Hey all,

I'm new at this forum stuff so please bear with me.
I found a 7290 in a cab back in 2006 and couldn't use it since the owner obviously locked the phone with their own pin#. So in disgust I put it in a box of junk in the closet and left it there. Now I just found it after cleaning out said closet and I'd like to give it another try. The only problem is that I have no idea what to do. I'd like to open the phone and perhaps get it back to the original owner. I know how it is to lose a phone, I was devastated...
All the BB owners I know have their lives on these devices...

So to make a long story short, what can I do? It's on it's final try to unlock before it erases all the info...

Thanks in advance for your advice.

There is nothing you can do. It will wipe.

IMO, you should have tried to find the owner back when you found it.

Agreed

I also agree. The phone will wipe itself after the maximum number of tries (usually 10). There is nothing else you can do.

Does it have a carrier logo on it ? (Verizon, ATT, etc.) If so, contact that carrier. they may be able to find a way for you to return it to it's rightful owner.

you should be able to wipe it from the desktop manager

FoundaBBin06 said this is a BB 7290, and it should be from either AT&T or T-Mobile. Unlike the CDMA counterpart, GSM carriers keep track the user by SIM card, not the handset itself.

Which is it? At first you were disgusted you couldn't use someone else's device for yourself, yet you know how devastating it is to lose a phone.

If you found my phone and didn't try to return it for such a long time after finding it, I'd say thanks for nothin'.

True, but they will have a record of who originally purchased the phone by the IMEI.

Somewhat true, only if the BB is originally purchased through the carrier, the carrier may have a record of the first-hand user.

They will also have records of subsequent SIM cards that were inserted into the phone.

Keep in mind this post is from almost a month ago, and the OP has not posted since.