Nokia default ring tone solution (possibly).

[ironass]

Foreword

There seems to be a universal problem with the N97 reverting back to the, annoying, Nokia default ring tone under certain circumstances, after a reboot for instance or with certain contacts.

I believe that this is because of a “time-out” in the software meaning that if a user’s ring tone/contact photo is not loaded quick enough when a call is received it will automatically default to the Nokia tone.

This is something that Nokia need to address in future firmware upgrades.

What follows, works for me:-

The ring tone

Whilst it’s useful to be able to select a track from your music library as a ringtone it does increase the chances of the time-out if it has to look for and load a 4 minute track hidden in the depths of your music library.

Therefore, it pays to trim it down to about 30 sec’s (see fig.1) and, at the same time, I convert it to .aac format, the same as the Nokia ring tones (see fig.2). You can use any audio editing programme for this. I use the free Format Factory one available here:-

http://www.pcfreetime.com/

Installation

As I mentioned before, it only adds extra time if the tone is stashed away in the deep, dark depths of you Music Library on, say, a Memory card (F: drive). Therefore, I use Y-Browser (available from the Ovi Store £1)

http://store.ovi.com/content/23372

to copy/paste from my desktop to C: and not placing it in any folders. See “Wallander ringtone fig.3.

Once in place I open my tone and select Options > Use tone > and either Assign to contact or Set as ringing tone. I then go back to the tone using Y-Browser and, because I do not want it appearing in my Gallery, I use Options > File > Attributes > and select “Yes” to Hidden (I use this method to hide my message tone and any photo’s/files I do not want my phone to display). See fig.4.

Contact Photo’s

Contact photo’s are another thing I have found that will lead to the phone defaulting to the Nokia ringtone. That is not to say that you cannot use them but in some cases they will need to be edited.

If, like me, you take head and shoulder shots on your N97, to use as Contact photo’s, there is a chance that you did so using the full 5 mega pixel setting. This, it would appear, is too large to load in the default time-out on an incoming call and will cause the phone to use the default ringtone. 640*480 is the optimum size I believe.

I therefore, have gone through my Contact photo’s in Gallery and using the built-in editor, Gallery > select photo > Options > Edit > Options > Add effect > Crop > Manual > crop the photo to reduce size. This can usually be done fairly painlessly by losing some of the background and concentrating on the face.

You can then either choose to replace you Gallery photo with the cropped version or save it with a different name. You then assign this new cropped version to your contact.

Of course, the easiest thing to do would be to take all your would-be contact photo’s using the Basic, or MMS, setting on your camera.

I know that the above is a lot of work but until Nokia can resolve the default ring tone problem this is the only workaround for me.

[zxon]

Thanks for the writeup, ian-ross.

My ringtones have always been limited to 30 seconds, and contact pictures were already trimmed to 640x360. I wonder if this is why I've never experienced the default Nokia ringtone problem.

[ironass]

A few more replies like yours zxon and I might knock off the "(possibly)" from the thread title.

[boothy]

Thanks Ian-Ross - I get the problem from time to time - I will give it a go

Boothy

[ironass]

Originally Posted by boothy

Thanks Ian-Ross - I get the problem from time to time - I will give it a go

Boothy

Please let me know how you get on.

I tested the theory by using my home phone number and adding a 5MP photo and song track from my library. I then rebooted the phone and rang my mobile from the home phone.

It defaulted to that bl**dy Nokia tone.

I then edited the song and converted it to .aac and pasted it into C: and added a reduced photo contact and then rebooted my phone again and used my home phone to call again.

Voila! it worked.

Have changed all my contact photo's now and in the last 5/6 weeks it hasn't defaulted to Nokia once... touch wood.

[jmurch]

Thanks guys. I was too lazy to read over the solution but got the jist of it and deleted pictures for the contacts with a picture associated and now the rings are as they should be.

Jeff

PS> didnt even need a reboot.

[snoFlake]

Yeah I think you're on the right track (follows on from the FAQs in the Nokia support) should nail it.

I solved the issue by sticking with the Nokia deafult as my ring tone

(I do feel like I'm in an epsiode of Trigger Happy TV every time my phone rings )

[bchliu]

Sorry mate.. I have to disagree..

I have tried many methods including the <30 sec and stick it onto C: Drive, MIDIs/MP3/MP4/3GP/AAC formats, No pictures etc and nothing will stop the seemingly random default Nokia tone.

Tried this on nearly every firmware out hoping that it will fix it but no.

I have found though that the way the phone is placed may have a contributing factor because the accelerometer is meant to be active upon a call and apparently if you flip it, it should silence the call. Maybe its a bug with this routine that causes it to mishap?

I think its really just all theories and rumours until it can be reproduced successfully so that Nokia can directly sort it out. Until then, we can all speculate..

[ironass]

Originally Posted by bchliu

Sorry mate.. I have to disagree..

I have tried many methods including the <30 sec and stick it onto C: Drive, MIDIs/MP3/MP4/3GP/AAC formats, No pictures etc and nothing will stop the seemingly random default Nokia tone.

Tried this on nearly every firmware out hoping that it will fix it but no.

I have found though that the way the phone is placed may have a contributing factor because the accelerometer is meant to be active upon a call and apparently if you flip it, it should silence the call. Maybe its a bug with this routine that causes it to mishap?

I think its really just all theories and rumours until it can be reproduced successfully so that Nokia can directly sort it out. Until then, we can all speculate..

Well, like I said bchliu, it works for me.

[bang bang boom]

I've never had that problem as i've never had a contact pic nor a ringtone, just the default tone lol

i shall try it tho at some point....

[ironass]

The Nokia ringtone

The ringtone "Nokia tune" is actually based on a 19th century guitar work named "Gran Vals" by Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega.
The Nokia Tune was originally named "Grande Valse" on Nokia phones but was changed to "Nokia Tune" around 1998 when it became so well known that people referred to it as the "Nokia Tune."

The tune is heard worldwide an estimated 1.8 billion times per day, about 20,000 times per second.

Mostly on N97's I would guess!

The "Special" tone available to users of Nokia phones when receiving SMS (text messages) is actually Morse code for "SMS". Similarly, the "Ascending" SMS tone is Morse code for "Connecting People," Nokia's slogan. The "Standard" SMS tone is Morse code for "M" (Message).

[dog-man]

I have this problem occasionally and I only use the ring tones that come with the phone. I don't use any photos / images to identify callers.




dog-man

[ironass]

I think you'll find that people who use full song ring tones and contact photo's are experiencing the default tone on a fairly regular basis.

I now only tend to get the default ring tone if I'm connected via USB to my laptop.

[nottmbantam]

Do my eyes deceive me, has Ian Ross changed his user name to Ironass? Or has it been like since for ever and I've only just realised I was mis-reading his user name, thinking it was Ian Ross but actually all along it was Iron Ass?

I hope I'm right, otherwise I think I'm going senile....

[snoFlake]

You is well right tho isn't it.

I like the new monicker it has gravity. Any issues with ball bearings?