[ifarlow]

Well, I hate to be writing this, but I'm hoping that there might be someone out there that can help get past some first day issues I am experiencing. The background:

I have a long history with legacy BlackBerry devices, and almost as much history with iOS devices. My most recent phone was an iPhone 4S, and I make extensive use of iCloud to keep my iMacs, iPhone, and iPad connected in real-time. The setup worked. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. However, because I used to have a BlackBerry device (most recent the 9930) and because I don't use the iPhone for more than e-mail, iMessage, and phone calls (generally speaking), I decided to give the newest BlackBerry device a shot. So I bought a Q10.

At this point I feel compelled to say that the hardware is everything I had hoped it to be. It's solid, has a good weight, and appears to be made very well. I have no complaints with the hardware, including the keyboard (a big selling factor for me), so I won't really get into the hardware as the issues I am experiencing all have to do with the OS. Let me also say that I am very familiar with the iCloud integration issues (missing Contact photos and disabled Calendar sync), so I'm not voicing a complaint over those issues in this thread.

I have connected my Exchange account. I used to have everything in Exchange before I moved my entire computing world over to Apple, and now I keep Exchange around for e-mail. Therefore, I have no contacts, no tasks, no notes, very limited calendar entries, and a massive amount of e-mail on the Exchange server. However, to test everything out, I have added a single contact record so I can see it show up on the phone and be able to test two-way sync between the Q10 and Exchange. And here is where the first issues crop up.

It looks like Exchange connects and then disconnects at random. For example, if I open my Contacts on the phone, I see the one contact (called John Doe). Then, as the phone is sitting there with the screen on, the contact will disappear and I will see a "Start adding contact to your contact list" notice on the screen. Then, after a short period of time, the single contact will return. It is important to note that the entire time this is happening, the All Contacts option is selected in the list so that all available contacts are shown. Additionally, I have SIM card contacts turned off, but if I alter the selection in the view list (All Contacts, Favorites, etc.), the SIM contacts will re-appear when I return to the All Contacts view. At the same time, even though I have turned off SIM Contacts in the settings, the setting has reverted to show SIM Contacts. If I turn off the setting again, SIM Contacts still show up. Possibly related: I can't delete contacts on the SIM card, no matter how many times I try, and it now it seems that I can't get SIM Contacts to go away in the Contacts app.

Likewise, Exchange seems to connect and disconnect from Calendar. I go to the calendar and move day by day to June 15th. I see an entry that I know is from Exchange (I have no other connected calendars at this time), and it is in blue. I change the calendar color to green and the entry changes color, as expected. However, if I jump back to today and then scroll day by day to get to June 15th again, the calendar entry is missing. After a few seconds, the entry re-appears, but it is, once again, in blue. The setting has reverted itself, and it seems like Exchange is completely disconnecting and automatically reconnecting to the phone like I am setting it up again for the first time. Very odd.

As I'm typing this, I just saw something odd. I swiped to wake up the phone, and the active frames screen was the visible screen. The calendar app is still running (since I left it running, minimized, when the phone went to sleep) and the date shown in the active card was Jan 1, not Jun 8. Why? The date (and time) on the phone is correct and is set automatically by the cellular system.

Nevertheless, looking at BlackBerry Hub, I see only two e-mails in my Inbox from Exchange, even though I have roughly a dozen in my Inbox. The rest are filed in sub-folders. And bam! Just like that... I get the "Add Accounts" screen while looking at the Hub. In other words, as I was typing this, I first saw two Exchange e-mails and then, out of nowhere, the e-mails disappear and I see the "Add Accounts" screen as if no account has been connected.

