Emergency Call only: What to look for in Used Pasport

Hello all,

I am in to the process of potentially buying a used Passport SE from a fellow CB member.

What would I look for in the infamous "Emergency Call Only" problem?? It's a Passport SE that is being described as being in Excellent conditon.

My previous Passport SE I had for approx 3 years with zero issues, the only issue I had was it appears to be stuck in a boot mode and the red light flashes. I will need to go down the data recovery route for this phone as I can't wipe the photos.

Anything else to look for? It isn't a local sale so it's not a phone I can test prior to buying. Thanks!

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by curves2000

Hello all,

I am in to the process of potentially buying a used Passport SE from a fellow CB member.

What would I look for in the infamous "Emergency Call Only" problem?? It's a Passport SE that is being described as being in Excellent conditon.

My previous Passport SE I had for approx 3 years with zero issues, the only issue I had was it appears to be stuck in a boot mode and the red light flashes. I will need to go down the data recovery route for this phone as I can't wipe the photos.

Anything else to look for? It isn't a local sale so it's not a phone I can test prior to buying. Thanks!

Posted via CB10

When I posted about this recently, I was criticized for saying this was a significant problem or concern although I disagree and share your concern.

The problem hasn’t really been officially acknowledged so no symptomatic data. Causal effects are considered to be running ART hard with apks or similar but different operations that cause other types of device overheating. Supposedly the overheating causes problems with mobile radio and/or the mobile antenna leading to WiFi only capabilities. I’m sure others could explain far better. Since device is used, how does one know how previous owner used the device? Also, each device can’t be exactly the same. Like the KEYone screen pop and Key2 capacitive PKB, it’s statistical odds mixed with human opinions.

Originally Posted by Chuck Finley69

When I posted about this recently, I was criticized for saying this was a significant problem or concern although I disagree and share your concern.

The problem hasn’t really been officially acknowledged so no symptomatic data. Causal effects are considered to be running ART hard with apks or similar but different operations that cause other types of device overheating. Supposedly the overheating causes problems with mobile radio and/or the mobile antenna leading to WiFi only capabilities. I’m sure others could explain far better. Since device is used, how does one know how previous owner used the device? Also, each device can’t be exactly the same. Like the KEYone screen pop and Key2 capacitive PKB, it’s statistical odds mixed with human opinions.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by curves2000

Anything else to look for? It isn't a local sale so it's not a phone I can test prior to buying. Thanks!

I'd suggest to ask the buyer about the battery condition. If he does not have any app to check the battery health (they probably all gone from BBW) than at least what was the date of the original purchase.
New battery price is not too high but it's still a part of total costs.

Originally Posted by Chuck Finley69

When I posted about this recently, I was criticized for saying this was a significant problem or concern although I disagree and share your concern.

The problem hasn’t really been officially acknowledged so no symptomatic data. Causal effects are considered to be running ART hard with apks or similar but different operations that cause other types of device overheating. Supposedly the overheating causes problems with mobile radio and/or the mobile antenna leading to WiFi only capabilities. I’m sure others could explain far better. Since device is used, how does one know how previous owner used the device? Also, each device can’t be exactly the same. Like the KEYone screen pop and Key2 capacitive PKB, it’s statistical odds mixed with human opinions.

It is certainly something that amounts to a hardware flaw that occurs as a result of overheating. I have had a weird experience while using the camera at extreme heat during a sunny day. The phone was quite hot, kept on working, no reboots but lost connectivity and showed the red X instead of the signal bars. After 10 seconds it reverted back to its normal state after I stopped the camera. I am not certain if this might be related to the "Emergency call" issue but what I know for certain is that what I have just described is not normal camera use, it is huge abuse the Passport takes when I use its camera. :D

is it a common problem with the SE Passport? I could easily be wrong but I don't recall many or any stories of the SE getting the Emergency Calls Only problem.

I know for sure the AT&T model is prone to the issue as ive had two that failed. it's a heat issue for sure that fries the antenna component on the motherboard.

Originally Posted by zer0ten

is it a common problem with the SE Passport? I could easily be wrong but I don't recall many or any stories of the SE getting the Emergency Calls Only problem.

I know for sure the AT&T model is prone to the issue as ive had two that failed. it's a heat issue for sure that fries the antenna component on the motherboard.

Apparently the AT&T model is more or less an SE in carrier swag.

Originally Posted by Chuck Finley69

Apparently the AT&T model is more or less an SE in carrier swag.

What do you mean by that?

I've had both types completely taken apart and the motherboards are basically identical except for the camera placement.

Originally Posted by zer0ten

What do you mean by that?

I've had both types completely taken apart and the motherboards are basically identical except for the camera placement.

Exactly what you just said. The AT&T version and the SE version are essentially the same device. The AT&T version just has some visual cosmetic differences.

While I don't recall hearing about emergency calls issues with SE or AT&T versions specifically compared to OG version, I'm not sure it was limited to any specific version

Originally Posted by Chuck Finley69

When I posted about this recently, I was criticized for saying this was a significant problem or concern although I disagree and share your concern.

The problem hasn’t really been officially acknowledged so no symptomatic data. Causal effects are considered to be running ART hard with apks or similar but different operations that cause other types of device overheating. Supposedly the overheating causes problems with mobile radio and/or the mobile antenna leading to WiFi only capabilities. I’m sure others could explain far better. Since device is used, how does one know how previous owner used the device? Also, each device can’t be exactly the same. Like the KEYone screen pop and Key2 capacitive PKB, it’s statistical odds mixed with human opinions.

It has been acknowledged by BlackBerry themselves. It's on their KB; I don't have the link handy but can find later.

EDIT: http://support.blackberry.com/kb/art...mber=000037544

Posted via CB10

Ask if they used a lot of Android apps. That would heat up the PP and likely speed up the path to the emergency calls only symptom.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by Chuck Finley69

Exactly what you just said. The AT&T version and the SE version are essentially the same device. The AT&T version just has some visual cosmetic differences.

While I don't recall hearing about emergency calls issues with SE or AT&T versions specifically compared to OG version, I'm not sure it was limited to any specific version

I was also under the impression that both models are basically the same device, and I said so on another thread. Many parts are also the same, like the upper mic/speaker for example. However, I didn't know that the motherboards have a different camera placement. Since this is the case, it then means that motherboards at least are not interchangeable...