hard reset android mobiles

Is your Android Smartphone slow, freezing, not responsive, responding incorrectly, or you can’t remember the phones password? You’re in luck! There is still a pretty powerful option available, and that is to perform a hard reset, also known as an alternate reset, on the device.

Before we begin… If you are still able to access the setting on your device and navigate the phone then you might be more interested in reading How to backup and reset an Android phone, which goes through the process of doing a full backup and then performing a Factory Data Reset through the phones settings.

If you’re having problems accessing your factory data reset options through the settings then you can still perform a factory reset on your Android Smartphone and this article will show you how to do it. This is the perfect solution if you’re having problems with your touch screen, or you can’t navigate correctly on your phone. It’s also an option if you can’t get your device to power on all the way or when your phone won’t power on at all.

If you’re seeking to do a reset on your Android Smartphone then you most likely know how effective a reset can be at solving issues on phones. Through this article I am going to go over multiple ways to perform resets on your phone without actually having to navigate through the touch screen. Your phone doesn’t even need to be on in order to do it in most instances!

Make sure the device is powered off

Most of these hard resets require that your phone is completely powered off, so make sure that your phone is powered off all the way not just locked. If you’re phone isn’t responding and you can’t power off the phone with the power button, then you might need to pull the battery out, count to ten, and then put the battery back in. Just don’t power the phone back on if you have to reinsert the battery. Keep the device powered off.

Also make sure that your phone is not plugged into a charger. If the phone is plugged into a charger or if the device is not fully powered off, the reset is not going to work.

Hard reset methods and procedures may differ

Alternate resets also usually involve performing a series of key combinations which we’ll get to in a minute. The key combination you have to perform will highly depend on the specific make and model of the phone and what version of Android OS (Operating System) is currently running on the device. For example you might be able to perform a reset on a phone one way if it’s running the 2.2 (Froyo) OS, then you upgrade your phone to the 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS and the method no longer works, causing you to use a different method (I have an example of this in method 6 and 7 below). When you upgrade again to the 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS you might have to use a different method and different key combination to perform the same alternate reset. So just beware of this.

You might also need to attempt the reset a couple times for it to go through correctly.

Disclaimer: Remember that a reset is permanent and cannot be undone. It will erase all personal data and downloaded content on the phone, don’t worry it will not affect or erase your memory card or anything saved on your SIM card. This includes content such as pictures, ringtones, texts, apps, etc. and will usually fix software glitches, bugs, viruses, etc as well. Try if at all possible, to perform a backup first. Usually when you need to perform an alternate reset on your mobile phone you might not be able to do a backup.

Preparation for a hard reset on an Android phone

Just a minor side note, on a typical alternate reset so that you know what to expect. You’re going to power the phone off, hold a specific set of key combinations (shown below), access a fastboot/testing/recovery/etc screen, select reset, and then the phone is going to power itself off, all by itself, then it’s going to power itself back on, all by itself. This can take a few minutes, some phones can take up to 15 min to reboot (pretty uncommon though, the average phone probably takes 3-5 min). Once it reboots the phone is going to think its brand new right off the shelf. So go ahead and set it up again like you did when you first got it.

If you own an Android Smartphone manufactured by Pantech then unfortunately you cannot perform an alternative reset on your device. Pantech Smartphones currently do not have a hard reset feature; the only reset available on Pantech phones is through the settings.

Let’s start with the most common Hard Reset methods and go from there:

Note: the different types of methods are numbered, method 1, method 2, method 3, etc.

1. When the phone is powered off, press and hold the Volume Up and the Volume Down keys both at the same time, then press and hold the Power key until a test screen that shows some available options appears, usually takes about 15-20 seconds. When that screen pops up you can let go of the keys.

Press the Volume Down key to navigate down through the options until it highlights FACTORY RESET then press the Power key to select it.

