How to on Installing Blackberry themes (scan this thread)

jah_tee · #46 07-15-2006 -

I will also appreciate help on how to put the themes into "Themes" and not application. HELP please

r3nb72 · #47 07-15-2006 -

Hi whitey, jgm-co, jbrown, smejico, bronxboy78, pepe and jah_tee! Have u guys downloaded the Plazmic Reader? U really need that to install the themes.

Tosin · #48 07-18-2006 -

Quote:

Originally Posted by N8DBB

Did you edit ur permissions?
http://http://www.pinstack.com/black...298&artlang=en

I dont get it? How do we edit the premission?

khussain · #49 07-20-2006 -

Quote:

Originally Posted by N8DBB

One of the greatest things about the Blackberry is the ability for users to change such options as the themes on it, according to their individual tastes and moods. This how to is going to teach you just that. How to find themes, download them, load them into your Blackberry and how to activate them.

WHERE TO FIND THEMES:

There are already HUNDREDS of themes avaliable here on pinstack for your taking! There are too many to list them individually, so click these links to search for them.

The first thing that you want to do is make sure that the themes you are finding and the themes that you are downloading are compatible with your series of BlackBerry. If you download the wrong theme into your Blackberry, it will blow up and never work again. Ok, just kidding about that part, but you will be scratching your head wondering why they are not working and it will cause undue stress in your life.

So you have found a theme that you want right? You decide you want that on your phone? Lets move on to learn how to get them!

DOWNLOADING THEMES:

Unforunately at this point, we are unable to offer the downloading of the themes OTA (over the air), so you need to download them onto your PC.

The first thing I would recommend doing would be to create a folder that is strictly for your BlackBerry downloads. You will thank me later for this so that you are not searching all over your computer for the files you have downloaded. The simplest thing I have found to do is just create a folder labeled BB.

Now find the theme(s) that you want and download them into your BB folder on your computer. These will be in ZIP format, so you are going to have to unzip them. If you do not have a program such as WinZip or an equivalent, you can click here to download it for free.

After the files have finished downloading onto your computer, go to your BB folder. You will now see the zip files in your folder. Double click on the files you want to unzip. WinZip should automatically open up. Double click on the folder and you will now see probably 2 or 3 different files located there. Hold down the CTRL button and click on each of these files to highlight them.

In order to activate custom made themes on your BlackBerry, you need a program called the Plasmic Theme Reader. Thankfully more and more people are including these in their Zip files so you don't have to go searching around for it some place else. This is why you are going to highlight all of the files there.

Ok, so all of the files are now highlighted right? There should be an icon towards the top of the program that says "Extract", or you can right click on the highlighted programs. A menu will then come up, and choose "Extract To". Extract these files to your BB folder. These files have now been extracted to your BB folder, and it is time for step 2.

LOADING THEMES, STEP 1:

Most themes that are now being created require you to be running the 4.1 operating system in order to work. Don't know what version of the operating system you have on your phone? Do this.

From the homescreen, click on options and scroll up to about. Click your trackwheel and you will see the information on your phone. If you see where it says v4.1.x.xxx, you are in luck, you have 4.1 already on your phone. If you see v4.0.x.xxx...well...Sorry, you are out of luck...You can't get custom themes on your phone.....JUST KIDDING!

Ok, we all have the correct version of the Operating System on our device that we need for the themes we have chosen right? Well lets move on!

LOADING THEMES, STEP 2:

Now we are going to load the themes into the BlackBerry. Start your Desktop Manager and connect your BlackBerry via the USB port. When it connects, you are going to click on "Application Loader". At the welcome screen, click next. It is now going to bring you to the "Device Application Selection". Toward the bottom, you are going to see an "Add" button. Click on this. It is going to now bring up a sub menu. Find your BB folder that you created earlier. The only files that are going to be shown are folders are .alx files, which are the themes.

Click on the themes that you want to add to your device. If there is more than one theme that you want to add, then do it now. Just follow the same steps and keep adding all the themes that you want. When you have finally finished adding all those themes, click the "Next" button. Now you are going to go to a screen that shows what files you are about to load onto your BlackBerry AND what files you are about to DELETE.

IMPORTANT:

Make sure that you are NOT about to delete the default themes off of your device! If you do, you will think you have screwed it up because when it reboots you will have a white screen with "Stick figure" icons, and it will just irritate you that you have to go back from the begining and start all over again. Once again, do NOT delete your default themes!

Ok...Now click the Finish button. You will now see all of your themes getting loaded onto your device. Once it has finished, your BlackBerry will restart itself. This is why you want to load all the themes you want at once, because you will soon grow bored of having your BB reboot for every theme you put on one at a time....

HOW DO I ACTIVATE MY THEME?:

Well, when your BB reboots, go to Options>Themes...See your themes there? YAY!!! All you have to do is scroll down and click your trackwheel and choose activate...TADA! Your new theme is active!

But wait, what if you go to your themes and it's not there? Well, sorry to tell you but you messed up somewhere along the line and you just have to keep going until you get it right... Ha..Not really...Just messing with you again...

Ok, you've loaded your themes but they don't appear in the "Themes" section under your options (Which is typical for the 71XX series Blackberry). Here is what you need to do. Go to Options>Advanced Options>Applications. When you open the advanced options, you are going to see a list of every one you have loaded onto your BB. What you are going to be looking for is something that is labeled either the name of the theme(s) you loaded (Eg: Superman, Simpsons, etc), or something that looks like: plasmic_com.....04.15.2006.3423...Something similar. Not that exact writing, because they will vary by theme.

