How to clean your BlackBerry’s Trackball

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June 13, 2007 at 2:43 pm · Filed under Howtos

I read a lot of articles where BlackBerry users complained about their BlackBerry’s trackball (aka pearl - which gave the Pearl its name) doesn’t want to move to a direction anymore.

To be honest, this is something I was afraid of when I first heard RIM will replace the BlackBerry’s trackwheel with a trackball. You won’t believe what happened to me two days ago … My trackball didn’t want to move to right. Well, that’s not good, I thought. After two days of drying everything from moving the ball as fast I could to shaking the Pearl until it got sick. Nothing helped. The ball didn’t want to move right anymore. That’s really bad because there is no way to select an application (address book, options, anything that is not in the left column) and therefor the phone is useless!

BlackBerry 8800 Trackball

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Track billable time
Develop habits
more…

Today it was enough! The problem is, I cannot afford to loose that phone for maybe several weeks while it will be repaired. So I searched forums, googled (even yahooed) and found a lot of stuff which had not really an answer to my question. I remembered an article some months ago which mentioned the coloring the of the Pearl’s trackball by coloring the LED beneath the trackball. Finally I realized that removing the pearl’s cover would the best way to get access to its sensor and clean it. By the way, this should work for all BlackBerry devices that carry a trackball around like BlackBerry Pearl, Curve, 8800 and 8830.

The silver ring which covers the trackball can easily be removed if you use a small screwdriver to lift it at the outer side of the ring. Be careful here! Like you should be during the whole process as all parts have very small plastic nipple which can break very easy. When the silver plastic ring is removed you will see the inner trackball component which can be removed completely. Before doing this you should carefully remove the silver metal ring that holds the trackball component in its position. The trackball component itself can also be carved. For every direction the ball can roll to you’ll find a sensor wheel. Those wheels are mostly carrying some gunk you should clean them from. Once this is done put everything back together to the place the pieces came from and secure the trackball with the silver plastic ring you removed in the first step. Your BlackBerry’s trackball should be back working now.

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Phreqd said,

June 15, 2007 @ 1:21 am

Do you mean the ball wouldn’t roll physically or on the screen? I had the problem where it wouldn’t roll on the screen, left and right, but would up and down. I did a battery pull and it is all working fine now.

k said,

June 15, 2007 @ 10:36 am

It was not a physical problem like the ball was stuck …

A reboot also didn’t solve this issue. Once I had the ball out of its box I saw the dirt that was before the sensor which tracks the ball’s movement. So cleaning seemed to be the only way here.

Johnny Prewitt said,

June 15, 2007 @ 11:25 am

Thanks for your article on trackball removal and cleaning. Mine will not scroll down..I’ll follow your instructions, carefully.

Johnny Prewitt
Larkspur, CA.

odo said,

June 18, 2007 @ 10:54 am

Thanks!

My trackball wouldn’t move to the right, the ball itself would roll, but it wasn’t registering.

You saved me a lot of time and hassle (Bringing it to the store, arguing that I don’t have to pay for repairs, waiting for it to get fixed. Took about 15-20 minutes, and it would have taken less if I hadn’t forgot how the really skinny ring went back into place (pay attention when removing the pieces). I used a very tiny straight screw driver and a touch of delicacy. Good luck to all blackberry-ball-cleaners.

Mike O
Toronto, ON

pete l said,

June 19, 2007 @ 11:22 pm

Thanks! Carefully following your steps worked perfectly.

Stuck Trackball - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community said,

June 23, 2007 @ 12:46 pm

[…] Stuck Trackball - Today, 11:46 PM I hope that I am not the only one who has had the misfortune of having their trackball get stuck and not move in one direction… But I couldn’t find any posts on it so here is a link that I found helpful in getting mine back to going. BlackBerryInsight » How to clean your BlackBerry’s Trackball I’m not so sure that the trackball is going to last out my contract on the phone, it just doesn’t seem like it’s sturdy enough to make it. […]

SteveG said,

June 30, 2007 @ 5:15 am

I had the same thing happen to my 8830. The trackball would not register to the right (it rolled right with no problem). The phone was only 2 weeks old. It fixed itself after about 8 hours, but not a good sign on such a new phone. I could still return it to Verizon, but I don’t have the chance anymore.
Thanks for the tip. I just wanted to state I had the same exact thing happen.

Drzyko said,

July 1, 2007 @ 1:42 am

My trackball will not scroll down. I tried the cleaning thing but to no avail it still will not scroll down.

Adam said,

July 2, 2007 @ 2:09 pm

Worked like a charm!

Katie said,

July 4, 2007 @ 2:40 am

hi i had that same issue and i cleaned my trackball it now works but that small ring that surrounds the trackball after you take the main cover off will not go on it how do i put it back on i have it off right now and my phone works with no issues but i dont want a ghettofied phone i want my old blackberry back

P said,

July 6, 2007 @ 8:33 am

I think that the small internal silver ring goes on horizontal, that is the prongs go on the left and the right side. not top and bottom. I needed to guide them in with little screwdrivers. Interestingly, I checked out the bigger blackberry pearl (full keyboard/8300?) and its trackball does not have the silver internal ring. Not sure why they did away with the silver internal ring on that model.
Mine kinda works after the cleaning, but still thinks that it is scrolling up continuously at times. Hopefully it will “fix itself” in 8 hours like SteveG’s!

P said,

July 6, 2007 @ 8:39 am

Oops! Turns out I somehow managed to put mine together wrong. See link showing that they go verticle.
http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene…ll+disassembly

frederick said,

July 6, 2007 @ 10:51 pm

I’ve had the problem a few times. The first time it was, as the person above described, repaired by a “hard reboot” — removing the battery and restarting the device.

