We were late last night at my place (AgentG n me)…
I had some steam to vent after the StarTrek Movie (wasn’t in pain – but wasn’t ecstatic either) -
and then AgentG asked me to do “The Voice”.
It’s my 1st time doing The Voice on camera, so it’s not perfect – but room for improvement never stopped me before…
The Toy Wally “awareness to surrounding” feature (simple microphone actually) only contributed to the comedy, as can be heard by the burst of laughter from AgentG – my camera-man.
The sublte background music you hear is some intro I gleefully “borrowed” from Alabama 3’s ‘Too Sick to Pray‘.
If you want to know what “all the yelling is about” read this preface. If you just want to solve your BB sync problems on your Mac, you can jump directly to the 7 steps below.
So? having trouble syncing your BlackBerry Bold to your Macbook or iMac?
You are not alone.
I recently migrated from an iPhone (1st gen) to a Blackberry Bold 9000 (and why I did that will hopefully get some coverage on a different post). Even though advertisement and word of mouth suggested there shouldn’t be any problems, reality proved differently, as usual.
Moreover, I looked at the RIM PocketMac forums and on other places – and couldn’t find the advice or guide that would help me get everything running as it should be (100% error free).
The Problem usually manifests as “getting stuck” near the end of the sync process. It is very frustrating, especially as it reoccurs a lot. It seems that if you get this weird problem of the sync progress getting stuck on 99% – you are on your own.
PocketMac (click cmd+L to see the log window)
There is also another known problem, of the PocketMac SyncManager log showing “no media card found” even when there IS a media card inserted properly into the BB. I found a solution for that problem too (see step 5).
I wasn’t able to find an official fix or workaround on the web -
so it resulted in me whipping out one of my own
If the above description sounds something like your problems with syncing BlackBerry on a Mac, you might want to the tips below.
Disclaimer: I do not guarantee or promise that your computer will not explode, disintegrate, catch fire, or sing praises to Satan if you do that. I take zero responsibility. Use this advice if you WANT and if you think you can handle it. Also, you can see what type of Mac I used in the image below, FYI
My "about this Mac settings"
I spent a full day trying and retrying lots of different ways to perform the syncing – and wasted a whole lot of time. Mainly, because a lot of my tinkering required a complete re-installation of the PocketMac app and for some reason this software installs very slowly, with over 1500 items for installation (each time).
So instead of walking you through my ordeal – I’ll sum it up for you in 7 major tips. Here goes:
Uninstall any previously installed BlackBerry software or media sync apps. These programs tend to collide with one another.
Do NOT use any software that came with your BlackBerry. I can’t stress this enough. It’s not just about using an older, outdated version. Sometimes, using an older version can actually cause trouble, even major trouble (this happens since Apple keeps updating the OSX periodically so older drivers do not always go together with the new OS version)
Install the PocketMac software and the Driver Update per the instruction. Run the PocketMac app.
Connect the BlackBerry to a direct USB connection. Do not use USB hubs or splitters.
Make sure you see the BlackBerry storage devices on your Mac (on the Desktop, or in Finder. The default names I had were “BLACKBERRY1″ and “BLACKBERRY2″ – this is importnat, as media syncing (audio and pictures) actually require the presence of the USB storage device. Note that you might have to approve this on the BlackBerry itself (I set it to ALWAYS approve connecting as mass storage device, but you can also approve manually each time you connect it to a computer)
Edit your Address Book – make sure all your contacts are in one groups. Do not use contact groups. if you do, you will have to lose them. That is the only way I could get the device to sync smoothly
If you normally use “complex” international languages (like Hebrew, which goes Right-to-Left) – DON’T!
Even though my BlackBerry supports hebrew – it doesn’t accept the Address Book Hebrew contacts. I had to eradicate all hebrew entries for it to work. I assume that international languages that are more similar to english (use very similar alphabet and left to right writing direction) like Dutch, French, German, Spanish etc., shouldn’t have this problem.
That’s about it.
Once I gave up on the idea to use Contact Groups and/or hebrew characters, I had no more problems. Since then, my syncing always go smoothly.
I will say one thing in RIM’s and PocketMac’s defense – when they noticed I had issues, via Twitter, they offered to help. alas, they pointed me to the RIM PocketMac forums which I’ve already visited, plus, I’m on a different time zone, so by the time they woke up and saw my twits – I was already deep into solving the problem myself. Still, nice to know some companies actually KNOW how to use twitter well.
PocketMac will find YOU on Twitter if u bitch about your problems
Hope it helps all BB users among you.
Let me know if it helped you, or if you have other tips or suggestions
