HOW TO: Clean the Trackball on your Pearl 8100 - Page 2 - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community

dragosca · 07-14-2008, 12:01 PM

Good instructions. I have just cleaned mine with no problems.

cwatson78 · 07-14-2008, 09:02 PM

When I purchased my Pearl, I had some problems with the trackball. I was told to give it about a month to "break it in." Well, it's been much longer than a month and I still the same problems. I followed these directions and I'm still having the problems. The ball doesn't respond well but moves around perfectly fine. I have also done a hard reset a few times and I've also reinstalled the software. Should I just purchase a completely new trackball piece including the rollers and such? Is it worth contacting RIM to see if they will mail me one since it's still under warranty?

sharonprod · 08-09-2008, 11:43 AM

I took my track ball apart for the first time about 30 minutes ago and didn't think to read this thread before I did it! Guess what? Everything worked out fine and my ball now roll downwards with no problem. The only thing I didn't do was the qtip alcohol thing. I'm too afraid to add anything wet to the inside of my phone. It never crossed my mind to do so. It seems too risky.

There was a huge pile of lint stuck on one of the lil screws and it looked spooky. I had my pearl for a few years and boy did the lint in my pockets and purse accumulate. Lol the next time I take it apart (cause I know I'm gonna have to do it again) I'm going to follow these directions.

I don't know what ill do without my pearl (until I get the bold) if my phone died on me.

life · 08-13-2008, 04:17 AM

修好了,thanks!

stanleybz · 08-21-2008, 04:10 AM

Thanks I need it

ijevrem · 08-29-2008, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thatzmister2u

Mods. This is a GREAT right up! Worth of it's own place! (of course you can buy a new one for $9.99 but still!)

E-

Does anyone know if buying a new trackball will fix select when push. When I press the trackball to select, it does not respond. It does move around the screen and I have tried cleaning it twice.

If buying a new one helps, where do I get it?

thanks

coreyoli · 08-29-2008, 02:53 PM

I tried cleaning mine and it was still very hesitent going up... I ended up purchasing a replacement on eBay for like $10 or something.. Replaced it, working great!!

SmokinOnThatBB · 09-28-2008, 09:27 PM

Great post, I wish I didn't screw this up completely though. Now I have to deal with Sprint to get a new one. (I bent the metal frame up and the whole thing with the track ball in it came apart.....)

John Clark · **OS:** 4.6.1.250

No, you don't! I already posted in another thread for you....just order a new trackball from HorizonWirelessOnline.com - Horizon Wireless, The World’s Cellular Repair Center ß They're not expensive. Sprint will do nothing for you anyway, except make you buy a new BB.

tedly · 02:33 AM

Thanks for posting this, it looks very informative. I plan on trying this out soon. My question is: will this help with trackball clicking problems? I've read this whole thread and everyone else seems to have problems with scrolling performance. My problem is that the trackball seems to "stick" at times when I click on it. This means I might click on an email message to read it, and it opens the message, decides to reply and then sends the reply before I can do anything to stop it. Or, if I go to some menu it will click two or three selections through before I can get it under control. Is the cleaning procedure going to solve this issue? It all started after I rode my bike around with the thing in my pocket. I think it got moist from sweat. the problem comes and goes.

Just as an FYI, I am currently living in India, which means no access to Horizon Wireless, no easy trackball replacement or any spare parts for the device without a long and frustratingly painfulful search. If I break anything I'm pretty much screwed until I go back home to the US. That's why I'd like to know if taking the thing apart will actually work, before I risk it.

bby31288 · **how did you color -** 10-02-2008, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawg

thats why I colored my led so it doesnt look as dirty lol

okay...how did you color the ball pink???? I want to do that...

un0 · **OS:** 4.5.0.152

Quote:

Originally Posted by tedly

That's why I'd like to know if taking the thing apart will actually work, before I risk it.

I had the same problems and i cleaned up ant now everything is o.k.
It's very easy to do

jacob06 · 10-08-2008, 03:34 PM

Thanks again great help and great post...becarefull of the little metal clip

djdonnyk · **OS:** 4.7.1.57

This is great!!

dlpisgreat · 10-24-2008, 10:40 AM

I purchased my new trackball from blackberrytrackballs.com for $13 USD.
Came in about 3-4 days. New ball went in well and provided a nice feedback that it was moving around. The original ball was smooth and was redish looking in comparison to a new one.

MrTelephoneMan13 · 10-30-2008, 09:49 AM

Any recommendations as to where a new trackball can be purchases?

dlpisgreat · 10-30-2008, 09:52 AM

^
|
|

Look above your original post

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrTelephoneMan13

Any recommendations as to where a new trackball can be purchases?

