how to reset an HTC Hero

[ChrisC]

I'm creating this thread to document the several different ways to reset this phone. I've seen in umpteen different places how to do a factory reset. What I''m looking for are lesser resets. Start with a simple reboot that doesn't clear out any data, and work our way up. Frequently one of these lesser resets will solve a problem.

I am updating this first post as I learn from the responses below. The early responses below (from 19-Jan-2010) were to my original post here that ask for various ways to do resets. Respond with your own if you know of any that I've missed.

Dealing with hung apps

If the phone is frozen, try holding the home key to see if the system can force the frozen application to the background. Also, try an app killer like Advanced Task Killer.

Clean shutdown and reboot of the phone -- aka power off

Press and hold the red call-end button. On the popup menu, select "power off". Confirm with "OK". Shut down should take just a couple seconds. Press the red button to power back up; it'll take about a minute to boot (with a few snappy graphics flourishes and loud sound effects at the end).

Remove and replace battery

The back cover slides up and off. You have to push pretty hard to get it to move. Recommend holding the front of the phone with your fingertips (thumb at bottom over USB jack and other fingers at top) and then press hard on the bottom two corners of the back cover, pushing in the "up" direction, towards the camera lens. It'll move a few millimeters up and come loose. Note that the tiny hole on the back above the USB jack is not a latch of any kind -- it's the hole through which you can hook a strap.

Soft Reset

I've seen reported that the following key combination does a "soft reset": hold down red and green buttons and press menu button. Not sure what this is yet, exactly. Different from reboot how?

Hard Reset

A factory default reset (aka "hard reset") removes all information from your device and returns it to a state just like it has never been used before. All contacts, messages, emails, third-party applications, etc. will need to be reinstalled after performing a hard reset.

Menu -> Settings -> Security -> Factory data reset

Follow the on-screen prompts to complete. This process will take 5-10 minutes. Again, this erases all data on your phone!


And just because I need to note it here until I find a better place, dialing ##786# on the phone gives you all sorts of interesting phone hardware info.

 

[702DROID]

menu>settings>security>factory data reset

 

[ChrisC]

Very funny

 

[702DROID]

honestly if your almost broke your phone by just trying to take the battery out ....have you read the manual

 

[Khaag27]

menu>settings>security>factory data reset

hmmmmm are you sure lol

 

[ChrisC]

honestly if your almost broke your phone by just trying to take the battery out ....have you read the manual

That's the funny thing about technical writing -- you have to anticipate all the ways that you're being ambiguous or failing to consider how you've left something out. If the user does it wrong, it's a failure of the instructions, not of the user. Of course now that I've done it once it's easy, but that's not what instructions are for -- the first time. Anyway, I'll write it up. (update: done, above; the first time, I thought the lanyard hole was a latch and almost snapped off the tiny tab visible inside that hole, trying to "unlatch" the back cover)

Reset methods?

 

[702DROID]

that our use comon sence idk ok back to your reset methods...

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

So, to start, how do you simply do a clean shutdown and reboot of the phone?

Hold the call end/power button. A window will pop up. Choose "Power Off". If the phone is frozen, try holding the home key to see if the system can force the frozen application to the background, other wise pull the battery.

I'll agree that removing the battery door goes against instincts. It has to be slid the opposite way you would think at first glance.

 

[ChrisC]

Good info, thanks gbhil! I've modified my post at the beginning of the thread to provide a list. Anymore, post here and I'll update!

 

[Qrystal]

Soft Reset
I've seen reported that the following key combination does a "soft reset": hold down red and green buttons and press menu button. Not sure what this is yet, exactly. Different from reboot how?

I worked my way down the list, and nothing worked until I got to this "soft reset" option. My buttons aren't red and green, but I figured you meant the power button and the call button. I pressed those together with the menu button, and presto, my phone blinked off and started rebooting.

I really did not want to have to take the battery cover off. That thing is a pain. Even when I bought the phone, the salesgirl struggled so much she had to ask another salesgirl to open it to put the card in.

Anyways, I signed up here because I wanted to say thanks for the advice. (And why wouldn't I be a member here, when this is one of the android sites I frequent?)

 

[Qrystal]

Soft Reset
I've seen reported that the following key combination does a "soft reset": hold down red and green buttons and press menu button. Not sure what this is yet, exactly. Different from reboot how?

I worked my way down the list, and nothing worked until I got to this "soft reset" option. I guess that's how it's different than a reboot: it works when reboot doesn't. My buttons aren't red and green, but I figured you meant the power button and the call button. I pressed those together with the menu button, and presto, my phone blinked off and started rebooting.

I really did not want to have to take the battery cover off. That thing is a pain. Even when I bought the phone, the salesgirl struggled so much she had to ask another salesgirl to open it to put the card in.

Anyways, I signed up here because I wanted to say thanks for the advice. (And why wouldn't I be a member here, when this is one of the android sites I frequent?)

 

[loveacm]

using gold card and rom ship