BB Curve will not install on PC

First off, this is my first Blackberry.
As for my PC knowledge, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being an IT expert, I'm about a 5. Meaning I know just enough to get into trouble at times.

Sorry for the length of this thread, but I wanted to completely describe my issue and what I've already tried to resolve it.

I've Googled a ton of research and found similar situations as mine, however I have found no fixes for my issue.

My equipment:
Blackberry: Curve
Desktop Manager: v4.6
PC with issue: Company provided Toshiba Tablet PC with XP Pro
PC without issue: Personal HP Pavilion dv6625us with Vista Home Premium

The problem:
When initially connected to my Toshiba PC my Curve tries to connect however as seen on the Device Manager screen, it connects then disconnects and continually cycles this way until I unplug from the Curve.

The indicators on the Desktop Manager is the Curve is attempting to connect. I can see the "Device Connect (PIN)" flash back and forth from "None" to my Curve's PIN. During this attempt to connect the indicators on my Curve is it initially shows the USB connection, then goes blank, does not charge and continually tries to reset. When I disconnect the USB from the Curve, the Curve resets as if it is performing a soft reset.

Attempted Solutions:
I duplicated the installation process on my HP Pavilion PC. Everything loaded as the instructions dictate and by all indications there is no issue. I can sync, transfer and do just about everything else while connected to the HP PC.

On the Toshiba PC that is experiencing the problem. I've removed and reloaded Desktop Manager more times than I can remember. I've removed all the USB root hubs and attempted to connect the Curve with nothing else connected to the PC. The PC sees a new device and again tries to load it, but I get the dreaded error, "your device is installed but may not be working properly".

I've downloaded all current software from the BB site as well as loaded Desktop Manager v4.3. This doesn't change anything.

I've tried different USB cables and ports without change to the issue.

I've connected other USB devices to the Toshiba PC and they load and connect properly.

I installed a micro media card on the Curve. After the installation when I connect the Curve to the Toshiba PC, once again I get the indicators as described above as well as a Windows error stating that a location is unavailable. I only get this error when the media card is installed in the Curve. Also on the Toshiba PC's Device Manager, under "Storage Volume" the media card shows as a Generic volume, then the Device Manager resets and then the media card is not shown. This cycles back and forth as described above.

That's about it, I'm willing to try anything that one suggests to include a full exorcism of the Toshiba PC as well as get some Voodoo magic involved.

Blueraven

Welcome to CB!
Given that your BB was given to you by your employer, is it on BES or BIS?

Lecture 2: BES and BIS: What's the Difference? | CrackBerry.com

The BB is my personal BB, however it is receiving and sending mail from my company e-mail address. I've requested a BES password but have not received it. Being new to this Device and the capabilities of it, I don't exactly now how I am receiving and sending e-mails from my company e-mail address. On the Desktop Manager the "Server Status" does read "Online", if that helps you.

The fact that everything works correctly on the Vista machine proves a clean bill of health for the Curve. Native BlackBerry USB drivers are included.

The Toshiba is an XP generation machine. The USB drivers are installed with the Desktop Manager package, normaly.

I would do a full USB delete and rebuild. Make sure your device is NOT connected, open Control Panel / System and locate the USB drives near the bottom.

Delete them, then restart the computer. Install Desktop Manager and you will have a fresh set of BlackBerry USB drivers.

Now it is safe to plug the device and and hope this has corrected the fault.

are you referring to deleting the USB Root hubs in device manager and then reinstalling DM? If so, I've already tried that.

Yes. During the restart, Windows Plug and Play wizard will rebuild the USB driver. Depending on how it was built, it may request your Windows XP CD.

If you check Custom install in Desktop Manager, one of the selected components is BlackBerrys USB driver.

If that is installed, before the device is connected, it should make the connection.

First I was unable to find anywhere during install where I can manually select which driver or which OS I'm running.

I was unable to find just a USB driver for Blackberry with XP anywhere so I removed all BB software, removed all USB Hubs and loaded Desktop Manager v4.2 from the BB web site, which states it does not support Vista so I figured the XP driver must be on it.

I connected my Curve and got the same indicators as before.

I then remembered that my Son's PC runs XP so I loaded Desktop Manager v4.3 on that computer and everything worked properly.

So at this point, I've loaded BB v4.3 on a HP Vista PC, a Dell XP PC and a Toshiba XP PC, with the only issue being with the Toshiba XP PC.

So the issue is not the driver, the software, or the Curve. There's obviously a conflict with my Toshiba PC. My guess is there may be some sort of security software that my company has installed on the PC that is conflicting with the Curve. I'll get with my company IT Dept. to see if they have a resolution.

I'll post the results.

Blueraven

My IT Dept. can't help. They stated there's nothing that my company has done to prevent the Curve from connecting to my Toshiba PC. They also stated that they don't support third party software such as BB. They did run me through updating my BIOS, but that didn't help.

I'm now looking again for some help/suggestions.

Blueraven

Have you tried using the USB port with other devices?

If other hardware, a thumb drive for example, is able to use the port, that rules out a gross hardware failure.

His USB port might not be supplying enough power for the curve?

USB port not supplying enough power??? That sounds so simple it might just be it. Is there anyway to turn off the usb charge function?

