BlackBerry Forums Support Community

sash · 12-30-2004, 06:19 PM

Hi All,

I've had my BB 7750 for 2 months. On Tuesday am, the w, s, z keys stopped working then started working again in the afternoon. Wednesday, a few more keys quit on me, now today NO keys are operational and the power button doesn't even work. I deleted all my 3rd party software, tried a soft reset and a hard reset (paper clip pressed in the hole in the bacK) and nothing worked.

Can I uninstall OS 4 and go back to 3.7 to see if it's an OS thing?? How do I do that? I tried reloading 3.7 and 4.0 but nothing changed on the handheld.

The Dealer, Cellular One in Vancouver, will not replace the BB because I've gone passed the 1 month mark and will only a give me regular cell phone loaner. They also tell me it could take 1 month to get the unit fixed! I am realled pissed.

finch · 12-30-2004, 10:41 PM

All Blackberry's have a 1yr. warranty. Most carriers offer a hardware swap if deemed defective. Forget the store your purchased from, try to get in touch with the BB data support team at your carrier. The (Z) key went on my wifes 7280 3mo's in and my carrier Rogers simply swapped the device for a new one.

sash · 12-31-2004, 01:41 AM

Thanks, Finch

Has anyone had any luck getting a new replacement from Telus after the 1st month of warrantee? Telus told me that it is up the the dealer to replace the unit.

It's ridiculous that Telus leaves these policies up to the dealer's discretion!

Mark Rejhon · 12-31-2004, 05:37 PM

If the W S Z keys fail -- the failure has nothing to do with BlackBerryOS. It's a keyboard matrix failure. The second column of conductors failed somehow. It would have happened with OS 3.7 -- an unrelated keyboard failure.

Redeem under warranty.

stanton · 01-03-2005, 10:36 PM

I had a similar problem. Noticed after upgrading to 4.0, that, while showing the new OS off to a coworker, the ctrl key wasn't working! Then, poking around, noticed that it worked if I squeezed the BB right around the Verizon logo I could get it to work. Also, that my problem was almost all the lower row of keys from ctrl to pwr. Hmmm, hardware, not software. Remembered dropping it from 4 ft onto carpet a few days before, so figuring it was "my" fault, I thought I'd open it up and see what I could do.

Carefully pulled it apart, pulled the keyboard off, and lo and behold, the connector that the keyboard plugs in to had half of the solders broken to where it would sometimes make contact. The connector is SMT and the row of 10 legs are on about 1 mm spacing

BTW, the connector on the 7750 is located between the Verizon (or other) logo and the power button, so squeezing there might work for you too - and be the telltale/diagnosis of what's wrong.

Well, I warmed up the soldering iron and very carefully heated and wicked solder back on the row of broken connections - one at a time. After a few minutes of cross-eyed tedious work, everything's fine.

Long story short, replace yours under warranty if possible.

sash · 01-04-2005, 01:55 PM

Thanks for your replies.

I've sent the unit back under warrantee for repair. It's a mystery to me why the unit failed. I've never dropped it. The only thing that <may> have contributed is moisture as I have talked/typed on the unit during a sprinkle or two - but I always wiped it off...so I dunno...I've put all the cellphones I've ever owned through hell, they weren't built half as well as the BB, and never had keyboard errors. Maybe there is something to be said for flip phones!

Hopefully, RIM (or whoever repairs these things) will be able to tell me the likely cause.

You know what? In my adult lifetime, there have been very few devices that I <haven't> returned because of some type of defect or another. I'm just unlucky in that regards I guess?

Ice · 01-04-2005, 05:45 PM

There is a real bad batch of 7750 that was produced. We have had 5 fail on us with three months of purchase. Telus was able to swap these for us withen 48 hours.

CaptNblackberry · 01-04-2005, 06:59 PM

I have the VZW 7750 and the 4.95 insurance plan. I purchased a BB from ebay and it constantly kept asking to be resynched with the desktop.

I called VZW and they overnighted a NEW (maybe refurb) BB to me. I was very happy. My BB is now working perfectly.

