[raviadso]

Hello all,

just got an 8100 and I am so thrilled to have it. I got it off Ebay refurbed because I was in the middle of my contract. Anyway, it worked like a charm but I tried to add a memory card. First time it didnt work and the SD card was bad-- wouldnt even read in a reader. I got another one (2gb Kingston from newegg) and it reads on the cardreader fine, but when I put it in and put the battery in, the red light just flashes very slowly. I didnt get a manual but it looks like a very bad thing.

anyone have a similar experience? Its like the long 3-second red light that comes on before the phone boots up but it just repeats itself like its resetting itself over and over. If I take the battery out it works normally.

[JSanders]

raviadso,

When you take the battery out AND replace it, the BB works normally? Meaning, withOUT the SD card in? Are you ABSOLUTELY sure you are placing the card in the BlackBerry correctly? If you look around the forum here, there are some pictures of how it should go in the 8100.

[raviadso]

Originally Posted by JSanders

raviadso,

When you take the battery out AND replace it, the BB works normally? Meaning, withOUT the SD card in? Are you ABSOLUTELY sure you are placing the card in the BlackBerry correctly? If you look around the forum here, there are some pictures of how it should go in the 8100.

absolutely sure it is in right, and yes, if I remove the SD card the red light blinks once and it boots up like the first time and runs security checks and all that. I turn it off, pull the battery and insert the memory card power it on and it blinks red at me.

Also when I have the memory card in but not the battery the screen works-- but gives me the picture of the battery indicating I need to insert one-- once I do it turns off the screen and the red light blinks 3 seconds on, 5 seconds off.

[SanFrancisco]

Sounds to me like what JSanders said, your chip is not inside the slot correctly.

Also check that the SIM is properly inserted. Those are easy to jar loose when foooling around in there, or else it was loose when you got the phone.

Also, am not sure on this, but when I formatted the microSD chip I had to select "FAT" and not 32 bit [which is "FAT32"]. When I formatted the chip using the "FAT" setting, the chip worked.

But like I said, not sure if that makes a difference.

Look for my thread on how to insert a chip.

[jsconyers]

That sounds a little odd that is shows the the picture of the battery on the display when the battery is removed from the device. The only time I have seen that is when the charger was connected to the device without a battery.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by raviadso

absolutely sure it is in right, and yes, if I remove the SD card the red light blinks once and it boots up like the first time and runs security checks and all that. I turn it off, pull the battery and insert the memory card power it on and it blinks red at me.

Also when I have the memory card in but not the battery the screen works-- but gives me the picture of the battery indicating I need to insert one-- once I do it turns off the screen and the red light blinks 3 seconds on, 5 seconds off.

That is telling you that the chip is either not formatted correctly or that it is inserted wrong.

Look at the good side, it's not the Pearl, it's the chip.

Keep working on it.

Don't be too sure it's inserted right. Remove it, and the SIM, and reinsert carefully. Even if you swear they are in correctly. It does not take much for those to get out of alignment.

But I think it's a formatting problem.

[raviadso]

Originally Posted by jsconyers

That sounds a little odd that is shows the the picture of the battery on the display when the battery is removed from the device. The only time I have seen that is when the charger was connected to the device without a battery.

no thats the issue. I had the charger connected but not the battery. It told me to insert and when I did the screen went blank and the led to the top right started blinking.

If its not connected to the charger its obviously just black screen.

[raviadso]

Originally Posted by SanFrancisco

That is telling you that the chip is either not formatted correctly or that it is inserted wrong.

Look at the good side, it's not the Pearl, it's the chip.

Keep working on it.

Don't be too sure it's inserted right. Remove it, and the SIM, and reinsert carefully. Even if you swear they are in correctly. It does not take much for those to get out of alignment.

But I think it's a formatting problem.

Ive redone both about 18 times, and even got my mini soldering magnifying glass to make sure the little pop-up leads on the pearl match up with the card.

may just be a wierd broken blackberry and the somewhere near the memory card there is a fracture or something of the wiring.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by raviadso

Ive redone both about 18 times, and even got my mini soldering magnifying glass to make sure the little pop-up leads on the pearl match up with the card.

may just be a wierd broken blackberry and the somewhere near the memory card there is a fracture or something of the wiring.

