How to fix the Blackberry Black Screen of Death (BSOD)



How to fix the Blackberry Black Screen of Death (BSOD)

The Blackberry Black Screen of Death (BSOD) is a common Blackberry issue. It used to be a minor issue – and still mostly is – till the Blackberry 99xx series began having Black Screens of Death more difficult to fix. In other non 99xx Blackberrys, it is usually just a minor power issue. The Blackberry Black Screen of Death (BSOD) is an error indicator just like the Blackberry White Screen of Death (see https://www.hovatek.com/blog/how-to-fix-the-blackberry-white-screen-of-death-wsod/ )

What is the Blackberry Black Screen of Death (BSOD)? 

The Blackberry Black Screen of Death is one way your Blackberry tells you that something serious has happened. Unlike the White Screen of Death which mostly warns of possible errors, the Black Screen of Death is mostly a confirmation that a major error has occurred. The Death part of the name indicates that a component or the OS has experienced major malfunction. The Blackberry
Black Screen of Death is characterized by a black, unresponsive screen. There are two common scenarios of the Black Screen of Death:

  • The red blinking light scenario: The Blackberry’s red LED keeps blinking but the Blackberry doesn’t boot / startup
  • The no sign of life scenario: The Blackberry doesn’t boot / startup , doesn’t charge, no red LED blinking; in fact, no sign of life at all.

What causes the Blackberry Black Screen of Death?

Some known causes of the Blackberry Black Screen of Death are:

  • Over charging: Over charging tends to cause a build up of static energy which could disrupt charging, discharging and the power utilization process.
  • Damaged / drained battery: A damaged / drained battery will not be able to power the blackberry, resulting in either a red blinking light or no sign of life.
  • Crashed OS: A nuked Blackberry OS could result in the Black Screen of Death.
  • Faulty device: Some Blackberries have factory defects which manifest as BSODs.

Will my Blackberry ever work again?

Yes, it should work again unless it is factory defective.

How come I didn’t get a warning before this occurred?

The Blackberry Black Screen of Death would usually give warnings like:

  • Blackberry taking extra long to boot.
  • Lots of freezing / hanging.
  • Battery draining fast or showing fully charged too quickly.
  • Phone overheating during use.
  • Blackberry constantly connecting / disconnecting during charging or when connected to a PC.
  • Uncaught exception errors.

My Blackberry only shows a red blinking LED but doesn’t boot / startup. What does this mean?

This indicates either a crashed OS or a battery that needs kick-starting. Check below for a fix.

My Blackberry shows no sign of life at all. What does this mean?

You are either looking at a completely drained battery, nuked OS or a defective Blackberry but fret not, there is a fix below.

Does this mean I should stay away from certain models of Blackberry?

Yes, I advice you be wary of the Bold 5 because the Blackberry Black Screen of Death is hyper common in this Blackberry model.

How do I fix the Blackberry Black Screen of Death?

Some methods which you could employ to fix the Blackberry Black Screen of Death are:

1. Kick-start method: In this method, you:

  • Remove the battery from the Blackberry
  • Connect the Blackberry to a power source
  • Wait till you see the battery icon with a red cancel sign
  • Slot in the battery
  • The Blackberry should boot up normally

2. Forced charging: Connect the Blackberry to a power source (with the battery inside) for 2 hours. You could try a desktop charger

3. Battery / cable swapping: Try your battery, then charger on another Blackberry of the same model. Try another battery, then charger on the faulty Blackberry. This is to confirm that the battery and charger are not the problem.

4. Force install OS: Try forcing an OS wipe / re-installation (See https://www.hovatek.com/blog/how-to-fix-repair-a-corrupt-nuked-or-crashed-blackberry-operating-system-software-os/ )

5. Forced upgrade: Try force-upgrading the Blackberry OS (See https://www.hovatek.com/blog/how-to-downgrade-upgrade-or-update-a-blackberry-operating-system-os-to-a-prefered-version/ ).

I’ve tried all you suggested and taken the Blackberry to several repair shops, same story. What next?

If the Blackberry is still covered by warranty then we suggest you return it. If not, contact Hovatek.

Hovatek….just a button away!



31 thoughts on “How to fix the Blackberry Black Screen of Death (BSOD)”

  1. Hi,
    i have a Blackbarrey leap and is now not doing good. The red light was blink on top, now a black screen. I tried everything to get it started up. Anything would be great.
    i m wa8ing fr ur answer

  2. Hi, I have a BB 7100i and is now not doing good. The red light was on, now a black screen. I tried everything to get it started up. Anything would be great. Thanks, Don

  3. I have a blackberry classic. It froze up on me while on ESPN.com.

    Now I have nothing but a black screen. I can’t even tell if my phone is on.

    Can my cell provider fix this for me????

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