Very hot phone - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

My Sprint s5 active unrooted phone has been over heating eversince it was replaced by Insurance. I assume that phone is a "reconditioned" device. Is this phone defective?

Have you done a full factory reset? It could be. Might be worth speaking with Samsung?

Will a factory reset fix the heat problem?

no guarantee but it will be a good way to check, almost certainly you will get asked to do that by anyone you speak to from support. It is possible that something is eating the cpu. Have you tried using CPU spy to see if anything is using the CPU?

Ok. I'm on vacation so I'll wait to reset the phone until I get back tomorrow but I can try the CPUs spy now

cinnamngrl said:
My Sprint s5 active unrooted phone has been over heating eversince it was replaced by Insurance. I assume that phone is a "reconditioned" device. Is this phone defective?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rest assured all replacements come with a 12 month limited warranty! You’ll need to take the phone to a Sprint Repair Center. There they’ll attempt to troubleshoot the device. If they’re unable to repair they’ll complete a warranty exchange for you.

Asurion is the reason I have this crappy used phone that i paid $200 deductible plus at least $1000 in monthly fees. And i am still paying monthly lease.

So i asurioncares has no response?

I have a regular S5, but I have found that an app can make my phone (including past phones) real hot. I've checked through battery usage to see which is a culprit and uninstalled, reboots have helped, etc...

Haven't I resent having to reinstall the operating system load all my apps that I like on again. Basically it once I put all my favorite apps on it starts getting hot again

Related

Endless reboot...

Hey guys,
I've been lurking here ever since I got the incredible. Unfortunately, this is the first time I needed to post and it's bad news. My Incredible is rebooting more than 20 times a day, and I mean that not counting the reboot loop it gets stuck in. I have wiped the phone clean, started to go through the start up wizard, and it rebooted there, so I know it's not an bad app. It has rebooted randomly, though not as bad, before I rooted, so it's not that. I live in southern california and I get good service at home so I don't think it's the same problem as those incidents in south carolina. Does anyone have an idea what it could be? I'm running out of solutions and ready to just drop the phone, eat the ETF and go to sprint. Thanks in advance for the help.
Kiyoshi
I would flash it back to stock take it to verizon and show them what it is doing and have them send you another one, I brought mine back for the unresponsive screen issue and they said it was going to take three weeks for me to get another one but I received it 4 days later. so before switching to sprint and paying a big ETF I would try the above first. but if all else fails to ease the pain a little and not have to pay such a big ETF get a crappy verizon flip phone that you can activate on the line use it for a day or two then cancel your account. you will only pay a 175.00 ETF vs a 350.00 ETF. just a little round about way to "stick it" to the man.
Also, does downgrading and unrooting get rid of the wireless-n mod? Just downgraded and was in the wizard and right when I tried to connect to my network, it rebooted.
That's funny I just flashed it back to stock so I could do that. The problem is that I bought it from best buy in april and did not buy the extended warranty ( of course not, damn waste of money). IIRC, verizon does not honor warranties bought from a different store, correct?
twisted origin said:
Also, does downgrading and unrooting get rid of the wireless-n mod? Just downgraded and was in the wizard and right when I tried to connect to my network, it rebooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you reflash the stock ROM it wipes everything including root and wireless N, only reflash stock if you want to return it to the store otherwise you will have to go through the sd card root process again.
twisted origin said:
That's funny I just flashed it back to stock so I could do that. The problem is that I bought it from best buy in april and did not buy the extended warranty ( of course not, damn waste of money). IIRC, verizon does not honor warranties bought from a different store, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure if verizon won't exchange it, I think that there is a year warranty on the phone standard and extended warranty is only good for after the manufacturers warranty runs out. I would check with BB first and if they won't exchange it take it to verizon and see what they say, BB is an authorized verizon dealer so I would imagine that verizon will honor the warranty. but there is only one way to find out. Good Luck.
ok, so I took it to verizon today, and luckily for me it was rebooting away right after the CSR personally factory reset it. I actually was happy it did, too. She was so smug, telling me that I should have been using a task killer and that maybe I didn't factory reset it correctly. She starts it up and was giving me a "haha that's how you do it" look, when it rebooted on her. She battery pulled it, and then it went into a reboot loop on her. Her smug look was replaced by a look of defeat. It was worth the fact that I couldn't get it to stop rebooting for five minutes after that.
I then called 611 and they said they had a replacement for me and that it would be at my doorstep in two days. Evidently, they keep a separate stock for warranty issues. Well anyways, thanks for the help and I'll have an incredible back in my hands soon
Have u tried going into airplane mode and see if it does it? Just curious.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Haha I just read Ur last post, I find it funny cuz I work for Verizon also and man u would not believe how many reps say u need a task killer, dumbasses.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Yes, keeping it in airplane mode definitely helped. With that in mind, I might have an idea of what happened to my phone and potentially to other phones that have had this problem. I ordered the seidio 1750 batt. when I first got my phone, so I have been using it pretty much since the beginning. As you may know it can get unusually warm when in use. I would frequently use it when I'm at work to listen to podcasts and would keep it on the car charger while in use ( I work at a landfill doing gas monitoring, engineering, etc. so always in my work truck). That is first time I could recall a reboot occurring. I don't know how the internal layout is made up, but perhaps the radio or whatever else related received damage due to overheating. Oh well, already received my new incredible and I now have a battery charger so I will avoid charging and using at the same time. You guys are probably saying "Uh, yeah, of course that will happen, dumbass" but I've never had a problem with my other phones.

