This is one of the most mysterious task to be done on the phone. The manual does not document it, and only a handful of the users reported success.
After torturing my omnia, finally I can confirm the following is the valid methods to do a hard reset using the hardware keys.
When Omnia powered off,
hold onto the Call and Cancel buttons, press and hold the power button for a approximately 5 seconds until the reset screen shows up. If you do it wrongly, you will hear the samsung jingle and the startup animation.
When it is on,
hold onto the Call and Cancel buttons, poke the soft reset hole and the reset screen shall show up.
This is a snapshot of the reset screen.
By the way, this hard reset does not erase the 16GB memory. To reset everything, you could use the software hard reset by going to Settings > Hard Reset. There is also option to format the storage card.
One point to note though, if you decided not to format and press cancel, that will soft reset the phone.
P.S. Hard Reset means restoring it to the factory state, so all your files and programs will be removed! Backup your files before proceeding with the reset!
59 Responses to Omnia Tip #5: Performing Hard Reset!!
Hi Wen
I enjoy your blog and the comments you've made about the Omnia... great phone hey!
I've just been trying to hard reset my phone after registry changes (changing the HKCU\ControlPanel\Phone\ShowSIM from 1 to 0 to hide the SIM entries), but I cannot get the Hard Reset screen showing no matter what way I try.
Have you any more of these valuable tips to get the registry saving? (By the way I was successful changing the ShutterSound option in the registry).
Cheers
tropolite
hi troy
Glad that you enjoy my blog :D
As for registry tweaks, i'm still messing around with it, hopefully could compile a list that works on Omnia.
As for the hard reset, may i know which method have you tried? Did you try the first way?Power off your device first, holding the call and cancel button, and poking the soft reset hole using the stylus. For holding of the buttons, you may want to hold it closer to the etched symbols, hope that helps :)
hi again Wen
As far as the Hard Reset is concerned I have tried both of your methods and any others that I find on forums, all of which just do not work. The only that works is the option in the software.
Since my last post I installed the new firmware available. The first time it worked fine but I noticed a few things that weren't working correctly (mainly because I didn't uninstall other applications I added).
I went to re-install the firmware again but while it was half way through my computer froze. Now my Omnia is dead. Being in Australia, I have to send my phone back to Singapore to hopefully have it fixed.
If only I could get a hard reset happening I might be able to redo my firmware install to get it up and running again. :)
Cheers
troy
Hey Wen,
Your tip on hard reset is a life saver. I recently upgraded the firmware and restored a backup using SPB Backup, but it crashed the phone. Tried calling the Samsung Service and they kept insisting I call the Omnia hotline, which goes into a voicemail. Thanks buddy. Please continue to come up with more stuff for Omnia...
Kenneth Koh
troy> have you tried to reflash the firmware? i read somewhere on the forum that it does help for some of the users.
kenneth > glad that the method works for you. :)
this is rey:
Thanks a lot i have Omnia here with phone lock... and i dont know it anyway i forgot it...
with the help of your Blog. Nice
Big thanks to you.
Hi again Wen
Yes I did update the firmware.
I've also trialled various software so I attempted to reflash the firmware to give me a clean slate again but unfortunately my PC froze halfway through the upgrade.
It's now in transit back to a Singapore service centre to hopefully fix it.
Let's hope this clears up my little problems. I'll update here for others, if they are having the same problems.
Thanks Wen
Cheers
T
anonymous> glad that my blog helps u
troy> sorry to hear about that. if there's anyting i could help, do let me know.
Guys, just to clarify, the tip actually works. Hold both call and cancel buttons and poke the soft reset button with your stylus. The trick is not to hold the soft reset button down but to tap it once.
Kudos to Wen!
You're an absolute life saver. Thank you so much for posting this tip.
thanks guys! =)
this is rey again!
i have done it again! thanks a lot!!!
i900 needs password: so the owner decided to Format it,...so thanks!
*tear* I have been trying to hard reset for the past hour or so and no luck...i tried both methods...I tried to install PointUi and after it didnt work i did a soft reset and the phone never got passed the Omnia startup screen again...any other tips??
Have you tried to switch it off, leave it for awhile before trying to hard reset again? for hard reset, ensure that you are holding all 3 buttons until the reset screen shows up. If you have a protective cover, try removing it, cause pressing on the call and cancel button may result in pressing on the optical mouse also. Good luck to your hard reset
Hi guys,
the hard reset really works. After several unsuccesful tries I was lucky to do it. Just press the call end cancel button more to the side then to the center and poke the soft rseset hole once shortly. And Voila. Good luck (BTW my screen totally colapsed before, did not responded, now it works again...uff)
This worked for me with a slight variation. Thanks Wen!
Thank you for your generous help! Like what everyone said, you're a life saver. It works for the 8gb.
wow !
i almost give up..
i went to sleep for a 5 minutes,but i still thinking my omnia..
then i woke up again, googling, an find your solution, i tried, Thx God..
my omnia can enter windows again..
