Reset Types & Uses

[Schnuffi]

Maybe a dumb question is a soft reset any different than just turning the phone off then on?

 

[Pete]

re: Reset Types & Uses

No. We normally use "soft reset" to indicate a power cycle, which is different to just turning the screen off with a tap of the power button.

 

[drtek]

re: Reset Types & Uses

You just save time by doing a soft reset. It doesn't have to power all the way down, and then power back on.

 

[Pete]

re: Reset Types & Uses

A soft reset (press and hold the power and volume down buttons) does power all the way down. It just powers the phone up immediately afterwards.

The only difference between doing that and powering the phone down is the slight delay of you pressing the power button to turn the phone back on again.

 

[Schnuffi]

re: Reset Types & Uses

Thanks I have been having problems with my phone. It becomes unresponsive after a crash. The only way I can turn it on is to plug it in, unless it is coming on but the screen remains blank. I thought may be if I did a reset once or twice a day it may help, Because it always crashes when I am not near a plug to plug it in.
I have a 640

 

[RumoredNow]

re: Reset Types & Uses

Soft Reset is called for to clear system memory and boot fresh. It is used to attempt to solve software glitches.

Hard Reset is a button push method to Factory Reset (or re-flash) your phone.

Here is a good help page: How to soft- and hard reset your Windows Phone - Microsoft Community


Many Lumia's now feature a "One Key Reset" where holding down only the power button for (approx) 10 seconds will initiate a Soft Reset. The "Two Key" method of Volume Down + Power still works across all phones as well, even those that are "One Key" reset.

 

[falevics]

re: Reset Types & Uses

Is hard reset pushing combinations of buttons same as a factory reset in settings?

 

[RumoredNow]

re: Reset Types & Uses

Is hard reset pushing combinations of buttons same as a factory reset in settings?

It is. Either one flashes the phone with the image stored in the internal recovery partition.

Here is how I look at it:

• Settings > about > reset your phone - this is the classic "Factory Reset" built into every modern cellular device. It will refresh your system if you want to start from scratch or erase your data if your phone is being sold or given away.
• Hard Reset - does the same thing (a factory reset) and may be used if your phone will not boot properly and you have no access to settings.
• Windows Device Recovery Tool (or other PC enabled toolkits) - this is the one that differs as it is not relying on the internal stored image. WDRT would revert from Developer Preview or Insider to stock, provide an update or upgrade if your OTA can't be found for some reason or solve issues if there is a corrupted bit of code in your internally stored image. WDRT would be the definitive recourse to help rule out software issues vs hardware failures.

 

[Schnuffi]

re: Reset Types & Uses

I may have to eventually use the Windows Device Recovery Tool. Maybe that will fix my random reboots.

 

[a5cent]

re: Reset Types & Uses

^ Whatever type of hard reset you do, don't restore from backup. That will restore all your software to the previous state, possibly reintroduce the problem in the process, and with that undo exactly what you were trying to achieve in the first place (start from a fresh slate).

If the random reboots occur frequently, you could alternatively opt to restore from backup anyway. Then just realize that if the issue persists, you'd still have to do another hard reset to ensure it's not a software problem.

 

[Schnuffi]

re: Reset Types & Uses

The last hard reset I did was not backed up I installed everything new. I am on the slow ring and have .29 installed. I think I will wait to the end of february when windows 10 mobile is released and reinstall everything with the hope that will fix the problem. other then that I am happy with windows 10
but saying that I am not a big app user. Unless of course the slow ring gets the latest before a public release.

 

[Schnuffi]

re: Reset Types & Uses

Re installed the slow ring app and am now on .36 will see if that's any better. Didn't do a hard reset this time though.