Phone randomly rebooting, I've tried everything.

Maybe a month ago my phone started rebooting randomly. It started just when I had my phone plugged in and the phone became hot. Recently it's turned into anything that requires processing power, such as navigation, browsing the internet; basically anything other than sitting in my pocket.
I just reverted to 1.00 and .77 after having both 2.05 & 2.15 (in which my camera stopped working) and wiped my storage. As I was going through setup and clicked on the box to sign into google, the phone rebooted again. Apparently that didn't solve my problems.
I don't have a warranty from verizon because I forgot to purchase one. I bought my phone exactly 3 months ago from best buy so I'm not sure if I have any sort of warranty from verizon that would cover this? I'd really like to get a new phone because it seems like a hardware issue; a software issue would have disappeared after the amount of wipes I've gone through I'm assuming.
anyone have any ideas or similar issues?
What rom are you using?
Also what kernel?
TrailBlazer31 said:
What rom are you using?
Also what kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just reset everything so
firmware 2.1 update 1
baseband 1.00
kernel 2.6.29 htc-kernel
Bad News
To start off, I lived through what you are saying. I charged it once in a hot area and it got super hot and rebooted and rebooted and rebooted. From that point on, the random reboots would constantly happen and, although you didn't mention it, as the day went on, the phone would just get hot on its own (even if not used) until it would reboot from 4-13 times (initial screen, black, initial screen, black, etc.)
Early reports were that the first production run had phones with bad radios. Those radios would start to struggle, eating up processor time and battery time, causing the phone to heat until it rebooted.
Ultimately I had to return that Incredible to verizon, which I did very reluctantly because I knew that I would enter refurb hell.
jdmba said:
To start off, I lived through what you are saying. I charged it once in a hot area and it got super hot and rebooted and rebooted and rebooted. From that point on, the random reboots would constantly happen and, although you didn't mention it, as the day went on, the phone would just get hot on its own (even if not used) until it would reboot from 4-13 times (initial screen, black, initial screen, black, etc.)
Early reports were that the first production run had phones with bad radios. Those radios would start to struggle, eating up processor time and battery time, causing the phone to heat until it rebooted.
Ultimately I had to return that Incredible to verizon, which I did very reluctantly because I knew that I would enter refurb hell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...everything went better than expected?
Nope
noahjk said:
...everything went better than expected?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope ... Incredible #2 was received with a bad speaker (they test electronics for the refurb, not audibles). Incredible # 3 has been with me for only a few days.
As such, I have not flashed S-OFF and need S-ON before I can do so.
jdmba said:
Nope ... Incredible #2 was received with a bad speaker (they test electronics for the refurb, not audibles). Incredible # 3 has been with me for only a few days.
As such, I have not flashed S-OFF and need S-ON before I can do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
were you able to do this without paying for insurance? Or am I basically screwed without insurance?
Good luck with this third phone btw. I hate wiping to flash a rom, much less losing everything to a new phone.
Insurance is not a warranty. Insurance protects you past the warranty date and includes things like theft and accidental damage, which the warranty does not. The incredible has a 1-year warranty, in which you can return the phone for a replacement for hardware problems. You can purchase insurance with the new phone when you get it.
Berzerker7 said:
Insurance is not a warranty. Insurance protects you past the warranty date and includes things like theft and accidental damage, which the warranty does not. The incredible has a 1-year warranty, in which you can return the phone for a replacement for hardware problems. You can purchase insurance with the new phone when you get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry if I'm a pest but I couldn't find anything on their website... where do I go about claiming an issue for warranty?
if I send it in can I keep the battery?
There is a huge thread about rebooting on the Verizon forums. Common issue.
noahjk said:
I just reset everything so
firmware 2.1 update 1
baseband 1.00
kernel 2.6.29 htc-kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to make sure: that is stock / original everything, right?
Pretty much the same issue, but I'm serving as one of the test cases that will see if my decision to s-off four days prior to that is going to cost me. FRU will be here early next week and we'll see what they say when they receive my phone.
noahjk said:
sorry if I'm a pest but I couldn't find anything on their website... where do I go about claiming an issue for warranty?
if I send it in can I keep the battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as it was bought from a authorized dealer just dial 611 explain whats happening(minus you rooting and what not) and they will send you a new phone you keep the battery since the new phone wont come with a battery and you set minus having a referb
I am getting random reboots also. I am pretty convinced that there is something wrong with the phone itself. I have flashed every rom and kernel combo. It makes no difference. Not looking forward to refurbished hell! But if thats what it takes I guess that is what I will have to do.
Sent from DI
Well
falkien said:
I am getting random reboots also. I am pretty convinced that there is something wrong with the phone itself. I have flashed every rom and kernel combo. It makes no difference. Not looking forward to refurbished hell! But if thats what it takes I guess that is what I will have to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
najaboy said:
Pretty much the same issue, but I'm serving as one of the test cases that will see if my decision to s-off four days prior to that is going to cost me. FRU will be here early next week and we'll see what they say when they receive my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did NOT want to send it in and lived with it for a while. Please let the voice of experience explain ... it is your phone. Likely a bad radio (physical radio, not the firmware your flashed). Regardless, it has not happened on my 2 subsequent Incredibles.
That said, please report back if VZW refuses your return (which could take a month in the form of a charge on your bill) because you ran S-OFF.
Kipphh said:
As long as it was bought from a authorized dealer just dial 611 explain whats happening(minus you rooting and what not) and they will send you a new phone you keep the battery since the new phone wont come with a battery and you set minus having a referb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you or anyone else tell me how long the phone will take to get here? i'm leaving for college in a week and don't want to be stuck without a phone because of this.
ps today my phone rebooted around 40 times, eventually pulled the battery. I put the battery back in before work but it rebooted again so I left it in the car; it was at 30% battery but was dead from rebooting when I came back out.
stupid.
noahjk said:
can you or anyone else tell me how long the phone will take to get here? i'm leaving for college in a week and don't want to be stuck without a phone because of this.
ps today my phone rebooted around 40 times, eventually pulled the battery. I put the battery back in before work but it rebooted again so I left it in the car; it was at 30% battery but was dead from rebooting when I came back out.
stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It takes 2-3 business days to get the FRU. Mine was shipped Fri or Sat and is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday delivery.

[q] sprint service rep messed up my phone!

