Related
This might come off as me preaching here, but I hope I don't come across as high-handed...
If you have a hardware button sequence locked Vibrant you really need to think long and hard about whether or not you should be messing with custom firmwares, ESPECIALLY NOW.
The last few leaked firmwares (JI2, JI4, JI5) are ALL RUNNING A NEW KERNEL. One that is not compatible with JFD derived builds. Furthermore these great new custom kernels provided by our awesome dev's (Voodoo, JAC, Kingclick, etc...) are not compatible with these new leaked builds. So the likelihood of you ending up staring at a really scary screen on your phone is skyrocketing, unless you have reliable methods to deal with that scary screen.
I've ran across numerous posts here today, with all the fervor over the JI5 Kies leak, where people have Clockwork Recovered themselves into a nightmare because they simply didn't understand these points. Even simpler MOD's (like a few posts I found today where people were installing the JFD version of the MobileAP mod on JIx builds and screwing their phones up) can lead to grief if you don't do your homework.
If you cannot reliably get into recovery *AND* download mode, please please be sure you understand the risks your taking if you fail to be careful and read the information that is already here. Granted, I know few people can keep up with some of us and our ability to soak up info like a sponge. Still there is a process of risk assessment YOU MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR when you realize you are doing things that you probably shouldn't be.
This doesn't mean I won't continue trying to be helpful. I just want to make it clear to some of you that you really need to think things through more thoroughly before you let your excitement drive you into a corner.
I vote for the following statement to be made a sticky in this and the Q&A Forum...
"If you are updating firmware on a phone, and you've already hacked this and that, tweaked this and that, modified this and that...whatever the case may be you should be prepared to have to Odin your way back to stock.
If you are not prepared to Odin your way back to stock (don't know how, have a hardware button locked phone, etc...) then you should really be asking yourself whether or not you should be customizing your phone to the degree that you are.
It's just about risk assessment. Most risks are known, but some are not. Furthermore there can be bad synergies between multiple tweaks, mods, and/or hacks that no one can easily predict ahead of time. So it's not about anyone trying to be elitist. The best way to help people is to help them avoid making critical mistakes."
actually if u have a hardware locked phone, what you SHOULD do is call tmobile right now and complain that ur phone is defective and they'll send u a new one... keep doing this till u get a working phone, i did and i now have a phone that isn't HL'ed... only took one try
ookas said:
actually if u have a hardware locked phone, what you SHOULD do is call tmobile right now and complain that ur phone is defective and they'll send u a new one... keep doing this till u get a working phone, i did and i now have a phone that isn't HL'ed... only took one try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed!!!
The hardware locked Galaxy S thing appears to be a bootloader bug affecting more than just our Vibrants (some other batches of Galaxy S phones are affected) rather than a real hardware issue, so T-Mobile should be able to get these fixed readily. Not like we should care about T-Mobile here, but what this means also is that T-Mobile shouldn't be making a huge deal about swapping these out either.
I'd encourage everyone with a button-sequence screwed Vibrant to simply go to T-Mobile and get it replaced.
Admittedly, I was one of those fools who installed the wrong MobileAp and also tried to go back to a nandroid that didn't work (different kernel - or so I have learned.) Bricked the phone. But I wasn't hardware locked so I was able to get everything back thanks to some really helpful people here on the forum.
I agree that all hardware locked phones should be returned. If mine were locked then I'd still be staring at a dead phone.
I would like to add that I am new to the android thing. But, I am not a software noob (i did software testing for a living). The thing is that I am sometimes impulsive and that leads to mistakes. Thankfully, I have a way to get out of the mistakes (ODIN and non-hardware locked phone.) I always know the risk I am taking and take full responsibility for anything I screw up.
How can I tell if I have a hardware-locked phone, without attempting to flash a ROM, I mean?
Thanks
aad4321 said:
i have a hardware locked phone that i unlocked and have a custom recovery on. I have only accessed the recovery through rom manger. is there any other way to access it with hardware locked? If so can someone post details. it will be good to know when i mess up my phone and it dosent boot preventing me from accessing rom manager to get to the recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you didn't unlock the hardware. You just simply rooted your phone. Hardware lock can not be unlocked and that's what this thread is trying to address. I have tried exchanging my phone from tmo once and the exchange phone they sent me still had the same problem, so i haven't bother with it. I wonder if i can just walk into a store and do an exchange since i got my phone from tmo online. Anyways, if you have a hardware locked phone, stick with roms that will flash through clockworks. That is the safest way, but keep in mind that there is still a slight chance of failure.