This last time though, it was a problem with dirt in the trackball, so thanks for saving my blackberry from a trip to the t-mobile store

I would recommend trying the battery removal fix before cleaning the trackball as it is a little easier process.

k said,

July 7, 2007 @ 1:54 pm

Sure. Always try any other attempt first before opening your device!

dino said,

July 13, 2007 @ 4:43 am

how do u keep the trackball white?
or clean it so that it stays new?
please help…….

Randy said,

July 13, 2007 @ 6:03 am

My 8800 would not scroll down, and the pearl felt “scratchy”. Finally, after a week of searching for a board with the solution, I found this one. A three minute job to clean out a grain of Lake Tahoe beach sand, now I’m back in business.

Jon’s Geek Stuff … & Stuff » How to clean your BlackBerryâ€™s Trackball said,

July 14, 2007 @ 7:28 am

[…] How to clean your BlackBerryâ€™s Trackball […]

Woodsy said,

July 20, 2007 @ 9:06 pm

After about three months my trackball on the Pearl wouldn’t scroll to the right (well the ball would move but it just didn’t register). I tried to blow out any gunk with a can of compressed air to no avail but your fix worked like a charm.

PeterMeter said,

July 30, 2007 @ 9:31 am

Hola. My blackberry pearl refused to move to the right or up, so I took it apart and removed all the gunk from under the trackball. After I replaced it the problem persisted, so on a hunch I took it apart again and flipped the ball around. This did not fix it but changed the directions that didn’t work (instead of not going up or to the right, it wouldn’t go down or to the left). I looked closely and realized that two of the four little black cylinders on the back of the ball weren’t moving, leading me to believe these are the culprits of my Berry’s failure. How do I fix these??? It’s driving me crazy, I can’t BBM anyone!

Angela said,

August 1, 2007 @ 12:39 am

What should I use to do the actual cleaning? Canned air? Rubbing alcohol and a q-tip?

Trackball Sticking - BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com said,

August 1, 2007 @ 4:16 pm

[…] Here are some link: 1 — BlackBerryInsight » Blog Archive » How to clean your BlackBerry’s Trackball 2 — Trackball Disassembly, LED Color Change & Reassembly - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community This second is best… __________________ Visit my moblog @ http://moblog.co.uk/blog/mattmarenic […]

twotone said,

August 7, 2007 @ 12:04 pm

put a drop of waterless cleaner, aka citrasolv or a hand sanitizer. works like a charm!

Dan said,

August 9, 2007 @ 7:03 pm

Just had the problem where it was scrolling right but the sensor wasn’t recognizing. I have the 8830 and used a tiny eyeglass screwdriver to pop the metal ring off. The trackball on the 8830 doesn’t appear to have the glassy ring but the trackball assembly comes right out… I wiggled it around and blew on all sides… popped it back in, works perfect.

Thanks for the tips everyone. Too bad I’ve only had this 3 weeks and already had to replace it after 2 days because the software kept crashing to the point that it couldn’t be rebooted. Good times.

CP said,

August 11, 2007 @ 10:56 am

My trackball rolls in all directions OK, but when I press it down to enter it does not work. Any help, is appreciated.

THanks

Mike said,

August 13, 2007 @ 3:54 am

Mine wasn’t scrolling down, so I took the trackball apart, cleaned it (definitely dirty) and still had problems. I noticed that two of the black roller wheels looked like the black coating was scraped off a bit. I grabbed a Sharpie and colored the wheels black again…and back to smooth operation.

del.icio.us bookmarks for August 14th | Technovia said,

August 15, 2007 @ 8:34 am

[…] BlackBerryInsight Â» How to clean your BlackBerryâ??s Trackball - Aha! How to clean the Pearly on your Blackberry Pearl […]

Rob said,

August 18, 2007 @ 10:16 pm

I was having the same problem - my trackball would function in every direction but down. I popped it out to check, but didn’t really see any visible build up of dirt, pocket fuzz, or anything else. I finally used a little rubbing alcohol to clean off the ball and it started working perfectly again. I think in some cases the ball just eventually becomes coated in a translucent layer of oil and gunk from your fingers which affects its ability to make contact with the tracking sensor.

thundt said,

August 25, 2007 @ 7:51 am

Here’s some more info for y’all. A couple of points which haven’t been mentioned. (NB mine’s an 8100.)

The trackball module itself can be taken apart from below. The ball falls out, and you can see four little axles that rub against the ball, and turn when you move it. The axles are white and have black barrel-like things on one end, which (when installed) hover above four black sensors on the circuit board.

The little black barrels? Those are MAGNETS. The sensors beneath them (when installed) are almost certainly Hall effect sensors, meaning, they react to magnetism. So, you don’t have to worry about keeping those looking good, they just have to be clean enough not to interfere with movement.

The white shafts (axles)? They have RIDGES going along them. This is to provide traction with the ball. So, the best way to clean them is by holding the black end and wiping towards the other end. (I used Windex and a paper napkin.)

I’m looking forward to new high scores in BrickBreaker now that this is all nice and clean…

MPS WIRELESS said,

September 2, 2007 @ 2:39 am

Thanks, its a freakn miracle. Worked like a charm. Opened up the trackball completely cleaned out all the dust and dirt, put it back together and it works just like NEW!!!! I had replacement quotes for part (trackball) only $50-$75. Here it costed me 5 minutes of my time. Thanks

Gigi Li said,

September 2, 2007 @ 2:41 pm

Thanks so much, I experienced the same problem couple days ago, and my blackberry is very important for my work..so I’ve found this page adn you saved me! Thanks so so much. Cheers, Gigi from Hong Kong

Eric said,

September 4, 2007 @ 7:10 am

CP, I am having the same problem. Cleaning it didn’t help.

