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My first experience with a RIM product has turned out to be absolutely terrible, and I'm trying to salvage something out of the mess I'm in, so any helpful input is appreciated. If all you have to say is, "you bought it from Craigslist and you deserve it", don't bother replying, because I figured that part out for myself the hard way.
I purchased my 8320 from Craigslist 2 days ago. The phone looked to be in good condition, with box and all. I tested it before I bought it, no problems. I took it home and played with it for an entire day, still no problems, loved it.
The next day, however, I noticed that the cursor would randomly click on whatever icon it happened to be on of its own accord, thus opening the application. At first, these incidents were few and far between, and I thought I was not being sensitive enough to the trackball and was mistakenly clicking myself. By "click", I mean selecting something on the screen (to the same effect as pressing the trackball).
Today, the frequency of this random clicking turned into an all out frenzy. The phone, even when untouched and lying in front of me, will randomly click all by itself several times in a row, extremely fast, opening menus of all sorts and selecting random icons. This will last for 10-20 seconds, before it calms down. Then, it'll start up again. It is worse when I'm actually trying to use the trackball. In its present condition, I cannot use the phone at all.
Following on-line instructions, I cleaned the trackball very gently and carefully using rubbing alcohol and cotton. The trackball stopped clicking all together upon re-assembly for about 2 hours, and then, it started working again mysteriously. The random clicking frenzy got worse.
I called T-Mobile customer support, and they basically told me what I knew I was going to hear: you didn't buy it from us, you're on your own. But the representative was helpful and recommended re-installing the OS, because in her experience, it actually helped 95% of the people who called with this particular issue (I was surprised to hear that this may be a software issue rather than a hardware issue).
I have already ordered a replacement trackball (OEM) to see if that helps.
07-06-08 05:55 PM - Yes, I have pulled the battery multiple times in hopes of resetting the software, and cleaned the trackball and the gold-plated surface inside the phone as well. I actually removed a god amount of dirt from both places.
No, I have not re-installed the OS yet
. I don't really know how to do it (can't access anything on the handset itself because it's going nuts) but I'm hoping that when I get a new trackball, it'll solve these issues. I understand that the clicking mechanism relies on the metal "spoon" contacting the top of the gold-plated square thing on the inside. Maybe there's constant contact between the two because the "spoon" has been bent out of shape?
I really want to love this phone, so I won't give up on it yet. In over 8 years of purchasing off Craigslist and eBay, this is the first problem I have ever encountered with an item I bought off there (from turbochargers to used video games, I've bought it all). I'm hoping it's an easy fix. If not, I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a new one from T-Mobile with warranty and all (like I should've done in the first place for an item like this). $260 down the drain? I hope not...
07-06-08 06:37 PM - I have the exact same problem with my 8310 (except I only paid $190 for it)....did replacing the trackball work, and how easy is that to do?Yes, I have pulled the battery multiple times in hopes of resetting the software, and cleaned the trackball and the gold-plated surface inside the phone as well. I actually removed a god amount of dirt from both places.
No, I have not re-installed the OS yet . I don't really know how to do it (can't access anything on the handset itself because it's going nuts) but I'm hoping that when I get a new trackball, it'll solve these issues. I understand that the clicking mechanism relies on the metal "spoon" contacting the top of the gold-plated square thing on the inside. Maybe there's constant contact between the two because the "spoon" has been bent out of shape?
I really want to love this phone, so I won't give up on it yet. In over 8 years of purchasing off Craigslist and eBay, this is the first problem I have ever encountered with an item I bought off there (from turbochargers to used video games, I've bought it all). I'm hoping it's an easy fix. If not, I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a new one from T-Mobile with warranty and all (like I should've done in the first place for an item like this). $260 down the drain? I hope not...08-14-08 05:53 PM
