Pearl - Memory, Trackball and Bluetooth Issues

[davnel78]

Steve (or anyone else who can answer this),

Could all this that you are talking about cause the phone to just randomly delete call logs and SMS/MMS messages? (I'm using the BB Pearl). I just did the reset that you described, and I went from roughly 1,000,000 bytes to a bit over 4,000,000.

Tonight is the second time in a week that it has just deleted everything. The first time I thought that maybe I hit a key or something, but this time tonight, I had the phone in my pocket, and the keypad was locked?!

What gives.

I do get a lot of SMS messages daily because of certain things I am signed up for. I also recently downloaded a bunch of games, but i need to delete them.

How can I stop it from deleting these things? It's deleting my call logs, and my sms/mms messages (except for ones that I saved), and the last time it deleted my calendar entries too! (thankfully I had those backed up into MS outlook).

I'm getting a little irritated (sorry), but this is bizzare!


I did recently update the software on the phone to v4.3.0.97 (which I got from Verizon's website) because i wasn't able to load applications for some reason onto the phone (it wasn't recognizing the files).. could that be it?

Originally Posted by stevetaz

How about sharing some tricks you have learned? I will post a bunch I have found, but I will do it in several posts so I don't overwhelm you all and overload one post.

Here goes...
There can be memory issues (8830 - also may apply to the BB Pearl and Curve):
It appears there are memory leaks and your device may begin to act “funky” or slow, unresponsive, etc. You should keep an eye on the free memory available:
Options > Status > Look for File Free, stated in Bytes. As an example, 16,000,000=appx 16mb.
If the device gets down to below 8-10mb of free memory you may begin to have issues.

First, make sure you are properly CLOSING applications (which uses free memory), NOT just leaving them by pressing the ESC/Back key (right of the TrackBall) or the RED Phone key. To see programs currently running:
Hold down the "ALT" key, press the Back button (right of the trackball), use the trackball to scroll to the application that you want and let go of the "ALT" key. This opens that program and then press the MENU key (left of the trackball), scroll down to CLOSE and select.
NOTE: You cannot close the five main operating programs: Browser, Call Log, Home Screen, Messages and Blackberry Messenger.

Next, note the free memory available and perform a “battery pull” (equivalent of a hard reset):
-With the device ON, open the battery compartment and remove the battery
-Count to 30 and replace the battery
-The device will go through a reset cycle. No data will be lost.
-The reset may take up to 3 or 4 minutes. The screen will be black for some time and when restarting an hourglass will appear until the desktop returns. This is normal.
-Recheck the free memory available and it should be back to 16-18mb or more
-Note that battery pulls are recommended by RIM to resolve a great many issues
-You may want to perform this weekly to eliminate problems before they appear at an inopportune time
-RIM is expected to resolve the memory leak issue with the release of OS version 4.5, but no firm release date has been announced and beta testing continues.

SteveTaz

[stevetaz]

Hi davnel:

There is no doubt you are having severe memory issues. You indicated you have added some games and that could certainly be a part of the problem. How many games and do you know how big each application is? The fact that after a battery pull you only have 4MB free is a BIG problem.

Take a look at this thread that also deals with another user having memory issues and try to evaluate the questions I asked in there and if they can help you.

Are you using a microSD card to store pictures, videos and ringtones? If not you should. They can quickly eat up memory.

I also edited the #1 link in this thread and added methods to free up memory.

Let us know what happens....

SteveTaz

EDIT: Also be sure you are closing programs, not leaving them running in the background. See post #2, above.

[davnel78]

Steve -

Thank you so much for all your help!! I don't know if you would believe what happend if I even tell you (but here goes anyways). I did several of the things suggested in the first few posts on this thread. Anytime I did anything major, I did a battery pull and reset the phone. At the time that I read your reply initially, I think i was down to about 4MB left on my BB . Although I did have most of my picutres and all my ringtones and video on my card, I did still have a bunch still on my device. Once I moved those over as well, I noticed a drastic increase in memory. Here's where the fun begins though. After doing the final battery pull, I restarted my Pearl, and got a very strange message on the screen, asking me to punch in "s t a r t" on the phone. Needless to say, once I did this, the phone started working fine, but......*drumroll* I had no internet access, was not able to access BB Messanger, or check my email or surf the net. After going into my options screen, I discovered that my BB pin number was replaced with "FFFFFFFF" <-- in place of my pin # . Mind you this was on my way up to Connecticut for the holiday weekend.