2. Power the phone off all the way, press and hold the Volume Down key and press than release the Power key, still holding the volume down key for about 10-15 seconds. When you see some additional options pop up on the screen you can let go of the keys.

Press the Volume Down key to navigate down through the options until it highlights the reset option; it usually says FACTORY RESET, then press the Power key to make the selection.

3. While powered off, press and hold the Home key, while continuing to hold the home key power the device on by pressing the Power key.

Once the Android Recovery screen appears release the Home key, then while on the Android Recovery screen, press the Volume Up and Volume Down keys both at the same time.

If/when you’re on the Android System Recovery screen release all the keys, and then use the Volume down key to navigate down to the “wipe date/factory reset” option. Once it’s highlighted press the Power key to select it.

Once you see the “Confirm wipe of all user data?” Press the Volume down key to highlight “Yes—delete all user data”, then press the Power key to select it.

4. Power the device off, then press and hold the Home key and press and release the Power key (while still holding the Home key).

From the Android Recovery screen, press the Search key.

Tap to select wipe data/factory reset then select Ok (located in the lower left of the screen). Note: if screen is not responsive use the Volume keys to scroll and the Camera key to select.

Select Yes – delete all user data, and then select OK (again lower left).

Select “reboot system now” and press OK.

5. This is becoming a common hard reset method and can be used to factory reset Samsung’s more recent Galaxy smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S III, the Samsung Galaxy S4, the S5, the Samsung Galaxy Note the Note II and Note 3, etc.

With the device powered off press and hold the Volume Up key the Home key and the Power key all at the same time.

When the phone vibrates (or you see the GALAXY Logo) release the Power key but continue to hold the Volume Up and Home key.

Continue holding the Volume up and Home key until the “Android system recovery” screen appears.

Use the Volume buttons to scroll to and highlight the “wipe data/factory reset” option, and then use the Power key to make the selection.

Once the factory reset is finished you may use the Volume and Power keys to highlight and select the “Reboot system now” option and the hard reset will be complete and your cell phone will be nice and squeaky clean.

6. Here is an alternate reset for a Motorola Atrix still running on the 2.2 Android OS…

While the phones power is off, press and hold the Volume down button and press and release the power button (note: if it doesn’t work after all the steps listed try holding down the power button along with the volume down button in this first step).

A "Fastboot" screen should pop up, press the Volume down key to cycle through the choices until you get to "Android Recovery", then press the Volume up key.

Wait for the "triangle!/Android". Once it pops up you’ll need to tap on the bottom right corner of the screen (note: it may take a few attempts). A menu should pop up.

Tap on "wipe data/factory reset", and then tap OK. Another confirmation screen will appear. Tap Yes and then OK.

After the data is cleared the "reboot system now" option should appear and is highlighted by Default. Tap OK.

Note: this type of reset is common on the 2.2 (Froyo) before the tech geeks wised up and removed the need to use the touch screen.

7. This reset is for the same phone, the Motorola Atrix, but one that’s running on the 2.3 OS.

Power off the phone, press and hold the Volume down button and Power button simultaneously while powering on the unit.

The "Fastboot" screen should pop up. When it does press the Volume down key to cycle through the choices until you get to "Android Recovery", and then press the Volume up key to boot in this mode.

Wait for the "triangle!/Android" screen to pop up. Once it does press both the Volume up and Volume down keys simultaneously. A Recovery Menu should pop up.

Tap on the Volume down key until "wipe data/factory reset" is highlighted, and then tap the Power button. Another Confirmation screen will come up. Tap on the Volume down key until it highlights “Yes” and then tap the Power button to make the selection.

After it’s done make sure "reboot system now" is highlighted and then tap the Power button.

In this method you don’t have to use the touch screen any more. So let’s say your touch screen isn’t responding therefore you can’t navigate the phone or go into your settings and do a regular factory data reset. Well now on the 2.3 there is hope. Just power off the phone and perform these steps and the reset should go through.

