Zit Seng's Blog

A Singaporean's technology and lifestyle blog

Nokia Secret Codes

This page lists a couple of useful and/or interesting “codes” for Nokia phones. I have tested some of these codes on my present N73. Actually these codes are not really secret, but they are generally not very well documented.

These codes may in fact be Symbian S60 codes rather than Nokia specific codes. But nevermind the distinction. I suppose if you are interested in this page, then just give them a try. (Of course, I take no responsibility for any phone damage or loss of data that may result… :P)

  • *#06# Display IMEI number.
  • *#0000# Display firmware version.
  • *#7370# Restore the phone to factory default settings. You will loose all your settings, data, etc. This is used to reset the phone to the same state when it was brand new.
  • *#7780# Soft reformat the phone. Not sure how different this is from*#7370#, but supposedly this one only resets phone settings (such as themes and profiles) without loosing data (contacts, calendar, and notes). Always backup your phone first anyway!
  • *#92702689# Shows the “Life timer” on my N73 and N95 8GB, whatever that means. On other phones it is apparently supposed to show warranty information such as serial number, manufacturing date, purchase date, date of last repair and transfer user data.
  • *#2820# Show Bluetooth MAC address.
  • *#62209526# Show Wireless LAN MAC address.

If for some reason, your phone is bricked (such as due to a failed software update), try the following:

  1. Disconnect the phone from the PC’s USB cable (if connected).
  2. Remove the battery for 5 seconds.
  3. Reinstall the battery.
  4. Press and hold the phone’s power button for 1 second.
If there is still no response from the phone, try to recover the hone by reformatting it:
  1. Press and hold the following three keys: * 3 Call.
  2. Press the phone’s power button for 1 second.
  3. Continue to hold the * 3 Call keys until you hear the phone’s start-up tone.

If this still does not work, you really need Nokia Care to help you.

For the newer touchscreen Nokia phones like the N97, I’ve heard that the above three keys are replaced by the Call-button, the Hangup-button, and the Camera-button. Yet another source says it is the Shift, Spacebar and Backspace keys on the slide-out keyboard. (I’ve not tried this myself, and I welcome feedback on this.)

The following is the secret code for Sony Ericsson type of phones (I know this is a Nokia page, but I also use a Sony Ericsson M600i occasionally, and for lack of better place, decided to put the info here). Use it to access the Service Menu, from where you can format the internal disk: jog dial up, *, jog dial down, jog dial down, *, jog dial down, *.

Have fun with your phone. 🙂