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How to Backup and Reset an Android Phone

2015-07-26T20:01:00.001-07:00

Having problems with your Android smartphone? A factory data reset can fix most issues that can occur on an Android phone. This process will clear the entire phone and revert it back to how it was when it came off the assembly line. Any incorrect settings, glitches, bugs, viruses, or software problems on the device will be wiped clean. The phone is going to think its brand new right out of the box.

Since the factory data reset erases the content and information on the device this article also covers how to backup your important data such as pictures, contacts, text messages, etc. that way when you reset the phone you won’t lose any of your important information.
If you’re looking for instructions on how to fully backup and reset your Android smartphone then this step by step guide is exactly what you’re looking for.

Step 1: Software vs Hardware

The instructions found on this page will only fix software related issues (how the phone thinks, its brains), NOT hardware (its body and parts). If your phone is suffering from a hardware or physical issue then read Tips on how to fix a broken phone. If your phones not responsive or you are unable to navigate at all then click here for specialized instructions. Otherwise proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Saving your Information

The first thing that you are going to want to do before resetting your Android phone is to make sure that the important information that’s currently saved on the phone is backed up to a place other than the phone. That way, once you reset the unit, you can put your information back onto your phone and you won’t lose anything. If you have already saved everything on your mobile or don’t need anything to be saved then proceed to step 7.
If you have a Memory Card go to step 3, if you don’t have a memory card go to step 4.
If you’re not sure if you have a memory card, here is how you can check.

Go to your home page, the main screen when you turn on your phone (tap the home key, it’s one of the 4 physical buttons on the bottom underneath the phones display, usually looks like a house)
Tap on your menu key, (it’s one of the four buttons too, usually on the far left.)
Tap settings, (once you tap on the menu key, the phone should show a few options on its screen, one of those options is settings, select settings.)
Scroll to and select Storage, (It should give you a list of options to choose from. Scroll down and select the option that has the word storage in it. This option will be different depending on what type of phone you have; it will say either “Storage” or “SD and Phone Storage”, etc. click on that storage option.
Look for an option that says “Mount SD card” or “Unmount SD card”, if the phone is reading a memory card then it will say “Unmount SD card”, the phones basically saying I see a memory card in me, do you want me to unmount it so you can take it out without having to power me off first? If it says “mount”, then the phone is not reading a memory card and it will probably be grayed out not even letting you click it.
Don’t click it! If you clicked it, don’t worry it won’t hurt it, just click it again. It needs to read unmount if you want to save stuff to your memory card.

Mount SD = No Memory card
Unmount SD = You have a Memory Card
If that’s too complicated, didn’t make sense, or the issue on your phone won’t let you do that than just look for a physical chip that plugs into your phone, different phones have them in different places, sometimes you have to pull the battery out of the phone to get to it, sometimes it plugs into the side or the bottom, it just depends on the phone. Remember it’s NOT your SIM card that you’re looking for. SD or Memory cards usually say SanDisk on them and often a size like 2GB (two gigabytes) 4GB, 6GB, 8GB, 16GB etc. Some phones come with them some don’t. If you got one proceed to step 3, if not step 4.

Step 3: Saving Information to SD Card

Good you have a memory card! Great investment, you never know if and when your phone is going to stop powering on or give you a white screen of death and you won’t be able to save or transfer your info then.
Saving your information to your memory card is going to be different depending on who made your phone. Select the manufacturer below, it will take you to those instructions. Once you backup your photos, videos, music, etc. come back to this page and proceed to step 5. If you want to back up your information to other places other than your SD card you can go to step 4.

Step 4: Other Ways to Save Information

No Memory card? Bummer, you should get one after we fix your phone, they make your life so much easier and help your phone run smoother too. Do some shopping online for some good deals on memory cards, or read this page on what memory card is right for you. It’s never a bad investment and if you get another phone it will make transferring your information to that other phone a lot easier on you. But I digress; here are a few ways that you can backup your info.

Method 1 - Computer Backup

Your best bet is to backup your information to a computer. I’m going to briefly outline how to do that below.
Connect your phone to the computer – your charging cable that came with the mobile and your data cable are one in the same. Simply, gently, pull on the cable part and the part that actually plugs into the wall outlet. It should separate into 2 different pieces. If your cable was damaged or no longer available you’re going to need to get another one, click here to get the best deal on one. I recommend you have one, one way or the other, so that you can get into the good habit of backing up your phone on a regular basis.

Once you plug the phone into the computer, the computer should recognize the phone and a pop-up will show on your computer screen giving you some options. You want to select the last option. You want to select the option that says something like “open folders to view files”. If nothing pops up on your computer then look at your phone. If you have an option that says “mass storage” you want to click that, it might also have“transfer information”, “connect to computer”, etc. mass storage is most common, once you click on that then wait a min and the “open folder to view files” option should pop up.

Once you click on the “open folder to view files” on the computer, it’s going to show you a few manila envelope looking folders. Look for the one that says “DCIM”. That DCIM folder is where all the pictures and videos that were taken and are saved onto your phone are located. If you want, you can click on that DCIM then click on Camera and you should see all your pictures.

