General Device FAQ's
The 1st Step is to pull the battery out of the device and leave it out for about 30 seconds. This will clear the internal memory and will solve many issues.
- Pull the battery
- Leave it out for 30 seconds
- Place the battery back and let the device boot
- See if the problem has been resolved
87xx series, 81xx series, and 88xx series:
- Go to Options
- Select Security Options
- Select General Settings
- Hit menu key and select Wipe Handheld
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- On your BlackBerry, go to the Address Book.
- Open it and click (or press Menu on 8100, 8800, 8300) to see SIM Phone Book.
- Click SIM Phone Book. The list of your SIM contacts will appear.
From here you have 2 options:
- You may choose to highlight one contact and click to ADD TO ADDRESS BOOK OR
- You can COPY ALL TO ADDRESS BOOK. If you have a great number of contacts, this may take a while, please be patient.
Please note that SIM contacts will ONLY contain one phone number per contact entry. Your BB Address Book will have a different arrangement with one Contact Name and several fields of information (Cell phone, Work Phone, Home Phone, email address, etc.) All you SIM contacts will copy to the BB Address Book as separate contacts. You will need to edit each, copy and paste phone numbers from one entry to a main entry. This is best done by syncing your BB back to a program such as MS Outlook where you can use a PC to more easily edit the address book, then sync back to your BlackBerry to update it.
It is by default that ALL contacts from your SIM card will copy to your BB Address Book as "Work Phone". This cannot be changed; you will need to edit the information to arrange it correctly.
User Manuals & Getting Started Guides:
BlackBerry 8100 Manuals
- Getting Started Guide.
- User Manual.
BlackBerry 8700 Manuals
- Getting Started Guide.
- User Manual.
BlackBerry 8800 Manuals
- Getting Started Guide.
- User Manual.
You can also click the link below to access other information that pertains to your device:
BlackBerry Model Information.
Delete unused Languages
- Go to Options >> Advanced Options >> Applications
- Scroll to and highlight the unused languages
- Press the menu key and select Delete
Note: When prompted to restart select No until all of the unused languages are deleted.
- Once all languages are deleted, remove battery for 30 seconds and re-boot the device
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Remove call logs
- Go into the Messages application and press the menu key
- Select View Folder, then select Phone Call Logs
- Scroll to the top date and highlight it
- Press the menu key and select Delete Prior
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Delete sample video
- Go to Options >> Advanced Options >> Applications
- Highlight Blackberry Sample Video
- Press the menu key and select Delete
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What is 'data connection refused'?'
- If you do not have a BlackBerry Data Plan then you will see this message on the main screen!
- If you have a data plan and are seeing this message then you will need to call your service provider and have them check the provisioning on the account.
- If you do not have a data plan and want to hide this message from showing up then go to:
Options >> Mobile Network and turn Data Services to OFF.
- Go to Options
- Select Status
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Internet and Email FAQ's (BIS/BES)
Follow these steps to resend the service books to the device:
Step one:
- Remove battery from the device
- Leave the battery out for at least 30 seconds
- Replace battery and let the device reboot
Step two: (if step one did not solve issue)
- From the device go to Options
- Select Advanced Options
- Select Host Routing Table
- Select menu, then 'Register Now'
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Under BlackBerryOS4, the improved HTML web browsing can be extremely slow. There are several ways to speed up the web browsing experience. Try the following:
- Turn off images by going to:
Internet Browser -> Options -> Browser Configuration -> Show Images -> "On WML Pages Only"
- You can selectively download images on demand, anyway If that does not speed things up enough, turn off unnecessary options that you may not need:
- Internet Browser -> Options -> Browser Configuration
- Turn off "Use HTML Tables"
- Turn off "Use Background Images"
- Turn off "Support JavaScript"
- Turn off "Support Style Sheets"
General BIS FAQ
BIS stands for Blackberry Internet Service. Basically, this is a service from your provider that lets you receive email and access the internet on personal Blackberries.
If you are not working for a company that has their own BES server, then you will most likely need to use BIS to access your email and the internet.
When you sign up for a personal Blackberry data plan from your service provider, you are signing up for BIS. It is usually called the Blackberry Internet Service Plan. Ask your provider's local salesperson for BIS and they should point you in the right direction.
If you want to set the default email address on your device follow these directions. Once done this will become the default email when composing new:
- Go to Options
- Select Advanced Options
- Select Message Service
- Under CMIME select the email and a box will drop down listing all your email addresses
- Select the email address you want to become default
- Save and exit
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How do I add an email address?
From the device:
- Click on the E-mail Setting Icon
- Click on E-mail Accounts link
- Click on the Add e-mail account link
you can also select Create a Blackberry e-mail address from this area
- Follow the directions by entering the email address and password
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- Log into your carriers BIS area
- Click the Setup Account link
you can also select Create Address from this area to make a @ yourcarrier.blackberry.com address
- Follow the directions by entering the email address and password
How do I delete an email address?
