BlackBerry® Bold™

[binarymax]

So, very disappointingly, while sitting in my pocket in the sleeve, my Bold decided to do a factory reset.  Less than 30 minutes ago I pulled it out of my pocket, all the settings were back to default.  Everything was deleted -- my contacts, texts, memos, apps, and everything else on the internal memory are now gone, and I was presented with the setup wizard.  The information on my extra memory card is apparently intact.

I am trying not to panic and see if anyone has any advice.  Seeing as how I was foolish enough not to backup on a regular basis, is there any chance of the memory still being there but not being loaded into the interface?  Frequent backup lesson learned the hard way

Now please excuse me while I go cry in the corner.

[JSanders Resident Expert]

So there's nothing in your Address Book and all of your personal information has been removed?

Look at Options > Status > Menu > Database Sizes, and what is the size of the Address Book? 

It should look like xxx/xxxxk

What are those numbers?

[binarymax]

0/0.0K for pretty much everything other than the defaults (Autotext, etc.)

[JSanders Resident Expert]

ok..

It is really hard to learn the value of a backup the hard way.

I don't see that the the device would do a "factory reset" in your pocket, which required several unique and button pushes and manually typing the word "blackberry" (for a security wipe). Otherwise, there is no "factory reset" on a BlackBerry without connecting the device to a USB cable and using a specific software from the pc.

But I know you aren't crazy, and what you have is what you have. No, there is no way to recover memory from a BlackBerry without spending lots of money.

[er2joe]

One last ditch effort - try pulling the battery with the device on. Perhaps the device is confused enough that the stuff is still there, just not visible to the OS.

[binarymax]

That was the very first thing I tried.  I am wondering if there is ANY technical explanation?  I am considering getting a new phone because the thought of this happening again is unacceptable.

[JSanders Resident Expert]

I still don't see how it happened in the first place.

[binarymax]

Yes I am also baffled as to how it could have happened...before you told me in your post above I had looked at how it would be possible to do a manual factory reset and there is no chance all those steps could have happened by coincidence -- I even keep my keypad locked when its in the sleeve.

Before this happened though, some very strange things have been going on with the phone.  The screen would suddenly blank out or show a partially rendered screen.  And sometimes it would just fall over entirely and I'd need to reboot.  I talked to my contract provider and they said it is covered under manufacture warranty, and I could swap with another refurbished Bold -- which I will probably accept.