N96 User from India - Menu always open / Firmware upgrade worth it ?

Hi Venkat,

I have a suggestion for your (3) query.. (3) Also, what are the steps to completely format the phone and then bring it to factory specs ? There's been a lot of preloaded content (like a full Hindi movie, MP3s, video songs, applications etc) which I do not wish to lose. So, do I perform a complete backup using the Nokia PC Suite for N-Series, format the phone / do a hard reset (don't know the steps for this) and then do a Full Restore from PC Suite ?

For the above what you can do is ( :icon4: if your pc & Internet is too fast, you can back up all your phone and memory card contents too 😮 ) kindly do a backup of all your data using Content Copier of NSeries PC Suite. As far as updating your firmware's concern, if you update phone's firmware it should not erase the data stored in Mass memory (external memory in your case its 16gb correct me if i am wrong). I have updated Nokia N 81 8 gb to the latest firmware yesterday, it does not harmed the data stored in Mass memory.... Going by this logic, i think your data on Mass memory wont (should not) be harmed if you update your phone's firmware. Again its always better to have a back up of your data safely....

The following is purely for your information 😊 If you dont know nokia pc suite already ....Go ahead

You can also look in for Nokia PC Suite 7.0.8.2 which is similar to NSeries PC Suite, thru which you can send SMS from PC and you can edit your phone contacts too with the help of this PC Suite.... There is nothing harm in having both the pc suites installed on your PC .. Have a great day :icon14:

VSG12777 wrote:
(1) Well, what I want to know is, I find that "Menu" and "Standby" are always in the open applications list (when we press and hold the Menu button for a few seconds). Even if I select Menu and click Exit, the program does not close. It still shows in the open applications list. Are all N96 users facing this issue ? If so, what is the solution to this ? This seems to be exactly the same as the Music Player always being open in my N73 Music Edition (bought in Aug 2007) and I never did a firmware upgrade on that phone.

Well, that's just the way it is - you cannot change this. It is per design in S60. The idea is that the long press of the menu key allows you to quickly switch to different applications. The Standby icon in this list is a quick jump to Standby which is always running. You could argue that the End key gets you there also, but the end key also closes the currently running application (unless it is busy doing something, or a system app). The Menu icon would get you to the menu grid. Granted, this is a bit redundant as a short press of the same key would also get you there...

VSG12777 wrote:
(2) Another question I have is, is the firmware upgrade available for the N96 now worth it ? Some people have mentioned some improvements whereas others have criticised it. I am in a fix as to whether I should go for this firmware upgrade or just wait for a new firmware release from Nokia. Your ideas on this would be highly appreciated.

Definitely worth going to the upgrade!

VSG12777 wrote:
(3) Also, what are the steps to completely format the phone and then bring it to factory specs ? There's been a lot of preloaded content (like a full Hindi movie, MP3s, video songs, applications etc) which I do not wish to lose. So, do I perform a complete backup using the Nokia PC Suite for N-Series, format the phone / do a hard reset (don't know the steps for this) and then do a Full Restore from PC Suite ?

Please do let me know the best method to format, reset and bring the phone to factory specs, so that I would have a slightly faster phone & I will have all my preloaded stuff back too.

Whatever you do, don't use the *#7370# code or similar, because it will erase all DRM keys for the preloaded content you have! Also, you will lose the N-Gage application (but you can easily download it again from www.n-gage.com) because it is also installed in the user data area.

You may just want to do the regular factory settings reset from the Tools --> Settings area.

Hi NinetySix,

Unfortunately I read your 11th Oct dated message only today while it looks like the damage has already been done in my N96.

Problem was, on 9th Oct I had left the phone unused in standby mode for a while in the evening (with just 1 battery bar left) when my wife wanted me to check one of the text messages in my phone for some information. When I unlocked the phone and went into Messaging, I found that ALL my messages were gone !! Inbox, Sent Items, Drafts etc were completely wiped out. I was shocked to say the least. Anyway I thought it would be a software problem and I just turned off the phone and plugged the charger into it at night.

In the morning when I woke up I unplugged the charger and then turned on the phone. Now, another shock for me. All the standby icons had disappeared from the standby screen. Everytime I pressed the Menu button or any other button and came back to the standby screen, the standby screen started refreshing itself slowly and each line of text on the screen started appearing so slowly. This shocking but puzzling at the same time. I had not done anything to the phone to cause anything like this.

Luckily I had a backup of all my messages in my old N73 and I could at least retrieve them from there.