8. Here is a hard reset for a Sharp Android Smartphone.

While the device is off, hold the Sym button (it’s located on the keyboard) and the Power button simultaneously.

Once the Android boot screen appears highlight the Wipe data/factory reset option by using the volume buttons. Then use the Return key (on the keyboard) to actually make the selection.

Scroll down to Yes - delete all user data and then press the Power key to confirm.

Once it is done select reboot system now and press the Power key to confirm and reboot your handset.

Important Note: On some Sharp models (such as the Sharp FX Plus ADS1) if holding the Sym button and Power key simultaneously doesn’t take you directly to the Android system recovery screen you might have to do one additional step. If using this hard reset key combination takes you to a screen which shows an exclamation mark within a triangle, then press the Home key(while on that exclamation mark screen) and this should take you to your Sharps Android system recovery options.

9. Here is a common method used to hard reset an LG Android smartphone. So if you need to hard reset an LG Optimus this is the hard reset key combination to try first.

After the LG phone has been powered off, press and hold the Volume Down button. While holding the Volume Down button, press and hold the Home button. While holding both the Volume Down button and Home button, press and hold the Power button.

Continue holding these three keys down simultaneously until the LG logo appears.

Once the LG Logo appears release all of the keys. This will complete the reset on many LG phones; you will be given the option to “Select your language” and can proceed with setting up your device as if you were setting up the phone for the first time.

If however, you are taken to a fastboot screen or a screen with additional options then use the Volume Down key to scroll to and highlight the wipe data/factory reset option and then press the Menu key to make the selection.

The phone might give you a confirmation screen in which you can use the Volume Down key to scroll to and highlight Yes -- delete all user data and then press the Menu key to make the selection.

If you get an option to reboot system now then select that option with the Menu key. The phone will reboot, which can take a couple of minutes, and the hard reset will be complete.

10. A less common method to hard reset an Android smartphone, but the following key combination can be used to reset some cell phones including the Samsung Gio (GT-S5660).

Power the phone off, by using the power button or by removing and then reinserting the battery (when possible).

While the phone is off press and hold the Home button and the Power key at the same time (the Home key is typically the big button on the bottom center of the phone under the display/touch screen).

When the phone starts to power on and you see the phones logo you can release the power button but keep pressing the Home button until the Android system recover screen appears. Once it pops up you can release the Key(s).

Use the Volume keys to highlight the “wipe data/factory reset” option, and then use the Homekey to make the selection. Scroll down using the Volume keys again until the “Yes—delete all user data” option is highlighted and then press the Home key to select that as well.

The system recover screen should pop back up and when it does make sure that “reboot system now” is highlighted and press the Home key to make the selection. The phone will restart and the hard reset will be done.

11. Another uncommon hard reset technique but similar to the one used in method #2. This process can be used to hard reset T-mobiles Prism and Prism II as well as AT&Ts Huawei Fusion (U8652).

Turn off the phone and then press and hold the Volume Up key and Power key simultaneously until the Android system recover screen appears.

Use the Volume Down key to highlight the “wipe data/factory reset” option and then use the Power button to make the selection.

Use the Volume Down key to highlight “Yes -- delete all user data” and use the power key to proceed with the reset.

Once the reset is complete the phone may return to the Android system recover screen. If it does then use the Volume Down button to highlight “reboot system now” and press the Power key to confirm the action.

The phone will restart and the hard reset will be complete.

Now you know how to hard reset an Android Smartphone and the next time your touch screen stops responding, your phone freezes, your phones power cycling, you forget your password, or pretty much any reason you wouldn’t be able to perform a reset through the settings, you’ll be set.

If I have forgotten any key combos that you know of, leave the method in the comments below so that I can add it to the list. Don’t forget to check out some of our many other popular posts and don’t forget to power your phone off every couple of days and watch what applications you choose to download onto your device that way you can keep your phone healthy and efficient. Hope you enjoyed the article, have a fantastic day, and enjoy your phone.

tools checking hard disk life test

Hard drives fail, and they fail often, with 22% of hard drives failing in their first four years of usage. You can generally consider your computer's drive reliable, but it's really like playing the lottery and hoping your drive isn't one of those that ends up with disk errors that make your data inaccessible before you had a chance to back those files up.

