Database Users

My HTC swap experience....

so I was an unfortunate user who had dust under their screen and it was only getting worse. Rooted and unlocked I decided to go the swap route plus I didnt want to be N1less for a while. Any who, I call up HTC and explain my situation and without a prob I take the swap option. So 3 days later or so I recieve my refurbished N1. Everything looked well. I immediately rooted it with Cyan6 back to my old ways. So I go to play Home Run Derby and the screen goes white for a few seconds and I notice the entire screen has a burnt image on it. You can see the notification bar, the 3G symbol and entire keyboard in portrait mode. I start to notice it more browsing web and what not.
My plan is to call HTC on monday and get another phone as I hope it will not be a problem. I am also glad the new rooting methods are much easier then they were and I can just go back to stock. Lets hope they dont give me a prob with my old one...lol I will report back monday

I had the same dust under screen problem with my original Nexus One and called HTC to do a swap about 3 weeks ago. I received refurbished N1 two weeks after I first called and even before I had sent back the original I turned on the swap one they sent me, put my information in, and it rebooted.
Turns out they sent me a refurbished unit that constantly rebooted so much I couldn't even use it
I called again immediately and HTC said that I would need to send the original phone back (w/ the dust problem) and then a week later they will close out the ticket and then I can call again after that to do another swap on the one they sent me that is constantly rebooting :Sigh:
So I call again a week later once they close out the ticket and get a 3rd Nexus sent out to me. Well once I get the 3rd one I turn it on and lo and behold I can't make any calls unless the phone is on speaker mode!!!
I have a baaaaaaaaaad feeling that I'm just going to continually get sent refurbished units that don't work over and over and I'm not quite sure what to do about it

My experience with a swap hasn't been much better.
I sent my n1 for the power button issue and the swap unit I received was in terrible shape.
* screen burn in
* dust under the screen
* dead pixel
* very loose usb port
Needless to say I called and asked for another device.

All I can say is that their incompetence has led me to have 2 n1s now. Sometimes incompetence leads to good things.

Damn this sounds bad. I hope I don't have these issues. I called and they said I have to wait for the ticket to close. Guess ill report back next week

Buck Shot said:
My plan is to call HTC on monday and get another phone as I hope it will not be a problem. I am also glad the new rooting methods are much easier then they were and I can just go back to stock. Lets hope they dont give me a prob with my old one...lol I will report back monday
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt you will have any problems with the old one. I sent my unlocked rooted phone back for a power button issue. Did a swap, received a refurbished phone and although it appeared to be fine, I tried recording a video and low and behold all I got was static for sound. I called HTC, explained the problem and within a day or so had another phone which has been fine. The unlocked/rooted phone was not a problem and showed service complete on the website.
If you are returning your phone for valid hardware issues, I doubt very much that HTC is going to give you a problem although I guess YMMV. As long as the HTC Website shows as "service complete", you are good to go on the unlocked/rooted device. I would suggest putting the phone back to factory software and unrooted. That's what I did beforehand. You're right about the newer rooting methods, it is a bit of a challenge to root, but well worth the extra time while alleviating the stress of "What If?" when you need warranty service.
Good Luck!

so my last one cleared and they are sending me a new one as we speak. Ill report back mid next week.
and yes it cleared with an unlocked bootloader running Cyan6 morphed up

Buck Shot said:
sou can see the notification bar, the 3G symbol and entire keyboard in portrait mode. I start to notice it more browsing web and what not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ENTIRE keyboard? Man, you must have gotten a phone from a 12 year old girl if they were using the keyboard that much.

Did 3 swaps earlier this year:
- original phone: bad microphone or something
- 1st replacement: really pink screen
- 2nd replacement: horrible reception
- 3rd replacement slightly pink screen (this is the one I kept)
It is possible to keep the original phone and send in the replacement.

Its been over 2 weeks since I sent back the swap device for another and they still haven't sent out another replacement.
Multiple calls to htc support hasn't gotten me anywhere. They've repeatedly said that they would escalate the issue but nothing results from that.
So far, very disappointed with htc support.
I'm probably going to pick up the mytouch 4g just for the tmobile support which is excellent...
dave
dwang said:
My experience with a swap hasn't been much better.
I sent my n1 for the power button issue and the swap unit I received was in terrible shape.
* screen burn in
* dust under the screen
* dead pixel
* very loose usb port
Needless to say I called and asked for another device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

My BTC swap experience... updated 11-10-10
so i got my 2nd replacement and all is well and went smooth.... and they excepted 1 unlocked bootloader and a rooted device

mrbkkt1 said:
All I can say is that their incompetence has led me to have 2 n1s now. Sometimes incompetence leads to good things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got two car docks like this.

