BlackBerry WSOD - White Screen of Death

Written by: Bill Fulks • Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher
Updated May 25, 2011

If you go for too long without restarting your BlackBerry, you may eventually experience the dreaded white screen of death. Here's info on how to fix it and prevent future WSOD errors.

click to enlarge

This past weekend, I left my BlackBerry smartphone unattended for about an hour and came back to find it had locked up. The background of the screen had turned white and it was displaying some kind of nondescript error message with some numbers. No matter what I pressed, none of the buttons would respond and I couldn’t get the phone to turn on or off.

What my BlackBerry phone had experienced is called the WSOD, or White Screen of Death. The name comes from the infamous BSOD, or Blue Screen of Death, that is associated with Microsoft Windows crashing. Just like a BSOD in Windows, the WSOD on my BlackBerry meant that my phone had, for lack of a better term, crashed.

What Causes the WSOD?

Your BlackBerry is basically a miniature computer. It runs programs, stores data, plays sound and video, and much more. Just like any computer, it needs to be restarted every once in a while. What happens is little issues called memory leaks can make your phone eventually reach the point that it can’t handle any more information and it locks up. By rebooting the phone, just like with a computer, it flushes out the memory and helps to prevent overload.

How to Fix a BB White Screen Error

click to enlarge

The only way to fix the BlackBerry WSOD is to remove the battery for a few seconds, then put it back in. If you’re like me and use a tough BlackBerry case that isn’t very easy to remove, the act of popping the battery is pretty bothersome. I’ve seen a variety of ‘battery pull’ type applications for the BlackBerry and actually tried one of them, but nothing seems to work as well as manually removing the battery. Don’t be alarmed if it takes your phone a while to boot back up after a battery pull. My BlackBerry Curve 8330 takes about three minutes to restart.

When I bought my BlackBerry, it wasn’t until after I had signed all the papers and was about to walk out of the store until the clerk at the cellular phone store kindly informed me that I would need to pop my battery out about once a week. I thought she was joking, but apparently this is just something that some BlackBerry users have to do in order to keep their phones working properly. I sure hope Research in Motion gets this problem figured out soon, otherwise I am switching to a different kind of phone as soon as my contract runs out. (Update: When it came time for contract renewal, I ditched my BB in favor of the Samsung Galaxy S and have never been happier.)

Prevention Tips

The most recommended way to prevent your BlackBerry from having the white screen of death is to do like the clerk said and pop the battery out about once a week. It’s a pain, but necessary. If you don’t and your phone crashes like mine did, you could miss an important phone call, email, or text message and not even realize it.

You should also install the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software on your PC and regularly connect your phone in order to get the latest software and firmware updates. These updated versions often contain fixes for whatever was making your BlackBerry get the white screens. Be sure to back up all your contacts and data before updating, because you could lose everything if the process fails or is interrupted.

References

Author's personal experience with the BlackBerry Curve 8330.

Adrigroenewald Jan 25, 2012 8:22 AM

RE: BlackBerry WSOD - White Screen of Death

mine is showing app error 200

LilSaint Jan 22, 2012 3:41 PM

I have the same problem as Jooyclair, and i have done battery pulls. I even reloaded my OS. It still does the same thing. Help please

Lisacoogal Jan 17, 2012 3:47 PM

My blackberry 9500 keeps loading up then showing me a white screen saying reset flash read error ? help?!! then shutting down???

Jooyclair Jan 17, 2012 10:19 AM

my blackberry goes blank white when on use and then only if I charge before it comes on again. and if it is on light it wont go white blank. whats the possible cause.

Bill Fulks Dec 2, 2011 10:55 PM

Since writing this, I switched to a Samsung Galaxy S!

.. Dec 2, 2011 5:15 PM

heloo , i just got my new bb curve 8520 , it broke the 1st day i had it , my friend accidently locked the phone and it wouldnt unlock so i did a battery pull , from then on the battery broke , i bought a new battery but now it has the white screen problem , and ive tried a battery pull and charging it , but still it goes back to the white screen , and i dont have warrenty on it ! help please!!

Ashley Gushue Nov 19, 2011 3:25 PM

Same thing is happening to me but in order for my phone to stop crashing I have to keep it plugged into my computer... I might just take it into the bell store today.

lily Nov 18, 2011 11:36 PM

my blackberry froze and when i restarted it the loading sign gets stuck towards the end and keeps doing it .. has anyone experienced this?