The first thing to have in place, then, is an automated offsite (online) backup service like CrashPlan and Backblaze. For about $5 a month, you can rest assured that even if your hard drive drops dead or your home burns down (your computer within it), your files, settings, photos, and other important data are saved.

Recently, my family's computer has been on the fritz--even if it manages to boot into Windows, it's impossible to launch any program or even get to the command prompt. I've reset it through Windows 8's startup troubleshooting, but the nagging feeling that it's a hardware problem--that is, the hard drive is going to die any second now--makes me want to invest as little time troubleshooting this further as possible.

To that end, I used Seagate's awesome SeaTools. There's a Windows version that quickly tests your drive for errors (mine failed the short test) and a DOS tool that can be run at startup from a CD-ROM or USB drive. The DOS tool didn't work on my machine for some reason, but it can possibly fix hard drive errors so you can salvage the drive.

PassMark DiskCheckup keeps tabs on your hard drive's SMART (self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology), to gauge your drive's reliability. This tracking and the drive's self tests are meant to diagnose your hard drive's life span.

Finally, there's Windows' own built-in chkdsk. Run it from the command line (Win+X keyboard shortcut and choose the administrator option for opening the command prompt, then enter this command to run checkdisk and fix any disk problems chkdsk /F).

If these utilities show your hard drive has errors and can't be repaired, it's time to make sure you have a recent back up of your files, and then weigh your options between replacing the drive and reinstalling Windows and your programs or getting a new computer. With laptops dropping to record lows this year ($99 for a laptop in one Black Friday sale), it's a tough call. (One I'm still debating.)

The moral of this story, though, is that drives fail all the time, unexpectedly. Keep tabs on your drive's health and maks sure you have a solid backup plan.

hard disk life test

Hard Disk Sentinel (HDSentinel) is a multi-OS SSD and HDD monitoring and analysis software. Its goal is to find, test, diagnose and repair hard disk drive problems, report and display SSD and HDD health, performance degradations and failures. Hard Disk Sentinel gives complete textual description, tips and displays/reports the most comprehensive information about the hard disks and solid state disks inside the computer and in external enclosures (USB hard disks / e-SATA hard disks). Many different alerts and report options are available to ensure maximum safety of your valuable data.

No need to use separate tools to verify internal hard disks, external hard disks, SSDs, hybrid disk drives (SSHD), disks in RAID arrays as these are all included in a single software. In addition, since version 4.71.7, Hard Disk Sentinel Pro detects and displays status and S.M.A.R.T. information about LTO tape drives and appropriate industrial (micro) SD cards too.

Hard Disk Sentinel monitors hard disk drive / HDD status including health, temperature and all S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) values for all hard disks. Also it measures the disk transfer speed in real time which can be used as a benchmark or to detect possible hard disk failures, performance degradations.

Proven invaluable on our backup server

Read the success story provided by 
Pan Pacific Products (PDF).

HDSentinel is the perfect data protection solution: it can be effectively used to prevent HDD failure and SSD / HDD data loss because it has the most sensitive disk health rating system which is extremely sensitive to disk problems. This way even a small HDD problem can't be missed. The Professional version has scheduled and automatic (on-problem) disk backup options to prevent data loss caused by not only failure but by malware or accidental delete also.

How does Hard Disk Sentinel work?

Hard Disk Sentinel runs in the background and verifies SSD / HDD health status by inspecting the SMART status of the disk(s). If an error is found or unexpected behaviour is detected, it warns the user about the current situation and also can perform appropriate actions (for example, start an automatic backup).

