If you are like me, you may have received a BlackBerry Dev Alpha unit!  More importantly, you may have had to do a security wipe on it.

Well, unlike the PlayBook and all other devices, doing a Security Wipe on a Dev Alpha *will* brick your device.  But, you *can* unbrick it…

At the start, you will have failures saying USB Mass Storage Device errors.  I’m going to assume you are using Windows Vista/7 and have your Alpha plugged in.

Step 1:  Keep the alpha plugged in using the USB cable that came with it

Step 2:  Click on Start > Run > Device Manager

Step 3:  Expand USB

Step 4:  See if there is a yellow exclamation point beside a USB Mass Storage driver

Step 5:  If so, right click and select Uninstall

Step 6:  Unplug your alpha

Step 7:  Close desktop manager

You should now be at a clean state….

Step 8:  Install the driver package here:  http://www.bbdevgroup.nl/BB10%20Dev%20Alpha/Device%20Driver%20BB10%20dev%20Alpha.zip

Step 9:  Launch Desktop Manager

Step 10:  Wait for it to fully load

Step 11:  Connect your Alpha

It will start trying to install drivers.  It most likely will detect it as a phone and nothing else interesting will happen.

Step 12:  Hold the two volume buttons + power button down for about 10 seconds

Your Alpha should reboot

Step 13:  Watch Desktop Manager carefully.

You should soon as you see “Update/Retry/Cancel” right around when the BB10 alpha logo comes up

Step 14:  As soon as the options appear, press Update

Step 15:  Wait for the update to be recognized

Note:  If it detects no update, takes forever, and eventually your Alpha logs in – let it finish until it says no updates.  Your device will appear as Unknown.   Go back to Step 12.  Might take a few attempts

Step 16:  Eventually an update is detected, and you can start your update.

Voila!

You can read and troubleshoot with others at the source here:  http://208.74.204.192/t5/Testing-and-Deployment/BB10-Dev-Alpha-Device-Driver-or-how-to-restore-the-OS/td-p/1735097/highlight/false

~Ed.

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share some useful troubleshooting information with everyone.

I wanted to go from a 32GB to a 64GB I purchased off another CB user Thanks 71 GS, I am loving it. Seems simple right? Mmm, not so much – but it seems like it may work. I’m using OS 2.1 beta and a Windows 7 64bit laptop and thought I would share some issues (and resolutions) with you fine folks..

Planned Process:

1. Backup 32GB PB
2. Wipe 64GB PB
3. Update 64GB PB
4. Use same BBID on Both (to prevent Tablet Outage)
5. Reload 64GB PB

Notes: I’m using the two tablets for myself, one at home one at work, and for the purpose of testing multiplaybook apps. So I may keep the same BBID on both…

Problem #1:

32GB PlayBook would not backup (has not for many months)

Note: I had about 300 apps with tons of gamesaves, not something I wanted to lose

Solution to #1:

I ended up deleting about 220 apps before backups would complete. Even then, it only actually worked 1 out of 10 times. The trick, is that the 9/10 failures occurred immediately. The 1 out of 10 times for failure occurred after xxGB’s. After some app caused problems. I deleted all the smaller apps with many files (news feeds etc) and any app without a gamesave.

Tips:

Known apps to cause this, PC Recipes, Any Recipe App, Android 1 Runtime, Weather Apps. Look for apps with two icons in different places. Look for apps that are in the Installed list of AppWorld but missing from your Folders. Ensure you are using your real PB cable. Everytime you backup, it will go “farther” on a successful backup, assuming you deleted the faulty app. You can use this to troubleshoot… painfully.

Additional Info for people: PlayBook: There was an error backing up. | File Archive Haven

Problem #2:

64GB PlayBook arrived at 0% battery, would not charge

Note: I have USB and Rapid Charger with the base

Solution to #2:

I ended up unplugging and replugging the PlayBook via USB charger to Wall a half a dozen times with about 20-30 seconds inbetween (because sometimes the rapid charger and dock chargers wont charge the PlayBook). Then I rebooted the PlayBook, unplugged the charger, and plugged it back in when the red light came on. I left it as-is for 15 minutes, booted the device and it was at 1%. Then I used the rapid charging dock to charge it back to 100%.

