Sunday 4 August 2013

BlackBerry Z10, IMAP/GMail problem and the OS upgrade 10.1.0.4181 MR (Problem confirmed to OS 10.2.0.1047)

This problem has been resolved and no "work around" is needed for OS 10.2.1.1925, or on leaked OS 10.2.1.xxxx previous to BlackBerry push of OS 10.2.1.1925 on Jan 28/2014

 

assumes no responsibility for any loss or hardship (be it loss of data, loss of life, property, equipment, bodily injury, money, time or others) incurred directly or indirectly by using the information or steps listed below or any of it's contents (such as Links/data etc).

Use the information at your own discretion and responsibility

 

Summary:

After the 4181 upgrade one of my email accounts is broken. It is a Gmail account set up through the IMAP setup, not Gmail. I did this because, I need a "reply to" email address that is not Gmail. This option is not possible if the account is set up as a Gmail account. It worked like a charm until the upgrade (it also worked well with all my previous BlackBerry devices from OS 5 and on) and now it doesn't work.   This issue is not a mismatch of configuration, but a fundamental oversight by Google/BlackBerry.
 

Symptoms: 

The issue is that it is asking me for a password. However, when I go to account settings and select the offending account, I get only a white screen. There is no option to enter the account information, or delete this account.  When I try to add a second account it says that the account already exists
 

Symptom Replication: 

2 ways to replicate this issue. 
1.       Simple: You have OS 10.1.0.4181 or later (Not gonna mention any leaked OS version right now but they are also effected previous 4181)
2.       Original: The manner in which us user have come to this issue (You need to add account in one OS then upgrade to a new OS 4181 or newer)
Simple:
1. “Settings”
2. “Accounts”
3. “Add Account”
4. “Email, Calendar and contacts”
5. Enter *****@gmail.com email address
6. Dismiss keyboard by holding the space bar or two fingers down
7. “Advanced”
8. “Gmail”
9. Enter "description, Display Name"
10. Username should be populated with your ********@gmail.com address, if it is not, enter your gmail email address
11. Change "Email Address" field to *********@mycompany.com (Alias email account, it has been setup in the setting as the “send as email address”, but even if this alias email address is not registered in the gmail settings as the “send as email address” the problem is the same)
12. Hit “Done”
13. A few seconds later just a white screen as seen in Img. 3, with an option to dismiss back to Img. 1.  Loop.
13.a.: you are now supposed to see Img. 4.  But process stops step 13/image 3.
 
 
Original: 
1. “Settings”
2. “Accounts”
3. “Add Account”
4. “Email, Calendar and contacts”
5. Dismiss keyboard by holding the space bar or two fingers down or tap anywhere on the screen
6. “Advanced”
7. “IMAP”
8. Enter "description, Display Name"
9. Username:  ********@gmail.com address.
10. Email Address field: *********@mycompany.com (Alias email account, it has been setup in the setting as the “send as email address”, but even if this alias email address is not registered in the gmail settings as the “send as email address” the problem is the same) .
11. Enter Password for your @gmail account
12. Server address: imap.gmail.com.  Doesn’t matter if it is ssl or not
13. SMTP Server address: smtp.gmail.com.  Doesn’t matter if it is ssl or not
14. Choose 1day for initial retrieval amount; this is just to get a small sample content to speed up the process
16. Hit Done
17. Allow to have content fetched
18. Upgrade to OS 10.1.0.4181 or newer.
19. After the upgrade, the Hub would require you to re-enter your password. See Img.1
20.  Select the offending account. You will then see Img. 2
21.  A few seconds later just a white screen as seen in Img. 3, with an option to dismiss back to Img. 1
21.a.: you are now supposed to see Img. 4.  But process stops step 13/image 3
 

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Solution:
Immediate solution is to delete any Gmail account setup as IMAP then add them after any sort of software upgrade.  But if you are reading this post, it is too late for that.
I'm not a coder, and if I was, I don’t think I could even fix this issue, so BlackBerry needs to:
a.       Resolve the issue where an IMAP Gmail account with a different email address than the GMAIL username (Gmail email address) will hang the authentication process, due to a mismatch email address and username.
b.      Restoring from backups should have more flexibility (just like BlackBerry Desktop used to have)
 

