Hmmm, what kind of simple app was that?

This sounds a bit like MALF state? Do a search for N9 MALF and you will find the solution here in this forum.

It would help also to be a bit more verbous...

The app was MeeCast actually. Phone froze on installation

Getting more verbose on where I am now:

garys-mbp:~ garycalcott$ flasher -f -F /Users/garycalcott/Downloads/DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3_PR_LEGACY_001-OEM1-958_ARM.bin
flasher 3.12.1 (Oct 5 2011) Harmattan
WARNING: This tool is intended for professional use only. Using it may result
in permanently damaging your device or losing the warranty.

USB device found at bus 20, device address 25.
Device serial number is N/A
Raw data transfer EP found at EP2.
Ping attempt 1 (250 ms)
Server application: 1.7.2
Found product RM-696 rev. 1603
Server implements softupd protocol version 1.8
Image SW version DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3_PR_001
Image moslo not present
Image mmc not present
Image tar skipped
Image config skipped

Battery level 19 %, continuing.

image [state progress transfer flash speed]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[x] cert-sw [finished 100 % 1 / 1 kB NA ]
[x] cmt-2nd [finished 100 % 95 / 95 kB NA ]
[x] cmt-algo [finished 100 % 789 / 789 kB NA ]
[_] cmt-mcusw [finishing 25 % 6050 / 6050 kB 3089 kB/s]
[x] xloader [finished 100 % 23 / 23 kB NA ]
[x] secondary [finished 100 % 94 / 94 kB NA ]
[x] kernel [finished 100 % 2714 / 2714 kB 1910 kB/s]
[_] rootfs [init 0 % 32768 / 1170282 kB NA ]
ERROR: SU_GET_UPDATE_STATUS_REQ terminated with error code 1: Unknown error

image [state progress transfer flash speed]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[x] cert-sw [finished 100 % 1 / 1 kB NA ]
[x] cmt-2nd [finished 100 % 95 / 95 kB NA ]
[x] cmt-algo [finished 100 % 789 / 789 kB NA ]
[x] cmt-mcusw [finished 100 % 6050 / 6050 kB 3089 kB/s]
[x] xloader [finished 100 % 23 / 23 kB NA ]
[x] secondary [finished 100 % 94 / 94 kB NA ]
[x] kernel [finished 100 % 2714 / 2714 kB 1910 kB/s]
[f] rootfs [init 0 % 32768 / 1170282 kB NA ]
Fetching error list:
========================================
Update content failed to verify against cert: SW certificate not updated
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
mmc: sfdisk returned status 1
mmc: Could not exec 'tune2fs -L rootfs /tmp/sudmmcl4sVnm/internal0p2'
mmc: Could not remove mount directory /tmp/sudmmcl4sVnm/mnt: No such file or directory
[Pipe 4] Finishing in error state with status 1
========================================

ERROR: Failed to flash images
garys-mbp:~ garycalcott$

Did you originally flash both main.bin and emmc.bin to reset partition structure? Have a look at "rainisto" post in this thread:
https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=93166

Yes, flashing emmc.bin would have also been my next advice.

But I am afraid the device memory is dead.
There have been too many occurences like this.

download broken - unlikely, but possible
bad usb cable - would be the easiest to check/change
bad partition table - very unlikely if you did not tinker with layout (as I did )
broken mmc - unfortunately likely as happened often and HW is old

Also it matches that your device did just shut down.
Sorry

Nevertheless try again with both firmware.bin and emmc.bin.
Maybe --erase-user-data and I do not remember by heart but something like --reset-partition-table (have a look with --help before).

Thanks for chiming in - appreciate it. I would dearly love to save the poor soul...

My noob question would be, where do I find emmc.bin ?

