Develop Bugs

HTC warranty not being honoured.

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunatly due to the phone not powering on, or connecting via usb it would have been impossible to restore the firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
andypa1 said:
I don't have phone insurance but it might be worth while getting it soon incase of any future loss ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

[Q] Good/reliable/affordable hardware repair Melbourne, Australia

Hi guys,
Some of you may have seen my other thread. Basically, I can't boot my phone into recovery due to a broken volume down button and so I'm looking to get that button repaired. Can anyone advise of either a good Desire HD repairer in Melbourne, or elsewhere in Aus that I can mail too? It's an industry with a lot of sharks and dodgies, so I was hoping someone on here might have dealt with a good crowd and could pass on a recommendation. I'll certainly post my feedback after dealing with them for everyone else too.
Thanks in advance.

Ethicistabdiel said:
Hi guys,
Some of you may have seen my other thread. Basically, I can't boot my phone into recovery due to a broken volume down button and so I'm looking to get that button repaired. Can anyone advise of either a good Desire HD repairer in Melbourne, or elsewhere in Aus that I can mail too? It's an industry with a lot of sharks and dodgies, so I was hoping someone on here might have dealt with a good crowd and could pass on a recommendation. I'll certainly post my feedback after dealing with them for everyone else too.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A broken volume button can be annoying but there are many other ways to get in to recovery if that's the only reason for getting it repaired.
You could download 4ext recovery control app. There's an option to boot in to recovery from inside the app, and you can even use the new touch recovery so there's no need to use the hardware buttons.
Or if you're comfortable with adb commands, "adb reboot recovery" works.
As for phone repairs, I used Phone Doctor and they were really good. But i'm in Sydney. Not sure if they have a store in Melbourne.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1445357
There's the original thread discussing it.
Believe me, sadly it seems the only option I'm left with. It appears USB debugging was turned off, I can't get the phone to do much via USB cable. I've tried ADB reboot recovery - no dice, it doesn't see the device. Probably should have been clearer in my original post that it's not just about not being able to boot into recovery, that in of itself wouldn't bother me, if my phone wasn't in a boot loop . Therefore I'm guessing it might be too late for the stuff you advise.
I'll have a look at the things you mentioned but yeah, nothing else has worked so I think it may have to go down the hardware repair road. If you can advise anything you think might work in the phones current state though, I'm all ears and I would be as grateful as all get out.
Cheers for the Phone Doctor tip. What are their prices like? Cheaper is obviously better, though I don't mind paying a bit extra to avoid dodgies. Some of the reviews I've seen for mobile repair places on google are frankly scary! Don't suppose you mean these guys? http://www.fonedoc.com.au/repairs.php Similar name.

Just posting two of the quotes I've received in case they're of use or interest to someone down the track.
Fone Doc;
Dear xxx xxx
Re:htc desire hd
Repair ID:899
Our technicians should be able to complete this.
The quotation to complete this job would be $130
*Fone Doc will arrange a free courier pick up for you handset Australia Wide if the quote above is over $60.00. Then we will e-mail you a Con Note which you can print send with the phone. (If you would like this free service please phone us)
Or feel free to drop into our repair centre.
*Jobs sent in or picked up by our courier generally are completed within 24 hours (Once Received)
*Jobs brought into our walk in repair centre Monday to Friday can usually be done within 40mins.
*Fone Doc does not charge any quotation fees. And does not charge a service fee if your phone is un-repairable.
* If the job is going to cost more than the quote above, we will always notify you before hand and you can accept or decline the quote without cost!
* All jobs come with Fone Docs 90 day warranty
*Fone Doc only uses Original manufacturers parts unlike most competitors
Please click the following link to send in your phone if the quote is below $60.00 http://www.fonedoc.com.au/send.php
If your quote is above $60.00 we will arrange a free courier pick up for you!
Please call us on (02) 9548 0088 then print out the job sheet to send with the phone here http://www.fonedoc.com.au/send.php
(Note down your REPAIR ID above for further reference, and send it with the phone)
Kind
Regards,
Repairs Team
Aonemobiles;
Hi Joshua,
Unfortunately we have to send this repair to our Melbourne technician.
Cost to do so is $80 and a 1-2 week process.
Hope this information helps
Kind Regards,
Sarah

hey mate you might have already taken your phone somewhere, sorry about the lack of reply. the place i went to was actually drphone.com.au, they fixed it on the spot but when they put it back together it didn't exactly look seamless. what can you expect though right?
i don't know about the places you posted quotes from, but i would recommend going in to the store to get it done, don't send it anywhere cos you never know when you'll get it back.
also i had a quick read through your other thread, it seems like you've tried everything you could have, and a hardware repair is what you need to do.
On the off chance that your adb setup was the problem and not your phone, try this zip I've attached. It comes from leith51's radio flash guide, but i use it as a quick start for all adb commands. (credit to jkoljo as well)
Unpack the zip anywhere on your pc, doesn't matter. Go in to the folder and click "Start here", it will open a command prompt. With your phone plugged in, type "adb devices" - it should give you a printout of the phone's serial number. If not, the phone isn't recognised and you're back to getting it repaired. But if it did work, the next step is "adb reboot recovery", then full wipe, install a new rom.
Good luck!
edit: removed zip, find it here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10259622&postcount=1