Call #1 to VZW tech support (on the 4th, cause I'm going a bit crazy by this point) - they have me send packet requests to the server, restart the phone. Nothing. Advise me that I have to do a "wipe reset" (basically restore my phone to original factory settings). Fast foward two days till I'm back on the Island, call #2 to VZW, do the rest, still nothing. Three days later, I have VZW sending me a replacement phone. Thank god that I back up everything to my computer.

So lets hope the same thing doesn't happen to this phone! It was amusing to have the tech support guy tell me "I don't know, in 4 years, I have never seen this happen before to a blackberry!"

Did I mention that Murphy's Law follows me like a cloud over my head?

A few days later (and no third-party applications installed, except for google maps), and so far so good (I think I'm at about 10MB of free space right now). Of course, because I wasn't synching my phone to my laptop as much as I should, I did loose a bit of info, but thankfully not everything!

So, point being, it did help... will definitely keep in mind if the same issues arise with this one (as I wait patiently for the new OS to come out, and perhaps not worry so much about these darn memory issues, LOL!)

As for the crash.... beats the heck out of me *hums twilight zone theme music*

Originally Posted by stevetaz

Hi davnel:

There is no doubt you are having severe memory issues. You indicated you have added some games and that could certainly be a part of the problem. How many games and do you know how big each application is? The fact that after a battery pull you only have 4MB free is a BIG problem.

Take a look at this thread that also deals with another user having memory issues and try to evaluate the questions I asked in there and if they can help you.

Are you using a microSD card to store pictures, videos and ringtones? If not you should. They can quickly eat up memory.

I also edited the #1 link in this thread and added methods to free up memory.

Let us know what happens....

SteveTaz

EDIT: Also be sure you are closing programs, not leaving them running in the background. See post #2, above.

[stevetaz]

Hi davnel:

All I can say is YIKES!!!!

The PIN becoming "FFFFFFFFFF" appears to be a code indicating a failure (fried) of the processor. There is nothing that can be done except replace the device and at least VZW did that.

You are certainly gaining valuable experience and you also seem to be maintaining something of a good humor about it. That may be because this is after you have had time to calm down, but you do seem to be pretty stoic about it and I am glad to see that.

I am still a bit befuddled as to why you only have 10mb on a basically stripped phone. Have you removed the BB video and extra languages? Do make sure you are closing programs instead of leaving them running in the background to maximize your available memory. Have you taken a look at your applications list to see if there are any you don't need and can remove?

Please keep visiting and post your experiences as you get used to the new Pearl with a keen eye toward keeping the memory clean.

Much luck and success,
SteveTaz

[davnel78]

Steve -

Yikes indeed! That's what I'm figuring, that the device just got fried somehow. Agreed, at least VZW was great enough to replace the device once we ran out of options. The only thing that I can think of is when I went and erased the event log, that maybe something in there messed things up? Regardless, when I did a factory reset, it should have replaced anything.

Ah well, upwards and onwards. The only problem I seem to have with the new phone is that the trackball is giving me some issues when I go to select an option. I don't think its something in the sensitivity options, cause rolling seems to be no problem, its actually pushing the trackball in that gives me an issue. I know that sometimes the BB picks up on how you handle it, so I'm wondering if that might be it?

I haven't deleted anything such as the video and languages.. I have to be honest, i'm a little skeptical on adding and/or deleting anything yet, as I guess i'm still afraid that the phone is going to get fried again!!

Actually Steve, perhaps you can help with one issue that I am having. For some odd reason, I cannot get my bluetooth headset to pair up with the pearl. I've tried both methods of searching for devices, and they won't pick each other up. I can't seem to find the manual for my headset (it's the jabra headset that VZW sells).

I will definitely keep abreast of everything, and check back here. This has definitely been a learning experience for sure!

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by stevetaz

Hi davnel:

All I can say is YIKES!!!!

The PIN becoming "FFFFFFFFFF" appears to be a code indicating a failure (fried) of the processor. There is nothing that can be done except replace the device and at least VZW did that.

You are certainly gaining valuable experience and you also seem to be maintaining something of a good humor about it. That may be because this is after you have had time to calm down, but you do seem to be pretty stoic about it and I am glad to see that.

