Join Our 3 MILLION+ Members Today! Register Here | Login
 
 
 
 
 
Home»BlackBerry Help»News & Rumors, Help, How-To & Tips

BlackBerry Bold 9900 Public Service Announcement: Don't Try Removing the MicroSD Card while the Battery is Inserted. Seriously!

by Kevin Michaluk on 11 Aug 2011 02:42 PM
60
 
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

** UPDATE: OK, FIXED. Eventually with the aid of a kitchen knife and some very careful prodding, I managed to slide the card back in and then pull the battery out. But seriously. Just learn from my mistake and take the battery out first. **

OK. So as you probably have guessed, since unboxing the BlackBerry Bold 9900 I've been going non-stop putting the device through the ringer as I work on our CrackBerry review. We've already given our first impressions of this BlackBerry a few times over now (you know it's awesome!), so in CrackBerry fashion I'm making sure our full-out review is brimming with the nitty gritty details CrackBerry readers love. 

Currently I'm in a bit of a pickle though, as I've done something apparently stupid.... I tried removing the MicroSD card from the Bold 9900 while the battery is still inserted. The location of the card slot is similar to that of the BlackBerry Bold 9780/9700 -- under the battery door below centered below the camera -- but on the 9900 this slot isn't angled like it is on the 9780/9700. So instead of the memory card nicely sliding out above an inserted battery, it slides out horizontally into the battery. And wouldn't you know it, but the battery has a perfect groove/indentation in it which the memory card slides into perfectly. So now I have a memory card wedged into the battery, and now I'm stuck. I need to either get the battery to pull out directly, or get the memory card slid back in fully so I can then get the battery out, but instead I'm just stuck here. Seriously, I've wasted over an hour now trying to get this resolved with no luck. 

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE... Don't try and remove the MicroSD Memory card from the BlackBerry Bold 9900 while the battery is inserted! Take the battery out. Then the card. Period. Watch the video for a good laugh.

Filed Under: News & Rumors, Help, How-To & Tips; Tags: BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9930
Send to a Friend
 
Login or Register to post comments

60 Comments

Posted by jaboory Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

needle use neddle ..................... first :P hehhee ( just wanted to be first)

 
 
Posted by Kevin Michaluk Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

trying.. needles, knifes, etc... so CLOSE.. but not fixed yet. will update when i'm good and what the trick was. 

 
 
Posted by Kevin Michaluk Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

got it!! needle no go.. kitchen knife worked.

 
 
Posted by jaboory Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

woohooo , great ! waiting for my device !!

 
 
Posted by mikelcal Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

when in doubt...stab it!!!!!!!
lol jk...

did the memory card survive?

 
 
Posted by Lumute Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Hey Kevin, could you take a closeup picture of that dent in the battery and post it here?

 
 
Posted by Jimcmf Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Put a drop of crazy glue on your finger.
Press on the card.
Wait.
Remove finger with card attached to finger.

If that doesn't work, try peanut butter.

 
 
Posted by Lumute Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

What memory card??? isn't that the Battery anti-theft locking device???? :-P

hopefully the memory card survived the stabbing...

EDIT: you would think with all the spare time they had while waiting for certifications they would have had time for propper design... maybe they can redesign the battery to either allow pulling the card or remove the dent and do a battery recall / replacement program?

 
 
Posted by zensen Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

maybe they thought no one would know ;)

seriously this was done perfectly on the 9780 so to save a few mm's, you get this problem...

 
 
Posted by Jimcmf Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

The card had to go on less of an angle because the phone is razor thin. RAZOR THIN.

 
 
Posted by newcollector Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

Use a pocket knife to flick the card back in. Don't use a needle, it is too flimsy.

 
 
Posted by CLTrujillo Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

lol oh man that sucks dude. Goodluck with it though

 
 
Posted by Vinster78 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Kevin totally sounds like Christopher Walken in that video! Listen to it again!

 
 
Posted by pfluger Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

Haha, the same thing happened to me too.