So... first question: Is anyone else experiencing this issue? This is very strange, and very frustrating. Second: could this be related to the large amount of e-mails I have stored on Exchange, some of which have large attachments? I selected "Forever" as the sync history length. I have my concerns, however, if this is related to loading historical e-mails onto the phone (in other words, the first sync with Exchange) because there is no reason that I can understand that the phone would blank out as if no account was connected at all. I can understand lag and stuttering while the history is syncing, but not a complete disconnect and reconnect. Considering all of the issues with the one and only contact record disappearing, the calendar entry for Jun 15th disappearing and then reappearing with the wrong calendar color, and e-mail in my Inbox incomplete (two of a dozen e-mails) and ultimately disappearing, I feel like this OS just has some real, significant issues.

Full disclosure: I do want iCloud to work and am a fan of Apple products, but the lack of full iCloud sync support is not a big enough issue for me to want to send back this phone and/or see it fail so miserably. I will happily move my info from iCloud into Exchange, Google, and/or set up a new Exchange account for personal use (Office 365) because I am not wedded to iCloud per se. But, I won't go through that trouble if I can't even get my first account to work properly.

It should also be noted that I do have a basic Google account (non-paid) and I had previously attempted to connect to it. However, I was experiencing the exact same issues with contacts disappearing, e-mail disappearing, etc. So I deleted that account. Truth be told, I deleted the Exchange account as well, and then re-connected to Exchange only to test one account at a time. Unfortunately, even with Exchange only, I am seeing very strange and frustrating behavior as described above.

Help... please. I want this to work but the frustration I am feeling is growing worse by the hour.

Model: SQN100-2
OS Release: 10.1.0.2011
OS Version: 10.1.0.2038
Build ID: 525050

[Kris Simundson]

How much data do you have on the device currently? It sounds like a odd issue that I haven't seen yet on a device. It may be server side stuff that's messing up but that's hard to determine. One way to determine if it is the device or not is to attempt a security wipe. I would suggest one of these and than add each account back one by one, but give each account about 2-3 hrs to settle. I'll look into this more for you in the mean time.

Posted via CB10

[ifarlow]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by how much data I have on the device. But to try and answer the question: I have two accounts (Exchange and Evernote), one contact record, one calendar entry that repeats on the 1st and the 15th, and two e-mails in the Inbox (and an unknown amount in sub-folders). If you mean memory:

• Total Space: 16 gb
• Free Space: 11.4 gb
• Videos: 0 kb
• Documents: 0 kb
• Music: 0 kb
• Other Data: 4.5 gb

I also have the device connected to my Dropbox account so that the files are visible using File Manager. I haven't done anything else to the device except install Soundhound and Solitaire City. I have rebooted the device twice via the shutdown options, and pulled the battery once. No change after any of those reboots.

Further, the device has been sitting since just before I wrote my opening post (about 4:15 pm) and has been charging. As of this post (which is roughly two hours later), the device is still randomly disconnecting and reconnecting contacts, calendar, and e-mail so at this point I am convinced that this is not a "settling" issue. There is something else going on with the device.

I'm off to wipe the device. May even try re-installing the OS.

[ifarlow]

By the way... is it normal that I am unable to delete the SIM contacts? There are about six or so entries all related to Verizon Wireless. I can't get rid of them, and I can't hide them as the device randomly starts to show them again (as described in my first post).

[Kris Simundson]

By the way... is it normal that I am unable to delete the SIM contacts? There are about six or so entries all related to Verizon Wireless. I can't get rid of them, and I can't hide them as the device randomly starts to show them again (as described in my first post).

yes it's normal you can't delete them, it's no different than bloat ware sadly just in a different forum

[ifarlow]

Well, that stinks. While I'm waiting for the device to wipe, I am checking on my Exchange account... I have six devices connected via AS. Wowzers. Deleting all but my iPad, iPhone, and Q10. Doubt that would be the issue, but who knows.

Oh, and Exchange indicates that I am using a fraction of my available space with 0.24 gb used. Doesn't seem to be all that much to me.

[Kris Simundson]

Well, that stinks. While I'm waiting for the device to wipe, I am checking on my Exchange account... I have six devices connected via AS. Wowzers. Deleting all but my iPad, iPhone, and Q10. Doubt that would be the issue, but who knows.

