After restarting, the Nokia logo appeared and then the phone freezed!

The N95 won’t boot! The lights turn on, the Nokia logo appears and then everything freezes !? is that really happening!!!?

At that moment, I knew there was a serious problem. Anyway, I tried to remove and restart the phone many times, but I didn’t help.

Anyway, I got on the net, and searched for possible solutions. The most discussed solution was to Hard Reset the phone.

3 methods are there, but this one works:

Hold the “3″ button, and the ” * ” (star) button, and the Green button simultaneously and then at the same time turn the phone ON!

It’s really strange, but you got to put the phone on the table and use both of your hands, and hold the first three key combination until it asks you either the PIN code or it asks you to enter your country, date and time.

That resets everything on your internal memory, so you settings and customizations will be GONE!

I’m sorry to say that, but there’s no way to get back those data. But your memory card will be OK!

So, I recommend that you back up your phone regularly, you never know!!

Well, once you get the phone back, connect it to a computer, and backup your memory card (8GB Mass Memory) to the computer, and then from the phone, in the menu> settings> tools> memory; go and FORMAT the mass memory, Once formatting is done, hard reset your phone by entering this code when the phone is ON:  *#7370#

*#7370# is a hard reset and does exactly the same as “Press simultaneously the green “call” button, ‘*’ and ‘3′, and keep them down.” The latter is a last resort when everything else fails.

*#7380# is the soft reset.

After this, restart the phone as usual, and everything should be back in order.

You need to read this guide TWICE! (2 times)

Once to know what is going on and what is going to happen (The theory part)

And The second time to follow the procedure (The practical part)

You might need to read this too (http://gibni.com/nokia-n95-8gb-my-new-mobile-phone). (Optional, Recommended)

The translation of this post to French will come soon.

La traduction en Français de cette article sera disponible rapidement.

This tutorial (How to) will guide you through the process of upgrading your mobile phone’s software, also know as FIRMWARE.

I will discuss on how to update Nokia N-Series phones, and the example here will be the Nokia N95 8GB. But you can follow the same steps to upgrade other models of the n-series family like N73, N82, N93, N95, N81 and all n-series phone.

Upgrading a firmware usually makes the device operate easier and become more stable, and sometimes might happen to get new features and functionalities. On mobile phones, the firmware upgrade usually solves the stability problems and improves the phone’s performance.

Even if most of the time upgrading is recommended, you should do it with extreme care. Before going ahead with the upgrade process, do some research on what is new with the upgrade you’re going to apply, search on the forums to see if there are people who already did the upgrade, and what is their feedback on that.

I do not guarantee that this tutorial will work on any other model/brand than the ones above.

So, Be careful, this is an expert step, you risk to “brick” your phone. (= Make your phone not usable).

Been quite a long time I’ve been waiting for a new firmware release from Nokia for the N95 8GB phone.

This week, I came to know that the latest firmware version is the 20.0.016 for the N95 8GB.

To know what is the latest version available for your Nokia phone, go to http://europe.nokia.com/A4577224 and put in your phone’s product number, the page will tell you your phone’s model and the latest firmware available for it.

You can find the product number of your phone by opening the battery cover and removing the battery, there would be a number in this format:

CODE: 0520001

Well, now that you know the latest version available, note that down and now turn on your phone, and go to

“Menu>Tools>Utilities>Device mgr.” , here you’ll see the version installed on your phone, the “Device Software” version!

You can now easily tell if your phone needs an update!?

Before doing anything, I should warn you that performing and upgrade will erase all data stored on your phone’s internal memory (You will lose everything which is stored in the internal memory, like contacts, programs, themes, settings, messages, notes….)

SO! It is very important that you keep a backup of your phone’s memory! My advice would be that you keep a backup on your computer (PC/MAC) using the Nokia PC Suite ( Nokia Nseries PC Suite 2.0 ) . For that you connect your phone with a USB cable (or Bluetooth) and choose PC Suite mode, and on the computer, you use the “content copier” to make a backup of your phone’s memory. It takes about 5-15 minutes depending on the info stored in the memory.

