newBBie.com

I need help i dont know how to play my music on my blackberry i have it all set up on my media card but as soon as i open the file a older with a blue arrow shos up pointing UP please help…

Adriana,
How did you put the music on your media card? It sounds like you don’t have the music in the correct folder that the BlackBerry is expecting it to be in. Your media card should begin (at its root) with one folder named “BlackBerry.” Inside that folder there should be 5 folders named, “music,” “pictures,” “ringtones,” “videos,” and “voicenotes.” Inside the “music” folder is where you should put your music files. Music files must be of the proper type. I would stick with MP3 files. That’s the way my media card is set up and it works great. Please let me know if this helps or not.
Kelly

Adriana emailed me that she got it to work but didn’t say how.

Can I put music on my Pearl if I don’t have a memory card?

I just got a Blackberry 8130. So far I love it. However, I was wondering if there is a way to lockout the keypad. When I pick up the unit, sometimes I press the right convenience key it starts the camera, or when I have it in my pocket it sometimes dials a speed dial. I know I used to have other phones that would allow me to lock the keypad.

Wizard,
Hold the asterisk (*) key to lock the keypad. To unlock, press the asterisk key then the Send (green) key. (If locked, when you press any key the phone will remind you how to unlock it.)
Kelly

I was wondering if there is a way to change the ringer on text messages?

Also, can I choose which icons show up on my homescreen short menu?

Ryan,
To change the ringtone for text messages, check out my recent article: http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/tips-tricks-set-phone-to-ring-vibrate-flash-led-part-1/.

I’m not sure but if you line up your favorite icons on the top row, they might stay there when you revert to the “short menu” as you call it. Try and see.
Kelly

Alright, I figured out the ringtones, but how do you move around the icons?

Ryan,
Hover over a Home Screen icon. Press the Menu key. Select Move. Roll the trackball till you have the icon where you want it. Click the trackball. That’s it!
Kelly

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for your site. I have an 8130 with Bell Mobility in Canada. I have yet to get one where the media player doesn’t have an initial ‘pop’ when you start playing an MP3 song. It is incredibly bad for a device that claims to have an MP3 player. I know that these transients are harmful to your hearing so I’m really surprised that this is still an issue. Especially, since they have this ‘Audio Boost’ warning in the media player already.

Have you come across this problem with other users? Is there a solution in the works? I’ve read about the device switching to speakerphone on some websites but have seen no solutions as such.

I can’t get any answers from Bell other than that they know about the problem but officially don’t have it in their customer service database. I keep on sending back the Pearls that have the problem and they keep replacing them but it usually takes a couple hours of ‘troubleshooting’ before they are prepared to send me a new one.

Cheers,

Matt

Matt,
The timing of your question is interesting. I had misplaced my earphones for a long time and only found them today. I noticed that the earphones do “pop” when I start (or stop) the media player. It doesn’t happen with the phone speaker(s), only with the earphones. I don’t use the Audio Boost because of the annoying warning.

So, I have to assume that it’s not a manufacturing defect but more of a design defect. If you’re a real audiophile, I can see how it would be upsetting. My phone’s “pop” doesn’t seem loud enough to do any damage, it’s just annoying. But then again, if you read my article about the ringtone “only the young can hear,” it may be that my aging eardrums aren’t sensitive enough to hear or feel the “pop” the way your ears so.

I can’t think of anything at all that can be done to remedy the pop if it’s a design defect–other than a redesign. Sorry.
Kelly

i just purchased a pearl 8130 and I love it! but i cant quite figure out how to put music on it…the guide is no help.

Porshia,
First, I advise you to get a media card, if you haven’t already. There’s really not enough Device Memory to hold much music before you run out of memory for your phone to operate correctly.

You can load music onto your phone using the Desktop Manager’s Media Manager. Many people complain about the Roxio Media Manager but it has worked OK for me.

You can set your phone for Mass Storage Mode (in Options > Media Card) and, when you plug it into your computer, it will act like a USB flash drive. You can drag-and-drop music into the music folder on your media card.

Let me know if you have trouble with the above.
Kelly

Any idea when MMS picture messaging will be available for the 8130? I have had my phone for several months and subscribed to the picture/messaging bungle (bell mobility) but can only use the text messaging part of it. Seems silly in this day and age that a new model cell won’t send picture messages. I was told through customer support that the technology was not yet available for this model, but that was a few months ago.

Thanks for any help you can give!

Mindy,
MMS definitely is available on the Pearl 8130, it’s just that some wireless carriers (such as Sprint) disable it. They offer a “value-added” service for a fee that allows you to do MMS. So, it’s not a BlackBerry issue–it’s your provider’s issue.

