An Unchargable BlackBerry?

A Broken BlackBerry:-

What could be worse? Now I have seldom if ever posted such entries but then again, this DOES warrant a mention here. I have had this BlackBerry Curve for over 6 months but I have still stuck around with my Sony Ericsson W810i for the better part of these 6 months. A couple of days ago, I decided that I ought to start using the BB for it was meant to be, especially with all the people around the office showing off Pearls :D. So I take out my BB from the back of the drawer which has been it's heavenly abode for the last 4 months since I came to Uruguay and try to charge it, but guess what? The BB will not charge.

Now I have had this problem earlier as well where in the BB would not charge from the wall charger but would do if connected to the USB in my LapTop. After some research I found that the pins used to charge using the Wall Charger as compared to those used by the USB Charger are different, thus when the battery is fully drained, you first need to recharge for a minute or so using the USB and then you can go ahead and use the Wall Charger.

But to charge using the USB, you need to have the BB Desktop Software installed. So I spent a couple of hours downloading 300 MB of BB Desktop Software version 4.6 and this one was a pain in the arse considering the Net speeds over here. When I was done with it, I went ahead and installed and the moment of truth was there. I plug in my USB and I plug in the BB and Voila, The BB Does not charge at all. Darn IT. What to do next?

Dejected but Determined, I went ahead and searched hundreds of BB Forums looking for any description related to the problem I was having but there was every other solution from "Make Sure The Switch is Turned On" to the "Have you paid your Electricity Bill?" Some even suggested to have BB Replaced. Stupid People. My quest to finding the reason to this problem led me to a post by Peter.

Further reading surprised me as I found that the reason for all my woes is that the battery has been discharged to more than what it should have been. Now this was a revelation. A Batter would not charge because it has been discharged. Is that not what a battery is for? To be able to recharge it after it has been used up. Apparently it is a design flaw in BB which does not monitor the battery level well.

But Anyways, I followed the instructions there, which included removing the battery, and using cables connected to the USB Port to Manually give a small charge to the battery by connecting naked wires to the battery terminals and quickly placing it back in the phone. And I was really happy this time. The trick worked. And Now I ave this pretty BB of Mine sitting on that Desk and recharging itself.

Thanks a Lot Peter. and well any of you guys who needs to know more about how to troubleshoot a $700 BB, Look me Up.

-Cruel