I am still a bit befuddled as to why you only have 10mb on a basically stripped phone. Have you removed the BB video and extra languages? Do make sure you are closing programs instead of leaving them running in the background to maximize your available memory. Have you taken a look at your applications list to see if there are any you don't need and can remove?

Please keep visiting and post your experiences as you get used to the new Pearl with a keen eye toward keeping the memory clean.

Much luck and success,
SteveTaz

[stevetaz]

Hi davnel:

I am glad you are back up and running, but not without a few bumps in the road, eh?

Originally Posted by davnel78

The only thing that I can think of is when I went and erased the event log, that maybe something in there messed things up? Regardless, when I did a factory reset, it should have replaced anything.

Erasing the event log should not fry the processor. There is thought that getting too many error messages in a short time could have something to do with it, but there is no hard evidence. It was probably more like a weak processor or a manufacturing defect. You just don't hear about it very much at all so I would view it as an anomoly. Thousands of people delete their event logs, languages, demo movie, etc daily and there aren't very many failures at all. Please don't be afraid of deleting things.

Originally Posted by davnel78

The only problem I seem to have with the new phone is that the trackball is giving me some issues when I go to select an option. I don't think its something in the sensitivity options, cause rolling seems to be no problem, its actually pushing the trackball in that gives me an issue. I know that sometimes the BB picks up on how you handle it, so I'm wondering if that might be it?

What kind of issues are you having? Did they replace the device with a sealed box or a refurbed unit? I would suspect a refurb, so it is possible the refurb wasn't complete or proper. Trackballs do wear out so if it it giving you trouble you might want to request another replacement before you get too attached. I also understand that replacing the trackball is pretty easy. So what are the issues?

Originally Posted by davnel78

I haven't deleted anything such as the video and languages.. I have to be honest, i'm a little skeptical on adding and/or deleting anything yet, as I guess i'm still afraid that the phone is going to get fried again!!

As above, I don't think this should be a concern, but I understand you might be hesitant.

Originally Posted by davnel78

For some odd reason, I cannot get my bluetooth headset to pair up with the pearl. I've tried both methods of searching for devices, and they won't pick each other up. I can't seem to find the manual for my headset (it's the jabra headset that VZW sells).

Not sure what the problem is, but the basics are
1) Make sure the headset is fully charged and that the BB Bluetooth is ON in your Manage Connections.
2) You have to turn on the pairing mode on the headset.
3) You should see a Set Up Bluetooth icon on your BB. Select it and follow the prompts.
4) The default code for most BT devices is 0000.
5) For Jabra Headsets help, call (800) 327-2230 if you can't get it working.

You could also take a peek here at Jabra Support and see if you find your headset.

Originally Posted by davnel78

I will definitely keep abreast of everything, and check back here. This has definitely been a learning experience for sure!
Thanks again!

Please do keep us posted because if you had the question someone else probably does too....I would love to see you post every now and then to let us know how the experience is going if you can.

And you are very welcome!!!

SteveTaz

[davnel78]

Originally Posted by stevetaz

Not sure what the problem is, but the basics are
1) Make sure the headset is fully charged and that the BB Bluetooth is ON in your Manage Connections.
2) You have to turn on the pairing mode on the headset.
3) You should see a Set Up Bluetooth icon on your BB. Select it and follow the prompts.
4) The default code for most BT devices is 0000.
5) For Jabra Headsets help, call (800) 327-2230 if you can't get it working.

You could also take a peek here at Jabra Support and see if you find your headset.

Hello, Hello again.

I have figured out what the problem was. Bascially I had to put the headset back into pairing mode. However, easier said than done, since my headset was given to me by VZW when I bought the device, so who has any idea where the manual is.. After snooping around online, I was able to find some information though...

**for anyone who has the Jabra vbt185z (the Verizon giveaway). This manual here:http://www.jabra.com/sites/Jabra/GNI...anual_1876.pdf is similar to that headset, and gives instructions for resetting the headset to pair it to a new phone.

Now I'm happy again. For now at least.

[stevetaz]

Hi davnel:

Glad you worked it out and I thank you for posting the resolution since you just know others will have the question too. The link was also a nice touch.

Please do try to come by more often...

SteveTaz