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Hi guys, any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
Last week I plugged my touch pro 2 in to charge. The phone was on and working fine, but the charging light would not come on.
So HTC collected my phone for repair...
Today I phoned to get the latest information and they want £160 to replace the motherboard or £11 to have the phone returned to be unrepaired. Apparently I have been running an illegal firmware and this has voided my warranty. I updated by firmware many times before settling on the one I was happy with, but it seems the one I settled with wasn't the official one. The guy quoted me SPL - 0.85.0-x.......... and said that it was a bit weird but that was why I had to pay.
So I told him that the firmware had been running fine for many months and I wanted to know the exact registry tweak that had broken the motherboard. Anyway I said I didnt accept that the firmware had anything to do with the hardware failure and would be refusing to pay.. I also gave them the sob story that I have had a new HTC phone every year for the past 7 years and have recommended many customers to them.
Where do I stand with this? I have threatened to go to the small claims court, but really just want my phone fixed for free as soon as possible.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated..
Andy
Honestly you asked for this. You are going to have to pay for the repair. You sent in a phone with a cracked ROM and expect them to fix anything? No way in hell will they do it for free.
when you say a cracked rom do you just mean a rom that is available on this forum?
I accept that it isn't an official rom. but it is unrelated to the issue of a phone not charging.
Unfortunately this is the norm... They can't prove your cooked ROM caused it, you can't prove it didn't. What they can prove is that you are not running the ROM they gave you and I'm sure somewhere in the T&C there's legalese about that voiding the warranty.
COULD someone write a program which interferes with charging? I'd bet so, people around here write some amazing stuff. This is not to make any accusations that someone has written any malicious code, simply that it COULD likely be done, therefore I seriously doubt you have much recourse. You could get lucky, but I suspect you're just hosed.. Sucks.
And in reality, you could send the phone in for ANY failure and they discover such things and void the warranty.
I guess you could buy extra/larger batteries and charge them in a charger and swap them as they die. Not the best solution, but at least you don't have to shell out lots of money.
well i've just sent a very professional email to customer services.
tweiss 3, you have a very negative outlook. HTC market their phones on being individual, and indeed this is why so many of us buy them over Iphones. However I took the individuality to the limit by installing a custom firmware. I am extremely confident that a ROM from this forum and a respected chef at that, would not include a registry hack that has any effect upon the charging system of the phone. And have asked them for the evidence that this is the cause of the hardware malfunction.
Positive thinking goes along way as well I feel.
Season's greetings to all of you.
Take them to court. The whole thing rediculous. Depending on your country this might actually be illegal.
I lawyered up when they tried to pull this on me, and guess who got his phone back fixed for free?
Its not that i'm negative, but there are 2 things everyone should know about warranty electronic work.
1) Always go back to stock. Will this cause you to loose all your data and settings, yes, but that leads me into step 2.
2) It is never a guarantee to come back with the settings or OS the way you sent it out. In fact, most companies have a policy of the first step being just reflash/reinstall the OS to stock default out of the box settings to see if that fixes the problems. So knowing this, spend the few extra minutes to reflash back to stock.
That being said, you could possibly win in a court to get it warrantied, but you are only going to screw yourself out of a lot of money and time. HTC knows this and will let you waste it if you really feel the need to. Their warranties are written very well, with a lot of fine print. Also most of them say "Limited" meaning almost they have all the discretion the care to use.
I agree with tweiss3. You can't send HTC a phone with a modified ROM and expect them to fix it. I'm sure these SOB's will do anything possible to get out of fixing your phone. Once they saw that you had a different SPL that was the red flag they needed to void the warranty. I hope you can convince them to fix your phone. Maybe if you were very persistent and demanded to speak to several managers, told them how you and your friends all own HTC product, inform them you will no longer buy their products and possibly take them to court, etc.
With all this in mind I'm even more hesitant to flash my phone to a modified ROM.
I kind of expect it, to be honest. As soon as they see anything not stock, they can void the warranty. Just like with a car with the manufacturer's warranty. You modify it and something breaks, and they will attempt to void the entire warranty regardless of if it caused the problem or not. When I send my car in for warranty work, I take all of the mods off and put it back to the stock parts (the air intake, etc).
It's a crappy deal, I know. But it's something you should plan for if you ever need warranty work done.
Either way, I hope everything works out for you
Its just a rule of thumb when it comes to warranty repair with electronics, always restore stock first!!! As soon as HTC discovered that your phone software was modified, it's no longer an issue to them of what caused the problem with your phone, it is now an issue of this phone is no longer under warranty because of the physical proof of the software tamperment! honestly it would be by the grace of god if they were to reinstate the warranty!
Unfortunatly due to the phone not powering on, or connecting via usb it would have been impossible to restore the firmware.
Thanks for the advice and well wishers.
Worse come to the worse is it worth repairing the phone for that price or is their anyone else who could replace the mainboard for cheaper than £160?
Dude, I totally know what you're going through. I hacked the ECU on my car, and now Mazda won't honor the warranty on my engine. It's total bull...I mean, I should be able to customize it how I want with no repercussions for myself. Why should I have to take the financial hit just because I put on a different software that controls the entire thing that may or may not have screwed it up?
