Bold 9650 with OS 6 and Random Reboots

[SuzyQ]

I know this thread is a few months old, but the discussion is good; others may find useful things in the previous posts and I have comments to make on the subject so . . . .

I am brand new to Blackberry (just over a month), and let me first say that I'm liking it!  I activated my Bold the end of May with OS 5.0.0.975, and have used it for a month with that OS, and it has been flawless.  Why mess with a good thing?  But I did.  I upgraded this morning to OS 6.0.0.524, since I kept getting the prompt to update when I'd hook up the USB for backups and transferring pictures.  And I'm curious . . .

As Doc said it only took 30 minutes using BDS, and has been running fine all day.  Most of the day I have been home and it has used our home wifi for most things.  All the apps came over, though a couple said there was a newer version, so I updated those as well (Be Buzz and a weather app).  The ringtone selection is not as varied as OS5, but you CAN get the OS5 ringtones to use on OS6.  If I stay with 6, I may go ahead and grab the old ringtones; for now my own custom and the ones that are part of the OS are adequate. 

I have reversed my SIM card so it is not being detected, but I did notice my Mobile Network Options had reset to Roaming ON and Network Technology had reset to Global.  So not ALL settings are restored from a backup - I'll see how the phone behaves over the next few days and let you  know what happens, if anything!

[StreetDocRN]

Suzy,

Thanks for your input. I am curious of how your device will perform. Just a side note for this thread, I wanted to mention about my wife's Bold. I upgraded my wife's 9650 a couple of weeks ago and her device has worked perfectly...no reboots. I did check with Verizon's customer service tech department. They took me through all the usual fixes that have been mentioned in this thread. The tech finally told me the problem could be just with my device. I guess anything is possible. As of now, my wife has the latest OS 6 on her device. I have resigned myself to running 5.0.0.975 on mine with no reboots. I am waiting patiently for some of the newer Blackberry devices to be released soon by RIM.

Doc

[SuzyQ]

Update - after 24 hours the phone is still performing normally. One weird thing though - when I went to sleep last night I held the power button down to "turn handheld off" overnight like I have done in the past.

This morning I turned it back on, and although it came on, none of the network icons were there - it showed the letters 3G, and the GPS symbol on, no bars, no wifi, the upper right corner of the device screen was a bit empty. And I got no email or message notifications, which is highly unusual!

Checking through various network settings, I saw that Data services had been set to OFF somehow - once I set that to ON, all the proper icons lit up, and the messages started pouring in, and it seems to be working normally now.

I have no idea if it was a network thing, an OS glitch, or what - I will see what happens tonight....

[DionM_VZW]

Hey, Suzy! How did it go??

[SuzyQ]

Hi DionM, and others following this thread...the network setting itself(?) to OFF did not happen again. It's behaving normally, as far as I can tell. No random reboots, calls, texts, emails, web - all seems to be in order.

I'll keep running OS 6 as long as it works well, which it has done so far. I have discovered a few quirks, or differences from OS5; those are for another thread since I have questions to ask....

[liznjon]

Hi All!

I have read through this forum and all the posts after getting my 3rd replacement phone in 1 month.  I am STILL having all the random rebooting problems, normally twice per day.  I do have the V6.0.0.524 BB software.  Will one of you..William, Doc or Suzy please give me some advice on what to do?  This is extremely irritating and annoying.  I have even gone so far as when I got this particular phone (2 days ago), the only thing I restored was my contacts...nothing else.  I have reformatted the SD card per Verizon technical support request...and it did not help.

I am about to pull my hair out!  My husband is stationed overseas, and has a blackberry as well.  He is still running version 5 software and has no problmes.  If it weren't for the fact that we can use BBM to communicate, I would likely jump ship to an Adroid.  Anyways, you all have done so well thus far with the troubleshotting, I would greatly appreciate any input you have.

Thanks!!

[StreetDocRN]

Hi, liznjon,

I have suffered from the random reboots ever since the Bold software was upgraded to version 6.  As you can tell from my previous posts, I have tried just about everything I can think of to remedy the problem.  With the latest software version, I still get reboots of about 2-3 per day.  The funny thing is that my wife's Bold does not suffer from the problem.  Even as I sit here to type this reply, my phone just rebooted on its own.  I still find it weird how some devices are affected while others are not.  It could have to do with where the phone was manufactured and the parts that were used, just a guess on that.  For example, some 9630 Tours were made in Mexico and some in Canada.  It should say on the box where the device was made.