Victoria Nov 11, 2011 2:03 AM

Is it because I dropped it that the screen turned white?...or something totally different?

Jeff Nov 1, 2011 4:06 PM

have it plugged into the charger when you put the battery back. its the only way to get mine back on.

Jeff Nov 1, 2011 4:05 PM

my phone shuts off during phone calls. it shut off on me 6 times yesterday. the ONLY way to get it back on, as i have learned, is to pull the battery, plug the phone into the charger and then replace the battery. if i only put the battery back in it will reboot then go directly to a white screen and never get to my t-mobile screen and home screen. i have to have the phone plugged into the charger, and put the battery back in to be able to get to the home screen. ive orderd a new battery and i hope that fixes the issues.

Denise Oct 29, 2011 1:49 PM

Did ever figure out how to fix this, I am having the same problem. Battery symbol showing on white sreen, arghhhhh!!!

Im Weirdo Oct 27, 2011 5:49 PM

does ur phone china made? cause i experienced it once. i bought bb storm. everything ok except for the touch screen problem. it went crazy. after removed the battery, wait for few sec, and it work fine but not perfectly. then, trouble like urs occurred when i charging the phone. after doing some research, i found that it china made BB. damn!

Ashu Oct 10, 2011 1:34 PM

It woked!!

Splendid solution. Battery extracting and putting it back has helped with Blackberry Tourch 9800. Cheers Guys

Adam Oct 5, 2011 11:20 PM

WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH!

I Ran over my BB Curve 3g with my Truck!, Phone worked but was majorly road rashed and screen would stay WHITE,

I Replaced screen, Still White..

Used BB desktop manager and did an OS update which backed up everything and Installed fresh,, Phone WORKS PERFECT!!!!!

TRY IT, MIGHT MAKE YOUR DAY!

Jessie Sep 17, 2011 12:35 PM

White Screen

Hello guys, ive been having the excact same trouble, with the ''white screen'' wondered if anyone could help me asap! thanks .

rene Sep 1, 2011 2:11 PM

blackberry 8300 curve white screen

hello guys, please can someone help me. i am having problems with my blackberry 8300 curve, i tried updating the software using blackberry desktop software. the update didn't go through, it failed part way, am my blackberry wont come on to my blackberry desktop screen. when i put the blackberry on, it loads and ends on a white screen and give me this message error app 5500. please i will really appreciate if someone can help me tell how to solve this problem, when i connect my usb cable to my blackberry and onto my computer the blackberry desktop software does recognize the blackberry anymore. please help help help. or email me with solutions at renentung@yahoo.com

Liam Harrison Aug 6, 2011 3:45 AM

mines white but it doesnt turn on when the charger but no battery

niccheer Aug 6, 2011 12:40 AM

blackberry 8130 stuck at white screen

i was updating my blackberry 8130 and it stuck in the reboot stage for more than an hour i googled what to do and ppl said to just take it out and plug it back in and then it would work and finish up quicker when i did that, it was still in the same spot at the rebooting stage and my phone wasnt even loading anymore it is now at a white screen and even when i unplug and take the battery out it is still at the white screen and when i try plugging it in and trying to re updating it wont work so idk what to do now ?

Conor Jul 29, 2011 2:15 PM

WSOD

same as other people, my blackberry will recieve messages + calls, but i cannot see anythimg. i can also type in peoples names and ring then as i realised i was in a call for 30 minutes with a friend of mine, without me realising. someone please help me with this!

lizzie Jul 25, 2011 10:18 AM

wsod

i have the same problem just white screen but it makes dialing sound wen i press buttons can revcive calls and take pictures but just can not view anything please help

aravind Jul 6, 2011 2:21 AM

bb curve signs of trouble

at night time i downloaded an app in my blackberry cuve 3g 9300 suddenly my phone got stuck for about 15 min later i removed the battery and allowed it to reboot it did and stopped at the point where the screen shows shows blue blackberry welcome icon and it isn't moving on i tried to remove and re insert the battery a several times but th e same problem is repeated please help!!!

Anonymous May 24, 2011 7:28 PM

Blackberry Issue (blue line thing)

I posted the first comment abt the bb issue and i tried using a new battery, it worked then. Guess you need a new battery.

Bill Fulks May 24, 2011 1:29 PM

Battery

Maybe you need a new battery. Have you tried plugging in the charger and then seeing if it will turn on?

Athena Asamiya May 24, 2011 12:59 PM

battery with the blue line

I have exactly the same problem as the "anonymous" before me... can anybody help us ?