I hear lots of reports of customer support giving out wrong information on the BlackBerry. That’s one reason this site gets so much traffic. Glad you came here to ask.
Kelly

I have the same problem as many others with my pearl 8130, it wont let me send or receive picture messages. Went to the verizon store and talked to their tech guy he said the phone could do it I would just have to back up my info and wipe the phone. did what he had told me to do and still no luck.

Curtis,
So, you wiped your phone. Did you reinstall the OS?

If you do Options > Advanced Options > Service Book, do you see:

MMS Client [MMS]
MMS Transport (RIM) [WPTCP]

If not, you may need to resend Service Books. If that’s your case, I’ll get the instructions to do that. Get back to me.
Kelly

I also wiped my phone and went to the service book and saw nothing. How can i get those settings back?

Sasha,
You need to log in to the BlackBerry Internet Service of your wireless provider. Inside there, you can request that all service books be resent to your phone. If you don’t know how to do that, tell me your provider and I might be able to help.
Kelly

please post ion bell mobility how to resend all service books

Steven,
See instructions here:
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/articles/692/KB02830_f.SAL_Public.html.

For Bell Mobility, I think you log in to the BIS here:
http://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=bell.

Kelly

ok thank u , problem is i have my password but the username i know i used does not work

any ideaS?

Steven,
If you can’t retrieve your password or username, there’s not much I can do to help. Perhaps you can create a new account as if the old one never existed. I haven’t tried that but it might work. If it does work, WRITE DOWN your login information in a safe place. If you are finally able to get in and still have problems, write me back.
Kelly

i have a blackberry curve and if i send a photo to someone who doesn’t have
verizon, they get them sometimes but other times they don’t get them at all, even though it still says it has been delivered to their phone. i’ve never had this problem with any other phone. is there anything i can do to fix this?

Noelle,
Each wireless provider has a slightly different way of doing picture messages (MMS). They aren’t always perfectly compatible. It’s not a fault of your phone, but a difference between the provider you use and the one your friend’s phone uses. If you’re having trouble with a particular person, all I can recommend is to try a lower resolution photo.
Kelly

how do i get ringtones i want to download from muchmusic or mtv to go onto my phone… it keeps telling me to check browser alerts but i can’t even find that!! help!

do you need a PDA adapter for the blackberry pearl to work????
please get back to me asap!!!

Amber,
There is no such adapter needed–and I’m not sure what you’re trying to do. For many things, you need a USB cable to connect your Pearl to your computer, such as using the Desktop Manager software.

Tell me more about what you’re trying to do with your Pearl so I can help better.
Kelly

Hi Kelly,
I am having the same problem with my Blackberry Pearl. I can’t send picture messages or receive them. My provider is T-mobile. I looked under my Service Book and there are no entries. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Julia

Julia,
You do need to restore your Service Books. Here are a couple of ways:

* From your Home Screen, open Email Settings. Assuming you previously set up an account, log in. Select Service Books > Send Service Books.

* I’m told this works for T-Mob users:
1. Go to http://www.t-mobile.com and log in to My T-Mobile.
2. Click SET UP BLACKBERRY INTERNET E-MAIL under Messaging.
3. Click “Handheld” under “Settings”.
4. Click “Send Service Books” to send the BIE service books to the handheld.

Let me know how it works for you.
Kelly

Hello Kelly,
I have an Alltel-supported Blackberry Pearl that doesn’t even have ‘compose mms’ as an option in the menu. I have been reading this site and following all the directions and advice to get mms messaging but there is still nothing about anything that has to do with mms messaging in my service books. I’ve resent them multiple times but still nothing. I’ve done the Host Routing Table step type thing but I still can’t send or receive picture messages. Any advice?

Evelyn,
In the past, Alltel didn’t support MMS on the BlackBerry, but reportedly that is changing. I read reports that it’s “popping up” for various Alltell customers. It may have something to do with your Operating System version. You might need to upgrade.

Here is an article that claims to have instructions that should help:
http://www.blackberrynews.com/2008/10/08/alltel-turns-on-mms-for-blackberry-awaiting-official-word/.

Kelly

Thank you for those tips but now I have another issue, even tho I keep trying to get an update, my actual phone doesn’t update. And when I looked on the link you gave, I did everything it said and compose mms still doesn’t show up! Once again, any advice?

Evelyn,
If you’re trying the “update” link inside Desktop Manager, that’s for updating Desktop Manager itself, not the phone. It’s not clear and people get that confused. To update the OS, you need to download a really large file–the OS–then use Desktop Manager to do the upgrade. It’s quite involved, as you would know if you read my article on doing an upgrade. Your carrier might not yet offer the latest version of the OS. So, what people do is find a download for some other carrier and install that. I think that’s risky, but it’s widely done. I actually did an upgrade of my Pearl 8130 the other day but accidentally (so much for me being an “expert”) upgraded it using the Curve 8330 OS download. Shockingly, it mostly works. But I need to download the correct OS file and do that over again.

