How to Deregister a Uniden Handset Without the Original Base
Over the years, I’ve have a few Uniden phone systems. I can’t say enough about these phones.
I picked up my latest set of 4 phones for just $30. The call quality is great, the handsets are comfortable, and the reception isn’t bad. For the price, you can’t beat it.
I wanted to use an older Uniden phone with my new base unit. When I went into the menu on the handset to register the older phone with the new base, I only saw an option for “Deregister handset.” When I selected that option, the phone tried to connect to the old base unit (which isn’t connected) and timed out with an “Unable to connect” error.
Disconnecting and re-connecting the battery didn’t solve the problem.
I did some investigation and found out how to re-set the old handset so it could be used with my new base unit.
- Disconnect the battery.
- Hold down the # and the * keys. While holding them down, re-connect the battery.
- Push the right-most “soft” button. This is the button directly under the screen, on the right hand side. (The one that lets you select commands displayed on the screen.)
That’s it- your phone should now say “EEPROM CLEAR OK!”
Simply set the phone on the base unit and it will register itself with that base.
Works with: Uniden Integri-Sound PowerMax 5.8 GHz phone, TCX800, TRU8888, TRU9485, TRU8860.
(Know of any others that it works with? Please let me know in the comments. The handset model number is in the battery compartment, beneath the battery.)
March 31st, 2010 at 7:07 pm
I have spent 2+ days looking for a way to fix the mysterious “unavailable” issue with my TRU8860 phones, which I happy to like a lot. You are a life saver!!!
April 17th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Works perfectly. But for some reason, after resetting phone memory, the phone would not charge. I had to disconnect the battery, then re-connect it. Things worked perfectly thereafter when charged in the base.
April 28th, 2010 at 8:37 am
What is the model number of this phone? That’s exactly what I have but don’t know the model number.
May 6th, 2010 at 12:32 am
Thank you so much. I was at wit’s end. worked perfectly.
May 22nd, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Any idea how to do this with a TRU5860?
May 29th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Anyone know how to de-register Uniden DXI-3286-2 or get it to “talk” to the base?
May 30th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Thank you so much. I was going to toss out this phone in the trash before I read this. Worked perfectly!!!!!
July 3rd, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Nice instructions, i’m still receiving Handset Registering, followed by Unavailable on 2 of my 4 handsets. Argh!
July 11th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Finally got it to work thanks to your instructions!
July 16th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Uniden TRU9480-3 died with a E4 on the base. Replaced with a TRU9485-3 and all the handsets the came with the 9485 work (after a base reset and reregister) but I cannot get the handsets from the 9480 to register with the 9485 base. Even did a EEPROM reset and still they just show Unavailable and Registration Failed. Any ideas?
July 18th, 2010 at 7:30 am
I’m in the same boat as Ron P and Shadow. The EEPROM reset worked exactly as described, but when I try to register my phone by putting it in the 9485 base, it comes up with “Unavailable” and some image of a baby chick – what’s up with THAT?!
If I try to register it by holding down the # button, it comes up “Handset Registering”, followed by “Registration Failed” every time I try it.
If anyone knows of a solution to this problem, it would be greatly appreciated.
August 19th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
I just fixed my phone with following the instruction.
Thank you!!
September 18th, 2010 at 11:58 am
HI…YOUR INSTRUCTIONS WORKED TO A PT.ON A TRU446-2.AFTER RE-PLUGING BATTERY HEARD A BEEP, BUT NO “EEPROM”. SCREEN WAS BLANK.PUSHED SOFT BUTTON, SCREEN SAID “HANDSET NO 1″. AFTER SETTING IN BASE, SCREEN SAID “TOTAL: 0″ AND THAT’S IT! STILL CAN’T REGISTER THE DARN THINGS.IF YOU HAVE AN ANSWER TO THIS MODEL, PLEASE HELP!