so I took my epic to a sprint store to get a new screen. got it back and turned it on. found out they deleted a few games and my task killer. and for some reason, my phone could not get an service whatsoever. it says I am in roaming with no bars and I know that's wrong because I get full bars in my house. also, I cannot send or receive calls or texts. after n hour on the phone with sprint, they couldn't fix it and they finally just switched my service to an older phone. I will go to a sprint store at a current date but I'm on vacation and don't have a chance to go to the store.
so, any ideas what mightve happened? and ideas how I should go about talking to sprint to get this issue fixed?
thanks in advance.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
We will need to know more about the phone. Are you running stock ROM or not? Are you rooted? I am guessing that since you took it into the store that you were running it stock and unrooted. Give us some more details and we might be able to be more help.
It looks like you might need to factory reset, but you can d/l a backup program to save all the .apks for the apps you have gotten from the market, or you can root the phone and get a better backup program. I would not recommend using clockwork recovery as, I believe, it will back up everything and might just restore the phone to its unusable state. That being said it couldn't hurt to try Clockwork recovery and if you just have to wipe the phone again you can.
It's really annoying when you take a phone into Sprint and they just make matters worse. One time I took a phone it for an issue with the screen and they actually broke the screen further and then refused to figure out a way to fix it.
I'm rooted and I'm running the latest epic experience based off of dk28. was not able to odin completely back to stock before taking it to the store. they never said anything about it being the wrong firmware.
when I returned home, it was too late to actually do anything about the issue, so I called tech support. the woman worked me through some tests and nothing indicated what was wrong and therefore there's no solution to it. she finally just said that its a hardware malfunction, which it could be. only way to get that fixed is to go to the sprint store whenever I'm able to, which might not be for a while.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Yeah I don't think it's a hardware issuer personally. If you haven't tried wiping the phone and starting fresh that would be my first step. The fact is that if it's hardware you will end up with a fresh phone anyhow, so why not factory reset the phone and see if it fixes the problem...also maybe uninstall the last few apps you downloaded. They might be messing with your radios.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Did they choc the screen? If stop I guess it's possible that they messed up your radios at thst point.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I actually think this is a hardware issue. Better flash back to stock before you bring it in for any issues or they can deny your replacement. Sprint corporate repair centers have advanced testers specifically for signal related issues and without an antenna it will fail for sure. You may want to explain the issue started when your screen was replaced.
When they replaced the screen they may have screwed up the antenna internal. Generally, a tech will not do anything with the firmware/software when they are fixing hardware so I am not sure what happened with your apps.
Also, the part was likely harvested from another phone... If they brought the antenna from the other phone it could be defective (which is possibly why it was there to harvest from). It's also possible that your antenna is not actually in your phone.
wait I thought if you were within your first year they had to give you a new phone anyway?
I would definatly be raising a stink! Look you paid good money for the phone and hopefully you paid for insurance. dont let them give you second rate service. Go ask for a new phone and just transfer all your stuffto that one.
boominz28 said:
wait I thought if you were within your first year they had to give you a new phone anyway?
I would definatly be raising a stink! Look you paid good money for the phone and hopefully you paid for insurance. dont let them give you second rate service. Go ask for a new phone and just transfer all your stuffto that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not if he rooted and flashed a non apporved update and they see it
GituSum Epic
As stated above, odin to stock, and ***** till its resolved. IDK if another sprint store is an option, but that can help, also calling into tech support and getting an appt with the repair center seems to help. Was just in today and should be getting a 'replacement' Monday, I have a purple line of what appears to be stuck pixels along the bottom or left side of screen. First sprint store, the brilliant techs tried to tell me it was a 'cosmetic flaw' and that they could fix it for 35 bux, knowing I have TEP... got home, called in, tech support guy was really cool, and also noticed that 35 bux applies to people w/o TEP, the only way money would be involved would be water, loss, etc... got an appt for today, and yeah... hoping the replacement is new... but whatever. Anyways, you have a 500 dollar phone, don't take any BS... the first guys even said to call sammy for a warranty.... idiots.
thanks for all the replies.
