what... Volume control doesn't work again!
Oh and clicking "Podcasts", of which I have zero, still produces, and has always produced (even straight after a hard reset), the message "Out of memory, please remove something"... Pressing it again produces "System Error". After that nothing in the Music Library menu works, all produce "System Error". You have to close it and restart to get anything in Music Library to "work".
I wouldn't say I am short of memory. DeviceInfo (from moubail.com) Shows
C: 32.68 MB free
E: 30116.46 MB free
F: (8Gig card) 7120.86 MB free
RAM: 48.83 MB free.
I keep my C: drive clear of everything. Even my text message storage has been switched to E: (not that I have may since all the hard/soft reboots. Most of them are the "Welcome to nokia" message. Anything that gives me the option to install to another "drive" gets put onto E:
I haven't installed any of the 3 files offered in since the hard reset "SW Update", N-Gage, Nokia Messaging or Ovi Contacts.

N97 RSS update issues since upgrading to v21

Hi Since upgrading to the V21 firmware on my N97, if the phone powers off for any reason, my RSS feeds default to not automatically updating. I have to go to each feed and reset the update schedule each time I run out of battery or change to my backup battery. Im using the built in RSS reader that you configure through the "Web" browser application. I am using this to display 3 feeds as widgets on the home screen. has anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions.

I have found a workaround:
The problem with RSS feeds disabling their auto-update setting only happens when you switch off the phone using the power button. If you power down by dropping out the battery the auto-update settings stay enabled.

How good is the N97 for you to replace your multip...

Hi, a quick question for anyone who has an N97 and using it for more than communication.
I have had a Nokia of all types (6310i, N71, 6680 etc) for almost 10 years and two weeks ago, I decided to upgrade to the N97 (cost: Euro269 with Vodafone Ireland,12 month contract).
The main reason I got my N97 was to cut down on the tech clutter (Plugs, data cables and memory devices) I had for misc. media playback. I had an PSP (video playback, via 16GB MSProDuo), Ipod (music for walking & in-car audio via Belkin FM transmitter) and an N95 8GB (phone calls). Yes, I could have gotten the Iphone but the change over to O2 and the min. euro45/month fee on an 18 month contract was not worth the hassle involved.
What I wanted was, ideally, one device for all three needs: audio, video and communications.
Two weeks after getting the N97, I'm happy that it has solved two of the three requirements: Video playback & communications) but audio playback is still clunky to use & difficult to edit.
-The video: as I mentioned in another posting, porting over an .avi video file is still clumsy (I'm using Windows 7, maybe compatibility issues?). I've been using with 100% transfer/playback success -handbrake (single file) and AVS (Multiple files) to convert to .MPEG4 and file manager to drop the Mpeg4 file into "Video" folder. It's multiple steps instead of the seamless process promised by PC SUITE/OVI but, hey, it works for me!
-Audio: a huge pain to create a simple playlist for walking. I know the 2.0 firmware promised in late Oct. looks great (from the video preview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_iajkv2YE8) but trying to simply find a song is tedious in a what should have been an intuitive touch screen interface. Using the selection menu is like using Win 3.11 after using Win 7 -slow, clumsy & not designed for a smart phone. Also, the "find album art" in Nokia Music is slow & inaccurate. I do like the FM Transmitter feature and the little I have used so far in car, has been seamless to setup and a snap to use.
-Communication: This is the first touch screen phone I have had and while it has taken time to make the mental shift from hitting physical keys, I'm happy with the handset's performance. Being blunt, I really hope the firmware upgrade addresses the N97's buggy OS. I have had to hard reset twice (change all, and I mean all "Save To" setting -messages, email, cache etc, to "Mass Memory" not "Phone memory" as this seems to have stopped cold the "memory full" warnings I was getting). Also, I'm finding the camera much better with the N97 Vs the N95 8GB and the free app. PhotoBrowser (http://betalabs.nokia.com/betas/view/nokia-photo-browser) is simply amazing to use as an indexing tool. If you want to impress family with the phones functions, take a photo of them and open up PhotoBrowser for the wow! impact.
Sorry if this is long winded but while I have read a lot of postings on the site for specific issues, just wondering how anyone in general is finding using the handset/computer for day to day media use? Personally while the battery life demands I have a charger with me always, I really like having a single device that does two of the three functions I was looking for in a single unit.
Paul

What EXACTLY does it say?

