10+ years in cellphone software repair and unlocking - Introductions

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Welcome to XDA
So do you use ESD safeguards when working on phones? I ask this of all my phone techs

lol

thephonetechdoc said:
lol
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Who's joking? Not me. Stone cold serious.

its essential for a cellphone tech who does hardware repair however its not important for a cellphone tech who does software repair......

Related

Send bricked G1 to HTC or do it myself?

Hello everyone, a couple of days ago i bricked my G1 trying to flash the SPL [silly me...] and sadly the only option to fix this, is to replace the motherboard. Now i go two options:
buy a physically damaged g1 [for around...60$] from ebay?
or
Send my bricked phone to HTC for repair? since its still under warranty.
-If i send it to HTC im just going to say "i left my phone charging one night and the next day, it was just on the G1 screen"
**sorry for double post, i couldn't delete my other thread**
On the one hand, sending it in for warranty work for something that was clearly your fault is dishonest and illegal. On the other hand, HTC deserves it for not providing updated drivers.
I'm not advocating breaking the law, just venting my frustration in dealing with them....
if your for doing it yourself then sure, go ahead. I found that buying an new G1 was much easier for me xD(ebay)
lbcoder said:
On the one hand, sending it in for warranty work for something that was clearly your fault is dishonest and illegal. On the other hand, HTC deserves it for not providing updated drivers.
I'm not advocating breaking the law, just venting my frustration in dealing with them....
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Yeah I dealt with HTC before and believe me its not pretty, that's why i don't have much remorse for them, But that aside I know its my fault and i should pay full price for it, but its barely going to cost them anything to fix my issue.
-Im just worried if they actually going to look inside the phone's software.
warup89 said:
-Im just worried if they actually going to look inside the phone's software.
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Unlikely..
I previously bricked a G1, and was able to return it to T-mobile with no questions asked. (it was within the 14 days, and I had to ship it to customer care.)
I know it's against HTC's warranty, but it is NOT against t-mobile's warranty to root/ect. (At least from what I read from their ToS.) As long as the screen doesn't have any scratches, there is no visible damage, and the LDI is white, T-Mobile may actually process the warranty swap for you.
Though if your device if out of warranty, or not on T-Mobile you may be out of luck

Does all repairman knows how to JTAG?

hi all , i bricked my w8 and i send it to service the other day ...my phone got hardbricked and i cant find a solution ..so i asked my dad to send to to a repairman, at 1st the man said its a simple problem and can be fix in a day or two , so 2 days has passed and i asked my dad is my w8 fixed? my dad said the foreman has overlook and the problem is more severe ...so i got a little scare and i heard of this method called JTAG ..and i am just wondering does all repairman knows JTAG? i saw a vid and it looks dam hard. ..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujH_IpsskLg
so heres the details
model:w8
reason for brick:unlocking bootloader
phone age : 3weeks
As you can see in the video you linked in your post, or in the link I posted in the "bootloader unlock warning" thread, it requires ...
a) ... specialized hardware (RIFF Box + JTAG Interface or Qualcomm Resurrection Cable)
b) ... a solid knowledge about getting the hardware and related software to good use
In theory any trained service monkey should be able to do the trick, given the repair shop has the hardware to accomplish the job. A authorized SE service center has the required hardware, and trained technicians, for sure.
Anyhow ... to point the finger at the "unlock warning" thread ... now, once you get your phone back READ THE MANUFACTURING CODE of your phone CLOSELY and do NOT attempt to unlock the bootloader again if the phone is within the critical range.
oh..so most repairman knows how to repair a bricked phone yes ? =) ..but still if i am right it will not be covered by my warranty? and how much will it cost?
tohno said:
oh..so most repairman knows how to repair a bricked phone yes ? =) ..but still if i am right it will not be covered by my warranty? and how much will it cost?
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warranty = no because the warranty sealed has been broken
cost? ask the repairman LOL
cause i'm curious too about se center cost and repair man cost..
i think i might be able to trick the repairman saying that i was trying to update my software then this happened =) hehe
tohno said:
i think i might be able to trick the repairman saying that i was trying to update my software then this happened =) hehe
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is this a repairman or se center?
Why would you trick the repair man since it will not reduce the cost (i think)
erm..it's a retailer at a mall my dad bought the phone from...and if the retailer knows my phone is still under warranty wont the repair be free?
tohno said:
erm..it's a retailer at a mall my dad bought the phone from...and if the retailer knows my phone is still under warranty wont the repair be free?
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ah.. i thought it was random repair man..
and (if) you have to pay for the service please update here how much is the cost.
just in case someone hard brick their phone..
kk sure ..but i found this website
http://www.sony.com.my/subtype/servicecharges/asset/230762
it says that SE phones repairs will cosr about RM 40 ..
tohno said:
kk sure ..but i found this website
http://www.sony.com.my/subtype/servicecharges/asset/230762
it says that SE phones repairs will cosr about RM 40 ..
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Hey tohto, ur phone work again??
I wanna know?
Sent from my WT19i using xda premium

