BlackBerry® Bold™

[fsk]

HELP ME PLEASE!!

i had bought a blackberry bold 9700 for a very high amount as it was a recent model at the time. 4-5 months in, my blackberry decides to crash on me..

why is this?

everytime i charged it, it would go blank and not turn on, so i left it for a couple of months as i had gotten fed up and given up. i had taken it to repair, they said it was software issues so they fixed that and i was happy with the result until.. 1-2 months in, again the same issues had accured, i had taken it to repair again numerous amount of times in that period of time.

now when i charge it, it reboots continuously then the screen goes blank and the LED light flashes red continuously (this is the main issue at the moment that i am having). when i take the charger out and re-insert it, my bb decides not to turn on it remains in the same state..

help me please, this is a big waste of my money. i've had numerous amounts of blackberrys before and this has never happend, please get back to me asap as this is just becoming annoying and i really don't understand why so much money should have gone to waste.

thankyou very much for your time

[sdgardne]

Hi and Welcome to the Community!

What you describe could be caused by a bad battery...to test, this sequence is needed:

1. Obtain a known good and already fully charged additional battery...use it in your BB and see what happens
2. Obtain access to a known good and identical BB...use your battery in it and see what happens

The results of this will indicate if it's your BB itself or your battery that has the problem.

Good luck and let us know!

[fsk]

i have done that in the past, my bold has lived through 4 diffrent batterys..

i know for sure it is not the battery as i have before cchecked the exact same batterys in other 9700s and they work fine.

since its not the battery that is the problem.. do you think you might  know what is?

thankyou for you help

foridha

[sdgardne]

At an internet distance, the only thing I can provide you are methods by which you can perhaps deduce what the problem may be. You do that by trying different things, in a very careful manner, so as to rule in/out various possibilities. It's a rather tedious project to undertake, but it may well reveal the root cause of your problems.

I'm going to start with the assumption that you already know how to properly and cleanly load any OS package onto your BB...regardless of what carrier that OS package may have been built for. If you don't know how to do that, please say so and I'll put in another post with those details.

---

First, you need to determine if there is anything on your BB you need to preserve...all of this activity can be very destructive to the data, apps, etc. presently on your BB. If you need to take a backup, refer to this thread:

• http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/General-BlackBerry-Functions-and/Backup-the-data-on-your-Blac...

---

Next, you attempt to boot into Safe Mode:

• KB17877 How to start a BlackBerry smartphone in Safe Mode

It may take you multiple attempts to get the ESC key sequence (press/release/hold) correct, so be patient. When successfully into Safe Mode, determine if the behavior continues or ceases. If it ceases, then the problem is likely one of your added apps...so think carefully...what happened just before this behavior started? A new app? An update? A Theme? Something else? Think carefully as the smallest change could be causal...and attempt to undo whatever that was.

---

If the behavior continues in Safe Mode, then the core of your OS is at fault -- either corrupt or buggy. To diagnose that, your carry out this tedious (and, notice, iterative) process:

1. Load your OS "bare bones"...if anything is optional, do not install it.
2. If the behavior presents immediately, then try a different OS with step 1
3. If the behavior does not immediately present, then run for as long as it takes for you to be sure that the behavior will not present.
4. Add one thing -- no matter how tempting, just one.
5. If the behavior does not present immediately, then again run for long enough to be sure it will not have the same problem
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all things are loaded or the behavior presents

When the behavior presents, you know the culprit...the last thing you loaded.

If the behavior does not re-present, then you know that either step 1 or 2 cured it.

If the behavior presents no matter what, then you likely have a hardware level issue for which no amount of OS or software can cure.

Good luck and let us know!

[fsk]

what is an OS and how do i access this?

after if i do access this, what do i have to carry out next?

exactly what you have mentioned on the previous message or somthing a little diffrent?

this is all slowly starting to make sence. i think it may have been caused by an app or theme etc. as i used to download quite a few apps. silly me..

my only fear at the moment is if my BB turns on or not as i know it is not the battery which is at fault, and the BB can't exactly turn on without a battery if i make sence..

thankyou for slowly getting some sence into me

foridha

[sdgardne]

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fsk wrote:

what is an OS and how do i access this?

---

OK...an OS is an Operating System. All computing devices have an OS so that they can perform whatever the functions are that they are intended to perform. The BB is no different...there are many versions of OS available for each device, each with sometimes bugs and fixes. Finding the one that works best for you is a matter of deduction, as per the processes I laid out above.

So, for that process, in step 1 where it says to load your OS "Bare Bones", there will be a point in that process where you have a list of items (core OS, apps, add-ons, languages, etc.) from which you can select, via the right-hand tic boxes, those to include or exclude. "Bare Bones" means making sure that, for any of those tic boxes you can control, ensuring that it is NOT checked...installing the bare minimum, only those things that are truly required (and you won't be able to control those tic boxes).

So, now the process...(this is what you do for step 1 in the process in my prior post)...

