how about the muffled sound and mic - will that clear up with .191?

Two days after replacing my trackball with an orange one from cnn.cn the problem is still fixed, and everything is working like it should have originally. In my case it was a simple hardware fix.

I generally carry my Tour in my pocket, but in a case. Fingers crossed that the fix holds!

We'll see.....

I think the odds of optical trackpad problems are quite high. New features on new models have proven to be troublesome for RIM in recent years. Just the lower profile trackball on the Tour has/had issues, and now they're going to an entirely new (for RIM) technology? Oh boy.
---------------

The Zen Master (source unknown).

In a small village, a young boy got a pony for his 14th birthday. The entire village said, "How wonderful! He got a pony."

The Zen Master said, "We'll see."

A year later the boy fell off his pony and broke his leg. The entire village said, "How terrible! He can't ride now and his leg is in a cast."

The Zen Master said, "We'll see."

A short time after that, a war broke out and all the young men had to go off to fight. Most of the young boys who went to fight were killed, but not the boy with the pony. He was still in a cast and unable to fight. The villagers all said "How lucky that boy is! His broken leg likely saved his life."

The Zen Master said, "We'll see."

---------------------

RIM: "Lets replace these archaic thumb wheels with new trackballs. It's the future, man!"
ME: "We'll see."
RIM: Damn, these trackballs collect dirt, look horrible when dirty, and stick. There's lots of frustrated users clamoring for exchanges. This is awful!"
ME: "We'll see."
RIM: "We've got it! We'll get rid of these trackballs with something even cooler - optical mini trackpads! Oh, man! This is going to ROCK!"

You didn't say it, but I agree with you. I miss my trackwheel.

The phone I have was one of the first and I never had audio problems. I think you should swap your phone in that case. I have not seen from RIM as to what the software I got fixes. The main thing I have seen is a lot better response with the track ball and better memory use sage.

the problem with tours is how the trackball sits on a tiny board that moves around inside of the phone. shimming this board pushes it up far enough to read the horizontal trackball movements how it should, thats why adjusting the sensitivity will work in some cases....will post link to my tutorial on how to fix it yourself

http://cero.yolasite.com/how-to-open-phones.php for step by step with pics. although you don't have to click on any ads, it would really help me out with my server (it's free for you and makes them think my site is useful)

My 2nd Tour is having East/West trackball problems again. Mentioned it to service guy at the store. Told me flat out it's a component problem. Gave me a number to call. Phone dude apologized and cheerfully sent me a new Tour. According to phone dude, Tours with a build date through 8/19/09 have this bad component. Sort of a PITA at this point but at least it's being handled.

My previous experience with Canadian based firms reinforces that they have limited ability to succeed on the world stage with their consumer products.

I predict RIM will end up being absorbed by one of the US giants.

Anyone own shares in Nortel Networks?

LOL

Tim
New York City

Incompatible with reality.

For those of you who think software is gong to fix a badly manufactured trackball assembly, put down the crack pipe. RIM realized there was a major issue and hence the re-issued "green dot" Tours. You think they would do that, issue no-questions-asked returns for the new ones, for a software issue with a fix coming down the pipeline? Really? You think Verizon would be giving out new $2-300 BB's for no reason if RIM wasn't making it right on their end? Don't think so folks....

.40, .42, .191, .53 - all 4 versions I've tried on my original Tour, with no trackball improvement on any of them. The newer software (.191 and .42) actually made it worse/unusable.

I went to VZW, they gave me a brand new tour on the spot, and all 4 versions of the software work flawlessly now. I'm currently running .53 and THIS is what the Tour was supposed to be.

Software? I think not...

Just got my new (green dot) Tour (#3) and the trackball is much improved. Instead of doing this yourself, I recommend letting VZW (or Sprint) take care of it as they are easy to deal with and know the first set of phones were garbage.

Of interesting note is that the new trackball is slightly more protruding and a different color. It's only noticeable if they're right next to each other, but it does make a big difference in usability.

The replacements my local Sprint store got (an whole ziplock bag full) were white instead of the original black. The higher profile design suggest they decided to use ones from the Bold.

I got an orange one designed for the Tour (original low profile), but it really looks like a dirty white one unless I'm in bright sunlight.

I can summarize this thread for everyone...

The consensus is you cannot remove a Tour Trackball on your own and that yes, some have problems scrolling left/right and up/down. Verizon doesn't replace trackballs on the Tour, they will only swap out the unit for a warranty exchange. It seems that Sprint will swap the trackball. You want to get a "green dot" exchange if possible which includes a re-designed/replacement trackball mechanism.

