BlackBerry® Torch™

[cgrosh]

Hi there,

I was originally on a corporate server and had setup both my Employer desktop contacts, email and calendar and gmail contacts, email and calendar, all syncing correctly wireless on my Blackberry Torch.

I came off the corporate server and am now on a public Bell server.  I no longer have a corporate desktop, only the gmail.  I have not deleted all the corporate stuff or anything, just switched servers.

My gmail email and calendar continue to sync correctly on my BB.  My gmail CONTACTS does not sync with the Blackberry at all - I cannot even get it to sync by plugging in.  I am also not very good at this as at my company there were others who could fix this all up for me.

Can anyone advise how I can get the contacts doing 2 way sync again (wireless or plug in - I don't mind which).

Carol

[sdgardne]

Hi and Welcome to the Community!

You actually have a much bigger task ahead of you. As a former-BES user, your BB remains constrained by whatever IT Policies your former employer had placed onto it while it was associated with BES. From what you say, I doubt that it was properly cleansed of that after it was removed from that BES environment. Honestly, what you need to do is to totally cleanse your BB and return it to "factory fresh" condition, then set everything up brand new. Indeed, it is entirely possible that this latent IT Policy still on your BB is the cause of the GMail contacts not working the way you desire. But, alas, at this internet-distance, it is a bit of a challenge to be 100% certain of anything.

But, I am concerned given what you say about not being very good at this...hence, I am reluctant to provide you yet with the details that you require in order to accomplish all of the necessary tasks. The tasks are relatively technically complex...nothing hardware (you don't have to open the BB or anything), but a lot of software to obtain, install to your PC, connect your BB properly to your PC, take a full manual backup of your BB, perform the "reset to factory" command, get your BB running properly on your carrier network again, restore (selective...not wholesale) your BB from the backup you took, and then make sure that all services are functioning properly. As I said...a lot of things to do...and what I listed is truly just a high-level outline of what is needed...there are many many sub-steps to perform.

Anyway, let us know if/how you'd like to proceed...

Good luck and let us know!

[cgrosh]

Hi,

Thank you for the guidance.  I am going to contact my service provider (Bell) and see if they will 'clean' my Blackberry for me. I already have backups of all my pictures and most of my data is sync'd with GMAIL - so the only manual cleanup I would have is my contact list (which I might face up to).  Also, I do know a lot of technical people, although most do not have BlackBerries, but one of them might be willing to help me figure it out.

If I can get someone to agree to set it back to factory clean, then I am certain I can install my gmail and other non corporate stuff again (I did do it originally so it cannot be that difficult to do again). 

I will check around and see if I can figure this out.  Thank you for the guidance - I thought it was simple parameter that I was missing resetting.

Carol

[sdgardne]

To cleanse the IT Policy, this is the applicable KB:

• KB18998 How to reset the BlackBerry smartphone to factory defaults

It can be done by anyone with a PC, the BB USB cord, and an internet connection on the PC (to download and install the appropriate software). Be careful as this step will indeed do what it says...make the BB just like it was fresh from the factory, with all data and configurations wiped completely clean.

Good luck!

[cgrosh]

Hi,

I have wonderful news.  I went in to my local Bell store (I am on their server) and asked if they could reset my Blackberry to factory settings.  The lady gave me the Bell Technical help number and advised I phone there first before I reset - and said it was free.

I called the Bell number and they opened a ticket and xferred me to BB help who also opened a ticket.  On the phone, the BB guy had me delete my gmail email address and then register it again.  And you won't believe this - THAT FIXED EVERYTHING!  How wonderful.  (How weird). (He didn't really know that would work as before we did that, he checked that I had everything backed up.)

Then the BB Help guy told me that if I have any more issues, to always call Bell first as that way the BB help is free, whereas if I call BB direct, they will charge me.  I don't know if this is only in Ontario Canada or everywhere, but thought I would post it all here just in case it applies to someone else.  The Bell Mobility number I called was the standard 1-877-3282-123 and I selected the options for the Technical help.

Thank you for listening and for the suggestions.  These forums are very good.

Carol

[sdgardne]

Actually, that is exactly how the support model works. End Users receive ALL of their services and front-line support from their mobile service provider. If the carrier cannot resolve the issue, they have the power to escalate the case into RIM at no cost to the end user. If the end user wishes to bypass their support contract and try to contact RIM directly (it's called "Incident Support", that indeed costs a fee since it is bypassing the contract.

Interesting that something so simple fixed it. Given what you described in your initial post, perhaps we were going down a bad path. It would be good to know if that IT Policy is gone or not, though...nothing about what you've said was done would cleanse that from your BB...it is entirely possible that it blocks something that you will want to do in the future. But you now know already the process to cleanse it, so you are good to go if/when that comes about.

Good luck!