My theory is the problem is with the software not the hardware.  I am hoping a future software release will fix the problem.  I believe the problem is in the radio files inside the software.  This would also account for the dropped calls some users have reported.  The OS 5 software, for whatever reason, had a more stable radio file, thus no random reboots.  I have talked to customer service and technical folks.  They will not even acknowledge the problem.  Their advice was to replace the unit or perform a security wipe, erasing all data and reloading the OS 6 software. 

The only sure-fire fix that I have found is to load OS 5 back onto the device.  This would require downgrading your device back to software version 5.0.0.975.  That is probably the version your spouse has loaded on his device and why he does not get the reboots.  In my opinion, that is the only fix for now until a stable OS 6 is released for the 9650.  If you do not know how to downgrade your device, send me a private message here in the forums and I will be glad to send you the instructions. 

Doc

[SuzyQ]

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liznjon wrote:

Hi All!

I have read through this forum and all the posts after getting my 3rd replacement phone in 1 month.  I am STILL having all the random rebooting problems, normally twice per day.  I do have the V6.0.0.524 BB software.  Will one of you..William, Doc or Suzy please give me some advice on what to do?  This is extremely irritating and annoying.  I have even gone so far as when I got this particular phone (2 days ago), the only thing I restored was my contacts...nothing else.  I have reformatted the SD card per Verizon technical support request...and it did not help.

I am about to pull my hair out!  My husband is stationed overseas, and has a blackberry as well.  He is still running version 5 software and has no problmes.  If it weren't for the fact that we can use BBM to communicate, I would likely jump ship to an Adroid.  Anyways, you all have done so well thus far with the troubleshotting, I would greatly appreciate any input you have.

Thanks!!

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First off, thank you to your husband for his service - and to you for maintaining the homefront.  I've been there.... 

Now, to your shut off issue.  As Doc said, the surest way to get rid of the random shutdowns may be to simply go back to OS 5.0.0.975 as the most stable release to date.  If you still have OS 6 on the phone, here are a couple of things that MAY work (I am running OS 6 without issues for almost a month now....) 

Go to Manage Connections >>Mobile Network Options >>Network Technology and set it to 1XEV  I also took the SIM card and reversed it so it is not making contact with anything; you can just as easily remove it but I'd probably lose it!

I am using wi-fi while at home and have the Network Selection set to Automatic; it seems to switch between wi-fi and 3G smoothly when I move in and out of range of our home wi-fi.  I also have a few others set up (our church, other local "hotspots" I've connected to) that seem to connect flawlessly when I get in range.

Let us know if you try any of these and are able to work with OS 6, or if rolling back to OS 5 turns out to be your best solution.  And again, thanks to you and your husband for serving our country!!

[schloss]

Hello! I've actually been experiencing the same issue. I'm to the point where I'm just ready tp downgrade to the OS 5. Can you please send me the instructions to do so? These random reboots are beyond a nuisance and all I want is a working phone. I'm fed up with dealing with Verizon's services since they are unable to fix the situation and the glitch has yet to be fixed with OS 6. Thank you so much.

[SuzyQ]

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schloss wrote:

Hello! I've actually been experiencing the same issue. I'm to the point where I'm just ready tp downgrade to the OS 5. Can you please send me the instructions to do so? These random reboots are beyond a nuisance and all I want is a working phone. I'm fed up with dealing with Verizon's services since they are unable to fix the situation and the glitch has yet to be fixed with OS 6. Thank you so much.

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Here's an earlier thread where StreetDoc gives instructions on downgrading to OS5:

http://community.vzw.com/t5/Blackberry-Bold/Going-back-to-OS-5/m-p/563090#M903

I'm sorry to hear your experience with OS6 wasn't so good.  It seems some devices take it well and others do not; so far my device has been fine with OS6 but yours, Doc's, and many others have some serious issues with it.     Is it some simple common factor we are overlooking?  Or some complex combination of factors that make some devices OK and some not?  Sooooo frustrating to not know the answer to this and be able to say "here's the fix"!!

Good luck with the downgrade.