Your reason for exchange

I just wanted to ask you all why you exchanged your epic to get another one. What problems were you having? I'm on my second one and about to be third. My first one I got 3wks ago and came out of the box with dg27and would not update itself to di18. I did it myself but still I called sprint and talked to tech and they said it was a software issue. I have no idea. Second one came out of the box updated but freezes and backs out of apps. Also if I'm using wifi and turn it off my 3G icon doesn't immediately show up for like hours. Sometimes a battery pull is required to get the 3G to come back on and when it does if I'm downloading something the arrows that show something is being downloaded doesn't light up but it still loads webpages. I'm just worried I'm gonna get another one that won't update itself if I take this one back. I dont mind using odin but i shouldnt have to. What issues did you all have? Do you think if I exchanged mine now that it should come out of the box with di18. It's been out long enough?

I'm on my second one, I was past the 30 days so I was given a refurb. Surprisingly this refurb is better than the new one, which to me is quite weird.
Anyway, I had to return my original one because the Ambient light sensor stopped functioning.

I thought that if it's covered under the manufacturers warranty you got a new one not a refurb? That's what I get for thinking.

Wow. Where do I begin. I had a whole laundry list of problems. Still do. Apparently most were software and may or may not get fixed. But hardware-wise, I had a massive battery drain problem. Bought mine at launch, and Sprint replaced it after the 30 days, and that's without the extended warranty crap. That's good customer service. Finally got one without major problems, but I'm trading mine for an Evo in the next couple days, so it don't matter either way.

I'm on my 4th Epic!!!
My 1st phone the qwerty keyboard got all scratched up from opening & closing. From #3 to #6 all the way to the bottom
The 2nd wouldn't update the PRL, Firmware or Profile! I'd get an error message. It was (according to Sprint) a software problem
On the 3rd my 4G wouln't turn on. I'd pull the notification bar down, hit the 4G icon & nothing would happen. Sprint tech said basically the 4g radio was never "turned on" & it couldn't be fixed at the store. Also the door for the charger didn't click when I opened it so it would slide open & close by itself.
So far my 4th phone is working perfect.

live2ride96 said:
Wow. Where do I begin. I had a whole laundry list of problems. Still do. Apparently most were software and may or may not get fixed. But hardware-wise, I had a massive battery drain problem. Bought mine at launch, and Sprint replaced it after the 30 days, and that's without the extended warranty crap. That's good customer service. Finally got one without major problems, but I'm trading mine for an Evo in the next couple days, so it don't matter either way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I had a hero,than swapped to evo on launch day and 2 weeks ago I swapped to the epic 4g. And I mus say that I am happy w the epic...rooted running stock...

i had 1 replacement, but semi my fault. i used to only use the dock to charge and got a ghost image of the dock clock. see below.
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/sprint-epic-4g/135478-anybody-wanna-see-image-burnt-my-screen.html

I returned my first unit before I even got to play with it due to some dead pixels. Second unit is almost flawless, but lately I haver noticed that the slider is getting loose. I have tep, but am reluctant to take it in because I can't tell if it's just in my head after reading about other people having that problem.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

[Q] Dead Atrix, Fight For New One or "Refurb"?

I bought my Atrix Feb 22 the day it came out. 1 month and 2 weeks later I sent a text message, went to check the phone 20 mins later and it was powered off. Never powered on since (tried everything to fix it). Not rooted, 100% stock with few apps, never dropped, huge Otterbox case and screen protector. I bought it from RadioShack, they said I had to talk to AT&T and that they wouldn't give me a new phone cause its after 30 days.
Anyway, AT&T sent me a refurb...or a used phone...or whatever it is. Well it has some defects of its own. I don't want to run around switching them phone after phone until I get one that works correctly. If I complain do you think I will get a new phone? Would I go to RadioShack or AT&T for that? And lastly, does anyone know what kind of phone I received from them, used, repaired, etc?
My refurb phone does this weird thing at startup, like it wants the lights to turn on but they dont. Also the bottom lights come on when they want and the green message light does as well. Otherwise the phone works fine it appears. Only had it for a day.