Found it? Good. Now scroll down to it and click your trackwheel. A menu will come up. Scroll to "Edit Permissions". See that one that is set at "Custom" and the other 2 at Allow? We need to change that. So scroll to where it says "Custom" (probably under Interactions), click your trackwheel, and change it to allow. Now SAVE your settings! Exit back out to the main menu. Now reset your Blackberry by doing a hard reset. This can be achieved by taking the battery out for 3 seconds and putting it back in. Your Blackberry will now reboot.

Once it has finished rebooting, go to Options>Themes...And there they are! WOO HOO! You're new theme(s) are ready to use! Activate them and enjoy!

If you have any problems, feel free to PIN me or search through the pinstack forums (There is tons of great information there).

Until Next Time, N8

Copyright 2006 Pinstack.com

Hi,

i have a 7290. I installed the theme reader and a theme but still don't see it in the theme section. I see it in the applications section.

any help would be appreciated

serviceone · #50 07-20-2006 -

when you are using your desktop manager you have to make sure the update software is not setup on your computer or it willl automaticaly be detected by your desktop manager and your handheld device. Step 1: Open your control panel on your computer, select add & remove programs, then find your update software and remove it, then restart your computer. Step 2: Once step 1, in completed go back into your desktop manager then you will be able to add your new theme as long as the folder content for your theme are on the desktop. Files needed: theme.cod, theme.alx, theme-reader.com, and theme-reader.alx; unless you already have a third-party theme on you handheld, now if you already have one all you need is the cod and the alx of that new theme you want to add. After that you will be able to load other themes. For further questions you can message me and i will do my best to walk you through it.

**StaceyRVC** · #51 07-23-2006 -

ummmm ok i have a stupid question.. I made my own theme, but the extension on it is thm and can't get it to go into the application loader... what did I do wrong?

**cp6169** · #52 07-23-2006 -

Quote:

Originally Posted by StaceyRVC

ummmm ok i have a stupid question.. I made my own theme, but the extension on it is thm and can't get it to go into the application loader... what did I do wrong?

thm files are to be open by theme builder. What you need to do is export the theme and create .alx and .cod files. Then put them together in one file and load the .alx! Good luck hun.

**StaceyRVC** · #53 07-23-2006 -

LOL thanks I think I am going to need it!!!!

**cp6169** · #54 07-23-2006 -

Its quite easy after you get the hang of it.

**StaceyRVC** · #55 07-23-2006 -

Yeah looks like this is going to consume the rest of my sunday... haha

Da3m0n · #56 07-25-2006 -

does anyone know where i can download the 4.1 OS for an Altell 7250?

**cp6169** · #57 07-26-2006 -

Here...https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/browseSoftware.do

krosander · #58 07-26-2006 -

Okay, I finally understand this dang problem with the plazmic theme reader and my themes showing up in "Themes" so that I can activate them. Now I need to know if there is a way around this.

The answer is - no matter how many themes I load, I can only see 2 custom themes at a time. I can delete and add them 2 at a time and always see the new 2, but never more than 2. Is this a licensing issue (free vs. paid)? Or what?

BTW - the Application "Allow" vs "Custom" makes no difference. I tried many combinations, and can always get a theme to show and activated without ever "allowing" it - but only if I have no more than 2 custom themes.

Any help/advice/answers would be appreciated...

**srl7741** · #59 07-26-2006 -

Quote:

Originally Posted by krosander

Okay, I finally understand this dang problem with the plazmic theme reader and my themes showing up in "Themes" so that I can activate them. Now I need to know if there is a way around this.

The answer is - no matter how many themes I load, I can only see 2 custom themes at a time. I can delete and add them 2 at a time and always see the new 2, but never more than 2. Is this a licensing issue (free vs. paid)? Or what?

BTW - the Application "Allow" vs "Custom" makes no difference. I tried many combinations, and can always get a theme to show and activated without ever "allowing" it - but only if I have no more than 2 custom themes.

Any help/advice/answers would be appreciated...

This is an interesting issue? I have see other posts having the very same problem (not with 2) but with 5 and even 10 themes at a time.
I do not know why this happens but i have often thought there are limits that can be reached on each berry device and of course the limits would be according to how we use them. We each use them differently and for different reason and the combination of apps differ. I think? it may be due to the amount fo resources that remain on the phone and what is needed to run each and remain stable.
I would love know why this happens? It has not happened to me but i do not have alot of 3rd party apps and only keep 3 themes on my phone at any one time.
Sorry i can't offer a solution but i can at least support your post by saying it's a true occurance and your not the only one who has the issue.

For what it's worth, the desktop manager is touchy and the theme directory needs to remain in tack in the same place at all times.
If you install a theme from one location then try and install a theme from another directory you will generate the error message that says "no additional apps found" or something close to that. I have found that i need to keep any themes i've installed in the same folder in the same location till such time i am sure i will never use it again. I have also found that if i install a theme from one pc and then try from another pc i also get error messages telling no no apps found.
I'm not sure i explaind that well? The point i'm trying to make is make a folder for each themes files and keep it there and each additional theme you add place in the same directory or you will get error messages that cause headaches when installing themes.

krosander · #60 07-28-2006 -

An additional note:

My brother has the exact same phone and has the same problem, but he can only see 1 theme at a time.

We both use the desktop manager only to load the themes. We have tried different load orders (themes first, then plazmic reader - plazmic and themes together - etc.).

All themes show up under the applications, and there are never any errors shown on the device or on desktop manager. As far as they are concerned it all loaded fine. They just don't show me more than 2 (or my brother more than 1) at a time.