After all is done, make a backup inside your phone too, just in case! To do that, go to: “Menu>Tools>Utilities>Memory” , click “Options”, and Select “Back up phone memory”. This will also take some time. Let it finish, and you’ll be sure.

Well, now put your phone on charge to get the battery full. (This is important!!)

Meanwhile, go an download the latest Nokia Software Updater (http://europe.nokia.com/A4579163), install it on your computer.

I advise you to Disconnect all other USB peripherals, unless they are extremely necessary like your mouse!

Run the installed software from your desktop, it will need to connect to update itself again. Let is do whatever it needs to do!

My advice is that after it is done, you restart your computer and close all unneeded programs.

Now, Run again Nokia Software Updater from your desktop, and keep an active Internet connection, because it will need to download about 110MB of firmware.

Connect your phone in PC Suite mode, and follow the process explained very clearly in Nokia Software Updater.

* Make sure that your phone is on charge and is connected to the charger.

* Make sure you have no electricity problem and that you’re going to have electricity for the next 30 minutes.

*Make sure you open/run NO OTHER software, music, text or any file.

* Make sure you put your phone on General profile (By clicking once the power button and choosing General).

* Make sure no one’s going to disconnect the phone in the update process.

Well, if every thing’s OK, proceed now with the update. It will first tell you if there’s an update available for your phone, and then will ask you if you want to upgrade. Proceed, then it will download the firmware, and apply it to the phone, the phone will then restart and will be ready to use.

Once every thing’s finished, go to Memory, in Utilities, and click “Options” and then Select “Rest. From Mass Memory” , this will restore the backed up data, and your messages, settings, files and stuff will be back again in place.

You have the latest Firmware and your files are in place too!

Please make sure you read my last post on this topic (http://gibni.com/nokia-n95-8gb-my-new-mobile-phone), it will guide you if you get errors like “No Firmware Upgrade Available for your phone” or “Installation problems with Nokia Software Updater” or “How to change product code” or “How to unbrand your phone”. It’s very useful and important!

Please see this page if you need to know which product codes to use:

http://nokia.nigelcoldwell.co.uk/firmware.htm

I should tell you that you need to reinstall again all the software you had installed and also reinstal the themes you like. (Maybe they’ll be there after the memory restore, but that’t recommended to be reinstalled). You should also refresh the media library.

If you have any issues/comments/question, do not hesitate to put them in the comments section.

The translation of this post to French will come soon.

In the last post on this topic, I introduced 5 applications that I had personally installed and tested.

As promised, I’ll post 5 more this time, numbers follow…

6- Salling Clicker

This makes your phone as a remote form your computer over the bluetooth and even over WIFI if you’ve got a WIFI network around. I’ve installed and tested this app, works nice with inbuilt windows bluetooth drivers and has a lot of functions and even the possibility of making your own scripts. For example, I can control the Windows Media Player (mine’s 11) from the phone, and when listening to music (on the computer) if the phone rings, the application automatically stops the music, decreases system volume and shows a popup windows on the monitor to show that someone’s calling!! (this can be enabled/disable). There are lots of functionallities. If you wanna get a remote control for your pc (even mac) this is the best for the moment

Get it Here: http://www.salling.com/  (It works on MAC too!!)

You may need some plugins and 3rd party scripts, google and search also the forums, but if you don’t find anything, just leave comments on this post and i’ll upload some scripts and plugins too.

7- ALON MP3 Dictaphone

Here’s a nice dictaphone app, which can record your calls automatically, record voice (even the radio) in MP3 format and has the ability to increase or decrease the microphone gain! which lets you record even very small sounds :D!

Get it here: (Trial version) The Full one costs about 30$! http://www.alonsoftware.com/products/dictaphone_s60_3rd.htm

8- Nokia Maps 2 (Beta version)

At last we got something very nice from Nokia for the GPS stuff! They took so long!

