[UnifiedTechs]

I got tired of all the speculation on the tour trackball issue, so I decided to find out for good what the cause of the problem is...

I have had 2 Tours so far, first one had trackball issues from the beginning, the second one was better (not great) but within 2 weeks was unusable. I tried cleaning with alcohol, pushing down, changing sensitivity... all had no luck.

THEN I took the trackball assembly out of my 2 year old curve and put it in the tour, instant fix! Then I tried something I saw no one else mentioned they tried, I put the Tour trackball assembly in my curve... The curve now has the same horrible response to horizontal movements and the Tour works perfectly so far. To me this is absolute proof the Tour trackball assembly is the cause of the issues.

BUT I KEPT DIGGING, The ball is on little rollers (look at an old ball computer mouse, same concept) when the ball turns a small wheel on the outside of the assembly also turns this is what is detected by the sensor, when I had the tour out I tried turning the ball and the little wheels DID NOT turn smoothly... this completely rules out a software issue.

If you want to see what the assembly looks like this article has a good photo: Customize Your BlackBerry With a Red Trackball

[slinky317]

Very nice post. Thank you for doing this. Further goes to show this issue is hardware related and all (or most) of this software talk is nonsense.

[Chaser1337]

I got tired of all the speculation on the tour trackball issue, so I decided to find out for good what the cause of the problem is...

I have had 2 Tours so far, first one had trackball issues from the beginning, the second one was better (not great) but within 2 weeks was unusable. I tried cleaning with alcohol, pushing down, changing sensitivity... all had no luck.

THEN I took the trackball assembly out of my 2 year old curve and put it in the tour, instant fix! Then I tried something I saw no one else mentioned they tried, I put the Tour trackball assembly in my curve... The curve now has the same horrible response to vertical movements and the Tour works perfectly so far. To me this is absolute proof the Tour trackball assembly is the cause of the issues.

BUT I KEPT DIGGING, The ball is on little rollers (look at an old ball computer mouse, same concept) when the ball turns a small wheel on the outside of the assembly also turns this is what is detected by the sensor, when I had the tour out I tried turning the ball and the little wheels DID NOT turn smoothly... this completely rules out a software issue.

If you want to see what the assembly looks like this article has a good photo: Customize Your BlackBerry With a Red Trackball

Great post!

[yourlife]

Great post! I wish the Tour trackball was as easy to remove as the Curve/Pearl... I used to take my Curve trackball completely apart to clean the wheels. Knock on wood I haven't had any trackball issues on my Tour but I'm sure they will come.

[Dsmithjr]

Too bad you didn't take any pics.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Buckshot1]

I have 3 Tours in the house, mine, my wife's, and my work Tour. Mine and wife's work fine. My work Tour the trackball had issues. I took the work Tour to the local Sprint Corporate Store and they replaced the trackball in it with a white one. Took care of the trackball issue. According to the Tech that changed mine out, he said they have changed out about 10-15 of them on Tours due to the trackball issue.

[Tdubby]

Always knew it wasn't software related.. Thanks.. Good post

[cenloe]

@UnifiedTechs

Could you post a link showing us how to take out the Tours trackball? I just ordered a Tour and I fear that once it arrives I will have the same trackball problem. Maybe a complete video starting with the removal of the Curve's trackball finishing with the replacement in the Tour?? Pretty please?

[PolishLogic]

The curve now has the same horrible response to vertical movements and the Tour works perfectly so far. To me this is absolute proof the Tour trackball assembly is the cause of the issues.

Maybe there's a software issue with your Curve.

(I kid, I kid )


Seriously though, great post. After seeing how quick it is to get to the assembly (albeit rather inconvenient) I decided shortly after returning my first original one for trackball issues, that if this new one ever goes bad I'll just do the old swap-out. Especially since none of the other issues that I had with my first Tour from day one, have surfaced with the new one.

[12MaNy]

I actually broke off a little electrode thingy when I tried to pull the top cover off (above screen). There are two of those little electrode things under the cover, to the left of the earpiece. For some reason one of them was adhered to the cover and it broke off when I pulled off the cover (even though I was very gentle). My camera's flash didn't work after that, so it definitely went to the camera.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN TAKING YOUR TOURS APART!!!

[OZZY-YD]

PIECE OF SH**!!!!!!! Can't believe I spent money this PIECE OF SH**!!!! This is what I get for listening to my crackberry head dumbass Friends!!!! But I will Try to replace the trackball first before this BlackBerry comes head to head with 45 Cal Bullet.