Thanks heaps dude, appreciate the time taken to reply and REALLY appreciate you taking the time to read the other thread to see if you could help. Hoping I can learn enough stuff to be helpful to others down the line rather than just leeching, this seems a pretty good community here.
Not sent her away yet no, I'll give that file a go and let you know if it does the trick.
I think I may go with the Fone Doc guys, they seem pretty legit compared to a lot of others I've seen, gonna do a bit more research first though. Sadly I can only find two reviews for them and they're fairly contradictory of one another, lol; http://www.truelocal.com.au/business/fone-doc/caringbah

Tried your version of ADB - unfortunately with the phone either on and stuck in the ICS bootloop or off, adb is still not picking up on a device. Cheers much for the attempt though, it really is appreciated, looks like I'm not fixing this without forking out cash though. Considering I paid $100 for the phone but, I can't complain too much .

Ethicistabdiel said:
Thanks heaps dude, appreciate the time taken to reply and REALLY appreciate you taking the time to read the other thread to see if you could help. Hoping I can learn enough stuff to be helpful to others down the line rather than just leeching, this seems a pretty good community here.
Not sent her away yet no, I'll give that file a go and let you know if it does the trick.
I think I may go with the Fone Doc guys, they seem pretty legit compared to a lot of others I've seen, gonna do a bit more research first though. Sadly I can only find two reviews for them and they're fairly contradictory of one another, lol; http://www.truelocal.com.au/business/fone-doc/caringbah
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries, I leeched a lot at first too but this forum is great, I've learnt so much in a short space of time so now i'm trying to return the favour, so i'm happy to help out.
Sucks that it really is a hardware issue now. But mate, if you only paid $100 for the phone just go for it! the repairs could be $200 and you'd still be coming out ahead!
I'd be interested to know how it goes. Hopefully a new volume rocker fixes it for you

Galaxy S9 can definitely be BRICKED

Hi all,
I am not sure if this is better in a different Thread, so admin please move if so..
BE CAREFULL !!!! If you plan to root you S9, do NEVER do the following:
Switch on your S9 for the very first time and once you are forced to set-up a new google account, REMEMBER the data you enter !!!!!!!
Even if you (like me) do not want a google account, do not enter anything stupid, a password that you dont remember...
BECAUSE, if you now do a factory-reset from the bootloder, the phone will be lost forever!!!!!
You will have to send your phone to a SAMSUNG Service-center for unlock...
Thanks to Google and Samsung, this "feature" is very close to be illegal...

That sounds like FRP lock. If you know what you're doing (and you didn't steal the phone) there are ways around it.

joe535 said:
Hi all,
I am not sure if this is better in a different Thread, so admin please move if so..
BE CAREFULL !!!! If you plan to root you S9, do NEVER do the following:
Switch on your S9 for the very first time and once you are forced to set-up a new google account, REMEMBER the data you enter !!!!!!!
Even if you (like me) do not want a google account, do not enter anything stupid, a password that you dont remember...
BECAUSE, if you now do a factory-reset from the bootloder, the phone will be lost forever!!!!!
You will have to send your phone to a SAMSUNG Service-center for unlock...
Thanks to Google and Samsung, this "feature" is very close to be illegal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has been the case for a long time, and the same with iPhones, don't forget your login, make sure you have a recovery for your email password and don't steal phones
Not sure why it should be illegal to protect people's personal info

joe535 said:
Thanks to Google and Samsung, this "feature" is very close to be illegal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's actually illegal is people "forgetting" their password for "their" (newly acquired) phone.
So yeah. Let's totally make it easier to bypass you forgetting your password. While we're at it, let's just get rid of all security measures because they can be inconvenient at times.

FRP is a Documented Feature
The online Samsung S9 documentation does document the Factory Data Reset process. While this is surprising if it happens to you the feature is designed to help make stolen phone less valuable. At least in theory.
Note: When you sign in to a Google Account on your device, Factory Reset Protection is activated. This protects your device in the event it is lost or stolen. If you reset your device to factory default settings with the Factory Reset Protection (FRP) feature activated, you must enter the user name and password for a registered Google Account to regain access to the
device. You will not be able to access the device without the correct credentials.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

joe535 said:
Hi all,
I am not sure if this is better in a different Thread, so admin please move if so..
BE CAREFULL !!!! If you plan to root you S9, do NEVER do the following:
Switch on your S9 for the very first time and once you are forced to set-up a new google account, REMEMBER the data you enter !!!!!!!
Even if you (like me) do not want a google account, do not enter anything stupid, a password that you dont remember...
BECAUSE, if you now do a factory-reset from the bootloder, the phone will be lost forever!!!!!
You will have to send your phone to a SAMSUNG Service-center for unlock...
Thanks to Google and Samsung, this "feature" is very close to be illegal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that's why they call them smart phones, you need to be smart to use them.

