How to reload the BlackBerry Z10 or Q10 operating system

Have you ever been in the position where your BlackBerry Z10 or BlackBerry Q10 simply won’t start up? Are you getting just a red flashing light but nothing else, no matter how many times you remove and reinsert the battery? Have no fear: just follow our handy guide below and you will see how you can reload your BlackBerry using BlackBerry Link, a USB cable and a little time!
When a BlackBerry 10 device is only flashing the red light and refusing to boot up, this indicates that the device’s operating system has become corrupted. The flashing light may follow the pattern of 1, 2 or 3 short blips, with a longer pause between the sets.
In order to fix this, you need to re-install the operating system on the device, which will then set the device back to its original factory state.

Please note: this process will completely wipe your device, so please make sure you have a backup of your personal information available to restore before going through this process.

1. Download and install the latest version of BlackBerry Link for your computer.
2. Open BlackBerry Link software.
3. Plug in the BlackBerry device using your USB cable.
4. At the bottom left of the program, find the device you're having issues with and select it by clicking on it.
5. The BlackBerry Link application will then ask to either reconnect or reload the device software. Choose Reload.
6. Confirm the reload when prompted to do so, which will wipe clean any data previously on the handset.
7. Allow the reload to complete, which can take some time. Whilst this is underway, the device will have a solid green light. This process of downloading and reinstalling the device can take an hour or more, depending on the speed of your internet connection, so please don't disconnect the BlackBerry until the process has finished.
8. Once the restore is complete, simply set up your device again, or restore it from a previous backup stored on your machine. However, if you want to restore a previous backup, remember to sign in to your BlackBerry ID on the device first!

The good news is, this process is almost identical on both PC and Apple Mac. Simply follow the same process as above. Finally, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.