Dev mode without the keyboard?

[pund]

A friend has given me her Pre with WebOS 1.4.5 on it so I can get the text messages off it before she sends it in to be repaired. The problem is, the keyboard doesn't work so I can't put it in dev mode to install internalz to get the messages off.

Is there any way of either activating dev mode without using the keyboard or somehow getting access to the system partition by mounting it in Linux?

Or is there anything I can do with recovery mode to get access to the system partition?

What is it which stops a computer from accessing the system partition when the phone is plugged in via usb and NOT in dev mode?

I've tried a couple of things to get the keyboard working, shutting down the phone and taking the battery out and also pinching the phone where the P key is because I read somewhere that's where the cable is which attaches the keyboard to the mainboard and it sometimes gets lose.

Thanks.

[sinime]

If you just want to delete messages and personal stuff like pictures...

EDIT: Not sure, but you might want to uninstall any patches or special kernals first...

1) Make sure you back up everything to a PC first by using USB mode! Dev mode not required...

2) Once everything is backed up, eject the pre from the PC and open "Device Info" from the device.

3) Hit "reset options" at the very bottom.

4) Assuming everything was backed up in step 1, you can now erase apps & data, erase USB drive, full erase or full secure erase.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums

[pund]

Thanks for the reply but what I meant, sorry I should have phrased it more clearly, is that I want to backup the text messages. She got everything else off it and I think I'm right in saying contacts are backed up in the palm profile. The only other thing she wants in the text messages.