October 8th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Ahhhh, thank you for posting this! Worked for me. :)
October 17th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
This worked for the TCX905 model also
October 18th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
to register a newer handset on an older base, simply remove the battery cover and set the phone on the base. it will register. replace the battery cover.
November 11th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Awesome! Worked for my 4 handsets. They weren’t able to connect after a power outage. Good as new now.
I wonder how many people throw away their systems when they have this problem. Most problems can be fixed by a little Googling and a small amount of effort, like in this case.
November 18th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I’ve done this before, but this time and it worked. But this time, after installing new batteries and charging them, pushing the right soft key only gives me “TX POWER 46.” Anyone ever get that?
December 4th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
J Towriss–I also got this message on my TRU9280. AGrrrrg!
February 4th, 2011 at 1:48 am
I tried your uniden phone trick.It works on the WDSS5335 as well but you must hit the top left button-[clear]
February 5th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Is there a solution to the “Registration failed” message? I still get that after EEPROM Clear
February 20th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
I have a Uniden DECT 1580. I followed the instructions to remove the battery and reconnect while holding # and *. After several seconds I released the buttons and pushed the “menu” button. I received the EEPROM CLEAR OK message. I set the handset on the base and it seems to be searching for a long time. I hope it works!
February 20th, 2011 at 11:54 pm
Thank you so much!
Your advice saved the day along with 5 handsets that otherwise would have been thrown to the garbage.
February 21st, 2011 at 12:05 am
BTW, forgot to mention that my model is TRU8885. Worked exactly as described.
March 16th, 2011 at 1:58 am
Great solution! Many thanks! I now have 2 (of 3) working handsets. This saved me from purchasing 2 new handsets. Any solutions for error message: Models vary – place handset on the base for registration” have done this many times without success.
March 18th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
worked great, thanks
April 14th, 2011 at 9:13 am
Sweet Jesus! You are a life saver! It worked!!!!
May 13th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
What a lifesaver! We have five handsets and our old TRU8888 blew out in a power surge. We couldn’t reregister cause we couldn’t deregister! Thanks!!
June 30th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Thanks!!
July 1st, 2011 at 7:13 pm
It worked! Been trying and trying to fix this issue; you can find anything on the internet thanks to people like you who post these great solutions. Thank you so much.
July 16th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
My tru8888 bit the big one,I found a new one on ebay,and of course I could not get the hand sets to deregister or register.I followed your instructions, worked great! Thank you.The handsets are tcx 805.
July 21st, 2011 at 11:34 am
Thanks much!! This work on my Radio Shack 43-3581. I think Uniden made these and many Radio Shack cordless phones.
July 29th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Worked like a champ. THANKS!
August 5th, 2011 at 1:17 am
Help! I did all of the above, TRU9496 handsets and I still get registration failed. Any other ideas? What am I doing wrong?
August 21st, 2011 at 7:23 pm
But my DECT 6.0 doesn’t have a base you can set a handset into. It’s got a hardwired receiver. What can I do to register a newer handset with this older base?
August 28th, 2011 at 8:58 am
Very valuable information. Thank you for sharing!
September 5th, 2011 at 9:39 am
I have a WXI3077 waterproof phone. It was the left soft button. It did bring up the desired EEPROM CLEAR OK as you said, but it still did not register. Looking for more help. But your instructions better than Uniden Manual.
September 8th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
you guys r the best, thanks allot
September 9th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Thanks. Reset worked on DECT1850 handset, but yet no registration with base!
September 10th, 2011 at 11:56 am
If you are having trouble getting a message Registration Failed you may have to deregister an old handset no longer in use to make room on the system for the new handset
September 17th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Thanks a lot. I was struggling to deregister a tcx 905 handset. Your steps helped me to fix the issue.
