Just as the last time, when new firmware update appeared there might be a problem during installation. Let’s gather some tips how to cope with this process smoothly.

First things first: Before you start updating using any of described methods it’s good to update your data! One of users (thanks Stan) advised to backup everything and restore everything but ‘settings’ (so restore contacts, messages etc. but no settings) not to make N900 ‘sluggish’.

Over The Air (OTA)

First way to install PR1.2 update is the easiest one, it includes running App manager and updating package that appears as Maemo 5. People that have clean PR1.1.1 update installed (without any additional packages) say it’s going smoothly without problems.

If OTA update fails there is possibility that you have not enough space on rootfs, you can have a look at maemo.org wiki page for the solution. Another option is to go to terminal and try to run apt-get upgrade command, which should show you existing problems and conflicts of packages, then you can remove or install problematic packages when you know which it is.

Nokia Software Updater (NSU)

Most of Nokia devices can be upgraded using this windows software, I advise to download the latest version before trying to update. Then all you have to do is run the application and follow the steps displayed on computer screen.

One of users (thanks lee) noted that he ran into situation when NSU stated that he has the newest software and was unable to run update OTA. There is option to reinstall this ‘current version’ (which is PR1.1.1 most probably) and after that device should be ready to update OTA to PR1.2 without any problems.

flasher (flashing device via USB on Windows and Linux)

You can flash device manually using latest binary images for N900. First of all you need flasher itself, available here, available for Windows or Linux and for Mac OS X. The second thing is flash image and most probably eMMC image, available here after putting your IMEI number (you can find this by going to settings ‘About product’ page). I strongly advise to check md5 sums after downloading any of the images, since flashing device with image broken during download may be malicious for your N900. To do it use md5sum on Linux or free WinMD5sum on Windows. The process itself is described on maemo.org wiki not only for N900.

If you have any questions about updating, feel free to ask, I’ll try to provide any necessary informations.

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For more info on devel and testing catalogues visit Application catalogues tutorial

Please visit Nokia N900 Forum