Hard Reset the Nokia Lumia 520 to Factory Default Settings

The Nokia Lumia 520 was announced at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in February and released in April the same year. It quickly became popular and a bestseller, more units than any other Windows phone model being sold after this moment. It is very affordable, has a sturdy design and comes with a lot of interesting Nokia applications. As divine as it may sound, it can freeze after a while or catch viruses that lead to an unsatisfactory performing rate. Nevertheless, you should not worry, as you can get rid of all problems if you choose to hard reset your Nokia Lumia 520 to factory default settings. Read this guide to learn how to do it.

Powered by 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8227 processor, alongside 512MB RAM, this entry-level Windows Phone 8 smartphone has a 5-megapixel rear camera. Its display resolution, of 800×480 pixels, is the same as that of more expensive devices in the Lumia range, including 720, 820 or 620, actually having a higher pixel density than the 720 smartphone. The downside is that, after a while, this smartphone can show signs of unresponsiveness.

However, you should not worry, as you can solve this problem if you appeal to an ingenious process called a software refresh. This is easy, efficient and similar to a hard drive format on a conventional computer.

Soft resetting your Lumia 520

Before beginning this procedure to get your phone up and running in less than ten minutes, it is important to do a backup, as all your data (including documents, contacts, photos, music files video files, messages, games or applications) will be lost. Also, you should keep in mind that there are three methods to restore your phone.

Here is the first method (for Windows Phone 7):

1. Power off your phone.
2. Press and hold the Volume down button, the Camera button and the Power key.
3. When your device vibrates, release only the Power button.
4. When your phone reboots, release the reset of hold buttons.

The second method is for Windows Phone 8. Here is what you need to do:

1. Turn off your handset.
2. Press and hold the Volume down button and connect your charger or USB cable to your PC.
3. Wait for the exclamation mark to appear on the screen and press the following key sequence: V olume Up -> Volume Down -> Power button -> Volume Down.
4. Wait for your device to reset and reboot.

The third method is used when your device is still on. Follow the next steps:

1. Go to the Start screen and press the arrow icon.
2. Navigate to Settings, then press “about phone”.
3. Select the “reset your phone” option and confirm by clicking “Yes”.
4. Wait for the operation to finish.