BruceElliott said:
How can I tell if I have a hardware-locked phone, without attempting to flash a ROM, I mean?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never mind; I figured it out.
Man, I'm glad I read your post on hardware-locked problems. I didn't even realise this was a problem until after I dicked around with my phone a bunch, and then ended up reflashing with odin back to stock. I could have messed up big time.
My problem is that I can't replace my phone at all. I purchased a T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant online, brand new, unopened and locked for use here in Canada on the Wind Mobile network.
After hearing about this defective hardware I called T-Mobile, they said I have no warranty with them since it wasn't a T-mobile store purchase. Alright I guess. So they give me the number to Samsung USA,USA transfers me to Canada, I get transferred back again and this is what I'm stuck with.
My new phone has NO warranty, in either country. Both refuse to honour any sort of warranty, and refer to the other for support. I didn't think I'd get this sort of run around from Samsung.
USA says that because I live in Canada, I voided the warranty.,
Canada says that because it's a USA device, and I didn't purchase an international warranty, they won't touch it.
I'll just have to be careful what I install on my phone, and avoid Samsung products in the future.
Thanks for the warning
I wouldn't say your lack of warranty is any surprise. I don't know about Canada, but in the US, phone warranty is normally tied to the carrier, which means if you're not an active customer using the phone on the account that it was first activated on, you will have no warranty. Nothing special about Samsung here, all brands are the same.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
cwoodworth said:
Man, I'm glad I read your post on hardware-locked problems. I didn't even realise this was a problem until after I dicked around with my phone a bunch, and then ended up reflashing with odin back to stock. I could have messed up big time.
My problem is that I can't replace my phone at all. I purchased a T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant online, brand new, unopened and locked for use here in Canada on the Wind Mobile network.
After hearing about this defective hardware I called T-Mobile, they said I have no warranty with them since it wasn't a T-mobile store purchase. Alright I guess. So they give me the number to Samsung USA,USA transfers me to Canada, I get transferred back again and this is what I'm stuck with.
My new phone has NO warranty, in either country. Both refuse to honour any sort of warranty, and refer to the other for support. I didn't think I'd get this sort of run around from Samsung.
USA says that because I live in Canada, I voided the warranty.,
Canada says that because it's a USA device, and I didn't purchase an international warranty, they won't touch it.
I'll just have to be careful what I install on my phone, and avoid Samsung products in the future.
Thanks for the warning
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other companies will do the same thing. Warranties are country specific, no?
I don't know how it works with mobile phones, but whenever I've purchased computer parts, the country of origin has never been a problem. Maybe I've just been lucky.
Still have gripes about GPS, and lack of 2.2 though.
Don't misunderstand me though, I love this phone. Just surprised about the hardware issues.
I called Samsung today after tmobile rep gave me a number for warranty. After complaining and speaking to a supervisor, they said i could send it in and they would "fix" it. This is what they sent in the email.
Product Symptoms : Technical Inquiry/Internal Menu/Software Reflash - FOC/No fee. The Samsung Rep said a technician would look at it.
I got a shipping label and everything.
I have one question. How should i go about reflashing to stock? can i just factory reset + remove superusers. please help.
cwoodworth said:
I don't know how it works with mobile phones, but whenever I've purchased computer parts, the country of origin has never been a problem. Maybe I've just been lucky.
Still have gripes about GPS, and lack of 2.2 though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PC parts aren't as tightly controlled as mobile phones. That's the difference.
GPS and Froyo should be coming soon. I doubt if Samsung would let their best mobile phones fall behind by much. From the leaked firmwares popping up, it shows they're working on it.
I've got my RIFFbox, and I've been able to connect to the device just fine. I can send the resurrection to the dead body, but I can't get it to boot to Odin mode still. When connecting to PC, it still shows the QPST download mode (QDL mode). I'm currently trying to flash individual partitions to the device.
Any help or suggestions to get this thing out of QPST mode? :/
Thanks!
I've tried 301k & 619k JIGs also, and several known combinations of keys to boot Odin mode.
UPDATE [7-23-13]:
At this time, I've determined that this device is permanently bricked until I can get my hands on the Kies MF3 Odin package and manually load these files via JTAG. However, even this is not guaranteed to fix it. For the time being, I've replaced the device. I'll hold onto the carcass for a little while longer to see if I can get MF3 to boot on it. If I can, I will use this as a test bed for developers to attempt to unlock bootloaders or develop an MF3 root. Otherwise, I eventually plan to part it out, selling things like the screen, etc.
