This was a post I copied from Carl@Whites. Everybody thought the master reset was a fix all.
The HARD RESET doesn't do squat unless by some strange set of circumstances the processors don't get turned off (the regulator is supposed to make that happen though). If they get into some weird state, then yanking the battery out for a while will let all the capacitors discharge and let the processors and memory power down. Master Reset sets the V3i to settings as it was when it left the factory. You lose all your custom settings.
The HARD RESET doesn't do squat unless by some strange set of circumstances the processors don't get turned off (the regulator is supposed to make that happen though). If they get into some weird state, then yanking the battery out for a while will let all the capacitors discharge and let the processors and memory power down. Master Reset sets the V3i to settings as it was when it left the factory. You lose all your custom settings.