[vaahtera]

Hello. I have successfully disassembled my Bold 9000 and replaced everything (bezel, keypad, trackball).

However, the reason for doing this was that my left side convenience key was working badly. After replacing everything it was still working badly.

I have identified the problem: the backside (mid plate actually) of the phone has plastic contacts (the small transparent ones on the sides which are the ones actually being pressed by the convenience keys) which in turn have a blue plastic dot on them (it's like plasteline or some kind of paste that hardened) and I believe that is the problem because the button that isn't working has almost no blue dot (it's just scratched and faded).

My question is: does anybody know what that blue stuff is and what could I replace it with (another hard plastic which maybe is a conductor or not, that's the problem, I don't know if it needs to conduct electricity or not, like silicone maybe?) so my button makes contact again ?

Another thing: if you look on top of the phone, there's a hole in it (right next to the Mute key) - the old bezel had a protective plastic inside it (what's that hole for anyway?) but the new bezel didn't have anything and I couldn't replace it, I'm afraid water will pass through there (maybe talking on the phone in the rain?) and I'll fry my phone - is this the case ? Any idea on what to use to replace it with ?

[vaahtera]

So nobody has any knowledge of this ? There must be something to do, replace that paste or something. I don't wanna change the whole mid plate just for one button.

And that hole at the top of the phone really started worrying me. Today it officially started to rain, which will become snow soon. My phone will get water real soon as I'm always on the go and talking to the phone outside pretty often.

[shfjcs]

I was just going to suggest that you replace the midplate because it comes with the switches attached and they are very inexpensive:
Blackberry Bold 9000 OEM Midplate
BlackBerry Bold 9000 OEM midplate - - Cellular Accessories | Mobile Accessories | Cell Phone

Then I saw your follow up post stating you do not want to replace it. I have an old midplate with a bad speaker but the switch is okay. It's held in by 3 tiny nubs (melted) and some 2-side tape - want the switch?

As far as the hole - are you talking about the elongated slot? If so, it's the speaker opening. Your new bezel should have had some fine mesh covering it from the inside to keep dust and dirt out, but I guess it didn't. In that case, use a needle to carefully remove the old one - again, held in with 2-side tape.

I have found that Blackberries do not fair well in any wet enviorment - period! Keep it as dry as possible, there are enough threads with wet berry problems. Hope this helps.

[vaahtera]

Yeah I broke the old mesh trying to take it out from the old bezel so that's out of the question. I'm thinking of manufacturing one for myself, currently accepting ideas for the materials to use.

I would very much love the switch but there are 2 problems:

1. I'm not sure I know how to replace it (I'm not much of an electrician, not sure I know how to melt it in place).

2. I'm not from the U.S (Europe).

As for the mid plate replacement - there are also two issues.

1. If I replace my mid plate I would have replaced EVERYTHING except the motherboard, I'm starting to feel I've already invested too much into this phone but I just love it too much, hate the new 9780, ugly looking, too small. Anyway if necessary I will replace it, but then comes issue number two.

2. I don't really trust buying another mid-plate - I mean isn't this a really important piece of hardware containing contacts for the phone and... I don't know, how important is it ? I'm afraid I'll get a mid-plate that is going to actually create more problems by not being built from quality materials.

[vaahtera]

OK that switch starts to sound better and better.
I don't wanna change the whole mid-plate just for one lousy contact. I mean my mid-plate is AWESOME . If I could just find out what that paste used for the contact is maybe I wouldn't even need that switch your talking about. Anyway I'll be glad to receive it if you find a way to mail it.

If anyone could help in identifying the paste used for the contacts, you can see what I'm talking about by looking at the sideways pictures of the mid plate here: BlackBerry Bold 9000 OEM midplate - - Cellular Accessories | Mobile Accessories | Cell Phone and as you can see there's that blue dot, that's what I need because mine is gone.

[vaahtera]

Did anyone successfully replaced their mid plate ? Share your experience ? Is it better ? What problems did you encounter ?

[jsm180]

Replaced mine due to bad volume switches, simple, quick and cheap. Just be sure to buy new, some dealers are selling used ones. Replace the trackball while you have it apart and you will think you have a new berry.

[Matrix Leader]

Time to get a 9780