Here's one for the "don't try this at home" file.

I like to live on the edge - try out the latest versions of software on the day they're released (or before), get the latest hardware and all that. Part of that fascination is getting the latest firmware loaded onto my gadgets. Nokia released V20 of their firmware for the N95 this week so I figured I'd give it run.

My carrier, Three, hasn't released a localised version of the firmware yet so I changed the product code on my handset (you can find out how to do this with some Googlling - I'm not going to tell you how for reasons that will become apparent shortly) in order to fool Nokia into thinking my handset was ready for the update.

So, I did the product code change and ran Nokia's Software Update (NSU) tool. 114MB of firmware was downloaded and the update process began. About 10% through the update one of the most sick-making things that can happen during a firmware occurred - a Windows Vista Blue Screen of Death. I can honestly say that two things happened - my stomach did a full 360 within my abdomen and I wondered what the heck I was going to do without a mobile phone as I'm jumping on a plane tomorrow for a business trip. Oh yeah - didn't I mention that I was taking risks with one of my most crucial tools at a time when I could least afford to be without the tool.

After much stuffing about I realised that my phone was totally dead. I'm guessing that the update process was interrupted right between the bit where the old firmware was erased and the new firmware was being written. So, I decided to reboot the PC and see if the "dead" device could be detected and resurrected by NSU. I wasn't hopeful as the N95 was totally unresponsive.

However, NSU could see the phone. It offered me the new firmware but didn't report a previous firmware version as, I guess, there wasn't one. The update proceeded and the status bar reached the end when - an "Update Failed" message appeared on NSU. Another groan, turn of the tummy and moment of panic set it but the phone rebooted and started. I'm sure the barometric pressure changed in other continents such was my sigh of relief.

I re-ran NSU just to be sure and it said that I was running the most recent firmware.

That's positively the last time I update firmware on anything at midnight the night before I'm planning to travel.