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  • Archive for December, 2009

    Blackberry 8900 UMA disabled/enabled


    2009 - 12.30

    My wife had an Orange UK locked 8900 that was not UMA enabled. No matter what OS was put on there, the preferred network for WIFI/Carrier would not appear.

    I spent a few hours on the phone with Orange technical support, fighting the case as customer services didn’t have a clue and wouldn’t forward me to their Blackberry team (for anyone with this issue, talk to the broadband team at Orange, they are also the Blackberry group!). Once I did get through to them, we went through the process again of flashing the phone with the latest Orange OS, just to prove this didn’t unlock the UMA features.

    The phone they sent out wasn’t branded, there was no Orange logo appearing during the boot sequence. The replacement handset did and as soon as I turned it on with her SIM in it, joined it to my Wifi network it was on UMA.

    There’s no details out there on the web about this that I can find although I did just throw one online at Crackberry. It is a case of some 8900s are UMA crippled and there’s no way to enable it in the interface. They are sent out this way from RIM.

    My neighbour is also on Orange UK as is the rest of his house, they have 3 Orange UK 8900 phones. 2 have UMA, 1 does not. It is literally down to whether you have been sent a UMA enabled device or not. Carriers that support UMA generally send out the correct devices. If you are supposed to have UMA and don’t on your phone, just get the unit switched out, there’s nothing you can do with basic tools to enable it.

    Blackberry Bold 9000 OS 5.0.0.411 install


    2009 - 12.27

    So RIM have done it again and released an upgrade in Beta for the Bold and 8900.

    I’ve grabbed down the software, installed on a trusty Toshiba Tecra 8000 PIII running Windows 2000 which I use solely for feking about with Blackberrys and just going through the install process now. Vender.xml file deleted, apploader ran.

    I’m currently on 5.0.0.314, O2 network in the UK. I’m doing the upgrade different this time, I’m letting the software handle the device data backup and restore during the upgrade where as I’d usually wipe it with JL_Commander and install fresh. I’ve already done a backup through BB Desktop 4.7, so the data is safe.

    It’s connected to the ROM and loading now – time is 9:56pm…
    OS and Apps loaded up at 10:15pm.

    Let’s drive her….

    Reinstalling BBM 5 .57 and Shazam, other than that, the other apps all backed up fine. Yay, all good.

    Under construction – again!


    2009 - 12.26

    Hi all

    I’m rebuilding, please hold on while I sort this little mess out!

    The forum is back, although it needs filled up. Please register and help out :)