part of the tests included doing a factory reset. and that didn't work. I can't believe that doing a repair could completely mess up my phone even more. of course I'll ***** and complain until I get my way. I'm used to it with sprint.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
They probably didnt reconnect the antenna. I had to get my 3.5mm headphone jack replaced on my epic and when the sprint rep handed the phone back, I went outside and couldnt get any signal whatsoever. I immediately took the phone back and the rep reconnected the antenna in a matter of minutes.
dee32181 said:
They probably didnt reconnect the antenna. I had to get my 3.5mm headphone jack replaced on my epic and when the sprint rep handed the phone back, I went outside and couldnt get any signal whatsoever. I immediately took the phone back and the rep reconnected the antenna in a matter of minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this sounds almost exactly like what I'm experiencing. as soon as I return home or find spare time, ill go back to sprint and see if they can reconnect the antenna.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Definitely could be a simple issue with the antenna being plugged in. If it was reset already then its likely not software BUT... they will not replace it if it needs to be replaced if they notice that its rooted.
I had same issue after camera button failed. Antenna wasnt put back on properly. I had crazy signals.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
So you haven't tried odin yet...? Just a fw? What if your modem is just buggy...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
boominz28 said:
wait I thought if you were within your first year they had to give you a new phone anyway?
I would definatly be raising a stink! Look you paid good money for the phone and hopefully you paid for insurance. dont let them give you second rate service. Go ask for a new phone and just transfer all your stuffto that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. Sprint doesn't HAVE to give you a new phone. Its a fix/replace policy and if you don't have insurance it will cost you $35. That's a recent policy change. You can go through Samsung if your looking to excersise your one year warranty...but good luck on a rooted phone.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
unfortunantly, my laptop is down right now. so I cannot odin back to stock. no, I've never had this problem before and judging by a few others, it seems that this is a common problem.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Quis89 said:
Wrong. Sprint doesn't HAVE to give you a new phone. Its a fix/replace policy and if you don't have insurance it will cost you $35. That's a recent policy change. You can go through Samsung if your looking to excersise your one year warranty...but good luck on a rooted phone.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will disagree with you, I do beleive that within the first year of you buying that phone they have to give you a replacement, But I will research this further and post my results.
I'll help with the policy, If you don't have a service and repair plan, or TEP, then they will charge you 35 for a repair, regardless of if the phone is in warranty or not. 35 bucks includes everything except board damage, phone coming in the store in two pieces, or liquid damage. I.E. something that can't be repaired anyway by anyone, I.E damaged beyond repair.
If you have the service plan, then you don't get charged the 35 bucks.
If the store can't fix the issue, they order a refurb phone that usually shows up in one/two business days at the store or to your house, your choice.
The only time you get a NEW phone is when you've had the device for less than 30 days, you can return it any time in that period or get it swapped out for a new one if there is a issue and the store can't fix it. You can return it for any reason as well during this time.
Anyway, like everyone stated, the issue with the phone is that the antenna is probably not hooked up. It's at the bottom of the phone, and is connected with a cable that has two connects on it, one at each end, at the antenna and at the main board. One or both of them is off the phone, and that could be fixed by anyone with a screw driver and a butter knife in about 5 minutes.
hdnet1 said:
I'll help with the policy, If you don't have a service and repair plan, or TEP, then they will charge you 35 for a repair, regardless of if the phone is in warranty or not. 35 bucks includes everything except board damage, phone coming in the store in two pieces, or liquid damage. I.E. something that can't be repaired anyway by anyone, I.E damaged beyond repair.
If you have the service plan, then you don't get charged the 35 bucks.
If the store can't fix the issue, they order a refurb phone that usually shows up in one/two business days at the store or to your house, your choice.
The only time you get a NEW phone is when you've had the device for less than 30 days, you can return it any time in that period or get it swapped out for a new one if there is a issue and the store can't fix it. You can return it for any reason as well during this time.
Anyway, like everyone stated, the issue with the phone is that the antenna is probably not hooked up. It's at the bottom of the phone, and is connected with a cable that has two connects on it, one at each end, at the antenna and at the main board. One or both of them is off the phone, and that could be fixed by anyone with a screw driver and a butter knife in about 5 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that stinks if i buy a almost 600 dollar phone and say 2 months goes , if they send me a refurbished , im gonna raise a stink.

