Deep reset

Deep reset is not available on Series 40 phones, since user data and applications on those devices do not have direct access to the operating system, and hence, cannot crash the phone unless it is in bad shape in which case, you should have it repaired.

If you need to delete all the contacts or images on a Series 40 phone, you have to do it manually. The Nokia PC Suite provides a phone content browser that can help you speed up your cleaning procedures.

On a Series 60 device, a deep reset is equivalent to reformatting the C: drive and wiping out all the user data in the phone's internal flash memory. The data on the MultiMediaCard (MMC) card, however, is not touched. You can reformat the MMC card via the Options Format mem. card menu in the Extras Memory menu. You can force a deep reset on a Series 60 device in two ways:

If your phone can still boot up, you can enter the service code *#7730# in the idle screen.

If your phone does not boot into the idle screen, you need to hold the green Call key, the * key, and the number 3 key simultaneously while you power on the phone.

Although the MMC card should not be reformatted during a deep reset, you should probably take your MMC card out of the phone before doing a deep reset to be on the safe side.

You should see the word formatting on the screen during the deep reset.

It is very important that the phone has power while it is formatting. Do not take the battery out in the middle of formatting! In fact, I recommend that you connect the phone to an AC adapter before you do a deep reset.

Of course, after a deep reset "fixes" your phone's problems, you still need to restore some of the user data to make the phone useful again. That is more complex than simply resetting and requires you to plan a backup strategy before you start fiddling with the phone. Backing up and restoring give you the ability to roll the phone back in time to the stable and useable state before your latest failed experiments.

Normal Phone Reset

On a Series 40 device, you can do a normal reset via the Settings>Restore factory settings menu. The normal reset simply resets the most basic phone settings, such as the security code, whether to enable speed dialing, the display brightness, and the screensaver time-out, to their factory preset values. It does not alter the applications mapped to the right soft key (i.e., the GoTo key), nor does it alter any of the network connection settings.

On a Series 60 device, you can do a normal reset by entering the service code *#7780# on the phone's idle screen, as though you are making a phone call. Alternatively, you can use the Tools>Settings>Phone settings>General>Orig. factory settings menu to perform the normal reset.

The Series 60 normal reset does everything the Series 40 normal reset does. In addition, it forces the phone to reload all the .ini files from the Read-Only Memory (ROM) to the C: drive under the Symbian OS. Hence, many application settings are restored. For instance, a normal reset on a Series 60 phone restores the soft-key shortcuts on the idle screen to factory settings, deletes the phone's Bluetooth name, eliminates all the GPRS access point settings , and resets data storage options in the Camera or Messaging application to "Phone memory" . The email Inbox settings , however, are left untouched.

The phone prompts you for the current security code before it resets itself. The default security code is 12345.

On both Series 40 and Series 60 phones, the normal reset leaves intact all the user data on the phone, such as contacts, calendar items, wallpapers, images, tones, messages, and third-party applications. While it is a safe operation, the normal reset is of limited value, since most of the time it is the user data that messes up the phone. A much more powerful reset is a deep reset.

About Phone Reset

As a power user, you often need to fiddle with your phone to try out new software, experiment with new configuration settings, or even clear up viruses or other malicious programs. This fiddling can sometimes cause the phone software to crash, freeze, or otherwise behave abnormally (e.g., it will be unable to connect to the network or unable to run some programs). Some phone viruses discussed in "Avoid Malicious Software" can also freeze your phone. This is when the reset feature in Nokia phones comes in handy. In this hack, you will learn not only how to reset your phone, but also how to back up and restore data in a systematic manner.