Well, I do have the invoice from MY NOT STOLEN Phone.......
And an "anti-theft-feature" basically does not protect the phone from being stolen. It is simply not usable, but nevertheless the victim has a certain damage...
So, how can this kind of feature by advanced? VERY easy: In case of theft, the owner of a phone may log into his accoount from any other Computer and he ACTIVELY (!!!) has to quote his phone was stolen. NOW it can be locked.
I will send my phone to Samsung this week. I will expect thay RESET it for free...
Or maybe contact google... I remember the password but not the account... So maybe they can tell me the account-name if I gave the IMEA number...

oildale said:
What's actually illegal is people "forgetting" their password for "their" (newly acquired) phone.
So yeah. Let's totally make it easier to bypass you forgetting your password. While we're at it, let's just get rid of all security measures because they can be inconvenient at times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Especially since I do have the invoice, a proof that I BOUGHT the phone !!!!

oildale said:
What's actually illegal is people "forgetting" their password for "their" (newly acquired) phone.
So yeah. Let's totally make it easier to bypass you forgetting your password. While we're at it, let's just get rid of all security measures because they can be inconvenient at times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tomiga said:
That sounds like FRP lock. If you know what you're doing (and you didn't steal the phone) there are ways around it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already tried a lot of workarounds, so far with no success. Off course it is not stolen, I will make an image of the invoice later today if everybody mistrust me...
I will try that google give me the account-name I have created, because I do remember the password. I assume, that the account is tied to the IMEI of the phone...
If this does not help me out, I will se how far I will get using ADB. Luckily I activated USB debugging before I did the big mistake.
As last Option I will have to send the phone to a Samsung Service center...
Lets see...

joe535 said:
Well, I do have the invoice from MY NOT STOLEN Phone.......
And an "anti-theft-feature" basically does not protect the phone from being stolen. It is simply not usable, but nevertheless the victim has a certain damage...
So, how can this kind of feature by advanced? VERY easy: In case of theft, the owner of a phone may log into his accoount from any other Computer and he ACTIVELY (!!!) has to quote his phone was stolen. NOW it can be locked.
I will send my phone to Samsung this week. I will expect thay RESET it for free...
Or maybe contact google... I remember the password but not the account... So maybe they can tell me the account-name if I gave the IMEA number...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So OK let's reverse this scenario, you buy an S9, you secure it with your Google account, someone steals your phone, they use whatever method you are wishing for to unlock the device, and now they have access to all of your info, data, media, and also a brand new S9 for themselves
You are happy about this, right?
Or even if we say they reset the device, so your info is safe, they now have a brand new S9 for themselves. you are also happy about this too right?
Or how about the scenario when people already know it is useless resetting the phone because there is no way to unlock it without the original Google account login (Same as iPhone), now they don't bother stealing your phone because it would be useless to them, so now you get to keep your expensive S9 because they didn't want to steal it
Which scenario makes you happiest?
If you forget absolutely everything about the account you used for your phone, for some reason you do not have any record of it from other reset email accounts you should have added, then you have no-one to shout at other than yourself, you messed up, not Samsung or Google, YOU

*Detection* said:
So OK let's reverse this scenario, you buy an S9, you secure it with your Google account, someone steals your phone, they use whatever method you are wishing for to unlock the device, and now they have access to all of your info, data, media, and also a brand new S9 for themselves
You are happy about this, right?
Or even if we say they reset the device, so your info is safe, they now have a brand new S9 for themselves. you are also happy about this too right?
Or how about the scenario when people already know it is useless resetting the phone because there is no way to unlock it without the original Google account login (Same as iPhone), now they don't bother stealing your phone because it would be useless to them, so now you get to keep your expensive S9 because they didn't want to steal it
Which scenario makes you happiest?
If you forget absolutely everything about the account you used for your phone, for some reason you do not have any record of it from other reset email accounts you should have added, then you have no-one to shout at other than yourself, you messed up, not Samsung or Google, YOU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not fully agree!
If my phone is stolen, I will ACTIVATE the anti-theft-protection after it has been stolen.
Normally someone would recognize very fast that it has been stolen. It does not matter whether the stolen phone is deactivated right now or some hours later. It will be unusable from this moment, the owner deactivates...
No one is happy about a stolen phone, but stolen is stolen, regardless if the thief can use it or not. The damage I have anyway...
Imagine you buy a Windows-PC. But you prefer Linux, format the HDD and try to install linux. But some geniusses decided that your PC will no longer be usable... Really a good idea??