T-Mobile Vibrant replacement cost lowered

I found out some info from TMO customer care yesterday that is interesting and worth knowing.
TMO cut the cost to replace a rooted vibrant down to $115 on April 1st, but the insurance still costs $130. So if anyone finds themselves in my situation (totally and utterly bricked in every sense of the word and still rooted) or a similar situation, it would actually be cheaper to just send it in without insurance, even if the damage indicator is red.
However, if they don't get the phone back within 7 days, then the price is still $455 to replace the phone.
This info is for T-Mobile USA. I have no idea if international branches of T-Mobile have adopted the same policy, and I have no idea if this applies to other phones as well (I am just restating what the customer care rep told me.)
So I can crack my screen completely and it will only cost 115 still? Or is that just for rooted devices? Because if you hard-brick the device, TMobile has no way of knowing that it was rooting considering they can't even turn it on.
Also just got mail that the insurance is increasing by $2 to $7.99 but you get free Mobile Security from Asurion included in that....Samsung Vibrant is only included in PLAN D of the insurance which is $130 deductible and a claim limit amount of $1000.
Confused. So hypothetically if I destroy my phone to the point it doesn't even power on, I can call them and send it in to get a refurb one for $115?
Does it apply only if its bricked? If it's broken physically...like screen or something internal, can I still do that?
Mine says LOSS THEFT DAMAGE or MALFUNCTION...Drop in water COVERED..Keypad stop working COVERED..etc etc..
Okay, I can see how my 1st post could have been a little confusing. Here's what you should do if you need to send in your vibrant.
First and foremost, if you CAN flash back to stock, DO IT. That is still the only sure-fire way of not having to pay anything and still get a new/refurbished Vibrant out of it.
Second, T-Mobile will charge you the $115 if they find that the phone has hardware damage (red damage indicator, damaged screen, exc.), but can still be repaired. So, if your phone has a cracked screen, for example, it's a better idea to send it in without insurance because insurance costs $130 plus an additional $8 per month. (NOTE: The FFC mod is an irreversible mod. You have cracked open the phone and therefore T-Mobile considers that "physical damage." You cannot swap out the camera for the stock one and re-paint the camera hole and lens.)
Third, T-Mobile will charge you the $115 if they find that the phone has been rooted or modded in any way in terms of software.
However, the chances of T-Mobile finding anything out about software modification is unlikely. At the T-Mobile processing center, they have some magic way of taking out the internal SD card without triggering the damage indicator. After they have done that, what they are SUPPOSED to do is attempt to find any data on the internal SD card that would reveal whether the phone was rooted or not (working superuser app, exc.). However, this process is long, tedious and boring as hell so what a lot of employees do is just skip the part where they examine the internal SD card and just format the thing without looking at it. To prove it, when I sent in that hard-bricked vibrant, it had a GT-I9000 bootloader on it plus CM7 and numerous ROM.zip files on it. I was not charged anything for that Vibrant.
Moral of the story: Don't buy the insurance for the Samsung Vibrant under any circumstances. Unless it goes down in price (which I seriously doubt it will), it is a complete waste of money. You will save money by going uninsured. Also, don't freak out if your Vibrant has software on it that you can't get rid of for some reason. In all likelihood, T-Mobile won't find anything.
Second moral of the story: DO NOT think that you will only get charged $115 if you choose NOT to send the broken Vibrant back to T-Mobile. They will charge you the ridiculous amount of approximately $455.18.
P.S. If anyone finds out the way that T-Mobile is able to open up the phone without tripping the damage indicator, PLEASE TELL US! If that info gets out, then I will do that FFC mod so fast you won't know what hit you!
I just walked in my tmobil store and told them my phone was messing up. And they sent me a new one. No cost at all to me except for that 8.00. So in my opinion insurance is good. For us if we have the old insurance is fantastic.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Do you get a brand new phone as a replacement if you have insurance?
