How to Reboot a Blackberry without Taking the Battery Out
Occasionally, you will need to reboot your BlackBerry, (e.g. if the BlackBerry seems to get stuck hour-glassing, or doesn’t respond). 8830 users know this all too well because of the phone getting stuck when 2 calls come in at the same time.
Did you know that you don’t have to pull the battery? Just press ALT-CAP-Backspace to reboot your BlackBerry.
- Note: The first time you do this, your Blackberry will only release your cell connection and re-acquire. In order to truly reboot your Blackberry, press ALT-CAP-Backspace, and as soon as the screen comes back up, press ALT-CAP-Backspace again.
- On newer BlackBerry models (i.e. 8310, 8830), this only works if you press the right hand caps key.
How to Reboot a BlackBerry
If you’re a lucky owner of a BlackBerry Storm, you will need not be able to reboot your BlackBerry Storm by using the Alt-CAP-Backspace keyboard combination because the BlackBerry Storm does not have a keyboard 
But there’s still a way to avoid having to take the battery out. You will need a free application called SoftReset which you can get OTA from here: SoftReset for BlackBerry.
You people at the blackberry are doing a wonderful job, meeting all the expectations and winning all the challenges. BRAVO 2 all of you.
i have a problem , i live in the UK i paid extra for a add on so i can bb from USA TO UK and its been working for two months now and all of a sudden it has switched to at and t ? and now i cant send bb messeges. i really dont know wot to do ll of my bills are also paid and it is direct debit. can somebody please tell me wot to do,
You people at the blackberry are doing a wonderful job, meeting all the expectations and winning all the challenges. BRAVO 2 all of you.
I tried the Alt+cap+backspace and it doesn’t seem to do anything
What model BlackBerry do you have? Also, you may want to try holding down the right Cap (Shift) key to see if maybe only one of the keys works. My Curve 8330 will only accept the combination if I use the right Shift key.
Will I lose all my data on my Storm if I reboot with SoftReset? And would I lose all my data if i just take out the battery while the device is on?
Teezy, all your data will remain intact. The soft reboot simply reload the BlackBerry OS and it doesn’t clear any data other than what is in the phone’s RAM. The file system and SD card data remain safe. It’s no different than pulling your battery out.
Excellent advice!!! It worked after I racked my brain all day to figure out the problem. Thanks!
i have an issue with my bb curve 8900 im not receiving data no web no bbm no nothing ive been tryin to fix this since wednesday wat do i do
Hi Jhonny m,
Are you on a personal or corporate BlackBerry plan? Have you tried going to Options | Advanced Options | Host Routing Table and selecting “Register Now” from the popup menu? It takes a few minutes but solves many data problems.
How do you do this for a curve 8900? I do this key combo and it asks me if I want to move my applications to the download folder.
Doesn’t work on BB Storm 5.0 — any other options?
Cheryl – good question! Let me check on my BlackBerry Storm 9530 with OS 5.0 and up date the article. I upgraded yesterday and so far I love the OS although I did find some bugs already (calendar…)!
Thanx. Just the info I needed.
Great. Thanks.
when my blackberry curve turns on it only turns on for a couple of secs then comes up app error reset so wen i do this combonation it dosen’t work what could be the problem and how may i go along to fix it ? thanks
What’s the error code that you receive when the phone turns on?
I hate my Storm. I got up to level 27 of Word Mole, and because the damn thing freezes every 30 seconds, I contiually lose my games. Perhaps you can suggest to my boss at work to get me a phone that won’t freeze, so I may become the king of Word Mole!
Earl – I agree, you should have a fully functional phone. If I had a boss like that I would quit!
You may also want to wait until your boss upgrades his phone, you may get his pre-owned one!
I have a curve 8530 and it’s pretty good. Yesterday the screen turned all white though and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. Tried taking out the battery and holding down alt/caps/backspace but whenever I turn it back on the screen’s still white. When the BB is turned off the red light stays on for a while. Any advice?
thanks
Have you tried restoring the BlackBerry back to factory defaults using the AppLoader? Download the latest version of the BlackBerry OS from your service provider and run the application – it will load the new version of the OS and hopefully repair your BlackBerry if it is a software problem. It has worked for me many times!
people at blackberry support sucks.
The correct command is ALT + CAPS + Return button ( escape button ) will do the trick.
What BlackBerry do you have? ALT + CAPS + Return is wrong. The correct combination is descibed in the article above.
what combination can I use for an 8530 curve, and 8520
Hi i am having a little trouble with my blackberry 8830 I cannot send a BBM! please help.
Are you getting any error messages?
@Howdy
ALT-CAP-Backspace would be the shortcut…
the application error is 523.
@kelvin
Here is what Blackberry site recommends, let me know if you have trouble with the upgrade:
Resolution
To resolve this issue, complete the following steps:
1. Upgrade to the latest version of BlackBerry® Desktop Software.
2. Remove any recently installed applications on the BlackBerry® smartphone. For instructions, see KB10376.
3. Install the latest version of BlackBerry® Device Software on the BlackBerry smartphone. For instructions, see KB03901.
I have a BlackBerry 8320 and it just froze on me and it wont let me do anything at all. Just the little scroll works but wen i click it it wont. none of the buttons do anything and i tried the ALT+CAP+DEl and it still wont do anything. I tried removing the battery and my sim card and when i put them back in and turn it on it takes me to the same thing.
I want to post quick hello and want to say appriciate for this good article.