I found another, even more effective (although still temporary) solution from another forum (ipmart). It seems to work every time in all WSOD cases – my phone is N97 firmware 20.0.019. It requires the charger, here goes:

All you need is:

N97
Charger

Follow these steps:

- Turn off your phone.
- Insert charger.
- Remove charger right after screen lights up.
- Wait a couple of seconds till screen turns off and just after that press power button.
- After standart vibration notification just put your charger in.
- VOILA! You can insert your PIN again and the phone boots normally!

This works for me every single time the WSOD problem occurs

So NO MORE hard-resets!

Of course it is still really bad that Nokia doesn’t have an official fix for this yet, since every normal user would propably never try things like this, and hence will be forced to deliver the device to a service shop with subsequent hard-reset as a result, which just plain sucks.

Regards,

/Henrik…

I have talked to some Nokia guys and I have got a semi-vague indication that a firmware 2.1 (21.x.x) should be underway for the N97, propably fixing some of the remaining bugs.
In the meantime, there is a pretty good solution for those who suffer from the “hang on Nokia boot screen”-problem, also known as the WSOD (White Screen of Death). To solve it, do this:

1. Pull battery and re-insert it.

2. Power up the phone by holding the “Power button + RED key + GREEN key + Camera key” and wait 30 seconds or so.

3. After the wait the phone should come up normally asking for the SIM passcode and everything is fine.

“Power button + RED key + GREEN key + Camera key” is a sort of “soft reset”, it keeps all the installations and everything as opposed to the “hard reset”.

I love my N97, and now I can love it without hard resetting it time and again, which was really destroying that love. But now it is fine – however using 4 buttons when turning on the phone looks a bit silly

Hope this helps for others as well, and let’s all hope that Nokia QA start testing their smartphone software with a little more care.

I have had some of the same problems with my device, also bought around the same time (june 2009). Maybe I have been a little luckier (my device is un-branded) and was able to upgrade firmware fast, but otherwise a somewhat similar story.

Suffice to say, I am quite annoyed as well, however I haven’t lost my love for the device yet, so I am determined to find the solution – I really don’t want to switch if I can avoid it. So, I have talked to numerous Nokia people here in Denmark, and I have an appointment with some Nokia Tech guys on phone later today, where I will try to find the real reason behind the White Screen of Death.

Until now with the information I do have, it seems that us early adopters have got a batch that are faulty on the hardware level (not firmware/software from 2.0 onwards).

So, the thing is, all Nokia phones are covered by the general european warranty, which means Nokia MUST either repair or give a new device to solve the problem. The normal procedure would be to hand it in to an authorized Nokia Service Center (here in Denmark it is usually called Telecare, dunno about UK though), when it hangs on the boot screen. If it cannot be repaired, you will get a new phone. This also applies for things like the camera scratching – this they MUST (and will) fix on warranty.

Anyway, I will keep you posted on what I can find out.

Regards,

/Henrik…

As for the Pre Gord, I’ve spoken to a few people about them, and while everyone thinks it looks the business, the general opinion is to avoid it for now. I think the next phone will be an android, but that may not happen either since Google as, to some degree, the same sort of control over the phones with Android.. however, saying that there is no restrictions on what you install and you can get the SDK to develop your own apps easily, not so is the case for Apple.

I don’t know anyone who has an Androd, but I think Paul has a Pre or at least considered one.