Help Factory Reset and Backup when can't access market

[leadeneyed]

Hi all,

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place (from what I can tell).
Story as follows:
Purchased a milestone from telus and unlocked in order to my current account. Previous SIM card was old and did not recognise Wifi, no data plan when phone first arrived therefore could not account sync with Google.
New SIM card fixed wifi problem, data plan now on board. Still cannot sync accounts (can't establish reliable connection with server error message).
Online research reco'd pulling out sim card/sd card which did not make a difference, and other minor setting variations all of which made no difference. Looks like a factory reset will resolve the issue but I would like to back up my SMS history as my understanding is that I will lose all SMS/MMS with the reset. (Other data is already backed up no problem).

The dilemma is - apps to backup SMS history are available through android market. I cannot access android market as my phone will not account sync. Is there a way to dl an app online through my computer and then manually dump it to the phone? Is there a file where SMS are stored on the phone that will be recognised when the Milestone is connected to my computer? I feel like I'm going in circles(perhaps blindly) and would appreciate any geek-insight.

I do not wish to root the phone as I do not have enough knowledge in this direction.

Help me android forums! You're my only hope.
Thanks in advance! Much appreciated.

 

[Szadzik]

The only solution that I know of that will fix the issue you are having is:
Delete the folder
/data/data/com.android.providers.settings and restart (before and after)

For this however, you need to be rooted, which is not that complicated and will only take 30 minutes or less including reading about doing it.

 

[leadeneyed]

Szadik,

Thanks for the quick reply - that was one of the other options that I had read about but honestly am still a bit hesitant to root the phone since I don't really know/understand what I would be doing

Would that option result in a reset of the phone? Because then I would lose all my SMS messages, no?

My big concern is finding a way to back up my SMS history then the factory reset should be straightfoward. I've found an app called "SMS Backup and Restore" but cannot seem to find a way to DL it other than through android market which I cannot access due to the above mentioned concerns.

I hope that makes sense.
Anyway let me know what you think, Any insight is appreciated.

 

[Szadzik]

Szadik,

Thanks for the quick reply - that was one of the other options that I had read about but honestly am still a bit hesitant to root the phone since I don't really know/understand what I would be doing

Would that option result in a reset of the phone? Because then I would lose all my SMS messages, no?

My big concern is finding a way to back up my SMS history then the factory reset should be straightfoward. I've found an app called "SMS Backup and Restore" but cannot seem to find a way to DL it other than through android market which I cannot access due to the above mentioned concerns.

I hope that makes sense.
Anyway let me know what you think, Any insight is appreciated.

1. If you do a hard reset you lose everything.
2. If you root you lose nothing.
3. You can search for an SMS backup app or use a more advanced backup application.
4. If you cannot access the Market, rooting and doing what I said seems to be easier than installing apps without the Market and access to them.

 

[mixpix]

Make sure your signed in on google talk on the phone, this has solved past problems for me on the market.

Yes you can download apps to your sd card and then install them using the app installer that's built into the phone.