Dell Venue Pro Hard Reset

So...the device just went into this loop?

What triggered it I wonder.  Were you doing an update?  Have you just done an UPdate.  Did you unlock it, legally or illegally?   whats the trigger. 

The message is very clear....the card is bad.  If you have not tampered with the card...meaning exchanged it or removed it....then Dell should handle this as a warrently exchange.

I really don't know the specific trigger point, but I did initiate a restore point. I stepped out of the room cause the ETA was like 30minutes, I came back and the system was good and working. I restarted the DVP about a day later, and got caught in this loop.

As for unlocking it, I unlocked this phone legally (is their an illegal way?) by obtaining the unlock codes from Dell. Before this hole warranty exchange occurs I figured a learning experience of trying to fix it would be more my style. I don't like the idea of having to send my phone and wait for a replacement ... it is plain retarded way of doing customer service this is why Apple dominates because people can walk in and have their phones serviced or replaced on the spot. Now the menu gives two options ... one is that it is urging the user to remove the card and replace it as if this was something that is routine. The other option is to reformat the card, which I think is the simplest way of getting back to a stable state and then try to reproduce this again so we can have an informed debate as to if there exists an issue with the card, the phone, or the os.

Now for the reformat procedure, the OS is locked out. So I cannot perform the software based hard reset by going to settings>>about>>reset. It would seem the ability to reformat exists by pressing a sequence of buttons, but Dell seems to believe this is a matter of National Security, and placed such information in their vaults. This info is public knowledge for the phones I mentioned earlier, the need for symmetry exists and so Dell should give us this details I am sure MS intended for this to be available in the user manual as well.

Well yeah there are illegal ways of unlocking...depends on the unlocking we're talking about, but......

If you have done nothing outside of normal....you got an unlock code from Dell....thats it....you haven't touched the SD card....black tape still in place, then the focus should not be what you can learn, but what is wrong.  A bad card is what is wrong.  You have a warrenty repair situaiton in place.  This message, though badly worded, is not designed for you to do anything other than pull hte battery and startup again.  If this continues, you have a bad card.  A hard reset may or may not fix it.  Why risk it. 

 

Now if the device came up with Bootloader or Computer connect screen....that would indicate something wrong with an update....connecting to the pc with your backup in place should trigger a restore.  But thats the not the case here. 

 

If you pull the card, without a hard reset, you will have, 1  broken your warrenty, 2.  put yourself in an unbootable situation.  So why chance it.

 

Call Dell.

I don't think it as a risk to simply try and reformat it with the phones built in feature ... the issue in question is that Dell is withholding such simple information. It makes no sense for me to send it in when I need a phone right now it just goes against the point of allowing a person to restore their phone.

Also how are you so sure that this is a card issue, I doubt it cause this is a 8GB not a 16GB card and I haven't heard off card issues relating to the 8GB model. Also it has worked terrifically thus far. I actually don't understand why MS chose this path for WP7. Going back to the wording, it is really suggestive of a solution and Dell is silent on this hey I may just want to try my chances and see what happens if I swap or fiddle around with key combinations.

Also I did try and calling them, this phone was a gift from an ex. Lets put it this way, I won't get some of the information required for a warranty service, and I don't feel comfortable giving some of the information required of her call me a cynic with all that Sony hacking fiasco going on. This was a free phone to me, but I am just disappointed it has too many weaknesses and points of failure. This is probably the last straw because now they want me to call big daddy dell to reset my phone like I'm an idiot or something ... heck with Apple I can do a remote wipe.

All I require is to reformat the phone, if the problem keeps occurring then I can now reformat the phone and replace the faulty card myself without having to send it in ... and I could care less of the warranty. I rather learn how to fix my phone myself than have to be dependant on dell in the future. After a year, and this thing happens again you want to call up Dell again to reformat your phone? It is only a set of key combinations that reformats it. I got plenty of spare 8GB cards to replace it with if it is necessary.

Only you know what's best for you. This is what I do for a living. There is no known button combination to hard reset this device. From a power down state you can use Power + Vpl Down + camera to enter PC download mode...its a picture of a PC and a cable. From this mode you may be able to restore a backup if you have one. Turn on your PC. Turn on Zune, log in. Pull the battery of your Dell. Put it back in. Try the keystrokes. If you get the PC picture, connect to your PC and see if it will restore. It may, it may not Once restarted, then do a hard rest. Under NO circumstances pull the card before a hard reset there will be No recovery. You can go to the VP space on xda site for instructions on how to change a card. Read first before you do. A bad card is not limited to 16g cards the message you see says the card is bad. If its bad, hard reset will not fix it. If you call Dell you will only need the imei number of the phone. They will tell you how to get it. No need to involve the ex. Good luck man