THX SO MUCH !
i have been triyng for 3 months to hard reset the phone but i couldnt but with your help i have done it!!!!thank you so much
hi there
glad that i'm able to help, cheers :D
wenqiang
Hi Wen,
After several attempts i got the hard reset to work, however... the phone displays the "align screen" screen, but quickly flashes an error message (disappears too quickly to read, but i think it says something about being necessary to restart the phone) then the phone restarts, and from then on the "align screen" screen just repeats over and over again, i try to align, but the phone goes no further. Any ideas? i have a feeling i'm going to have to send it of... *sigh* Thanks Wen.
hi jason,
after the hard reset, you would have to wait for awhile for the phone to reset by itself. During this period, all the samsung software are being installed, no prompts are given until the need for a reset.
Maybe you would like to try hard resetting your phone again to see if that helps.
Hi Wen Qiang,
Please advice does after performs hard reset, will my contact and sms will be deleted?
Thanks,
Neebs
hi there,
hard reset will wipe out all data, including the programs.
You could google for pimbackup, its a free software that allows you to backup your contacts, sms, appointments.
cheers
q
Hello,
I've done hard reset with through software, but it deleted all pictures which is very important for my record. How do I recover it back. Please help. Thank You very much
hi hardy
if your photos reside in the 16/8GB, you could google for data recovery software.
Here are a few for PCs(i have not tested them myself)
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
connect your omnia to your PC as mass storage mode, use this software to scan the drive for the photos
regards
wenqiang
I tried to do what u said about formating but im not able to turn my phone off. However the only way to turn my phone off is by replacing and taking out my battery. Please help!
hi there, have you managed to hard reset the phone? reinstalling the firmware might help..
Dear Wen,
I bought samsung omnia without simlock yesterday. Since the installed software was not of the gsm operator I use, I wanted to download a new one - from the website of my operator. While doing that an error occured: "port create failed" and my omnia froze! I can't do anything with it now: neither turn it on nor do the hard reset (I tried a few times). When I try to turn it on nothing happens, only the power button turns red (just like when charging the battery). Please help. What should I do now? Do you think I broke the mobile? :(
Regards,
Juju
Hi Juju
my guess is your set might still be working. Trying flashing the firmware of the original operator first to make the phone boots up. You could download the original firmware from http://www.samsungmobile.com/support/omnia/index.jsp.
You will need to install activesync for the firmware flashing to work. Launch the updater, try power on the phone, see if it could be detected by the updater.
cheers
Hello everyone, my phone's touch screen is not working, i tried the reset button but still not working, I removed the battery for a while but still the same!!
The major problem for me is that the USB connection is set to Mass storage and not to active synch, this prevents me from doing a backup for my files which i need them badely.
any help please
Thanks
Hi,
thanks for such a quick answer. The problem is that I cannot turn on the device. I downloaded activesync from the cd I received with the mobile, but when I want to connect the phone to it, there's no action - only the power button turns red. I can't do anything now...
Do you have any other suggestions, perhaps I do something wrong.. or should I go to service point?
By the way, at the website you linked, I can only download the "original" samsung firmware, not "branded" one.
Juju
hi AZ
Is ur touch screen still responding to touches? There are software that messes up the screen calibration after uninstallation. If that's the case, you could make use of the optical mouse to navigate to the screen setting to recalibrate it.
You would have to use the hardware keys to navigate around, it might be easier if you could turn on the optical mouse
regards
Thanks Wen for the quick response,
the touch screen is not responding at all, and can't switch on the optical mouse (still need to tab "ok" to confirm in the setup screen).
i didn't use any software... woke up in the morning to find it not responding.
Thanks
AZ
Hi Juju
Going to your local service point is your best bet i suggest.
Or if you happen to have 2nd omnia to borrow, use it to bypass the verification. After that, the updater will request you to restart the phone. You could switch it off, and swap with your current set to see if it manages to update.
If not, you might wan to try the cooked firmware over at i900.modaco.com
Those updaters are less prickly about the state of your phone. You could use this software, http://kazus.ru/programs/viewdownloaddetails/kz_0/lid_4970.html to enable the Start button to see if the updater could install the firmware.
Over at modaco, there are few good threads on this issue, you might be able to get some help over there too..
cheers
Hi again,
thanks for all the advice. Tomorrow I'm going to the service point. I hope they will deal with the problem smoothly..
I have however one other question, if you don't mind.. The very first thing which I had problem with, was the sound of sms. I had set all the options to enable the sound, chose one ring from the list and still no sound of sms came out of the phone. The message was one the screen - 1 unread sms, but no sound! I did the hard reset, as one person from some forum suggested, but still the sound was absent. Did you perhaps also have such problems?
Juju
Hi Juju,
There are few possibilities to the lack of sound,
1. The phone is in silence mode, so no tone when the message comes in. It should show a trumpet icon at the top instead of a phone
2. The phone is having problem playing back the sound file. Try playing back the file on the phone to make sure it works.
3. Windows mobile has 2 volume settings, namely system volume and bell volume. Ensure both are not at level zero, especially system volume (a phone icon) as that controls the messaging volume level.
The third issue is more common, which might be also your case.