What you need to do is right click that DCIM folder (right click on your mouse not left click) then select “copy” (left click the mouse on copy). After you click copy, you need to minimize (not close) that window on the computer (look in the upper right hand corner, click on the box that looks like a minus sign “_” not the close “X”.

Once that screen is minimized, right click on an empty spot on your desktop (the screen you see when you first turn on your computer), then tap on “Paste”. That will paste a copy of all your pictures/videos from your phone onto your computer. You should see a new file/folder on your desktop that says DCIM, go ahead and open it, make sure all your pictures are there.

It’s as easy as that. You’re going to want to open that window that has all your phones folders back up and repeat the process for any other information you’re going to want to save from your phone. That might include a music folder, maybe an app folder, etc the main thing is your pictures. Don’t worry about saving your names and phone numbers. We’ll get to saving your contacts in a minute. Just save any other files from your phone onto your computer.

Once everything is saved onto your computer you can close that window that shows your phones files, and go into my computer, right click on the drive that’s showing your phone, and selecting unmount/safely remove/eject etc. if you don’t see that, or that steps to complicated just unplug your phone from the computer. Once it’s unplugged go into your computer and make sure you can open those files/folders you saved onto your computer, just to double check. Then if everything is saved proceed to step 5 below.

Method 2 - Google Drive

It’s ok if you don’t have a computer or memory card, there are a few other options, just a little more involved. What I would recommend is to (if your phone will allow you) go to the app marketplace and download the app named Google Drive, it’s made by Google Inc. Just go to the marketplace and do a search for Google Drive, it will be the first option that pops up. It’s actually an app written by Google designed to backup info and from what I have seen, it’s pretty slick. What it does is actually allows you to backup up to 5GB worth of information onto Google’s online server. Don’t worry no one else can see your stuff. Best part is that you get 5GB FREE! I don’t know about you but free is always in my price range. 5GB should be more than enough space for the average user.

Once downloaded and installed then go into your pictures, tap the menu key, tap share, then share to Drive. This will upload your pictures online where they will be nice and safe.

Note: this WILL use up data from your data plan if you’re not connected to WiFi (wireless internet). I always recommend that if you can use a wireless internet then use it! It’s usually cheaper and faster.

Method 4 - Text or Email

A little more tedious but doable – is to send your info via text or email. Just open a message, attach file, select a file like a picture, type in person’s cell phone number or better yet email address, and send the file that way. Again, Tedious but doable. I would also check where ever you are sending your information just to make sure that it sent and was received correctly.
Note: when sending pictures through text messaging there is often a loss of quality. It’s not an incredible difference in resolution but just FYI.

Method 5 - Bluetooth Transfer

Bluetooth the information to another device – most of the time when we think of Bluetooth we think of our phone connecting to a headset or the Bluetooth in our car but Bluetooth can be used to transfer your information as well. The simplest way to Bluetooth info is to download an app to help you. Go to the marketplace aka Play Store and search for “Bluetooth File Transfer”. It pretty much streamlines the entire process. Great app and again free.

Step 5: Saving Contacts

I have talked about pictures and videos and thrown around the word information but one of the most important things that are found on a mobile phone is its contacts! Well, when it comes to your address book the android phones got you covered. Your android phone automatically backs up your contacts for you. All you will need to do to get your contacts back after a reset, or if you get another phone, as long as it’s an android phone, is log into your Gmail account again. Gmail not only backs up your contacts and calendar but it’s also your online signature. When you buy an app the marketplace remembers your Gmail account and if you need to download it again then guess what… you won’t have to pay for it again. Another great idea by the all powerful GOOGLE!

Important Note: While a primary Google account can and should provide you with a backup of your phones Contacts (aka it’s Phone Book, Address Book, Telephone numbers, etc.) I highly suggest that you have at least one other backup available should your Google account not re-sync your Contacts as it should. This is uncommon of course but better safe than sorry when it comes to something as important as your Contacts.

Check your Google Account

Checking your Gmail account (the basics) - first let’s make sure you know your Gmail account. Many people set and forget, don’t fret if you don’t know it. To check your Gmail account, go into your settings and open the option that says accounts (it might say “accounts and sync”), under accounts it will show all the accounts that you have associated with your mobile device (like email accounts Facebook accounts etc). Look for the option that has an account that ends in @gmail.com for example it might look something like thisismygmailaccount@gmail.com. That is going to be your Gmail account (unless you have two Gmails, if you have two Gmail accounts then the Gmail that’s synced to your phone is the 1^st one you added to the phone).

Note: you can check if it’s your Gmail account by actually clicking on the account and at the bottom it will have a remove account option. If you click it, your phone WILL NOT let you remove your Gmail account, a primary Gmail account is that important. In fact, the only way to remove a primary Gmail, once it’s on your phone, is to erase everything from the phone, which coincidently is what we want to do. --UPDATE: newer Android phones that run on Android Version 4.0 or later may allow you to remove your primary Gmail account without having to factory data reset your device --.
Make sure you know that Gmail account, write it down if you need to, we are going to need it later.