I went through this with verizon recently. The best you will get is a refurb. It really sucks because you are most likely never going to get a phone that works.

you can try motorola support, they might ask you to send the phone for repairs though.

If you replace the phone 3 times you can choose a new one oev.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

the above post is correct, i did that last year and finally they sent me the better version of the phone i had, and it was new not refurb.

So I need to go through 3 Refurb phones, or 1 New phone and 2 refurb phones?
This is my first refurb after my original new one died. While this phone works, it just doesnt seem to be godly like my original one was. It has restarted a few times, camera app froze, lights at the bottom do what they want, all things my original phone never did.

Sell it on Ebay, get a Nexus S.

Talked to ATT for what seems like the 12th time and they will send me another refurb. I asked the tech how many refurbs do I have to go through before I get a new one and he said he had never herd of anyone getting new phones for their problems. Any comments regarding this?

TareX said:
Sell it on Ebay, get a Nexus S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your insight.
Generally, ATT is a pain about giving away new phones. I don't think there is a cut and dry way of getting a new phone, but some people get lucky and others don't. Honestly... most refurbs are alright though. Nothing to get too fussy about unless there is actually something wrong with it. It is agitating though.

Well there is something wrong with this refurb. But if I get another refurb that is defective I honestly should get a new phone. Maybe if it had been a few months I would be ok with a refurb but the phone is a month and a half!

New phone from Tmobile?

So I have one of the original Vibrants from last summer when they first came out. It doesn't matter what I do to the phone, update, root, rom, the gps signal always sucks and never works very well when using it as a gps to navigate somewhere as it always loses signal and the gps stops working.
My question is do you think its worth it to put it back to stock and call Tmobile and complain and see if they will send me a new one? Do the new ones still have the GPS problems? Thanks in advance.

I did that a few weeks ago. They said it was a known problem and that they wouldn't give me a new one. I told them that my volume buttons was loose and then they sent me a refurbished one. Don't tell them your phone is rooted.

No I won't tell them it was rooted at all. I just want the damn GPS to work, it was sold to me on the basis that it had gps and it doesn't even work so it pisses me off.

Tell me if it works then I might do the same.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I had the same issue with GPS on an early Vibrant. I don't have a T-mobile contract, I just use a prepaid T-mobile voice sim with data via wifi (I have a CLEAR hotspot).
I expected T-mobile not to do anything without a contract, but to my surprise they easily agreed to an exchange. The rep went through a check list asking me if I had upgraded to the latest firmware and tried the Samsung app that resets the GPS. I said yes, and the next thing on his checklist was authorize the exchange.
It took 3 weeks for them to process my return and get the replacement to me. I don't know if its new or refurb. I had to send it in without battery, cell sim. ,memory sim or back, and they sent me back the same thing in a non-descript packing.
Again, I don't know if its new or not, it looks mint. The tag inside lists "STA 11.05" which I assume means its manufactured in May 2011, which again would indicate new. (There is also a bar code that says 10.08 on the tag, so I could be wrong).
Now to the bottom line. After a day of testing I only see a marginal improvement in the GPS sync time, but I may not have tested enough yet to know. I'm running stock 2.2 KB5. Besides taking a long time to sync, my old one would occasionally hang when the gps was in use. Too soon to know about that with the replacement.
My experience tracking the replacement through T-mobile was dismal. Eager to get it back I sent it fedex overnight. They promised 7 business day replacement and I "chat"ed with them every other day for status. They basically had no information including confirmation that they received it . All they could do was have me refer to my fedex delivery receipt. As they missed deadlines they made up stories, and unabashedly contradicted promises I could paste in from the earlier "chats". Escalating to supervisors was no better. Basically, until they actually shipped the return after 3 weeks they had no information that it even had arrived.
If you have a contract they may have better return processing options. I had to deal with the pre-paid rules.
Right now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. If the 11.05 date is real, I would hope that it doesn't have the bad solder connection that people have been hacking. I suppose I could try one of the other rom's that some people say work better with gps.
I'm also tempted to try and bypass customer support and write to some higher management at T-mobile to complain. I paid $500 for the Vibrant without a contract. If anyone has a contact I would like to hear about it.

