My first major beef with the i920

[Guest dwallersv]

A substantial PITA, but nothing close to being a dealbreaker for the phone. I'd still very highly recommend it.

The issue: Hard Reset erases the internal 8GB storage as well as wiping and reinitializing Main Storage.

There is no option to do just the latter, and leave My Storage alone, as there was with the 910. This is bad news for hackers (like myself) on several fronts:

• My automated SPB backup files have to be much, much larger now.
  
• Rollback to a known good config takes a lot longer
  

More crappiness about the 920 vs. the 910 w.r.t. hard reset: No apparent way to do it during boot via a set of button presses/holds -- the software method in settings seems to be the only way. So what do you do if you brick the phone and can't boot it to a functional state? (I'm suspicious this is really the case, but I couldn't find anything search the net; the phone's so new, that this doesn't convince me yet that there is no hardware keypress method). Also, the software method is not clear at all that My Storage will be cleared, so its easy to think it won't be -- especially if you are a 910 owner upgrading to the 920.

[Guest Chainfire]

I dont think those problems occur on the GSM version though I am not sure.

There is also a number you can 'dial' to do hard-reset. Also it is likely there _is_ a key combo to do hard-reset, we just haven't found it yet. If not this would probably be the first phone ever not to have it, and it would really surprise me, as this would be totally bonkers for development (hardware/software testing etc).

Edited December 9, 2009 by Chainfire

[Guest tacchan23]

How is the Hard Reset performed on i920? the hardware keys combination is not working for i920?

[Guest Pajdo]

I did a hard reset on i8000 and it didn't erase My Storage.

if i920 does, that's both strange and annoying. :S

cheers!

[Guest SmashOgre]

To Hard Reset w/keypad:

Turn phone off

Press the Volume Up & Lock buttons

While holding them down, press call send and end at the same time, when the phone powers on release the buttons and you'll see a

prompt asking "Are you sure you want to format?" Press the send button and in a few moments it's wiped.

A substantial PITA, but nothing close to being a dealbreaker for the phone. I'd still very highly recommend it.

The issue: Hard Reset erases the internal 8GB storage as well as wiping and reinitializing Main Storage.

There is no option to do just the latter, and leave My Storage alone, as there was with the 910. This is bad news for hackers (like myself) on several fronts:

• My automated SPB backup files have to be much, much larger now.
  
• Rollback to a known good config takes a lot longer
  

More crappiness about the 920 vs. the 910 w.r.t. hard reset: No apparent way to do it during boot via a set of button presses/holds -- the software method in settings seems to be the only way. So what do you do if you brick the phone and can't boot it to a functional state? (I'm suspicious this is really the case, but I couldn't find anything search the net; the phone's so new, that this doesn't convince me yet that there is no hardware keypress method). Also, the software method is not clear at all that My Storage will be cleared, so its easy to think it won't be -- especially if you are a 910 owner upgrading to the 920.

[Guest dwallersv]

To Hard Reset w/keypad:

Turn phone off

Press the Volume Up & Lock buttons

While holding them down, press call send and end at the same time, when the phone powers on release the buttons and you'll see a

prompt asking "Are you sure you want to format?" Press the send button and in a few moments it's wiped.

Are you an alien with four hands or something? ;)

Thanks for the tip... I'll give it a shot and report back.

[Guest surgex]

Are you an alien with four hands or something? ;)

Thanks for the tip... I'll give it a shot and report back.

That key combo doesn't work on my verizon omnia 2...

I tried doing a hard reset using the "clear all data" thing but it's taking forever, like going on 10 minutes now...Weird??

[Guest gregy74]

That key combo doesn't work on my verizon omnia 2...

I tried doing a hard reset using the "clear all data" thing but it's taking forever, like going on 10 minutes now...Weird??

Yes this key combo also works fine on my Europe Omnia2. And you don't need to be alien, this key combo is really easy to do with fingers.

[Guest surgex]

Yes this key combo also works fine on my Europe Omnia2. And you don't need to be alien, this key combo is really easy to do with fingers.

Yeah I am betting Verizon messed with it or something.

This "clear all data" is now going on 20 minutes..what the hell..

It must be doing a full format block by block of the internal storage...either that or it's frozen?

I also share the OP's opinion -- on almost every other samsung handset I've used (ones that have internal storage, even the Symbian OmniaHD), it will allow you to reset the ROM but leave the internal flash alone...kind of stupid that you can't do there here in this situation...and all the thing about the keypress \ HR at boot...very bad, especially if you're bricked. I will try calling & emailing samsung \ verizon support and see if I can get an official HR at boot keypress method.

EDIT:

Just to let people know, it took all of 30 minutes to hard reset the device...it finally completed and rebooted itself, and asked me to set it up again -- so at least I know it actually did reset itself...

whether this is normal or not, who knows...but there is no progress bar, no information to tell you what it's actually doing...just the stupid spinning windows orbs in the middle of the screen.

Edited December 15, 2009 by surgex

[Guest surgex]

Key combo to hard reset at boot for i920:

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/howtogui...amp;row_index=7

Using *THIS* method, it will NOT affect the "My Storage" internal flash, and takes about 30 seoconds...unlike the software one "clear all data" which takes FOREVER and formats the "My Storage"

Edited December 27, 2009 by surgex

[Guest dwallersv]

That key combo doesn't work on my verizon omnia 2...

I tried doing a hard reset using the "clear all data" thing but it's taking forever, like going on 10 minutes now...Weird??

The key combo worked fine on my VZW i920, leaves internal "My Storage" alone, and wipes and resets everything else. Takes seconds. It's just like the 910.

Like I said, you have to be some alien with 4 hands, or quadruple jointed, to proficiently perform this maneuver. However, keep at it, and you'll get it to work.

[Guest surgex]

The key combo worked fine on my VZW i920, leaves internal "My Storage" alone, and wipes and resets everything else. Takes seconds. It's just like the 910.

Like I said, you have to be some alien with 4 hands, or quadruple jointed, to proficiently perform this maneuver. However, keep at it, and you'll get it to work.

...You must have a weird i920 then, because it definitely does not work for me...the one that works for me is this one:

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/howtogui...amp;row_index=7 which I linked above and does not involve the volume key what so ever...

You need to turn the phone off, then -- push the stylus into the SoftReset button (underneath battery cover, to the right of OK key), then immediately after that, hold down lock, send, and end.  The phone will turn on and a screen will appear, and if you want to format press the send key.  As I stated before, it does not affect "My Storage"

Edited December 27, 2009 by surgex