Long time, no post...
Normally I wouldn't bother to write up something this specific, but a like-minded person on Reddit wanted some help with this issue, so here goes. Out of respect for your time, I'll start with observed symptoms, then describe the fix that worked. The meandering details of all the things that didn't work will come after.
Symptoms
The observed behaviour was that my phone would not power on. Plugging it in to charge would have no effect, other than the phone vibrating periodically. In my case, it was every 8-ish seconds. Occasionally the carrier logo would flash, as if it was trying to boot, but that was all the activity I could see on the screen.
⚠ Safety First ⚠:If your device has been discharged for more than a few weeks, the battery health may have seriously deteriorated. The Lumia 800 does not use any adhesive to close off any of its components, so you can disassemble it yourself by following the instructions in this video. Double check that the battery is not puffy before continuing. If it is puffy, bring it to a facility equipped to dispose of batteries (for example, a big-box retailer such as Best Buy or MediaMarkt) instead of putting it in your household garbage.
What Worked
In my case, I was able to fully restore the phone to working order by doing 2 things: trickle-charging the battery, and re-flashing the Windows Phone 7 system image. I suspect that the trickle charging was unnecessary, but I mention it here for completeness.
⚠ Note ⚠: This process re-installs a fresh system image, so any data on your device will be lost.
Pre-requisites:
- I used a PC with Windows 10; I have no reason to think that Windows 11 wouldn't work. I experimented with some different software, so I used a fresh installation on a spare SSD that I had, rather than corrupting my daily Windows installation with potential malware.
- Download the Nokia Care Suite (https://windowsphoneonline.com/WinPhoneOnline/Tools/CareSuiteForStore-5.6.134.1513.exe)
- Download a firmware from from https://lumiafirmware.com/ I used the RM-801 as my phone had a little ‘801’ note under the SIM tray.from https://lumiafirmware.com/ I used the RM-801 as my phone had a little ‘801’ note under the SIM tray.
I selected this firmware:
Download all the files:
Procedure
Follow the following steps to re-flash your Lumia 800. Do not connect your device to your computer yet.
Once I had done that, I loaded Chimera up and... discovered that there are no longer trial versions of the software (so I would need to pay at least €120 for a license, even to run on a single device) and that even if I were to purchase a license, it would probably not work. Props to chimeratool for being honest about this.
- Install the Care Suite software. Open it, and launch 'Product Support Tool for Store'.
- Select File > Preferences > Data Package, and note where the application searches for data packages (that is, system images for Nokia devices). The default in my installation was
- C:\ProgramData\Nokia\Packages\Products
- Create a directory in the data packages directory called RM-801, then copy all the files you downloaded in step 3 of the 'pre-requisites' section here. On my system, the files were copied to:
- C:\ProgramData\Nokia\Packages\Products\RM-801
- Now, click File > Open Product > RM-801
- If you don't see the RM-801 device, click 'Update List' to refresh, and the application should detect the data packages that you copied over in step 3.
- Click Start and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be prompted to connect your device to your computer. Make sure you hold down the volume-up switch.
- If at some point you see a '1 is not a supported code page' error, change the default language settings to English US, and restart your PC before trying this step again.
- Patiently wait while the image flashes to your device
- If your device has been discharged for a long time, it may take up to 30 minutes to 'wake up' the battery. Do not leave your phone unattended while this happens, and make sure it does not get hot to the touch (somewhat warm is to be expected). If you are particularly paranoid, you can leave the phone partially disassembled, so you can observe if the battery becomes inflated.
- Once your device boots into the Windows Phone 7 OS, proceed with setting it up. You can browse https://lumiafirmware.com for additional firmwares and utilities.
Meandering Details of Things that Didn't Work
I began my search by reading XDA forum posts, and started with this one.
That post had some useful tips about using the Chimera tool to reset the modem, so I started down that road. Getting the vibe that the Chimera tool was kind of 'underground' (and brought along with it a LOT of device drivers), I elected to create a Windows 10 virtual machine that I could easily erase, and that I could use to keep my fresh Windows 11 installation squeaky clean. unfortunately, Chimera does not run nicely in virtual machines, so I would need to perform a fresh installation of Windows 10 on a clean SSD.
Once I had done that, I loaded Chimera up and... discovered that there are no longer trial versions of the software (so I would need to pay at least €120 for a license, even to run on a single device) and that even if I were to purchase a license, it would probably not work. Props to chimeratool for being honest about this.
The next option was to consider that the battery itself was defective. Seeing that batteries could be had for less than €10 on electronic-bay, I ordered one to test with and set about disassembling my device as shown in the linked video above. (watch out for videos that recommend unnecessarily destroying thing like the charge port cover!!) Swapping the battery yielded.... the exact same symptoms.
Finally, I set off down the path you see above. I do not recall how I wound up on the helpful windowsphoneonline website, but I am happy to recommend it here.
Thanks for joining me for this unnecessary adventure!
