i believe you need to turn on CONTENT PROTECTION first, it is under security, then general options. then exit out of security options and go back in and MEMORY CLEANING is available.

i have set mine to clean when idle for 5 minutes and when holstered, so it should be freeing things up constantly. i had a lot of reboots around xmas time when i was traveling but none that i can remember since the new year, although sometimes i know it most likely happened when holstered so i didnt see it.

@Stacey: Thanks for trying the suggestions. Do it for a week and then please post your results. WRT: Memory Cleaning: I am also using an 8703e but with Verizon. I am using OS 4.2.1 .. Are you sure that you looked under Options: Security Options: Memory Cleaning? On the Memory Cleaning Screen, the fourth option should be "Show Icon on Home Screen". Set this to "YES". The icon should appear towards the end of your applications icons. When you highlight the icon, the title is "Memory Cleaner". If this does not work, let me know what your OS is (found under "Options:About". It should be the 3rd line and should read something like "V4.2.1.106 (Platform 2.3.0.20 (This is the Verizon data. The Sprint data should be similar.)

As Trekuhl has pointed out, Content Protection should be enabled. But, then again, why would you not want to enable Content Protection?

@ALL: There is one other persistent memory area that I forgot to mention. It is the "Phone Log". This is found by going to the Messages Screen, Click the trackwheel, select "View Folder". On the View Folder screen, select "Phone Call Logs. Highlight the entire screen and then Delete all the messages. This may take some time to do the first time around. Highlight by pressing and holding the "Num ^" button (located below the 7 on the key pad. If you have a lot of entries, do this in several steps. Be prepared if you highlight more than a screen of entries for it to take some time, possibly a couple of minutes. Just let it go once you have selected and confirmed Delete.

And of course, when you have finished purging everything, do a battery pull reboot as previously described.

Getting the phone clean the first time can be laborious, but once it is clean, you can do all the procedures described in under 5 minutes. .. 73

Folks:

The rebooting problem is due to a "known issue" specific to the Qualcomm chip set in the 8703e and 7130e handsets. After many months of Sprint pressing RIM to evaluate and diagnose the problem, RIM has finally identified the root cause and has presented Sprint with a "maintenance relaese" (i.e. a bug fix code) to test. That's in prgress now and within the next week, Sprint and RIM should know if the code fixes the problem. If so, RIM should be posting their final version of the MR within about 7-10 business days after the testing perdiod.

But there was nothing Sprint could do to resolve this as it ws RIM's issue to diagnose and resolve and until they did so, Sprint was unable to resolve the issue.

@Golfaholic: The problem is obviously more widespread than just Sprint. In the survey I took I have reports from users of many carriers, using both CDMA and GSM. I would like to know your source so that I can see whether or not this fix will help others. If it is not distributed by RIM that could be a problem as there are as many or more persons who are not Sprint customers with the problem. I have not seen anything on the RIM website. Could you point me to your reference? . 73

That post makes a lot of sense to me, as everytime my device has rebooted the radio is in use at the time. I'm either having service issues or disabling/enabling the radio when it happens and I'm using the unit.

Let's hope this fix is released soon. I'm sure once Sprint releases it we will find a way to get it working on other carriers. I sure hope so anyway.

We spoke to RIM after refusing to take the silence from Sprint - it IS a known issue, but at the time of our initial call they couldn't/wouldn't provide an eta for the fix. I'm not surprised they don't put anything on the website as putting a notice that says "by the way,if you purchase this phone at $200 you won't be able to use it for 3 hours a day" would probably mean several lost sales.

It's good news that in the past couple of weeks they are more forthcoming with an answer. I'm not sure how many reboots are still going on with our blackberrys - our users don't complain to me anymore as there isn't much point at the moment.
FWIW we're also using a BES server on Sprint in Columbus, Ohio.

I appreciate your comments. It is something to look forward to. But have you tried the routine I suggested? You obviously have more than a few units at your disposal. If something as simple as a daily or even weekly purge of useless data were able to fix your problem, is that not worth the effort to try?
I am on my second 8703e and have never experienced this problem. Since we have ruled out that it is a BES vs BIS issue, and that it is most probably a memory overflow issue, what is there that I know that you don't (or at least acknowledge)? As you seem to be an IT person, does this not stroke you as similar to a critical memory overflow in a PC? Just a thought. . 73

**UPDATE**

All,
I just received an email from my local Sprint Business Account Rep concerning this issue.