Cost to fix hard brick?

Out of curiosity, what needs to be done to fix hard brick, who to send it to if in US, and how much does it cost?
JUST IN CASE -_-
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
MoBo replacement costs about 300 Euros here, so I suppose it would be apprx. the same amount in dollars
for you guys. Everything's cheaper in America, you lucky b4st4rds.
Who to send it to? Can't help you with that, sorry.
Wow I'm damned glad that I bought insurance then. Thanks for your input sir, much appreciated.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
I dont think insurace would not cover bcoz it's void the moment you root your device.
wissowisso said:
I dont think insurace would not cover bcoz it's void the moment you root your device.
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But its valid the moment you unroot it....
Yeah but isn't it a bit hard to unroot a bricked device? Maybe you have got a crystal ball that let's you foresee upcoming hw bricks so you can act in time and unroot your device/ remove any custo rom
Sent from my rooted Galaxy Note using XDA Premium App
wissowisso said:
I dont think insurace would not cover bcoz it's void the moment you root your device.
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Insurance is insurance. Your making a claim. Not claiming on a warranty.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Well when you fry your mobo, especially the eMMC it can be hard to see if you even did anything to your phone
altae said:
Yeah but isn't it a bit hard to unroot a bricked device? Maybe you have got a crystal ball that let's you foresee upcoming hw bricks so you can act in time and unroot your device/ remove any custo rom
Sent from my rooted Galaxy Note using XDA Premium App
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But how do you think they would find you rooted your device when you hard brick it???And yeah as said in earlier posts,Its insurance.You are not claiming warranty....
vijai2011 said:
But how do you think they would find you rooted your device when you hard brick it???And yeah as said in earlier posts,Its insurance.You are not claiming warranty....
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Look there is one word insurances love when dealing with claims of customers. It's called negligence. If you damage your phone intentionally or grossly negligent it's likely that they refuse to pay or reduce their payment. And flashing custom/ altered software could be considered grossly negligent.
@ OP Haven't you got the general terms and conditions of your insurance policy?
whatsaqazza said:
Well when you fry your mobo, especially the eMMC it can be hard to see if you even did anything to your phone
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Insurances employ specialists whose job is to verify whether it's indeed a damage covered by the insurance or if you caused the damage intentionally, maybe to conceal the fact that you bricked your phone by flashing something not approved by the manufacturer.
I don't want to say it's not covered. How could I because I don't know the insurance and the general terms and conditions. I just want to say be careful. It's not guaranteed that the insurance will actually pay for a bricked device.
altae said:
Look there is one word insurances love when dealing with claims of customers. It's called negligence. If you damage your phone intentionally or grossly negligent it's likely that they refuse to pay or reduce their payment. And flashing custom/ altered software could be considered grossly negligent. Haven't you got the general terms and conditions of your insurance policy?
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I'm from India and I dont sign for insurance.....
vijai2011 said:
I'm from India and I dont sign for insurance.....
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You not but the op did. That's why he opened the thread

