Common Issues (and solutions!) when Migrating from one PB to another PB

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.