How can I download flash player in my nokia n97?

how can I download flash player in my nokia n97??
I can't view any videos at website
Moderator's Note: Subject line changed as it is not seem to be a relevant and support issue.

It depends in what format the online videos are.
For some formats you might find appropriate players on Nokia Store
If you're trying to watch youtube movies, you can point your phone's browser to http://m.youtube.com/

What setting/application is causing N97 (20.0.027)...

Hello,
I have a Nokia N97 RM-505 black with firmware v20.0.27
Before updating to 20.0.27, I reset the phone with the so called 3 finger salute:
(shift, space, backspace, power button to start), then formatted mass memory, then deleted anything deletable
on c/e drives, then reset to factory setting, and applied 20.0.27 without problems.
I have a lot of applications installed on it, mostly free or purchased from handango
(I don't use ovi store since they don't let me download what I bought for backup).
It took several days to install the applications, I also downloaded a lot of maps to the phone,
as well as mp3s.
The phone worked beautifully, with all installed apps it had around 45MB free,
and responded reasonably quickly.
the problems started when I attempted to restart the phone, it got stuck on
the white startup screen with the blue nokia (so called white screen of death).
After having to do a hard reset and reinstall all several times (not fun),
I googled for a solution (removing/replacing batter and restarting didn't work
after hundreds of attempts. Finally I found a consistent workaround on this forum.
Namely:
1. Make sure phone is not fully charged (at most 2 bars)
2. Shutdown phone
3. Disconnect usb cable, and remove battery
4. Replace battery
5. Reconnect usb cable until you see not only the blue nokia but the animated charging icon on top
(you may have to disconnect and reconnect the usb cable several times for it to show up,
if you don't see it I found it helpful to disconnect the cable from both sides on subsequent attempts)
6. Once you see the charging icon, quickly press and hold the phone power button
(it may not vibrate like you're used to)
until you see the shaking hands connecting people animation and the phone starts
7. tada, you may now use the phone
If it wasn't for 1 downside, I could almost live with this workaround since I have chargers both at home at work,
the downside is that when you do this the phone will be stuck in portrait mode.
Keep in mind that even on 20.0.27 (in fact on all version of the firmware) and even
on the original store bought factory settings phone with nothing installed,
starting the phone while it's charging may cause it will sometimes get stuck in portrait mode.
(forcing you to restart after disconnecting the usb cable)
The difference is when using starting N97 while charging as a workaround for
the white screen of death issue, the phone is guranteed to be stuck in portrait mode,
instead of it only occasionally happening.
In any case, hoping to break the cycle, I took a full backup with ovi Suite 2.0.1.35.
(All checkboxes checked including applications and data).The backup is around 7GB.
I am hoping to do a hard reset (shift, space, backspace, power button),
then format mass memory,
then restore the backup in hopes that I will be able to boot up the phone
without it crashing.
I'm worried about doing this since I've never restored an ovi suite backup before,
I'm also worried because the ovi suite has been very poorly coded to begin with.
2.x is better than the prehistoric 1.X the phone came with
(try opening ovi app maanger on 1.x with 20+ apps installed)
but still even 2.x is beta quality at best,
and it returns strange error codes when i sync contacts.
I have the following questions:
1. Will following the above restore procedure restore all my applications,
music and map data ? has anyone tried it ?
2. There is a distinct possibility that the white screen of death issue will not be resolved
by the restore, in which case I badly need some method to determine what
setting and/or what application is causing the WSOD to begin with.
Preferably some sort of bootup or system log ? Is there even such a thing ?
Keep in mind that when the phone is turned off, and the usb cable is connected,
and the phone is charging mass memory is visible on the PC it is connected to in
windows explorer. Strangely, that is the only time when the sys/system/private
folder content are also visible.
In any case If I can determine what application (if any) is causing the issue,
I'd be happy to give up using it and uninstalling it,
(it beats having a $2000 brick).
3. Is there some method to apply the power on while charging workaround described above,
without having the device get stuck in portrait mode ?
I should mention I also opened a ticket with Nokia support with the same 3 questions,
