Disappearing Call Logs on the Blackberry Pearl, the Update

My first post regarding the issues I had with the disappearing call logs on the Blackberry Pearl received a lot attention. It also finally gave me a real solution. Thanks to the commenter, Pete, I was directed to the Howard Forums website, where I found the fix on the RIM forum. The solution is to update the phone’s firmware. As of April 4th, 2007, Cingular has released the most recent version of the Pearl firmware: version 4.2.0.73. My Pearl is from T-Mobile, but the poster on the forum says that’s OK - the firmware update will not de-brand your phone. Lucky for you, I went ahead and tried this first, and I didn’t end up with a paperweight after the upgrade, so it’s relatively safe to proceed; but be warned, this is not an upgrade for the faint of heart - you should be cautious - have a good backup in place & know how to do a restore from your Blackberry Desktop Manager, just in case.

The steps (re-posted from the forum):

1. Download the software update from this link: https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=577BCC914F9E55D5E4E4F82F9F00E7D4 (note: you have to pick the option for the “BlackBerry Pearl (Red 8100c)”

2. Save the update to your PC in an easy-to-locate place, like your desktop. When the download completes, double-click the executable to run the installation program. (Choose setup language: English, click “OK”; click “Next”; accept the agreement; click “Next”; on the last screen make sure the checkbox “Yes, I want to start the Desktop Manager Software” is NOT checked; click “Finish.”)

3. Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader and delete Vendor.xml

4. Connect the Blackberry Pearl to the computer via the USB cable

5. Open the Desktop Manager software (this came with your phone and should already be installed on your PC.)

6. After the phone finishes syncing, you will be prompted to apply the update. Click the “Update Now” button.

7. Another wizard will display - click “Next,” “Next,” “Next,” & “Finish.” As it turns out, my update crashed at some point, leaving me with a white screen with an black icon with a slash over it. The fix for this is to reboot the computer and then restart the Desktop Manager; click on “Application Loader” and restart the process.

I ended up with a functioning phone with none of the Blackberry Pearl issues including the memory leak issue, disappearing emails, disappearing call logs, delay in answering phone calls before someone can hear you, slow media access time, and slow reset time.

If you try this, post here with your results or over on the thread at the Howard Forums.

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