Usually, hard disk health status may slowly decline, from day to day. The SMART monitoring technology can predict HDD failure by examining the critical values of the disk drive. Compared to other software, Hard Disk Sentinel detects and reports every disk problem. It is much more sensitive to disk failures and can display better and more detailed information about hard disk expected life and the problems found (if any). This is a more sophisticated way to predict failures than the "traditional" method: checking S.M.A.R.T. attribute thresholds and values only. For more information, please read how hard disk S.M.A.R.T. works and why Hard Disk Sentinel is different.

The software displays the current hard disk temperature and logs maximum and average HDD temperatures. This may be used to check the maximum temperature under high hard disk load. For the importance of the hard disk operating temperature, see the Frequently Asked Questions. See the list of Features of Hard Disk Sentinel Professional or our products for hard disk monitoring.

Do I need Hard Disk Sentinel?

If you are using a computer equipped with at least one hard disk or solid state disk and you want to ensure that your data will be available any time, then the answer is YES. Hard Disk Sentinel is especially designed to you if

• you are using multiple hard disks / SSDs / hybrid drives (SSHD) in your computer (IDE / Serial ATA (S-ATA, e-SATA) / NVMe / SCSI / SAS / USB hard disks) or in an external enclosure (check the hardware compatibility pages for the list of compatible hardware)
• you are using a mobile / removable rack or enclosure with hard disk inside
• you are using notebook computer
• you are using server or desktop computers with high disk load
• you want to maximize system stability, HDD performance and overall integrity, receive HDD alert on high temperature or low health
• you do not want to lose your sensitive and valuable data, do not want to pay for HDD recovery

It is much better to avoid HDD failure than use HDD recovery. Be alerted and prevent HDD data loss with HDSentinel ! Be your HDD life healthy.

Select which hard disk monitoring product will suit my needs

Download Hard Disk Sentinel software and try yourself.

Mobile phones harmful for childrens

There are theoretical considerations as to why the possible risk should be investigated separately in children. Their nervous systems are still developing and, therefore, more vulnerable to factors that may cause cancer. Their heads are smaller than those of adults and consequently have a greater proportional exposure to the field of radiofrequency radiation that is emitted by cell phones. And, children have the potential of accumulating more years of cell phone exposure than adults do.

Thus far, the data from studies in children with cancer do not support this theory. The first published analysis came from a large case-control study called CEFALO, which was conducted in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland. The study included children who were diagnosed with brain tumors between 2004 and 2008, when their ages ranged from 7 to 19. Researchers did not find an association between cell phone use and brain tumor risk either by time since initiation of use, amount of use, or by the location of the tumor (23).

Several studies that will provide more information are under way. Researchers from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Spain are conducting another international case-control study—Mobi-KidsExit Disclaimer—that will include 2000 young people (aged 10–24 years) with newly diagnosed brain tumors and 4000 healthy young people. The goal of the study is to learn more about risk factorsfor childhood brain tumors. Results are expected in 2016.

Mobile radiation harmful for human body

Radiofrequency energy is a form of electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation can be categorized into two types: ionizing (e.g., x-rays, radon, and cosmic rays) and non-ionizing (e.g., radiofrequency and extremely low frequency, or power frequency). Electromagnetic radiation is defined according to its wavelength and frequency, which is the number of cycles of a wave that pass a reference point per second. Electromagnetic frequencies are described in units called hertz (Hz).

The energy of electromagnetic radiation is determined by its frequency; ionizing radiation is high frequency, and therefore high energy, whereas non-ionizing radiation is low frequency, and therefore low energy. The NCI fact sheet Electromagnetic Fields and Cancerlists sources of radiofrequency energy. More information about ionizing radiation can be found on the Radiation page.

The frequency of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation ranges from 30 kilohertz (30 kHz, or 30,000 Hz) to 300 gigahertz (300 GHz, or 300 billion Hz).  Electromagnetic fields in the radiofrequency range are used for telecommunications applications, including cell phones, televisions, and radio transmissions. The human body absorbs energy from devices that emit radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation. The dose of the absorbed energy is estimated using a measure called the specific absorption rate (SAR), which is expressed in watts per kilogram of body weight.