I was under the impression memory card couldn't be changed without taking out the battery but in your HD test video you mentioned it would work, so I had to try...

 
 
Posted by JasonM. Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

Don't worry, they'll fix that and the camera will have AF in the next sw update... 2 weeks.

 
 
Posted by jaboory Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

use the small tapes to just grip the card harder and pull it in ?

 
 
Posted by johnmoon Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

Kevin, that just happened to me as well
just use a very sharp razor to make a gap
(push it back gently from right to left or left to right end but not to from the top directly)

 
 
Posted by Kat0908 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 285 days ago

This has not been a good day for the 9900!

 
 
Posted by ZMc1834 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Love the photo at the end Kevin, lol, but glad to hear your got it back in and fixed.

 
 
Posted by BerryPotter Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

knowing RIM, they're sure come out with a software update to fix this ;)

 
 
Posted by jlb21 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

LOL. This is priceless. Leave it to our #1 Fanboy to muck this up.

 
 
Posted by Dwain77 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

So where can we get that wallpaper?

 
 
Posted by Irish_711 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Yes, this must be addressed! Especially since he mentioned it to begin with.

 
 
Posted by ffejie Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

He said in another video that the picture is of his wife, Mrs. Crackberry. Not bad.

 
 
Posted by Xader Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

He also said at that time that he had to take it off before he posted any more videos.

Oops! ;)

 
 
Posted by Xader Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Bummer. I hate when cards (be it microSD, SIM, whatever) can't be removed with the battery in.

That was one thing I loved in the 8900. The microSD slot was completely separate from the battery compartment, though still behind the battery door.

 
 
Posted by kygator13 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

the most useful tool that i carry with me daily is a mini swiss army knife, everyone should own one!

 
 
Posted by flip4life4751 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Just cut a little hole into the battery and vola you can put the memory card in and out with the batter in as you please [: Any future problems that may occur because of the battery, not my fault, this is nothing but a suggestion. Good Luck Kevin!! :D

 
 
Posted by pinggwing Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

ilold :) please do an in dept review of the battery life Kevin. Thanks :)

 
 
Posted by adel1986 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Kevin - does the 9900 come with a microSD card? If so what size?

 
 
Posted by timmartin Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

QC and testing guy's need to be sacked. That is completely unforgivable. How could they not see that coming. So no hot swapping storage and below average still camera. What next?

 
 
Posted by ffejie Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Too bad, I really liked this ability on my 9650. I think the Curve didn't have the ability. It's not a huge deal, but when the device takes 8-10 minutes to boot up and become usable (9650 on OS6) then this is a serious time waster.

It seems like shaving a few mm's off of the device really hurt the overall design. Rumor is the AF camera got axed to save some space, and now this design flaw. I would prefer a thicker phone if I could have both of those niceties.

 
 
Posted by tprime Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Funny i was excited when my 9700 sd card was hot swapable without needing to remove the battery until i got my 16gb card. I never remove it. Until i get my new bold that is....

 
 
Posted by s.ben Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

I guess that’s the last time you’ll listen to deRusset.

 
 
Posted by blackberry_135 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

well coming from a curve 9300 were my SD cad was under the battery it's not a huge deal to take out the battery, not that i will be removing my SD card anyways but still good info

 
 
Posted by snowfort Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Kevin.... stupid question..... but.... what do the instructions say about inserting/removing the SD card?

 
 
Posted by f1mx Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

and now this is one of those days when I laugh really hard at work and everyone look weird at me :P

 
 
Posted by Houshinto Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Hahaha. It's only been a day and you've already managed to make a mess of things. I guess that's why Kevin is our #1 blackberry crash test DUMMY.

Bummer that you cannot hot swap the media card. I enjoy that feature almost religiously with my 9630.

 
 
Posted by cBOLTz4 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

that sucks

 
 
Posted by ritzcrakca Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

yeah i noticed with the 9900 that the micro SD card doesn't "spring out" like it did with the 9700. thanks for letting us know !! i'll probably just access memory from the Micro SD via USB cable

 
 
Posted by pre456 Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Kevin! how about the Hard Shell White Case for BOLD 9900! where is that?