It should go without saying that having an invoice showing the purchase of a phone, if purchased from other than the manufacturer or cellular provider, does not eliminate the possibility that the phone was reported stolen by a previous purchaser/owner. I would much rather have my phone automatically rendered inoperable by anyone not having my password and/or Google account information than give them the opportunity to acccess it during the lag time spanning the period that: 1) I realized my phone is lost; 2) I successfully reported the loss to the carrier or manufacturer having the ability to hard lock the device; and 3) the carrier/manufacturer actually locks the device.

elbee222 said:
It should go without saying that having an invoice showing the purchase of a phone, if purchased from other than the manufacturer or cellular provider, does not eliminate the possibility that the phone was reported stolen by a previous purchaser/owner. I would much rather have my phone automatically rendered inoperable by anyone not having my password and/or Google account information than give them the opportunity to acccess it during the lag time spanning the period that: 1) I realized my phone is lost; 2) I successfully reported the loss to the carrier or manufacturer having the ability to hard lock the device; and 3) the carrier/manufacturer actually locks the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well yes and no To me, the probability to "loose" my phone in a way I accitentially did is much higher than it might be stolen...
So do you mean, even I can proove the purchase, I do not have the right that Samsung unlocks it??? See, if it is stolen, I cannot use it. If I do 2 SOFTWARE based steps, I cannot use it. It is lost in both cases, so non of them is good...

If you can prove the purchase, and -- if you are not the original purchaser - no prior owner has reported the phone lost or stolen and there is no related bad IMEI issue -- then I would agree that you should have the right to have the phone unlocked/reactivated by Samsung or the carrier. I suspect Samsung or the carrier will check to make sure that a lost/stolen phone report is not received in the interim.

joe535 said:
I do not fully agree!
If my phone is stolen, I will ACTIVATE the anti-theft-protection after it has been stolen.
Normally someone would recognize very fast that it has been stolen. It does not matter whether the stolen phone is deactivated right now or some hours later. It will be unusable from this moment, the owner deactivates...
No one is happy about a stolen phone, but stolen is stolen, regardless if the thief can use it or not. The damage I have anyway...
Imagine you buy a Windows-PC. But you prefer Linux, format the HDD and try to install linux. But some geniusses decided that your PC will no longer be usable... Really a good idea??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your argument is weak, it is a LOT more difficult to lose a PC than a phone, it is a LOT more difficult to steal a PC than a phone
Thousands (maybe millions) of phones are lost and stolen every day around the world, PCs not so much...
Why would you buy a Windows PC if you wanted Linux? Wouldn't you just build a PC and install Linux from day 1?
At the end of the day, for whatever reasons you are p*ssed because you are locked out of your phone, the reason you are locked out is your own fault, you are looking to blame someone when all you need to do is look in the mirror
Maybe Samsung will unlock it if you can prove proof of ownership, maybe... but by the sounds of it, you didn't buy it new, which leads us right back to the possibility of it being stolen, which is likely the same conclusion Samsung will come to

*Detection* said:
Your argument is weak, it is a LOT more difficult to lose a PC than a phone, it is a LOT more difficult to steal a PC than a phone
Thousands (maybe millions) of phones are lost and stolen every day around the world, PCs not so much...
Why would you buy a Windows PC if you wanted Linux? Wouldn't you just build a PC and install Linux from day 1?
At the end of the day, for whatever reasons you are p*ssed because you are locked out of your phone, the reason you are locked out is your own fault, you are looking to blame someone when all you need to do is look in the mirror
Maybe Samsung will unlock it if you can prove proof of ownership, maybe... but by the sounds of it, you didn't buy it new, which leads us right back to the possibility of it being stolen, which is likely the same conclusion Samsung will come to
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just talked to Samsung support. Will cost me about 35€ to get the security chip changed.
Ok, could have been worse...

joe535 said:
Just talked to Samsung support. Will cost me about 35€ to get the security chip changed.
Ok, could have been worse...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let us know what happens

joe535 said:
Especially since I do have the invoice, a proof that I BOUGHT the phone !!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not saying that you stole the phone but because you don't take making your account seriously the rest of us have to have security that is easily bypassed for our phones? I don't think so.
You screwed up and now you're paying the price. Hopefully you can get things sorted out and get access to your phone. In the very least though, you'll never do something so stupid again right?

*Detection* said:
So OK let's reverse this scenario, you buy an S9, you secure it with your Google account, someone steals your phone, they use whatever method you are wishing for to unlock the device, and now they have access to all of your info, data, media, and also a brand new S9 for themselves
You are happy about this, right?
Or even if we say they reset the device, so your info is safe, they now have a brand new S9 for themselves. you are also happy about this too right?
Or how about the scenario when people already know it is useless resetting the phone because there is no way to unlock it without the original Google account login (Same as iPhone), now they don't bother stealing your phone because it would be useless to them, so now you get to keep your expensive S9 because they didn't want to steal it
Which scenario makes you happiest?
If you forget absolutely everything about the account you used for your phone, for some reason you do not have any record of it from other reset email accounts you should have added, then you have no-one to shout at other than yourself, you messed up, not Samsung or Google, YOU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's it.

oildale said:
I'm not saying that you stole the phone but because you don't take making your account seriously the rest of us have to have security that is easily bypassed for our phones? I don't think so.
You screwed up and now you're paying the price. Hopefully you can get things sorted out and get access to your phone. In the very least though, you'll never do something so stupid again right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. At least, we know by now, that there is a physical security-chip inside the phones
I am just wondering, why this forum does exist.. I assume a lot of us like custom ROMs , rooting etc. because we like to get rid of google and other bloatware. At least this it what I personally like to... But if a google "feature" locks someone from his own phone, he suddenly is a criminal ?!?!?!
OK. @admin - better close this thread as it does not really helps us.

