Trouble with the 7290 and Vista

Ok folks. I am new to BB. I have never had a BB or any other phone/device that has more than just basic features. I figured for my first BB I would start with something cheap. I was able to pick up my 7290 for $31. I thought it was a good deal. I really like the device. One problem... I can't get my PC to talk to it. I have downloaded several different versions of Desktop manager. I ran into a glitch with downloading but, was able to fix that problem. Now the desktop is up and running, when I plug the USB into my BB it goes nuts. The BB screen blacks out and the red LED blinks. My laptop constantly makes the noise it makes when you plug in and unplug a USB device. I have tried everything but I can't fix this. The desktop says it can't find a handheld device. Any help would be greatly appreciated. My PC OS is Vista Home Premium if it matters.

I too had the same problem... This is because included with the earlier versions of the desktop manager software (which was created for XP), included was a driver file that was supposed to install while initially installing the software, but because vista does not recognize older drivers (not ragging on vista, i love it) you need to upgrade and use vista drivers. In order to use the vista drivers, you will need to go to the blackberry website www dot blackberry dot com and download version 4.3 of the desktop manager. I have tried this on 2 computers, and so far it has worked on one, of which is a laptop, the desktop would not open the application, (both are running vista home premium) but yeah, download the version 4.3 software off of the blackberry website, and you should be fine.... and by the way, i also just got this 7290, and i am already an addict, i will never go back to a normal flip phone, people are ridicules if they pay crazy prices for new phones, when they can pay 40 bucks for an old phone that completely out preforms some of the newer phones out on the market, i mean, i get absolutely amazing service, and i really don't need a camera, so this is the perfect phone for me, and for 40$ off e-bay, you can't beat it in my opinion...

Vista sucks, I would roll back to XP. Vista might have a nice new look to it, but I cannot perform work a crap compared to XP.

I could never just get a simple answer to that question and got annoyed filling out that questionaire on the blackberry website.

the 4.3 version worked fine with my Vista home basic.

The only thing I did different was click on "run as administrator" when I installed.

I love my 7290 too with my bluetooth earpiece. (I tend to drop stuff A LOT)

I installed Desktop Software v4.6 on Vista. I then downloaded Handheld Software v4.10.377 for my 7290 and everything worked fine. I did not have to run the installers as Administrator.