[dhowie315]

my trackball seems fine in browser but in the regular menu, its great and responsive up and down, but left to right and vise versa it sucks. is this why you guys have this thread?

[dani190]

wonder if they will do a recall or something to fix this mess up

[Sebastianraven]

PIECE OF SH**!!!!!!! Can't believe I spent money this PIECE OF SH**!!!! This is what I get for listening to my crackberry head dumbass Friends!!!! But I will Try to replace the trackball first before this BlackBerry comes head to head with 45 Cal Bullet.

I'm sorry. I can't read between the lines. Tell me how you really feel.

[OZZY-YD]

I did tell you how I feel about it, it is a piece of sh**!!! bringing it back to Sprint today and having them replace it again, this will be the 3rd one that I get. Do they test this crap out before they release it out to the general public?

[Slingbox]

I'm taking mine apart next week...before 30 days are up just in case I screw up.
It would be nice having talk through video before doing so.
1 2-Many its time for you to provide such video with no hand shacking or beads of sweat all over the place lol

[OZZY-YD]

Here is the address-more complaints they get the better off the chance of them doing a recall. The dude at the store told me he 5 returns today on the Tour all because of the stupid trackball that is messing up.

Blackberry Company
Corporate Head Office
Research In Motion
295 Phillip Street
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2L 3W8

tel: (519) 888-7465
fax: (519) 888-7884

[mizliz]

Don't take the Tour apart....a little spit on a piece of cloth (like your t-shirt) will work just fine. Just roll the ball around and it will unstick. Mine works fine now. Sometimes the simplest thing is the best.

[Slingbox]

Don't take the Tour apart....a little spit on a piece of cloth (like your t-shirt) will work just fine. Just roll the ball around and it will unstick. Mine works fine now. Sometimes the simplest thing is the best.

Ive already done that 3 times having no success...it works for a couple days then goes back to stick.
I just ordered OEM Trackball Black & Torx T6.

Those interested in real fix you can buy it at,
OEM Google G1 / Black Blackberry Curve 8300 8900 9000 Trackball

[sixftunda]

Blowing a puff of canned air right at the trackball will also help. I know my trackballl probs are caused by dirt or dust getting behind the ball.

[Stang68]

Here is the address-more complaints they get the better off the chance of them doing a recall. The dude at the store told me he 5 returns today on the Tour all because of the stupid trackball that is messing up.

Blackberry Company
Corporate Head Office
Research In Motion
295 Phillip Street
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2L 3W8

tel: (519) 888-7465
fax: (519) 888-7884

Its a nice thought, but they will never do a recall...do you know how many phones that would be!?

[Arson627]

Yeah. That problem sounds about right. I have a 1 year warranty with my carrier, so they best be thinking they'll be hearing from me if my trackball starts sticking. I've only had one issue. But I did the press down hard thing, and it worked like a charm. And compressed air works great as well. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to get a almost flawless tour.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Ghost of Sparta]

Here is the address-more complaints they get the better off the chance of them doing a recall. The dude at the store told me he 5 returns today on the Tour all because of the stupid trackball that is messing up.

Blackberry Company
Corporate Head Office
Research In Motion
295 Phillip Street
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2L 3W8

tel: (519) 888-7465
fax: (519) 888-7884

I couldn't help but chuckle at this.

[UnifiedTechs]

I'm sorry but we did not take any videos or pictures when taking mine apart, we did repeatedly watch a YouTube video for instructions and have experience disassembling electronics like this.

Vid1:
Vid2:

For those brave enough to try all I can say is go slow and be careful, don't force the top cover open... we had 2 people with tiny screwdrivers separate the top while pushing down the tabs. Still we did this to two Tours and broke a tab on one of them, a very hard blackberry to get into.

For the faint of heart I personally believe that after the 30 days they will start replacing the trackballs in the service centers, I don't claim to have any insider info, but remember we are only hitting 30 days on the very first to get them. I have worked with sprint and other carriers and over time I feel I have gained an understanding of how they will act. I also work very closely with a local sales and service center that is a "licensed repair center" but not actually owned by Sprint, they said they will probably be doing this repair under warranty because the warranty payout for a "misc repair" will cover the time and labor.

[ksat]

So, ultimately, does anyone know what the real problem is here? From the original post, it sounds like there is possibly a slight size issue with the Tour roller balls. As it was stated that the same ball in the Curve had the same issue - it sounds like the Tour roller ball (the black one) is a fraction of a millimeter smaller than what maybe it should be.

I'm wondering if texture is also a problem?? while the old and new rollers feel the same, maybe there is a slight difference in texture or the roller mechanism inside the device? I dunno... thoughts?