Hope that helps :)
regards
wenqiang
Hi AZ,
You might want to make use of the autorun feature of the SD card to activate some application to backup the phone or toggle it to activesync mode?
This is the only way that i could thought of.
cheers
wenqiang
Hi Wen,
well, doesn't the fact that the mobile signalizes incoming calls with a ring show that the three points you mentioned are not the case?
Juju
Hi Juju
that only invalid the first 2 cases. That's the complicating part in windows mobile. Incoming call volume is control by the bell volume, while messaging and other alerts are control by the system volume.
For your case, it might be the third case where the system volume is set to zero, while the other is set to a value.
Hope tt clears your doubt :D
Regards
wenqiang
But Wen, I set both of the volumes to almost max. These two volumes were the first things I checked when seeing the problem. Then I checked if a ring was assigned to sms.
So, it looks like everything is the way it should be... but apparently it's not :)
Anyway, I wouldn't want to take more of your time with guessing..
Thanks, Juju
Hi wen,
am going to try it, seems the only way... smart idea ;)
Thanks man
AZ
Hey Wen,
I have a Samsung SGH-I900. About a month ago, I updated my firmware. The file name is i900DZIA5_updater_xp. After updating the firmware, I restart my phone and the screen freezes in the "Samsung Omnia" screen. I tried all the things you mentioned but haven't had any luck. Do you have any other tips? I live in the US. Samsung USA doesn't support this phone. I contacted Samsung Singapore to get it service but no response. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
uc3cube
hi u3cube
have u tried reinstalling the firmware again? that might help.
Is your handset still covered under warranty?
cheers
I can't reinstall the firmware because the phone doesn't recognize the active sync. It's still under warranty but I'm not getting any help with the Samsung Service Dept. in Singapore.
halo
you could try those cooked rom, then find a button enabler to bypass the verification. Thereafter the rom update would prompt you to restart the phone for updating.
Another way would be shipping your phone to your friend in singapore to get it service? Samsung not servicing oversea phone probably because any stuff declared more than 200 bucks (singapore dollars) will be imposed with tax. Its unnecessary cost i guess
Hi Wen,
Your are a really big help! Samsung give me there service address. I sent it out today. We'll see what happen. I don't have any friends in Singapore. If you are ever in Southern California, send me an email. I can show you around.
Thank You!!!
hi there
no problem.
sure, if i'm going there.
You could also drop me a message if you are coming Singapore
cheers
i was succesful in hard resetting the phone but then it says 'tap the screen to set up your windows mobile-based device' theeeeen the align screen pops up and whatever i do... it wont go away..wont restart. wont do anything.. it says the target will continue to move until the screen is aligned. but it doesnt really do anything. i've tried. what should i do?
Hi there
try hard resetting your device again.
Caution that after hard resetting, wait for a while for the phone to auto reset before commencing with the configurations. [The phone will start up, shows the windows logo, after sometime a popup will appear, saying that you have to restart the phone]
cheers
thanks thanks a lot.
hi wen,
I have problem with my camera on Samsung I900. when I try to open camera, the screen just goes black and says "loading" but after that nothing happens. What should I do?
By using "reset" options, i dont want to lose my programs or phone registry. thanks in advance.
hi yusuf
You could try removing/undoing the last action you did before the camera fails to work. It might be some incompatible program that you have installed. Another possible situation is that your main device has ran out of memory, try removing the programs and install them to My Storage.
You could try spb backup which backup programs and your registry settings. But it would be better if you could identify the source of the problem before restoring your phone has it might be some program or settings that mess up the camera.
regards
wq
hey, people this is joehawk70 there's one important step to be made on this hard reset tip blog here's how it's done;;; take out the battery for a few seconds then replace it'you should have a black screen, press the send & end keys and hold,while holding press the power botton for five seconds, you'll see a CAUTION! icon asking if you want to format press the send key to confirm,and wahla phone goes into hard reset, then just fallow the steps on the phone guide. this is once again joehawk70, here's my e-mail joehawk70@yahoo.com
Hi, i was experiencing some lagging problems with my phone so i made a hard reset in my omni 2 i8000 phone and upgraded the firmware using kies! after that the phone enters aligning screen setup and does not move further and keeps repeating!
WHAT SHOULD I DO? ANY HELP
NOTE:(the phone was connected to update only after i hard reseted it, otherwise it didn't detect at all! :( )
Hi Wen
I don't know if you are still into this, I just need to ask if you are sure that when data is lost from the 16GB mem space, it can be retrieved via these programmes.I tried some and none recognises the memory as disc and so none has been helpful..Any idea?
Hi Anonymous
Have you managed to connect your Omnia as a mass storage device to your PC? Windows should recognise it as a storage space, rather than a phone.
Cheers
I HAVE A CAMERA BUTTON PROBLEM.I HAVE THESE PROBLEM FOR MONTHS.REALLY NEED YOUR HELP IT'S SO MUCH RELIEF FOR ME.I ALREADY TRY RESET BUTTON :(
i really need my camera for my studies.but the camera button would not work.it's killing me for years.please help me please.i try hard reset
Something to say?