Shan said,

September 6, 2007 @ 7:15 am

Thanks, it worked for me too.

Amy said,

September 10, 2007 @ 11:25 am

Thanks! I followed your directions and used rubbing alchol on a q-tip to clean the ball too. My trackball works now!

Ali said,

September 11, 2007 @ 4:30 am

And I thought I was the only one! Thanks so much for posting this! You’re the only resource I’ve found for this problem.

A few suggestions for navigating the Pearl when the trackball isn’t working (before you get a chance to clean it):

-If you’re having problems navigating the Applications menu, lock the phone (hold down the * key) and then unlock it. This will allow you to start from the top, leftmost application and continue on from there.

-If you’re trying to navigate the settings, including the Profiles, press the key corresponding to the first letter of the option. This will usually get you where you want to go.

I know it’s a hassle, but sometimes that’s all that you can do!

vicki said,

September 13, 2007 @ 2:20 am

Great Help! This fixed my problem.

I took my blackberry pearl to the beach and accidently dropped it in the sand - 2 weekends in a row! after the first drop I couldnt’ scroll left. Then after the second drop I couldn’t scroll right!! It made life pretty difficult. ha. But this 1 minute fix made it all better. Thanks!

Sanjay said,

September 20, 2007 @ 3:15 am

Thank you! My trackball stopped moving up today. This made the calendar very difficult to use, because once you look at next week’s appointments, you can’t go back to today’s! (Unless you resort to using Menu+T which I was doing for a couple of hours today). Googled for “blackberry pearl trackball stuck” and your site came right up, and it solved the problem. I used a computer toolkit (eyeglass screwdriver would have been easier, though). The fragile plastic clips on the Pearl’s trackball are on 3 sides — there isn’t one on top near the screen so don’t bother prying on that side. I think it must have been some invisible dust, because I didn’t see any real dirt inside, but just the act of taking the ball out, rolling it in all directions for a while, brushing off the rollers and putting it all back together made it work.

Jose L said,

September 26, 2007 @ 6:13 am

Thanks a lot for this post.

My trackball stop going to the right, at first I took the trackball apart and it didnt solve the problem, then I found out that the little black wheel wasnt turning, so that was the problem, then I read the comment that you can take it all apart and I did that to find that there was a huge ammount of pocket fuzz next to the wheel, and that was the source of the problem. I took it out with my fingers and now its better that ever, very responsive.

Thanks again.

Dexter said,

September 27, 2007 @ 11:50 am

I did what you did in the listing. I took it all apart mainly with a Exacto knife. Although it still doesn’t move where I need it to. Basically the trackball didn’t move down, so then when I did what you illustrated I ended up flipping it. So now it doesn’t scroll up. I cleaned it all out and stuff like that. I even found the little things that you said that give it direction, cleaned that out as well, still nothing. So the main problem is that it doesn’t scroll up now.

Thanks for this though it helped me out a lot. I will have a talk with TMobile about the trackball in general, if I can just get that part or have it replaced. I doubt it but it’s worth a shot. The phone works great, finally got it back working. But I’d rather have the ability to use the full features while I’m at it. Thanks and good lookin out man.

jane said,

September 30, 2007 @ 2:47 am

I just fixed my blackbery pearl trackball with vodka.

If you dont have hand sanatizer or rubbing alcohol - VODKA works just fine. Then you can celebrate your well functioning phone with a cocktail.

Tim said,

October 7, 2007 @ 10:10 pm

AWESOME, TIP. Went to use my phone and the down scroll was not working. Followed the directions above and cleaned it with some air and it now works!!!! Thanks So Much

Arthur said,

October 9, 2007 @ 6:44 am

Great suggestion worked perfectly!

Aaron said,

October 15, 2007 @ 9:16 pm

My trackball just quit working as well. It seems like this is a huge design flaw! RIM should definitely address this issue! I will attempt to clean it today.

Benjamin said,

October 17, 2007 @ 4:41 pm

Hey good fix my trackball stopped going to the right did a soft reset and it worked alright for a couple days then I took the ball completely out and now it works just fine thanks a lot!!!!

Woj said,

October 25, 2007 @ 1:36 am

Worked like a charm. I used my fingernail to lift the ring. Lift from the bottom of the ring (on the 8800 between the T and Y keys). Came out easy and I fixed it in less than 2 minutes. Mine would not scroll to the right. Must have been dirt but works great now! Thanks!

Rex said,

October 25, 2007 @ 1:58 am

Hey, great tip on cleaning the trackball. Mine gradually stopped rolling right and I suspected it was something like a ball mouse but didn’t know how to access the sensors until this how-to.

For everyone whom the initial cleaning doesn’t seem to work: this happened to me too and I found an extra step that might help. For me, the trackball would roll, but the right sensor wouldn’t register (the wheel didn’t turn). Look closely at the side of the unit where your non-functioning wheel is located. There should be a thin layer of metal over the plastic casing. CAREFULLY bend the metal upward (I did it with a straightened-out staple) and you can access the actual wheel axles. I found an absurd amount of dirt in there, which turned out to be the real culprit behind my problem.

Hope this helps!

Truth Told said,

October 30, 2007 @ 1:10 am

Thanks for the tip. I was sitting here all morning trying to figure out why my track ball stopped working. Mine wouldn’t roll vertical. I was already prepared to take it in to Cingular.

Thanks again.

Sam said,

October 30, 2007 @ 7:23 am

Thank you so much for this. I had the same problem except that mine wouldn’t scroll down. I popped it out and it was fixed. Thanks for the article!

