Did a wipe and now have more problems.

**MarkMS** · 04-04-2009, 01:54 PM

I'll try to keep this short. Thanks in advanced for reading.

Bought a Bold back on launch day with AT&T and haven't had problems with it. Yesterday I install App World and a few programs and it's still working great. I decide to uninstall iheartradio and it asks to restart. So instead of just clicking okay, I just finished my sms message and then pulled the battery.

Now the problems begin.

First thing the bold did was turn to the white screen when restarting. Then after 5 minutes of loading, another white screen came up with an "App error and some numbers". I pull the battery again and same thing. So I deicide to wait a minute and then pull the battery. That works and now I'm able to boot back into the OS. I start to get all these "java null lang error etc ..." codes and thought that maybe I made a mistake by pulling the battery when I uninstalled rather than press "Restart now".

No biggie, I keep my address book updated on Mac. So I decided to wipe the Bold and start fresh. Oh God, even more problems.

Once I finish wiping, I immediately go to the setup wizard. I click next and next and then it says to use the menu to press next. I do that and now it freezes for about a minute. After the minute or two, it shows a keyboard with a few keys highlighted to show you what they do.

But the last time I did a wipe, I had a keyboard with letters and numbers. This time, the keyboard has question marks instead of numbers/letters. Just questions marks "?" everywhere. Even the spacebar is a stretched out question mark. I'm guessing this is why it froze for a minute or two. It wasn't able to find the images to load up the picture of they keyboard.

Anyway I press next, wait another minute and it moves on. I finish up the setup and bam some missing icons. I see question marks on icons now. I do another wipe and still same thing. I proceed to do this another two times and still goes to the same thing. As a last attempt I delete some RIM apps like AIM and Facebook since those are not deleted when I try to delete all apps including third party apps.

Now, my Bold is not perfect. I've had a few dropped calls, random restarts, and the trackball doesn't always move to the icons but it's still works great. Anyone know what I can do? Should I reinstall the OS (.167)? It's going to be a pain because I have to install VMware to install Windows XP and I really don't have 3 hours to kill. And I don't want to upgrade the OS, unless it's an official OS from RIM and AT&T.

What about going to an AT&T store and asking for a new Bold? Is that asking too much? IF not, are they going to give me a refurb or a new one?

Sorry for the long post. I'd appreciate any help! Thanks.

**jeffh** · 04-04-2009, 04:55 PM

It sounds like you downloaded an incompatible app and corrupted your OS. Wiping the OS and reloading it is the only way to solve the problem. Hopefully you have a recent backup of your personal data. After the reload, restore your personal data. Then you can reload your 3rd party apps one at a time, after carefully checking that they're compatible with your Bold. If your Bold is more than 30 days old, you won't be able to exchange it for a new one.

**Username00089** · 04-04-2009, 05:07 PM

Jeff's post is right on the money. The OS is now corrupted. So after 30 days, you won't be able to get a NEW phone.

But the phone is under warranty for a year. But I don't think it would cover software problems like the one you're having. You need to restore the OS back. The last official RIM OS for the Bold is .247 if you want to go with that. But if .167 was working fine for you, then just go with that.

**rockinfigs** · 04-04-2009, 05:34 PM

yeah..thats gotta be a bummer..try doing a warranty exchange online..

**MarkMS** · 04-04-2009, 06:06 PM

So let me get this straight. When the OS is corrupt, wiping it will not help? It'll just keeping running the corrupt OS until I reinstall through the Desktop Manager? I thought wiping erases the data and reinstalls the OS.

Also, let us say an app could have corrupted the OS. Doesn't BB App World check the software to make sure it's compatible with your device first?

Anyway, I tried to see if I could do an OTA firmware upgrade and all AT&T does is check for upgrades. Won't let me install .167 again. Guess I have to wait until they put out new firmware. Now I have a long night ahead of me. I need to install Windows, BB software, then the Bold upgrade.

Thank you all.

**Username00089** · 04-04-2009, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by MarkMS

So let me get this straight. When the OS is corrupt, wiping it will not help? It'll just keeping running the corrupt OS until I reinstall through the Desktop Manager? I thought wiping erases the data and reinstalls the OS.

When you wipe that phone all it does is wipe the data you've stored in the phone. The only possible way to re-install the OS is through desktop manager and a PC.

**jeffh** · 04-04-2009, 06:18 PM

There are two kinds of wipes. What forever29 is referring to is a security wipe. It removes your personal data and doesn't touch the OS. What you need to do is wipe the OS from the device. That leaves a blank, inoperative phone. Then you can reinstall your OS and restore your personal data from your backup.