If you couldn't tell, I was being sarcastic. You changed the core controlling software and didn't bother to change it back to the stock one. They have no responsibility to repair it for you.
andypa1 said:
Positive thinking goes along way as well I feel.
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I honestly wish you luck. Other readers seeking warranty repair should save themselves the risk and the effort and think positively about returning the phone to stock prior to sending it in.
Last week I plugged my touch pro 2 in to charge. The phone was on and working fine, but the charging light would not come on.
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Unfortunatly due to the phone not powering on, or connecting via usb it would have been impossible to restore the firmware.
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Eh? Obviously if you can't flash it back, you're stuck. Other posters might not have been as hard on you if they had known the phone couldn't be flashed.
Now you know what needs doing I bet you can find someone to do it for less. Worth a look.
Also worth asking for it back and re-flashing and returning to see how their records work.
Do they really have a database of products they don't want to work with or do they just look at the serial, look at the device and decide ? Only one way to find out ! For £11 it might be worth the gamble.
(Plz ignore the previous any post made here earlier, I think it was the equivalent of a pocket call )
What?
I don't think he ever said they fixed it without asking him. They gave him two options:
1) Fix it
2) Return it without repairing it
Unless I missed a post somewhere, he never chose to fix it. In fact, I don't even think he chose to take it back yet.
Just an update... They decided not to replace it for free, and still ask for £160.
You guys are quite right I should have restored it to factory before sending it back. It was sent to HTC running the official upgraded rom so I thought it would be fine, however I had forgotten that it would still be unlocked for unofficial roms and they would check this.
Even if I had remembered it wouldn't have been possible because the phone usb connection was not working..
dik23 thank you for your suggestion! Is there anyway of restoring the spl and all of the phone to stock settings without a usb connection? e.g. micro sd? or wifi?
I think i'm going to ask for the phone back for £11.. However the £11 fee is for an assesment, so there is a chance they will pick up. However I believe having the phone in perfect working condition would give me a stronger standing.
did you ever try a different USB cable? that would be my first thought after it broke....
also, do you have phone insurance? if so, is there any chance in the future it could be "stolen" under the insurance policy, and at worst you would get a working refurb?
I don't have phone insurance but it might be worth while getting it soon incase of any future loss ;-)
madman1520 said:
also, do you have phone insurance? if so, is there any chance in the future it could be "stolen" under the insurance policy, and at worst you would get a working refurb?
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andypa1 said:
I don't have phone insurance but it might be worth while getting it soon incase of any future loss ;-)
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Even setting morality aside (which you shouldn't), reporting a phone as having been stolen shortly after having a warranty claim rejected is maybe not the smartest move.
i cant believe people from the US are telling you youre in the wrong. idunno about other countries, including the one you're at, but here in the US warranties are made to protect the CONSUMER not the big company. "minidevil"s comparison about a car manufacturer having the right to void your warranty is so wrong its unbelievable. so called "shrinkwrap warranties" arent even legal here in the US. i had a yamaha R1 which i used as a track bike. regardless of what the warranty said or what the dealership try to claim the minute i lawyered up they fixed my bike. simply because they knew what they hoped i didnt. that warranty laws are here to protect me not them. i didnt have to prove that the racing mods didnt fry my clutch hub. THEY had to prove it did. and like it has been said, you cant prove one way or another. here in the US i couldve asked for costs of repairing my bike and court costs for suing them. they knew this and just fixed my bike. again, idunno the laws in your country. its VERY likely youll win in a court, though. but wether or not your court system allows you to also recoup loss monies for court costs from HTC, i dont know.. it may just be cheaper to pay for the repairs.
I know this is in the wrong forum but its an emergancy,
So lets say i dropped my phone in the pool, and it wont turn on, i have insurance its rooted and running a custom rom,.... can they fond out its rooted even though it wont boot, thx please reply quick
*It wont even recognize u touch the power button and even try to turn on*
been in rice for over 3 hours
if you have insurance then whats the emergency? have tmo send you a new phone...
not only that but ANYONE could have answered this question...see, im doing it right now, and im not a dev, and i JUST CAME from checking the general and Q&A sections, so its not like nobody wouldve seen it there, cus i was just there and i wouldve been back there later, too...AND did i mention im not a DEV....so why do you think you deserve to break the rules just because youre clumsy?
if you had posted in the right place i still wouldve seen it, and i still wouldve answered, just without all the "wrong section" BS. i wouldve been alot nicer about it if you hadnt tried to act like youre better than everyone else. everyone esle has to follow the rules, but apparently you think that you dont...
put the phone in a [ziploc] bag of rice for a few days, thatll pull out all the moisture and maybe you can resurrect it...
post in the right section...whether you think its an emergency or not...
thread reported....
-BMFC
Whoareyou said:
I know this is in the wrong forum but its an emergancy,
So lets say i dropped my phone in the pool, and it wont turn on, i have insurance its rooted and running a custom rom,.... can they fond out its rooted even though it wont boot, thx please reply quick
*It wont even recognize u touch the power button and even try to turn on*
been in rice for over 3 hours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it won't boot or respond at all, I honestly don't see how they can see it's rooted.
Now about getting a replacement. Insurance companies don't like replacing wet phones. I have no idea why. What difference does it make if it's wet or just dropped/lost?