Let me know if I might have been right about the “upgrade” link above.
Kelly

Dear Kelly,
I did go to the link you had previously listed but it didn’t help with my phone. I had resent the service books multiple times, pulled the battery, did it again, and reregistered my blackberry but there still weren’t any service books that had anything to do with mms. I also went to another one of your posts (with the upgrades) and I saw that the links were for the older updates. I was wondering if you know of any other links that allow me to update my Alltel phone with the 4.5 update.

Evelyn,
Try the download link and directions found here:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-8100-series-discussion-pearl/151759-latest-os-8130-4-5-0-101-4-5-0-77-multilanguage.html.

I’m assuming your Alltel Pearl is an 8130. Please let me know how your upgrade attempt goes.
Kelly

Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for the link! It worked with my phone and now the compose mms option appeared in my menu! Thanks again!

Evelyn,
Thanks for returning to confirm that the recommendation solved your problem. We learned something together about this!
Kelly

i have a blackberry 8100 & it hasnt been working properly. it says it has signal but when trying to send or recieve a msg it wouldnt let you because you have no service. there would also be an arrow pointing up and blinking

Julie,
Although you may need to get support from your wireless provider, I recommend you try logging in to your BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) [assuming you're not on a corporate BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES)] and click to have your Service Books resent to your phone. If you don’t know how to do that, come back here and ask me. I’ll need to know who your carrier is to give you more instructions.
Kelly

Hi Kelly,
I have a Blackberry Curve and I’m having problems with my MMS. I wanted to send a picture in an SMS message but I discovered that you had to configure MMS to send a picture. So I set up my email with my Gmail account. It got annoying that the emails kept going to my SMS inbox so I looked on your blog and deleted the book for Gmail. This seemed to delete the inbox icon but I’m still getting the emails sent to my SMS inbox. I went into email settings to retrieve all of the books because you said it might help in a previous post. It prompted me to sign into my account which I did but it said that my information was incorrect. I chose “forgot password” and got a confimation that my password was sent to my Blackberry device. I still haven’t gotten the password. I tried to get back into email settings and set up a different email address but got an error message because I already have an account set up on my phone.

I know this is a lot of questions all jumbled together, but I would appreciate any help you could give me!

Thanks

Ok I figured out the email password problem, so sorry for the long post above! Now my real question is how do I get emails to be sent ONLY to my MMS inbox and not to both my MMS and SMS?

Julie,
Thanks for all your questions. I’ll try to keep it all straight!

Let me explain something about SMS versus MMS. SMS is text messaging. It is designed to allow only 160 text characters maximum. No pictures, no video, no sounds.

MMS is for media messaging: text, pictures, video, sound. I’m not sure what the precise limit on text is, but maybe 1000 characters or so. Not sure what limits might apply on file size of media files.

SMS works well between any two phones. I’ve read that MMS messages don’t always work well between phones on different wireless providers, or between radically different phones. So, SMS is very reliable, MMS not as much.

Your Messages folder on your Home Screen tends to receive “everything.” A separate icon for individual email accounts only receives messages from that one email account. But the Messages folder sees messages from all email accounts, plus SMS, plus MMS, plus call log. Open Messages then do: (press Menu key) > Options > General Options. Notice that you can separate out SMS messages to go into their own folder/icon. However, I don’t think you can separate SMS and MMS messages into different folders. If you Open Call Log (sometimes called Phone) icon, then do: (press Menu key) > Options > Call Logging. Notice that you have a little control over what kind of call logging happens.

I hope you can make sense of the above and that it gives you a better phone setup than you have now. Let me know.
Kelly

I am a Mac user and I am trying to transfer music onto my Blackberry Bold. I am using PocketMac Sync Manager to transfer contacts, calendar, etc. but it is not recognizing my Blackberry Bold’s media card. Any suggestions? Also, is PocketMac the best (and only) option for syncing with my MacBook?

Thank you!
Anthony

Anthony,
If you haven’t enabled enabled all the Media Card settings in Options, you definitely need to try that. I have written up those directions many times: see my article on Media Cards at http://newbbie.com/2008/07/27/all-about-media-cards/. Please let me know how that works out.

As far as I know PocketMac is the best and only software for syncing a BlackBerry with a Mac.
Kelly

I bought an unlocked blackberry bold and register it with our local carrier, I cannot send and receive MMS, talked to the carrier they said they dont know the problem. Since i bought it from a retailer, they dont have a solution to my problem. I am from manila, the carrier don’t sell to individual but only to corporate client the blackberry phone. Hope you can help me. Thank You.