Nokia Maps 2, has got a way better interface and a lot of functionality improvements and precision. Still in the beta (test) version, but there seems to be no stability issues till now (be carefull to install it only on latest firmware which is till date v. 15.0.015

Get it Here: http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/maps/ (Still in Beta, use at your own risk)

9- Y-Browser (from Yucca Tools)

This is very useful if you got stuff in your inbox and the phone doesn’t let you move them in the mass memory! that’s pretty wierd from Nokia to have such a dump bug, but with the help of this app, you can browse all your drives and even see hidden and system files.

But be very carefull with system files, you don’t want to “BRICK” your phone.

My advice is that you install the app, and install the ‘mailbox’ plugin so you can directly access your ‘My Folders’ inside the mailbox, from there you can move the stuff which are stuck.

Usually Free, Get it Here: http://www.drjukka.com/YBrowser.html

10- NiiMee

This is a very nice application, which uses the accelerometer inside N95 to make it like a Wheel, Mouse and Joystick! I did play Need For Speed Most Wanted with my phone on the PC, using my phone as the Wheel and staying far from the screen, WIRELESSLY over Bluetooth! This software rocks!

It’s Usually Available for free download at the author’s site: http://www.niime.com/

I’ll Put in the next time, some direct download links and a summary of the best applications. So, don’t go too far!

The Nokia N95 8GB, is a Symbian S60 3rd Generation, Featured Pack 1 (v.9.1) phone. It’s a BB5 type.Here’s a list of applications you can install on nokia N95 which I have tested and they are said to be stable and working.

1- Landscape Pro :   It’s an application which uses the inbuilt accelerometer to detect when you rotate the phone and it rotates the screen respectively. It operates on 0, 90 and 270 degrees rotation. The version 2.0 is the latest till date and is a stable version. Read the post about Landscape Pro 2.0 for more info.

2- RotateMe v2.0 : A screen rotator application again, the only limitation is that it works only on 0 and -90 degree rotation, it doesn’t support 270 degree rotation (’yet’ i hope :D! ) this software is developped by Samir, and is free to download at his website. The installation goes very easy through the Nokia PC Suite and you can run the application as a system application where it hides itself from the task list.

http://www.bysamir.fr/rotateme/

3- Handy Taskman 2.0 : A ‘task manager’ style application which lets you see running processes and clos or kill unwanted or hung ones. It shows available system RAM and memory status. A very neat and stable application.

Visit the website to get this application : http://www.epocware.com/

4- Office Suite 4.5 : As the name says, it’s a office package which allows you to open and edit Word documents, Excel documents and PowerPoint Presentations.

Visit http://www.mobisystems.com/ for more info.

5- Agile Messenger: One of the best applications which lets you connect to IM services like Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger (Live Messenger), Google Talk, ICQ and AOL (AIM) from your mobile phone. It’s very stable and easy to use.

Visit http://www.agilemobile.com/ to get the free trial Agile Messenger.

I’ll post 5 more applications in the next post about Symbian Apps.

Landscape Pro, is one of such applications which works great, but’s not perfectly matched yet with Nokia N95 or the N95 8GB.

The previous version I installed on my phone, which was version 1.2, had some issues that I told the programmer about.

here’s the email conversation I had with him:

---

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 05:52:11 -0800
From: info@gibni.com
Subject: Landscape Pro Issues on N95 8GB
To: landscape_pro@hotmail.com

Hi,

I got the demo version of Landscape Pro signed and installed on my new Nokia N95 8GB version.

After 5 days of testing the software; there are some issues that you should know about so you can correct them in the final and commercial release.

1. When in ‘Keypad Locked’ mode, the software still rotates the screen and causes the Power saver animation to go away. and if the power saver is set to “Date and Time”, after a while, if landscape is enabled; the time and date disappear and only a blank white bar remains on the screen.

2. In camera mode, when the phone rotated 270 degrees, landscape rotates the screen respectively, but if the phone rotates back to its initial state, the menus and buttons on the screen get back to their inital and right state, but the picture (camera view) gets up-side-down!

3. When rotating the phone from either sides to the standing position, the sensitivity is not set correctly and either it takes some times for the application to recognize the position, or i have to shake the phone fot the app. to recognize the standing status!