Marty said,

November 4, 2007 @ 1:15 am

I had a similar problem with the screen pointer not responding to the mouse. I tried to remove dirt, but it did not make a difference. Then I used the sharpie to over up a part of the black that was missing. That solved the problem.

ixlr8 said,

November 4, 2007 @ 7:43 am

I dropped my phone running to first base at my sons baseball game. As soon as I picked it up full of dust I knew I was in trouble. The mouse is stuck and not moving well, plus it will not go left at all. I find this post, follow the instructions and presto. It is even better then before. After disassembly, I put the trackball under the faucet, moving it all directions to make sure I cleaned it well. Next I took compressed air and made sure to get all of the water out before re installation. You must get all the water out or it will eventually rust. Mission accomplished. BB 8830 is back online and better than new. Thanks again for this helpful info.

Mike E said,

November 7, 2007 @ 7:29 am

My trackball would’nt scroll down. Tried cleaning it and resetting, did’nt work. Just took the trackball out following the instructions above, it was not dirty, but taking it out and putting it back together has cured it! Only took a couple of minutes to do.

Bob e said,

November 14, 2007 @ 11:33 pm

I just did it and the it worked. The trackball is moving w/ no problem. Be careful w/ that inner silver ring. Make sure it does not bend when putting it back together.

James said,

November 15, 2007 @ 8:59 pm

I just tried it and it didn’t work. So I preceded to get a little more in depth. I took off the second metal ring off of the trackball. Next the bottom should come off. Then realized what was wrong, the rollers had dust on them so they would not turn. I removed each roller clean it of the dust and now it works! TRY THIS IF JUST REMOVING THE TRACKBALL DOESN’T WORK!!!

christina said,

November 16, 2007 @ 12:10 am

thankk uu very much!!! it worked perfectly..my trackball was stucked with sand and i couldnt go down so it was almost impossible to view my contact list or my messages etc… but now it works thank uu you saved my life..

a hug from panama!
byebye

Michael said,

November 21, 2007 @ 6:30 am

Trackball moves physically, but does not register on screen movement. Simple fix for mine, I learned this from being a mac user, the trackball gets dirty all the time and the exact same thing happens. Easy Fix, alcohol and a Q-tip. Dip the tip into the alcohol and allow it to become soaked, then wipe off excess, I usually use the back of my hand, so that I can tell that the alcohol wont drip off the cotton. Then using the q-tip swab, rotate the trackball back and forth in all directions, repeat the procedure 2-3 times and it should be fixed. I just did it and its working perfectly! Hope this helps, its alot easier than taking it apart.

blackberry trackball problems — mark o’brien said,

November 21, 2007 @ 10:36 am

[…] a quick tip i’m happy to pass on…i was having trouble with my blackberry pearl’s trackball not tracking left. i had a mate who had similar issues, but i’d been fortunate to not having anything, in spite of me probably not giving my pearl the best care in the world - i just tend to shove it into my pocket, so i’m sure there is all kinds of dust and lint in the wrong places.the solution to this problem was to pull the little trackball out and clean around the magnetic rollers and sensors. it’s a delicate operation, but seems to work just fine. the best info i could find about this is here. read it careful, proceed carefully… and BIG TIP OF THE DAY… note carefully the orientation of the bits as you remove them! :-) have fun! […]

Brian said,

November 24, 2007 @ 8:05 am

Worked perfectly for me. Thanks for the tip!

Mark said,

November 26, 2007 @ 1:19 am

My 8800 trackball wouldn’t select. It would scroll in any direction, but would not select when pushed. I lock my bb w/ a password, so I could enter the password…then there was no other way to hit enter. Phone was useless. Took out silver ring. (pry from the top. There are 3 little latches on l, r, and bottom, but not on top). Ring pops out then the whole module comes out if you flip bb over. Used rubbing alcohol w/ qtip to clean the black residue off of the contacts both on the ball module, as well as the brass looking contact on the board underneath. There was more black on there than on the module. Put it back together, and wa-la….works like a charm. Long live these forums and those who contribute. Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, to all who contribute.

Kamil said,

November 27, 2007 @ 4:51 am

Worked like a charm on my BB 8800. But getting off the silver ring with a small screwdriver can be rather challenging to do with no scratches. Thus i would abstain from doing it with a screw driver in the future if ever needed, and i would appreciate any advice for doing the same procedure using a more delicate tool, if any?

FIX IT CHEAP said,

November 27, 2007 @ 6:01 am

FIX IT / REPLACE IT (TRACKBALL) FOR $25 - CALL 323-651-5555. DON’T SPEND TIME TRYING TO CLEAN IT.

Franc said,

November 27, 2007 @ 6:38 pm

Thanks a million. Worked like a bomb. Took 30 secs.
Try this before paying someone $25 and losing your phone for 30 days.
Cheers, Franc

Luis said,

December 3, 2007 @ 7:30 am

Hey bro thanks a lot

Jerald said,

December 4, 2007 @ 3:41 pm

I had the same problem today.. but guess what i did? I just blew right into the trackball, with all my force (around the trackball).. believe it or not.. it actually worked. I dn’t know if it will work out for u guys.. but it did work for me

Raul E. Rojas said,

December 8, 2007 @ 5:48 am

I have a similar problem to all but not quite the same. can someone explain a possessed trackball. I’ve cleaned it but it still sounds like someone is moving the trackball. it wont move much just a few icons to the left and in a few minutes it will move up or down. Its probably the sensors or a haunted BB. I would appreciate someone shedding some light on this. Also, the track ball clicking sound can go on for minutes at a time…very annoying.
Thanks,

Yvonne said,

December 11, 2007 @ 7:39 am

Does anybody have a link to some pictures of disassemblying the trackball, some more involved pictures?