After you have it written down then click on your Gmail account (click on that email on your accounts page that you’re still on). Once you open it up it will have a few items that the phone is syncing. This list gets bigger and bigger, but the list should have sync contacts, sync Google, sync calendar, etc. on many phones (HTC can be so user friendly) there is a sync now option. Click on that, once you click “sync now” it’s going to put some spinning circles next to those options letting you know that its syncing. Once those spinning circles disappear it should show the days date next to the options in that list. If the spinning circle stops spinning, especially on the calendar option, just give it a minute or sync it again. Sometimes the calendar ones stubborn, unless you have really important information on your calendar and the date next to it is way off then don’t worry if that circle won’t disappear. It happens and is not a big deal in the slightest.

After your phone is synced to Gmail make sure to actually check and verify that your contacts are saved to your Gmail account properly.

Note: If you don’t have a “sync now” option then just click on the list item itself. So for example click “sync contacts” if it deselects then reselect it and it will manually sync. As long as the date next to sync contacts is showing the days date then you’re address book is synced to your Gmail and you’re good to go.

Note: you can check to make sure you know your Gmail accounts password by getting on a computer, going to mail.google.com and signing in. If you can sign in on a computer you can sign in on your phone. You can also reset your password on that website if you need to.

Important Update (June 2014): If you want to know unequivocally that your contacts are synced to your Gmail account and want to try and avoid any re-syncing issues that can occur then you should go to www.google.com/contacts and log into your Google account. It will list all of the contacts that are synced to your Gmail and this list of contacts is what will re-sync to your cell phone once you log back into your Google account after the factory reset. If you visit that webpage and it does not show any of your names or phone numbers from your cell phones address book or the list of telephone numbers that are shown on that webpage is incomplete and doesn’t match the contacts currently saved to your Android cell phone (minus the contacts which your Android may have synced from social media sites such as Facebook) then your contacts are not synced to your Google account properly for whatever reason and you should try to back them up using one of the other contact backup methods listed below.

Saving your contacts on something other than your Gmail

If you have confirmed that your contacts are synced to your Gmail then you shouldn’t NEED to do the following and can proceed to step 6. However it would be a good idea to back your contacts up to a place other than your Gmail. Having a hard copy rather than it stored only in cyberspace can be a real lifesaver, especially if you’re not sure what your Gmail account password is. Better to be safe than sorry, and having multiple copies is a GOOD IDEA.

Saving contacts to your SIM card

Some phones do not have SIM Cards; it depends on what wireless carrier you use. Wireless providers that use phones that run on GSM technology require SIM Cards to function. AT&T and T-Mobile both use SIM Cards in their wireless devices. Verizon and Sprint phones don’t have SIM Cards. If you use a phone that has a SIM Card then backing up your contacts to that SIM can be one of the best choices available.

A SIM card, its official name being subscriber identity module if you ever have to answer a trivia question, will allow you to save 250-300 contacts onto it, usually 250. Sims will usually only hold names and phone numbers, sorry it won’t hold your pictures, and it will not hold fax number street addresses etc. so when you’re saving contacts to your SIM if you get an “Some information might be lost” message, that’s what its letting you know, only names and phone numbers.

The backup process varies depending on the device your using. On some phones you have to back up your contacts one at a time and it’s just torture, I’m having flashes of the ATT HTC Inspire, where to save on the SIM you have to do it one contact at a time, and a business phone can have a thousand contacts and its painful, luckily that phone comes with a memory card and you can import/export the contacts to the SD card from the phone in a matter of seconds. It just saves it as a v-card file. But I digress again.

Typically to back up your contacts from your phone to your SIM card you go into your contacts/people, tap your menu key, tap More, select SIM Management, tap Copy Contacts to SIM, select all, copy/export, tap ok, and your done. If you don’t see a SIM management option then look for an Import/Export option and Export/Copy to SIM.

Now you have a hard copy of your contacts as well as your Gmail. If you don’t have a memory card proceed to step 6, if you do, you’re in luck you can save way more than 250 contacts to your SD card.

Saving contacts to your SD card

This varies depending on the phone as well, so I will list a few of the common methods.

Method 1 (usual HTC method)

Go to your people, press your menu key, select import/export, select export to SD card, it will ask you where you want export from, select Phone, press ok. And you’re done.

Method 2 (usual Samsung method)

Go into your contacts, tap your menu key, tap Import/export, and export to SD card, if it asks you “are you sure you want to copy your contacts to your memory card” you press ok. And then you’re done.

Method 3

The Method 1 and 2 pretty much sum up most phones. You might have to poke around a bit on your phone but you just want to export your contacts to your memory card (also shown as SD Card on most phones).

Note: If you need to pull contacts onto your phone from a memory card then go to import/export again and select Import this time. Then Import the contacts to the phone (not Gmail). It’s as easy as pie.