4. I believe that in SMS writing mode, the app should not rotate the screen as the keypad is below the screen and there is no use in rotating the screen as it might get the user confused.

5. In music player mode, when rotated to 270 degrees, the buttons (for Play/Pause, Stop, Forward and Previous) get confused and messed up so that i can’t really use the functions in 270 degrees.

6. even in the menu, when rotated to 270 degrees, the buttons are not working correctly.

in conclusion, I believe you sould re-view your software and maybe use ideas from other developpers.

Well, I will be happy to help you in your project as a tester on N95 8GB, and even in publicizing your software on my blog.

Please consider writing my name and site address if you give and use the information i gave you.

Regards.

www.Gibni.com

---

 

Thank you for your suggestion. I will solve it before release day maybe end of February. The six comments that you give me, i will try to slove its. Around middle of February i will send the beta version to you.
 
Thank you for interested in my application.
 
Regards,
Sarawut

---

  

Please Read this guide to the end and visit all the resources and links before trying anything

===============================

I bought the Nokia N95 8GB two days ago, and i’m can’t get my hands off it! Every thing is so fine in this handset!

Mine is a branded one, with SFR France. I got a Nokia BH-201 Bluetooth Headset too.

The Handset comes with wired headset, a wall charger, TV cable, USB cable, a manual and Spider Man 3 movie preloaded on the 8GB memory! The camera got a perfect quality and takes very clear photos.

The phone connects with different methods to the computer, either Data transfer where the 8GB memory is recognized as a memory drive (flash disk) or PC Suite method which is used to install softwares and updates and use the Nokia PC Suite functions, or the Media Player Method and the Print method.

I got some issues and resolved them which I will explain here.

N95 Bluetooth headset disables loudspeaker issue:

I Loaded some music to the 8GB memory and the sound quality was so clear and perfect. I paired the bluetooth headset and set the music to play on the headset, but when I tried to disconnect the bluetooth headset, the loudspeaker was no more working! and the sound came out from the small ear piece we use for phone calls!! and the only way to get the music to play on the loudspeaker was to reboot (restart) the phone, which is a lot of pain!

I googled to find a solution, but the only thing was to update the firmware…

 Nokia Software Updater Installation issue

Well I had Nokia PC Suite installed, and to update the firmware I needed the NOKIA SOFTWARE UPDATER, I got the latest version from Nokia website, but when I tried to install it, i got a error message:

” Error 1720: There is a problem with this Windows installer package. A script required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor . Custom action Kill_process script error -2147221020,: Line 5 , Column 1, ”

I searched and there was no clear answer to how to resolve this problem. Although, I reinstalled Windows Installer, Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Host Scrip 5.6, and Java Platform SE 6 and even tried to re-register VBScript’s dll, but nothing seemed to work!

The best thing i found to do was to test on another machine, well, I got VMware Workstation 6 and I created a new and fresh installation of Windows XP SP2 (Updates integrated till September 2007). On the virtual machine, I got Nokia Software Updater installed very easily and without any problem on the virtual machine! And as there’s no problem connecting my N95 8GB to the usb port of VMware,  and the network configuration of the virtual machine was NAT, so, there’s nothing else to worry about.

But, if you ask my opinion on Nokia Software Updater error message, i think there’s something wrong in windows’ dlls or maybe some conflict with ATI graphic cards. I don’t know exactly, neither does Nokia!!

No Updates Available For Your Phone issue: 

Well, till know everything got in order, I connected the phone on PC SUITE mode to the USB port (having the virtual machine running and on top of other windows.) The phone got connected and showed up in the virtual machine. I ran Nokia Software Updater, It got connected to the phone, identified it, and said “THERE’s NO UPDATES AVAILABLE FOR YOUR PHONE” !!!!!

It shows that the Firmware version is V10.0.021, but after my researches on the net, for the Nokia N95 8GB, the latest firmware version published by Nokia is V15.0.015 ! which is a lot different than the number shown on my handset!!

On Nokia’s website, you can check the latest version of firmware available to your handset by giving the product code. I did that and the page said that my product code is invalid.