Now, if your insurance covers water damage, ( I have it too, I THINK it does but I'm not sure, I'd call T-Mobile and just ask them if the insurance covers it. If it does, tell them your problem. Make sure you clarify whether it's covered or not first).
If they say it's not covered, say thanks, and hang up. Remember, you have to make it seem like you're just asking about your insurance, not that you need it.
Now this is where it gets sketchy. I know for sure the warranty covers you losing your phone. Call T-Mobile back, make sure it's a different Rep, and tell them you lost your phone, have the insurance, and need a replacement.
Now, this could be taken as insurance fraud which is illegal, but what difference does it make if the phone is lost or wet? Either way my phone is lost to me, and someone who's phone gets wet pays the same amount of money monthly for insurance as someone who simply loses their phone.
oh if its asurion, they'll replace wet... it will cost a deductible... oh and WRONG THREAD! but no they wouldnt give a damn if its rooted, you know the government said today that we are allowed to root our stuff
migueltherocker said:
If it won't boot or respond at all, I honestly don't see how they can see it's rooted.
Now about getting a replacement. Insurance companies don't like replacing wet phones. I have no idea why. What difference does it make if it's wet or just dropped/lost?
Now, if your insurance covers water damage, ( I have it too, I THINK it does but I'm not sure, I'd call T-Mobile and just ask them if the insurance covers it. If it does, tell them your problem. Make sure you clarify whether it's covered or not first).
If they say it's not covered, say thanks, and hang up. Remember, you have to make it seem like you're just asking about your insurance, not that you need it.
Now this is where it gets sketchy. I know for sure the warranty covers you losing your phone. Call T-Mobile back, make sure it's a different Rep, and tell them you lost your phone, have the insurance, and need a replacement.
Now, this could be taken as insurance fraud which is illegal, but what difference does it make if the phone is lost or wet? Either way my phone is lost to me, and someone who's phone gets wet pays the same amount of money monthly for insurance as someone who simply loses their phone.
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or you can just leave the phone (without the sim) somewhere public. then it is lost.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
jdkoreclipse said:
or you can just leave the phone (without the sim) somewhere public. then it is lost.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
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Good luck explaining why you took out your SIM card. Back when the G1 had first come out, my friend got it, and we were at his house and stupid me pushed him in the pool thinking he didn't have his phone on him. He took out his SIM card and put it in his old sidekick 3 and called T-Mobile, he told them he lost his phone, and they wouldn't believe him since he still had his SIM. They thought he was just saying this to get a new phone for free to sell it.
or take out the sim.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
Thanks for your support, thx
As a ex phone tech, I can tell you for sure... there's no way they can tell your phone is rooted if it wont power on. They just check for physical or water damage. Thats it. Just tell them what happened and get ready to pay $150 for a replacement though.
Oh great, i hope it dosent come to that, its in a bag of rice and im just praying it works tomorow.
Today a new change to Copyright law was announced at: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ that protects users from being discriminated against for having "rooted" or "jailbroken" their phones. Furthermore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson-Moss_Warranty_Act details that "a manufacturer cannot void a warranty because of an aftermarket replacement part unless they can prove that the part caused the failure (e.g. those early unlocks that scrambled the baseband's IMEI info)." This can be treated as (because of how the Act was written): "[your carrier/manufacturer] cannot legally void the warranty for a mere jailbreak, but could void the warranty for an unlock that goes wrong and bricks the phone by damaging the baseband or boot loader."
Point being: tell them to **** off or you'll call the FCC or your lawyer.
nbetcher said:
Today a new change to Copyright law was announced at: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ that protects users from being discriminated against for having "rooted" or "jailbroken" their phones. Furthermore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson-Moss_Warranty_Act details that "a manufacturer cannot void a warranty because of an aftermarket replacement part unless they can prove that the part caused the failure (e.g. those early unlocks that scrambled the baseband's IMEI info)." This can be treated as (because of how the Act was written): "[your carrier/manufacturer] cannot legally void the warranty for a mere jailbreak, but could void the warranty for an unlock that goes wrong and bricks the phone by damaging the baseband or boot loader."
Point being: tell them to **** off or you'll call the FCC or your lawyer.
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Click to collapse
I really don't think this has to do with an aftermarket part. And I really don't think that manufacturers have to honor a warranty when the product they put out has been altered in a way that voids said warranty. The new law simply states that the owner of the phone isn't subect to any legal troubles because of what they modified.
With all of that being said, you ****ed up your phone, knowingly posted in the wrong section because you think you'll get a faster response, and now you're hoping someone can tell you the magical way to get a new phone for free.
Good luck with that.
Whoareyou said:
I know this is in the wrong forum but its an emergancy,
So lets say i dropped my phone in the pool, and it wont turn on, i have insurance its rooted and running a custom rom,.... can they fond out its rooted even though it wont boot, thx please reply quick
*It wont even recognize u touch the power button and even try to turn on*
been in rice for over 3 hours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, wrong section........
Please post in proper place!
Whoareyou said:
Oh great, i hope it dosent come to that, its in a bag of rice and im just praying it works tomorow.