Note: saving contacts to a memory card is a lot faster than saving them onto a SIM card; it’s probably going to finish very fast and might not show you a “processing” message. Once you go through method 1 or 2 it should take you back to your contact list and be done. You can back them up twice to make sure that it really saved if you worry as I sometimes do. It won’t hurt it or anything and you won’t get duplicate contacts if you need to import them back onto your phone. If/when you import them just don’t chose “import all files” you need to select the file with the most resent date on it.

Step 6: Check your Apps and Texts

Go through your phone and check you’re saved text messages, and check you’re apps. Your applications are going to need to be re-downloaded onto your phone after the reset (most of the time, the newest phones running the 4.x.x Ice Cream Sandwich or higher often sync your apps too, but that’s something you don’t need to worry about). Some people have a lot of apps on their phone and when they do a reset and go to re-download their apps they say to themselves “what apps did I have again?” Just write down the apps you don’t think you will be able to remember so that you can find and re-download them again if you need to.

As for your texts messages, make sure to record those as well. There’s not really any default way to save texts, even if you have a memory card. HOWEVER someone did recognize the need to save texts messages and there is a trick to it. If you absolutely need to save your text messages then you can look into the options mentioned in How to backup and save text messages on an Android phone.

Note: If your phone is capable of taking screenshots (most current Android phones running on Android 4.0 or higher allow you to take screenshots) then instead of writing this information down you can simply take a screenshot of it, move the screenshot(s) from the phones storage to an SD card or computer, and you will have a copy of your message. ~**Suggestion submitted by Ruairí O'Neill on 12/03/2013 click here to read his comment**~

You can also use this screenshot trick to help you remember how you customized your phone after you bought it. If you added or moved icons to or from the phones desktop then when you reset the phone these icons may not appear in the same places that you put them, as they return to their default locations. By taking screenshots of the changes that you made to your desktop, apps, messages, or other parts of your phone you can save yourself the headache of trying to remember where you had everything before you performed the reset. This is just a cool little tip that you should consider when performing a hard reset on an Android phone.

When you have your texts and apps recorded proceed to step 7.

Step 7: Proceed with Reset

Your phone is completely backed up and we are ready to proceed with the reset. What we need to do is find the option to do a Factory Data Reset. This too depends on the make, model and software currently on your phone. Here are two of the most common methods on how to perform a factory data reset through the settings of an android phone. IMORTANT NOTE: if there is an option to erase your memory card, make sure that that option is NOT selected, you do NOT want to erase/format your memory card.

Method 1

Home key > Menu key > Settings > Privacy > Factory Data Reset, when on the reset page you’re going to get a big warning that you’re about to erase the information on your phone and that you should know your Gmail account and backup your phone (pretty much what we went over and have already done in these instructions). Click on Reset phone, and then click Erase Everything. The phone will power itself off all by its self and then power itself back on all by itself. It can take a few minutes to boot back up. Once it does proceed to step 8.

Method 2

Home key > Menu key > Settings > SD and Phone Storage > Factory Data Reset >you’ll see the same warning showed in method 1 > Reset Phone > Erase Everything. After it reboots go to step 8.

Method 3

If you’re on the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System or later then try this method.
Drag down the Notification Bar (the black bar on the top of the screen where the signal strength bars, battery life, and clock is located), and then tap the settings icon (the icon that looks like a little white gear). Or to get to the settings you can go to the home page, press the Menu key, and then tap Settings.

Once in the Settings scroll down and tap the “Back up and reset” option.
Tap Factory data reset > Reset device > Delete all. After it reboots go to step 8.

Step 8: Setup the Phone

Congratulations, you made it through my lengthy instruction manual on how to backup, reset, and hopefully more importantly, fix your android phone. Now what you need to do is setup your android phone like you did when you first purchased it. Go through those settings and when it asks or prompts you to log into your Gmail account make sure you, add a Gmail account, and then Sign in, NOT sign up. You want to sign into an existing account (the one we checked earlier in step 5) you don’t want to create a new account.

Log into your Gmail account, if it doesn’t ask you to log into one during the phone setup then go to Settings > Accounts (or Accounts and Sync) > Add Account > Sign In. If you’re Mobile asks if you want to sync your phone to your Gmail then select yes, you’re going to want to sync your phone with your Gmail account.

Step 9: Enjoy your Working Phone

Your phone should now be working correctly, so enjoy.

Thank you for reading

Thank you for reading this guide on how to backup and reset an Android cell phone. If you found this article helpful, or informative and would like to show your gratitude then please don’t forget to show me you liked it by pressing the Facebook Like and Google + buttons or by sharing it through any of the social sites shown at the bottom of this guide. I’d really appreciate it. If you would like then don’t hesitate to also leave a friendly remark, suggestion, or comment below.

Thanks again for reading and visiting the site don’t be afraid to visit some of the other articles, guides and post on this website to learn even more about your Android smartphone. Enjoy.

Step 10: Additional Suggestions/Advice

I recommend that you try your phone without any apps on it, and as a clean installation for a couple days, just to make sure everything is working correctly. After a couple days, if your phones still working fine, then start re-downloading your applications, one at a time. Download an app try it out for a day or two, download another app try it out. If you download an app and your phone starts acting funny, then it’s probably that app and you should uninstall it and not use it any more.

