I am new to the world of the Blackberry so please forgive me if this is a simple (or stupid) question.
When composing an SMS, email, etc, i would enter the letter of the name for the person (G for instance) and a list would appear. More letters refined the search. Scrolling enabled me to select the name and the message could be composed and sent. That was yesterday!!
Today when i enter the initial, i get nothing except the inital, and a few names but certainly not all.
It happens for composing SMS, email, MMS, PIN and looking up contacts
Cannot find if i accidentally made a settings change.
Any ideas gratefully received.
TIA
Thanks
Running Bold 9700 with OS5

There are a couple things you could try:

#1) Go to your address book > Options > Sort contacts by First Name, Last Name

if that doesn't work, try:

#2) Go to your Messages inbox > Options > General options > "Show recent contacts when composing email" > select "No"

Still having problems...

#3) Go to your address book > Options > Make sure that your "Categories" (Business, Personal) are clear/unchecked so that the filter will show all your contacts when you are composing messages.

If none of these work, try pulling out the battery. This will clear the memory and reset the phone. If you're still having problems, let me know

Thanks for this. FYI...

#1) In Contacts I only had had the option of First Name or Last Name, not First Name, Last Name

#2) Was already set

#3) Was already set

#4) The battery thing did the trick.

Do you know what caused the problem in the first place?

Thx

OK. I'm not saying this is your problem, but through years of working with BBs one thing still stands true:

A regular battery pull solves oddness.
I have had devices that after working for ages, suddenly won't do contact lookups... won't EA... won't open attachments... won't connect to mobile network... all sorts of odd randomness. A battery pull sorted each one.

Whenever one of my users reports something "odd" the first thing I have them do is a battery pull (take batt out with device running, leave out for a minute or so, reassemble).
90+% of the time, it fixes it.

I do a batt pull at least once a week on my device as a preventative measure LOL I'm serious

Trying to diagnose the cause of every blackberry glitch can be tiresome. That is why the following FAQ was written.

1st step to take if device is having problems? - BlackBerryFAQ