Al,
If your carrier doesn’t support “Personal Email” users, that’s going to be a serious limitation for you unless you can get your phone on a corporate BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).

Some carriers don’t support MMS at all.

If there is nothing in place to stop MMS but your phone just isn’t working correctly (I don’t know which is the case), you might want to try wiping your BlackBerry and reloading your operating system. Search for my articles on “how and why to wipe your blackberry” and on upgrading your OS.
Kelly

Hi I’m having trouble with my pearl 8100 ice somehow managed to musplace most of my contacts. Some are stored on my Sim but I can’t find the others. If I use the search function I can get to them individually but its a pain in the arse your help woud be great.

imram,
If your contacts are in your phone but not being shown (without searching for them), then something is wrong, obviously. Try resetting your phone (pull battery, wait, replace battery, wait). If that doesn’t work, please read my article on managing contacts using Excel (use the Search box my site provides). See if you can’t export your contacts to a CSV file where you can examine them in Excel or NotePad. If nothing looks wrong, try re-importing the same file to see if that changes anything. I don’t know if there is a setting that would “hide” your contacts.
Kelly

My Blackberry Pearl commingles email with my text messages, and I also don’t get all of the emails that I receive. When I check my desktop I have many emails daily that were not forwared to my phone. I have Charter as an ISP.

How do I send sms texts to numerous contacts?

in other words, how can i send out a mass text on my curve 8330

jim,
It can’t be done without special software (of which I’m not well-informed) or extra effort–it’s not a normal part of SMS/text to send to multiple recipients (as can be done with email). I’ve read that there’s a complicated way to achieve what you’re trying to do, but I haven’t tried it because for me it’s not worth the effort. Briefly, it involves entering your recipient’s phone numbers as an email address to their carrier (which you must know in advance), such as 4045551212@verizon.net, and adding all those recipients to a group, then sending the text message to the group. I can’t vouch that it works since I haven’t tried it, but if it’s worth the extra effort for you to experiment, I’ll help further if I can.
Kelly

To send out a mass text, begin just like you were sending it to one person (Select the contact, press the menue button, select SMS Text, and type the text). After typing the text, select the menu button and select “Add Recipient.” You can continue this process to add other contacts, but the number is limited to ten recipients.

Nathan,
Thanks for that info. I have never needed to do that, so I wasn’t aware it was possible. Very cool!
Kelly

Dear Kelly,
Evelyn here again. I have another problem with messaging on my BlackBerry Pearl. Everytime I send a SMS message to someone whose phone is not supported by Alltel, my phone freezes up for approximately six minutes. When it’s frozen, I can’t do anything on it and it doesn’t respond to the back button, the end button, etc. Do you know of anything I can do to get this to stop? I have already resent my service books and done a couple of battery pulls when the freezing gets bad enough. Any help is much appreciated.

Evelyn,
First, I don’t think it has anything to do with the recipient of your SMS being with Alltel. That has to be coincidental. The biggest single problem I’ve had to deal with concerning the Pearl is shortage of memory. The battery pulls you’ve been doing are the most effective (albeit annoying) method of freeing up all available memory. But it doesn’t solve the root cause of the problem. In your place, I’d be trying to determine if the problem is related to memory or “something else.” I’d try everything possible to free up memory and see if that corrects or at least alleviates the problem. I have written articles on the memory problems with the Pearl, so if you haven’t already studied them, that’s a good start. The “something else” I would probably attack by wiping and reloading my OS. That’s a scary thing to do for most people, so you would need to read my articles on wiping and upgrading to see if you’re comfortable trying it. I can do my best to be available to help if you wish to try that. I’m at a VERY busy time in my life and struggling to keep up with reader questions and problems. Emailing me directly is a bit more effective (the “squeaky wheel” trick). Let me know how your proceed and what results you get, please.
Kelly

i have att service i have the mms service book installed yet still i cannot send mms

jay,
I assume you’ve tried a battery pull (remove, wait, replace, wait) to reset your phone to a clean state. If you haven’t that’s essential to try. When you say you cannot send, which do you mean? There is no MMS option in your menus? You try to send but get an error message? You send but the recipient never receives?
Kelly

Dear Kelly,
It’s Evelyn once again. Of course after a certain amount of time having email on Blackberry, you get an email telling you that you aren’t receiving messages because your password is expired and that you need to go update it.
I received one of those once again, but when I went to the website to fix it, it did not work. I will enter my username and password, but I just keep getting told that I entered something wrong. I’ve had my username and password sent to me multiple times and I’m careful to enter them correctly, but it still will not work!
Any tips or advice?