Electronics

Lenovo or IBM Thinkpad won’t power on or charge

0
1 year ago
in

About 5 times a year I see an issue where Lenovo / IBM Laptops seem dead. They simply won’t power on or charge. Often the LED lights don’t even come on to indicate power is functioning. A quick test before calling to replace the DC port or power supply, is to discharge any static electricity buildup. Here is how to perform the Thinkpad static discharge:

 

  • Unplug the power supply
  • Remove the battery
  • Disconnect any cords or express cards
  • Press the power button 10 times, and on the 10th press hold it for 30 seconds

Go ahead and plug in the battery and power supply and you should see the plug light come on. Now you should be back in action again.

BlackBerry Web Desktop Manager URL

0
1 year ago
in

To save money and not need BES data plans for our BlackBerries, we switched to BIS data plans instead. Since we lost the nice feature of over the air Enterprise Activation, we will have our users activate over USB via the web-based desktop manager on their PCs. The BlackBerry Web Desktop Manager is installed during setup of BlackBerry Enterprise Server as BlackBerry Administration Service. The Express version also has this available.

We had to push the ActiveX controls with the help of a GPO, as our users do not have administrative privileges (See page 21 of the Admin docs)  They then click a link on our Intranet that points to: https://<computer_name>:<port>/webdesktop/login

Once logged in with their Active Directory credentials, the BES sees the new PIN attached and asks if they want to activate that new device.

Don’t confuse the address with the one Administrators manage the BES: https://<computer_name>:<port>/webconsole/app

How to reset a Sprint BlackBerry to out of the box factory defaults

0
1 year ago
in

The option to securely wipe a BlackBerry does not necessarily remove the IT polices the Enterprise Server administrator pushed out to your phone.  You might wipe the phone and notice that your phone won’t receive it’s service books, the apps like the Internet Browser etc, and it will be stuck on 1xev instead of 1XEV. Provisioning usually fails too. A method that can help avoid these issues, is to really get the handheld “returned to new”. For Sprint BlackBerries perform the following steps:

  • Get in touch with Sprint and obtain the MSL and MSID (lock code for programming – you will need to be the owner of the account to get this information)
  • On your BlackBerry dial ##RTN Talk (##786 Talk)
  • Enter the MSL when prompted and it will begin the wiping process
  • Once the phone has booted back up do the normal reprogramming steps. (the device will not be active until you do this)

When I do ESN swaps for our users, I use this method simply to avoid the possibilities of policies from my BES getting stuck on their phone and interfere with the provisioning process.

Reset a BlackBerry using JL_Cmder on Windows 64-bit editions

23
2 years ago
in

The other day I had a person forget the password they set on their BlackBerry. After so many failed attempts the BlackBerry began to wipe itself.  The person then panicked and pulled out the battery… bad idea. The phone is then stuck in an inoperable state and cannot boot.  This is where the tool JL_Cmder comes in to save the day.

For this scenario I am going to use JL_Cmder 1.9.1, BlackBerry Desktop Manager 5, and the latest OS for my model of BlackBerry. I tested this example on Windows 7 64-bit edition, but it can be a 32-bit OS as well.

  • Install BlackBerry Desktop Manager (do an advanced install and remove the Automatic Update feature).
  • Install the latest OS for your BlackBerry model and if necessary remove the Vendor.xml file located in: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader
  • Download and extract JL_Cmder and set the .exe and .cmd to run in a compatibility mode of Windows XP Service Pack 3.
  • (32-bit OS users can skip this step) Remove CHOICE.COM from the JL_Cmder directory.

So let’s begin. Chances are your phone is at a menu asking you to Reset, but before you do… open JL_Cmder.cmd (from program files, not a desktop shortcut). Next, connect your BlackBerry via USB and press Reset on your phone. You should notice the icon change on your phone to appear that it has connected. Issue a wipe command, option 4, from JL_Cmder. Your BlackBerry will then reboot itself and you should see and error 507 on the screen. We are now done with JL_Cmder, issue option 7 to quit the application.

Finally we will reload the OS to your phone. Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader\Loader.exe and select which parts of the OS you would like to restore. I wouldn’t put stuff on that you don’t plan on using. The smaller the footprint the better.

Please feel free to leave comments if this worked or not. Any feedback would be beneficial.

BlackBerry Provisioning Failed Error 1012

0
2 years ago
in

If you have ever swapped a BlackBerry for a different one, you may have experienced the annoying data provisioning error 1012. This error sometimes occurs when you run “Start Provisioning” under Mobile Network Options.  You never seem to get the Registration message in reference to your Host Routing Table. You also never seem to get the device to show 1XEV as your service..often just 1xev or 1x. Here are the steps to get your BlackBerry back into action:

  • Pull your battery
  • Call your provider’s BlackBerry support (Sprint in this case)
  • Request them to remove the data plan and re-add it.
  • Insert the battery and retry provisioning

If that doesn’t do the trick, they may have to “refresh” the device and “resend the service books” in order to get you back in the saddle. Good luck!