Refurbished, most likely previous phones that were sent in from people like yourself and fixed up.
yah mine was refurbished, but brand spanking new! in my opinion the insurance is the best deal tmobile has!
I actually prefer the refurbished units since they are actually tested and everything should work on it (including GPS, mine locks 8 birds within 3 seconds).
30000 said:
Okay, I can see how my 1st post could have been a little confusing. Here's what you should do if you need to send in your vibrant.
First and foremost, if you CAN flash back to stock, DO IT. That is still the only sure-fire way of not having to pay anything and still get a new/refurbished Vibrant out of it.
Second, T-Mobile will charge you the $115 if they find that the phone has hardware damage (red damage indicator, damaged screen, exc.), but can still be repaired. So, if your phone has a cracked screen, for example, it's a better idea to send it in without insurance because insurance costs $130 plus an additional $8 per month. (NOTE: The FFC mod is an irreversible mod. You have cracked open the phone and therefore T-Mobile considers that "physical damage." You cannot swap out the camera for the stock one and re-paint the camera hole and lens.)
Third, T-Mobile will charge you the $115 if they find that the phone has been rooted or modded in any way in terms of software.
However, the chances of T-Mobile finding anything out about software modification is unlikely. At the T-Mobile processing center, they have some magic way of taking out the internal SD card without triggering the damage indicator. After they have done that, what they are SUPPOSED to do is attempt to find any data on the internal SD card that would reveal whether the phone was rooted or not (working superuser app, exc.). However, this process is long, tedious and boring as hell so what a lot of employees do is just skip the part where they examine the internal SD card and just format the thing without looking at it. To prove it, when I sent in that hard-bricked vibrant, it had a GT-I9000 bootloader on it plus CM7 and numerous ROM.zip files on it. I was not charged anything for that Vibrant.
Moral of the story: Don't buy the insurance for the Samsung Vibrant under any circumstances. Unless it goes down in price (which I seriously doubt it will), it is a complete waste of money. You will save money by going uninsured. Also, don't freak out if your Vibrant has software on it that you can't get rid of for some reason. In all likelihood, T-Mobile won't find anything.
Second moral of the story: DO NOT think that you will only get charged $115 if you choose NOT to send the broken Vibrant back to T-Mobile. They will charge you the ridiculous amount of approximately $455.18.
P.S. If anyone finds out the way that T-Mobile is able to open up the phone without tripping the damage indicator, PLEASE TELL US! If that info gets out, then I will do that FFC mod so fast you won't know what hit you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I didn't get insurance to replace my phone in case of damage via rooting. I got insurance to repalce my phone if I lose it, drop it in water, or if it gets stolen.
Also, what damage indicator are you talking about?
anthonys2r said:
Refurbished, most likely previous phones that were sent in from people like yourself and fixed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I have the insurance but haven't used yet. If you get a refurbished phone after paying deductible then its not with it for me, might just cancel mine
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
SamsungVibrant said:
Also, what damage indicator are you talking about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's the liquid damage indicator. it's the white square underneath the battery right by the battery connection. it turns red if it gets wet.
VICosPhi said:
Thanks, I have the insurance but haven't used yet. If you get a refurbished phone after paying deductible then its not with it for me, might just cancel mine
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you pay deductible, you get a new phone not refurb. Only time you might get refurb is when you do a warranty exchange. Warranty exchanges are at no cost. Insurance is 7.99 a month but like any insurance, its there in case you need it. You loose, break, get it wet or it gets stolen then you are covered. Just like car insurance, you could pay insurance for years and never use it, but then again if you are in a wreck or it gets stolen, then you are happy u did. Without insurance, you are screwed. Remember warranty is only for a year w/o extended warranty. Insurance extends your warranty for life of phone
