Error fixing tip: Delete vendor.xml file

This week we’re going to cover a number of issues regarding BlackBerry errors. If you have questions, leave them in the comments. We’ll try to address the more common ones. A BlackBerry error can be a hair-pulling experience. Many of us rely on our BlackBerry devices for work, and even a few hours of downtime can constitute a disaster. Imagine, then, if you see an error on your device and have no way to fix it. The downtime could be as little as an hour, but there is no ceiling. You might even, gasp, need a new device. Thankfully, you can recover from most errors. We’ve gone over a few methods before on BBGeeks, and we’ll continue to document errors that have specific fixes. Many errors, though, will simply require you to reinstall the OS. Here’s a tip on how to accomplish that. In most cases you’ll have to download a fresh copy of your device OS from your carrier’s website. Check out this post to find links to popular carriers’ OS pages. Once you’ve downloaded and run the OS file, you’re ready to reinstall. One common theme I’ve seen among error fixes is to delete the vendor.xml files that resides in the AppLoader directory. To find this, you’ll go to the directory Program Files/Common Files/Research In Motion/AppLoader. Here you’ll see the vendor.xml file. Most guides I’ve seen advise you to delete it, but I’d recommend just moving it to another folder, preferably one outside the Program Files directory. Make sure, however, that it is no longer present in the AppLoader subdirectory. Once you’re done with that, connect your device and run AppLoader.exe. You should be able to reinstall the OS. If not, you might have a bigger problem on your hands. We’ll go over advanced methods tomorrow.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.