Mobile Email Crashing Basic Phone

[mj1968]

I've been using the Mobile Email app on a Pantech Hotshot and have been very pleased until yesterday. In the past I have frequently received notice that an update was available and have tried to download & install it, but the when I click that notice it says that no update is available in the Media Center. So I just ignored it and have continued using the email app for a couple months with no problems.

Yesterday I kept getting a notice that my Microsoft Exchange password had expired and needed to be reset. I checked this on my desktop and found the password to be working fine, so I tried re-entering my existing password in the Mobile Email app and continued to get the error message. I deleted the old Microsoft Exchange account through the Mobile Email app and re-established it (with the original password) and it started working perfectly again. I did nothing to my remaining accounts (Yahoo, Gmail, and one through our local ISP). I thought my problem was solved.

Today, however, when I select either the Mobile email app icon or the onscreen notification of a new email, the phone freezes, shuts off and restarts, offering no way to attempt any fixes or troubleshooting.

I store all of my music and photos on the memory card. Both the phone and the card have lots of memory space remaining (+200MB on phone, +1GB on 2GBcard). I only keep 2 days of messages on my phone, and recently cleared all of the attachments from all email accounts off the phone when I re-established the Exchange account, as described above. My Exchange email is working fine on both my desktop and my (wifi only) iPad.

I have been very pleased with the device and the Mobile Email app & service up until now. Is there a way to fix this problem without uninstalling the app and having to pay for it all over again?

PS: I have cross-posted this in the "Basic Phones" forum, too.