I need help with my Blackberry Torch 9800 media card....

Question

I've had my Blackberry Torch 9800 for almost a year now and I haven't faced a problem like this one before, One day, Out of nowhere, My blackberry started acting up, the lock button wouldn't work, the touch screen and keypad wouldn't work, I wasn't able to access anything. Then the batteries drained out all of a sudden, so I went home and charged it and I thought that there was something wrong with the battery, but then when it turned on again, it had erased all my media! All my photos, videos and music, and every time I finish charging my phone a prompt would pop up and say that my media card isn't formatted! So I wanted to know if there's anyway to fix this?! The bigger problem is that the rest of my data was on my laptop and it's hard disk crashed.....So now I have nowhere to go to to retrieve my files Is there any solution to this? It's really doing my head in! Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi and Welcome to the Community!
While rare, spontaneous wiping and rebooting do happen on BBs. You, sadly, are the very unlucky one to also have your backups on your laptop wiped out by it's failure. Very bad luck indeed...hopefully you were backing up your laptop somewhere.
As with all restores, there must be a source...your BB will never be that source as it has no "deleted items" nor "recycle bin" from which to do so. Rather, an external backup source is required. Given your laptop situation, the only other source I can think of is if you had activated the FREE (with a proper BIS plan) BB Protect, and had been backing up your data "to the cloud"...if so, then that will be an available source for restore.
Sadly, if you have no source from which to restore, then that's the end of that hope...
In any event -- first, we need to make sure that you BB is actually OK...and that will require some work on your part. Here's what I recommend...
At the top of each device forum, there should be some "sticky" threads that discuss the OS levels available for many models. If they include your model, then please use those as reference as you proceed. Otherwise, you will have to dig through the official download portal for OS packages for your model:
http://us.blackberry.com/support/downloads/downloa​d_sites.jsp
From a PC, you can install any compatible (e.g., for your exact BB Model Number) OS package to a BB via this procedure:
http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/BlackBerry-​Device-Software/How-To-Reload-Your-Operating-Syste​...
Note that while written for "reload" and the Storm, it can be used to upgrade, downgrade, or reload any BB device model -- it all depends on the OS package you download and install to your PC. If that OS package is from a carrier other than the carrier for which your BB was originally manufactured, then delete, on your PC, all copies of VENDOR.XML...there will be at least one, and perhaps 2, and they will be located in or similarly to (it changes based on your Windows version) these folders:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader
C:\Users\(your Windows UserName)\AppData\Roaming\Research In Motion\BlackBerry\Loader XML
Be sure that you remove, from your PC, any other BB device OS packages as having more than one installed to the PC can cause conflicts with this procedure.
You may also want to investigate the use of BBSAK (bbsak.org) to perform the wipe it is capable of.
You may also want to try this procedure to perhaps narrow down the precise causal item:
Load your OS "bare bones"...if anything is optional, do not install it.
If the behavior presents immediately, then try a different OS with step 1
If the behavior does not immediately present, then run for as long as it takes for you to be sure that the behavior will not present.
Add one thing -- no matter how tempting, just one.
If the behavior does not present immediately, then again run for long enough to be sure it will not have the same problem
Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all things are loaded or the behavior presents
When the behavior presents, you know the culprit...the last thing you loaded.
If the behavior does not re-present, then you know that either step 1 or 2 cured it.
If the behavior presents no matter what, then you likely have a hardware level issue for which no amount of OS or software can cure.
If you are on MAC, you are limited to only your carriers sanctioned OS packages...but can still use any levels that they currently sanction. See this procedure:
KB19915How to perform a clean reload of BlackBerry smartphone application software using BlackBerry Desktop Software
Good luck and let us know!
Occam's Razor nearly always applies when troubleshooting technology issues!
If anyone has been helpful to you, please show your appreciation by clicking the button inside of their post. Please click here and read, along with the threads to which it links, for helpful information to guide you as you proceed. I always recommend that you treat your BlackBerry like any other computing device, including using a regular backup schedule...click here for an article with instructions.
Join our BBM Channels
BSCF General Channel
PIN: C0001B7B4   Display/Scan Bar Code
Knowledge Base Updates
PIN: C0005A9AA   Display/Scan Bar Code