Jay said,

December 11, 2007 @ 10:42 pm

Thank you very much for this short but very helpful description. Managed to clean my pearl and it’s good as new.

Tyler said,

December 12, 2007 @ 5:46 am

WOOOHOOO!! Thanks for the article. I couldn’t track left and now after following the instructions I was able to fix it. Thanks again!

JayJ said,

December 14, 2007 @ 1:03 am

My 8800 is like new, after just 45 seconds of cleaning (following one week of cursing before reading this page). Thanks.

lee said,

December 17, 2007 @ 4:48 am

5 min later it works!!

Two BlackBerry Mysteries, Solved | BB Geeks said,

December 17, 2007 @ 10:00 pm

[…] If nothing else works, you can attempt to clean the trackball by removing the silver ring around it. Do this at your own risk. Here are some instructions on how to do it. BBGeeks.com takes no responsibility for any damage caused to your device by using this method. Subscribe to the BBGeeks RSS Feed […]

bo diddly said,

December 26, 2007 @ 11:07 pm

There is no reason to remove the trackball assembly, because it is a sealed unit. Cleaning the trackball itself with a bit of alcohol will work. If you remove the silver ring you might not be able to get it back on again.

Patrice said,

December 27, 2007 @ 12:38 pm

Hey guys-
I just got a blackberry curve and the trackball moves, but it keeps makin me this clickin noise like it is stuck, and won’t move across the screen!! It’s like when a computer malfunctions and needs to be rebooted(which I did several times). I just got it today!! Any suggestions!? I’m so upset!!

Born said,

January 1, 2008 @ 12:44 am

You are the man. Article worked perfectly. I knew it would be similiar to cleaning a mouse ball, but didn’t know how to get in there.

Thanks

Michael A said,

January 3, 2008 @ 4:37 pm

Wow. What a pain in the a$$ but it worked! After several failed attempts to clean I followed Thundt’s advice & disassembled the parts around the trackball and found more schmutz. Reassembling was no easy feat. Do take caution taking this apart minding how the metal bracket covering the rollers and trackball fit back on.

Daniel a said,

January 4, 2008 @ 5:12 pm

i have had this issue a few times now, on each occasion it works a treat for a couple of weeks before creeping back to its non moving in a particular direction state.!! problem is now the parts are getting loose with the ball assembly not being as tight as it once was, gettign worried that maybe the next time it wont go back together and stay together.!!!

i cant believe RIM wont address this problem.??? its obviously a design default obviously not helped by those amongst us who keep our BBs in our pockets instead of girly holsters….

Hank said,

January 10, 2008 @ 6:50 pm

My trackball on my 8830 only registered right and left and not up and down. Since I hesitate to remove the trackball unnecessarily I took the battery out for 1 minute and put it back in to reboot. I works fine now. I suggest trying this before any radical removal of the track ball.

JMA said,

January 11, 2008 @ 7:57 am

WHOOO HOOO!!! Your tip worked…and for a second I sat on the phone w/ Tmobile talking about warranty issues..thanks for saving me time and now I can scroll left!! LOL

Vikrant said,

January 14, 2008 @ 1:16 am

Worked after removing the wheel completely and cleaning each roller axle separately. One should be very careful in opening the trackball encasing and removing the ball and axles.

JP said,

January 15, 2008 @ 10:39 am

I was having trouble with my blackberry…I removed the trackball & all its pieces, cleaned it out, but when i tried putting everything back i forgot how it went and ended up bending the little metallic ring. I decided to leave it out and the phone seems to work fine W/out it. Do yall think thats gonna be problematic? WHats the point of the metallic ring?

PC said,

January 15, 2008 @ 11:14 pm

This totally worked. I had my phone in the bathroom with me when I was taking a shower. I guess the steam had gotten to it because the trackball would move around, but would not let me select something. This trick worked like a charm. I just used a tissue to clean it out.

Sticky trackball and keyboard - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community said,

January 18, 2008 @ 3:04 pm

[…] Originally Posted by Soul Rebel To make a long story short, I dropped my curve in a cup of ice cream and now the buttons and trackball are extremely sticky, but the phone itself works fine. I already cleaned the trackball by removing it and alcohol swabbing it, but I still cannot scroll right, left does work however with a firm push. Basically my question is how would I go about fixing the stickiness in both the keyboard and the trackball? Just remove everything and proceed with more alcohol? How are other components affected by the alcohol? Mahalo in advance. We wrote a quite comprehensive guide on how to clean the sensors of the trackball. It is too long to write everything down here but you can check the article here. It’s also illustrated with some pictures Please make sure to take of your parts. You should not break something Blog | HowTos | Deals & Free Downloads | Search | Ringtones […]

Chris said,

January 22, 2008 @ 11:33 pm

My trackball worked but was a little glitchy. Followed your instructions and now it works like a charm.Thank you for your post.

vasilis said,

January 24, 2008 @ 5:58 am

thank you very much! you saved my life.
the dealers needed 10 days to SEE if it could be fixed,thanks to you it took me 10 mnutes.

thanks again

Abid said,

January 25, 2008 @ 12:57 pm

Thanks, worked like a breeze on my 8800 but broke the pins on the metal ring when putting it back

Pam said,

January 27, 2008 @ 3:17 am

Thanks so much for the instructions. A little more clarification on putting the silver metal ring back on would be helpful.

On mine there were three prongs on the back of the silver metal ring. I placed the 3 prongs - one at the bottom and the other 2 on either sides leaving the top free from a prong. It slipped in and snuggly attached. Back to normal! Yeah!!