John Clark · **OS:** 4.6.1.250

Wirelessly posted (BB 11020)

www.horizonwirelessonline.com

A BB Forums sponsor and all-around good guy.

cnbbman · 10-31-2008, 09:00 AM

Soo COOL!!

erichall1 · 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grifter801

If you do happen to break something or are too timid to try the above, you can always buy replacement parts at bbrepairshop.com. I haven't used them personally, but they do have the parts.

bbrepairshop.com is not where to buy a new trackball. Total burn there. $49. Anyone got a link to the trackballs priced at $9.99? Thanx

Edit: Doh! Nevermind, eBay of course.

Yippee38 · 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Clark

Wirelessly posted (BB 11020)

HorizonWirelessOnline.com - Horizon Wireless, The World’s Cellular Repair Center ß

A BB Forums sponsor and all-around good guy.

Shipping is outrageous from this vendor! They did ship it really fast though.

tjk1 · 11-20-2008, 06:24 AM

is there any way to get the feel of the old trackball back? as in, when you first get it there's some resistance to the scrolling. now that my pearl is about a year old, the trackball doesn't have that "clicking" feel to it. would cleaning or replacing the ball/pads underneath do anything to restore that "clicking" feeling when scrolling the ball?

ezebu28 · 12-18-2008, 10:37 PM

thanks

mantyman · 01-02-2009, 06:06 PM

I broke both rings when following these instructions but was able to purchase a new outer ring with a trackball for $9 at Cellular National Network (cnn.cn). It didn't include the inner ring but it works fine without it. This place is in Hong Kong, so it take a while to arrive but it is very cheap and the trackball seems like it is brand new.

xsweetie887 · **Track ball -** 01-16-2009, 04:32 PM

I tried cleaning my track ball on my Blackberry and when i took everything off, the white plastic piece came apart from the piece with the rollers. How do I fix this?

PIRATA! · 01-31-2009, 09:15 AM

and what about if the trackball does snap but does not select nothing when pressing directly on the metal tab on the motherboard under the trackball??

thank you.

PIRATA! · 01-31-2009, 11:14 AM

Ok, here is the final fix! I already made it on my device while waiting for some replies, and it worked good! ;)

The problem is the copper push plate underneath the trackball that is placed directly onto the motherboard of the device.

The problem is that underneath this plate there must be some corrosion or some kind of dust or some glue slipped due to the heat of the device (you'll understand why the presence of glue by reading ahead in the post).

In my device there was some glue and some corrosion!

The part we are talking about is a little black plastic square with a round metal plate in the centre.
This square is placed at the centre of the 4 leds and 4 trackball sensors.
The round plate we need to clean is placed up on the plastic base and is keeped still with a light brown square tape that is glued on to of all (there goes the glue!).

Here is what you need to do:

turn off the device and remove the battery, the sim card and the memory card (if used).
disassemble the 8100 so to reach the motherboard easly (8100 Disassembly photos and instructions).
from just one corner of the base and with a sharp knife CAREFULLY pry the tape up so to reach the plate and pry up that too -- as you could see the plate is only touching the black square base and is keeped still by been glued at the tape on top of the base.
remove the plate from the tape WITHOUT removing complitely the tape from the square plastic base -- just slip the plate away from underneath the tape.
now act on the plate with a small metal object and scrap off everything you have underneath it -- you must act unlit you see the plate as clear as possible -- it does not matter if you scratch the metal of the plate because it will work anyway -- JUST DON'T BEND IT!!!
when finished, just clean the base contacts with a really clean piece of paper and finally blow air on it with your mouth just to remove the dust -- there sould be no dust between the plate and the base!!
replace the plate underneath the tape and up on the black square base in the same position as it was before -- just centre the base!!!
replace down the light brown tape and check if it glues back on the base corner from wich you lift it up -- instead NOT just use a little piece of black tape on the corner and on any other corner that does not glue any more.

That's it!! now it should work. It took me about 15 minutes to do everything (same time as writing this post!)

Hope this could help.
Thank you all.

darkohardi · **1qeqeqeqe -** 02-08-2009, 09:23 PM

can anyone help with my trackball problem
i press the trackball and it doesnt go into a sms but shows 1 on the dial screen and after that when i press it again it show 1qe and for every click on the trackball it show more qe letters and i have no idea why did that start
sorry for bad english i hope u know what i talk about

PIRATA! · 02-09-2009, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkohardi

can anyone help with my trackball problem
i press the trackball and it doesnt go into a sms but shows 1 on the dial screen and after that when i press it again it show 1qe and for every click on the trackball it show more qe letters and i have no idea why did that start
sorry for bad english i hope u know what i talk about

open your blackberry and clean it.
it might be sole dust or water.

equi_design · 02-15-2009, 02:16 PM

Thanks for the great tutorial! I just cleaned my trackball and things are working grand. I had one tip to share with other BB owners- to clean in between keys and around tiny parts- I use a wooden cuticle/manicure stick (aka "orange" stick). Dip the pointed tip in a tiny bit of alcohol and use it to remove bits of dirt and grime. Works super for cleaning in grooves, corners and between keys.

justpassntime · 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Clark

Well, if the ball has no "click" when pressing down on it then the actual contact on the circuit board has lost it's "snap." You have a defective device.