BlackBerry Desktop Manager or Loader.exe won’t upgrade handheld OS

3
2 years ago
in

Recently I went to install a new OS build for my BlackBerry and ran into a few issues where OS 5 would not be an available OS to load. Below are the steps to overcome this.

First I needed to be running the Multilanguage version to install the Multilanguage OS builds, English Only did not work for me:

So here are the steps to fix this issue: (steps 1 and 2 might not be needed if you already have it installed)

1. Uninstall the English only Desktop Manager software and all OS builds (I wanted to start from scratch)
2. Reinstall the Multilanguage version of Desktop Manager 5.0 doing a custom install and leaving out the Automatic Update feature
3. Install your current OS build for your carrier (Mine was for the Sprint Tour)
4. Install the latest OS build from any other carrier
5. Delete all the contents from C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research In Motion\Shared\Loader Files\9630-v4.7.1.57_P4.1.0.70 but keep the folder itself (The Sprint build)
6. Copy all contents from OS 5.x build directory found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research In Motion\Shared\Loader Files, to the empty folder in step 5
7. Delete Vendor.xml from C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research in Motion\AppLoader
8. Run Loader.exe, as an Administrator, found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research in Motion\AppLoader

In the end I guess it makes sense to need a Multilanguage loader to use the Multilanguage OS files…at least that’s what I think the issue was. I tested this on Windows 7 and Windows XP. The issue was recreated and resolved for both using this hint. If I didn’t delete the 4.7.1 OS files and copy the OS 5.0 file into that very same folder, Loader.exe thought there was no update needed.

PS3 Slim Supports Bitstream Lossless Audio

0
2 years ago
in

Just got my hands on the new PS3 Slim. Below is the proof of the lossless audio sent as Bitstream to my receiver. I guess I’m just one of those guys who has to see my receiver light up those format identifiers. Dell was running a deal the other day..$274 out the door and shipped next day!

PS3 Slim Bitstream

PS3 Slim Bitstream

Palm Pre stops receiving emails via ActiveSync

0
2 years ago
in ,

Every now and again I get a call from a Palm Pre user who is no longer receiving emails.  They explain that they pull the battery and hope for the best, but no dice. The next step on my end is to see if there are any errors showing up in the server logs. So as an Exchange administrator I have the ability to peak into Event Viewer and see what the issue is.

The error:

MSExchange ActiveSync

Event ID 1008

An exception occurred and was handled by Exchange ActiveSync. This may have been caused by an outdated or corrupted Exchange ActiveSync device partnership. This can occur if a user tries to modify the same item from multiple computers. If this is the case, Exchange ActiveSync will re-create the partnership with the device. Items will be updated at the next synchronization.

The fix:

The only successful way to get emails going is to have the user remove the email account from the Pre and re-add it.

Exchange Server 2007 ActiveSync for the Palm Pre

0
2 years ago
in ,

So you just got the new Palm Pre and you are wanting to get it syncing with your Exchange 2007 server; that’s easy! The only port you need open for ActiveSync direct push is: TCP 443 https. By default ActiveSync is enabled for all users’ mailboxes but it can’t hurt to double check. More often than not you are probably using OWA and therefore your firewall ACL should already be allowing the capability for your Palm Pre to sync.

When testing your Palm Pre to see if it is receiving emails, take into account your Outlook rules. If you have a rule that handles emails from certain addresses to be moved to a folder other than your Inbox, then on your Palm Pre you will have to first click the folder to see the email. This is just my first go at this but it seems like only the Inbox folder updates automatically. If I find out how to make messages in other folders appear automatically I will update this post.

MORE INFO: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998010.aspx

BlackBerry Browser WAP 2.0 support on OS 4.5

5
2 years ago
in

The other day I began the tedious process of updating some of our users’ BlackBerries to the new 4.5 OS. Within hours we received complaints such as: “I can’t login to check my Hotmail anymore!”

Here is the error our users with the new OS would see while attempting to sign into their Hotmail:
The Microsoft service that you are attempting to access is not supported by the mobile browser you are using. The minimum browser requirement for this service is full WAP 2.0 support.

Now before the update to OS 4.5 this was never an issue. So after a little digging around online I was able to find a workaround for this issue.
The options for your BlackBerry Browser is where you need to make the change. (see the default options below)

Default: BlackBerry Browser -> BlackBerry Button -> Options -> Browser Configuration -> Emulation Mode: BlackBerry

Change the Emulation Mode to: MS Pocket IE (to save your changes press the Back Button and select Save)

There you go folks, that should do it.

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