Step 11: Still Having Problems

If for some reason this troubleshooting didn’t fix your issues, I can’t fix my phone, now what should I do? might be of some use.

Android connects to Wi-Fi network but has no internet

2015-07-26T19:56:00.002-07:00

Does your Android smartphone connect to your Wi-Fi network but for some reason it cannot browse or use the internet? Here are some things that you can do to try and fix it

Smartphone vs. Network

Since this issue can be caused by quite a few things this guide is going to include advice for troubleshooting both your Android smartphone and your Wi-Fi network and will begin with the more commonly successful solutions for resolving this problem and will proceed from there.
Make sure to follow all of the advice suggested in this guide. Different causes may require different methods of troubleshooting in order to get to the root of problem and prevent this from happening further.

The most likely reasons why this is happening

This is most often the result of a problem on or with the Wi-Fi network itself and NOT an issue with the phone. If other devices are able to connect to the Wi-Fi network and seem to be working properly this can (and often is) still the result of a network related problem.

To find out for sure then you can try using your smartphone on another network. If your cell phone can connect to and access the internet with other Wi-Fi networks without any issues then you might be able to hold off on troubleshooting your phone for Wi-Fi issues for the time being and concentrate on troubleshooting the Wi-Fi network that seems to be having problems as it is likely the reason for not having an internet connection.

But we’ll get to all that a little later. Chances are good that the advice listed below will work and with any luck it should solve this internet issue with your Androids Wi-Fi connection quickly and with minimal fuss.

Soft reset the network

Performing a soft reset on your Wi-Fi network should be the first thing that you try when troubleshooting this issue, especially if this just suddenly happened for no logical reason and your phone was working fine and then just suddenly lost its internet connection.
A soft reset of your network is a common solution and can often help fix the internet on your Android phone and luckily there is no loss of data whatsoever.

Simply unplug the power cable from your router/modem wait 30 seconds to a minute and then plug the power cord back into the router/modem. It may take a few minutes for the network to start up again so give it 2-5 minutes to make sure everything was able to boot up as it’s supposed to and then check your cell phone to see if the internet is working or not.

If it is then enjoy your working internet and don’t forget to share or like this article at the bottom of this guide… if this didn’t help and your smartphone is still having trouble accessing the internet then continue with the troubleshooting suggestions listed below.

Soft reset your cell phone

If rebooting your network didn’t help then try rebooting your phone. Simply select the restart option or choose to turn it off entirely and then boot it up normally. After it reboots then test to see if the internet has started working properly or not.

If not then try performing a soft reset on the device by removing the battery while the unit is powered on, then wait for a minute, re-insert the battery, and start up the phone. Now not every Android smartphone has a removable battery so if your battery is built into your phone and it is non-removable then you can skip the physical battery pull as maybe your device allows a simulated battery pull instead. Just don’t forget to power cycle your device one way or the other. Turn it off and then turn it on.

Check your browser and home page

Make sure that you verify that your internet is in fact malfunctioning as opposed to an issue with your web browser or even worse a problematic home page.

Open your web browser and in the address bar (where it shows what web page you are on) type in the URL of a website that you KNOW is working. I suggest typing in https://www.google.com/ or simply google.com (don’t forget to press the Enter or Search key after you have finished typing the URL in order to load the page).

If the webpage ends up loading successfully and you can perform a search through the Google search engine then that is a great sign as it indicates that there is not a problem with your phone or its internet but it’s an issue with the web page your phone is trying to load by default. Changing your phones default home page should fix this little hiccup and it will no longer appear like the internet is malfunctioning on your cell phone.

Check and consider your applications

Try to remember when this issue started happening. When did your smartphone begin to have trouble connecting to the internet? Around that time had you downloaded or updated any application(s)? If so then make sure to check that app to make sure that no new updates are available for it and if necessary try uninstalling it to see if it resolves the issue. If removing the app from the phone fixes the problem then the problem is the result of the app and you will need to proceed accordingly.

Security applications

If you have an application on your phone that acts as a security application such as an antivirus, a virus scanner, firewall etc. then you should definitely check that application to see if it needs to be reconfigured as it might be blocking your phone from accessing the internet properly.
If you can’t seem to locate the proper setting to adjust or the proper configuration for your device and network then try, if only temporarily, to uninstall that application from your phone to see if it is the cause of the problem.
If you uninstall it and your phones internet starts working properly again then you may need to contact the app developer to see if they could recommend or guide you through configuring their apps settings in order for everything to work as it should. It might be as simple as checking or un-checking one of the available security options or features for your device.

Check the Wi-Fi timer

Make sure that the Wi-Fi timer under your Advanced Wi-Fi Settings on your phone is switched “OFF”.
To access this feature open your phones Settings > tap Wi-Fi > tap the Menu key > select Advanced > and under Wi-Fi timer make sure the switch is OFF.