[Q] Warranty Replacement

Ok guys i wanted to update my phone with Jelly Bean and as I don't have fast internet I submitted the device to Samsung Care. When i went to collect my phone The guys at Samsung care said that there were technical problems while updating the device which caused it to brick. Now they want to replace motherboard. I want to know will this replacement be free as i am well in my warranty period and have neither rooted nor tampered with firmware?
It might be free as it is the fault of the samsung guys which caused the phone to brick. It would be wrong on their part that they brick your phone and ask for money to repair it.
jfreak27 said:
Ok guys i wanted to update my phone with Jelly Bean and as I don't have fast internet I submitted the device to Samsung Care. When i went to collect my phone The guys at Samsung care said that there were technical problems while updating the device which caused it to brick. Now they want to replace motherboard. I want to know will this replacement be free as i am well in my warranty period and have neither rooted nor tampered with firmware?
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Tell them some f* words and tell them to repair it asap wuithout paying a single.If would there then i would have asked for fare too .
In general service centre ****s us but this is the our time kick their ass.
Sent from my GT-I9070
Tell them about your consumer rights. Warn them that you will go to Consumer Court for this. Ask for a Galaxy S4 as replacement. They won't give it to you but might repair your phone fast. :good:
Tell them about your consumer rights. Warn them that you will go to Consumer Court for this. Ask for a Galaxy S4 as replacement. They won't give it to you but might repair your phone fast. :good:
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Lol could that be even possible?
Dude they must not even ask. Event if you are in your warranty period or not is their fault. Do what areeb47 said :v
Sent from my GT-I9070 using xda app-developers app

Unlock Warranty Consequences?

