8100 trackball and keyboard not working

[sciontc05]

i bought the 8100 as a refurb from att about 2 years ago. refurbs come with a 90 day warranty and about 4 days after my warranty ran out, the phone started having issues. there are not consistent issues, nothing works, but sometimes they react differently.

the trackball navigates on the home screen, but when i click any application, it brings up my contacts list and automatically brings up everything listed under G. if i continue to click it, it repeats "qeqeqeqe....".

occasionally, the back button works, i have even gotten response to some number buttons, but this is very rare. 98% of the time, the keyboard does not respond at all.

i took the phone apart to clean it, but it had no effect.
underneath the small cover on the bottom of the phone, there is a stick on circuit board (i think thats what it is) that is slightly torn. i dont think this has any affect on the problems, because i was experiencing the problems before i ever took the phone apart.

ive gone to the att store to resolve this but they refuse to repair any phones in their store and suggested that i get a new phone since im eligible for an upgrade. i dont want a new phone, i want my BB.
i also prefer not to wipe it as i have a lot of personal data on it. i cant even perform a hard reset anyway since i cant select anything.

any ideas on what is wrong?