Anonymous May 23, 2011 8:36 AM

Blackberry Issue

After m bb went through the "white screen of death" thing, i pulled the battery out and popped it back in, a usual thing for me to do. But when i put it back in this time, it wasn't turning on, I've done it several times and I plugged it in, took out the media card. Whenever i do plug it in, a white screen with a battery that has a BLUE line comes on and then it falls back to black. I need my bb fixed ASAP. Help?

Anonymous May 17, 2011 2:53 PM

BB white screen! arrr

i need help bad i want my bb curve fixed how can i do this with out dismantiling it!!:/

kimberly May 12, 2011 12:20 AM

white screen of death

If you do not wish to pull the battery, you can also reboot the (curve) and some other models by holding three keys down (like a computer's ctrl+alt+del to reboot) use left ALT right capslock (key with aA^) and del <-- key. So Alt+Rshift+Del will reboot just like a bat pull (even while in the WSOD on my phone)
Curve 8530

Cait Apr 27, 2011 1:12 AM

Blackberry Curve 8520

Anytime I dont have my blackberry plugged in to the charger it does this to me. And its so annoying because I cant have a charger with me everywhere I go. And the only way i can get it to come back on is to plug it into the charger. It started this a few weeks ago, and my warranty ran out in March. So I really wish I could get it fixed.

carlissa Apr 20, 2011 7:04 AM

white sceen

atfther i drop it in water what can i do an its a white sceen

Lois Apr 7, 2011 7:34 AM

I dropped my blackberry curve 8520 on the floor and the screen craked inside(white screen with lines,wich shows its cracked),so we bought a new one,and it's white,but i know that the phone isnt broken because the sound still works when i dial a number(although i cannot see what im dialling) HELP?!
If you have white screen with a line down the middle the screen is broke you can buy new one;s on ebay for around £10-£20.

htc Apr 5, 2011 3:53 PM

Never buy BlackBerry sh*t

I have BB Storm - I left it unattended for awhile, as I don't use it often. The stupid pig discharged completely below the minimum its battery, killing it. Then it refuses to charge it. After I charged it a little externally, I put it back in. The "phone" booted up, displayed all normal. I plugged the charger again, it showed a charging process but in a few hours this sh*t discharged the battery again and went off. I'm never gonna take another BB, even if they give me money with it.

Chrissy Mar 29, 2011 7:01 PM

white screen no error message

I have a white screen on my blackberry. No error message on the white screen. Just white. When I get messages it vibrates. Can this just be a lcd issue?

seun Mar 29, 2011 4:53 AM

bb 9700

my 9700 bb just droped and it came up with a white screen, i've removed d battery a couple of times bt its still white, what can i do?

kapil Mar 28, 2011 4:30 PM

BB bold 9000

I have a bold.. its screen randomly goes white and i have to take out the battery and put it again to fix it.. But after some time it happens again the screen again goes white.. Its very frustrating.. BB *****big time.. Changing the OS neither downgrading nor upgrading helps..

nikki Mar 28, 2011 12:45 AM

hey

I had the same problem with my bb 8520. Wen I call the phone company they send me a replacement (they send a new phone 3times) and I was still having the white screen. I brought a new battery and as of right now its working perfectly.

lou Mar 24, 2011 12:45 PM

white screen!

i woke up this morning to find that my blackberry curv 8520 had a blank white screen and its still white now its new what do i do!

chlozeee Mar 18, 2011 12:55 PM

VERY IMPORTANT

i have a blackberry 9300 and i took the battery out and every thing it is only 1 month old and it just appears with a blank screen how do i fix it ???

Rachel Feb 10, 2011 11:44 AM

BLACKBERRY BOLD 9700

My Blackberry screen randomly turned white - nothing had happened to it. I tried to turn it on and off again using the red power button but no response. I've take the battery and SIM card out a few times and nothing changed. After a while I left the battery and SIM card out and the screen turned black but the red light remained on. Now the white screen has returned, although the battery and SIM are not in the phone!? Please help!!!!

jay kay Feb 3, 2011 7:41 AM

white screen

my blackberry 8520 appeared with a white screen, i thought it was the screen that was broke so i bought a new 1 an it still has a white screen how can i fix this...

