[pfketcham]

how can I get my contacts onto my desktop? The display is white: I can't see anything.

[Dubdub]

If you don't have a backup, most likely you can't. At the white screen of death, you are probably too late.

Best to let it dry for a few days and then see if it will come up. However, if it got wet and you left the battery in and tried to reboot it, it is probably fried internally.

[animasana]

hi there pfketcham -
Obviously, this depends on if your phone IS actually working. If its just the screen that has died, you should be OK - The easiest thing to do would be to download and install Blackberry Desktop Manager, plug it into your Bold and export your addresses.

There are two ways to export them depending on what you software you have, what format your want your contacts in and how much patience you have.

A. Syncronise with Outlook

1. From the main menu, click "Synchronize"
2. Under the Configuration heading, choose "Synchronization".
3. Click the "Synchronization" button
4. Put a check mark next to Address Book, then choose your mail program. (eg Outlook)
5. Choose "One Way Sync" from Device to Outlook
6. Click Next, Next, Finish; then Click OK.
7. Click the "Synchronize" heading
8. Make sure the "synchronize organizer data" box is checked and click the "Synchronize" button.

This will push ALL your contacts to your mail client. If there are duplicates, it will ask you what you would like to do. Then its up to you if you want to replace the contact on your desktop mail client, merge the data or leave it.

The second option:

B. Backup contacts "ipd file" with Backup and Restore and then extract teh data using a program called ABC Amber.

1. From the main menu click "Backup and Restore"
2. Choose "Advanced"
3. Click "Address Book All" (the database entry with the most numbers next to it) from the right hand side boxes and click the << arrow to "copy them" locally.
4. Click the "File" button above the left hand box and choose "Save As"
5. Save the file
6. Download (and pay for a sinle user license (19.95)) of ABC Amber BlackBerry Converter from: www dot processtext dot com slash abcblackberry dot html (dont have enough points to post a link, sorry)
** Obviously, 19.95...depends on how much you need your contacts
7. Install the program and register it (a slightly annoying process unfortunately - but it works)
8. Open ABC Amber and then choose File > Open IPD
9. Find the IPD file that you saved in step 5
10. Click on the contacts tab inside ABC Amber
11. All your contacts will be listed
12. Click the "select all contacts" button (green "plus" + sign towards the top of the page)
13. Choose the "Save-As" button at the bottom of the page, and save your contacts in the format of your choice! (for example XLS)

Hope this helps!

[pfketcham]

Thanks for your help. I'll try the desktop manager.