From the device:
- Click on the E-mail Setting Icon
- Click on E-mail Accounts link
- Click on the email address you want to delete user@domain.com link
- Select the Delete link
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- Log into your carriers BIS area
- Click the Setup Account link
you can also select Create Address from this area to make a @ yourcarrier.blackberry.com address
- Follow the directions by entering the email address and password
Has your email stopped arriving to the device? Follow these steps to restore the service books to the device:
Step One - Hard Reboot:
- Remove battery from the device
- Leave the battery out for at least 30 seconds
- Replace battery and let the device reboot
Step Two - Register on Network: (if step one did not solve issue)
- From the device go to Options
- Select Advanced Options
- Select Host Routing Table
- Select menu, then 'Register Now'
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Step three - Send Service Books: (if step two did not solve issue)
- Log into your providers BIS site
- Click the link to resend the service books.
Step Four - Call Service Provider: (if all of the above fail)
- Call your provider and have them check the provisioning of your account.
Need to log into your BIS site to add, change, or remove an email address? Need to resend the service books?
Etisalat : http://etisalat.blackberry.com
Mobily : http://mobily.blackberry.com
Fastlink : http://fastlink.blackberry.com
MTC Kuwait : http://mtc.kw.blackberry.com
BES Implementation FAQ
- Blackberry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange
- Blackberry Enterprise Server for Lotus/IBM Notes
- Blackberry Enterprise Server for Novell Groupwise
Additional BlackBerry FAQ's
BlackBerry Tips, Tricks, and Keypress Shortcuts
Credits
Gerald W. Gaston updated his list for the 7230 and also for the 7730. Here is his post with the updated information (and a few additions I added at the end). This list was combined with some from PDA Prophet, others from the BBUsers egroup mail list, and a few by forum member 'qubit', 'kirson' and 'Mark Rejhon'. This list was edited by Mark Rejhon to add formatting, graphics icons, and corrections.
ALT key = :alt: has half moon on top of it. left side of keyboard below the A.
CAP key = :cap: bottom right key (AKA SHIFT key)
In General
Hold the :alt: key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll horizontally in any field where you can enter or view text.
Hold the :alt: key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll through a field to view options.
Hold the :cap: key while you roll the thumb-wheel to select multiple items in a list.
alt:+Escape - Allows multitasking, brings up Taskbar on any screen. Similiar to Windows ALT+TAB
alt:+:cap: - Turns on CAPS lock. Hold :alt: first then press :cap: . An oval with an up arrow shows up in the upper right corner of the screen.
cap:+:alt: - Turns on NUM lock. Hold :cap: first then press :alt: . A # sign shows up in the oval in the upper right corner of the screen)
Type the first letter of an item in an options list or menu to jump directly to that item.
Type the first letters of a name or the initials separated by a :space: to find a contact in the Address Book screen.
Press C to compose a new message from the home screen or within Messages. (If this does not work, make sure Phone->Options->"Dial From Home Screen" is turned off. This re-enables keypress shortcuts for icons from the home screen.)
Press :alt:+:enter: to keylock your BlackBerry quickly from the home screen. (Alternate keypress is just press K, but this only works if "Dial From Home Screen" is disabled)
Rearrange the ribbon: In the Home screen (ribbon), hold the :alt: key and click the thumb-wheel to bring up a menu. You can then select Move Icon, Hide Icon, or Show All. If you hide an icon, to show it again click Show all and it will appear with an X over it, bring up the menu on it and uncheck hide icon.
The Blackberry display can be backlit to allow reading messages in the dark. To get the light to come on, hit the backlight button usually in the lower right of the keyboard. Hopefully you have a backlit keyboard as well so you can type in the dark.
Turning the radio off and back on when coverage is spotty and you've lost signal seems to help. Also going into network and selecting register now will help. And if you have a phone/combo BB then on some you can go into network and select Scan for networks. then select the network you are on, for example T-mobile, then save. After doing this the radio will reset and you may receive a register message and a new service book, which you can accept from the service book menu in options.
Password protect your BB. To set a password, go to the Options menu to the Security item. Set the desired timeout (I use 15 minutes) and enable/set a password. In conjunction with this, you should also go to the Options menu to the Owner item, and enter your name, phone number, etc. When the password protection kicks in, this is what is displayed on the screen.
After five incorrect attempts at typing in your password, the password starts echoing (figuring you really need all the help you can get). After ten attempts, it performs a lobotomy on itself and almost all data is cleared. The Memo database, however, is retained and visible.