Note 10+ stuck at watchdog reset

Hi all. I am baffled as to what happened to my phone. It has no mods and is running stock android 11. It was absolutely fine, not having any issues at all, and I realized I hadn't rebooted it in a few weeks. So, I did a plain old restart.
And it died.
It won't do anything no matter how long I hold the power button down. The battery is fully charged.
Tried to get to the recovery screen by holding down volume up and power, which did nothing. Then I tried vol down and power and got a screen I've not seen before: SS RDX Watchdog Reset.
And here I am stuck. I plugged in a usb cable to my laptop and now there's a device connected on my laptop called msm_upload which I can only see from the windows Bluetooth and other devices panel.
I have no idea what to do from here and I'm desperate.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

did you see this
https://www.reddit.com/r/galaxynote10/comments/k6c4l5

raul6 said:
did you see this
https://www.reddit.com/r/galaxynote10/comments/k6c4l5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I saw that. If you read the thread, the solution was to "play around with the buttons and it will eventually work." LOL.

mellie815 said:
Yes I saw that. If you read the thread, the solution was to "play around with the buttons and it will eventually work." LOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes. i thought if it is software issue than it might be timing issues with pressing correct keys combo. possibly wishful thinking. i assume you've seen one other thread on xda with similar issue with no direct resolution. Still try smart switch

raul6 said:
yes. i thought if it is software issue than it might be timing issues with pressing correct keys combo. possibly wishful thinking. i assume you've seen one other thread on xda with similar issue with no direct resolution. Still try smart switch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never used smart switch before. If my pc doesn't see the phone, how would that work? My phone doesn't show up in my laptop except as a Bluetooth device called msm_upload that I can't figure out how to interact with? I guess I'll need to install smart switch on the laptop and hopefully it will see the device?

mellie815 said:
I've never used smart switch before. If my pc doesn't see the phone, how would that work? My phone doesn't show up in my laptop except as a Bluetooth device called msm_upload that I can't figure out how to interact with? I guess I'll need to install smart switch on the laptop and hopefully it will see the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true and who knows it might work. essentially trying anything to see if it will somehow make a difference. fingers crossed

Watchdog
Very strange.
Sort of sounds like it's bricked.
Play with new firmware/software, win new prizes. I could go on...
You need to navigate to the boot menu somehow. Keep playing with the buttons; sequence and ***timing*** is everything.
If you can drain the battery until it auto shutdown that might get it... much latter.
Disconnect the battery and force a hard reboot.
Otherwise it's repair shop time.

blackhawk said:
Watchdog
Very strange.
Sort of sounds like it's bricked.
Play with new firmware/software, win new prizes. I could go on...
You need to navigate to the boot menu somehow. Keep playing with the buttons; sequence and ***timing*** is everything.
If you can drain the battery until it auto shutdown that might get it... much latter.
Disconnect the battery and force a hard reboot.
Otherwise it's repair shop time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went to a repair shop out of desperation. Had to drive over an hour to get to it as I live in the country, and he basically said it's dead. The fun part is, I called my warranty co and of course, they aren't honoring the warranty because "they don't insure phones that cost over $999" which mine did when I got it. But of course, there was nothing that said they didn't cover my phone, which is why I bought their lease/warranty plan.
So, basically, I have a brick that I owe $591 on yet, and they couldn't care less. At this point, I am willing to try anything at all because I have no other options. I already filed a BBB report against them after spending over an hour on the phone with them to no avail.
Any ideas at all would be very helpful at this point.

Also, I CAN still get to that SS RDX Watchdog Reset screen and it will scan an SD card (because I tried it). The problem is, I cannot for my life find a stock Note 10+ ROM anywhere that I can actually download. Wondering if I should just try to throw a custom ROM on it instead? It's obviously not going anywhere otherwise.

mellie815 said:
Also, I CAN still get to that SS RDX Watchdog Reset screen and it will scan an SD card (because I tried it). The problem is, I cannot for my life find a stock Note 10+ ROM anywhere that I can actually download. Wondering if I should just try to throw a custom ROM on it instead? It's obviously not going anywhere otherwise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a stock rom for it, obviously.
If you can degrade to 10, do so.
The boot loader version will dictate if you can or can't.
I'm not experienced enough to advise you on this but that's what might be needed.
Again play with the button sequence/timing and try to get into the boot menu.
Just a slight difference in timing or the wrong sequence and it won't go to the boot menu.
It's not likely but possible the buttons were remapped.
Try taking out the Sim and SD card.
My guess is you can get it to go to the boot menu but until today I never heard of this happening.
A apk timed out because of not rebooting for so long? Don't do that again... at least reboot every couple days.
Malware is another possibility.
Last resort talk/send to Samsung.
Play with it... Androids wuv attention.