Aou said:
I've got my RIFFbox, and I've been able to connect to the device just fine. I can send the resurrection to the dead body, but I can't get it to boot to Odin mode still. When connecting to PC, it still shows the QPST download mode (QDL mode). I'm currently trying to flash individual partitions to the device.
Any help or suggestions to get this thing out of QPST mode? :/
Thanks!
I've tried 301k & 619k JIGs also, and several known combinations of keys to boot Odin mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you PM my tech?
TheAxman said:
Did you PM my tech?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. No reply yet.
Currently flashing the whole 1GB image. Takes forever, so I will let you all know how it goes in a couple hours. I haven't tried flashing the whole MF3 boot chain but it's looking like that's what I will end up needing to try.
Aou said:
Yup. No reply yet.
Currently flashing the whole 1GB image. Takes forever, so I will let you all know how it goes in a couple hours. I haven't tried flashing the whole MF3 boot chain but it's looking like that's what I will end up needing to try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no doubt you will get it straightened out.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
TheAxman said:
I have no doubt you will get it straightened out.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No go on the full 1GB flash. In a last-ditch effort, I threw the MF3 version of SBL2, SBL3, ABOOT, TZ, and RPM at it.
Still boots to QHUSB_DLOAD mode.
This is unbelievably frustrating. No matter what I throw at this thing, it refuses to boot. Also, it seems that the only people that know how to JTAG one of these things are not responding.
Try getting a hold of Josh over at mobile tech videos. I believe he goes by connexion2005 here on XDA.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Red_81 said:
Try getting a hold of Josh over at mobile tech videos. I believe he goes by connexion2005 here on XDA.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, but he was the first person I tried contacting. Seems to ignore my PMs, or just doesn't have the time?
He's pretty busy most Days. His business takes up most of his time.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Aou said:
Thank you, but he was the first person I tried contacting. Seems to ignore my PMs, or just doesn't have the time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried contacting @AdamOutler? If I remember from the early Captivate days he worked with Josh to get the JTAG stuff working. He's definitely very knowledgeable when it comes to Samsung hardware.
I'm pretty sure you need a JTAG flash with an up to date firmware. There was someone else who's device refused to boot and he managed to unbrick with software. I take it that this is due to messing with bootloaders and trying to revert? btw... quote or mention usually gets my attention.
Devo7v said:
Have you tried contacting @AdamOutler? If I remember from the early Captivate days he worked with Josh to get the JTAG stuff working. He's definitely very knowledgeable when it comes to Samsung hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... - didn't try - last I knew he didn't accept PMs.
AdamOutler said:
I'm pretty sure you need a JTAG flash with an up to date firmware. There was someone else who's device refused to boot and he managed to unbrick with software. I take it that this is due to messing with bootloaders and trying to revert? btw... quote or mention usually gets my attention.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is from flashing MF3 Sbl2 and Sbl3 (without aboot and tz). I've tried flashing the whole MF3 bootchain, and it still doesn't like it. Still boots to QPST mode.
EDIT/ADD:
At this point, I've flashed these:
PGPT (and SGPT) from the 1GB "full dump" provided by riffbox (assuming MDB or MDL - it was released 7/3/13)
PIT from the forums around here somewhere (seems identical to one from dump)
MD5 from dump
(empty area) from dump
apnhlos (aka non-hlos) from MF3
MDM from MF3
sbl1 from AdamOutler's MDB dump
sbl2 from MF3
sbl3 from MF3
aboot from MF3
rpm from MF3
tz from MF3
Yeah, tried it all again, for good measure. Starting to wonder if this thing is completely and utterly bricked? It makes no logical sense. Something is still triggering it to enter QPST mode. Again, I've tried using 301k (and a few other) Ohm resistance JIGs to try booting immediately the flash. Nada. Using the 4.2v power supply from the Riffbox, tried USB power (kinda difficult to flash things solderless when the daughterboard is attached, but possible), tried battery power only... All appear to work fine in Riff, all allow me to read and write any address I want.
