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. and blackberry link is not detecting the phone since the phone is not going on, i have tried to flash with autoloader with the help of alle the tutorial seeing on youtube …. nothing .

  2. hi, thank for information but my bbq10 is not behaving like that, when i connect it without battery; it is showing a yellow ligh for 0,5 second and a red color for 12 second and the screen is still black ,
    when i connect with a battery , not sign, when i press the start boton , it is showning a red color for 10 second and it is all; please for help; what should i do???

      1. the SIM card reader was disturbing and i gave to the technician he tried to replace it ; and when i came to take it back the phone was behaving like that till now

  3. Hi,

    I am using a Blackberry Z30 v10.3.3.2049. When I try to open settings from home screen and when swiping down from the top, the screen is just black. I tried to reboot by pressing the power button only and also together with the both the volume buttons but still nothing

  4. On connecting my Passport to a PC, it repeatedly keeps connecting and disconnecting on its own (the PC makes the USB connected and disconnected sound). I run the latest autoloader from Crackberry, the LED turns green, the process completes and the same problem starts repeating itself again.

    Urgent help needed!

      1. The battery has been charging. When I disconnect it, the process I described above keeps on repeating.

        When I connect the battery and try to charge the phone, the orange LED blinks slowly and steadily.

      2. I have also tried using JL_CMDER and BBSAK, but to no use as the device simply keeps on connecting and disconnecting from the computer in a loop. That is why none of these programs are able to detect the phone.

          1. Connecting to Link doesn’t work as the phone does not power up, instead just keeps looping like I’ve mentioned above.

  5. When i insert the ba3, the red led shows as usual, it seems like it boots but no bb logo or anything.the backlight of the screen and keypad are on nd dim when I press on the lock button nd vice visa… Iono what’s wrong help pls. Its bold 5

  6. gbadamosi Habeeb

    Morning. I am using a BlackBerry Q10. My screen just turned white all of a sudden, it also blinks most times. I still see images on it & also operate it but when the blinking starts ( the screen overlaps & show distorted images) I find it hard to operate. Could it be the OS cos it has been due for update since last year as I have never dropped the phone ever since I started using it.

  7. Need help trying to fix my blackberry screen of death. I have Blackberry Classic touch screen. I have blinking red light/my alarm clock I set I set still goes off / it vibrates as well / It Even spoke to tell me hold power button down to turn off device. The screen is black. I wanted to make sure before I buy another Classic I’ve done everything in my power to save my phone. I glad its still working soon can back it up that’s the most important to me right now.

  8. Need help trying to fix my blackberry screen of death. I have Blackberry Classic touch screen. I have blinking red light/my alarm clock I set I set still goes off / it vibrates as well / It Even spoke to tell me hold power button turn off device. The screen is black. I wanted to make sure before I buy another Classic I’ve done everything in my power to save my phone. I glad its still working soon can back it up that’s the most important to me right now

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