But do the new vibrants have the gps fixed?????

kmandel said:
Again, I don't know if its new or not, it looks mint. The tag inside lists "STA 11.05" which I assume means its manufactured in May 2011, which again would indicate new. (There is also a bar code that says 10.08 on the tag, so I could be wrong).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is that the phone was originally built in Aug 2010 and refurbed in May 2011.

That cracks me up, "its a known problem, sorry you're screwed" if its a known problem... shouldn't it get fixed??
Imagine if other things worked like that too. Like when toyota had that brake problem lol
Vibrant
rom: project-v
kernel: bali 1.8.6UV
launcher:adw

xxcaponexx said:
But do the new vibrants have the gps fixed?????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine works fine after I got a replacement. I get about 6-8 locks within 3 or 4 seconds and tracks my movement just fine.

Definitely ask for a replacement. I bothered them a couple times, told them I did everything, gps restore, factory reset, blah blah blah, and that it's never worked. I even told them I was rooted so I could try different roms to see if I could get the GPS to work and he just said that it was dangerous to root my phone and that I would have to return it to stock when I sent it back. They did a warranty exchange, so asking for that would help. They also sent me the replacement first and then I sent them back the old one. GPS works awesome now, within 10 feet. I've even locked on to 11 of 13 birds before. I don't always get a great signal but it is 100x's more usable than before.

Get Rom Manager Premium
Use it to put the project V Rom on your phone along with the gps fix and then come back and tell us how much you gave EDT and some of the other guys around here for helping.
I couldn't get mine to work for the longest time either but it's working great now. I don't know, about battery life, but otherwise the thing is smooooth and fast.

Wow, so after all the crying on these forums you guys are going with a carrier again huh? Cry, cry, cry but let's all conveniently forget not getting any updates.
Guess the good news for me is, I'll never get to see all the *****es on here whining again. As I'll be in the unlocked phone forum enjoying any and all benefits many months ahead of time.
It's unbelievable.
Some of you will never, ever learn.
#Neveragain 2, coming soon to a forum near you.

^wait what???

pitbull010 said:
^wait what???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am just as confused brother.

I definitely don't want what he's on.

Warranty replacement
tony yayo said:
Definitely ask for a replacement. I bothered them a couple times, told them I did everything, gps restore, factory reset, blah blah blah, and that it's never worked. I even told them I was rooted so I could try different roms to see if I could get the GPS to work and he just said that it was dangerous to root my phone and that I would have to return it to stock when I sent it back. They did a warranty exchange, so asking for that would help. They also sent me the replacement first and then I sent them back the old one. GPS works awesome now, within 10 feet. I've even locked on to 11 of 13 birds before. I don't always get a great signal but it is 100x's more usable than before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same experience with a replacement phone, received the replacement the next day without paying for expedited shipping. The GPS has been working well, but only since I upgraded to Project V.

I got a replacement about a month ago from my original release device. GPS is much improved, but still not perfect. Fast locks, but using it for driving is still pretty hit and miss, there's just less miss. Still kind of irks me, but I guess this is as good as it gets.

my screen is cracked, though it still works fine. do you think this excusse will work in order to get a new phone? I got my vibrant the day it came out, so the gps has always sucked, though i don't use it all that often to be that much of a problem...
would love to hear what you guys think
thanks in advance!

Totally disappointed with Tmobile. Will not make the same mistake again!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

T-Mobile has released an update fix for GPS problems on their Vibrant phones. Please search for it online. I tried this and my GPS works great now.

T-Mobile unlocked HTC HD2 dead - very strange, please help!

