Blackberry Curve 8330 locked up

I haven't had any major issues with the phone until yesterday. While set on vibrate, I received a text, then every button stopped working. I tried to reset it by removing the battery and also using alt, control, delete like stated in the manual for the phone. Obviously C A D didn't work but neither did removing the battery. I have removed the battery atleast 15x during the course of the evening. I'm persistent, LOL, really just need to be able to use my phone. Once reinserting the battery, the main screen will come on and the roller ball will scroll over the icons but it will not select an icon. Once the screen goes black nothing will make it come back on. What could be wrong? How can I fix this?

Accepted answers

jimmyjam

Verizon is the original carrier of the phone.... But great news. I did get it fixed. Since I didn't have a warranty on the phone, I had nothing to lose. So I disassembled the phone by the recommendations I found at the Blackberry website forum. A big thank you to Doc who recommended the site. :smileyvery-happy: http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/BlackBerry-Curve-BlackBerry-8300/Curve-8330-keyboard-not-working/td-p/39584 This is the site that I found many suggestions on what could be causing the problem. I completely wiped out my phone, reloaded the programming, still didn't solve the problem. Everything I read kept pointing to the moisture problems the curve 8330 has. Which in turn will cause the copper disks under the membrane to simulate a button hold. This is what I did..... (copied and updated from another user post)

Removed and put the battery back in about 20+ times - no change.

I took the battery out overnight 18 hours or so- no change

Removed the battery then the memory card - no change

I then took out the 5 piece torx driver set and proceeded to dismantle the phone, you will need a #5 and #6 Torx

(There are some videos on youtube to help with the order of operations)

Once disassembled there is a white membrane covering the electronics for the keyboard.

Carefully with rubbing alcohol:

I first took a cuetip and cleaned the whole top of the white membrane (while you are there you might as well). It may or may not help anything.

Then I carefully peeled the white keyboard membrane up (from the bottom) revealing the copper disks (big one on the motherboard for each key and a smaller one attached to the membrane)

My guess is that when these disks make contact (membrane to board) it registers a keystroke.

I did not fully remove the membrane, I just peeled it up to when I could see the trackball disk (top button row).

Using more cuetips carefully cleaned every single copper disk (big and small) I went through about 5 cuetips by the time I was done, they were turning black after a few disks. Be careful not to swipe it all over the white membrane. It has an adhesive that makes it stick back on the board. Two of the discs were pretty funky.

I let the phone air dry for a few minutes and put it back together. FIred it up and it works like new again.

Those two buttons, I guess was simulating a button hold.

Hope this helps some folks as this post did for me after I tried everything else.

All comments

jimmyjam

Last minute thoughts :smileyhappy: , my phone will still receive text, email, and calls.... None of the buttons work to reply or answer. Thank you for any thoughts that might help resolve this for me.

mrsmills0913

Weird, my phone is doing the exact same thing and it just happened last night! I have only had the phone for a few months and have taken really good care of it! I am heading to Verizon store shortly...let you know what they say. Good luck!

gvbdad

jimmyjam wrote:
Last minute thoughts , my phone will still receive text, email, and calls.... None of the buttons work to reply or answer. Thank you for any thoughts that might help resolve this for me.

Do you have the blackberry backed up on desktop manager?

jimmyjam

I do have my BB backed up on my desktop manager, I also uninstalled my game apps, not had any problems after installing them months ago, but just to see if it would help. It didn't. Not even after removing the battery, again. Getting very frustrated. Missed calls and texts are piling up.

jimmyjam

I have taken very great care of mine as well. Bought a Body Glove for it to keep it cosmetically safe as well. Maybe it is just tired of being pampered, LOL. Let me know what you find out about yours please.

gvbdad

Since you have it backed up, try wiping the device... go to options / security options / general settings / menu key / wipe handheld / you can then check 3rd party apps if you want to (I would) / click continue and enter "blackberry " to confirm.

then restore all data to device and see if that helps. I think you may have to reactivate as well (*228 opt 1) and then options / advanced options / host routing table / menu key / register now

mrsmills0913

Wish I had better news for you, but they had to order me a new phone. They didn't give me any details but I assume this isn't the first incident they've had. Lucky for me (I guess) the phone is less than 2 months old so I guess it's still covered under some type of warranty. Not sure how old your phone is, but I would definitely take your phone to your local store and see what they are willing to do for you. Unfortunately, I never backed up this phone to my desktop so I'm not sure if my contacts will be retrievable. Good luck with your phone!

jimmyjam

I bought mine from a reputable dealer off of eBay. NIB 7 months ago. Unfortunately Verizon wouldn't let me carry insurance on my BB since I didn't buy it from them. :smileysad: Not sure what I will do. I backed my BB up but not sure if I can transfer my kids' pictures or even my contact list to a Samsung phone if I can get it wiped out. I am very grateful that you let me know what happened with your phone. Hope your new one doesn't cause any problems for you. :smileyhappy:

jcmiller062300

I'm having the same issue. I really don't want to take apart my phone. Heading to the Verizon store tomorrow, but with the holiday I don' t know what's going to happen. I'm absolutely LOST without my phone. I hope there's something they can do tomorrow.