PPCGeeks - on going issues. someone please help me...

blackberry 8310. yes its old but i like it. now, woke up this morning and it is now in the infamous reboot loop. its great. black, red light, hour glass, black, ect.

now, i have tried a few things.

I have tried the apploader deal. but i never have "usb unknown" showing. its either blank or has a bunch of numbers. i have tried this with every combination of batter in, battery out, sim card in, out. I just cant get usb unknown to show.

so i tried BBSAK. I am new to this as well, so it took me a while to figure out what the hell i was doing. but, I will say i got it installed and I can open it up but the program will never connect to the bb. if the battery is out, it will not connect. if its in, its cycle is too fast and it powers on and off before it can recognize it (I think).

ok, now I am asking you, my new nerdy friends who know way more than i do on here what I should do minus putting it in a sock and clubbing the first blackberry representative i see to death with it.

oh yeah i am running windows vista. and yes its a laptop.
please for the love of christ someone tell me what i need to do to make this thing usable again. I have been out of work for like 2 years, and have no money to buy a new one.