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How To Overclock The Nokia N900

By - On 4 April 2010 32 Comments

Yesterday we told you that the N900 had been overclocked to run at speeds upto 1GHz. Since then a lot of people have tried overclocking their N900′s for that speed bump and have reported that the N900 stays stable and performs faster even after being overclocked.

How To Overclock The Nokia N900

But before you start flashing your own N900, please keep in mind a few of the ramifications pointed out by Lehto:

  • They (the modded kernels) will make the about page say <unknown> for the hardware and software. (So the Nokia Software Updater will not work and you will have to manually flash your device if you wish to upgrade to the new firmware).
  • There is an additional speed step down from 250mhz. So instead of 250mhz idle it now sits @ 125mhz idle with lower voltage. 125/250/500/550/xxx instead of 250/500/550/600.
  • You are sacrificing machine lifetime by running it overclocked and stressing it at 100% for longer periods of time.
  • Everything will feel faster and is faster.
  • The fastest kernels might not work on your phone, this is purely down to luck of how good chip you’ve got in your phone. Climate affects it also along with many other variables. (If you like in a warm climate, do not try anything more than 800 MHz).
  • This (the overclocking procedure) requires only flashing the new kernel in, the phone setups and apps will stay. Only the clock speed increases.

Personally, I am going to resist from overclocking my N900 as the long term effects of this procedure are yet unknown. Secondly, I know that I do not possess the experience or the technical skill to full understand the nitty gritty of this hack and thirdly I do not wish to void my warranty. I shall have no responsibility if anything goes wrong and your N900 is damaged in anyway whatsoever, based on this tutorial or otherwise.

If you still think you want to overclock your N900, Maemo Briefs has published a tutorial, based on which are the following instructions:

  • Download one of those modded Kernels, depending on the speed you would like or simply download the entire package here.
  • If you don’t already have the Maemo Flasher, download and install it.
  • Next, place the kernel you would like to flash in the Maemo Flasher folder. It is usually found in the Program Files folder.
  • Switch off the N900, make sure the battery is fully charged.
  • On the PC, open the Command Prompt by going to Start then Run and type cmd, then press Enter.
  • Change directory to the flasher’s program path by entering:

cd “C:\ProgramFiles\maemo\flasher-3.5″

  • Connect the USB cable while holding the ‘u’ key on the N900. Within an instant you will see a USB icon on the top right corner of the N900. Now leave the ‘u’ key.
  • Run the following command:

flasher-3.5.exe -k zImage-800mhz -f -R

  • Replace “zImage-800mhz” with the name of the kernel you would like to flash.
  • Within a few seconds (usually under 10) the flash will be complete and you would have overclocked your N900.

If you are serious about flashing your N900, I recommend going through this thread. Maemo.org member ‘jakiman‘ has complied most of the information from that large thread into this single post if you do not wish to read through the 100 plus pages.

DISCLAIMER: Maemo Central hereby absolves itself from any responsibility should any damage occur as a result of following the procedure outlined herein.

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32 Comments »

  • The N900 Overclocked To 1GHz | Maemo Central - The MeeGo Blog said:

    [...] not available for download directly, but you can request them via a PM. If you feel adventurous, here is how to overclock the N900. If you enjoyed this post, then be sure to subscribe to our Full Feed RSS. You can also [...]

  • Darius said:

    I have flashed N900 with „125 – 930mhz , 500mhz DSP“ . Browser loading pages a little bit faster, and scrolling is smoother. Supertux at one level has 51fps instead of 36fps @600 MHz. Mplayer plays Xvid 624×352 without any noticeable frame drop.

  • Nokia N900 overclock tot 1000mhz said:

    [...] hier de website: http://maemocentral.com/2010/04/04/how-to-overclock-the-nokia-n900/ Posted in Nieuws, firmware « Changelog PR [...]

  • Tech Ticker | Nokia N900 CPU gets overclocked to 1GHz said:

    [...] if the aforementioned flaws are no problem for you, head over here for the complete overclocking tutorial. Share [...]

  • Jibing said:

    OMG, this is really cool, I am now thinking of buying a N900 instead of HD2

  • manojlds said:

    @Jibing

    You are considering N900 over HD2 because it can be overclocked? Man, you really need some advice.

    PS: I am pro N900, but his thinking was too lame.

  • cb00 said:

    I’ve flashed it to 800mhz! Definitely feels a little faster.. not sure how I will upgrade now though haha.

  • Nokia N900 overclockato a 1 GHz! | KiAmaNokia – Il blog dei Nokia lovers said:

    [...] Il processore del Nokia N900 è un ARM Cortex-A8 che funziona a 600 Mhz. Su Maemo Central ci sono le istruzioni per farlo funzionare a 1 GHz! [...]