At the top of each device forum, there should be some "sticky" threads that discuss the OS levels available for many models. If they include your model, then please use those as reference as you proceed. Otherwise, you will have to dig through the official download portal for OS packages for your model:

• http://us.blackberry.com/support/downloads/download_sites.jsp

From a PC, you can install any compatible (e.g., for your exact BB Model Number) OS package to a BB via this procedure:

• http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/BlackBerry-Device-Software/How-To-Reload-Your-Operating-Syste...

Note that while written for "reload" and the Storm, it can be used to upgrade, downgrade, or reload any BB device model -- it all depends on the OS package you download and install to your PC. If that OS package is from a carrier other than the carrier for which your BB was originally manufactured, then delete, on your PC, all copies of VENDOR.XML...there will be at least one, and perhaps 2, and they will be located in or similarly to (it changes based on your Windows version) these folders:

• C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader
• C:\Users\(your Windows UserName)\AppData\Roaming\Research In Motion\BlackBerry\Loader XML

Be sure that you remove, from your PC, any other BB device OS packages as having more than one installed to the PC can cause conflicts with this procedure.

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fsk wrote:

after if i do access this, what do i have to carry out next?

exactly what you have mentioned on the previous message or somthing a little diffrent? 

---

Exactly what is above...but you have other things (e.g., Safe Mode) to try before you even get to this point...

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fsk wrote:

this is all slowly starting to make sence. i think it may have been caused by an app or theme etc. as i used to download quite a few apps. silly me..

---

Safe Mode is intended to determine if that is the case...as I said above, it your BB works fine in Safe Mode and you can determine what you most recently added, then removing that MIGHT cure your problems. If not, then you have to move onto the more tedious process.

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fsk wrote:

my only fear at the moment is if my BB turns on or not as i know it is not the battery which is at fault, and the BB can't exactly turn on without a battery if i make sence..

---

Ummm...that did not quite make sense...sorry...maybe you can try this sequence...note that, throughout the entire 4h15m process, your BB must remain connected to a known-good wall charger (not PC USB):

1. With the battery inside, connect your BB to the wall charger
2. Leave it alone for 2 hours, no matter what the LED or the display does
3. Remove the battery
4. Wait 15 minutes
5. Insert the battery
6. Wait another 2 hours, no matter what the LED or the display does

This has been known to "kick start" some BBs.

---

Good luck and let us know!

[fsk]

this is what i have done so far..

i took a charged bb bold battery and put it into my bb it worked fine, i deleted all useless apps that i had, this worked fine for nearly 2 days.

today as i was coming back from work i took my bb out to check the time and see that the LED light was flashing red, i rebooted it a good 3 times this was not succesful, until i did it again and it was succesful but after a good 20 mins it happened again, i did what you told me to, so now i am leaving to it to charge for 2 hours and then i am going to take the battery out for 15 mins then put it back on charge for another 2 hours, if this is succesful should i update my OS software? because at the moment i have OS 5.. will this delete my files, contacts etc..? 

[sdgardne]

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fsk wrote:

i took a charged bb bold battery and put it into my bb it worked fine, i deleted all useless apps that i had, this worked fine for nearly 2 days.

---

That would seem to hint that, contrary to what you reported earlier, your battery indeed was the culprit! But...

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fsk wrote:

today as i was coming back from work i took my bb out to check the time and see that the LED light was flashing red, i rebooted it a good 3 times this was not succesful, until i did it again and it was succesful but after a good 20 mins it happened again,

---

This starts to lead to a conclusion that something is running on your BB that is consuming resources, including battery, at a very high rate. Further, fully draining of these batteries can actually damage them, rendering them to lower and lower capacity/run time, and even eventually rendering them useless. If, therefore, something is running on your BB that is running the battery down over and over, then it could be damaging the battery. Further, after any battery run down, continuous charge for up to 24 hours is actually recommended.

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fsk wrote:

i did what you told me to, so now i am leaving to it to charge for 2 hours and then i am going to take the battery out for 15 mins then put it back on charge for another 2 hours, if this is succesful should i update my OS software? because at the moment i have OS 5.. 

---

Maybe...though if my suspicion about something running on your BB draining your battery, then you may actually want to try the bare bones installation first. Further, there are differences between OS levels and battery consumption, but documentation about that is quite challenging to find.

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fsk wrote:

will this delete my files, contacts etc..? 

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Yes...and hence the reason I earlier gave you the methods for backup.

[fsk]

what would help me find out what is draining my battery and what keeps making these problems accur? in the period of 2 days where it did work my bb rebooted a herendous amount of times.

what do you think is consuming my resources? from all the information you have gathered from me..

what would the 'bare bone installation do and how do i acces this?

this is really confusing me now >.< silly bb.

[sdgardne]

The "Bare Bones" process would help you weed out the culprit, whether it be an app that is draining your battery, something that is causing your spontaneous reboots, or even perhaps a corrupt OS that is the cause...at this internet distance, there's just no way for me to guess what the specific cause for you is. The process is laid out in the 6 steps within the last section of post 4 of this thread, with further explanations for you in post 6 of this thread.

So, please be precise in asking what you need further explanation about...everything is up there, but I can't tell which part you are not understanding. I'm willing to help you, but to do so I need to understand exactly where you are stuck. You can tell me that by reading again all of the above and stopping when you get stuck...and asking specifically about that.

Good luck!