I'm dying to get root (event temp) so I can chroot debian but due to the apparent flimsiness of the dock am a little scared to loose warranty coverage.
What are the real consequences of unlocking on warranty? If the hinge or connector breaks (hardware issuss) does Asus just turn it away if unlocked?
I don't know how Asus handle this, but I know from Sony and HTC that there never was a problem when unlocked. Just if you grill your processor or hardbrick the phone MAYbe they refuse, but I never ever heard something like this.
If the dock breaks it more common that a seller states that it is your fault because of using too much force.... But they can't refuse warranty on hardware dock because of rooting the tablet...
A friend hardbricked his Samsung and the message from service center was that it fell on the floor I guess in most cases they can't tell if you brick if it's from rooting/flashing or not....
I talked to Asus polish support yesterday, about this. The guy said that when you unlock the bootloader, you loose WHOLE warranty.
He even said that if you bought yours with keyboard dock, you loose your warranty on that too.
huball said:
I talked to Asus polish support yesterday, about this. The guy said that when you unlock the bootloader, you loose WHOLE warranty.
He even said that if you bought yours with keyboard dock, you loose your warranty on that too.
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He can say that, but I don't believe that they would have any chance in court...
huball said:
I talked to Asus polish support yesterday, about this. The guy said that when you unlock the bootloader, you loose WHOLE warranty.
He even said that if you bought yours with keyboard dock, you loose your warranty on that too.
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Yup. Unlocking any asus tablets fully voids your warranty. But I don't know how they can deny warranty on the dock if you just send the dock.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
aznmode said:
Yup. Unlocking any asus tablets fully voids your warranty. But I don't know how they can deny warranty on the dock if you just send the dock.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
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Because that's what you agree to when you unlock...
The text you have to agree to before you use the unlock tool doesn't leave any doubt's: You kiss your warranty good bye - no matter what. There have been cases where TF700 users got a warranty repair even after unlocking. But I would not count on it. And you certainly cannot demand it.
Unless you live in the EU, it seems. Stronger consumer protection laws seem to give users a leg up, so research your country's laws.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4
Yezariael said:
He can say that, but I don't believe that they would have any chance in court...
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Huh? Got that kind of money do you? Know the law do you? Those guys are the 5th largest PC vendor in the world. Go for it I dare ya.
Anyway if you search on this you find some that tried to send it back and they WOULD NOT fix it. Wanted to charge them hundreds of dollors to fix. Yet I think I remember someone that got it fixed. Not worth it. Its ASUS
Zeblade said:
Huh? Got that kind of money do you? Know the law do you? Those guys are the 5th largest PC vendor in the world.
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Yeah, I know the (Swiss) laws, and if I need a good lawyer I have an insurance for this Anyway, consumer have a lot of rights, at least in Switzerland and EU, and a company cannot deny any warranty. If the defect is a consequence of unlocking they could, but not if the dock is not working properly... The problem is, most people would not go to court because of this 500 bucks...
In Europe (EU) they can't deny warranty by law. Doesn't matter what Asus tells on their website.
When for example the dock cnnector is broken and you are unlocked the manufacturer MUST PROOF that the malfunction was caused by unlocking the device and they can't.
Would they reject warranty then a letter of a lawyer does miracles.
Hi, here in Germany we have two warranties. One comes from the law and helps you six months, after this time you have to prove that the damage existed from the beginning which is practically nearly not possible. They can´t deny you this warranty as it´s a law.
The other warranty which comes from the manufacturer is something they can deny as it is voluntary.
So at least for me right now I don´t want to root even though I really want to root .
My question belonging to this is if there will be a chance to root without unlocking the bootloader? As I read that unlocking the bootloader on an Android device helps in first place to install a custom rom. So getting root with the stock kernel schouldn´t void any warranty...
SHadowral said:
My question belonging to this is if there will be a chance to root without unlocking the bootloader? As I read that unlocking the bootloader on an Android device helps in first place to install a custom rom. So getting root with the stock kernel schouldn´t void any warranty...
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There is. On other devices some developers made it possible, but usually it takes "some" time... can be tomorrow, can be in 1 year, can be never... Has nothing to do with stock kernel, when you can install a recovery you can change kernel, too. With official unlock tools like Asus or Sony are doing they get a database with all unlocked devices... What they do with this data is another question
Thanks, i´ll patiently wait for the day to come
asus reply
So as most will know, my TF701 is unlocked.
I do have trouble with the dock connector, I agree it's annoying.
So I contacted the ASUS support of doom, to find out more (I don't actually think of returning it, I just wondered).
As the The unlocker phones home, my warranty is bust.
Dear Mr. Dunwell,
thank you for your email request.
This unit is Out of Warranty due to Unlock device.
In the case of an under warranty repair is first created a cost estimate.
Here, a service fee in the amount of about 135 CHF.
This amount is also refusing to pay the cost estimate, and covers the cost of inspection and the shipping of the unrepaired unit.
It is not possible for us to name the price in advance without having to inspect the equipment, please be understanding of this.
