My blackberry pearl won't charge! HELP!

[wmmechanic4life]

When I plug in my charger the charge light will come on for a few seconds then it will go off... If I keep playing with it I can finally get it to charge like it is supposed to. But I know that that is not a normal behavior for a phone and it is really bothering me to figure out what is wrong with it before something else goes wrong with it because I have only had the phone for a short time. When I look at the charger port on the phone once I took it apart, it does not look like the ports are loose. When I look into the port from the side I am only seeing 4 prongs there, there is a groove in the middle but I don't see a prong inside of that groove... HELP?!

[suprsonic]

You should contact your provider to see what options they have for you. (insurance, manufacture repair).

Otherwise you can probably contact RIM directly.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[wxboss]

It could be that there is an internal problem with your charging port which may not be visible - I think this may be the case as you are able to get it to charge after 'playing with it'.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried a different USB cable?

[jconley1103]

Look at the USB port. You should see five(5) shiny gold points. If you don't, contact your provider for a replacement. Those gold contacts will sometimes snag and pop out of the USB track. If you are missing one, you will not charge or be able to access the phone thru DM (unless you use Blurtooth).

[jcj1]

is a usb port problem, call provider to replace

[wmmechanic4life]

See the phone is a T-Mobile phone that I had gotten from an old buddy of mine that he only had for about 6 months. I had gotten the phone unlocked so I could use it with my AT&T service. Is there anyway that I could possibly fix the phone myself? I mean I know quite a bit of stuff when it comes to electronics

[borkesus]

my phone just did the same thing. it was a tmobile phone. i had insurance so fortunately i got it replaced. it was the port, not the battery. they told me that there wasnt a way to fix it other than replacing the phone.

[vel4769]

I had the same problem. You basically got two options. One you can replace the usb port yourself by buying the part online(google for usb port part). The only problem is soldering the usb port is a bit difficult. You got to know what your doing. If not you can mess it up. Taking it apart is fairly easy. Soldering it is a bit more challenging. The second thing to do is buy a stand up charger (Cradle Charger)which will charge the phone and just use the usb to update phone or communicate with it. You can always connect via a computer using the bluetooth.

[geoggdawg]

Apparently this is a common problem with this piece of junk. I haven't been able to charge mine and I read your blog and then looked into the charge port and see that only 4 of the 5 prongs are there as well. I can see that the 5th somehow got pushed way down in and probably isn't making contact. This is my second blackberry pearl and they are absolute junk. The first one was faulty for different reasons. I have never had so many problems with a phone in my life. Unless it can be fixed I will probably take it back and get a 3rd one unless I can get out of my ridiculous 2-year contract because of terrible customer service and garbage phones they keep producing.

Originally Posted by wmmechanic4life

When I plug in my charger the charge light will come on for a few seconds then it will go off... If I keep playing with it I can finally get it to charge like it is supposed to. But I know that that is not a normal behavior for a phone and it is really bothering me to figure out what is wrong with it before something else goes wrong with it because I have only had the phone for a short time. When I look at the charger port on the phone once I took it apart, it does not look like the ports are loose. When I look into the port from the side I am only seeing 4 prongs there, there is a groove in the middle but I don't see a prong inside of that groove... HELP?!

[zootzoot]

Hi
Is it possible to update the os over bluetooth...

thanks

[cbuser001]

I had the same issue:

The blackberry charge icon (outlet or plugin icon) would display or come on for a few seconds 1 or 2 seconds and then it would go off, and I was not able to charge my blackberry.

After reading through this posting I looked closer at my usb port (I had already tried multiple chargers and rebooted the device) and noticed that all of the pins were there, so that wasn't the problem. However, when I inserted the charger slowly I noticed the charge would begin prior to completely inserting the charger. Inserting the charger to approximately 25%-75% depth (instead of plugging in the charger fully) I was able to continue a charge.

At least I was able to get a charge this way...if this fails in the future I will replace the device.

[Pete6]

Not all USB chargers will charge BBs. I have about 10 USB chargers lying around the place and only a few of them will charge the BB. The symptoms are exactly as you said. The charge icon lights up for a few seconds and then goes out.

Try a different USB charger or try plugging the phone into a USB port on your PC. If you plug it into an external USB hub it must be powered or the whole hub will try to share the 500mA power from the port across all the connected devices.

[syusha]

I have also found that I can only get a charge if I insert the charger only halfway...AND I only have four prongs left in the USB port as well. Somehow this works. Oh, the mysteries.

[xultimatending]

I don't know how I managed to damage the prongs in my 8300 curve but I do know that I'm pissed. If it's less than a year old can I still get it replaced the warranty? I foolishly don't have insurance on it though!

[HondaDNA]

This is a know problem with the pearl, most carriers will replace for free if their is no other damage. But in your case you have a unlocked pearl so it looks like its best to get a dock charger and just use bluetooth to sync...