Diagnose Problems on Your Blackberry

If you frequently face problems with your Blackberry such as GPS reception or a non responsive trackball, it would be a good idea to figure out the exact cause of the problem. Fortunately, all Blackberry phones running Blackberry OS 4.2 and above have a built in utility to test different parts of your Blackberry.

This guide will get you up and running with these tests and soon you'll be able to diagnose the exact cause of the problem and take appropriate action for it.

The tests could save you a trip to the service center and It would be a good idea to perform these tests before you send your Blackberry in for technical help.

Some software issues are usually assumed to be hardware problems, so performing these tests will allow you to ascertain the cause of any issues you are facing. While most software related problems can be solved with a soft reset, hard reset or upgrading the OS. You can also test the keyboard to make sure all your keys are working and therefore give your old phone a new lease of life.

To perform the tests follow the steps below:

Step 1 : Navigate to your Blackberry home screen.

Step 2 : Click on Options.

Step 3 : From the on screen menu, select Status.

Step 4 : On the status screen which open ups, type the word "test".

Step 5 : Open the menu in the Device Self Test Application Screen that appears.

Step 6 : Choose Start from the on screen menu.

Step 7 : You will now see a list of components that you can choose to test.

The features that you can test include:

• Keyboard and Trackball
• Misc
• Handset Audio
• Headset Audio
• Bluetooth Audio
• RF Components
• GPS (If supported by your phone)

Step 8 : Select the component you want to test and click Run.

After you have performed a test, the Device Self Test Application main screen will display a report. The reports provides additional information and details for each test. The RF antenna test will even dial a number to test the signal reception. You also have a vibration test under the Misc category.