[pathophrenic]

Hi Guys, I have something of a conundrum and my google-fu hasn't turned up an answer so far so I'm now going to pose it to the experts.

I have a Storm 9530, I've had it for about two years, the about screen shows "Blackberry 9530 smartphonbe (3G CDMA) v5.0.0.328 (Platform 4.2.0.128). The apps I usually have running on it are just BBM and facebook, and they have been installed the entire lifespan. Yesterday I had an appointment reminder go off at 5, when I went to check it though, the display wouldn't show the usual "password required" screen, the backlight was on, or maybe backlight is the wrong word, the "screen" section was lighter than the rest of the display and it faded out after the usual amount of inactivity. The phone is otherwise completely functional, can receive calls, could probably make calls if I could press the unlock sequence in the right way without seeing it. I hooked it up to my computer and it connected just fine. Around 6pm, when the appointment was scheduled to end, the display started working again (could be coincidental). This was after several battery pulls as well. Turning it on during the malfunction after a battery pull didn't fix the problem. It didn't even show the verizon or loading screens when turning it back on. It happened again last night for a couple of hours (no appointment then), and again this morning during an appointment reminder (or before I checked the reminder, worked about 20 minutes before though). Worked again after a battery pull once the appointment was finished. I'm going to play with it a little more in the next few hours to see if I can narrow it down but that seems to be the problem so far. After the problems last night and this morning were fixed (but not the first one), the screen would fragment into strips as I used the keyboard or moved the screen, if I turn it the screen resets to the normal view. As I type this post the phone display faded from inactivity and went dead again. This goes against my appointment theory. I'm going to try removing programs one by one over the next few days as I get the chance to test it out further.

I feel like I'm asking a mechanic over the internet why my car won't start without much information, but if anyone has any other suggestions I'm willing to try them. The phone has gotten wet in the past couple years so I'm sure the indicator will show that, probably not going to be valid under the warranty (last occurrence was around June). I can't even tell if it's a hardware or a software problem right now though. I have phone numbers backed up, but can anyone suggest a good full data backup program for calendar, contacts, notes? Preferably one where I can access the data from my PC.

If I can get away with a software fix without having to replace the phone that would be excellent, but any fixes or suggestions are welcome.

Edit: Now it only displays the screen when I pull the battery while it's plugged in, then if it fades if I don't touch it the screen won't come back on.