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BlackBerry 101: Troubleshooting Common Issues Posted in BlackBerry 101 on 15 Sep 2008 04:50 by Adam Zeis | 
37 comments
Everyday BlackBerry users come across problems. Most times they turn to Google (repeat troubleshooters head straight to CrackBerry.com!) to hunt down some quick answers. In hopes of making BlackBerry users more independent, this lesson should help you diagnose your own problems, and take some steps in attempt to resurrect your issues on your own. Problems ranges from the simple: not receiving email and a dead browser, to the more complex issues of losing call logs and texts or dreaded error codes and a "nuked" Berry. This 101 will cover a good deal (but certainly not all) of the most common errors BlackBerry users encounter. Let's get started.
The Battery Pull The most common "cure all" to all devices is the battery pull. Like chicken soup is to the soul, the battery pull can solve many of the problems users encounter, such as application errors, theme problems, data problems and more. Before you do anything else - always do a battery pull.
Check out these BlackBerry Help articles for more:
And more in the forums:
Some devices have what is known as a "memory leak". This is what the BlackBerry community has dubbed the loss of memory from any BlackBerry Device. The device will begin to "eat" call logs and messages and they will mysteriously disappear. This is due to the memory of the device being low, causing it to automatically free up more space by deleting these items. The first steps to identifying this issue is to check the File Free on your device. You can do this one of two ways. Â
Here you will see your File Free displayed in Bytes. Here I have 33087874 Bytes free (which is about 33mb) and is more than enough free memory. Its a safe bet to say that about 12 or 14mb is enough free memory, however some users will tell you more and some will say less. Older devices will have more of a problem being that they have less memory to being with. If you find yourself with low memory, check out these guides to freeing up memory but deleting pre-installed images, changing save times for messages, removing Voice Activated Dialing and more.
Along with the memory loss issues, some users commonly refer to their memory cards. Keep in mind the memory cards do not effect these issues. No matter if you have a 1gb or 8gb memory card - it will not add to the installed memory on your device. An external memory card may be used for storing photos, music, movies etc. but cannot help with these types of memory issues. I'm Not Receiving Email
Login to your carriers BIS site (a list can be found here)
Click the Service Books link
Click Send Service Books
You should receive confirmation messages on your device if you were successful. This is a common error as well for existing GSM BIS users who attempt to activate a new device. After putting in your SIM card, your browser icon shows immediately, however there is no email. You need to login to your BIS as above and enter the Change Device menu and activate the new device PIN. From here resend the service books and you're set.
 
Wait about 30 seconds and the icon should appear. Sometimes it may take longer depending on your service etc. so be patient. If it doesn't show up after a while (10 minutes or so) try a battery pull. After the restart if it still doesn't appear, you may need to resend your service books as described above. Â
How To Separate SMS & Email Messages No so much an error as a common question, but some users prefer to have separate inboxes for SMS/MMS messages & emails, while some prefer to have them all in one place. To change this option is simple - In your Message go to Options > General Options and change SMS and Email Inboxes to separate. This will give you individual folders for your SMS/MMS and Email messages. Keep in mind this setting can be affected by some custom themes.Â
I Use Gmail and Receive A Copy Of My Emails A common problem when using Gmail. To resolve it you must login to your Carrier's BIS site and simply add a filter to your current Gmail address. Take these steps:Â
For more information or help in the forums, check out this thread.
Another good tip to prevent errors is to keep your Operating System (OS) up to date. This is especially good for users with older devices. Many bugs can be found over time, so RIM issues updates to the operating system to make things more stable. You should always have the latest official OS installed on your device. You can find links to all the current OS versions here. Check out Al Sacco's 101 on How to Install or Upgrade your BlackBerry Operating System (OS) to get the job done! If your OS is up to date and you are still experiencing bugs or glitches and you can't figure out why, performing a Handheld Wipe will help reset your BlackBerry's operating system to the OS defaults (you have the option to leave 3rd party apps installed or remove them). No software or connection to a computer is required to perform a HandHeld Wipe. On your BlackBerry, simply go to Options > Security Options > General Settings > hit the menu key > Wipe Handheld and follow the instructions on the display. It takes a few minutes, but the Handheld Wipe will conveniently take you back to the starting line and hopefully fix your problems. Keep in mind you'll have to re-add your PIM info and add back all your BlackBerry Messenger contacts and apps (if you chose to delete the apps).Â
More Now keep in mind these are just some of the issues you may run into with your new device. There are many more problems you may encounter, but you can always turn to the Crackberry.com Community for help. Check out these 101 Lessons for some other common problems:
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Can the registration page automagically redirect to this lecture after every successful registration? ;)
This is great info... I'll have to save this link... I've seen these questions over and over again.
Any solutions if my video don't replay or save? I have a 8300 but upgrade the os to 4.5 but when I record it won't replay or save my video? any answers?
For those of you having Bluetooth problems, the "battery pull" cure seems to fix that. But, be sure to turn off Bluetooth BEFORE pulling the battery. Once the unit is rebooted, go ahead and re-enable Bluetooth.
The Blackberry 101 series is a must read for any new BB user. Another good point is raised when mentioning that most problems with devices have answers on CB if time is taken to just search before posting.
To check the file free memory for Pearl users you need to hit ALt,E,A,C,E. Or go to options status. Otherwise nice recap Adam.
Even though I consider myself a pretty good BB user, this came in handy and I'm going to book mark it so I don't have to remember this stuff.
One note: The Soft reboot and the ALT-SFT-H don't work on my BB. don't know why.