How about emmc no maps from here?http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=96401

Thanks, I went for that emmc, but alas no joy:

flasher -f -F /Users/garycalcott/Downloads/DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3_PR_LEGACY_001-OEM1-958_ARM.bin -F /Users/garycalcott/Downloads/nomaps.bin --flash-only=mmc
flasher 3.12.1 (Oct 5 2011) Harmattan
WARNING: This tool is intended for professional use only. Using it may result
in permanently damaging your device or losing the warranty.

Suitable USB interface (bootloader/phonet) not found, waiting...
^C
garys-mbp:~ garycalcott$ flasher -f -F /Users/garycalcott/Downloads/DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3_PR_LEGACY_001-OEM1-958_ARM.bin -F /Users/garycalcott/Downloads/nomaps.bin --flash-only=mmc
flasher 3.12.1 (Oct 5 2011) Harmattan
WARNING: This tool is intended for professional use only. Using it may result
in permanently damaging your device or losing the warranty.

Suitable USB interface (bootloader/phonet) not found, waiting...
USB device found at bus 20, device address 15.
Device serial number is N/A
Error claiming USB interface: Operation timed out
Found device RM-696, hardware revision 1603
NOLO version 2.3.6
Version of 'sw-release': DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3_PR_001
Sending ape-algo image (7096 kB)...
100% (7096 of 7096 kB, avg. 39645 kB/s)
Suitable USB interface (phonet) not found, waiting...
USB device found at bus 20, device address 17.
Device serial number is N/A
Raw data transfer EP found at EP2.
Ping attempt 1 (250 ms)
Server application: 1.7.2
Found product RM-696 rev. 1603
Server implements softupd protocol version 1.8
Image SW version DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3_PR_001
Image cmt-2nd skipped
Image cmt-algo skipped
Image cmt-mcusw skipped
Image xloader skipped
Image secondary skipped
Image kernel skipped
Image moslo skipped
Image rootfs skipped
Image tar skipped
Image config skipped

Battery level 40 %, continuing.

image [state progress transfer flash speed]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[x] cert-sw [finished 100 % 1 / 1 kB NA ]
[_] mmc [finishing 100 % 32768 / 261587 kB NA ]
ERROR: SU_GET_UPDATE_STATUS_REQ terminated with error code 1: Unknown error

image [state progress transfer flash speed]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[x] cert-sw [finished 100 % 1 / 1 kB NA ]
[f] mmc [finishing 0 % 32768 / 261587 kB NA ]
Fetching error list:
========================================
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
bb5_rdc_cert_read failed
mmc: sfdisk returned status 1
mmc: Could not exec '/sbin/dosfslabel /tmp/sudmmc1KQX4d/internal0p1 "Nokia N9"'
mmc: Unable to remove mount point '/tmp/sudmmc1KQX4d/mnt/home': No such file or directory
mmc: Could not remove mount directory /tmp/sudmmc1KQX4d/mnt: No such file or directory
[Pipe 1] Finishing in error state with status 1
========================================

ERROR: Failed to flash images
garys-mbp:~ garycalcott$

Doesn't flasher just lay out the bits on the phone?! Seems that it's expecting some kind of file structure to be in place.

But I really doubt rhat it helps as this only restores the original partition layout (and I doubt even more you changed it).

flasher -i
flasher 3.12.1 (Oct 5 2011) Harmattan
WARNING: This tool is intended for professional use only. Using it may result
in permanently damaging your device or losing the warranty.

Suitable USB interface (bootloader/phonet) not found, waiting...
USB device found at bus 20, device address 5.
Device serial number is N/A
Error claiming USB interface: Operation timed out
Found device RM-696, hardware revision 1603
NOLO version 2.3.6
Version of 'sw-release': DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3_PR_001
Success


But flashing is unsuccessful. Doesn't flasher just lay out the bits?

@gcalcott:
Have you considered booting a Live Linux distro and doing that stuff from there?
All installations instructions are available:
https://wiki.maemo.org/Flashing_N9
https://wiki.maemo.org/Resurrect_your_N9
You want you can also take a look at this blog post:
http://dt.iki.fi/nokia-n9-resurrect