Shouldn't be a issue, but you never know till you troubleshoot.

[ifarlow]

How's this for strange: I spoke with our Exchange support (hosted) and they said "no matter what you do, do not enable memo sync with Exchange."

The security wipe finished, and I was about to reconnect with Exchange when I decided to visit our host's web site to see if they had any articles covering the issues I was experiencing. While they didn't have anything specific, I did find a step-by-step guide to connecting a BB10 device to Exchange... and right there at the end, it said "Do NOT enable memo sync."

I contacted support, and the rep told me that OS 10 has an issue with memo sync and it can cause all sorts of unpredictable behavior. Now, whether or not this is accurate I can say this: So far, the device is not disconnecting and reconnecting like it was before. Problem is, is this a result of not enabling memo sync, or is this a result of the security wipe?

[Kris Simundson]

How's this for strange: I spoke with our Exchange support (hosted) and they said "no matter what you do, do not enable memo sync with Exchange."

The security wipe finished, and I was about to reconnect with Exchange when I decided to visit our host's web site to see if they had any articles covering the issues I was experiencing. While they didn't have anything specific, I did find a step-by-step guide to connecting a BB10 device to Exchange... and right there at the end, it said "Do NOT enable memo sync."

I contacted support, and the rep told me that OS 10 has an issue with memo sync and it can cause all sorts of unpredictable behavior. Now, whether or not this is accurate I can say this: So far, the device is not disconnecting and reconnecting like it was before. Problem is, is this a result of not enabling memo sync, or is this a result of the security wipe?

Could be a bit of column A and a bit from column B. It could've initially started with the memo sync issue, which spiraled into needing a secure wipe to make the device 100% clear the issue

Posted via CB10

[ifarlow]

Very true. However, now I want to substantiate the reps claim of a memo sync issue. I may have overlooked it, but I don't recall reading anything about that anywhere else. You?

[Kris Simundson]

Very true. However, now I want to substantiate the reps claim of a memo sync issue. I may have overlooked it, but I don't recall reading anything about that anywhere else. You?

Never seen it before anywhere either

Posted via CB10

[ifarlow]

I'm tempted to try re-enabling the memo sync to see if everything blows up again. At least that way I can see for myself if the memo sync is a real issue. Of course, perhaps it's an issue with SherWeb specifically. Hm...

Anyway, thanks for the help. One way or the other it appears that the sync with Exchange is working. All of my e-mails are present (versus two as before) and nothing has disconnected like it was originally doing. Now to connect Gmail and see what happens.

[Omnitech]

If you're trying to sync a ton of history you may have to literally leave the device alone for hours and let it do it's thing.

I think that's the most likely explanation for the "mysterious" things happening with email/calendar that you described. (I suppose there could be some "bug" with memo sync but see below for more on that)

In addition, MS Exchange by default will throttle or disconnect devices that are attempting very high-resource-usage activities (such as trying to do an initial sync of email folders going back to eternity), and that also can result in "random disconnects" because, in fact, that's exactly what is happening: the server is kicking your device off periodically for creating an excessive load on it. Email system admins can tweak how their particular servers do that.

Re: memo sync, BB10 is one of the ONLY mobile platforms that can even DO memo sync, so it may be more a matter of the people running the servers not being used to any device doing that or something. Apple devices cannot do memo sync, Android devices cannot do memo sync, even Microsoft's own Windows Phone platform cannot do memo sync. (The technical term on the MS Exchange side is "Notes sync")

[ifarlow]

If you're trying to sync a ton of history you may have to literally leave the device alone for hours and let it do it's thing.

I think that's the most likely explanation for the "mysterious" things happening with email/calendar that you described. (I suppose there could be some "bug" with memo sync but see below for more on that)

Actually, based on my experience, it looks like the issues I was experiencing were caused by the memo sync problems. Those problems may be related to SherWeb specifically, but I don't believe disconnect and reconnect would have anything to do with a large history to sync. Please note that I'm not exaggerating: my connection to Exchange would drop and then reconnect, each time acting like it was being set up for the first time. I'm not talking about lag, I'm talking about total disconnect.