Thanks.

BlackBerry 8820 cleaning pictures said,

January 28, 2008 @ 1:32 pm

Thanks for the post! I have posted some pictures while cleaning my BlackBerry 8820.

DaveT said,

January 29, 2008 @ 3:19 am

I have a blackberry 8800, my wheel would move in all directions BUT the press in option would not function. I took off the track ball as suggested with my finger. I removed, cleaned the track ball with alcohol and a Q tip. Still nothing. I cleaned the bottom brass plate also with the Qtip removing black gunk build up. I used the Q tip to ensure the botton brass plate would actually depress and pop back out. I did this several times. It works perfectly now. Since I am on the road in Europe this is a considerable help. Thank you.

chris said,

January 29, 2008 @ 4:22 pm

your awesome man, i called tmobile and they were no help, i google the problem and u helped me out. my trackball wouldnt select anything, i carefully unassembled it and cleaned it with air and a qtip. now i have a blackberry 8800 again. was kinda hoping it would’ve still been messed up because i want an excuse to my wife to buy a curve but oh well. thanks so much.

Moli said,

January 31, 2008 @ 12:43 pm

Thank you for posting this, I have a 8300 pearl, the trackball would move but on the screen it doesn’t budge, so I found this site, and I cleaned it myself following the instructions, great information, great help, saved me a lot of time, thanks again for sharing this.

Shayna said,

February 1, 2008 @ 3:03 pm

AMAZING!!! this would have been the 3rd one Verizon would have had to replace for me, but by following your advice, my trackball works again!

ryan trevino said,

February 10, 2008 @ 1:30 am

mine wasnt scrolling down either, i was recent at a job and had to anwser the phone while i was working. got a tiny grain of sand in there, and i could hear it scratching the pearl. took the pearl out in 2 mins, and cleaned it in 1. works perfect, thanks for the help.

Christine said,

February 11, 2008 @ 7:43 pm

Thanks for the help, it fixed my blackberry 8800. It wont scroll down so i followed your instruction and it works!!

Indy said,

February 12, 2008 @ 10:12 pm

Awsome article. 5 minute job, very easy to perform. I cleaned my 8800. The difference was that after you remove the chromed plastic ring, the wheel assembly comes off directly. Then at your leisure you can disassemble it and clean it. Be careful with the sensor wheels (4 count - one for each direction) they are small and once you remove the metal braket that holds the wheel assembly together, they may fall. If this happens, use a small magnet to find them - the black heads of those sensors are magnets themselves (yea, its not optical).

Indy said,

February 12, 2008 @ 10:14 pm

Sorry for the double post but here is a piece of advice:

Exchange one of the left or right sensor wheels with the bottom one. The bottom sensor wheel is the most used one, all other remain relatively new… like rotating the tires on your car

Michael H. said,

February 15, 2008 @ 3:38 am

Thanks for this most AMAZING post. I was about to call Verizon to have my Pearl 8830 replaced after just TWO DAYS because it suddenly stopped scrolling up and down.

But all is better. I wish they would go back to the wheel. =P

Caramelfox said,

February 17, 2008 @ 1:09 pm

GUESS WHAT?? I tried using the air in the can to get the dirt off of my track ball and it WORKED wonders!!! This may be another fix to those who are scared to disemble their unit.

Thanks

Ken Meyer said,

February 19, 2008 @ 4:35 am

Perfect Pearl fix!! Got your link from the ATT phone support person.

Lisa Grover said,

February 21, 2008 @ 5:54 am

Thank you for this article! This keeps happening to me and I was hoping to not have to send it back in. You’re a lifesaver!

Peter said,

February 22, 2008 @ 12:19 pm

Thank you very much, it really worked!!! I can’t believe that it’s so simple! This is actually my second Pearl, the first one I had had the same problem, so I replaced it.

Thanks again!!!

becky said,

February 23, 2008 @ 9:33 am

My scroll ball isn’t working on my new blackberry curve, I only bout it a few weeks ago (my first cell phone) i worked 39 hours of over time to buy the blackberry now the scroll ball breaks, i’m not all that tech advanced so i called the customer service at at&t and they are sending me a replacement hopefully they find that the scroll ball is under warranty and i dont get charged $300 i was going to try to take the ball out but it seems like if i try to pry the ring off i’ll damage the phone

Tony said,

February 26, 2008 @ 4:09 pm

Okay very easy fix once you understand how the thing works

First, take the trackball out and and clean everywhere you can see and then try it again. If that doesn’t fix the problem then most likely one of the Black cylinders is not turning which is the main way that the tackball works. I’ve noticed that the little metal sensor that makes contact with phone when the trackball is used is attacked to the trackball unit from the bottom! so that is where pocket lint etc. will collect the easiest and that is the reason that most people are having trouble scrolling down! so to easily fix it you have to fully take it apart or just pry the side that is not working up just a little so that you can see the axle and clean out all the gunk where the ball makes contact with the cylinder!

thanks for the help everyone

misha said,

March 1, 2008 @ 3:35 am

Hey thanks alot. My trackball wudnt scroll up. I tried turning off the phone. Didn’t wk. Got on the internet n yahood trackball cleaning. Thanks so much. I cud of been a little more delicate because I did get a tiny scratch on my outter ring, but I think that my trackball working is more important!!!

Mike said,

March 9, 2008 @ 3:53 am

Thank you so much for the article. It worked like a charm! I would have probably tried accessing the trackball from the back and thus probably broken my phone.

With my Blackberry Curve, it wouldn’t roll left. I tried, as Blackberry suggests, rolling it firmly in the affected direction to no avail (for about 20 minutes). Then, I tried canned air with no effect.