Also, the standby screen had only the word "Open" at the bottom centre (just above the centre joystick button) displayed. The word "Messaging" above the left button and "Clock" above the right button were not displayed. So basically I could do nothing from the standby screen. I have never experienced anything like this with any Nokia phone in my life and I just felt so bad that the phone was behaving like this, and worse since I had prebooked the N-Series flagship phone before launch and was one of the 1st few customers in the city to receive the phone. How disappointing.

After this, I decided that I would try a complete backup of the N96 and did it. However though the backup completed, it showed errors for the last item (phone model specific backup). Everything else was ticked (including messages and contacts, user files etc).

Then, I did a factory reset by using *#7370#. The phone restarted etc but of course the contacts were still not back, no messages, and the standby screen etc was back to normal. Now, I connected it to the PC and tried a full restore using the backup file. It showed errors for the last section once again (phone model specific backup) but completed.

When I checked, there were still no contacts, no messages but my MP3s and images in the mass storage were there. Another shock - my MP3s were displayed, but none of the songs was playing. It gave some error message. Images were intact and displayed fine.

More shocking stuff - preinstalled applications had disappeared, including N-Gage, IndiSMS, WaveSecure etc. By the time all this was observed, I had already started using my N73 again. The phone though was still on in standby mode. Just to check the ringtones, I put my SIM card into the N96 again and when I selected the ringtones etc the volume was normal. However when I tried calling my phone from the landline, I could not hear the ringtone at all. I had to put the N96 next to my ear and it was still so feeble.

So now the ring volume had also been affected. I felt this was like some kind of a slow disease like cancer which affects things slowly but steadily. I have been using only my N73 since that day.

Yet another thing is that when I try to transfer all contacts, messages etc from my N73 using the "Switch" application, it asks for the passcode for pairing etc and then even detects my N73, but after selecting the N73, it keeps saying "Connecting" and ends up transferring nothing. I tried it with my wife's Nokia E-50 phone as well. Same problem with that phone too.

So I just concluded that something had seriously gone wrong with the N96. Now I observe that the Themes icon inside Tools has also disappeared. Strange isn't it ?

I am taking it back to the only Nokia company owned outlet in the city (from where I purchased the phone) and they have promised me that the phone would be sent to their own service centre and problems would be rectified, along with a software upgrade done, and returned to me.

I shall update this thread after giving the phone to them. I am just on my way there now. Wish me luck guys.

This has been a nightmarish experience for me to say the least, after having waited for so long and purchasing the most expensive N-Series phone from Nokia. 3 of my friends bought it after I gave them very good feedback on the phone around end September and their phones are just fine.

All your comments / thoughts on the behaviour of my phone would of course be welcome.

Warm regards,
Venkat
(Chennai, India)

And yes NinetySix,

Looks like all the DRM keys for the preinstalled music and video clips is gone. I am unable to play any of those. It says "The file is locked. Would you like to unlock it now?" and tries to go online to do something.

What a phone I have received.:frown:

Regards,
Venkat

Hi Venkat,

Pretty simple - go to a Nokia Care center and get the phone reflashed and updated to the new software at the same time.

They are supposed to restore your preinstalled video and music and so on as well.

Hope this helps, and wont be too much hassle...

ninetysix wrote:Hi Venkat,

Pretty simple - go to a Nokia Care center and get the phone reflashed and updated to the new software at the same time.

They are supposed to restore your preinstalled video and music and so on as well.

Hope this helps, and wont be too much hassle...

Hey thanks man. But guess what - I went back to the Nokia company owned outlet today with my phone and full box pack. They had actually told me on the phone that once I get the phone there, they would document all the problems faced by me and send it to their service center to get the problems rectified and the software upgrade done. However, after looking at my long list of problems on the A4 sheet I presented to the guy (who dealt with me at the time of the sale), he asked me to wait for 2 mins and went inside. Then he asked me to come into a nice waiting lounge and said his manager had approved a replacement of the device and said that I could have a new phone and battery but keep the same accessories etc. I was ok with that and absolutely delighted. I actually didn't expect this. I now have a brand new phone with a new IMEI, new box and new battery.

However the Nokia guy advised me to go to the Nokia Care centre and have the software upgrade done before I start using it. As of now, I have not used it and just have it with the box pack. Sometime this week I plan to visit the Nokia Care centre and have the software upgrade done.

What a relief. But would the software upgrade be available for the Indian market ? I guess I have to type in the product code on the Nokia website and check for the availability of the software update.

Oh well. I am glad they replaced the phone, and I just hope this phone is fine.

Are you sure you see a good improvement after the software upgrade ? Only then will I go to Nokia Care to get it done. Not otherwise.

Thanks for your inputs.

Warm regards,
Venkat😊