Here is my fix for putting the snap back in the click. I wouldn't do this on a phone under warranty.

On my phone (8100) the trackball worked perfectly, the problem was the contact underneath the trackball on the main board (see picture step 8 above). Part of the copper colored tape had peeled away from the switch and let dirt and lint in not allowing the trackball to do its job.

I figured it doesn't work now so I couldn't make it worse. Take the battery out or you wont be able to see what you are doing with the LED blasting holes in your eyeballs. I took forceps and peeled it the rest of the way off. What I ended up with was a small square piece of tape with a smaller round slightly dish shaped piece of metal.

I cleaned the switch contact point on the main board. I then peeled the tape from the small round metal disk. I took some electrical tape (hoping to find something better later) and cut it into a small square. Placed the small metal disk on the tape and trimmed it a little more so it wouldn't cover the LEDs. Then I positioned it over the switch, pressed it down (you could use a pencil eraser) to the switch base. Put the battery and trackball back in.

Guess what happened then. No....it worked just like new.

Even if it came loose the magnets would catch it and keep it from falling out. I am hoping to find some other kind of tape that is thinner but will stay put for the long haul. If you have an idea for something better please post it.

fleazur · 02:00 PM

....i took apart and cleaned the tracker ball like everyone recommended. it got 3 of my 4 directions working. i found i had lint rapped around the arm of one of the black directional wheels. i got to that by very carefully taking a needle under the silver metal tab right above that arm. i got a ton of lint from that arm and now it works. hope this helps!

rivmasta · 06-16-2009, 01:32 AM

Worked perfectly for me after losing the ability to scroll down.

Perfect now, cheers!

NellyBlackberry · **Cleaning sometimes helps, unless it doesn't! -** 06-22-2009, 11:50 AM

I cleaned my trackball a few times (didn't break it!

) But finally it just stopped scrolling too much. I tried cleaning it again and no go. Anyone else have same problem? Am I the only Klutz?

T. B. Player · 06:05 PM

Good stuff!! Excellent additional comments too! Glad I didn't get rid of the alcohol and Qtips after getting rid of all the cassette players (!)

My wife has a Pearl (which is what this applied to) and I have a Curve. My battery overheated in the Curve and took out the trackball circuit, so sometimes you do have to replace the phone.

Thanks so much!

Z

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmcman73

Great tutorial but I would like to add a few comments to it if I may.

- Before attempting to clean your trackball shut the phone off and remove the battery so you don’t risk shorting out anything on the exposed sensors located under the trackball when you remove it.

EDIT: Just realized that there is indeed a metal clip on the older style Pearls but not on the newer ones.- After removing the plastic chrome ring from around the trackball, you do not need to remove the metal retaining ring located around the trackball. The whole assembly should just pop out by turning the phone around. The metal ring only holds the trackball in the white “cage” that also holds the rollers in place. If you need to remove the retaining ring to clean the rollers and ball, take out the assembly first and then remove the metal clip from the sides of the cage assembly. You’ll see the clips that hold the ring on, just gently pry them away front the plastic cage.

- Yes, the little black rollers are magnets which interact with the small magnetic proximity sensors inside the phone. Unfortunately after cleaning them with Alcohol you remove the very small amount of lubrication that is on them. Since the magnets come into close contact with the sensors, it will sometimes prevent the magnets from rotating hence the reason why some people have to keep repeating this cleaning procedure almost on a weekly basis or the cleaning just doesn’t work for them.

After cleaning the track ball by using this guide, before popping the track ball back into your phone, get a clean Q-Tip and a can of Dry Silicone lubricating spray. Do not use WD-40 or any other type of spray lube, use only dry Silicone spray as this stuff will dry (so it won’t drip) and leaving a lubricated surface. Spray some of it onto the Q-Tip, shake the Q-Tip out to remove any excess then gently and lightly apply the lubricant directly to the 4 magnetic rollers ONLY. Do not apply it to the actual trackball, only the black magnets. Also, don't use to much of it just enough to "dampen" the black magnets.

Once done re-assemble and rotate the track ball around to dispers the lubricant, you may find that you will have to apply another coating of lubricant after this step, just repeat (don't clean it) the lubrication step.

I've done this to my blackberry and afterwards, it works better then new.

ameliadaigle · 07-18-2009, 01:32 PM

Thanks very much for putting this together. It was very helfpul and great to get better results after cleaning the track ball.

Cheers,

abd

EL_CHUCKY · **OS:** V4.3.0.11

Nice Tutorial It Is The Best One That I Have Seen!!!

Redworm · 09-05-2009, 09:26 PM

my trackball was scrolling but not "selecting" when i clicked it. thank you for this tutorial! all works fantastic now.

Daethian · **OS:** 4.5.0.37

Am I the only one who can't see the pics? I need to do this but would prefer to see the pics. *fret*

Tindu · 10-19-2009, 06:38 AM

hey thanks for sharing your ideas it will helpful for me for cleaning my 8100 trackball.