I don't think App World checks for compatibility. I read in another thread that it's up to the developer to state what devices and OS's are compatible.

**MarkMS** · 04-05-2009, 03:16 PM

Thought I'd give you an update on the Bold. I sat down and installed Windows and then the Bold OS. Started out with the official .167 from AT&T and it still did the same with the icons. So I went to the BlackBerry website and found that Zain Jordan (Middle East) had the .247 OS. So I downloaded that and loaded it. Wow, finally the Bold isn't having any problems. But I still wanted to stay on .167 just because a lot of people are talking about shorter battery life and some 3G drops.

I load .167 again hoping it would override everything and it's still doing it with the missing icons. I finally decide to go to the AppLoader and tell it to load "Help". It loaded it and voila it's working! The icons are back and the setup has the keyboard with the keys and not questions marks.

**wezra** · 04-05-2009, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by MarkMS

Thought I'd give you an update on the Bold. I sat down and installed Windows and then the Bold OS. Started out with the official .167 from AT&T and it still did the same with the icons. So I went to the BlackBerry website and found that Zain Jordan (Middle East) had the .247 OS. So I downloaded that and loaded it. Wow, finally the Bold isn't having any problems. But I still wanted to stay on .167 just because a lot of people are talking about shorter battery life and some 3G drops.

I load .167 again hoping it would override everything and it's still doing it with the missing icons. I finally decide to go to the AppLoader and tell it to load "Help". It loaded it and voila it's working! The icons are back and the setup has the keyboard with the keys and not questions marks.

Mark... it sounds like you are going about this from the wrong angle. First of all, you need to do a complete wipe using a program like JL_Cmder. (You can search for it here on the site.. ). This program completely wipes your Bold clean of the OS and everything else on it. That gives you a fresh start when you upload a new OS or go back to an older version. Find the article by "Crucial_Xtreme" on how to wipe with JL_Cmder. It is the best article out there and I used it to learn how to do wipes when I was upgrading my OS. Be sure to follow the instructions exactly as laid out in the article. Once you get it... it is easy to use and works great.

Secondly, I would by-pass using the Desktop Manager to load your new OS or back down to .167 on our Bold. Go directly to "C:\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\ResearchInMotion\Appl oader" and use the App Loader to load your OS when you get to that point in the process.

Thirdly... dont forget to go into "Add/Delete Programs" in Windows and delete you current Blackberry OS prior to installing your new OS on your PC. If you don't remove your current OS, you will most likely end up reinstalling it in stead of installing your new OS. In other words, download the OS you are wanting to use.. then delete the current OS that is installed on your PC.. then install the new OS on your PC.

But again... find "Crucial_Xtreme's" article on wiping with JL_Cmdr and you should be good to go....

**jeffh** · 04-05-2009, 07:29 PM

One word of caution, if you're following the advice above. It is not necessary to delete the older OS. The App Loader will always load the newest one it finds. If you do delete the previous OS, be sure you have the exe available on your PC before you delete the OS. The carriers typically don't have older versions of OS's available for download. If you install a new one, and it doesn't work, and you've deleted your old one, and don't have the exe to reinstall from, you're in big trouble.

**MarkMS** · 04-05-2009, 11:43 PM

Thank you again for the additional information JeffH and wezra. I'm sorry for all the questions! This should be my last set of questions for a while.

Even though I went by this the long way, is it still an okay method? Meaning, did I still accomplish what I needed? Went from .167>upgraded to .247>then downgraded to .167. Icons where missing until I added the Help menu from AppLoader.

**jammal** · 04-06-2009, 12:03 AM

Originally Posted by JeffH

It sounds like you downloaded an incompatible app and corrupted your OS. Wiping the OS and reloading it is the only way to solve the problem. Hopefully you have a recent backup of your personal data. After the reload, restore your personal data. Then you can reload your 3rd party apps one at a time, after carefully checking that they're compatible with your Bold. If your Bold is more than 30 days old, you won't be able to exchange it for a new one.

the problem may be with the corrupted OS, but the cause was pulling the battery instead of turning off the phone. When there is any major, important system in progress, such as downloading or deleting an app (such as when the app will be deleted when the phone is restarted), the phone bricks. I don't know how to fix it though, so you should probably listen to everything else forever29 and JeffH have.

**tag824** · 04-06-2009, 12:09 AM

MarkMS, you might have resolved your issue but God knows if there is anything else corrupt or missing after all the corruption and then back and forth upgrading and downgrading. I would recommend a clean install by wiping the device as wezra pointed out. It's the only way to guarantee you wont run into issues down the road. Also I would go with .247 as it's much better than .167, but that's my personal preference.