October 1st, 2011 at 10:32 am
Any idea how to deregister a TRU9280 Uniden without the original base? I have tried holding down the hang up button and # button with no luck. Thank you in advance!! Mike
October 4th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Thank you it worked
October 25th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
This helped a lot .. and first link on google !! Just tried it and worked perfectly. Had some trouble registering the handset as my base did not have a cradle, notes abve said to place the handset on base. Mine had a standalone charge cradle. However when I went to the base set it had option to register handset. All I had to do was to put the base in register mode and press ‘#’ for 2 sec on the hand set. Worked perfectly. Thanks a lot !!
November 1st, 2011 at 2:41 am
This is really helpful.I have two Uniden 3455+1 phone systemS.
I have used this method to combine all the four handset in one.
Now I have Uniden 3455+3. Thanks heaps.It workds
November 13th, 2011 at 10:06 am
Did a search on the internet on how to get new handset to deregister. This was the first hit. I tried it and it worked. I thought I was going to have to send the phone back. Thanks.
December 1st, 2011 at 1:29 am
Probably not what you intended but this is also a workable solution to the problem on some Uniden handsets of not being able to delete the entire phone book.
I have 6 DSS7815 handsets and you can copy the phonebook from one to another or all but you cannot delete the old phonebooks (only be deleting each number in turn manually) …
So you end up with a mishmash of old and new phonebooks on each handset.
Your solution enables you to delete the entire phonebook on Uniden cordless phone handsets that have no specific function to do this. Thanks (and I emailed Uniden and they had no idea how to do this)!
December 9th, 2011 at 8:59 am
One of my two AT&T cordless handsets has been displaying “searching for base” for some time. We were ready to buy a whole new phone system as we needed two handsets. I tried your “fix” and it worked! THANK YOU!
AT&T Model #TL92278 Dect 6.0
December 11th, 2011 at 12:46 am
Glad to see this thread is still active after all of this time! I just recently got back on the VOIP bandwagon because its nice to have a backup.
I have a mismatched set of cordless RadioShack model phones (Uniden re-branded) and this worked perfectly on all of them.
The Base model is: 43-3887 (TAD-3887) this is 2005 era, with the matching handset.
The expanded models are: 43-5561, these are 2006 era.
These models are compatible with each other and I lost 2 other handsets so I wanted to reset the numbers, and this way was the ONLY way I found to do it. THANK YOU!
December 21st, 2011 at 10:01 pm
Worked with my TRU9480 handset. Thanks for the great info!
December 25th, 2011 at 8:49 pm
A thread like this is a lifesaver. These Uniden PowerMAX 5.8 Phones, The TRUxxxx and the CLX and yje ELBTs are all compatible. This saved my reat as I get lots of these off Freecycle. These are EXCELLENT Phones still. Many say beyyer then Unidens new DECT 6.0 We will keep them ALIVE!!
December 31st, 2011 at 10:40 pm
Thanks a lot… it worked well… had put my 2nd piece aside for last 2+ years and thought would give a try to fix everything today… it worked…. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
January 7th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
I have the Uniden tru9496 base station with less than 8 handsets. I needed a new one and bought a tcx905 on ebay. I deregistered as above. I keep getting “registration failed.” I opened the phone and removed the battery and it says “tru9480-4: instead of tcx905. Anybody know how I can register this? Thanks.
January 13th, 2012 at 11:48 am
I have the uniden D1660-2 and have had the uniden tru 9480 with the answering machine
I cant seem to part with my 9480 but needed more phones. How can i combine the 1660 with the base ofthe 9480?
January 17th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Great info. I was told to put my phones and the two bases I got(1 with E4 error and the new one) to the garbage.
Thanks God this solution is great. Now I registered my 4 handsets to the base without any problem. Thanks a lot
January 18th, 2012 at 5:50 pm
Thank you so much!! Worked on the first try without any problem! Just plain amazing and a well put together guide! Thanks again!
February 4th, 2012 at 10:20 pm
TOTALLY awesome!! Thank you sooo much. Couldn’t have figured this out without this information. : )