Database Users

should I bother to flash my xv6800 to stock?

My xv6800's screen died so I got a refurb (which is coming tomorrow) from Verizon. However, before I send the dead one back, should I bother trying to flash it back to stock? It's running DCD right now. I mean i guess they can't see it's flashed unless they bother hooking it up to a computer, but...I dont know. Should I do anything to it?

you might want to if this is a warranty issue and not a insurance trade out. Insurance doesn't matter. but warranty would be void if not on stock rom.

Yeah, its under warranty. I would do it obviously but the screen is completely dead at this point so I am not really sure if I even can.

well do you have My Mobiler? Not sure if it would work, but that allows you to see your screen on your desktop.

pull battery out.... introduce it to a 10 second tour in Mr. Mircowave and it wont matter then

You could always just flash it, because it would look like you just hard reset it to anyone that looks at it.
I would feel terrible tossing my phone into the microwave. We have been through a lot together!

don't send it back keep it as a back up!

Important Safety Tip For Hardware Locked Vibrants!

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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.

My SGS died... Warrenty question

My SGS died yesterday, completely dead. Dont react to charging, nothing. I rooted it as soon as I bought it and used Darkyy ROM, but flashed it with samsungs stock 2.3.3 room after formating it a couple a days back.
Will Samsung be able to detect that I rooted it earlier? and refuse warrenty. It was not "rooted" at the time it died.
Best regards,
Edit: The "death" was unrelated to any flashing/rooting/installing. It was just lying on the table, when the screen got a bluish hue and then when I pulled the battery (wouldnt react) it was dead.

does it go in download mode or recovery mode ????

Nope, it wont react to anything. Absolutely no signs of life no matter what I do. Battery is charged, or at least it was when it died.

Warranty as Samsung have not released 2.3.3 its a custom rom .
No warranty chargeable repair .
Act dumb just say it died and hope for the best .
jje

JJEgan said:
Warranty as Samsung have not released 2.3.3 its a custom rom .
No warranty chargeable repair .
Act dumb just say it died and hope for the best .
jje
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I downloaded the firmware from samfirmware.com, I thought that was the original one. Ooopppsss :/
Crap, but I think this is a hardware failure.
Edit: This is from their site:
Q: When i use one of your firmwares and i flash my phone, do i lose my quarantee?
A: Yes and no, if you do it right there will be no problems about guarantee
but if phone get brick under flash you will lose it

PaAra said:
Edit: The "death" was unrelated to any flashing/rooting/installing. It was just lying on the table, when the screen got a bluish hue and then when I pulled the battery (wouldnt react) it was dead.
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Click to collapse
first, can u get download/recovery modes at all
second have u tried the usb jig
now according to my understanding if the reason was hardware failure -as u suggest, it doesnt matter if u rooted the device or not as long as it is under the warranty time
so its their responsibility to repair it for u. having said that, if they could boot the device on its current situation they might start *****ing with u.
finally, my advise is to make sure that it is unrecoverable in any mean before sending it
hope that i helped & good luck

Just act really dumb. Dont tell them anything. Just say it just stopped working. If they ask you what firmware is on it ( which they wont but you never know) just say you updated a while back using KIES and you dont know what firmware it is, just that you think its the latest.
But if they dont ask anything, well dont tell them anything right

Valinorian said:
"Just act really dumb"...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't be to hard

PaAra said:
I downloaded the firmware from samfirmware.com, I thought that was the original one. Ooopppsss :/
Nothing to do with Samsung Original is as provided ny network phone supplier .
Crap, but I think this is a hardware failure.
Technically any non standard firmware invalidates warranty however in practice stock firmware seems to be OK but custom rom will be charged .However it would need to be the correct rom for the phone and Gingerbread has not been released by Samsung yet .
jje
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Click to collapse

I thought that 2.3.3 was briefly released on Kies, then pulled off again? I know it was only available in a few areas, and for a short time at that.... but that does mean that it is possible to have it legitimately. (can someone else confirm this memory is correct?)
Probably worth trying a jig if you want to be sure it isn't easily fixable. If that doesn't work, then you are probably looking at a new mainboard so current rom would be irrelevant.
(do a search on forums for jig... It is a USB plug with a resistor inside that switches unit into a special mode.)
But I'd think you were safe to send it in, with only a pretty low chance of them wanting to charge you.

xpcomputers said:
I thought that 2.3.3 was briefly released on Kies, then pulled off again? I know it was only available in a few areas, and for a short time at that.... but that does mean that it is possible to have it legitimately. (can someone else confirm this memory is correct?)
Correct but if you take a phone to be repaired under warranty how can a Nordic firmware release be valid in the UK or elsewhere .
Position with what we call stock rom is not very clear .
Buy a phone from Vodaphone they have adapted the firmware put stock on that and Vodaphone are within their rights to say you have tampered with the firmware no warranty . Samsung themselves would almost certainly honour the warranty .
Custom rom = no warranty full stop and flashing any form of firmware technically invalidates warranty if it could be proven .
Best user position is to have a backup of original firmware .
jje
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Click to collapse

And what do u mean by backup of your original firmware? spoof kies to instal the firmware based on your product code?