1. Please fill in the relavant warranty application (3. Send in Service - Einsendung defekter Ware) form for your product, by clicking on the link:
https://eu-rma.asus.com/pick_eu/ch_d/eee.html
2. After approval of the submitted data you will receive the RMA number and shipping instructions from us by e-mail.
3. Please read our Terms & Conditions before filling in the RMA forms.
Please don't hesitate to contact us, if you have any questions.
We are committed to customer satisfaction.
You will receive in the next few days by e-mail a link to your satisfaction survey.
We would be very happy if you take the survey and evaluate our service.
Your answers will help us identify the areas where we could improve.
Sincerely,
Mehmet Adyakar
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Click to collapse
What do I learn of this?
Screw ASUS support
Wait for diy fix to appear
lpdunwell said:
So as most will know, my TF701 is unlocked.
I do have trouble with the dock connector, I agree it's annoying.
So I contacted the ASUS support of doom, to find out more (I don't actually think of returning it, I just wondered).
As the The unlocker phones home, my warranty is bust.
What do I learn of this?
Screw ASUS support
Wait for diy fix to appear
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Click to collapse
CHF - you're in Switzerland? Check your consumer protection laws. You guys in Europe are much better off than us here in the US. Netherlands and I believe Germany does not let Asus get away with voiding the warranty just because you unlock. So check the laws in your country...
berndblb said:
CHF - you're in Switzerland? Check your consumer protection laws. You guys in Europe are much better off than us here in the US. Netherlands and I believe Germany does not let Asus get away with voiding the warranty just because you unlock. So check the laws in your country...
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Yes, Switzerland. Thanks. I will! I replied to ASUS and asked about that.
Besides that, I always hate returning things. If there's a way to get it sorted with little hassle, that's my choice.
IMHO the only thing worse than warranty with broken electronics is broken guns. -.-
lpdunwell said:
Yes, Switzerland. Thanks. I will! I replied to ASUS and asked about that.
Besides that, I always hate returning things. If there's a way to get it sorted with little hassle, that's my choice.
IMHO the only thing worse than warranty with broken electronics is broken guns. -.-
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Indeed here in Holland they can't refuse the warranty because of unlocking. In fact ASUS must proof that the connector problem was caused by unlocking the device and they can't of course.
Sent from my superfast Asus Infinity TF701with Dock
lpdunwell said:
Yes, Switzerland. Thanks. I will! I replied to ASUS and asked about that.
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Do you have an insurance for things like that? (Rechtsschutzversicherung) They would do the work, as I don't believe that Asus will say "Oh yes, Swiss guy, no problem!"
I had a tf700 which I'd unlocked, rooted, etc..
The display developed a few solid rows of red pixels depending on pressure from the dock hinge. I sent the unit in under RMA and they replaced the screen and sent it back. It was returned still unlocked and loaded w/ the same OS load I sent it in with. No questions asked.
My expectation is that if the issue could be software related to something you've done, then you'll be in a pickle.. but if it's actually hardware, they'll honor things without problem (at least, that was my experience).
LK
linuxkidd said:
I had a tf700 which I'd unlocked, rooted, etc..
The display developed a few solid rows of red pixels depending on pressure from the dock hinge. I sent the unit in under RMA and they replaced the screen and sent it back. It was returned still unlocked and loaded w/ the same OS load I sent it in with. No questions asked.
My expectation is that if the issue could be software related to something you've done, then you'll be in a pickle.. but if it's actually hardware, they'll honor things without problem (at least, that was my experience).
LK
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That is nice and all but your speaking for Asus and you can't. We always find that one person on that one day that didn't do their job. You got lucky. I am sure more posts like this will help Asus really slack off more.
I just read last week someone sold their Tf700 unlocked on ebay. The buyer new all this bought it anyway. The screen cut out a month later Asus would NOT touch it unless the guy gave up about $150. The unlock had nothing todo with the screen what so ever.
So NEVER listen to posts like this. You void the warranty and you want them to look the other way. Granted I don't know one time a unlock was the cause of a broken tablet lol but Man if you ever learned anything then remember when you took that tag of your mattress and look what happen.. what happen? Yeah
Zeblade said:
That is nice and all but your speaking for Asus and you can't....
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linuxkidd said:
...My expectation is that ...
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Nope.. not speaking for Asus.. Giving my expectation, not policy of Asus (as caveated with "My expectation is that...")
Zeblade said:
...I just read last week someone sold their Tf700 unlocked on ebay. The buyer new all this bought it anyway. The screen cut out a month later Asus would NOT touch it unless the guy gave up about $150. The unlock had nothing todo with the screen what so ever....
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Click to collapse
I believe you found the reason it wasn't honored right here... Warranty almost never transfers across owners. They (in general, not speaking specifically for Asus) usually state that they are only good for the original owner of the device.
It is true that either
A) I found the one person (or persons... ) slacking in their job and they replaced a hardware component which was clearly defective and had nothing to do with the device being unlocked.
or
B) The few other people who've had issues found the one or two people who were being dicks.
Either way, the story you provide doesn't even apply due to the tablet not being with the original owner.
LK

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