I'm having a RIDICULOUS time trying to find a clean copy of stock ROM for my Note. Every single one I've found either ends in a dead link or I download it and it ends up being corrupt. This is no small feat as I live in the middle of nowhere and the only ISP is Hughesnet, which is neither fast, nor unlimited. It literally took me 4 hours to download a 5gb alleged stock ROM only to have it be corrupt.
Isn't there anywhere to get a clean copy of stock??? I see a lot of mods here in XDA, but as far as regular stock SM-N975UI, either I'm totally missing something or there isn't one here.
Can someone please help me find one that is clean? SamMobile's download is limited to 15kbps for non paying members and their copy has been downloading literally since yesterday and is only at 900mb. Living in the country has its perks, but high speed internet isn't one of them. Nothing worse than checking on a download that was running all night to see it say it still has 2 days to go.

mellie815 said:
I'm having a RIDICULOUS time trying to find a clean copy of stock ROM for my Note. Every single one I've found either ends in a dead link or I download it and it ends up being corrupt. This is no small feat as I live in the middle of nowhere and the only ISP is Hughesnet, which is neither fast, nor unlimited. It literally took me 4 hours to download a 5gb alleged stock ROM only to have it be corrupt.
Isn't there anywhere to get a clean copy of stock??? I see a lot of mods here in XDA, but as far as regular stock SM-N975UI, either I'm totally missing something or there isn't one here.
Can someone please help me find one that is clean? SamMobile's download is limited to 15kbps for non paying members and their copy has been downloading literally since yesterday and is only at 900mb. Living in the country has its perks, but high speed internet isn't one of them. Nothing worse than checking on a download that was running all night to see it say it still has 2 days to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll need a much faster connection; that slow, that much data, the download has a great chance of being corrupted.
Maybe have a 3rd party download it and send it to you by mail etc. Samsung could... if you could harang them into doing so.

blackhawk said:
You'll need a much faster connection; that slow, that much data, the download has a great chance of being corrupted.
Maybe have a 3rd party download it and send it to you by mail etc. Samsung could... if you could harang them into doing so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to the authorized service center I visited yesterday, they don't even have access from Samsung. They are directed to send the phone directly to Samsung, which just floors me. I asked the tech if he could at least flash stock and see if we could get it to load, since I definitely can get to the SD card from Watchdog and it will read it. His reply was nope. I called 2 other repair shops since I was in the city already and got the same story.
Back in the day, rooting Android 4 was easier than this! Do you know of any reputable sites for stock roms? SamMobile is definitely out. And many I've gone to will list my stock, but when you follow the links, the file is no longer available. This feels like a bad X files episode at this point. LOL.

mellie815 said:
According to the authorized service center I visited yesterday, they don't even have access from Samsung. They are directed to send the phone directly to Samsung, which just floors me. I asked the tech if he could at least flash stock and see if we could get it to load, since I definitely can get to the SD card from Watchdog and it will read it. His reply was nope. I called 2 other repair shops since I was in the city already and got the same story.
Back in the day, rooting Android 4 was easier than this! Do you know of any reputable sites for stock roms? SamMobile is definitely out. And many I've gone to will list my stock, but when you follow the links, the file is no longer available. This feels like a bad X files episode at this point. LOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Talk, write to Samsung and lean on them.
You'll probably end up sending it in. Take detailed pictures of the phone before boxing it and as boxing it. Double box it and pack/seal it well. Insure the package!
Fight with Samsung if they try to charge you more than $50. Expect trouble... Samsung's tech support is one of the worst on this planet.

Finding stock ROM should not be that difficult, by browsing through the forum, Guides, News & Discussions:
Links to US-firmwares: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/n975u-and-n975u1-firmware-links-here.3957648/
Following thread describes how to download FW using Frija and flashing using Odin: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...-25-feb-21-galaxy-note10-sm-n975f-ds.3957812/

There's a YouTube video...,
https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DQe94cBd_fSc&ved=2ahU
He shows you how to fix it. Has FB page "How to Solution"
Check it out

mellie815 said:
According to the authorized service center I visited yesterday, they don't even have access from Samsung. They are directed to send the phone directly to Samsung, which just floors me. I asked the tech if he could at least flash stock and see if we could get it to load, since I definitely can get to the SD card from Watchdog and it will read it. His reply was nope. I called 2 other repair shops since I was in the city already and got the same story.
Back in the day, rooting Android 4 was easier than this! Do you know of any reputable sites for stock roms? SamMobile is definitely out. And many I've gone to will list my stock, but when you follow the links, the file is no longer available. This feels like a bad X files episode at this point. LOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever get this fixed?