I'm about to the point where I'm going to scrap this for parts to help get a new one. :/
Aou said:
Yeah, tried it all again, for good measure. Starting to wonder if this thing is completely and utterly bricked? It makes no logical sense. Something is still triggering it to enter QPST mode. Again, I've tried using 301k (and a few other) Ohm resistance JIGs to try booting immediately the flash. Nada. Using the 4.2v power supply from the Riffbox, tried USB power (kinda difficult to flash things solderless when the daughterboard is attached, but possible), tried battery power only... All appear to work fine in Riff, all allow me to read and write any address I want.
I'm about to the point where I'm going to scrap this for parts to help get a new one. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could sell for parts for around 300 or so ?
Adam is right, you did get the newest firmware they have online right?
Did Derek get hold of you? I had him busy at work today, he had to load 50+ laptops with win 7, big money involved, I will IM him for you.
@AdamOutler @Aou
same exact thing happened to me i did the same thing with the verizon update and sent it out to josh @ mobiletechvideos.com
just got my device back today and its still Bricked !?!?!?!? either josh and his guys just failed to test it or there is no way to fix these phones
1. this really pisses me off i sent it to the most reputable guy in the buisness and got it back in this condition.
2. for the odd case that its just a complete loss i have one thing to say to samsung, vzw, att....
basically moral of the story is i wouldnt sell your phone for parts to get another wait until i/we hear back from mobiletechvideo then sell you device and never buy a samsung device again as long as it is locked
beanstown106 said:
@AdamOutler @Aou
same exact thing happened to me i did the same thing with the verizon update and sent it out to josh @ mobiletechvideos.com
just got my device back today and its still Bricked !?!?!?!? either josh and his guys just failed to test it or there is no way to fix these phones
1. this really pisses me off i sent it to the most reputable guy in the buisness and got it back in this condition.
2. for the odd case that its just a complete loss i have one thing to say to samsung, vzw, att....
basically moral of the story is i wouldnt sell your phone for parts to get another wait until i/we hear back from mobiletechvideo then sell you device and never buy a samsung device again as long as it is locked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been a diehard Samsung supporter since the GS1 came out. The hardware quality is awesome. Unfortunately, their policies are beginning to become unfriendly for developers. The issue you're having is due 100% to Samsung's desire to lock people out of custom kernels.
Isn't it AT&T and VZW who are locking it?
TheAxman said:
Adam is right, you did get the newest firmware they have online right?
Did Derek get hold of you? I had him busy at work today, he had to load 50+ laptops with win 7, big money involved, I will IM him for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the latest firmware that I could find - but it's dated 7-3-13 (a week before the MF3 patch). Does Kies have MF3 yet? I might be able to live with MF3 if I were able to retain a custom recovery and therefore root (via injection). It'd mean no custom ROMs until a new "Loki" (or equivalent) is made, or we get these blasted bootloaders unlocked.
beanstown106 said:
@AdamOutler @Aou
same exact thing happened to me i did the same thing with the verizon update and sent it out to josh @ mobiletechvideos.com
just got my device back today and its still Bricked !?!?!?!? either josh and his guys just failed to test it or there is no way to fix these phones
1. this really pisses me off i sent it to the most reputable guy in the buisness and got it back in this condition.
2. for the odd case that its just a complete loss i have one thing to say to samsung, vzw, att....
basically moral of the story is i wouldnt sell your phone for parts to get another wait until i/we hear back from mobiletechvideo then sell you device and never buy a samsung device again as long as it is locked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would REALLY like to hear what the deal was with mobiletechvideos.com & @connexion2005 has to say about our situation here. My plan was to cut my losses on Monday if I am not able to get it fixed this weekend. This is really crazy news for me - Josh is indeed the most reputable JTAG guy in the industry (afaik). For them to send that back still bricked is a really bad sign! (Makes my situation look pretty much hopeless!)
AdamOutler said:
I've been a diehard Samsung supporter since the GS1 came out. The hardware quality is awesome. Unfortunately, their policies are beginning to become unfriendly for developers. The issue you're having is due 100% to Samsung's desire to lock people out of custom kernels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, I've had the Infuse, S2, and now the S4. I love Samsung's handsets, and I traditionally loved how much modification you could do to these handsets to customize them. However, with locked bootloaders and such, this is becoming quite the joke - and the joke's on us, it seems.
----------
As an update to my situation, I haven't tried anything new since my last post. Still waiting to find new ideas or hear some suggestions.
beanstown106 said:
@AdamOutler @Aou
just got my device back today and its still Bricked !?!?!?!? either josh and his guys just failed to test it or there is no way to fix these phones
1. this really pisses me off i sent it to the most reputable guy in the buisness and got it back in this condition.
