Tuesday, December 14, 2010

How to Fix Nokia E5 Problem: Text/SMS Message Tone Not Working

For the last few days (or weeks?) my Nokia E5 has an annoying problem: the text/SMS message tone is not played when receiving SMS. It won't vibrate either.

After searching through the Internet, seems like this has happened with other Nokia phones, especially Symbian S60 ones, like X6, E75, E72. I tried changing the message tone to Nokia default, but didn't work. I also tried deleting all text messages in my Inbox, but also didn't work.

I have restarted my phone numerous times.
I was about to reset my phone settings (by using *#7780#) but I remember something...

I once had a similar problem with email message tone. The solution was to change my home screen theme to 'Active'. My home screen was already 'Active', so I switched it to another home screen theme and tada! My Nokia E5 text message tone works again!

So, the solution is:
1. Go to Control Panel > Settings > General > Personalisation > Standby mode > Home screen theme.
2. Choose another theme. You can go back to your favorite theme after making sure the message tone works again.

Good luck!

Note: this bug dates back to around 2003 or probably earlier. Ironic that it still occurs with a modern 2010 device.