I have similar problem. N975u1 stuck in SS Rdx unknown mode. No way to gt to recovery or bootloader

mellie815 said:
I went to a repair shop out of desperation. Had to drive over an hour to get to it as I live in the country, and he basically said it's dead. The fun part is, I called my warranty co and of course, they aren't honoring the warranty because "they don't insure phones that cost over $999" which mine did when I got it. But of course, there was nothing that said they didn't cover my phone, which is why I bought their lease/warranty plan.
So, basically, I have a brick that I owe $591 on yet, and they couldn't care less. At this point, I am willing to try anything at all because I have no other options. I already filed a BBB report against them after spending over an hour on the phone with them to no avail.
Any ideas at all would be very helpful at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
File a complaint with your state attorney general's office.
Against the warranty company and especially the carrier.
Lean on the carrier, verbal breach of contract because the warranty company refused to repair it.
I'd stiff the carrier out of principle. It's likely they wouldn't bother to take it to small claims court.
Before you do that though lean on them like a cheap suit, call, call, call. Talk to their retainment group. Don't give them a moments peace. One time I called Verizon close to 30 times in a week before they finally issues a full credit over a Direct TV breach of contract. If I was you I be seeing red...

General Google Pixel mail-in repairs have allegedly twice resulted in leaked pics and a privacy nightmare

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/4/22817758/broken-google-pixel-phone-privacy-leak
Google says it’s investigating the latest report
By Emma Roth Dec 4, 2021, 7:43pm EST
After game designer and author Jane McGonigal sent her Pixel 5a to Google for repair, someone allegedly took and hacked her device. This is at least the second report in as many weeks from someone claiming they sent a Google phone in for repair, only to have it used to leak their private data and photographs. McGonigal posted a detailed account of the situation on Twitter on Saturday and advised other users not to send their phones in for repair with the company.
In October, McGonigal sent her broken phone to an official Pixel repair center in Texas. She tweeted later that Google said it never received the phone, and during the ensuing weeks, she was charged for a replacement device.
“THE PHOTOS THEY OPENED WERE OF ME IN BATHING SUITS, SPORTS BRAS, FORM-FITTING DRESSES, AND OF STITCHES AFTER SURGERY”
But according to McGonigal, FedEx tracking information shows the device arrived at the facility weeks ago. Late Friday night — a few hours after she says she finally received a refund for the device — someone seems to have used the “missing” phone to clear two-factor authentication checks and log in to several of her accounts, including her Dropbox, Gmail, and Google Drive.
The activity triggered several email security alerts to McGonigal’s backup accounts. However, she speculates that whoever has the phone may have used it to access her backup email addresses and then dumped any security alerts into her spam folder.
“The photos they opened were of me in bathing suits, sports bras, form-fitting dresses, and of stitches after surgery,” McGonigal writes. “They deleted Google security notifications in my backup email accounts.”
In a statement emailed to The Verge, Google spokesperson Alex Moriconi says, “We are investigating this claim.” It’s still unclear whether the device might have been intercepted within the repair facility or while it was in transit, or who has it now. Google’s official repair instructions recommend backing up and then erasing a device before sending it in. Still, as Jane McGonigal points out, that’s either hard or impossible, depending on the damage.
The whole situation reminds us of the security concerns whenever we hand over our devices for repair, and unfortunately, such activity has precedent. In June, Apple paid millions to a woman after repair technicians posted her nude photos to Facebook. Apple recently said it would start selling DIY repair kits, giving users the chance to fix their own phones, or at least have the task done by someone that a user trusts, as opposed to sending it in or dropping it off at an Apple Store.
For Pixel phones, your options for official service are either via mail-in or, in some countries, local service through an authorized provider. In the US, Google partners with uBreakiFix franchises. Whatever phone you have, the options for repairs are still somewhat limited, and you end up having to trust that no one with bad intentions will get their hands on your phone while it’s out of your possession.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It also happened to a woman with an iPhone. Nothing new.

These people obviously don't have a reasonable screen lock.
Also, google should provide instructions to wipe with USB that can be followed by a normal person.

96carboard said:
These people obviously don't have a reasonable screen lock.
Also, google should provide instructions to wipe with USB that can be followed by a normal person.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for the most part, these people have no lock or biometrics on. and their screen is dead (so they think the phone is dead). but I agree, they should develop a tool but it wouldn't be easy. Have you tried running commands or whatever with a blank screen? its very difficult. but you're right, a tool that either locks or wipes the device would be awesome, no commands or messy fastboot menus for the user would help a ton.

Lesson learned don't take nudes lol

Alekos said:
for the most part, these people have no lock or biometrics on. and their screen is dead (so they think the phone is dead). but I agree, they should develop a tool but it wouldn't be easy. Have you tried running commands or whatever with a blank screen? its very difficult. but you're right, a tool that either locks or wipes the device would be awesome, no commands or messy fastboot menus for the user would help a ton.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The lady that sent it in said she did have a screen lock and took every precaution she was instructed to take since she couldn't power on her device.

pcriz said:
The lady that sent it in said she did have a screen lock and took every precaution she was instructed to take since she couldn't power on her device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup. I just read the article. the guy on reddit who posted a few days ago admitted there was no lock on the screen. so who knows. they could have had an easy unlock code (1234, 1111) which is the same as having no unlock code pretty much. but yeah it'll be interesting to find out the truth.