2. for the odd case that its just a complete loss i have one thing to say to samsung, vzw, att....
basically moral of the story is i wouldnt sell your phone for parts to get another wait until i/we hear back from mobiletechvideo then sell you device and never buy a samsung device again as long as it is locked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I screwed up my S4 recently and it was being fixed (hopefully) from MobileTechVideos. Josh is really a good guy and back in my S1 Cappy days I had to send one to him. We chatted on the phone about android stuff quite a bit back then.
So I screwed up the kernel I believe trying to make a kernel splash screen, flashed in recovery and when it rebooted I just got a vibration every 3-5 seconds. Tried Odin MDB and MDL firmware with both always passing. But still same results when it went to reboot.
Now seeing this comment you made has me actually worried now. Have you contacted them about it still being bricked yet? Or did they send it back with refunding the charges since it wouldn't work? Crap it I f'ed it over after only 1 week of having it and it cannot be resurrected. Now I know my situation is different as I have NOT messed with anything from MF3 at all. But if something else is going on inside that MobileTechVideos couldn't fix has me worried.
Also @Adam, I feel the same way about the quality of the Galaxy lines as I have had the S1,S2, S3, and now S4. But I am seeing the writing on the wall with Samsung and ATT showing me this COULD BE my last of them.
Sent from my SCH-I800 using xda premium
Ok, I've looked around for the answer and from what I've ready, I don't think I can do this but I want to make sure I properly understand what I have read.
My phone came stock with AT&T's MF3, i was able to successfully root and debloat the phone without issues. I was very careful the entire process and everything works perfectly. But then what did I do? I modded the build.prop (it was late and I was tired... I shouldn't have done it) file without thinking "I don't have a recovery method if this fails"... I KNEW there was no MF3 firmware available for recovery in Kies, and I knew no one has found an workable solution in Odin... But these didn't cross my mind that night. So, when I rebooted my phone, it would go past the samsung boot logo but never show AT&T's logo. The screen goes black after the Samsung logo, the remains black. After about 10 - 20 seconds the LED at the top left of the phone will turn on blue and throb. If I plug my phone into a USB port, it will try to install drivers as "MTP USB Device" but fail. The longer I leave the phone the warmer it gets regardless of whether or not it's plugged in.
I can boot into Download Mode and Stock Recovery
I've tested the drivers with my wife's phone and everything works as expected
I can boot into Stock Recovery and sideload files (I tried to flash an OTA file another user hosted here, it was sent via ADB sideload but it failed due to my debloating the /system/apps folder)
I've tried using stock recovery to flash a zip file to replace build.prop, but failed (not signed by samsung)
I've successfully flashed the "MF3_BTL_FIX" file another user created to kick a person out of the yellow triangle, when Kies fails.
I've tried best buy, but the samsung specialist will not even plug my phone into their computer
I have a backup build.prop, I just can't figure out how to get it on my phone without a custom recovery.
So, is there any way to replace the build.prop file with Odin/Heimdall or flashing or sideloading something from stock recovery?
My wife has the same phone, so I can also get files from her phone if I need to.
Any help or advice (even if it's "you have to wait for MF3 to be released in kies") would be greatly appreciated.
I'd find another bestbuy and see if you have better luck there.
jd1639 said:
I'd find another bestbuy and see if you have better luck there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is my best option too, but the next closest best buy is 1.5 hours from this one.... Getting time to go there will be the hardest part for me... that's what I get for living in the middle of nowhere...
dustyhughes said:
I think this is my best option too, but the next closest best buy is 1.5 hours from this one.... Getting time to go there will be the hardest part for me... that's what I get for living in the middle of nowhere...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Road trip!
jd1639 said:
Road trip!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HAHAHA! seriously! "Come on Kids, we're going on a field trip for science... COMPUTER science!"
But really, I may be heading out there Friday. They actually have 2 full stores there and 2 "mobile" stores.... I guess I'll see if I can get someone in one of those places to help.
Did you try a factory reset in Stock recovery?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
graydiggy said:
Did you try a factory reset in Stock recovery?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, yes... It formats /data and /cache... it doesn't touch /system at all (from what I could tell), so the build.prop isn't restored to factory.
What stinks is, I believe ALL i have to do is replace that ONE file! Granted it's a major file... but still, ONE file, keeping me from booting to the OS. I've even been tempted to send it to one of the guys that does the jtag repairs, but to be honest I don't know enough about what they do to know if it would even help or if I could trust them (I assume I could from what little I've read)...