 

Workaround:

1.       Install leaked version of OS 10.1.0.1916 (Pre 10.1.0.4181)
2.       Restore everything from backup
3.       Delete offending account
4.       Create a new backup (now without the offending account)
5.       Upgrade to new Updated OS.  (In my case, Leaked OS 10.2.0.1047)
6.       Restore everything from Backup in step 4.
7.        Add the offending account. 
a.       Now account works fine.
8.       Wait until the next upgrade comes down the pipe, and repeat steps 3 to 7, or BlackBerry fixes this situation.
PLEASE SEE RESOURCES SECTION IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO PREFORM SOME OF THESE STEPS BEFORE ASKING!  Thank you

 

Proof of concept: 

Troubleshooting steps taken:  (All these and attempts to get passed the “white screen of death” have been tested over WiFi and provider networks; this factor is irrelevant)
1.       Attempt to delete the offending account
a.       Unable to as there is no option
2.       Setup a new instance of the same account under IMAP
a.       Error message: “Account already added”
b.      No go
3.       Security wipe the phone
4.       Add accounts from scratch
a.       Success, but no data restored from back up
5.       I absolutely need my Password keeper content so I restore just the setting portion of a backup from BB Link
a.       All email accounts are added in again: back to step one.
6.       Install leaked version of OS 10.1.0.4687
a.       Same results as above: as soon as I get the settings portion of Backup from BB Link (To get my precious “Password Keeper” content
7.       Install leaked version of OS 10.2.0.1047
a.       Similar results as above (Meaning there is not a white screen, rather it bounces back to the first page: as soon as I get the settings portion of Backup from BB Link (To get my precious “Password Keeper” content
8.       Install leaked version of OS 10.1.0.1916 (Pre 10.1.0.4181)
9.       Restore everything from backup
10.   Delete offending account
11.   Create a new backup (now without the offending account)
12.   Upgrade to new Updated OS.  (In my case, Leaked OS 10.2.0.1047)
13.   Restore everything from Backup in step 11.
14.    Add the offending account. 
a.       Now account works fine.
15.   Wait until the next upgrade comes down the pipe, and repeat steps 10 to 14, or BlackBerry fixes this situation.
 

Conclusion: 

This issue is not due to user error; it is inherent issue/oversight in new OS later than the FIRST OFFICIAL 10.1.x.xxx RELEASE.  This practice of using an email alias account for your Gmail account is VERY COMMON.  We do this as we have a bad ISP, Domain Host, or choose to utilize Gmail Technology as our main mail handler due to IMAP support.  This is a serious issue.  
Our friends at BlackBerry got to take this seriously and resolve this matter.

Applies to: 

BlackBerry Z10
BlackBerry Q10
BlackBerry Q5
 
Devices replicated on:
BlackBerry Z10
Hardware; irrelevant.  This is an oversight in the software.
 

Resources: (BB Z10)

1.     Leaked OS 10.1.0.1916 for the BlackBerry Z10 Liverpool (STL100-2) and Lisbon (STL100-3). This OS is for the STL100-2 and STL100-3 Z10 models only! Those are the GSM LTE Z10 models from Europe and North America. Verizon Z10 are not supported with this OS. If you are not sure what model your Z10 is, type "myver" in a text field with your Z10's keyboard, or check the About > Category: OS section in the Settings menu.
Warning: Please remember that this IS NOT an official release operating system. If you wish to install this OS keep in mind that this may cause your phone to not function correctly. Also remember, upon loading this OS, it will wipe yourdevice clean. Make sure you back up your device before loading it. Otherwise, you will lose all your data.
 
2.       How to install leaked OS on your phone

3.       How to backup and restore your phone using BlackBerry Link

4.       BlackBerry Link dl link (you should not be looking for this if you have read this far.  Hold your head in shame now ;) haha)
 
 

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