Forget the network

Disclaimer

Before trying this next suggestion, make sure that you know or have access to your networks login information (such as the network password) as you will need to log onto the network again.
If you are not sure what your networks password is or what you would need to use to log back into your network then you can skip this portion of troubleshooting for the moment and then once you have that information available you can proceed with this step in troubleshooting. Don’t just skip this step entirely though as it could help to fix the internet on your phone.

How to forget your phones network

Access the Settings on your Android smartphone and look for the Wi-Fi option (its often located under the “Connections” tab within the phones Settings). Tap Wi-Fi to open some additional settings and then look for the name of the Wi-Fi network that you are having trouble with. You can simply Tap (or Tap and hold in some cases) on that network which should give you an option to Forget or Forget network. Go ahead and tap on that selection in order to instruct your phone to forget that network and all of its current settings.

Before you log back into your network I suggest that you reboot both your phone and your networks router/modem first. Once everything is back up and running access the Wi-Fi option on your phone again, find the network again, and then try connecting to it once again.

Once your cell phone is connected to the Wi-Fi network try to access the internet to see if it’s working properly.

Check the time and date

This is a strange little bug that may be causing problems but make sure that the time and date on your smartphone, your modem and wireless router all match the date and time of your ISP (Internet Service Provider).

If you are unsure how to do this then you may need to contact your ISP just to verify that everything on your network is configured correctly.

Use a Static IP as opposed to the DHCP

This process may be a little different depending on what version of Android your phone is running on but typically you can open your phones Settings > tap Wi-Fi > press the Menu key > tap and hold your finger down on the desired network which you want to setup a static IP address on (aka the network your having problems with) until some additional option pops up > tap on Modify network config > make sure that the Show advanced options setting is selected > under IP settings make sure that Static and not DHCP is selected > complete the fields that pop up using your networks current configuration > then click Save.

If you would like to view a step by step example with pictures on how to do this then you might find How to setup a static IP on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone helpful and informative.

Download a Wi-Fi App

I don’t often suggest downloading applications in order to resolve problems on a smartphone as downloading these types of applications can often cause more problems than they solve but for this specific problem downloading an app designed to help solve Wi-Fi related problems can help streamline the troubleshooting process and hopefully save you from an unnecessary headache.

You can locate one of these applications by visiting the Google Play Store and performing a search for “WiFi fix”. You should be able to locate quite a few free applications that can help configure your phone for you. The application WiFix by mHotspot is an application that can help solve this issue and has some pretty positive reviews.

Troubleshoot your Wi-Fi network (Advanced Troubleshooting)

If you have tried all of the suggestions listed above and your Android smartphone still refuses to connect to the internet properly then you will likely need to look into adjusting and configuring some of the settings on your wireless network.

This might include the network password, MAC address filtering, changing the Channel, adjusting your networks security settings and protocols (more specifically using WEP vs. WPA), network Mode(s), etc. For an in-depth guide on these topics I recommend reviewing How to troubleshoot a Wi-Fi network for an Android smartphone.

Troubleshooting the Wi-Fi on your cell phone

If your phone continues to have issues with the internet after following all of the advice listed above and after troubleshooting the network itself (unlikely) then you should move on to troubleshooting the phone itself.

Check out How to fix the Wi-Fi on an Android smartphone for more detailed instructions regarding how to troubleshoot an Android smartphone for Wi-Fi related issues.

Recap and conclusion

So if your Android is able to connect to a Wi-Fi network but isn’t able to establish an internet connection you should:

Soft reset the network – unplug the power cord from your router/modem for a minute or two and then plug it back in. Then wait for the network to fully reboot.
Soft reset the smartphone – power your phone off and on and if possible try to pull the battery.
Check the home page – make sure to verify that your internet is in fact malfunctioning by attempting to visit another website through your web browser.
Check your applications – if you recently downloaded, updated or changed an app on your android then check to make sure that app is not causing mischief.
Review any Security applications – verify that any security applications are not causing any problems as well.
Check the Wi-Fi timer – make sure that the Wi-Fi timer on your Android is switched off.
Forget the network – try to forget the Wi-Fi network and then log into it again as if logging into it for the first time.
Check the time and date – make sure that the time and date of your phone, network devices and ISP (Internet Service Provider) all match.
Use a Static IP instead of DHCP – setup a static IP as opposed to using the default DHCP configuration.
Download a Wi-Fi App – Since the Wi-Fi internet on your phone is not functioning properly you will need to use your phones mobile data or you will need to do this through a PC but consider installing an app intended to help fix Wi-Fi issues such as this one.
Troubleshoot your Wi-Fi network – if the advice above proves ineffective then look into accessing your networks settings to make sure that everything is configured properly.
Troubleshooting the cell phone itself – even though this particular Wi-Fi issue is usually the result of a problem on the Wi-Fi network as opposed to an issue with the phone if all other troubleshooting had been unsuccessful then you may need to look into troubleshooting the phone itself.

Thanks for reading

I hope that you found the advice listed in this guide instructive and hope that you were able to use the advice listed above in order to get your Android to connect to both the Wi-Fi network as well as the internet.