Finally, I tried this procedure, and it worked. One of the 4 magnetic rollers had some gunk in it (actually they all did, but the one especially). It’s not unlike cleaning a mouse roller ball if you’ve ever cleaned one of those, but it is a little more difficult. I had a little trouble putting the trackball component back together. Those four roller pins are magnetic, so they sometimes are thrown out of place by their charge. Then, I actually had to take it apart twice, since after cleaning it the first time, it still wouldn’t roll left. So, I cleaned it some more, then before placing the outer ring on, I tested it to make sure. I think one of the roller pins was slightly disjointed as to why it didn’t work the first time. Anyway, it now works like new again, and I managed to do absolutely no damage it.

THANKS A BUNCH!!!!

Andy said,

March 12, 2008 @ 2:23 pm

I was scared at first, but once I popped off the silver circle, the track ball came right out. I cleaned out the rolling parts on the sensor and IT WORKED!!!

***HINT: MAKE YOU TEST THE TRACK BALL before you place the silver circle back on. You could have placed the track ball wrong and up will be down and left is right.

THANKS!!!!!

Kevino said,

March 15, 2008 @ 4:38 am

Thanks for that. I was stuck only able to scroll down. Easy to flip the silver off, flip the metal bit out, roll the rollers round a bit to clean them and snap it all back together. Now I can go up and sideways again.

Mary said,

March 15, 2008 @ 8:24 am

Hey there,

Thanks so much for the tips. I used the alcohol swab dipped in alcohol and wow it worked!!!! I am soooo happy. I didn’t even have to take the trackball apart. Quick fix. Thank you , Thank you, Thank you!!!!

Maria

Cedar said,

March 17, 2008 @ 12:47 pm

After reading the article and feedback posts I removed the battery of my BB Pearl and took the trackball out cleaned it in alcohol and now I can scroll down

Thanks everyone.

dnl2ba said,

March 17, 2008 @ 2:34 pm

Holy crap. This will sound silly since it’s such a simple fix, but you’re my hero. I can now scroll up!

Namz said,

March 17, 2008 @ 2:47 pm

i’m SO happy this actually worked! my blackberry phones trackball wouldn’t scroll up, i tried everything from taking out the battery, pushing the ball in hard, asking my friends (who said it can’t be fixed) and just randomly scrolling on it, eventually I called my cell phone provider told me they’d send me a new phone…2 weeks pass no phone..I call them back and they say they cancelled my order (w/o telling me) as they no longer had my phone available in white (the one i have). Eventually they say they can send me a black or red one, but I wanted white so i asked them if they could give me a repair place. So i call this repair place and this guy wanted $60…Not willing to pay as my phone is still under warranty..I googled and came up with this forum, and let me tell you…10 minutes later and figuring out which roller was having problems…its WORKING AGAIN!!
THANK you sooo much!

Knowvice said,

March 19, 2008 @ 3:12 am

I’ve also been experiencing problems with the navigation trackball @ stumbled upon a ‘cure’ serendipitously, here goes….take a cotton shirt and dab it in some alcohol & clean the trackball by rubbing against it until you see movement(no need to dismantle the phone, it will not discolour the keys & it takes less than 5minutes). Hope this helps someone.

HB said,

March 27, 2008 @ 1:46 am

Thanks for this! My Pearl is working again - yea!

David said,

April 8, 2008 @ 3:11 am

Excellent article. with the AT&T pearl, the ring comes off, then the whole assembly comes out. The small metal retainer can then be removed to access the scrolling wheels to be cleaned.

shoe said,

April 8, 2008 @ 12:02 pm

Thanks for this.. mine stopped scrolling down, right in the middle of scrolling a webpage, just gummed up. Prised the silver ring off with my thumbnail, turned the phone facedown and the ball dropped out, sure enough a piece of plastic (left over from manufacturing? - things only a month old) was stuck in one of the wheels. Snapped it back together and works great now. Cheers

tricia said,

April 8, 2008 @ 10:24 pm

Rock on! It worked

Plane Fixer said,

April 13, 2008 @ 1:36 pm

Wow!ball wouldn’t move down. Thumbnail to the ring, dropped out the ball, cleaned it and blew out the gunk, rotated the tires and good as new. THANK YOU!

John George Peppers said,

April 16, 2008 @ 11:02 pm

Just wanted to let you know that your post here is continuing to help people. My Pearl, like a bad girlfriend, decided that it wasn’t going to go down, and no amount of asking nicely, begging, shaking or hitting was solving the problem. I really felt as if paying to get it to go down would make me feel dirty, so the only answer was to open her up and see what the problem was. Sure, I felt like I shouldn’t be doing this, but after prying her open with a screwdriver, there was no turning back. I will say that there were far more pieces than I expected inside, and some stuck to my screwdriver. I fashioned a pair of tweezers out of toothpicks and rubber bands to solve that issue. Pearl made a funny noise while she was lying there with her insides splayed out on the table, but I paid it no mind. After wiping down her internal workings with an alcohol pad, I began to put the pieces back together and unfortunately it was not as easy as removing them. When I finally finished the work, I pushed her buttons just right and got Pearl turned on again. Immediately, I gave the movement that would normally mean that I wanted Pearl to go down and it happened! I couldn’t believe it, I must have made it happen 5 or 6 times in a row and it worked without fail. Now, an hour later, I look at her laying there, with only a small scratch on her face as evidence of what had happened and wonder if she will be upset at me for what I have done. One thing I do know, Pearl will not hesitate to go down when it’s required to again, if she knows what is good for her.

princee said,

April 18, 2008 @ 9:16 pm

minez juxt str8 up broken haha

Matthew said,

April 21, 2008 @ 8:53 am

Thanks so much, this totally fixed my problem!