To check if there is an update available and what is the latest version check on Nokia:

http://europe.nokia.com/A4577224

I found that Unbranded phones get the updates first and branded ones will be the last if ever!

I believe that there’s always a way, even if it’s hard to find, it exists.

So the way is to “Change N95 8GB Product Code”.

To chang a handset’s product code, you should be aware that it will VOID YOUR WARRANTY! So be warned, and I take NO RESPONSIBILITIES in case you “brick” your phone!

There’s a software, NEMESIS SERVICE SUITE (NSS) which makes this possible.

But you should know what is your current Product code, if there’s really no updates available to you, whether your carrier will provide you with updates, if you are ready to take all responsibilities and at the end, What to change it to?

To know your product code, turn you phone off, open the back cover and remove the battery, you’ll see a number in the format: 0520001. Note that down, cause you may want to put it back when the update is done.

Here’s a list of available N95 8GB product code, but be sure to choose the right country where you purchased the phone:

(Note: These product codes are only for “Nokia N95 8GB” handset, DO NOT TRY ON OTHER MODELS)

N95 8GB product codes
0550348 - FRANCE
0550352 - ALPS
0549487 - EURO1
0550359 - EURO2
0550370 - TURKEY
0550372 - SCANDINAVIA
0550373 - BALTIAN
0550798 - RUSSIAN
0550799 - UKRAINE
0550800 - BELARUS/MOLDOVA
0550375 - CIS, Bulgaria
0550378 - EURO3
0550379 - BALKANS
0550801 - GREECE, CYPROS
0550802 - ISRAEL
0555180 - SINGAPORE
0555181 - MALAYSIA
0555187 - EMERGING ASIA
0550455 - INDONESIA
0550454 - NEW ZEALAND
0550453 - AUSTRALIA
0550459 - THAILAND
0550457 - VIETNAM
0557980 - HONG KONG / CHINA
0557877 - MALASIA
0550388 - AFRICA (NIGERIA)

N95 8GB Operator Specific codes
0558166 - SFR France

Ok, Now that you have your initial product code, and you have chosen the right one from the list above, let’s proceed…

Disconnect your phone from the PC (if connected)

Install Nemesis Service Suite (NSS)

Open up NSS,

Connect your phone to the PC in PC Suite mode an immediately in NSS, click the Scan for new device button on the top right side.

Go to “Phone Info” (second button from left)

On the middle of the application’s window, click the ’Scan’ button (in the Action section).

When you get your phone info on the left pane, click the “Read” button.

Then, next to your product code, CHECK the Enable button,

replace the product code with the one you chose from the list above, and click “Write”.

Then, click on “Read” again to check if the product code change was successfull. Then, disconnect your phone from the PC.

WARNING::::Be warned! All your programs will be deleted, and so will be all your personal settings and contacts and themes which are on the internal phone memory.So Backup all your contacts, images, music and files which are stored on the phone’s internal memory to your PC or the 8GB memory. this can be done through the memory settings from the phone itself.

Now, Close NSS and start the Nokia Software Updater, connect again your phone on PC Suite mode and keep the internet connected, and plug the wall charger and put your phone on charge. MAKE SURE THERE WILL BE NO CONNECTION ISSUES OR POWER FAILURE ISSUES EITHER FOR YOUR COMPUTER, USB CABLE AND YOUR PHONE!!

Nokia Software Updater will download the update which is around 110 MB and then, it will apply it to the phone which will take around 10 to 15 minutes. At the end, the phone will restart and it will be updated.

Ok, The firmware is updated, and what remains is to put back the product code to its original state. Use NSS again as explaineed above, and set the product code to the original product code of your N95 8GB.

Please note that after setting the original product you should not try to update the firmware through Nokia Software Updater.

Please read these links before proceeding:

A Guide to “How to upgrade you N95 Firmware”:

http://www.simplysymbian.com/2007/05/02/how-to-upgrade-your-nokia-n95-firmware/

A Guide to “How to change Your Nokia N95 product code”:

http://www.nokia-n95.net/how-to-s/how-to-change-your-n95s-product-code-2.html