I've seen other threads about cleaning a dirty trackball but my problem is different - I fear it's broken. I dropped the handset, battery fell out but it seemed to recover OK. About 24 hours later, suddenly the trackball press no longer operates as an activate and the right button no longer works as a back or cancel. They misbehave in very consistent ways.
If I select a desktop icon and press the trackball, it behaves as if I had pressed letter U - opens the address book at U. Each subsequent press adds the letter "uo". The back key is simmilar but the letters are "hl"
I've had to find new ways to run the phone without these - and it is do-able!
this is the program you can delete the OS with.
You can screw up your BB like that. Make sure you will have the new OS installed on your PC. And also you will need BB desktop manager
I had this problem and I'd seen other people have it also... I was sure it was software and spent hours trying to backup (unsuccessfully), searching for a solution, wiping the device and finally re-installing the OS. In the end I got nowhere and the problem got progressively worse. In the end I took it to AT&T for a warranty swap, luckily they didn't give me a hard time about it.
Don't waste your time w/ this problem, whatever it is it F****S your BB up. Just swap it out right away.
I had a similar problem with an 8800
This is what worked for me
I dismantled the device following the instructions found on YouTube for Blackberry 8800's (just search for it on YouTube and you can find it)
I then gently cleaned the keyboard compression pad and thoroughly blew out any debris from the entire device, carefully using compressed air
I reassembled the device and the problem was resolved.