David said,

May 1, 2008 @ 2:57 am

This was a huge help! I’ve looked for advice on the trackball problem, and this was the only post that really addressed the issue. When I took it apart, there was a huge amount of lint and gunk preventing the mechanism from rolling freely. It’s amazing it had worked at all!

Suggestion: Try to avoid removing the silver ring holding together the trackball mechanism — it’s a real pain to put back together. (I’m not talking about the plastic ring that holds it in…) You can probably remove a lot of lint and gunk without taking it apart, once it’s free from the device.

Dawn said,

May 3, 2008 @ 10:23 pm

Hey I was cleaning my BB trackball, and the case that holds the ball came apart!!! I am having some difficulty putting it back together, is there a diagram that could show me how the parts all fit !!! Need help urgently. I have a BB Pearl

JT said,

May 4, 2008 @ 2:57 am

Pictures would be a tremendous help, but none of the sites above are current.
Please help.

Kevin said,

May 9, 2008 @ 5:49 am

omg! that shit worked it wasnt stuck it acted like it was on crack cliking a million times with out touching it. also when it stoped it would roll but when i clicked it didnt do any thing now it works thanks!

Mike said,

May 9, 2008 @ 7:50 am

You are a life saver! Thanks so much for posting this!

Joe T. said,

May 10, 2008 @ 12:30 am

I think that cleaning the trackball is not the perfect solution, because a dirty trackball apparatus is only one thing that can make the trackball fail to register in a particular direction.

I’ve had my 8830 for about 8 months now, and after about 3 months, I noticed the ball wouldn’t register upwards when rolled in that direction. I searched on the net and found that cleaning the trackball with alcohol might help. I wet a Q-Tip with alcohol, scrubbed the trackball, and sure enough it worked.

Periodically, about every month or so, the same thing would happen. The trackball would stop registering upwards when rolled… I’d clean it with alcohol, and it would start working again.

Within the past 2 months or so, a new problem has started. Every so often the trackball stops registering when rolled upwards. I cannot scroll upwards through my telephone directory, and I can’t scroll upwards through the display of functions icons. This basically makes the device almost useless.)

However, if I manage to get to the Internet browser, and get on the Internet, I am perfectly able to scroll upwards on a web page. It may be a little more difficult than usual, but it’s really no problem. The big problem is scrolling upwards when I’m not using the Internet. And no amount of cleaning the trackball with alcohol helps it!

Weirdly, when this happens, this problem sometimes solves itself spontaneously, after a few hours to a day. When it solves itself, scrolling upwards becomes very easy again, just like scrolling in any other direction. It becomes a breeze — which leads me to believe the problem is not a dirty connection in the trackball apparatus, but something electronic.

A couple of times while traveling in Europe in the past few weeks, I noticed around train stations, where there are a lot of electromagnetic cables, this problem arose. The trackball wouldn’t register when I slided it upwards, no matter how hard or how fast I rolled it.

Then after a few hours, when we were far from the train station, and far from all those EM wires and cables, the ball worked fine again.

Since then, this problem has been sporadic, and has not responded to repeated cleanings. So I think this problem can also be caused by a sort of EM overload or something, which may put a strain on the device. I’m not an electrician or communications technology expert, do don’t laugh at my guess…

All I know is that this trackball problem is very frustrating, and frequently makes my 8-month old BlackBerry 8830 almost completely useless. I am seriously thinking about getting a new phone… probably not a BlackBerry, because it is ridiculous that such an expensive, state-of-the-art device should be totally defeated by such a stupid component as a trackball, which the company didn’t HAVE to include, they just did it because they wanted to.

ontherocs said,

May 11, 2008 @ 12:17 am

Hello All,

Just to echo the frustrations of the Pearl’s track ball issue. I went to T-Mobil twice and had new phone given to me three times in one year then the warranty was up.
The store reps said that I should carry the Pearl so as to keep it free of dust. What idiots would say that. A cell phone needs to be rugged in design. They are slapped in purses, pockets, and holders and are used by laborers and professionals alike. What is frustrating the places selling these phones are not informed on how to make it worked. They had me downloading software patches!

I took my Pearl trackball apart many times and got marginal improvement so I could use it.

Here are two solutions that have worked for me.
One:
I use my fingernail and work it around the outside ring to gently pry it up. Comes out easy that way. Make sure battery is out so that you don’t short the mother board. Turn upside down and shake the track ball out.
Holding between my fingers, I blow it out with aerosol can of air. I then spray it down with WD 40. I hold it upside down and roll it against a clean lint free cloth like crazy for a minute.
Then I blow it out again thoroughly with the aerosol air and voila!… no problems. Why the company does not inform you of this I don’t know.
The second way is to buy a new track ball.
I bought three of them for $9.00 each on the internet. Nothing like having a back up that you can slap in there immediately and keep running until you have time to clean the problem one. With shipping I paid $33.00 for three new trackballs. http://www.blackberry8100parts.com

When I think of all the wasted time on dealing with this problem, no real support, and the frustration of not having a phone I could use I was gleeful to find a way to solve the problem.

k said,

May 13, 2008 @ 3:48 pm

Washing the hands more often might be a solution as well

No, seriously: After my trackball got stuck the first time and I cleaned it (btw: that was the time the crappy images above were made :-)) I never had a problem with the trackball again.

Kayla said,

May 16, 2008 @ 12:10 am

Thank you so much! BlackBerry support from T-Mobile was NOT helpful, they kept telling me it was a software issue and that I needed to reset my entire phone system :-|. Thankfully I found this!

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