I may just have to go best buy hunting.
dustyhughes said:
Unfortunately, yes... It formats /data and /cache... it doesn't touch /system at all (from what I could tell), so the build.prop isn't restored to factory.
What stinks is, I believe ALL i have to do is replace that ONE file! Granted it's a major file... but still, ONE file, keeping me from booting to the OS. I've even been tempted to send it to one of the guys that does the jtag repairs, but to be honest I don't know enough about what they do to know if it would even help or if I could trust them (I assume I could from what little I've read)...
I may just have to go best buy hunting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you're referring to mobiletechvideos.com and I didn't use them for jtag however I used them to fix a power button and they are awesome!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
HiTideBlastoise said:
I assume you're referring to mobiletechvideos.com and I didn't use them for jtag however I used them to fix a power button and they are awesome!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know I've heard of mobiletechvideos before, and I know they would be trust worthy, I've heard GREAT things about them... The other place I saw unbricking phones I ran across on youtube, they have a link to an ebay store (if you search ebay for "Unbrick Service Hard Bricked Samsung Galaxy S4 i337" you'll find them). They are actually a whole lot cheaper than mobiletechvideos, which is one of the reasons I looked into them and also why I'm suspicious. Not to discredit them at all, because I personally don't know what kind of work they do.
I don't even know if Jtag will allow them to fix my build.prop file. The ebay place says if the phone doesn't boot normally after doing a repair, they will restore the latest stock ROM and since i'm on MF3, well... They couldn't do much. It also makes me suspicious that in their ebay description it says:
------------------------------------------------------
By purchasing this auction you agree to the following.
1. Jtag service will avoid your warranty.
2. There is no guaranty 100% to fixed your phone, but we do our best.
3. If the phone can not fix, we will refund only $ 30.00, minus $5.80 for shipping cost.
4. If you claim for any problem after successful unbricked the phone, you need to send it back for inspection. Because we tested it before ship.
-------------------------------------------------------
I mean, some of the wording used makes me uncomfortable... I could just be paranoid, the address on the auction IS Carrollton, Texas after all
Just thought I'd update everyone... never found a fix myself, but I did drive to the next nearest best buy with my phone in the yellow triangle mode and the guy said he knew exactly what to do. He was very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful... He even knew how to get the phone in download mode We talked a bit, he never asked about what I may have done to the phone, but during our conversation I had told him I had backed everything up and he kind of winked and said he would take care of me. It seemed like he knew what happened, but he didn't say anything, and the "head Samsung rep", his boss was right there talking with us too. He did a full restore, and I was up and running in 10 minutes. If you get a friendly and knowledgeable employee it's pretty painless.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
This is great to hear. Glad you got it fixed. That road trip was worth it
jd1639 said:
This is great to hear. Glad you got it fixed. That road trip was worth it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'm really glad to get it back. The road trip was well worth it. My wife and I decided to make a date out of it, we went to a nice restaurant while we were out without the kids, something they wouldn't have enjoyed and we wouldn't normally go to with them
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
I know a bunch of us out here have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of a custom recovery, be it cwm, twrp, or philiz. After having root for several weeks and modding my note 3 the way I like it, I am wondering if there is a recovery method that will void my warranty but is already available. I realize many may not like this option, but at the same time I'm sure many like myself feel it's worth the tradeoff. Given the fact with a custom recovery and backups, many of the issues that may occur needing repair, outside of hardware failures obviously, can be fixed or restored via cwm. Many if the software bugs or issues that sometimes occur can be fixed via flashing stock after clean wipe or in the future a custom rom. So I'm all for a warranty proof recovery but at this point I'd much rather give up my warranty without hesitation than go without custom recovery.
What about you guys, is it just me or are there others around here that would do the same? And please if anyone has succeeded in flashing cwm or twrp and broke warranty let me and others know, who are willing to do the same as most if not all threads are talking about warranty proof recovery.
Thanks
Mega
I'm with you a long as we don't rush anyone to an incomplete "solution".
At this point I could care less about warranty. I would much rather get the ability to flash a super debloated Rom or even AOSP(yes I know I won't be able to use the pen). I think the Knox 0x1 possibility may be why there isn't a CWM/TWRP yet because the devs are wanting to preserve the warranty of the device. I know DesignGears has already tripped his Knox flag.