Exposure to ionizing radiation, such as from x-rays, is known to increase the risk of cancer. However, although many studies have examined the potential health effects of non-ionizing radiation from radar, microwave ovens, cell phones, and other sources, there is currently no consistent evidence that non-ionizing radiation increases cancer risk (1).

The only consistently recognized biological effect of radiofrequency energy is heating. The ability of microwave ovens to heat food is one example of this effect of radiofrequency energy. Radiofrequency exposure from cell phone use does cause heating to the area of the body where a cell phone or other device is held (ear, head, etc.). However, it is not sufficient to measurably increase body temperature, and there are no other clearly established effects on the body from radiofrequency energy.

It has been suggested that radiofrequency energy might affect glucose metabolism, but two small studies that examined brain glucose metabolism after use of a cell phone showed inconsistent results. Whereas one study showed increased glucose metabolism in the region of the brain close to the antenna compared with tissues on the opposite side of the brain (2), the other study (3) found reduced glucose metabolism on the side of the brain where the phone was used.

Another study investigated whether exposure to the radiofrequency energy from cell phones affects the flow of blood in the brain and found no evidence of such an effect (4).

The authors of these studies noted that the results are preliminary and that possible health outcomes from changes in glucose metabolism are still unknown. Such inconsistent findings are not uncommon in experimental studies of the biological effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (5). Some contributing factors include assumptions used to estimate doses, failure to consider temperature effects, and lack of blinding of investigators to exposure status.

Mobile always use is not so good

There are three main reasons why people are concerned that cell phones (also known as “mobile” or “wireless” telephones) might have the potential to cause certain types of cancer or other health problems:

• Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy (radio waves), a form of non-ionizing radiation, from their antennas. Tissues nearest to the antenna can absorb this energy.
• The number of cell phone users has increased rapidly. As of December 2014, there were more than 327.5 million cell phone subscribers in the United States, according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. This is a nearly threefold increase from the 110 million users in 2000. Globally, the number of subscriptions is estimated by the International Telecommunications Union to be 5 billion.
• Over time, the number of cell phone calls per day, the length of each call, and the amount of time people use cell phones have increased. However, improvements in cell phone technology have resulted in devices that have lower power outputs than earlier models.

The NCI fact sheet Electromagnetic Fields and Cancer includes information on wireless local area networks (commonly known as Wi-Fi), cell phone base stations, and cordless telephones.

Headphones more harmful for human

Noise from Improper Use of In-Ear Headphones — Earbuds, Buds, Earphones — May Put Hearing at Risk

Click on image to enlarge.

The iPod and things like it represent a major advance in personal portable sound systems that can be conveniently worn for extended periods. Included with the variety of sound systems is the variety of amplification systems that come in all shapes and sizes of headphones and earphones. These devices are potentially dangerous because, if used improperly, they can cause permanent hearing loss.

Personal sound systems have become so overwhelmingly popular it seems almost everywhere you go, you see people of all ages tuned into what they want to hear and tuned out of the world around them.

That said, what is the future cost for the luxury we have today to pump up the volume and listen to anything we want whenever and wherever we go, for how ever long we choose? What is the cost to the people that portable listening devices, especially in-ear headphones, are most popular with; namely, our youth?

A leading cause of hearing impairments used to be excessive noise exposure in the workplace, but today many young people are losing their hearing at alarming rates due to excessive noise exposure from portable stereo earphones.

The government through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has long known that noise pollution is one of the most common causes of hearing impairment in adults. During the past decade, the damaging effects of excessive noise pollution from portable stereo earphones have gained attention.

If you can hear the sound being delivered into a person's ear via headphones or earphones,
it indicates the sound is too loud and over an extended period can lead to permanent hearing loss.