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Click to collapse
Dude, if you really wanna save it... take it apart and dry it out. You need a torx screwdriver #5 and look online for help on disassembly. Ive had many water damaged phones resurrected from death but you have to take them apart. Letting them dry by themselves will take a week and might ruin the board due to corrosion. Then you'll have to open it anyways and clean the chips with an old toothbrush and rubbing alcohol. But you might already have corroded chips and function is impaired somewhat or totally. So take it apart CAREFULLY (lowes or home depot or whatever hardware store have torx screw drivers for under $10 and have multi bits with the screwdriver) and dry it out and clean the board and everypart you can with the alcohol and toothbrush. The lcd is a ***** so be careful. Worse case senerio... you can just put it together and make your insurance claim. But keep it in the rice bag (lol! Never heard that one! It will take a week till it drys out, especially the lcd. Dont turn it on until a week has passed. It might make it worse. That is unless you take it apart and do it the right way) Until you can get a torx screwdriver tomorrow.
tmobile will replace it in the store. Its a flagship phone. they do warrenty and inx for flagship phones in the store.
LAKERHATER4 said:
Um, wrong section........
Please post in proper place!
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Show some mercy, Frieza. Or we'll send Goku after ya!
krolla03 said:
tmobile will replace it in the store. Its a flagship phone. they do warrenty and inx for flagship phones in the store.
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Not for a liquid damaged phone, lol!
Do you have a mental disorder that disallows you from posting in the correct forum section?
nbetcher said:
Today a new change to Copyright law was announced at: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ that protects users from being discriminated against for having "rooted" or "jailbroken" their phones. Furthermore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson-Moss_Warranty_Act details that "a manufacturer cannot void a warranty because of an aftermarket replacement part unless they can prove that the part caused the failure (e.g. those early unlocks that scrambled the baseband's IMEI info)." This can be treated as (because of how the Act was written): "[your carrier/manufacturer] cannot legally void the warranty for a mere jailbreak, but could void the warranty for an unlock that goes wrong and bricks the phone by damaging the baseband or boot loader."
Point being: tell them to **** off or you'll call the FCC or your lawyer.
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Click to collapse
Right off the site you linked:
"The Librarian of Congress has announced the classes of works subject to the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Persons making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) until the conclusion of the next rulemaking."
That has nothing to do with warranties on the phone, only with them restricting our ability to root and jailbreak, etc. The wireless carriers aren't saying we can't root our phones or anything like that. They ARE however saying that the warranty is void if you root it. That is not illegal, they can make any warranty terms they want. This is saying that it is LEGAL to root and jailbreak, etc... not that it's illegal to void your warranty because you rooted your phone.
Also, just like chrisinaz said, the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act only references using different PARTS, not different software. It has nothing to do with rooting/jailbreaking in any way.
Oh yeah, to the OP (WhoAreYou): Nobody cares if you think your 'emergency' is so damn important. POST IN THE RIGHT SECTION. Anyway, the MT3GS will cost you $130 to replace thru Asurion. Remember it's insurance, not a warranty, so this WILL be covered by Asurion either way. They really don't care, I can definitely assure you that! If you get something exchanged under warranty, then you gotta worry about unrooting...
r0man said:
Do you have a mental disorder that disallows you from posting in the correct forum section?
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LOL! Obviously, he thinks he'll get a quicker response by posting the busier sub forum section. And remember he's a VIP for creating his own rom by using Eugene's and adding a stock launcher to it and passing it off as a custom rom and creating another useless thread in the devleopment section. I shouldn't have even given him advice the more I think about it. We are all just adding more fuel to the fire...
This is a question for those in the know when it comes to programming.Why isn't there a way to revive a bricked phone? Can't there be some method for a host computer to manually write the radio to the device? How does HTC fix a bricked phone for it to be a refurb?
I'm just very curious about this because I see a few people attempt to update the radio only to lose power and brick their EVO. I have no programming experience so don't know what goes on at the internal component level. Thanks in advance for your input.
It goes back to the old bootstrapping problem when computers were being developed. A computer (in this case, your cell phone) is pretty dumb at the hardware level. All it can do is run programs. That's ALL it can do. It can't even load a program, only run them. Thus the problem. It gets solved by injecting a "bootstrap" program at startup (from the phrase "pull yourself up by your bootstraps") which is a program that runs and gives access to all the I/O, and the computer can then load more programs.
When you update this bootstrapping program, it gets dicey, because if it isn't written right, or if there's a glitch during the update, this most basic of all functions gets corrupted. If the program that tells the phone how to load programs goes away, all the phone can do is... sit there. Like a brick.
Hope this helped!
That helped me, thanks.
Soylent Grin said:
It goes back to the old bootstrapping problem when computers were being developed. A computer (in this case, your cell phone) is pretty dumb at the hardware level. All it can do is run programs. That's ALL it can do. It can't even load a program, only run them. Thus the problem. It gets solved by injecting a "bootstrap" program at startup (from the phrase "pull yourself up by your bootstraps") which is a program that runs and gives access to all the I/O, and the computer can then load more programs.
When you update this bootstrapping program, it gets dicey, because if it isn't written right, or if there's a glitch during the update, this most basic of all functions gets corrupted. If the program that tells the phone how to load programs goes away, all the phone can do is... sit there. Like a brick.
Hope this helped!