Here's the link:

http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...rosd-chip.html

I think it is the chip, not the Pearl. That's what your display and red light are telling me. When I have experimented with various chips, some have not worked on the Pearl. When I boot up it gives me the flashing red notifier light and the battery symbol with a line through it on the display. Sometimes.

If you have another chip to try out, great.

Otherwise, put the chip in a reader, open Windows Explorer and format the chip selecting "FAT" not "FAT32."

Also, make sure the Pearl's media card features are turned on:


To set the Pearl up to use the MicroSD card:


<settings>

<advanced options>

<Media Card>

Turn <Media Card Support> to 'on'

Turn <Mass Storage Mode Support> to 'on'

Set <Auto Enable Mass Storage...> to 'yes'

click <escape> key [key to right of trackball] to get to <save> option

Scroll to 'yes' and click trackball to save the settings.

[raviadso]

just connected it to the computer via data cable and its freaking out-- I think the blackberry may be broken.

It gives me the sound like its connecting and then disconnecting over and over. The memory card slot is making it reset over and over.

it is just so bizarre that it only freaks out and keeps resetting itself when I have a memory card installed.

And yeah I had FAT, then formatted it to FAT32 which didnt fix anything, then went back to FAT and its still broken.

Definitely a hardware issue with the blackberry.

Thanks for the help though all. I was wondering if it was too big (2gigs), or if it had to format it itself.

[jeremyckitching]

Maybe that's what the owner sold it on eBay

[raviadso]

Originally Posted by jeremyckitching

Maybe that's what the owner sold it on eBay

its a company that sells a lot of refurbed blackberries but yeah the onwer probably used their warranty, RIM refurbed it but never tested it with a memory card and sent it to this company.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by raviadso

its a company that sells a lot of refurbed blackberries but yeah the onwer probably used their warranty, RIM refurbed it but never tested it with a memory card and sent it to this company.

Well, try wiping it and reinstalling with the latest OS. All is not lost yet. The new OS, 107, is available online at T-Mo as we speak.

[raviadso]

Originally Posted by SanFrancisco

Well, try wiping it and reinstalling with the latest OS. All is not lost yet.

how would I do that? I was just thinking that it could be a very old firmware and if it doesnt auto-update from the t-mobile network or from connecting to the Windows software (4.2.2.14 is the PC, phone says 4.0.4.42 ?) then it may have an old firmware that does not allow 2 gig cards?

[SanFrancisco]

The reason I say to reinstall the firmware/OS is that the latest versions change the firmware for the miscroSD slot. If that's the issue, may fix it.

[raviadso]

Originally Posted by SanFrancisco

The reason I say to reinstall the firmware/OS is that the latest versions change the firmware for the miscroSD slot. If that's the issue, may fix it.

ok I found an article on how to upgrade, but how do you wipe the BB?

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by raviadso

ok I found an article on how to upgrade, but how do you wipe the BB?

Search the Forum, there's a thread on it. Also Mr. Clark [moderator] is the authority on it. He will suggest using JLCommander [it's free].

But, I believe that you can simply install the new OS from T-Mo and it will upgrade everything and do a wipe for you. At least that's what I did the last install, on Aug 13.

Follow the directions on T-Mo's site. I believe it does NOT say to do a wipe, just install it over the existing OS and firmware.

[raviadso]

Oh my god it fixed it. I am so in love with you all right now. Thank you so much for your patience and super-fast replies. I thought I had somehow screwed up the phone and I didnt have a warranty.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by raviadso

Oh my god it fixed it. I am so in love with you all right now. Thank you so much for your patience and super-fast replies. I thought I had somehow screwed up the phone and I didnt have a warranty.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For benefit of other members who might read this thread, what fixed it?

The OS install?

[raviadso]

Originally Posted by SanFrancisco

For benefit of other members who might read this thread, what fixed it?

The OS install?

yeah I downloaded the latest firmware, installed it, erased that one file and then updated it via the desktop manager

either the old firmware was corrupted, it didnt handle the SD slot properly, or it couldnt handle the 2gig card-- whatever it was installing the new firmware helped it. I think it was booting up, seeing the card in the slot and resetting itself over and over which is why it flashed the red light for 3 seconds, then 5 seconds off and why when I connected it to the USB port of my PC it kept giving me the sound like I added a new USB device, then unplugging the USB device (bee-dee, dee-boo, bee-dee, dee-boo, bee-dee, dee-boo)