WOW....is all I have to say. I recently rolled out nearly 100 Alltel 8703's and having to manually touch these won't be fun. I have everything run through wireless enterprise activations so no one has desktop manager installed and we don't give them admin rights nor trust them to do this upgrade on their own. This shall be fun!

Also, this notification was only from Sprint. We have other systems across the country that are also seeing this problem on Alltel devices. I'm waiting to get notification from them as well.

Thanks

Thanks to inertiatic for his post. I checked out the RIM website and this does seem to be the answer to the problem, at least for Sprint users. The only questions remaining are: (1) Does this patch also work with other carriers, and (2) What about the 20% of people who do not use Sprint and have this problem?

If anyone has the nerve to try this on a phone from a carrier other than Sprint, please post your experience . Thanks . 73

I just downloaded and installed this update. I will report back in a few days if the reboots have been fixed or not. I hope others will try their luck with it as well.


Once again, I'm on Verizon with BIS.

After my old 7520 chose not to charge anymore, the company sent me a new in the box 8703e. Wow what a difference until i noticed the bugger logging me off and on and then finally go to white screens rebooting. I used it for about three days. Then thanks to the forum, it convinced the Adm to look into the problem with sprint and what do you know, yesterday ver 4..2.1.110. It required about 1.5 hours to reinstall the OS (over 45mins using 6meg down speed by me but 27k through sprint website!!),but so far everything is working. Although it seems to block many of the themes out there but at least it's working...even the modem!

What sucks is you have to use 7 different key strokes and one number for the pwds now.

Carrier = Sprint 1xEV

Anyone download the software yet for Sprint and does it stop the rebooting?

I have 8703e with Sprint and I downloaded 4.2 about 1 week ago and I can happily report that my phone has NOT rebooted itself at all! I am very happy!!

I installed it 9 days ago and haven't had a random reboot yet. It also did not brick my 8703e, like my two attempts to install earlier non-Sprint releases of 4.2.

Had this issue today with a user of an 8700c on AT&T, user reported 10-15 reboots a day by the device, didnt quite find this post soon enough. attempted a complete OS reload. then an OTA BES activation. now waiting to see if it fixes the issue.

"Crosses fingers"

Following my post of 2/18, I tried another experiment: I have deliberately not cleared any of the memory spaces. Predictably, my 8703e (Verizon) finally rebooted itself, duplicating the condition observed by many others. My usage is heavy of both phone and data (ave 3500 min/month). When the reboot was complete, the free memory had reset to its normal value of 29meg (yes, in spite of running over 36 3rd party apps, that is how much free memory I have).

From my perspective, this validates the theory I put forth on 2/7/08 regarding overload of memory. If you want to avoid this problem, either download and install the patch or clear your memory often. You may take this advice for what it is worth. I have satisfied my curiosity and now that there are two solutions I wish to thank those of you who have contributed your comments.

I believe that one of the moderators had commented that if you have more than 18meg free you are doing good. I take this as further confirmation of the importance of routine purging of the memory. I am going to check with RIM and see if that is what the Sprint patch does. _________ 73

From what we are seeing here, the Sprint update seems to fix the rebooting problem on our Verizon 8703e devices.

Any word on a corresponding fix from Verizon?

What about for 7130e devices?

The 7130 is an old design and not substantially supported. It is unlikely that the 8703e fix will work on it due to the difference in the circuitry. Your best solution is to bite the bullet and get yourself a current generation handset. Sorry for the cold shower. Maybe one of the moderators has a better suggestion. 73

Well after a few days this batch for sprint seems to work. What I've noticed is a reduction in battery life and it just hangs up or drops the phone call something like switching cell towers or frequencies.

This morning a customer said I sounded like I had a cold, must have been in a poor area for sprint? It lasted for about 5mins.


I've checked memory levels 28meg or more free.

But it doesn't lockup!?

8703e, sprint, not BES, only reboots when I am actively using BB messenger... but as I do fairly intensively - it punts itself several times a day.