How do I hard reset my [Insert Smart Phone Here]?

The original article written by Tim can be found here. All credit to him.

As sad as it may sound, there will come a time when you have to hard (or full) reset your Smart Phone. To hard reset a device means to restore the device back to it’s original settings, just like it was when it came out of the box. You usually need to hard reset the device when you are having problems that a simple soft reset will not fix, or if you want to sell the device and clear all your personal information off of it, or if you just feel lucky.

There are a few things to note before completing this task. For one, make sure you truly want to do a hard reset. Back up all your information just in case you feel like you want to take a step back. Secondly, understand that even if you do a hard reset, information in the ROM (on iPAQs it’s known as the iPAQ File Store) will still exist. You’ll want to delete this information manually if needed. Third, if you are trying to hard reset your device because you forgot your password, some device will have the password stick even after a hard reset. To truly get past this you will have to enter the password incorrectly or answer hints incorrectly a certain amount of times before it commits to a self-destruct process performing a hard reset on itself. And lastly, I don’t take any responsibility for any damage caused to your phone. Try this at your own peril.

The Process

Okay, after you’ve read all that you’re probably too tired to do a soft reset on your device. If you’re like me you probably skipped all the jibber jabber just to get to the meat of the article which would be here. This article will be updated regularly as devices become available.

SymbianOS Series60 devices (Nokia 6600, 7610/6670 and all other latest Nokia phones, Siemens SX1, Panasonic? X800? etc.) and Nokia 7710:

Make sure the battery level is above 75%. Enter *#7370# at the stand-by screen and you will be asked for a confirmation and you will have to enter a security code (12345 by default).

There is another method to format a Series60 phone. You may try this when you forget your security code. Switch off your phone and remove the Memory Card.? Press and hold the three keys - Green (dial) key, * (Star) key, and the number 3 key on the keypad and then press the Power ON/OFF button to switch the phone. Hold the three keys until the Formatting screen is seen.

SymbianOS Series80 devices (Nokia 9500, 9300 communicator phones):

Remove and re-insert the battery. When you see the Nokia logo at the PDA display, simultaneosly press and hold down Control (Ctrl) + Shift (the one with the UP arrow) +? F keys until you’ll be prompted whether or not to proceed with format. If you don’t see the format menu, remove and re-insert the battery and try again. If the Communicator display remains black after inserting the battery, press the power button on the phone side while keeping the cover open. After formatting, the device reboots itself. If the display remains white after reboot, press the power button on the phone side while keeping the cover open.

Sony Ericsson P800/900/910i (Should work on the latest phones as well):

Make sure the flip is closed when you do this. You need to use the jog wheel to proceed with the format. Move the jog UP once, press * key, move the jog DOWN twice, press * key, move the jog DOWN once, and press * key. This takes you to the service menu and you can reset your phone from this menu.

Dell Axim X3 / X3i / X30:

To hard reset, press and hold the power button and press in on the reset button (reset hole) on the back of the unit for about 2-5 seconds. Release both buttons and you will see a confirmation screen asking you if you would like to clear all data in memory. To do so press the Contacts button.

Dell Axim x50 / x50v / x51 / x51v:

Make sure the device is on before performing hard reset. To hard reset, press and hold the power button and press in on the reset button (reset hole) on the back of the unit for about 2-3 seconds. Release both buttons and you will see a confirmation screen asking you if you would like to clear all data in memory. To do so press the Contacts button. To cancel press the Mail button.

HTC Apache, Sprint PPC-6700, Verizon XV6700:

While holding both softkeys (buttons with “-“ on them), push in on the reset button once. Make sure you are still holding onto the softkeys. A confirmation screen should appear asking you if you want to reset all data. Press Y to reset, N to cancel.

HTC Wizard, i-mate K-JAM:

While holding the Comm manager button and the Voice Command button, push in on the soft reset button (reset hole) once. Keep holding the Comm Manager and Voice Command buttons until there is a screen asking you if you want to clear all data. To commit, press the green send key.

HP iPAQ h1900 Series (1910 / 1915 / 1930 / 1935 / 1940 / 1945) and HP iPAQ h6300 Seies (6310 / 6315):

While holding down the power button press in on the reset button (reset hole) with your stylus (located on the left hand edge of the unit rather than the bottom) for about 5 seconds.

HP iPAQ h2000 Series (2210 / 2215):

While holding down on the far left (calendar) and far right (iTask), press in on the reset button on the back of the unit for about 5 seconds. After you see the screen fade, release all buttons. You can verify the hard reset by pressing the power button. If the device does not power on, then you have successfully reset you unit. To reactivate the battery you must either connect the iPAQ back to AC power or press the reset button again with your stylus.

HP iPAQ h5000 Series (5450 / 5550 / 5555) and HP iPAQ h3800 Series (3830 / 3835 / 3850 / 3855 / 3870 / 3875):

While holding down on the far left (calendar) and far right (iTask or Today) press in on the reset button (reset hole) with your stylus for about 2-3 seconds. After you see the screen fade, you can verify the hard reset by pressing the power button. If the device does not power on, then you have successfully reset you unit. To reactivate the battery you must either connect the iPAQ back to AC power or press the reset button again with your stylus.

HP iPAQ hw6500 Mobile Messenger Series (6510 / 6515), iPAQ hx2000 Series (2415 / 2715) and HP iPAQ hx4700 / hx4705:

While holding down on the far left (calendar) and far right (iTask) press in on the reset button (reset hole) with your stylus for about 2-3 seconds. The Pocket PC should reset and power back on. If the device does not power back on, make sure that the battery lock switch is to the left (locked).

HP iPAQ rx3115 / rx3715:

While holding down on the far left (Mobile Media) and far right (iTask) press in on the reset button (reset hole) with your stylus for about 2-3 seconds.

HP iPAQ rz1700 Series (1710 / 1715):

While holding the far left (Mobile Media) and far right (Today) buttons, press in on the reset button (reset hole) on the bottom for about 2-3 seconds. To verify that you have hard reset you device, press the power button. If the device does not turn on then you have successfully hard reset you device. To reactivate the PDA, either connect the device to the AC adapter or press in on the reset button.

Palm Treo 700w:

Make sure that the Treo isn’t connected to AC power. To perform a hard reset press and hold the Power/End button. While holding the Power/End button press in and release the reset button. When you see the confirmation screen asking you if you want to erase all data, you can release the Power/End button and press the up button on the directional pad to confirm the hard reset.

Toshiba e310 / e330/ e335 / e350 / e355 / e400 / e405 / e570 / e740 / e750 / e755 / e800 / e805:

Make sure your device is off before performing hard reset. While holding the power button press in on the reset switch with your stylus then release the power button. When a screen appears release the reset switch.

Motorola MPX200:

Press and Hold the blue action key and power key at the same time for longer and you will see a menu asking if you want to do a hard reset.

I will try my best to update this list with more smartphones and if you feel I missed any phone or if you know how to format a smart phone which is not mentioned here, feel free to bring it to my notice.

-Varma

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