How to Un-Brick a BlackBerry on a Mac

I figure with everyone now experimenting with loading Betas and Hybrid OS's onto their devices you guys might run into some bricking :)

Well I have done some experimenting with beta's and such and have bricked my phones more times than i have actually updated them but here is how i recovered the phone WITHOUT a PC.

The Wipe Stage:
1. First delete all OS's from your computer. Go to:

Your name > Library > Application Support >BlackBerry Desktop >Device Applications

2. Delete all the OS's in the folder and empty the trash.

IF you were not loading a Beta/Hybrid and you have the NON TAMPERED OS on your computer then you dont need to do this.

3. Remove the Battery from the Phone

4. Plug the phone in via USB. At this point you will see the screen come on and have a Battery icon with a red line through it. Also DM will open up because it detects a BB. It will say "Waiting for device to Start" for a while. Ignore it but dont leave your computer.

5. After about 5 min or so DM will prompt you for the password to your device if you have one. From there it will ask you what OS you want to load onto the device. It will then begin the process of Downloading the files.

During this time the phone will usually shut off automatically before the program can finish downloading the files. You have to disconnect the device and quit out of DM. Re-plug in the device and it will sit for a moment before going through step #5 again. Sometimes this has to be done 2-3 times.

6. After the OS is downloaded the program will begin loading it onto the phone. At this point the phone will shut off again and the wipe process is essentially complete.

7. The program will then say waiting on device to start. At this point you put in the battery. You may see the program say that the phone has disconnected but thats ok as it starts back up it will reconnect to the program.

At this point whatever App Error you have been getting usually now displays as app error 5xx Reload Software.

8. After sitting for a bit the program will prompt you for the password and begin loading the software onto the device. It is IMPERATIVE that you do nothing really during this time on your computer that could possibly mess with the loading process. It takes about 10 min or so to load the software and all the apps. You will NOT have any data restored you will have to run a restore afterwards.

Thoughts:

The battery thing was something i decided to try after tons of times trying to get it to connect with the battery in and the phone not doing anything but sitting there with the app error. I believe the battery being out prevents whatever is on the phone causing the problem from loading and allows the CPU to connect directly to and flash the RAM. That kind of explains why when the battery is re-inserted it then tells you that there is no OS that is loaded.

For those experimenting with Hybrids

I would highly suggest backing up your phone first. After that be sure to include the .sfi file into the Mac version of the JAVA folder. Sometimes if you extract the OS the COD files are in a separate folder and i believe the .sfi file is the radio file unless i'm mistaken.

To App Developers

Please dont let this walk-through feel that its unnecessary to create a program that makes all of this easier for us mac users :D

THANKS!!! i just posted prior to this. saved my life

quick question though, i did restore and it restored my messages, contacts, and calendar, but none of my apps. I found the "local" folder with all of my apps in it but cannot add them using the applications menu. Basically, how do I get all my apps and themes back? or do i have to re download all of them? Thanks

You have to reload them manually

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

You have to reload them manually. It essentially does A bare minimum restoration

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

oh okay. thanks again. just to clarify, there's no way to reload them via the "local" folder located in the BB desktop manager folder located at (user)->library->application support? Thanks again, sorry for all the questions.

Im at the white screen where it says 507 reload software and when DM tries to load the software it gets halfway there and then says the device has disconnected and canceled the os update.....any fix to that?

Originally Posted by jekko1

Im at the white screen where it says 507 reload software and when DM tries to load the software it gets halfway there and then says the device has disconnected and canceled the os update.....any fix to that?

Is the battery in or out

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Originally Posted by fobrob102

oh okay. thanks again. just to clarify, there's no way to reload them via the "local" folder located in the BB desktop manager folder located at (user)->library->application support? Thanks again, sorry for all the questions.

apparently not because when i look in there all that is there are the .COD files and no .ALX file for the install

Woo! Excellent work. I almost want to brick my phone just to try it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Originally Posted by mosipher

Woo! Excellent work. I almost want to brick my phone just to try it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

lol. since finding this out i have constantly tried to put OS's on my phone to no avail but its ok now because i can recover the BB

oh ok, sweet. thanks man. i was basically trying to figure out the extension of the application files necessary to add them. thanks!

Originally Posted by fobrob102

oh ok, sweet. thanks man. i was basically trying to figure out the extension of the application files necessary to add them. thanks!

yea man. if you can find the .alx files for those programs somewhere then you could do it through the DM

this is my 2nd time doing step #5, because i am re downloading the OS.

I am stuck on the "waiting for device to start". it isnt connecting, but it did the first time and started to download the os. help.

Originally Posted by Slapshot234567

this is my 2nd time doing step #5, because i am re downloading the OS.

I am stuck on the "waiting for device to start". it isnt connecting, but it did the first time and started to download the os. help.

everytime you do it the programs downloads more of the files. after it has the os it generally loads it on the first time. make sure you are diconnecting the phone from the computer and quitting DM

cool thanks

thanks. im making some progress... lol

Originally Posted by Slapshot234567

thanks. im making some progress... lol

Yea man its quite the tedious process

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Thanks for the walkthrough, its actually done some good.

However, I'm stuck at step 7. I get the "Reload Software" error message... then DM begins to load the applications... then I get the disconnected message. :mad: I'm this close.

Any suggestions?

wow, this is really a failure of RIM

Originally Posted by FlipMatic

Thanks for the walkthrough, its actually done some good.

However, I'm stuck at step 7. I get the "Reload Software" error message... then DM begins to load the applications... then I get the disconnected message. :mad: I'm this close.

Any suggestions?

sorry i just saw this. try disconnecting the BB. Putting the battery in. letting it boot up to the error screen then removing the battery again. also close out of DM for mac.

after that re connect every thing for some reason that works

My blackberry gets up to the part where it recommends what type of software I should have. I pick the recommend software then it says updating. Its takes a long time and I usually close it before it moves. Is this normal?

Thanks for the tutorial, but unfortunately, I can't seem to get to step number 5 with downloading the files. I have pulled the battery, connected the USB to the computer as posted, and I get the battery symbol with the bar through it. However, I am still getting the DM error "BlackBerry� Desktop Manager failed to connect to your BlackBerry� device" after about 30 seconds. I disconnect phone, close DM and reconnect, but I never get the option to download files. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Storm 9530, MacBook Pro, DM 1.0.1


**Update: Instead of disconnecting the Storm every time it tells me to, I just hit enter. The device eventually connects, downloads the OS files, and loads the OS. At this point, I receive a message that DM is waiting for the device to initialize, and then I receive a second message that the update has been cancelled.

These are pictures of what Im seeing on my screen

I think I have made some progress. I was able to load the file but it got stuck on initializing device so I unplugged and went to step 7. My phone is powered on and the DM is open and its saying waiting for device and my phone is showing the 507 software error. Am I doing it right?