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Thanks for the info. That is interesting. So how does HTC initially put the bootstrap in and/or how do they handle a bricked phone?
Soylent Grin said:
It goes back to the old bootstrapping problem when computers were being developed. A computer (in this case, your cell phone) is pretty dumb at the hardware level. All it can do is run programs. That's ALL it can do. It can't even load a program, only run them. Thus the problem. It gets solved by injecting a "bootstrap" program at startup (from the phrase "pull yourself up by your bootstraps") which is a program that runs and gives access to all the I/O, and the computer can then load more programs.
When you update this bootstrapping program, it gets dicey, because if it isn't written right, or if there's a glitch during the update, this most basic of all functions gets corrupted. If the program that tells the phone how to load programs goes away, all the phone can do is... sit there. Like a brick.
Hope this helped!
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Thanks good explanation appreciate that.
rafroehlich2 said:
Thanks for the info. That is interesting. So how does HTC initially put the bootstrap in and/or how do they handle a bricked phone?
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There is probably a JTAG interface somewhere in there. In fact,that's how the original hack of the IPhone was done. (Better ways were since found) Most devices have a quasi standard interface for programming the flash and accessing and the hardware for diagnostics. For instance,linksys routers actually have a spot on the board to solder a header and you can make a cable that connects to the parralel port. Do a google search for "Hairy Dairy Maid Debrick" and you will find it. A similar thing is probobally possible with the Evo (Ive even seen them on Hard Drives and CD Rom drives) The problem is,its not entirely standardized,and it might not even be a connector or pads on the board. It might instead be a matter of knowing where you can connect the leads on the board to something that under the right circumstances BECOMES the JTAG connector. (For instance,a pin that controls something else might be a JTAG interface for the first few hundred milliseconds of start-up,or if a certain other pin of the chip is grounded when the power is applied. It might also be completely internal to the chip,and there be NO connectors on the board (it almost CERTAINLY has the capability,they need it during prototyping) and the chips might be programmed BEFORE they are soldered in. It might take replacing the rom chip to get it to go. There are lots of ifs
Chances are though,the factory has a special cable and a special software program that can reprogram the device. To replicate that might be relatively easy or could be next to impossible but requires a certain degree of knowledge about the hardware. What I suspect is,until someone who has the skills to make such a cable bricks their phone,they wont bother figuring out how to debrick one. In fact,when that person bricks their phone,they will probably take it back to sprint and say "I dont know what happens" In fact,even if its stuck looping in an obviously hacked boot loader he for some odd reason cant undo,hes probably going to send it back to sprint. I know someone who did exactly that to their brand new HP laptop. He found that 15kv from the flyback of an old B&W television applied to the memory slots took care of the looping and Best Buy gave him another one. As he put it "I dont know what happened,but it smells bad and wont boot up"
pflatlyne said:
There is probably a JTAG interface somewhere in there. In fact,that's how the original hack of the IPhone was done. (Better ways were since found) Most devices have a quasi standard interface for programming the flash and accessing and the hardware for diagnostics. For instance,linksys routers actually have a spot on the board to solder a header and you can make a cable that connects to the parralel port. Do a google search for "Hairy Dairy Maid Debrick" and you will find it. A similar thing is probobally possible with the Evo (Ive even seen them on Hard Drives and CD Rom drives) The problem is,its not entirely standardized,and it might not even be a connector or pads on the board. It might instead be a matter of knowing where you can connect the leads on the board to something that under the right circumstances BECOMES the JTAG connector. (For instance,a pin that controls something else might be a JTAG interface for the first few hundred milliseconds of start-up,or if a certain other pin of the chip is grounded when the power is applied. It might also be completely internal to the chip,and there be NO connectors on the board (it almost CERTAINLY has the capability,they need it during prototyping) and the chips might be programmed BEFORE they are soldered in. It might take replacing the rom chip to get it to go. There are lots of ifs
Chances are though,the factory has a special cable and a special software program that can reprogram the device. To replicate that might be relatively easy or could be next to impossible but requires a certain degree of knowledge about the hardware. What I suspect is,until someone who has the skills to make such a cable bricks their phone,they wont bother figuring out how to debrick one. In fact,when that person bricks their phone,they will probably take it back to sprint and say "I dont know what happens" In fact,even if its stuck looping in an obviously hacked boot loader he for some odd reason cant undo,hes probably going to send it back to sprint. I know someone who did exactly that to their brand new HP laptop. He found that 15kv from the flyback of an old B&W television applied to the memory slots took care of the looping and Best Buy gave him another one. As he put it "I dont know what happened,but it smells bad and wont boot up"
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Wow. Thanks for the detailed answer. Too bad this isn't a standardized item. I hope eventually things progress enough where this isn't even a thought. Thanks again for the good response.
Sent from my PC36100
rafroehlich2 said:
Wow. Thanks for the detailed answer. Too bad this isn't a standardized item. I hope eventually things progress enough where this isn't even a thought. Thanks again for the good response.