Jammol said:
At this point I could care less about warranty. I would much rather get the ability to flash a super debloated Rom or even AOSP(yes I know I won't be able to use the pen). I think the Knox 0x1 possibility may be why there isn't a CWM/TWRP yet because the devs are wanting to preserve the warranty of the device. I know DesignGears has already tripped his Knox flag.
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All I want is a debloated ROM. I just want to see how this phone runs without all the extra crap running in the background. I hate to say it..but I kind of like Touchwiz as long as I can theme it with Wanam!
tropazr said:
All I want is a debloated ROM. I just want to see how this phone runs without all the extra crap running in the background. I hate to say it..but I kind of like Touchwiz as long as I can theme it with Wanam!
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True that. Wanam and Unicon for me.
In a heartbeat I give up warranty for the option to finally get CWM, and get an awesome ROM like Scott's CleanROM on this phone. Debloat this beast, and tweaks to give even better battery life, and also makes the phone smoother / faster than stock.
Warranty from AT&T is pretty worthless anyways. I had some severe issues on my HTC One X with the Gorilla Glass just scratching to hell for no apparent reason and they refused to even switch it out with a refurb. There was a petition going around online with people claiming the same issues...I even sent the store manager a link to an XDA thread about it and they told me they would do nothing for me because it was considered physical damage and it was my fault. Garbage. I almost left them over it...the GN3 tempted me to stay.
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Why is this a thread
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MrPlNK said:
Why is this a thread
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At this point is there anything else to really talk about?
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AT&T is pretty lax on battery replacement. My original battery had problems reading the current charge percentage remaining after fully charged. They just sent a replacement without asking for the old one to be sent back. Now I have a spare even though it does take the correct readings.
Jammol said:
True that. Wanam and Unicon for me.
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Please explain what Unicon is. I am familiar with Wanam, but never heard of Unicon.
Thank you.
I paid cash off contract to do what I want with it ..warranty is not a big deal for me
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bfleischman said:
Please explain what Unicon is. I am familiar with Wanam, but never heard of Unicon.
Thank you.
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It's an xposed module for theming your icons no matter what launcher you're using. It uses icon themes from all the popular launchers that are in the playstore.
MrPlNK said:
Why is this a thread
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Because so many people cry about not being able to have their full warranty that it's probably holding back development. They don't realize that AT&T will not check their phones and send them a replacement whether they have a custom rom, Knox 0x1, etc. I've personally have NEVER had a device denied. They've been rooted, they've had custom roms and I've ALWAYS have gotten a replacement. So give it up will all this "I need my warranty crap." Seriously.
SkizzMcNizz said:
Because so many people cry about not being able to have their full warranty that it's probably holding back development. They don't realize that AT&T will not check their phones and send them a replacement whether they have a custom rom, Knox 0x1, etc. I've personally have NEVER had a device denied. They've been rooted, they've had custom roms and I've ALWAYS have gotten a replacement. So give it up will all this "I need my warranty crap." Seriously.
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I turned in an htc one stuck on the stock 4.3 GE rom lol never heard anything from them about it.. in fact they sent me a brand new htc one.. ive had nothing but awesome experience with att warranty department. But then again I am on a business account so maybe they treat me differently
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I had an issue with my microsd card not staying in my note 2 today.
Rooted, custom rom.
I took it into ATT service center, figuring that they wouldn't care about root/rom, since the damn spring wasn't working on the micro sd slot.
The tech there told me she couldn't give me a replacement, since the phone was rooted; even though that had nothing to do with my sd card spring issue. She told me if I unrooted it and came back, she would then replace my phone.
I reminded her that rooting has nothing to do with a sd card spring, but she claimed that Samsung now inspects all the returns from the service centers, and if they find root, there is no credit given..
I find that impossible to believe, when you consider how many phones get returned every day, nation/world wide, but, my only point is, you never know what the status of your warranty is with ATT until you try to make a claim...
Never had issues like this with Sprint ..they couldn't care less if you were rooted..
And, BTW, I too am a corporate client with 4 lines on ATT, so no "special" treatment for me..
