Hi I'd like to share a couple of things here.

I live in Brazil and have, in February and after much consideration and comparison with others, acquired in the US a N900. It has been a wonderful phone and beyond, and answered almost all of my expectations.

I use it mainly for work, which involves constant and full internet access on the go, email, pictures, videos and others.

in that aspect I've had no problems whatsoever. Note I am MAC user and as such, encountered some incompatibilities in synchronizing phone and computer, which have been (thankfully) sorted out in different threads in this community. Once again, thank you all for your support!.

I had a couple of good programs installed and none have given me any problems, including an overclocked (through Kernel) to 500 - 850 MHz.

All good so far. Last week, Tuesday, I unlocked the screen to access emails (by using the side switch) and when I clicked on the email icon on 01 of my desktops, lines appeared on my screen, both vertical and horizontal, as if something was interfering with it. I shut down the phone and when I powered it up again, the display was completely dead.

I heard the nokia sound but no display came up or lit, though I could feel (screen vibration) that the screen was responsive. I connected the AV cable and all worked fine on the big screen, but still my display was dead.

Not having much time to investigate any further, I took, on the following day, my phone to the authorized NOKIA CARE centre where I live. here a couple of things happened:

1- They did not recognize my phone. (It appears this phone is still not available for market in Brazil).
2- They did not acknowledge WARRANTY on the phone either (I will get back to this later on).

Anyway, I left the phone there to analysis and they would give me a quotation on how much it would cost to repair it in a couple of days. Immediately I contacted NOKIA in Brazil inquiring as to why my phone was denied WARRANTY by their specialized centre.

The answer I got was "NOKIA is not responsible for NOKIA phones purchased outside the country".

After 5 days trying, I finally managed to get a hold from NOKIA centre on how much it would cost to have my phone back, I was already sorrowful for it. And to my amazement, the answer I got was even more appalling:

"NOKIA will not provide any parts to repair your phone, as it is not one of the range of phones distributed in your country".

The funny thing is I can get it listed on the NOKIA Brazil webpage for support.

So now I am stuck with a half dead phone (still connects AV and works fine) and don't know what to do. I have tried, as a last resort (willingly knowing that the chances of it working were dim), clearing all user data and restoring to factory default (though all programs I installed are manually there).

I did not find a wiki on reflashing using a MAC, and don't have enough time (or patience for that matters, to try and doing it using XP), and also, I don't quite think this would work either, as I suspect it is but a case of a burnt-out display that needs replacement.

Trying to send the phone to a NOKIA centre in the US is non-productive (taxes to export, contacts in the US, and how to get it back home) and time ineffective, though is proving to be the last resort ever.

Sorry for the long thread and thank you very much for listening.

Any input shared is much appreciated.

Best regards,

People here don't like it when they read negative things about the n900. They get REALLY defensive and throw away common sense and comes out with emotional outbursts instead.

I wish you luck.

Hello.

The best course is to talk to the people you bought the N900 from in the US, though do beware that technically you voided your warranty by overclocking the phone.
They might be able to talk to Nokia in Brazil about repairing it for you.

Well you do know that most companies won't recognize international warranties?

You have two options:

1) buy a screen from ebay and fix it yourself.
2) Send it to the US to get fixed.

I'd choose option 1.

My US-bought N900 is also not protected under warranty in Europe. It's a risk we take unfortunately. Nokia's warranty applies only in the region you bought the phone in.

Sounds to me as though the LCD connector cable has come loose. It's a relatively easy fix and wouldn't take you more than a couple hours with the right screwdriver.

I think his problem is not with the N900 itself but with the policies of Nokia service. I can understand why he'd be annoyed with Nokia, although companies often have policies like that to try to limit the "grey market". It sucks, but isn't uncommon.

Some suggestions:

1. There are web sites that sell Nokia parts. Maybe he could buy a screen from one of those and find a local technician to install it.

2. Buy another N900 on EBay. Either use it for parts as above or just use it as a replacement device.

Every single phone i have had with a sliding screen has suffered this problem.

it is caused by the constant movment of the ribbon that connects the screen to the main unit.

It is probably as simple as the connection has come lose & at worst will require a new ribbon.

I suggest pulling it apart

Many companies don't provide international warranty, and for those that don't, you take the risk by buying a device in a country you do not have easy access to.

When I buy devices in a country I don't live in or visit often, I consider the risk. E.g., in the case of my Canon DSLR (exact same model is available in my home country, but AFAIK Canon only respects warranty on DSLRs *actually* sold in your home country), I bought a 3rd-party international warranty.

Some companies are better about this, some have limited international warranty (e.g. Acer I think), but this is definitely not only Nokia, and not only smartphones.

You may want to see if a 3rd-party is able to fix your device for a small fee, or at least identify the exact problem, if you aren't able to, or don't have the equipment, to do it yourself. I did this once with a different Nokia phone (that wasn't supported by Nokia as in the country the network operator provides Nokia support, and the handset was replaced by insurance after the original device was stolen).

Nokia Care is one of the worse parts of Nokia (or pretty much any other company) pretty much anywhere in the world.

But international warranties tend to be an issue regardless of brand.

If you don't feel confortable messing with the hardware yourself, see if a local mobile phone repair shop would take the challenge and how much they are gonna charge you; last year i had to replace the keypad of my N73, the only Nokia Care shop was on the other side of town and it would probably have been a nasty experience leaving my phone there and then waiting for them to eventually do somthing about it (somthing that probably wouldn't have been the best thing for my case), instead i went to a repair shop near my bulding, they had ran out of the keypad in the right color, but in the very next day i went there and like half an hour or so later it was done, costed me about 70-90 Reais i think, but it was well worth not having to travel across São Paulo and then waiting some unpredictable amount of days for a likely less than ideal result.