I have a problem with my BB 8120. I tried to get rid of some unwanted applications when my phone had to be reset for the actions to take place. But when my phone loads back up, i'm missing all my apps!!! I can still get to my messages and stuff, I just have to load up my call log and switch applications. I've tried taking the battery out but that won't work. What can I do?
i purchased the alltel curve 8330 a couple of days ago and have been impresed with it. But within the last day my internet has stopped working. I had been able to connect to the internet without a problem at first but now it comes up with a message that says < unable to connect to the internet, please try again later, For some reason it wont connect in the exact same places it was in past days.
what do i do??
I am having the same problem, did you ever figure it out?
we have just had a blackberry technician in to sync our blackberry's to our new server and during this process they somehow managed to get my passwords wrong and it decided to shutdown and delete everything. Is there some magical way that these things can be recovered? Small things such as text messages and stuff saved in my memopad but the most important was my calender which has all my future appointments, now i dont know where i am supposed to be!
Please help if possible, anything would be good!
My 5 month old Blackberry won't turn on.. It switches between hour glass and black screen with the Red Power light. Worked fine on friday night and then Saturday morning.. Kaput!!
I'm having the same issue.....any solution? Just cycles from white screen with red light and hour glass to black screen.
Does Verizon have a different OS upgrade version than Telus or Bell? Is it worth looking into getting one of those upgrades if you have a phone from a different carrier? Or are they all the same? (newbie on the blackberry, sorry)
Wow! I love this phone but it is DEFINITELY smarter than I am! Anyway, my question is this....while in the profile section playing with the settings (BIG mistake) I accidently check-marked the option of not disconnecting the call while in holster. Well, now I have to manually take it out of the holster and disconnect. I can't find where to fix it to where it will automatically disconnect when the call is finished. Can anyone help?? Thanks so much.
My trackball will not allow me to move the cursor to the left.
Have to shut down to reset to upper letf quadrant.
My blackberry deletes all calls recorded in my call log once a week. How can I prevent this from happening?
Thanks!
ok i have a BB my friend passed down to me because he got the Storm but the problem is that when i turn the BB that he gave me it starts up does the 3g thingy then it gets to the at&t screen it stops there and that is it . can this be fixed?
jut got the bb 9530, unlocked it but it won't make nor receive calls. Has all my sim card info but when i try to make calls it says "Call Failed" Does anyone know if there's something that can be done??
Did you turn the Radio on? Manage connection>mobile network
People don't understand that the purpose for this feature of the article is to leave comments about it!
If you need help you are supposed to go to the Help&Discussion Forums section of this website.
If they can't figure that one out... I wonder how they even attempt to use the DangBerry...
thank you I hope I never have problems with my storm but its good to know there is help if I need it
I have a blackberry bold and my trackball started to double click automatically every time i click it only once. How do I get it set to click only once?
I just purchased the BB storm in January and for the last couple of days, my screen is freezing up on me. The little clock displays after every 3 letters or so I am typing, both in email and text. If I am trying to scroll down on the screen, I get the clock as well. Pretty much anything I do, every couple of seconds, the clock shows up and I cannot do anything until it is gone.
I havent tried the battery pull yet. However, I did get 2 error messages today back to back, one saying memory full and the other didnt make any sense to me. I am trying to avoid going to verizon (my carrier) because the lines for tech support are HUGE! Anyone else have this issue?
???
my unlocked bb curve 8310 keeps restarting on its own and does this randomly and even when i am browsing or chatting. why is it doing that and how can i stop it?
Hi there I am at the end of my rope with my black berry pearl. I have had 3 within the past year. The first 2 had problems with the track ball and the new one that is just 1 week old just turns off. The batery will be fully charged and I will have it beside my bed at night on Silent because I use it daily as my alarm. I will wake up in the morning on my own and go to check my phone. It will be off. I have to turn it back on and then I can see my emails and phone messages start to come through. I love the phone but it is driving me nuts.
The only other blackberry I would up grade to would be the storm but it is too costly for me. I am a real estate agent and live using my phone. Another Pearl is a drag as I am not sure wether I will have all the same propblems and I don't like any of the other models. Please help
a simple thing as taking out the battery resolved so many issues i had with my new phone thanks a lot. my own cell phone provider verizon could not tell me that nor was is in the manual.
thank you. i needed this to sync and with a simple battery pull it worked. ur a lifesaver
how do i recieve files from another phone via bluetooth? i activate bluetooth but when i want to send the file from the other it says sending failed
When I click down on the ball to get to my messages for instance, it wont work and I have to press down on the ball for a long period of time. What's wrong wih my phone!?
Enough said. Thx guys.
i put a theme on my storm and then i deleted it on my phone.it said it needed to restart to delete the theme so i clicked yes.then it shutdown and can't start again.it tries loading then says JUM IP.....then it shuts down and tries again and doesn't ever work.can someone help please?
A couple few quirks had popped up over the last week, but the most annoying was the mute/standby button stopped operating. I would have thought something was physically wrong with the phone, but the battery pull actually fixed this, yay!
went without my Curve most of the day until I went to this site. You recommended the battery pull and it solved my lockups. I have only had my phone for a week and already I am addicted to it. I used to have a T-mmobile Dash.Thanks for all your great info.
i have a blackberry curve 8330. i have an icon that i cant get rid of. i cant click on it. it appears in my sms, mms, bb messenger and email. its a black circle with a gray arrow pointing diagonally. theres a 1 to the left of the circle and a red dot in the upper right corner. any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you!
I OWN 8300 CURVE. I WANT THE PANELS TO BE CHANGED AS THE SAME HAVE GONE OLD. PLS SUGGEST A SERVICE CENTER IN INDIA