  • Nokia N900 overclockato a 1 GHz! | KiAmaNokia – Il blog dei Nokia lovers said:

    [...] Il processore del Nokia N900 è un ARM Cortex-A8 che funziona a 600 Mhz. Su Maemo Central ci sono le istruzioni per farlo funzionare a 1 GHz! [...]

  • KP said:

    Hmmm… just tried to follow the procedure but didn’t get far. The maemo_flasher-3.5_2.5.2.2.exe will not install. Nothing happens when I run it from either explorer or cmd. I’ve tried on a Win7-x64 machine using the Windows XP mode and I’ve tried on a real Windows XP SP3 machine. None of them would install it. I’m an admin on both machines.
    Not so impressed…

  • @KP said:

    If you did a little more research, which one probably should do before jumping straight into the deep end, you would’ve found: http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware#N900:_Windows_64bit_.28Vista.267.29

  • Nokia N900 con overclock a 1GHz | 2bGeek said:

    [...] instrucciones en | maemocentral Tambien te puede interesar:Record de Overclock a 6.93 GHz Años atras parecía que la carrera entre [...]

  • Briggs said:

    The Nokia N900 will show OS as and version also as when you overclock it, if you find out there is a firmware update you will have to reflash the phones OS and then update it then overclock it again if you want to…a small drawback to the overclocking the phone.

  • kc said:

    hay my phone was dai…. by mistake instol maemoflasher via xtermi. Reboot entre. Please do not reboot via xtermin. Othervise handset os curupt with this. When i switch show NOKIA led few secound and turN off automatically. i ill tray to flash with maemo flasher and phoneix also but no result. No information about handset so phone not comunicate with pc properly. i will send to NOKiA CARE. Any solution ??????

  • me said:

    can I use this on the leaked pr1.2?

  • Andy said:

    I flashed this morning and immediaely got arrested. What did i do wrong ??

  • Anonymous said:

    [...] [...]

  • sak500 said:

    Hi, would like to know if we can overclock with same kernal after updating N900 to PR1.2? I just flashed my n900 to pr1.2. so want to know if i can use the old kernal to do it or wait for the new one.

  • MeisMe said:

    Hi! i am trying to Oc my n900, it seams that i cant get it to this part

    “Connect the USB cable while holding the ‘u’ key on the N900. Within an instant you will see a USB icon on the top right corner of the N900. Now leave the ‘u’ key.”

    every time i plug in my cable it says “mass storage” or “pc suite”. I did try using both methods but, in the command prompt it says
    “Suitable device not found”.

    this is my first time doing this, have mercy =(

    Thanks =)

  • MeisMe said:

    Yes! successfully flushed it. apparently you cant use the flusher in win7.

  • How To Easily Overclock Your N900 In Under Two Minutes | The MeeGo Blog - Formerly Maemo Central said:

    [...] ability to overclock the N900 has existed for a long time now and we have covered it before. But overclocking the N900 has never been so easy, two simple installs from the Application Manager [...]

  • n900mixalot said:

    Grrrr… how/why did I not do this AGES ago??? Mine felt so laggy, and it only needed a little bit of a boost, so I threw on 750mhz and it works like a CHAMP!!!

    THANKS!!!

  • Andree said:

    What about power consumption after overclocking? Any tests or charts how overclocking will affect on battery?

  • Charlie Wilson said:

    i do not usually overclock my PC coz sometimes it can kill your PC,’.

  • Anna Allen said:

    i do not usually overclock my PC coz sometimes it can kill your PC*~;

  • Jak taktovat procesor (Nokia N900)? | How To Do? said:

    [...] na Nokii N900 mít, doporučuji nepřesahovat 1GHz. Stáhnete si příslušný soubor taktu zde: http://thehandheldblog.com/2010/04/04/how-to-overclock-the-nokia-n900/ Soubor s taktem nahrajte do složky, kde se nachází flasher (například [...]

  • Overclocking The Nokia N900 | Stuart's Blog said:

    [...] thehandheldblog.com, psybermonkey.net, This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. ← Comparisions [...]

  • Aditya said:

    Hie..

    just flashed my n900 with the 825mhz image..must say it works very good

    the only solution i want is to make the settings permanent(settings should stay after recieving a call).

    Plz guys help me.
    Thanks

  • ASD said:

    How to do this on mac? Can I use 770 flasher?

  • 1 Snap Music! said:

    I’ve got oced to 1GHz now and it runs really smoothly, and it’s stable!

  • andrew s said:

    very cool idea, now all we need is an over clock for the iPhone

  • David Austin said:

    Calling ALL Overclockers! Please help in anyway you can! Http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Alzheimers-Blitzkrieg

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