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
+1 on what he said!
funeralthirst said:
it's the liquid damage indicator. it's the white square underneath the battery right by the battery connection. it turns red if it gets wet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know about the liquid indicator, but that's not what 30000 was talking about. 30000 was talking about a different damage indicator.
30000 said:
30000 said:
At the T-Mobile processing center, they have some magic way of taking out the internal SD card without triggering the damage indicator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What damage indicator?
Marvlet said:
If you pay deductible, you get a new phone not refurb. Only time you might get refurb is when you do a warranty exchange. Warranty exchanges are at no cost. Insurance is 7.99 a month but like any insurance, its there in case you need it. You loose, break, get it wet or it gets stolen then you are covered. Just like car insurance, you could pay insurance for years and never use it, but then again if you are in a wreck or it gets stolen, then you are happy u did. Without insurance, you are screwed. Remember warranty is only for a year w/o extended warranty. Insurance extends your warranty for life of phone
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not true, there is a 95% chance that you will get a refurb. All T-mobile reps will tell you that you will either get a refurbished or new device. They will also tell you right after that, that you will most likely get a refurb. I've talked to them for hours and fought with supervisors and such just trying NOT to get a refurb. I know most people think that the refurbished phones are inspected, this is also a load of bs. They are not inspected, they fix the problem that was there and make sure that and ONLY that is fixed. They do not check any other part of the phone.
mugenfiji0327 said:
This is not true, there is a 95% chance that you will get a refurb. All T-mobile reps will tell you that you will either get a refurbished or new device. They will also tell you right after that, that you will most likely get a refurb. I've talked to them for hours and fought with supervisors and such just trying NOT to get a refurb. I know most people think that the refurbished phones are inspected, this is also a load of bs. They are not inspected, they fix the problem that was there and make sure that and ONLY that is fixed. They do not check any other part of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Insurance and warranty exchange are 2 different things. With warranty exchange its new or refurb, cant guarantee one or the other. Most times its refurb. With insurance which is NOT thru T-mobile but thru Assurion, when you file a claim and pay the deductible, you get a new phone.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Marvlet said:
Insurance and warranty exchange are 2 different things. With warranty exchange its new or refurb, cant guarantee one or the other. Most times its refurb. With insurance which is NOT thru T-mobile but thru Assurion, when you file a claim and pay the deductible, you get a new phone.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope failed again. I will call Asurion right now and go through the process of having my phone replaced and record it just to prove it to you if you would like me to. They do not send out new products man, I know this for a fact. Think about it man, if they sent out new devices everytime someone called in for a problem, none of the companies involved would make any money on that phone which is what they want, MONEY. That includes T-mobile, Asurion and Samsung. Every electronics store I have ever bought from uses them as their insurance program. Best Buy,Verizon,T-Mobile etc. Every time I've had something replaced through any of those companys it has and ALWAYS WILL BE a refurb. I work for Verizon and guess what, everytime someone comes in for us to call Asurion for them or even if they call themselves they still get a REFURB. I used to work for Best Buy and on top of that I worked in the Geek Squad for Best Buy and did most of the insurance claims when people came through. Guess what, all of my customers got REFURBS. I'm done arguing with you and I think I have made my point.