Sent from my PC36100
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Yea,it would be nice if it were. Its kinda sorta quasi standard,so it HAS been done in some cases where its necessary,but often there are easier ways around it. Personally, I have allways thought that its a pretty stupid thing to make a piece of equipment that can fail due to a bad flash. The people who designed many of the flash memory chips seemed to agree,and they added something called a "boot block" to many,but the way its implemented,when its implemented doesn't fully protect you from a bad flash. Its even worse now that everything is in ball grid array chips soldered down to the board.
okay, my charging port just broke, so i can't connect to usb, and i have 30 percent battery, and i want to take this to sprint tomorrow, but its rooted. i want to RUU, but i cant because i can't connect via USB. how do i get rid of my root?
You could probably get away without unrooting it, if you just bring it in with a dead battery and say the mizcro USB port is broken. Lots of people on here have said that they returned their Evos without the reps even looking at them.
dhMassacre said:
okay, my charging port just broke, so i can't connect to usb, and i have 30 percent battery, and i want to take this to sprint tomorrow, but its rooted. i want to RUU, but i cant because i can't connect via USB. how do i get rid of my root?
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might want to change the title of your thread so in the future it can be found easier when searching...
mistersquirrle said:
You could probably get away without unrooting it, if you just bring it in with a dead battery and say the mizcro USB port is broken. Lots of people on here have said that they returned their Evos without the reps even looking at them.
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good info..
Well, When I worked at a "A" store for sprint for the last couple of years (A meaning service and repair with extremely high traffic) a broken port is considered physical damage and shouldn't be replaced at the store level....without you paying a fee, so if you have insurance your probably going to just end up paying 100$ and having them send you one anyway.
per policy.....
now... I mentioned that we were an A store because some of the third party repair stores or smaller ones will overlook some physical damage...hit or miss.
But policy says your boned.
just a thought.
second thought.... if you want DONT mention that the port is broken, and brick your phone by trying to flash it or something and let the battery die at the same time haha.
and go in and be like, yo man, my phone wont turn on.
third thought.... alot of sprint employees dont care or dont know WTF rooting your phone is, make it look stock and they arent going to check to see if its rooted, they will only notice if something is crazy looking..and even then just say oh yeah its a mod from the market i forget what its called...
I worked for sprint for 3 years... trust me, we don't care, be nice and you'll probably just be fine. stay away from the managers, more likely to send you away.
My store up here they know whay flashing and rooting is... only because they do it also.. the guy who sold me the phone told me about the free teethering by rooting... but didnt tell me to not update..
sent from my Evo
I don't think they'll care. LOL. It's just rooting your choice + i think it's legal now ?
It is legal, but under the sprint protection and crap they say tampering and messing with the phone and what not, makes that all go away.
i expected something else... but you did get yourself in a pickle. my first instinct would be to fix it myself. sounds like you physically broke the connections to the usb plug? might just need a quick pass of a soldering iron. it's just that people are so quick to get rid of an electronic device when the fix can be so simple. -not saying thats your situation; it's only the thought in my head at the moment.
Rooting is legal with all insurance until u flash a software...anyway...broke USB port should b covered at store level...I've had my camera lens crack on previous phones and they got me a free replacement
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Sprint is ok with rooting/hacking/softmodding of their phones. At least the California branches are. They don't ebrace or encourage you to hack your phone, but if you walk in with one, they won't sent you packing even after they detected it. In the past, my HTC Touch's screen started going bad, so I brought it in to get it repaired. Right off the bat, the store manager knew it was softmodded; he actually questioned me about apps and compared his custom rom with mines. I thought it was weird, and feeling confident, I asked him isn't it against store policy to hack the phones? His exact words were: "No, we actaully support it. We, as well as every other users, knows, Sprint and manufacturers does not make quick enough updates; therefore, many users turn to developers for help. Sprint is begining to see that custom ROMs are benifiting more and more users. We want to be able to retain/gain customers instead of lose, even if that means a little sacrafice (in this case, phone hacking). As long as our customer are happy, we are happy." I was like "WOW, Sprint is cool with phone modding"!!! I had AT&T before and my sister currently has Verizon, and no way in hell were they this cool about phone softmodding. As far as rooting/installing custom rom goes, I just hope there's no mass mob of idioits who repeatedly bricks their phone and bring it in for warranty. It might be the only reason why Sprint would probably turn their heads away from accepting rooted/hacked phones.
kris54241 said:
Rooting is legal with all insurance until u flash a software...anyway...broke USB port should b covered at store level...I've had my camera lens crack on previous phones and they got me a free replacement
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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INCORRECT INCORRECT INCORRECT, Its people with your attitude that came into the store and gave me a nightmarish headache.
what in the world makes you think a physically damaged product is covered under a limited warranty? it is not.
you may have gotten lucky, or someone was stupid, or someone was really nice to you and replaced your phone because of the camera lens crack but dont continue the stupid cycle by saying "it should be taken care of" NO IT SHOULDN'T why cant people comprehend someone just did you a solid? dont expect it, appreciate it.
cause I will tell you right now its no ones policy anywhere to replace anything thats been damaged for free.
Physical damage always has and always will be directed to asurion unless someone feels like being nice to you, OR because the item is defective.
Broken camera lens and broken charging port DO NOT fall into that category.