To support more than one signature. Wipe out your auto-signature in the Redirector of the Desktop Software and just use 'AutoText' to configure alternate sigs.
alt:+I - show only incoming mail
alt:+O - show only outgoing mail (messages you have sent - i.e. checkmark icon)
alt:+P - show phone log messages
alt:+S - show SMS messages
alt:+V - show VoiceMail messages
Navigating: T - go to top of message listing
B - go to end/bottom of message listing
del: - close message listing and return to home screen (ribbon)
space: - pagedown
cap:+:space: - pageup
Highlight a date (i.e. Fri, Oct 05,2001) in the message list, hit the thumb-wheel and select delete prior. All messages prior to that date will be deleted.
Hold down the :cap: key and use the thumb-wheel to scroll up or down to select messages. Click the thumb-wheel and select 'Delete Messages'. Combine this with a sorting tip to make it even more useful (i.e. To delete the last 5 messages that you have sent (checkmarks), press :alt: then the letter 'O' (for outgoing) this will show all of your sent messages, then per this tip scroll down and select the last five
Enter: or :space: - scroll down a page/screen at a time
alt:+:enter: or :alt:+:space: - scroll back a page/screen at a time
B - scroll to end of page
T - scroll to top of page
U - jump to closest unread message
N - jump to next message
P - jump to previous message
del: - close message and return to message listing
Reply-to/Forward: R - reply to or answer this message
F - forward this message Select Text (OS v2.1+): Press the :cap: key and then scroll the thumb-wheel to select. If you release the :cap: key and scroll the thumb-wheel you will select entire lines. Press the :cap: key again at any time to start selecting by character again.
Hold down :alt: key + CLICK the thumb-wheel (click it don't hold it down), release the thumb-wheel and then use it to scroll whole lines. You can press and hold the :alt: key at anytime to start selecting by character again.
Click scroll wheel and select SELECT from the menu. scroll wheel to select entire line. click scroll wheel again and select copy. With either method, click the thumb-wheel and select 'Cut Selection' or 'Copy Selection'... to paste, open a new message or whatever, click the thumb-wheel, and then select 'Paste Selection'.
Press and hold a letter to capitalize it (with Key Rate enabled).
Press the :space: key twice to insert a period and capitalize the next letter.
Press the :space: key to insert the "@" and "." characters in an Email field. Backspace and type again to over-ride this like you would with AutoText.
Press and hold a letter key and roll the thumb-wheel to scroll through international/accent characters, equation symbols and other marks.
Press T to go to "Today" in the Calendar screen.
Press G to go to a specific date in the Calendar screen.
The default date range for Calendar synchronization in Desktop Manager may not suit most people. While configuring the Calendar synchronization, click the Advanced button and specify the desired range.
The largest draw on battery life is the transmitter, so if you are transmitting a lot, you can expect reduced battery life. And the backlight. Being in fringe or no coverage areas will eat up your battery as it attempts to transmit. If you're in an area that is out of range, turn your BB's radio off manually or use Options / Auto On Off to conserve battery life.
Rather than looking at the bars, you can change the display of the 'signal strength' to read in real numbers. While at the home screen (ribbon), hold down the half moon :alt: key while you type NMLL. The bars should change to read numbers. For the 'signal strength', if you are in the 100 area (that means -100 dBm), you will be transmitting at maximum power (2 Watts), and since coverage is hit and miss at this weak a signal, you may end up transmitting many times before the packets make it through. This might help explain any poorer than normal battery life. I consider anything at -90 to -50 excellent.
To get the bars back: While at the home screen (ribbon), hold down the half moon :alt: key while you type NMLL again.
Hold down the half moon :alt: key -AND- the :cap: key at the same time, then the letter 'H'. This brings up the "Help Me!" screen that lists version, app version, pin, imei, uptime, signal strength, batterylevel, file free, and file total.
Hold down the half moon :alt: while you type LGLG. This brings up the event log where you can clear events (frees some memory) or view them or copy the contents to mail to someone.
alt:+:cap:+:del: will reboot your BB.
If you get an error "Unable to write or update application data" when syncing your BB with Desktop Manager, the culprit is usually one of two main problems:
In Address book:
The error may refer to a specific record that would not sync, or is causing the problem. If you don't know which record, look the log of the Desktop Manager sync to find it.
A contact in Outlook, ACT!, Lotus Notes, or Lotus Organizer does not contain information in any of the following fields:
First Name, Last Name, OR Company Name
Resolution 1
Populate one or more of the above fields in the contact entry or delete the blank entry in the PIM application on the computer.
Resolution 2
Upgrade to BlackBerry Desktop Software 4.2 Service Pack 1 or later. BlackBerry Desktop Software 4.2 Service Pack 2 or later will skip the affected contact records, but only if the contact does not have an email address. If the contact contains an email address, it will be successfully synchronized even if the First Name, Last Name, and Company fields are blank.
A calendar entry could be the fault:
Calendar entries with attachments can't sync. Change your view in calendar to only show entries with attachments and delete the attachment.
Open calendar in outlook - choose view, arrange by and current view then customize current view. Choose Filters, then the tab for more options and choose "only items with" and choose attachments.