I have had this unfortunate experience once or twice with my Palm Pre, for me I think it is the screen protector I am using that makes the sensors go all funny when finishing a call. The first time it happened I had no choice but to pull out the battery from the back. The first thing you need to do if your Pre screen locks is reset it, just as with a PC restarting it sometimes solves all problems.
So how do you do that if you either you can’t see the screen (mine was totally blacked out) or the touch screen isn’t responding, luckily with the Pre this is where the keyboard comes in handy.
There is a keyboard shortcut to soft reset your Pre, you need to press 3 keys at once and wait for it to reboot.
Pressing and holding the “orange key + sym key + R” will reset your Pre, and with any luck fix it.
If this doesn’t fix the problem then there is the “Full Erase” feature that comes with the Pre, this will however erase all your data as it clearly points out, this is not such a big problem if you store all your contacts to your Palm Profile, or sync them with google. I have found that your apps will re-appear after reset because I presume (and I could be wrong) that all app data is stored on your Palm Profile.
To do a Full Erase , do the following: [Warning: Back up your data before you do this, especially any files on the USB drive]
1. Start the Palm Pre launcher
2. Find the device info app and start it
3. Scroll to the bottom of the first screen, and select “Reset options”
4. Select “Full Erase” and it’s job done.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
How is step 3 possible when the screen is frozen?
Good point then I guess you have to just go for the first option and the keyboard reset.