6ixtynin9 said:
Sprint is ok with rooting/hacking/softmodding of their phones. At least the California branches are. They don't ebrace or encourage you to hack your phone, but if you walk in with one, they won't sent you packing even after they detected it. In the past, my HTC Touch's screen started going bad, so I brought it in to get it repaired. Right off the bat, the store manager knew it was softmodded; he actually questioned me about apps and compared his custom rom with mines. I thought it was weird, and feeling confident, I asked him isn't it against store policy to hack the phones? His exact words were: "No, we actaully support it. We, as well as every other users, knows, Sprint and manufacturers does not make quick enough updates; therefore, many users turn to developers for help. Sprint is begining to see that custom ROMs are benifiting more and more users. We want to be able to retain/gain customers instead of lose, even if that means a little sacrafice (in this case, phone hacking). As long as our customer are happy, we are happy." I was like "WOW, Sprint is cool with phone modding"!!! I had AT&T before and my sister currently has Verizon, and no way in hell were they this cool about phone softmodding. As far as rooting/installing custom rom goes, I just hope there's no mass mob of idioits who repeatedly bricks their phone and bring it in for warranty. It might be the only reason why Sprint would probably turn their heads away from accepting rooted/hacked phones.
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YMMV by location.
I'd like to share with you all my tale of rom flashing gone horribly wrong. It's really only important for 2 pieces of misinformation that I've seen kicking around the forums. First, the story.
I had already rooted my Telus Galaxy S3 (SGH-i747M), but was still running stock. I started looking around for compatible roms running JB, but didn't have much luck (finding ones that support the Canadian version is not easy). At the same time, I had to update and reset my old Galaxy S2 for a relative who was taking it off my hands. I found a JB rom that was available for both the S2 and S3, from the same dev. I decided to try both out, downloaded them and copied the respective files to the S2 and S3, but quickly realized that the S3 version didn't support my Canadian phone. No problem, I'll leave the S3 as rooted stock.
I proceeded to flash and install the rom on my S2. Everything seemed to be going fine until the first reboot after flashing. The phone appeared to be completely dead. I tried putting the phone into download mode but it was completely dead and would not even show signs that it was plugged into a power outlet. Then, horror. Both my S2 and S3 are in Otterbox Commuter cases. They look very similar. At 1 in the morning in a dimly lit room, they look identical.
Yes. Like an idiot, I had installed the incompatible S3 rom to my Canadian S3. I had, in fact, hard bricked my phone. I set aside my grief for 10 minutes and got the S2 done, as that was the original goal of this adventure. That worked fine. Of course.
For the next several hours and most of the following day, I searched and searched. I ended up on the posts talking about QHSUSB_DLOAD and how I'd screwed myself. No hope. Only option is either JTAG service or, and this brings me to misinformation #1, sending it back to Samsung. Why send a rooted and screwed phone back to Samsung? Well, the argument was that in all likeliness they wouldn't be able to tell and would probably just get it up and running anyway, perhaps with some nominal fee. Also, and here comes misinformation #2, there was a good chance that they would have to fix the problem in order to verify it.
Thankfully, in my only intelligent move in the last year, I had opted to choose the extra device protection offered by my carrier. Which meant, if it wasn't covered under warranty, I could get a brand new phone at a significantly reduced rate. But it did mean I had to send it in to Samsung first. And so, I walked into a carrier store and simply stated that it wouldn't power up. I neglected to mention the whole "I'm an idiot and accidentally installed an incompatible rom at 1AM". At the end of the day, they don't care anyway.
So I waited for almost 3 weeks before getting an update from my carrier. Samsung had looked at it and had a quote. I called the store to find out the cost. The phone needs a new mainboard. $350+ (I remember it being more than $350 but less than $400). Ah, no thank you. I politely declined and contacted the company providing the device protection. No problem, phone would be in my hands in 2-3 business days. I just need to send the damaged phone back when I get it from Samsung.
When the phone did get back from Samsung (within 24 hours, I might add), it came with a note to the carrier indicating that the phone had been rooted. The store manager actually made a good point too. If they were able to get it up and running to figure out it was rooted, why did it need a new mainboard? In all likeliness, they just wanted to teach me a $350+ lesson in voiding the warranty. So, what did I learn from this experience?
1) If you are rooting multiple phones, don't leave them all laying around in identical cases in a dimly lit room at 1AM.
2) Don't root phones in a dimly lit room at 1AM.
3) If you royally mess up your bootloader and it won't boot up, Samsung can still boot up that phone.
4) If that same phone is rooted, Samsung can not only tell, but ensure that the phone remains in it's screwed state for return.
5) They might just try and teach you a $350+ lesson; my guess is this ultimately depends on who looks at it (just like walking into an Apple store and walking out with a replacement, prior to Applecare+).
If anyone is curious why I didn't JTAG service the phone, it's simply because I can't afford to wait that long without a phone and the cost difference between JTAG and my device protection plan is not significant.
I think the are full of it.. I bet they did not even boot it up.
It would be possible for them to boot into download mode using a JTAG device, flash a working bootloader and at the very least load up a recovery environment terminal to check for root access. This is assuming of course they couldn't do this directly from their JTAG skipping having to fix the bootloader. Even so whats to stop them flashing a non working bootloader back to the device after they found what they are looking for. Not only would this not take very long, for the chance at turning 350 bucks work of profit vs a warranty fix im sure the techs are required to do this. This of course doesn't justify the obvious fact that a replacement motherboard is completely ridiculous. I'm of the opinion that it isn't right to cheat the manufacturers by getting warranty replacements on user created errors, however if they are attempting to gouge the end user instead of just charge them to fix the problem then i say all's fair. Lets face it, its not as if they don't take these warranty devices, especially the hard bricked ones, and simply fix the software, repackage and sell them again.