but I have my fingers crossed, and expect them to simply ignore the questions,
and ask me to either reset it or take it back to the service center. I also requested,
that on some future firmware they consider having some key combination,
to allow starting the phone in (safe mode) with no extra apps or installations on bootup.
I also suggested a visible detailed. bootup log on the root mass memory folder to allow
troubleshooting such issues (if they're worried it can affect performance,
it can be enabled by an option). I don't expect either option to be implemented though.
Nevertheless I would say the WSOD is currently the number one problem with N97 today,
it's a complete showstopper.
The only other issue I suffered after the 20.0.27 upgrade was the stuck lock issue,
where if you click the power button,
and selct lock phone and keys, it is impossible to unlock the phone with the keyguard key on the side of the phone
(it just doesn't do anything). but that has a workaround (have someone call your phone,
then swipe the bottom line right to left to unlock (the top line left to right answers the call).
Cheers and if you've read all of this, thank you for your patience.
Hani
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I think you may be referring to my workaround, as posted here (and various other forums):-
/discussions/board/message?board.id=smartphones&thread.id=179596
I've posted a few times about this. It's not an exact science, and having done it several times since this posting, I've realised that it is not necesary to actually "see" the charging icon. I really only mentioned it so you would recognise what's happening.
The fact is that, with the phone switched off, and then plugged into either the mains power supply, or the PC, by the USB cable, the screen on the phone shows white, as it starts to charge. Whether or not the "charging" icon starts to flash depends on the state of charge of the battery. If it is already full, then the white screen will go off after a while, as the phone doesn't need to be charged. If the battery needs charging, then then flashing icon will show.
This is all largely irrelevant . I only tried this "charging" thing in the first place to distract the phone from whatever problem is stopping it from going through its normal boot process. I thought if I could get the processor doing something else at the time I pressed the power button, it might just pass straight by the boot problem. Given the fact that it has been successful, my guessed logic seems to have been near the mark.
All this logic comes from many years of supporting PC systems. As has been said, this is only a workaround. The reason I've had to do this, is because I've had to do it many times since installing firmware V20.
Now, I have an unbranded UK model, code 0585162. I waited ages for V20, and, in the end, changed the code to get the euro V20. Since the UK V20 has been released, I've been wondering what the difference is, if anything, between the versions.
So today, as I do with my PCs every now and again, I had a good clearout of my phone, and rebuilt it from scratch, using the proper UK V20. I do this with Windows PCs every now and again. It gets rid of all the partially installed and uninstalled apps, temporary files, etc etc.
To prepare, I connected my phone to my PC via USB, and copied the whole of the E drive onto the PC. I gathered together all my downloaded .sis files, .wgz files etc, and made a list of all installed apps to make sure I had all the downloaded installation files.
I "backed up" my phone using PC Suite. I also use Ovi Suite sometimes, but I find PC Suite better, simpler, more technically reliable for "techy" tasks. When you do a backup, you are asked what you want to backup. Since all my music and photos are already on my PC, I don't need to back them up. Similarly my Contacts and Calendar are on the PC. For me the important thing to backup is my phone Settings. By only backing up the Settings, the backup is very quick.
Having made sure I had all my original stuff safely stored on my PC, I then reinstalled the Firmware release V20.
First I did factory reset *#7370#
Then I formatted the E drive.
Then I ran NSU to look for, then reinstall the UK V20 frirmware.
I then did another *#7370#, to be sure.
Then I restored the Settings from my backup
Then I copied the old E drive contents back from the PC (having deleted all the stuff I really didn't need)
And finally I reinstalled all my downloaded apps.
It's only been 24 hours, but so far my phone hasn't frozen at the white screen with the Nokia logo.
Fingers crossed.
As I said earlier, as with PCs, its good, every now and again, to reformat the hard disk and do a fresh install of Windows, then re-install your apps. My laptop seems to be slowly grinding to a halt, so I'm about to do the same for it.
More fingers crossed.
Message Edited by 2bad on 29-Nov-2009 09:55 PM