Just send it in and act dumb.. If it really is a serious hardware fault like you suggest, it's unlikely they would be able to find out what firmware you have installed anyway

JJEgan said:
xpcomputers said:
I thought that 2.3.3 was briefly released on Kies, then pulled off again? I know it was only available in a few areas, and for a short time at that.... but that does mean that it is possible to have it legitimately. (can someone else confirm this memory is correct?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct but if you take a phone to be repaired under warranty how can a Nordic firmware release be valid in the UK or elsewhere .
Position with what we call stock rom is not very clear .
Buy a phone from Vodaphone they have adapted the firmware put stock on that and Vodaphone are within their rights to say you have tampered with the firmware no warranty . Samsung themselves would almost certainly honour the warranty .
Custom rom = no warranty full stop and flashing any form of firmware technically invalidates warranty if it could be proven .
Best user position is to have a backup of original firmware .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My memory was that this firmware was released in UK briefly (not Nordic)... but my memory isn't perfect and I can't remember where I read that, so I could be wrong.
However, that isn't important in this case in my opinion (as you say, this would in theory only help with those in the UK or whichever country it was).
What is more important in this case, is if the hardware is failed to the point where the system won't power on, and needs a mainboard replacement..... then which firmware you have is probably irrelevant, as it is most likely they won't attempt to look. (It is admittedly a gamble though... but one I'd personally take in that scenario!)
Regarding stock firmwares from other countries other than your own, that is a greyer area, as you might still be covered, maybe someone knows better on Samsung's policy on that? Probably depends on how internationally minded they are... but my SGS is a UK unit because I'm from there, but I recently moved to NZ, so if I ever needed a warranty fix, would I have to send it back to the UK with a UK firmware on? Or could I take it here locally with a UK or NZ firmware? If I decided to put an NZ firmware on it, would it make a difference where I could get it repaired?
Beyond the Warranty, there is also consumer law in many countries, and I think if your hardware has failed, but you have an alternative firmware that can be shown to have no impact on the unit, you might still be able to get your unit fixed for free, if your firmware upgrade hasn't caused the mainboard or whatever to fail. Companies try to impose strict rules upon you to cover their backs (and give them plenty of wriggle room to escape liability!), which is fair enough where your modifications damage the unit, but where the changes you make don't affect things, then their rules don't always count. For example, many PCs come with a warranty sticker on which says "Warranty void if removed"... yet in many countries, they can't normally cancel your warranty if you've put more ram in your computer (as long as that wasn't why your machine died!). They might try to tell you that your warranty was void, but they wouldn't get far as it would normally be an unfair clause against your consumer rights. PCs are designed to be upgraded, and they can't make you use their service centre for the job as long as you didn't damage it.
Similar situation with third-party inks on a printer and them saying it might invalidate your warranty. Although admittedly that is a greyer area, as third party inks DO sometimes damage the printer. Say if a motor died, they couldn't claim your third party inks did it so your warranty is void, unless there was evidence that the inks had leaked and corroded something.
Not sure if anyone has tested this situation in practice though by speaking to consumer law experts if a warranty was ever turned down because of a custom rom. I'm sure someone who knew the law would be able to advise better where that line was. I can see that a new rom could be seen as modifying the unit for purposes which it wasn't designed for... but equally you could probably argue that the custom rom was fixing errors the manufacturer had left in which made the unit not function as intended (like GPS fixes etc), and therefore shouldn't invalidate the warranty.
If I was the OP in this case, I'd send it in and take the risk, especially since it is a stock firmware (even if it was not installed by Kies).

I would take the risk as well .
One user last week was turned away from a warranty claim due to a custom rom on his phone .
Hardware failure guess service may never boot the phone .
Non hardware failure or if service boots the phone then not much you can do about it if rejected for warranty .
Safest is to have a back up of original firmware but nobody seems to consider that .
jje

I have a friend who works for HTC in a repair centre. Don't know about Samsung, but he says they (in his centre) rarely check the software version of the phone, eventually they reflash it with stock firmware and that's it.
From what I've read, it does seem like a hardware malfunction. Send it in for repair and tell them it just died

JJEgan said:
I would take the risk as well .
One user last week was turned away from a warranty claim due to a custom rom on his phone .
Hardware failure guess service may never boot the phone .
Non hardware failure or if service boots the phone then not much you can do about it if rejected for warranty .
Safest is to have a back up of original firmware but nobody seems to consider that .
jje
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Click to collapse
You might get turned away in the first instance, but that doesn't mean that the service centre are right from a legal perspective. And it doesn't mean you couldn't argue your case and succeed in getting it fixed for free. I admit it is a grey area... but I personally wouldn't accept their position if they turned me away for having a custom rom on there if I felt I could show that it hadn't caused the problem. Equally, I would only return it without stock rom in the first place, if there was no way to return to stock... and that means a serious hardware failure or a software bootloader one. The software one wouldn't leave me a leg to stand on, and the hardware one I'd fight every time!
But then I'm also a cautious soul too, and have so far only used Kies to update, and am therefore currently on JPY... but the custom roms will come at some point!