 
 
Posted by ciscobear Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

LOLOLOL That's what you get for buying four BB 9900s :P

Well at least this is documented :D

 
 
Posted by liquid_metal Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

(sigh) Hot-swapping should be a requirement for all media card devices, you shouldn't even have to take it out of the case and remove the back, it should be a slot in the side. And another sub-par camera? Still no mobile hotspot? Oh, it's coming in a software update... wasn't that what they said when OS 6 came out too? (sigh)

 
 
Posted by zensen Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

well I'm fine with it being inside the back is a lot safer but removing the battery to get to it, is a problem.

a lot of sighing mate, its okay. its not the end of the world :P

 
 
Posted by liquid_metal Friday, Aug 12, 2011 284 days ago

no, but they really need to catch up

and yeah, it's hard to explain why you need to but several times I've popped a card in or out of my Bold and appreciated that I could do that without having to reset like on my old Curve. It's not like it's an SDRAM card that's a computer's main memory, it's a media card, removable storage...

 
 
Posted by leontam Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Hey Kevin, thanks for telling us. I love your ever enthusiastic voice even when you're under dire circumstances :)

 
 
Posted by Kuttysark Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

2nd time Mrs. Crackberry has been seen!

 
 
Posted by montevale Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

I wonder how many people will find themselves in this predicament.
Hey Rim HR - you should hire Kevin for all of your testing, seriously he will save you from many of the flops and blunders!

 
 
Posted by psiclne Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

You forgot the signature "Kevin Out"

 
 
Posted by frfghtr Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 284 days ago

Don't worry Kevin, you've got 3 spares. Consider it as a justifiable loss or taking one for the team.

 
 
Posted by kickass2k1 Friday, Aug 12, 2011 284 days ago

This is terrible. On my 9630 non camera, when I'm out and about I take pictures with my real camera, then pull the sd card out and put it into my phone so I can upload pics to the web. Now to upload pics once I get the 9930 non camera, I'm going to have to pull the battery and wait for it to boot again? Way to fail blackberry.

 
 
Posted by soundproof8@yahoo.com Friday, Aug 12, 2011 284 days ago

wow.

 
 
Posted by stankis Friday, Aug 12, 2011 284 days ago

Kevin, I love your blog! It‘s an awsome job you are doing here... But how dumb can BB user be, if he tries to take out microSd card if there is no open space to do that?

p.s.

I hope you didn‘t mess up ypu card slot...

 
 
Posted by liquid_metal Friday, Aug 12, 2011 284 days ago

Ow! I just stabbed my finger with the swiss army knife I was using to get the card un-stuck in the display model. Can I get a free 9900 now?

 
 
Posted by overhere Friday, Aug 12, 2011 284 days ago

Doesn't anyone read the documentation that comes with their devices anymore? I've had 5 different RIM products over the years, I know how to use them and the different features that are on them (thanks crackberry) but I still read the documentation. One of the first things you'll read in the little package is to always remove the battery before inserting/removing memory card.

 
 
Posted by Nickerz_BB Friday, Aug 12, 2011 283 days ago

It also says not to text and drive...do you always follow that too?

 
 
Posted by shadysprings Friday, Aug 12, 2011 284 days ago

At least the battery comes out. If you know what I'm saying..... (other phones have non-removable batteries if you can believe that.)

 
 
Posted by BBB78 Friday, Aug 12, 2011 284 days ago

Something had to give with the 9900 being the thinnest bb to date. Thumbs down to the design team for not having the microsd slot accessibla without removing the battery door.

 
 
Posted by Nickerz_BB Friday, Aug 12, 2011 283 days ago

Soooooo...now the 9900 is NOT hotswappable, correct?

 
 
Posted by Falcondude Saturday, Apr 14, 2012 37 days ago

Used a dental pic to dislodge the remaining part of my micro SD disk in the Bold 9930!

Photo available.