I bought the phone reasonably new off Craigslist as a travel/GPS phone in the summer of 2010 and it worked OK for six months or so. Then I decided it would be a good idea to re-flash it and ended up bricking it to a point where it would buzz when turning off and then turn off immediately. Fortunately, an e-mail to HTC later, they asked me to send it to their repair center in Texas and fixed it the same day they received it and sent it back. Not a penny charged to me and I didn't even think the phone was in warranty. I basically got back my old phone flashed back to default and it worked beautifully.
About nine months ago I went abroad to the Netherlands and the phone was working good as new with a Vodafone SIM card. It worked until December 2011 when I returned to the States, turned it off and put it away in a drawer. Before anyone asks - never dropped it, not a drop of water has ever touched it, it was working just fine. Six months later (otherwise known as a month ago), I traveled again, but now, having had my iPhone4 unlocked, barely had the need for the HTC. However, I am about to make a trip to a country where I will need GPS and won't have an iPhone data plan, so I figured I'd turn on the Leo and check that it was still functioning.
It wasn't. It wouldn't even register a yellow light when charging. Soft reset impossible, so was hard reset. My friend, whom I got the idea to get the HD2 from in the first place, had a couple of spare batteries and a plug-in charger. I tried both replacements (charged in the wall unit) - no dice. I called HTC and they called it an end-of-life product and refused to even have me send it in to get checked, so I took it to a repair shop and was told I would likely need a replacement motherboard. Checking eBay there isn't one damned thing called an HTC HD2 motherboard. So what do I do? What can be the problem and how can I replace the board? Is there a site that deals in OEM HTC parts or is there a part model I should be looking for? Or would I even be able to fix it myself without a soldering iron? I guess my other solution would be to sell it as is for the remaining parts, but it's a great GPS if nothing else, so I don't want to give up on it quite yet...

highlanderfil said:
I bought the phone reasonably new off Craigslist as a travel/GPS phone in the summer of 2010 and it worked OK for six months or so. Then I decided it would be a good idea to re-flash it and ended up bricking it to a point where it would buzz when turning off and then turn off immediately. Fortunately, an e-mail to HTC later, they asked me to send it to their repair center in Texas and fixed it the same day they received it and sent it back. Not a penny charged to me and I didn't even think the phone was in warranty. I basically got back my old phone flashed back to default and it worked beautifully.
About nine months ago I went abroad to the Netherlands and the phone was working good as new with a Vodafone SIM card. It worked until December 2011 when I returned to the States, turned it off and put it away in a drawer. Before anyone asks - never dropped it, not a drop of water has ever touched it, it was working just fine. Six months later (otherwise known as a month ago), I traveled again, but now, having had my iPhone4 unlocked, barely had the need for the HTC. However, I am about to make a trip to a country where I will need GPS and won't have an iPhone data plan, so I figured I'd turn on the Leo and check that it was still functioning.
It wasn't. It wouldn't even register a yellow light when charging. Soft reset impossible, so was hard reset. My friend, whom I got the idea to get the HD2 from in the first place, had a couple of spare batteries and a plug-in charger. I tried both replacements (charged in the wall unit) - no dice. I called HTC and they called it an end-of-life product and refused to even have me send it in to get checked, so I took it to a repair shop and was told I would likely need a replacement motherboard. Checking eBay there isn't one damned thing called an HTC HD2 motherboard. So what do I do? What can be the problem and how can I replace the board? Is there a site that deals in OEM HTC parts or is there a part model I should be looking for? Or would I even be able to fix it myself without a soldering iron? I guess my other solution would be to sell it as is for the remaining parts, but it's a great GPS if nothing else, so I don't want to give up on it quite yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Insisting to look up on ebay will get you eventually to success, but a good working MB may be purchased up to 70-80USD.
Replacing it needs no soldering, but I wouldn't recommend to DIY if you're doing this first time in your life!
But if you feel confident(and a bit lucky), watching some good videos about, may help you fulfill this job.
Good luck!

bib*oops said:
Insisting to look up on ebay will get you eventually to success, but a good working MB may be purchased up to 70-80USD.
Replacing it needs no soldering, but I wouldn't recommend to DIY if you're doing this first time in your life!
But if you feel confident(and a bit lucky), watching some good videos about, may help you fulfill this job.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Looks like I might just be better off selling it for parts.

highlanderfil said:
Thanks. Looks like I might just be better off selling it for parts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If so, I'm interested in!
PM me, we could work it out...

Do you happen to have insurance on the phone? If you have a plan through someone like tmobile and you have insurance you could always file through them. You could also look for one on ebay that has a cracked screen or something like the charger port when up. That way you could get the motherboard you need. Just make sure the phone is in good condition otherwise. I know someone in the past had a problem and if i remember correctly they couldn't find it. I think but dont quote me that this was the motherboard..when it has the pcb board (printed circuit board) attached. Found here. This was years ago so please consult someone else before buying. Amazon also has a lot of parts you can order so looking there might be useful.