I have found that setting the horizontal/vertical sensitivity to 80 for both and then periodically cleaning the trackball with a little rubbing alcohol on a Q-Tip works wonders. It doesn't solve the problem, but makes it workable.

Anyone that thinks they can replace a trackball with a trackpad is just looney. It cannot be done, so let's just drop it.

My trackball developed horizontal scrolling issues about a month after I got it. I could have had the whole handset swapped out -- my company's Verizon rep is awesome about making sure we're happy -- but decided to replace the trackball with one from a broken Pearl I had on my bench. The process was easier than I expected, and the trackball works great now.

It looks a little odd, however, because the ball is off-white and has a white ring instead of the original's metal ring, and when the keypad lights up it kind of flickers but isn't truly backlit like on the 8xxx phones. I may order a different colored ball from CNN.cn, but for now I'm just happy that horizontal scrolling works.

Your mileage may vary, and I'd strongly recommend calling up your carrier and getting a replacement unless you're comfortable with mucking about inside small electronic things and voiding your warranty

my green dot replacement came in and it does make a big difference, now if i can get .53 back ....

I got my Tour the day it came out (in store, not over the phone) 7/12/09. My brother and I had the same trackball problems. After reading this forum, I called Tech Support and went to the store armed with some of this info (you guys rock!) and they gave us each a BRAND NEW phone - and we're WELL outside of our 30 days. It's because of how many issues they've had with the trackball. The trackball works even BETTER than when I first got it. It had the green dot on the box and was OPEN, which they said was because it was updated with new software (I asked for a new box and he brought me all the ones they had and they were opened). Now if only DM would backup my custom profiles!!!!!!!

When I got my Tour the track ball did not work from side to side. I noticed the silver washer that holds the track ball in place was not flush but partially sitting up on one side. I snapped the washer piece down (you definitely feel the washer seat) and it has worked fine. I did the same to my buddy's Balckberry and it worked fine for a while but now it is not moving to the right as it should. His is Sprint and mine is Verizon and he got his a month before mine. Those are the only real differences between the two.

I Read In This Blog About The Ongoing Trackball Problems With The Tour. I Went To My Local Cell Phone Shop And Had Them Replace The Black Trackball With The A "curve/bold" White One And It Works Perfectly!! I Have Not Had Any Problems Since. Total Cost 30.00

I too was having problems with my trackball - went to a corporate store and they sent me to an authorized repair center. Not sure if this is true or not cause I haven't taken one a part yet - but the tech said they couldn't just replace the trackball with another one - he said they latest models of the the tour that are out right now has an all in one piece with the trackball, BB button, and return button. That got me thinking - when I started having problems with the track ball I scoured the internet and there have been plenty of people who were able to get just their trackball replaced instead of the entire phone. But when I got my new one I noticed a few things the entire over look of the phone was more glossier then my old one especially the back of the battery cover - it was a much crispier black then my old one. Which leads me to question has there been a revision on the tour already? Is there a way to find out? Maybe these trackball issues are tied to the original or first "batch" of the phones made?

When did the green dot on the box start? I have a Tour with a mfgr date of 10.02 but no green dot.
Also, after a week, no problems with the trackball, and the battery cover fits tight, in fact, a bit hard to remove.

theyve been exchanging them for months with newer ones that work

I wonder if they will be able to retrofit to trackpads? How about a concerted effort to get them to do this?http://www.blackberryforums.com/imag...s/icon_eek.gif

I use Verizon and got my Tour via Wirefly. I returned the 1st phone b/o trackball tracking problem. 2nd phone worked "ok" for several wks then started having significant problems with trackball, especially when going horizontally. Now have sensitivity for horizontal set to 90 and that helps but trackball is very "jumpy" and not easy to use . I hope that Wirefly will replace trackball or Verizon, but when I took phone to Verizon, they said I would have to deal with Wirefly where I purchased phone. Bummer. I think that Blackberry needs to deal with this very COMMON problem and fix the problem for all of US!!!!

So am I reading this right, I bought my Tour the day it came out and am having a major track ball issue...if I go to a Verizon store, they will exchange my phone? Can I do this over the phone? I am on the verge of calling insurance and getting a new Tour the ball is so bad.

I also got the tour the day it came out. I called Verizon yesterday about my trackball and they said there will be a new phone at my door on Wednesday. No questions asked. Great customer service

Wow, that was easy. They said it will be sent out tonight

Does anyone who received a replacement from Verizon recently know whether or not they are replacing with new, or refurbished units? Mine was an early purchase also, and recently the trackball is getting pretty bad. I'm always skeptical about getting refurb units though, you never know whether you're trading one problem for another.

Thanks in advance...

And a related question - would I have better luck over the phone, or going into a store in person (as far as getting a new unit)?