Margaret Jan 20, 2011 9:18 AM

screen white with a squiggly back line down middle

Hi ther, can anybuddy tell me if my daughters blackberry curve 8520 has the white screen of death. It has a completely white screen but also has a black squiggly line down the middle light felt tip pen, it is definetely not a crack and Maggielook like one underneath, and she has swore blind that she hasnt down anything to this. I will be able to send this away under warranty and I know it is this problem. Thanks Maggie

Bill Fulks Jan 18, 2011 8:56 AM

RE: Patrick

If the red light only blinks a little, it could be you need a new battery. Sounds like it's not charging any more.

patrick Jan 18, 2011 1:47 AM

screen wont turn on

My blackberry 8900 wont go on, though the number pad shows that is on, but nothing on the screen. there is occasionally some red flashing, when connected to charger, some green flashing or just no flashing. any ideas?

Brendan Jan 7, 2011 10:52 AM

WSOD & batteries

Further to my earlier post on this subject since I replaced the suspect batteries (I now rotate two Blackberry-branded batteries) I have had no problems. Seems - for me - to be linked to age of a particular type of battery. I habitually ran them down and performed battery pulls and this had no effect on the problem.

Vickyyy_x Jan 6, 2011 5:41 PM

I had that problem

Hii :) I had the WSOD Yesterday so i took it to the shop i bought it from and they said that it could be one of the apps i downloaded. and another reason they gave for it was that i over worked and it crashed....Easy solution if it kept persisting they said was to back up all the stuff on it thru desktop manager and do a factory reset. Hope that helps :) X

Bill Fulks Jan 5, 2011 11:38 PM

BB White

Sounds like you need a new BlackBerry if it is messed up that bad. Have you tried getting a new battery for it?

BB White Jan 5, 2011 11:09 PM

WSOD: White Screen of Death

Ok This is not working. I can't reboot on it's own. It has to be plugged into computer or wall to start properly. I gotta say, this (The blackberry) is a load of crap. I read somewhere that if you take it apart & put tape over certain parts or the board it will fix this problem because it's really internally shorting out. What sayeth Bill?

omoregie c i d Dec 23, 2010 4:56 AM

my is not displaying

it is only showing red LED light

gus Dec 22, 2010 1:23 AM

BB 9700

my screen turned white after exiting an application. then lines appeared across the screen and then went into sleep mode. after that it was fine for about .........ahhhh not bloody long! screen goes green and fuzzy. so i sent it off to get repaired......got it back today and then turned it on everything seemed fine until.......that bloody white screen crash happened again! 7 times in 30min so ive sent it away once more. might as well give me a new phone!!

Brendan Dec 14, 2010 10:50 AM

WSOD linked to battery

This is an interesting thread. My Blackberry just "whites out", no error message. A battery pull doesn't fix it, but recharging the battery does (even though the Blackberry was not indicating the need for a recharge before it crashed), as does replacing the battery. Interestingly (for me at least), I have three batteries that I rotate regularly. The white out only happens when using the Amazon-bought Cameron Sino Technology batteries (and seems related to their respective ages).

Jacqueline Dec 4, 2010 9:44 AM

Blackberry curve
i have had my phone for 6months and all has been well now i have a white screen, i have taken out the battery reloaded it and still nothing please help

Alice Mary Stephenson Nov 26, 2010 2:07 PM

Mine just goes plain white during any activity at any time and is only excessable to use one the charge is plugged in, i have to take my charger with me everywhere!, So I decided to get it sorted. I got a new blackberry exchange on my issurance yesterday, less then 24 hours and my NEW blackberry does the same!.

Paul Sutherland Nov 14, 2010 7:33 AM

Blackberry 9700

I had the WSOD, then it started to reboot again and again, and thats all it keeps doing, Any sugestions?

thomas delaney Oct 21, 2010 7:45 PM

bb curve 8520

i got wsod with a little splash in corner, no error code, havent dropped or any liquid spills on it. its a bb 8520 curve have tried taking battery out and leaving for hrs but still nofin, but can still hear my msgs coming tho just cant see its great importance i sort out asap. any suggestions please?

Annie Sep 9, 2010 10:46 PM

receiving no emails

I am not getting any emails for about 5 hours. I got the dreaded WSOD, pulled the battery out and turned it back on. Still no emails. I am ready to get rid of this phone! Please help me. Thanks.

Bill Fulks Sep 5, 2010 7:44 PM

Lauren, your phone may just be broken.