Defective phone, replacement process?

I've come to the conclusion after unrooting/changing to stock rom that my WiFi and Bluetooth is defective, cause it shows very little access points compared to other S4s and Bluetooth is intermittent cutting in and out.
It's been over a month since I've received the phone, would I still be able to bring it to a Sprint Store and exchange for a new one, or would I have to ship it in to Samsung. Also, would I have to stock recovery/unroot before I give it back to them?
Anyone who works at Sprint or have done this before, please let me know!
Thanks!
tinkleondabeach said:
I've come to the conclusion after unrooting/changing to stock rom that my WiFi and Bluetooth is defective, cause it shows very little access points compared to other S4s and Bluetooth is intermittent cutting in and out.
It's been over a month since I've received the phone, would I still be able to bring it to a Sprint Store and exchange for a new one, or would I have to ship it in to Samsung. Also, would I have to stock recovery/unroot before I give it back to them?
Anyone who works at Sprint or have done this before, please let me know!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must unroot. You must flash stock mdc odin 1 click restore and wipe fully. They will laugh at you if you dont.
Put it completely back to stock. Reset the counter and binary to official. Odin the MDL full stock with data wipe. Wipe/format the internal storage. Remove the SD card. Do full factory reset and format internal memory. Pray. Don't act like you've been mucking around with the phone. They might want to do a factory reset and or flash the rom to official stock again. Take it back the next day and tell them it's still malfunctioning. Hope they put in an order for a refurb. If you can replicate the problem, show them. Sometimes one repair center might be less likely to get you a replacement. Find another repair center. When I went to a different place with a previous phone, they were more inclined to just order me a replacement. I had to go back three times within a month to get a fully working phone, because the replacements were defective. Don't be a jerk towards the employees.
Please read forum rules before posting
Questions and help issues go in Q&A and Help section
Thread moved
Thank you for your cooperation
Friendly Neighborhood Moderator
I believe that it's a hardware defect maybe a loose wifi antenna. Went to sprint store and they're holding my phone right now, they said they'd charge $50 for repair if it's a defect but checkup is free.. I told them about a warranty and they told me that I'd have to go through Samsung to get that. Would it void my warranty if I opened up the phone myself?
If you have the TEP insurance a replacement would be free of charge.
You only have 14 days to return a phone if it is defective if the device was a new act or upgrade. A replacement without insurance is $50.
Your situation is difficult though. If the tech can verify the issue it is fine. Verifying your issue is not easy at all.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
supercholo said:
If you have the TEP insurance a replacement would be free of charge.
You only have 14 days to return a phone if it is defective if the device was a new act or upgrade. A replacement without insurance is $50.
Your situation is difficult though. If the tech can verify the issue it is fine. Verifying your issue is not easy at all.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the tech can verify the issue I'm still charged the $50 right? I assume the free warranty process through returning to Samsung would take like a month without a phone right?
tinkleondabeach said:
If the tech can verify the issue I'm still charged the $50 right? I assume the free warranty process through returning to Samsung would take like a month without a phone right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was told around 2 weeks when I asked Samsung about replacing my phone because of a screen defect. Can't go that long without a phone though so I'm just dealing with my screen defect. I'll maybe get it replaced before I sell it or the year is up. Whatever is first.
Yeah I hate Samsung and Sprint, I'm probably going to have to pay $50 for a refurb'd replacement cause the phone they gave me is defective.
Does anyone know if I will void the warranty if I were to open up the casing of the s4?
tinkleondabeach said:
Yeah I hate Samsung and Sprint, I'm probably going to have to pay $50 for a refurb'd replacement cause the phone they gave me is defective.
Does anyone know if I will void the warranty if I were to open up the casing of the s4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you will void the warranty if you open it up.

Categories

Resources