If you enjoyed the article or at least found the advice listed on this site helpful or informative then don’t forget to share it with others by pressing the Facebook Like or Google + buttons and don’t hesitate to also leave a friendly remark in the comment section below.

How to repair your smartphone when dropped inside water

2015-07-26T19:52:00.002-07:00

Is your phone not working after dropping it in liquid or exposing it to moisture? Don’t panic just yet there is hope to get your phone working properly again. Here are a few methods that you can do to try to revive your phone and bring it back to life.

Before we proceed with the mobile phone revival process…

IF YOU’RE PHONE WAS JUST DROPPED IN WATER OR LIQUID THEN HURRY AND READ HOW TO SAVE A PHONE DROPPED IN WATER FIRST.

Otherwise if your phone has been dried and is just not functional or is not working properly then try some of these steps.

Try a different battery

If there is no response to a charger and your phone will not power on after being exposed to liquid then the first thing I recommend is to attempt to locate a different battery to try in the phone. If a friend or family member doesn’t have a battery you can barrow for a few minutes to see if it is a battery issue then you can go to a store that sells your type of phone and briefly barrow a battery from their display phone. Just tell a store representative that you want to check your battery with one that you know is working properly and they’ll usually let you try a working battery in your phone.

If you insert the battery and your phone boots up then you’ll know that it was a bad battery and you can go online and buy a nice affordable battery to replace it.

Charging and power issues are some of the most common issues resulting from liquid damage on a cell phone. If your phone simply isn’t charging properly after a liquid accident then remove the battery (and charger) from the phone and clean the charging ports on the phone and the connector leads on the battery with alcohol; the closer to 99% alcohol used the better. Clean areas that you might see any spots or places that might seem like they are not getting a good connection to one another, such as spots of corrosion or areas of calcium buildup.

After everything is dry put the phone back together and try to charge it and power it on, if it works enjoy and if it’s still malfunctioning then proceed with the next step.

Bathing a phone in alcohol can revive a water damaged phone

This is one of the most interesting and successful methods available and is a great option for phones that were exposed to salt water, chlorine water, or just normal fresh water where chemicals, minerals, sediments, and corrosion might exist inside the phone.

Basically what you do is fully submerge your phone in 99% alcohol (isopropyl alcohol). Believe it or not alcohol is a non conductive liquid, so it won’t cause a short, and will get into all the cracks and crevices in your phone and help give it a good cleaning.

Let the phone sit and soak for an hour or two and then remove the phone, let it dry, and try it out.

Video of 7yYsMx6XWZE

IMORTANT WARNING – Make sure to check your phones LDI (Liquid Damage Indicator) Sticker before trying this method. If your phone was exposed to liquid then changes are very high that it was activated turning pink or red and your warranty is void. If however it is still white then your phone might still be covered under the manufactures warranty and you should consider trying to file a warranty claim instead.

If your LDI sticker is white and you submerge your phone in alcohol the LDI will activate and void your warranty.

If your LDI is activated then your warranty is void and though water damage is covered under insurance (if you have insurance on your phone) you would have to pay a pretty penny to file an insurance claim so you might as well try to fix it with this method first.

If bathing the phone in alcohol does not fix your phone then you can file an insurance claim. If it does fix your device then you will have saved yourself some money and of course you will get to keep the information stored in your phone.

Enjoy your working phone

Hopefully this has fixed your phone and your device is now up and running properly again. Water damage can be hard to fix sometimes depending on the extent of the damage and is not always repairable. If the methods in this article have not worked in reviving your liquid damaged cell phone then I suggest that you look into these other options available which include possible exchange and or purchasing options.

[Tutorial] How To Unroot Android Phone Using Kingroot App

2015-07-26T15:00:00.001-07:00

Over the years, i have often been an advocate of rooting android phones. Virtually all the android phones i have used, i have rooted. But considering the issues we are currently facing with MTK android phones like infinix, Tecno, Innjoo and the rest, it’s best not to root the phone if there are no special motives for it.

For example, in the case of infinix phones, updates are released every now and then and whenever this is done, updating your phone could get it bricked if the phone has been rooted.

Recently, i unrooted my infinix hot note x551 android phone because i wanted to do a factory reset and when doing a factory reset on these android phones, it’s advisable to first unroot it so that it doesn’t get bricked. I unrooted and commenced the factory reset process. It went smoothly and when that was completed and the device was running smoothly, an update pop up. I decided to update the phone and voila, it got bricked with the no command error. The phone is still currently in coma because in the process of unbricking it, it got hard-bricked with caused it not to even turn up at all. Will write a comprehensive solution when the phone chooses to revive back.

Back to the matter, if you do not have any motive like having full control over your android device in terms of technical abilities, it’s best not to root it and if you have already rooted it and looking forward to unrooting your phone, we are here to help.

Earlier before now, we had published a tutorial which talked on how to unroot an android phone using SuperUser app. If the SuperUser app didn’t work for you, you can try using kingroot by following the tutorial herein.

Unrooting Android Phone Using Kingroot

Please note that using Kingroot in unrooting an android phone in most cases, will only work if the device was actually rooted using the Kingroot app.