My N97 experience... not all bad

When I first received my N97 at the end of June with its v10 firmware it was truly awful!
I actually went through 3 handsets in 10 days.
I experienced freezing, crashing, incorrect ringtones, slow GPS and "Out of Memory" issues constantly. I was forced, because of the low C: drive, to install widgets, themes and as many app's as possible to Mass Memory, which in turn led to problems of their own when connecting to PC Suite in anything other than PC Suite mode. I could not even install some of Nokia's own app's as they would take up the precious C: drive.
It took me quite awhile to adjust the Destinations settings, using trial and error, so that I used my home wifi and 3G whilst out.
Then, about two or three weeks later, v11 was released on Vodafone and I upgraded the firmware, using PC Suite, with no problem and was quite pleased that I did not have to reinstall everything from scratch. The only change that I noticed with v11 was that my widgets worked a little better and that my thumbnails loaded quicker. However, the phone still gave me "Out of Memory" errors, crashed and was sluggish and unresponsive to touch, sometimes requiring 3/4 taps to get it working.
Like the majority of N97 owners, I was not a happy bunny and felt ripped off when I compared the N97 to my N95 and N95 8GB. I was thoroughly cheesed off with having to go through manually clearing the browser cache every day, not being able to have theme effects on or use anything except the built in themes for fear of crashing. Also the GPS was still taking far too long to get a mediocre lock.
Then around the end of August it was announced that v12 would be launched to address some of these problems and I eagerly awaited its coming. As with all the N97 firmware releases, the Continent version was released first, this was then to be followed by the UK CV (Country Variant) at some time in the future and finally the operator branded version even later still.
It was at this point that my frustration with the N97 got the better of me and I took the decision to change the product code to the Euro one and risk voiding my warranty to get v12 that much quicker,all went surprisingly smoothly and I was able to obtain the v12 firmware weeks ahead of Vodafone's release.
The v12 firmware did bring about some minor changes but not enough to stop my handset from crashing, freezing, every now and then. I still found the phone to be sluggish and unresponsive. I was still having to spend a lot of time "nursing" it by Clearing C: drive, which was hovering around 15MB and watch my RAM usage at around 10Mb. I still could not use anything other than the built-in theme with no effects for fear of overloading the pitiful RAM.
I was also using the beta Nokia Photo Browser as this seemed to display quicker and better than the Gallery. Also, album art was a bit hit and miss although my crashes and freezes were less. To say that I was disappointed at this stage would be an understatement. I felt thoroughly cheated by Nokia who, it seemed to me, had rushed out the N97 with immature firmware just to compete with the iPhone 3GS.
I had experienced poor RAM before, with the N95, but this had been rectified to a large extent, by a firmware update. I thought about the millions of people worldwide who had purchased the N97 and had not, or could not, update the firmware and were cursing Nokia and the N97.
It would seem that Nokia had not learnt from Apple iPhone's original launch when they promised the earth and ended up refunding early adopters after pressure was brought to bear. I also despised Nokia's head in the sand approach to the lens scratching fiasco that, luckily, I have not suffered from.
By this time I was seriously considering getting rid of my N97 and moving on. It was becoming a full time job to ensure that there was enough RAM and C: drive. I was constantly having to make tradeoffs about installing certain app's and although my GPS had improved it wasn't great. I was also cheesed off using the scroll bar to go through lists and got frustrated with it on Contacts and Music, usually ending up using the Nav pad. The touch screen was still a joke with me having to constantly tap to try and get it to work.
Enough was enough!
I'd spent over a quarter of a year trying to come to terms with what was supposed to be a Nokia flagship phone costing £500 that just did not deliver.
And then I saw a preview of v20 with its kinetic scrolling and RAM and C: usage enhancements and thought I'd give the N97 one last chance.
After all, I stood to lose about half the phones cost if I tried to sell it on.
Like most of you, I waited with baited breath for the will they, won't they, release of v20.
Then, finally, it became available for my, now, unbranded Euro firmware and I jumped on it immediately.
That's where I made my first mistake, as I downloaded v20 straight away using NSU and immediately started to get freezes, crashes and rebooting. Photo's were slow and the Music library was a nightmare.
The penny then dropped, as they say, and I realised from my experiences with the N95 and N95 8GB, that with a firmware upgrade of this magnitude it was bound to cause problems if I either just upgraded or reinstalled from PC Suite backup.
I then proceeded to format both the phone and Mass Memory and reinstall everthing from scratch. Not an easy or short task I might add.
It was worth it though!
I had nearly 60MB free on C: drive, before installing themes, app's and widgets. My RAM was now 40+MB after boot up and rarely goes below 20MB.
Kinetic scrolling is a joy to use. The phone is no longer sluggish. The touch screen is very responsive. I ditched Nokia Photo Browser beta as the in-built photo's prog offered so much more. The music library is a lot better. Particularly with album art. Boot up time is quicker. Widgets are more stable, although Accuweather seem to have dropped "Current Location". My GPS achieves a more accurate, and quicker, lock than before. I experience a lot less lags. The built-in browser is a lot quicker, I can hold down a key in QWERTY to get a symbol. The speakers even sound better!
Also there was a lot of tinkering and tweaking of settings as this can make a big difference to the way the phone funtions, as we can see by the forum postings.
IMHO this was the N97 I thought I was getting in June. This is the N97 that Nokia should, and could, have released and I cannot excuse them for palming off inferior firmware.
OK, it's not perfect, but as Julia Roberts says in Pretty Woman... "it has potential".
Am I going to ditch it? The answer is no!
Because I think that v20 has gone a long way to solving a lot of the things that bugged me. It shows me what this phone is capable of. It can multi task. It can run prog's without crashing.
Some of us wax lyrical about the N95 but I remember all the complaints about the lack of RAM and it's slowness, poor camera and video. until it received it's v20 upgrade which changed the phone completely and actually put it ahead of the N95 8GB with its restricted Mass Memory.
Perhaps smart phones are becoming too smart.
We get them and fire them up, sometimes ignoring the manuals, and then shove loads of third party software on them without a thought or adjustment to settings and expect them to work perfectly. I know from my own experience that I've had to uninstall software from a handset because of conflicts or poor programming.
I know that there are delays with the release of firmware updates between the Continent, CV and operator branded handsets but this is not all down to Nokia but rather to getting country approvals and operator "adjustments".
I must stress that these are my opinions based on my usage, app's and phone model.
I understand I may come in for a lot of flak for this and I am certainly no technical genius. I'm just trying to relate my everyday experience and frustration with the N97.
As my dear old mum used to say... "Speak as you find" and I'm finding this phone a lot better than it was.
Message Edited by wildreamer on 15-Nov-2009 09:01 PM