No, not that I know of but you could look into the double usb port cords they make for external harddrives to run on laptops.

What about charging via AC outlet and syncing via bluetooth? Does bluetooth sync work with the Curve?

I'm making progress, I went out and bought a bluetooth USB adapter for my PC and the PC does see the Curve. My issue now is how to sync outlook via USB. I know there's instructions out there and it has something to do with deleting the usb driver and adding windows. I'll keep everyone updated.

Originally Posted by Blueraven

First off, this is my first Blackberry.
As for my PC knowledge, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being an IT expert, I'm about a 5. Meaning I know just enough to get into trouble at times.

Sorry for the length of this thread, but I wanted to completely describe my issue and what I've already tried to resolve it.

I've Googled a ton of research and found similar situations as mine, however I have found no fixes for my issue.

My equipment:
Blackberry: Curve
Desktop Manager: v4.6
PC with issue: Company provided Toshiba Tablet PC with XP Pro
PC without issue: Personal HP Pavilion dv6625us with Vista Home Premium

The problem:
When initially connected to my Toshiba PC my Curve tries to connect however as seen on the Device Manager screen, it connects then disconnects and continually cycles this way until I unplug from the Curve.

Blueraven

Part 1 of your problem
The USB port on your Toshiba tablet is not powerful enough to support your blackberry. IE: The blackberry requires a 5v USB power source...the USB power on your Toshiba tablet is less than 5v (Probably just less than 3V if its giving you that error cycle)

Part 2 of your problem
The USB cable you are using is probably the one that was provided with your blackberry right? Well i'll tell you now, it's not going to work. It is far too long to work with the reduced USB power output of your Toshiba tablet. The longer the USB cable, the more power required to transmit data over said USB cable.

Solution to your problem
I have the same problem with my Western Digital Passport Hard Drive.
It does not come with an option for an external power supply.

However, there is a solution that I have found works great.
My Western Digital Passport hard drive compensates for the lack of a power source by supplying a short 5-6inch USB cable with their hard drive. Because of the shorter distance, more power is supplied to the Hard drive/Blackberry and the transmission of data and the connection are more stable.

I have taken to using this shorter USB cable with my blackberry and all USB->Mini usb devices as it provides better data throughput and requires no external power source for the device connected to the PC (as long as the device runs off of USB power)

The shorter USB cable can be found at Radio Shack as well as online on Western Digital's website. I recommend this cable to all of my Blackberry Support customers and have even given a few to my regulars.

Happy shopping,
Dm

Problem Solved- Detman101 gets the credit. Even my IT Dept. could not figure this out.
Turns out my Curve is drawing too much power from my USB port. My HP and Dell both worked fine.

I purchased a Kensington Micro USB Bluetooth adapter and am now syncing via bluetooth. My media manager is grayed out, but I'll work on that later.

Here's what I finally did:

De-installed all Blackberry software
Loaded and installed the Kensington bluetooth adapter and sync'd my Curve to it.
Re-loaded Desktop Manager v4.3 and ran setup
Changed the connection in DM to bluetooth and hit connect.
Then sync'd my Outlook to my Curve.

Thanks again to all for the help and advice. Eventhough some of the suggestions turned out to not fix the problem, eliminating possible problems certainly help identify the actual one.

Blueraven

I have a feeling this is a software conflict on the Tosh Tablet. I think you might need to use the Microsoft BT stack instead of the Tosh BT stack. (Don't ask me how to switch them, but if you try to change anything make sure you BACKUP FIRST)

I had a similar session of weirdness once and couldn't connect a notebook online using a BT link to cellphone (this was before the days of 3G datacards). It resolved immediately when someone suggested reloading the stack and I only had the disks for Microsoft to hand.

This is why pearls are better!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

branta, you very well be right, but after a week of frustrations, I think I'll just enjoy my curve for a while and sync via bluetooth.

Blueraven

Originally Posted by Blueraven

branta, you very well be right, but after a week of frustrations, I think I'll just enjoy my curve for a while and sync via bluetooth.

Blueraven

If it ain't broke don't fix it. :)

And I mean that seriously, because software conflicts can be as twitchy as a squirrel on speed. If its working get a backup before you forget (or Microsoft pushes some other update on you), so you can put everything back when it makes a monkey of you again.

Originally Posted by Blueraven

Problem Solved- Detman101 gets the credit. Even my IT Dept. could not figure this out.
Turns out my Curve is drawing too much power from my USB port. My HP and Dell both worked fine.

I purchased a Kensington Micro USB Bluetooth adapter and am now syncing via bluetooth. My media manager is grayed out, but I'll work on that later.

Here's what I finally did:

De-installed all Blackberry software
Loaded and installed the Kensington bluetooth adapter and sync'd my Curve to it.
Re-loaded Desktop Manager v4.3 and ran setup
Changed the connection in DM to bluetooth and hit connect.
Then sync'd my Outlook to my Curve.

Thanks again to all for the help and advice. Eventhough some of the suggestions turned out to not fix the problem, eliminating possible problems certainly help identify the actual one.

Blueraven

Awesome! Thank you for the acknowledgement.
I am happy that i was able to help you resolve the problem.

:)
Dm