My Blackberry Pearl went mad yesterday and has been unusable since then.

Can someone help?

1. When I make a call, and hang up, it keeps showing the "Connected" message even though it is no longer connected.

2. Messages and Browser won't work - I am getting no response when I use either of these two icons.

3. The error messages that I am getting are like this one:

Uncaught exception: Application net_rim_bb_messaging_app (51) is not responding; process terminated.

before that it was showing some java exceptions

4. Restarting with the red button doesn't solve these problems.

5. Resetting the device by removing the battery seems to go a step further in that I can start Messages but the device hangs after it displays the first few screens.

Then all hell breaks loose and even the phone stops working - when I press the greenbutton, nothing happens.

First what OS are you running on the phone? You should try and upgrade the the most recent OS for the phone and see if that will help you.

Under advanced options I am getting "Blackberry 4.2 system softwre". Should I use the software on the CD to upgrade?

Perform a backup using the Desktop Manager software. Then I would wipe the device with JL_Cmder and reload the OS.

wiping, and reloading. Never done that before.

Thanks.

Drago