I have had a very similar experience with the N97 and agree that now with firmware v20 the phone is just usable. It's ridiculous that to get to this point we've had to put so much work into researching solutions, resetting the phone multiple times, formatting the mass memory, reloading media and maps (also multiple times), uninstalling and reinstalling apps, and installing and reinstalling firmware updates. My wife jokingly said to me that I'd spent more time trying to get the phone running than actually using it. The sad thing is that this is pretty much true and no matter how well the phone works I will always remember the first four months of very sub par performance.
IMHO if Nokia hadn't skimped on the memory for the RAM and c drive the N97 would have suffered from a lot less problems. Also instead of spending four months trying to resolve these memory issues in the development for the v20 firmware release, they could have focussed on the multitude of other bugs. And how much do you think Nokia saved by skimping, maybe a few dollars per handset. Contrast this with how much bad publicity they have received over the N97 as well as the bad experience for people who spent US $700 for a flagship device.
Added to all these faults is the poor way that Nokia have handled this. From the head in the sand approach to the camera lens scratches and poor GPS, to the lack of Mac support, and to the complete denial that there is even a problem.
Nokia's official support is also problematic, the user to user forum is good but it should not be a replacement for official support pages (the device support pages only provide the product guide and link to the discussions forum) and getting anything other than form responses and incorrect information from the Nokia Customer Care makes this service a complete waste of time.
Will I sell my N97? No, not for the moment.
Can I recommend the N97? No!
Can I recommend any Nokia product? No!
Nokia N97 (RM-507) v 22
iPhone 4 (Coming Soon) - Lemon N97 - SE - Nokia 8210 - Nokia 7710 - Nokia 5100

Unbelievable N97

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