Originally Posted by
Speed of Sound
Given that the reply came about 8 seconds after asking if he could try, it is highly likely (though not 100% certain) the the FO was attempting to operate the trim switch during those 8 seconds.
That's not how it reads.
According to the transcript "
The First-Officer has replied that the trim was not working and asked if he could try it manually", followed (8 seconds later) by "
the First-Officer replied that it is not working".
That would suggest that what he was doing during those 8 seconds (having already acknowledged that electric trim was inop) was to try to wind the trim wheel (unsuccessfully, for the reasons already discussed in the thread), followed by his statement that it wouldn't move.