Additional Info for people: KB27705-BlackBerry PlayBook Power – Battery charge and discharge characteristics and Play book wont power up or light just blinks – BlackBerry Support Community Forums and

Problem #3:

64GB PlayBook would not load a backup due to OS mismatch

Solution to #3:

I was able to resign up for the BlackBerry Beta to test: https://developer.blackberry.com/devzone/register. The OS still doesnt fully match because I was in the US for a while (which pushed the US Video Store) but I’m not sure if it will cause any issues. I really dont want the US video store, so I’m happy to omit it if I can from the new PlayBook..

Problem #4:

64GB PlayBook would not restore, failure occurred immediately

Note: Because it was so painful to backup, because I still have 20 GB of app data, and because BDM is so slow, I only created a handful of backups. It takes a full day sometimes for me to get a backup due to the problems above.

Solution to #4:

Use a custom restore. Restore your PB separately in three parts (App Data, Media and Settings). In my case, App Data and Settings works (sort of). Media does not.

Lingering Issues:

Interestingly, I restored the “Settings” first. When I analyzed the PlayBook, none of my settings restored to my PlayBook at all. In addition, 1 application (that I made myself ironically) pushed to the device with the Settings load. Showing that the settings contain more than they say it does.

Tips:

You can manually copy your Documents and Media over. So if thats the area that gets kiboshed, you are still in luck.

My status right now: ~2 GB out of 11 GB to go from my (hopefully) final restore. But at least it isn’t at an immediate error state.

Sorry for the wall of text, I will keep updating the above as I work through the hiccups. Might make for a nice one-stop manual for PB users moving devices and looking for issues & fixes.

Ed.

Its been a busy few days

Overload for the BlackBerry PlayBook:  http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/reviews/119676

This aplication was the first of its kind.  All other applications are clones.

This quick little app is great for the moments you really need it.  It was requested by F2 on the user forums.

This application causes many system libraries, to re-init without rebooting your BlackBerry® PlayBook™.  This is great for when some applications that are library dependant simply wont load.  Or your Browser just suddenly won't launch anymore. 

When this application completes - re-launch your intended application and it should re-initialize the under layer of your BlackBerry® PlayBook™.

The next release will have both a soft and hard reset.  This version contains a hard reset.

~KermEd.

 Secure Browser Trial:  http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/127337/?lang=en

Secure Browser - Trial

Thank you for previewing this browser.  This is a TRIAL release only, which means it will present a pop-up periodically to remind you that this is for trial purposes.  It is not intended to be used long-term but to allow you to verify if Secure Browser meets your browsing needs..

What is it:  
-----------
Secure Browser is a simplified web-browser that protects your information as the ultimate privacy browser.  This browser does not allow access to browser history, it has privacy modes, and password protects your favorites!  It is the perfect browser for protecting your information and allowing you to change your browser type.  This browser is based on my free Desktop Browser.

** This browser is not intended to replace the stock BlackBerry® PlayBook™ browser, but accompanies it by providing a secure alternative for protecting your information. ** 

How does the Authentication Work?
-----------
Your password is a separate encrypted password from your normal BlackBerry® PlayBook™ password.  You need to authenticate once everytime the browser is launched.  And authentication will remain for the remainder of the user session.  You will not need to re-authenticate until you close and re-open the browser.

Features
-----------------
* Quick searches
* Quick jump points
* Multi-tabs (max of 9)
* Theme support (8 themes)  
* User Agents (11 to select)
* Can 'Google' from the URL bar
* Password protect your favorites
* Can load local files (in release 1.0.8)
* Password protected notes section (for password tracking)
* Enable/Disable Javascript, Reflow, other options
* Prevents access to your history
* Works through Tether, Bridge, Wifi
* Privacy Modes enabled
* Web Inspector
* GoGames / GoApps
* Find on Page
* + Many more!

Full Description