I sent back the broken one - no questions asked.....

GO VZW

sash · 01-05-2005, 02:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ice

There is a real bad batch of 7750 that was produced. We have had 5 fail on us with three months of purchase. Telus was able to swap these for us withen 48 hours.

Wow. 48 hours. I wish my dealer gave me that kind of service. Who is your dealer? Did all 5 units start malfunctioning after the 1 month mark? Did they all have the same keyboard issue?

SeikS · 01-07-2005, 01:21 AM

I had the exact same problem happen to my Telus 7750 on New Years Eve.

My Q, A, CTR, W, S, Z, 0, L, and DEL keys all stopped working.
At first, I too thought it was a software problem as I have OS 4.0 on my BB. Then I thought I might not have noticed spilling a drink on my bberry while partying to bring the new year in. But as more keys failed, I realized something was F^%$ed.

I am within the 1yr warranty and Telus gave me a replacement unit that arrived 2 days after order. I'm picking it up tomorrow morning and hoping that all will be fine! haha I'll let you guys know if any problems.

No device is perfect, but I still feel build quality on the bberrys is great, better than the Palm I had.

SeikS · 01-07-2005, 01:28 AM

I just tried "Stanton"s suggestion of squeezing the logo by the usb connection and yes, while squeezed, all malfunctioning buttons work! haha

Stanton, you should get a job at RIM! haha

I'm gonna trade my unit in instead of opening it myself.

sash · 01-07-2005, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeikS

I am within the 1yr warranty and Telus gave me a replacement unit that arrived 2 days after order. I'm picking it up tomorrow morning and hoping that all will be fine! haha I'll let you guys know if any problems.

No device is perfect, but I still feel build quality on the bberrys is great, better than the Palm I had.

SeiKs,

How long have you had your unit? Who is your dealer? It blows me away that I have to wait a month for my unit and everyone else gets theirs in 2 days!?

SeikS · 01-07-2005, 02:07 AM

my unit is 6mts old.
Just call Telus Cus Service and complain.
Then go to a corporate store

sash · 01-07-2005, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeikS

my unit is 6mts old.
Just call Telus Cus Service and complain.
Then go to a corporate store

I was told that there were no Telus Mobility corporate stores....Is this not the case in Ontario? Can you tell me what store you are referring to? I'd like to give them a call to get the scoop as I'm not getting anywhere here in Vancouver

Mark Rejhon · 01-07-2005, 04:20 PM

I wonder if OS4 plays a slight role --

Maybe there's a kind of a variable resistance and certain columns buttons are pretty weak on some models -- and that OS4 uses different resistance "cutoff values", making it slightly less sensitive to weakly-connected buttons. Just a theory.

But a pattern of columns of keys stopping working, is definitely a hardware issue, possibly exacerbated by differences in software.

sash · 01-13-2005, 04:01 PM

Woah! Mark - You gone further over my head here than anyone else ever has in a long time

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon

I wonder if OS4 plays a slight role --

Maybe there's a kind of a variable resistance and certain columns buttons are pretty weak on some models -- and that OS4 uses different resistance "cutoff values", making it slightly less sensitive to weakly-connected buttons. Just a theory.

But a pattern of columns of keys stopping working, is definitely a hardware issue, possibly exacerbated by differences in software.

chacosplace.com · 01-24-2005, 01:23 AM

I'm not real good in the tinkering department but...I just bought a 7290 that came from Cingular and after 2 days of finally figuring out how the menus work. I started to use the keypad to make a phone call and the left hand side of the keyboard in the area of the 0 and up wouldn't work. This happened right after I tried to use the OEM swivel case with this unit. Personally I don't think the case fits properly and it probably contributed to tweaking the keys. I ended up exchanging the unit. I just bought a new Krusell case so hopefully the same thing won't happen to the new replacement unit I just got. See this is why an external keyboard is really needed, too bad no one has made one yet.

My 2 cents...don't use the OEM swivel case!

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7750 with OS 4 keyboard failure