Steps:

==> Launch the latest version of Kingroot app (version 4.5.0107 beta3), tap on the settings gear which is located at the top right side of the page.

==> Under the settings page, tap on Root Authorization setting > Remove Root Permission > tap on Continue.

==> A confirmation message shows up afterwards, tap on OK.

==> Wait for a while and you should get a notification stating ‘Root as been removed‘. Wait a little longer and the kingroot app will automatically close.

==> Reboot your device and use the Root Checker Basic app in verifying root permission. At this point, you should get a notification saying ‘Sorry! Root access is not properly installed on this device‘.

Take a deep look at the images above. The image at the right signifies when the device was rooted and the image at the left signifies when the device became unrooted. You can also look at the time difference as well as the battery level. I used the Infinix Zero 2 for this particular tutorial.

Airtel Increases Blackberry Data Plan To 3GB for N1000 and N1500 For Other Devices

2015-07-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

The competition is indeed getting better. Reduction in data prices and increment in data allocated is what we’d like to see other than just call tariffs.

Over the past months, airtel has been well known for zapping data in an abnormal way. Most people may not know this but if you are curious to knowing how your data gets exhausted on your phone in such a short time, blame Airtel!

With the new improvement in the network as well as cost of data subscription and data allocated, we’d hope the problem has been rectified.

The improvement can best be likened to the Glo bis plan which gives you 3GB of data for just N1000 and can be used on android phones when the imei is tweaked to that of a blackberry phone. If using a blackberry 10 phone, it can be tethered to all other devices via hotspot.

In as much as the Glo bis plan is still the best, you can only enjoy it on every device that’s got wireless feature if using a bb10 phone.

In the case of the newly released data plans on Airtel, you can get 3GB of data for just N1500 which can be used on all device that’s got internet connectivity.

How To Subscribe?

==> For blackberry phone users, have a minimum of N1000 on your Airtel SIM and dial *440*1# and you will be given 3GB data for the cost of N1000.

==> For other devices, have a minimal airtime balance of N1500 and dial *440*16# and you will be given 3gb data for the cost of N1500.

I am actually looking forward to seeing what MTN will unleash in terms of data cost because considering this new development, the mtn betterme plan can be termed as expensive.

Beware Of This Access Bank PLC Spam Email Regarding Online Banking

2015-07-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday, I got a mail from Access Bank which I would say, was quite tempting. It was quite tempting because I am an access bank account holder. If it were to be a mail from another bank I don’t use, I wouldn’t bother reading because I get such mails almost everyday.

Please let’s get something straight here, I know the title of this post is quite misleading (How else would i have gotten your attention?) but the point is, the mail isn’t exactly from Access Bank PLC. It’s from spammers who choose to use Access Bank as the sender with a tempting subject in other to scam users.

The basic reason why i decided to put up this post is to warn readers to be wary of such mails and to also aid you in knowing the difference between a Genuine mail from Access bank PLC and that of a fraudster(s). You can apply the tips here not just for access bank plc mails only, but for every other mails you think – don’t seem true. As a matter of fact, i would advise you cross-check properly, every mail that has to do with providing your confidential details.

Let me quickly cut to the chase. Yesterday, while going through my mails as usual, i stumbled on this email which pointed Access Bank Online as the sender. The subject reads thus: Access Online Login Alert. Since i am a frequent user of the Access Bank Online banking service, i was concerned and needed to get more information on what the email entails (I value my money o).
Opening the email, here is what it reads:
Another factor is, this mail appeared in my inbox folder instead of spam folders where such mails are automatically sent to.

How To Spot Out Genuine Mails From Scam Mails

Looking from the screenshot above, i wasn’t addressed by my name. That’s where i got suspicions. In most cases, spammers don’t know the names of people they send mails to especially if the mail was sent in bulk order and not individually. Most corporations address clients by their names when sending them a mail.

Secondly, placing your cursor or clicking on the sender’s name reveals the sender’s email address. In this case, the sender’s email address was iscogh@hotmail.com. The sender’s email address wasn’t branded. Normally, it’s supposed to be from noreply@accessbankplc.com, contact@accessbankplc.com or whatevername@accessbankplc.com. That is another thing to note.

Thirdly, the hyperlinks were not linking to the access bank online banking platform. Instead, it’s linking to a page which is a complete clone of the Access Bank Online Banking platform. If you are scared of clicking links, just place your cursor on the hyperlink and the destination url will be displayed on the down side of your browser. If you click on any of the hyperlinks, even the hyperlink stated to be https://ibank.accessbankplc.com/RetailBank displays another url address when the cursor (mouse pointer) is placed on the link (Not clicking). If you click on any of the hyperlinks, all you get are plagiarism pages. Look closely at the address bar to verify the url address before choosing to enter your confidential details.

The basic aim of the spam email is to steal log in details of unsuspecting users. I am not sure how they intend removing funds from the account understanding that a token or pin is required to make transfers on online banking platforms. Guys, you should be careful. Please take extra precautions to avoid stories that touch.