Exactly. I sent it in and fully expected some kind of charge, like labor, to get it working again. But not almost $400.
Yea, that is pretty lame. Its no different than a damaged led lens, which they charge the full LED assembly price of $175 instead of just fixing the problem. I just did this today on my phone for $20 and an hour or so of my time.
Wow that sucks. At least your other phone still works.
sent from my rooted galaxy 3.6
Noob question:
Did you use Triangle Away? If they can just boot up the device and find if you have root access, is the point of Triangle Away just aesthetics?
I think that is more or less an easy give away the uneducated rep at the sales counter can look for.
i must confess i've rooted my phone dozens of times, and i can say that over 80% of those were in the dark after midnight.
Yeah, me too. It only takes one mistake though ...
yes rooting is such another .apk on the phone and certainly does not void the hardware warranty... Obviouisly they should charge you for software issues which you did.. did you get the phone back and have someone else jtag and fix it?
No. I have to send it back in to the company I have device protection through. But I have a new S3 already. JTAG would probably work, but it would take too long and isn't much cheaper than getting the new one.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2
And yeah your full of it lmao. I had a galaxy s3 that just stopped working after being left in charger a night. Took it.to a rsi (Samsung official customer service and service center here in dallas Texas) and they said the motherboard was ruined. And it was stock non rooted. And it was covered under warranty and they had to create a new imei for the phone. So $350? Yeah right
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
Sorry, I'm full of it? Your phone is non rooted, so your point is completely moot. Your phone legitimately died. Mine was screwed because of my own fault of flashing the wrong rom. There was and is nothing wrong with the motherboard on this phone. They were just trying to teach me a $350 lesson in rooting/voiding my warranty. But thanks for your insightful comment.
JTAG
bionemesis said:
Sorry, I'm full of it? Your phone is non rooted, so your point is completely moot. Your phone legitimately died. Mine was screwed because of my own fault of flashing the wrong rom. There was and is nothing wrong with the motherboard on this phone. They were just trying to teach me a $350 lesson in rooting/voiding my warranty. But thanks for your insightful comment.
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happened to be last night,only option was to JTAG it so sent it to MTV Mobile Tech Videos,sucks ass....will se how long i am in Texas and sent it to Bryan Texas.Hopefully Get it back albeit in one piece by Wednesday Meanwhile i have no Phone.
This is not to offend anyone or cause a flamme war.
But I don't think people should be lying to Samsung or any carrier, that 1. Your phone isn't bricked/rooted and 2. That you have no idea of what's going on and it just wouldn't turn on.
You as a user should hold all responsibility for a bricked device. Should they charge you 400$? Damn right they should.
That's one of the many reasons why Samsung and many other carriers either ship their devices with locked bootloaders or don't release source code. And don't say the whole "I played 500$ for my phone I get to do what I want," yeah you're completely right. But let's say you're changing your cars oil and the person being the n00b that they are decides to mix synthetic oil and convention oil in the engine. Oh no you're screwed. You dont take your car to the dealership saying "I don't know what happened the engine just won't turn on," THEYRE GOING TO KNOW lol, and expect to get a free car or not get charged for your miss hap. C'mon. If you screw up at least be responsible to pay some kind of fee to get it fixed. I despise folks who "try to play the system" because of them phones will be locked down in the near future. Now its illegal to carrier unlock your device unless its paid for because of folks like that. I understand the OPs mistake. Yeah I've done it. But I paid to fix my mistake. Be responsible people. We're grown ups here. Same with flashing stuff. Do a little reading before you start a thread on how you "bricked your phone" but its really stuck in a boot loop.
Just my 2¢
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I couldn't read all of that I must have a terrible attention span these days.
But I did read that you were with telus, not at&t; but of course its morally wrong to lie to at&t but the way I see it is I pay them $2000+ over the course of my contract for this phone and if I want to take advantage of their warranty system to save $300-400 (a small fraction of what they're making off of 1 customer) and try my best to get a free replacement you can bet your ass I will.
Heisenberg420 said:
I couldn't read all of that I must have a terrible attention span these days.
But I did read that you were with telus, not at&t; but of course its morally wrong to lie to at&t but the way I see it is I pay them $2000+ over the course of my contract for this phone and if I want to take advantage of their warranty system to save $300-400 (a small fraction of what they're making off of 1 customer) and try my best to get a free replacement you can bet your ass I will.
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I see were you're getting at but you pay ATT for a service, not a phone. Those 300-400$ are for Samsung, which is different. They're kind of giving you a discount. Phone cost 700$ but they'll kindly replace it for 300$ they're being lenient about it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
bionemesis said:
If anyone is curious why I didn't JTAG service the phone, it's simply because I can't afford to wait that long without a phone and the cost difference between JTAG and my device protection plan is not significant.
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JTAG costs $50 and has a two day return.
Did you try a jig to force the phone into download mode.?