Thank you all for advices
I contacted the shop where I bought my SGS and they again contacted Samsung. I am to send my SGS to them and then wait for "judgment" I guess. Hope ofcourse they want refuse warranty, but if they do I have no idea how much it will cost me, probably be better off buying a SGS II (doubt my wallet will allow that though.... )
Let you know what happens.
Again thanks for advices

I bricked my SGS twice. Nothing worked anymore.
Went back to the retailer where i bought it and simply told them: It crashed and would not react anymore to any hardware buttons of what so ever.. AND!.... twice the sended it to repair without any charge. So it wil be most likely that they will reflash it for you for free

Mine was reflashed twice
I bricked mine twice (rooted my phone and did a bit to much of modification) and twice they flashed new firmware to it.. without any costs. (told them a stupid lie )
I personaly think that if your phone does not boot, how can they see what you've done to it.
So most likely that will be your case to.

Rooted note 2 and custom ROM installed, Warranty help?

Hi All,
I rooted and installed the android revolution ROM last week and lastnight I stood on my note 2 which has messed up the screen. I can see about 1/10th of the screen. If it gets sent back for repair am I screwed? I was going to install a stock ROM and reset the counter using chainfires software but this will be near impossible.
Any advice?

One would think that they'll realise that a broken screen cannot be caused by a modified ROM.
However I doubt that standing on the screen is covered by warranty anyway so either way I think you'll have to pay for repair

Cloudane said:
One would think that they'll realise that a broken screen cannot be caused by a modified ROM.
However I doubt that standing on the screen is covered by warranty anyway so either way I think you'll have to pay for repair
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the phone insured so they will either repair it or replace it. If it gets sent back for repair I'm hoping they don't check if the phone is rooted and send it back saying we will not repair as it has been rooted. I think i'll just have to take my chances.

Returns for repair advice

Turns out the problem I had with my wifi toggling itself off and on every 10 seconds wasn't fixed when i did a fresh installation of 4.4.2 from sammobile. As such Im having to return the device to john lewis, so they can send it off for repairs.
Any advice? I have already done a full system wipe and firmware reinstall, so it should be as blank and back to stock as I can make it.
I'm photocopying receipts and things so I can keep the originals.
But I dont know how this "repairs" procedure works... will I definitly get my original device back, but fixed? If they can't fix it, will I get sent a new device, or will I get sent someone elses second hand refurbished one?
I'm concerned because my tablet is only 6 months old, and is in pristine condition. Literally, it still looks like its just come out of the box. If I get sent a second hand one it wont be in as good a condition. Also I managed to get one *without* the terrible light bleed issues, and so if one turns up with light bleed I'll have to complain and go another 28 days without a device.
So yeh, any recommendations of things I should do to make sure I dont get screwed over by samsung? Any more so than they already are anyway.
In case it doesnt come through in this post, I am rather annoyed. And also protective of my stuff.

Knox bit?
Had you triggered your Knox warranty bit whilst installing custom ROM?
I'm not experiencing problems but feel that Knox should be reset when going back to stock, with a compete wipe, to avoid warranty void claims...
Let us know how your experience goes though...

bbs2web said:
Had you triggered your Knox warranty bit whilst installing custom ROM?
I'm not experiencing problems but feel that Knox should be reset when going back to stock, with a compete wipe, to avoid warranty void claims...
Let us know how your experience goes though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never installed a custom ROM, only ones from sammobile, so far as im aware my warranty is still all valid.

nirurin said:
Never installed a custom ROM, only ones from sammobile, so far as im aware my warranty is still all valid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they have to replace your device, you will not get a new one, but a recondition, however, it will look like brand new.

Wifi issue repair
I sent my P600 in about 3 weeks ago. My wifi and bluetooth would not turn on at all. The slide buttons in settings would slide to green like it was turning on and then slide back to gray a couple of seconds later. I just got it back from samsung. I had tripped the knox e-fuse be rooting my device, Flashed stock 4.4.2 before i sent it in. Sent it in and they never said a word. According to the reciept they replaced the wifi/bluetooth compnent, my device came back with my account and data still intact.

buhohitr said:
If they have to replace your device, you will not get a new one, but a recondition, however, it will look like brand new.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will it though? If it's second hand then surely it could have scratches on screen, scuffs on the casing, etc etc. Mine literally looks like it's fresh out the box.
It's ready to send back to them now anyway so I guess I'll just have to wait and see, and deal with it when it happens. Thanks for the advice