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| Barry Dark |
Andy Rafferty, director of ARC IT Solutions, comments here on how mobile phone dealers can resolve a lot of common BlackBerry technical issues.
With the growing popularity for smartphones amongst business and personal users, the possibility of your customers approaching you with technical issues is increasingly likely. Resolving these issues is a headache for mobile phone dealerships, and how you deal with those enquiries will set you apart from your competition.
The internet is not the best place to look for answers to these problems. Search for “common BlackBerry handset issues” on Google and you’ll be submerged with over eight million results.
It’s hard to distinguish between the accurate, incorrect and possibly even damaging information. So, it is much faster to consult an expert, or become an expert yourself!
Top 10
Here are the top ten Blackberry battles and some hints on how to deal with them:
1 Software stresses. It may sound basic, but battery pulling should be your first port of call if a customer approaches you with application or data errors, for example. Leave the device on and simply remove the battery from the unit. After waiting a minute or so replace the battery, turn the device back on and let the device reboot. Alternatively a similar solution is a soft reset. Hold down the ALT, right shift and DEL keys. Performing this action twice will cause the device to double reset and is the equivalent of a battery pull.
2 Messages and call logs are disappearing. This is one of the biggest Blackberry battles we deal with, and it’s usually due to a memory leak. The device ‘eats’ messages and call logs mysteriously vanish. This is simply the phone running out of memory and freeing up space. To combat this, hold ALT, SHIFT and H simultaneously to open the help menu, and check the “File Free” information. This should be between 12 and 14Mb, and if there’s less than that, delete some of the files or unused applications.
3 Trackball troubles. Sadly, although you will often have to deal with this kind of problem, it’s usually a hardware issue. The best case here is to refer the customer to their service or handset provider.
4 Screen freezes. As with most computer devices, screen freezes will disappear by using the hard reset or battery pull technique. On some devices, the RESET button, often found near the bottom or under the battery cover will also solve this issue.
5 Email issues. The best place to start is with a soft or hard reset, but if the issue is still present afterwards, check whether the handset can perform call functions and access the internet. Your customer may just need a stronger GPRS signal. If the problem still persists it could be due to billing errors or network downtime.
6 Connecting to Enterprise Server. To set up a connection, go into Options, then Advanced Options, and finally Enterprise Activation. Type in the user’s email address, and the activation password provided. The Blackberry will activate, although it may take a few minutes. This will only work if your customer is set up on Enterprise Server, so check that before carrying out these steps.
7 The browser has gone missing. This usually happens after upgrading the operating system. To fix this check the icon is not hidden, by selecting Menu and then Show All. Then go to Options, Advanced Options, and Host Routing Table. Press the Menu key and select Register Now. Perform a soft reset and the problem should be fixed after rebooting.
8 Synchronisation errors. A number of issues lead to sync errors. Delete any synchronised files, perform a soft reset and then resynchronise the files. If this does not work, try a hard reset instead of the soft.
9 Backlight and screen delay problems. Check the screen settings, and if this fails to rectify the issue, install the BB light freeware programme, which makes these options more accessible.
10 Separating email from SMS. Simply go to your inbox options, then General Options and change SMS and Email Inboxes to ‘Separate’. However some themes can affect this setting.
ARC IT Solutions are BlackBerry support specialists.
 | | visit http://www.arcitsolutions.co.uk/ |