Alternate way to reset windows phone back to factory settings?

[steve_w_7]

My wife's htc8x is acting strange. Most of the native apps - mail, messenger, etc. no longer work. when you click on them they just return to the home screen.

I tried to do a factory reset and it goes through all the warnings, etc. and shuts down, but when it restarts it just goes back to the home screen. It doesn't initiate the reset.

Anyone have any ideas or alternate ways to get it to reset?

 

[Harrie-S]

First check the battery level be sure the battery is sufficiently loaded because too low battery level could cause the "refusal" of the factory reset.
You can use the button method
Reset my Windows Phone 8.1 | Windows Phone How-to (United States)
Or use the Windows/Lumia Software Recovery Tool
FAQ - How can I recover/reset/restore my phone software? - Microsoft - UK