March 8th, 2007
Here's your complete BlackBerry Daylight Savings Time how-to resource
In most of North America (except for Arizona and Hawaii) the clocks will move forward one hour at 2 a.m. this Sunday.
The arrival of Daylight Savings Time occurs three weeks ahead of its previous arrival on the first Sunday in April.
Unfortunately, most BlackBerry devices were built in advance of this change. Thus, the clocks on these devices may might not know to switch until April.
No BlackBerry user wants this to happen.
Fortunately, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has set up a resource to guide you through the process of updating to DST when you need to. The link is here.
Clicking through, we find instructions for IT Administrators, and then for individual BlackBerry users not tethered to an office network.
Because far more of you are likely to be individual BlackBerry users rather than IT admins, I thought I would highlight the steps you need to take.
You have two choices:
Manually change the time in Options-Date/Time
- Move the time forward 1 hour on 11 March 2007, and then back 1 hour on 1 April 2007
- Move the time forward 1 hour on 28 October 2007, and then back 1 hour on 4 November 2007
You can also install a patch that will do the work for you. The patch is dependent on your BlackBerry system OS. You need to be running OS 4.0 or above.
Basic patch installation info, according to BlackBerry:
- It is recommended that you back up your BlackBerry using the Backup and Restore function in Desktop Manager. Learn more about backing up your device
- Close the BlackBerry Desktop Software if it is running on your PC.
- Disconnect your BlackBerry Device from your PC. You'll be prompted to reconnect it with the USB cable.
- Go to DST Patch Loader. Note: If Internet Explorer or your Device stops responding please view KB12188.
- A reset may be required and it will usually take up to 15-20 minutes.
- Once the patch is applied you can view the status of the patch in Options-2007 DST Patch.
Fail to do this, and you might wake up an hour early this Sunday
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
