BlackBerry vs. iPhone

If your BlackBerry fails to start there could be three things that are wrong with it; it could be totally dead, it could be trying to restart while giving you LED activity only, or it could have failed to restart giving you a white error screen.  You may still be able to restore your BlackBerry back to life…

If your BlackBerry device has become wet at some point in time, then this would explain your situation.  Water is probably the worst culprit when it comes to the damage that mobile phones take.  If you have not dryed it out yet, you could try placing the device in a sealed container with some rice.  The dry rice should extract every last bit of moisture.  After that you can replace the batter and try starting it up again.

If your BlackBerry device still fails to start then the OS must be corrupt, and you will need to start from scratch.

Step one:  Make sure that you have BlackBerry Desktop Manager installed.  You can either use the CD that came with your device, or download the latest version v4.3, however, you may want to pass on the Roxio as it will slow the process down.

After BlackBerry Desktop Manager is installed you will need to install a specific OS.  This will not be on your device CD.  You will need to download the original, or any specific version from the download section at the main BlackBerry site.

After you have the new OS installed, you will then prepare it for your device.

Choose Start

Choose Computer, and then the Drive C: Icon

Next open Program Files

Then Common Files

Then Research In Motion

Finally, AppLoader

Scroll down to the bottom and delete the file named Vendor.xml

Your BlackBerry device should now be ready for restoration.  Make sure that Desktop Manager is not running, and plug your device into the USB.

Next we will use the command line interface.

If you are using Windows XP then use the command:  Start / Run… / Command

If you are using Windows Vista then use the command:  Start / Command (type into start search)

A command prompt in a black screen will then appear.

If you are using Windows XP then use:

CD \
CD PROGRA~1
CD COMMON~1
CD RESEAR~1
CD APPLOA~1
LOADER /NOJVM

If you are using Windows Vista then use:

CD \
CD PROGRAM FILES
CD COMMON FILES
CD RESEARCH IN MOTION
CD APPLOADER
LOADER /NOJVM

A forced rebuild will begin once you hit enter after the final command.

Once the rebuild is finished, unplug the USB from the computer and wait for the start up.  This should take approximately thirty minutes, and should not be interrupted.

When your BlackBerry device is ready, you can use Desktop Manager Application Loader to restore the back up files, if you saved any, and customize it.

If you have more questions you can ask the author, or find more answers at this forum.