A partial solution to the Nokia N800 boot issue: there is a problem, or a family of related problems in booting on the Nokia N800 linux tablet, where the tablet will not power on correctly when connected to a mains output and will not charge reliably - or at all.

The solution to this in some cases is to turn off extended virtual memory on the memory card (under Control Panel - Memory), as this appears to impact the way it 'boots' to go into charging mode. Battery charging appears to be largely software-monitored and controlled.

Of course, this rather depends on the machine booting in the first place; in some cases the machine will boot intermittently (which sounds like a timing issue), if it does not then a solution may be to get hold of an offline, 'dumb' nokia battery charger to give the tablet battery an initial charge.

You may also find that removing the battery for a while helps.