My Exchange history consisted of e-mails, basically, since I had no notes, no tasks, one test contact, and one recurring calendar entry. Remember, I had moved everything to iCloud so there was very little left (other than e-mail) on Exchange. Plus, my e-mail history (according to Exchange) is small. When I connected to Exchange without enabling memo sync, my entire history was there and was searchable within a few minutes, exactly as I had expected it to be. I am no longer experiencing the disconnect and reconnect that I was before.

All in all, Exchange connectivity is now working exactly as I expect it to work, so I'm happy. Happy enough, as a matter of fact, that I'm considering a second Exchange account (365) and possibly even a Google Business account just to have EAS on all of my data. There are other much smaller issues to get past, but those are for another thread.

[Omnitech]

Actually, based on my experience, it looks like the issues I was experiencing were caused by the memo sync problems. Those problems may be related to SherWeb specifically, but I don't believe disconnect and reconnect would have anything to do with a large history to sync. Please note that I'm not exaggerating: my connection to Exchange would drop and then reconnect, each time acting like it was being set up for the first time. I'm not talking about lag, I'm talking about total disconnect.

And that is precisely what would occur if the server was throttling the device, as I wrote previously. It kicks it off the server, basically. I never said anything about "lag".

What did you set the sync timeframe to on the Q10 when you setup the account?

I don't know much about this alleged "memo sync" issue, I'll try to look into that more and see if anyone other than Sherweb is talking about it.

[ifarlow]

Ok. I'm not sure what to tell you... when I first tried to connect (with memo sync enabled), the device went bonkers. After a security wipe, when I tried to connect (without memo sync enabled), the device connected to Exchange right away, synced, and exhibited none of the issues I first wrote about. None.

So if disconnect and reconnect is a symptom of syncing a large history (which I don't have anyway), then why didn't my phone go bonkers when I connected to Exchange without memo sync enabled? I believe there is something to SherWeb's warning, but as I said, it may be specific to SherWeb's setup. Perhaps SherWeb administrators have setup something in a way that is less than ideal, and BB10 is exposing that setup flaw. No idea.

[Omnitech]

I don't know the reason why that makes a difference, which is why I said I'm going to do more research on that.

Maybe I'll call Sherweb tomorrow and ask them about it.

I didn't find much online about this issue - but I did find your other post...

Re: Issues with Exchange Account and Q10 - BlackBerry Support Community Forums

[Omnitech]

OK I found more info on this - these threads were pretty short so I guess they stayed off my radar:

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...ppears-785829/
Z10 activesync issue - BlackBerry Support Community Forums

Apparently it happens more often when a large provider is using load-balancers.

Here's the Big Kahuna - detailed Blackberry knowledgebase article about it:

KB33828-BlackBerry 10 smartphone deletes and recreates ActiveSync account in the BlackBerry Hub every few minutes

[ifarlow]

Bam! There it is. Thank you for finding that... Helps me feel a little bit less nuts. Oh, and as for my other thread at the BlackBerry Support forums... Notice how no one has bothered to help? Sad over there, really.

[Omnitech]

Bam! There it is. Thank you for finding that... Helps me feel a little bit less nuts. Oh, and as for my other thread at the BlackBerry Support forums... Notice how no one has bothered to help? Sad over there, really.

You know I signed-up over on their fora mostly because I wanted to post some info on another known BB10 email bug and monitor discussions on that. But the traffic over here keeps me so busy, the UI is so much better and the social "feel" is better because you don't have that kind of gloom that descends when someplace is an "official" place where you only have "sanitized" discussions... that I don't really log in there much.

[DanCB]

Hey all,
First time BB user, had issues syncing exchange email account. Read this thread, disabled Memo syncing - works. Thanks for the help and ooo-rah, Marine!
- DCB

[ifarlow]

Thanks for the help and ooo-rah, Marine!

Semper Fi.