To those wondering why I started this thread, as others have mentioned above...every dev or cwm twrp thread ive come across talks about the hold up for warranty and not tripping the efuse or whatever....I paid outright for my note 3 and have never bothered with warranty anyway, and am sick of waiting to have cwm for safe backups for modding. As I noted im sure there are just as many who dont care enough or at all about the warranty or flash counter to give up custom recovery...I for one never bother fixing my flash counter on any of my phones or tabs, as I just dont care enough to worry about it, especially given the freedom and availability of flashing stock, covering your custom status theu custom recovery for any situation other than nard brick hardware failure. So please, any dev that sees us in this post asking for a dirty flash for cust recovery....void my warranty but give me cwm lol
seriously tho, I am tired of waiting and if warranty is the hold up on breaking the boot so be it...bye bye warranty hello recovery.
thanks guys
mega
I agree completely. If it's too broken for me to fix it it's time for a replacement.
regarding warranty, keep in mind that when a phone is swapped under warranty, the device is sent back to ATT via delivery. The device is then scanned to make sure you are returning a device you initially claimed for.
The device is NEVER turned on. It is only checked for physical damage.
Think on the mass amounts of shipments received in one day at the warranty center. Do you k ow how much time and the many employees needed to actually achieve turning on each phone to see what is working and not?
And also your device gets sent back w/no parts..batteries..etc. that would mean they would first have to grab batteries and back covers to start the run down?
never in a million years. the packages
only get checked for device / claim confirmation & no physical damage thats it. it then gets thrown into a recycling bucket.
These phones costs barely nothing to the mobile carries. They make most of their money on services. I remember hearing from a exec at ATT a while back when the first GNOTE arrived that each device cost about 7-10 bux wholesale.
Any losses from warranties easily get passed on to subscribers quietly along the line.
The only concern about custom /warranty voids is when you exchange your device at a warranty service location in person. That is your real only risk of getting shot down. ATT has a few of these locations around the US.
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I'm pretty sure your warrenty becomes void when you root.. not when you load a custom rom or get custom recovery.
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---------- Post added at 07:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:47 AM ----------
They either have no margin, a small margin or lose money on phones. Thats why you are locked into a contract and $700 unlocked device costs $300 because it's subsidized. Prices drop as new devics come out and manufacturers run promotions based on volume. Carriers have to commit to a certain number of phones and when they suck (facebook phones) they get rid of them cheap too
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I keep seeing all these posts worrying about your flash counter. Seriously, who is actually gonna go out of their way to go into DL mode and actually look?
hkbladelawhk said:
I keep seeing all these posts worrying about your flash counter. Seriously, who is actually gonna go out of their way to go into DL mode and actually look?
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Repair depot technicians, that's who! LOL
It's funny actually, I don't even think I have a warranty on my international model, but I still haven't rooted my Note 4...
I think the bigger drawback of rooting is that OTA updates may no longer happen . Or am I confused there?
I've had two different rooted S3s replaced at Best Buy and they have never checked for anything.
EDIT: But I did revert back to the stock rom before going to BB.
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schlepprock said:
I've had two different rooted S3s replaced at Best Buy and they have never checked for anything.
EDIT: But I did revert back to the stock rom before going to BB.
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What was the reason you brought two S3's back? I'm sure if it was something that needed immediate replacement, they may not bother, but a "regular" repair might involve checking your software/counters.
I don't really care since mine is far away from Hong Kong, and I think it doesn't support warranty (not too sure). I won't wait even it does, pretty sure it will gonna take over a month to get it fix plus fees. And I always change a new phone after a year, so unless hardware failure, I'm happy to have it even it tripped the Knox~
P.S. I rooted my phone straight away after I unpack it Now counted 2 already~
Normally rooting and Xposed is the first thing I'd do but I havent done it yet as I'm nervous about the flash counter and losing OTA updates. Really need root though for Viper and Xposed.
EP2008 said:
What was the reason you brought two S3's back? I'm sure if it was something that needed immediate replacement, they may not bother, but a "regular" repair might involve checking your software/counters.
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The first time it was due to bad modem/radio( bad reception and dropping calls). The second time they couldn't have checked anyway, I destroyed it with a skid steer. But we've taken our kids S3s several times to be replaced and they didn't go into settings or anything like that so I know best Buy at least, doesn't know anything about checking for root.
On US carriers tripping Knox may be an issue with the 'Full-Price' upgrades (Next, etc.) -- That is how I picked up my N4, but if they look in detail, I would be on the hook for the remainder of the balance even though I had surrendered the phone back to them. There may be a work around / bypass eventually - there were in past phones that utilized counters. I would think there would be one if someone had the knowledge to dump everything and reload after a 'hard wipe'. They need to install them at the factory somehow. I am probably grasping at straws as my cooking experience was Windows Phones.