Question about hard reset-will I have to re-install the OS?

[Arizona Willie]

Question about hard reset

Right after I got my Lumia 640 XL a couple of weeks ago, I immediately put W10 on it.

Bad move.

Tried a Soft Reset yesterday but it wound up worse, if anything.

Considering a Hard Reset but wondering if I will lose the phone number etc. etc. that was set up on it when I got it at the AT&T store.

When I got it, it had W8.1 on it.

Will I have to totally install an OS on the phone after a Hard Reset?

 

[Czesky]

Re: Question about hard reset

No, the hard reset deletes everything of your phone leaving only the OS. It baisicly works like soft reset but it starts your phone all over again.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

Re: Question about hard reset

Right after I got my Lumia 640 XL a couple of weeks ago, I immediately put W10 on it.

Bad move.

Tried a Soft Reset yesterday but it wound up worse, if anything.

Considering a Hard Reset but wondering if I will lose the phone number etc. etc. that was set up on it when I got it at the AT&T store.

When I got it, it had W8.1 on it.

Will I have to totally install an OS on the phone after a Hard Reset?

However, when you hard reset you still will have W10m on it. You would have to flash it with the windows phone recovery tool to get 8.1 back.
Or you wait a few more days to update to a newer build of W10m, which "may" be better than the current one for you.

You will not loose your phone number through a hard reset as the phone will pick up all the information from the ATT SIM, including your contacts (probably). Certainly after you login to your MS account all that information comes back.
cheers

 

[Arizona Willie]

Re: Question about hard reset

Could I use the Windows Phone Recovery without doing a Hard Reset?

The main problem is that it sends email but won't receive and it keeps telling me the settings for my ISP are wrong but other than account name and password it doesn't let me fix them. Can't find anyplace to change the ports for pop or smtp.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

Re: Question about hard reset

Could I use the Windows Phone Recovery without doing a Hard Reset?

The main problem is that it sends email but won't receive and it keeps telling me the settings for my ISP are wrong but other than account name and password it doesn't let me fix them. Can't find anyplace to change the ports for pop or smtp.

Yes, you do not have to do a hard reset to use WP recovery tool. You can use the tool straight and flash it with the latest available rom that it offers. This may not be 8.1 update 2, so once you get your phone setup again on 8.1 it may go through a few updates.

This is what it shows for mine. You'd have to click on "Reinstall software"

cheers

PS: did you do a hard reset after you installed W10m? That is highly recommended. Maybe that will solve your issues.

 

[Arizona Willie]

Re: Question about hard reset

No, so far I have only done the soft reset.

I've decided to try to wait one more week hoping for another release of W10 before I risk a Hard Reset.
Not that I've done all that much with it. Haven't added a whole lot so it won't be that bad to completely reinstall everything if it comes down to it. I just don't want to take a chance on bricking the phone. Probably no real danger of that but if something can be hosed --- I'm the guy that can do it.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

Re: Question about hard reset

No, so far I have only done the soft reset.

I've decided to try to wait one more week hoping for another release of W10 before I risk a Hard Reset.
Not that I've done all that much with it. Haven't added a whole lot so it won't be that bad to completely reinstall everything if it comes down to it. I just don't want to take a chance on bricking the phone. Probably no real danger of that but if something can be hosed --- I'm the guy that can do it.

just saying. It's recommended also by WCentral staff. A lot of issues after upgrading from 8.1 to w10m can be resolved with a hard reset.