Hassan, it sounds like you got a broken screen.

hassan Sep 5, 2010 6:57 PM

my blackberry 9700 dropped really hard and then the screen went white just plain white nothing else on screen and also when i press the buttons i can hear them

Lauren Aug 30, 2010 4:19 PM

Blackberry curve

i have followed your instructions on what to do on my blackberry curve and it is not working it keeps sayin error 102 i really need this phone for college calls and emails my mum is going mad because theres no way it will come on ??

kate Aug 18, 2010 8:25 AM

got WSOD

since 9am this morning I have the white screen with black timer, still got red power button flashing. I tried the battery pull, took out my sim, took out the memory card. Put them all back & since 12 nothing, except the orange logo appeared as if phone starting up but disappeared again. Really need help in fixing this problem & getting my phone back, heavily pregnant & cant be without my phone...please help!!

Mata Herman Aug 4, 2010 2:34 AM

WSOD with battery symbol

My Blackberry mobile phone wont start when I press the on or off button.Even nothing happens when I press other keys.However a white screen appears with the battery symbol and slash across.What is the solution for this?

Wundurgrrl Aug 3, 2010 4:50 AM

Thanks for giving me back my phone! I really needed it while on vacation!!!!

Mata Herman Aug 3, 2010 1:43 AM

White screen

I couldnt turn my phone on when pressing the on button or other keys.No matter what I do it wont respond...Only the white screen with the battery symbol along with slash.Can I have any help?

DEDI YUSPA Jul 26, 2010 10:29 AM

WSOD W/ JVM ERROR 102

my BB screen went WSOD...appeared:
JVM Error 102
reset

What to do....?

I tried to reset but still the same..Please advise!

Steve Jul 24, 2010 6:04 AM

My BB Bold 9700 is getting the WSOD every few hours.
By the time I have flipped the battery out and waited a few minutes before replacing it the battery is so flat it either won't reboot or if it does it hasn't got the strength to get a network signal.

Time for a new phone I think........

Charles Jul 21, 2010 6:37 AM

WSOD gave me the fright of my life. What to do: force reload the phone from Black berry desktop manager. But you have to be patient as this might take a while. Continue trying to reload until it works.

Also remember a battery pull can also be done by pressing 'alt', 'caps' button on the right and 'del' buttons simultaneously for 3 - 5 seconds. This has the same effect as a battery pull.

Sailen Barik Jul 2, 2010 6:43 PM

Bad BB

I don't care whether you call it WSOD or PMS or BMW, it's a problem, and needs to be fixed.

Madison Jun 20, 2010 1:52 AM

I have the Blackberry Curve (in purple) 8530,
and I have only dropped the phone once since i got it, not even a month ago.
anyway, I was playing this game that was already on my phone, and it was called "word mole" and anyway, I loaded the game..and waited for the "saved game" option to pop up, and when it did, i clicked "resume saved game" and boom..it froze, and went to the white screen. :(
I have shut the phone off, and left it for awhile..and nothing works. I just got it, and theres not much on it..maybe a few pictures, and a few texts..but thats it.

I have NO clue what to do, or how to fix it in a way that i understand!
Please, HELP!!!!

Jason May 18, 2010 5:21 AM

Battery Pull Not Working

I got the WSOD, did a battery pull, and nothing. Still get the white screen no matter what. Must be a little more going on.

Wes Mar 29, 2010 3:52 AM

Storm 2 Crashes

I have to do this quite often with my Storm 2. A battery pull is a good thing every now and again but having to do it every time you run an resource hog app is annoying. Don't app developers design programs to actually work anymore? For example, running Slacker Radio on my Storm 2 guarantees a battery pull if I want to have actually have working audio afterward. Don't get to crazy with the apps and you'll be OK I guess but this seems to defeat the purpose of having many useful apps to choose from. Price you will pay is the hassle of pulling the battery every time you use a great app. Maybe I expect too much out of these little computers.

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Bill Fulks Mar 27, 2010 12:02 PM

Sandy, if the problem happened since you did an upgrade, see if you can reverse the upgrade or download and older version. I don't have a BB Storm and can't really be specific on it. Sounds like their update didn't help anything, though.

Sandy-Lee Mar 26, 2010 8:20 AM

Constant WSOD

Hiya,
i did an OS upgrade on my BB Storm about a month ago but for the past two weeks i keep getting the WSOD. I've always regularly done a battery pull.

However this time is different, it keeps showing some 'modem proc' error(the text on the white screen) and then reboots itself, sometimes this can happen 5 times in one day...

I dont know what to do anymore and i really love my storm!

BlackBerry WSOD - White Screen of Death

What Causes the WSOD?

How to Fix a BB White Screen Error

Prevention Tips

References

Comments