Alekos said:
yup. I just read the article. the guy on reddit who posted a few days ago admitted there was no lock on the screen. so who knows. they could have had an easy unlock code (1234, 1111) which is the same as having no unlock code pretty much. but yeah it'll be interesting to find out the truth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still though. If it's true, the service provider is in the wrong either way. Locked or unlocked. Easy or hard.

pcriz said:
Still though. If it's true, the service provider is in the wrong either way. Locked or unlocked. Easy or hard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes. 100%. my comment makes it seem like it was the user's fault. this is 100% the blame of the repair agents/shipping/ whoever accessed the phone. this should never happen. but all we can do is minimize the likelihood

A.Priori said:
Lesson learned don't take nudes lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most people don't want to hear this, but it's still an universal truth - if you don't want nudes to leaks, don't take any (at least not with a smart device/cloud capable phone). If you really need to have nudes of yourself, take a polaroid and share them with your partner manually. That way, it's at least physically restricted to your immediate surroundings.
Every device can be hacked, every cloud can be broken. All those ICloud leaks could have been avoided, plus a lot of drama. It doesn't mean you can't make any nudes, just use tech that is too ancient to become a problem.
As a golden rule of thumb: Any and each information you spread to the internet, is permanently stored. And - in doubt - is accessible by at least one more person other than yourself. Keeping that in mind is paramount to understand the world wide web.
So DO NOT share any information you do not want to get accidentally leaked.
Of course this is still a terrible crime (OP linked story) and Google + the repair shop have to be held responsible. Still, you should always expect other people to behave like an a** - to deceive, cheat, fraud, lie or fool - that's the way of life for many.
Ergo life is, most often or not, about making sure that you do not share any vulnerable sides unnecessarily. At least if you want to avoid trouble.

What I don't get is when I sent my phones back it SPECIFICALLY states to factory reset the phone? Do people not read? Also, if you don't want your nudes to be seen don't take any? Like...EXPECTATIONS<REALITY

Gytole said:
What I don't get is when I sent my phones back it SPECIFICALLY states to factory reset the phone? Do people not read? Also, if you don't want your nudes to be seen don't take any? Like...EXPECTATIONS<REALITY
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you propose to do that if the phone is not able to turn on or connect to an external source? If this story is actually true, and I have my doubts, this would be the time you eat the cost of the device and put it in a drawer or smash it to smithereens.

Gytole said:
What I don't get is when I sent my phones back it SPECIFICALLY states to factory reset the phone? Do people not read? Also, if you don't want your nudes to be seen don't take any? Like...EXPECTATIONS<REALITY
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with ya here. To me, this stuff seems like common sense (which the world's population seems to be losing). My thoughts are:
If you don't want your nudes stolen, don't take nudes in the first place. Even if you're not shipping your phone somewhere for repair, your pictures are still getting uploaded to Google Photos and can be snatched in other ways. But still, if you really want to take nude photos anyway, then you should put them into a locked folder within Google Photos just after taking them so that they're not immediately visible within the Photos app. Granted, I'm not sure if the jpg files of locked folder pictures would still be present in the normal "DCIM" folder... But I imagine they'd be hidden somewhere at the system level (which normally can't be accessed without root)...?
I should probably test this on my phone - but I'd have to take some nudes first, haha. (Jk, of course)

Alekos said:
for the most part, these people have no lock or biometrics on. and their screen is dead (so they think the phone is dead). but I agree, they should develop a tool but it wouldn't be easy. Have you tried running commands or whatever with a blank screen? its very difficult. but you're right, a tool that either locks or wipes the device would be awesome, no commands or messy fastboot menus for the user would help a ton.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wouldn't be hard. Just running "fastboot format userdata" would clear it, so you don't need to mess with menus -- just power it on with the right volume button pressed. So really all the tool needs to do is monitor for fastboot on a USB and issue the format command.

Google says Pixel repair privacy breach wasn’t from employees, new security instructions coming
Ben Schoon
- Dec. 8th 2021 8:23 am PT
Google has been under scrutiny this week as multiple reports of mail-in Pixel repairs resulted in compromised accounts and leaked photographs. Now, the company is saying that this breach of privacy wasn’t at the hands of Google employees, and the company will apparently update instructions for mail-in Pixel repairs and help customers lock down their data.
Speaking to The Verge, Google has said that an investigation of these privacy issues has confirmed that the account invasion was not from Google employees/Pixel repair techs. The company has not said where the breach came from at this point or where the invaded devices are. Transit seems like the most likely scenario at this point.
After a thorough investigation, we can say with confidence that the issue impacting the user was not related to the device RMA [Return Merchandise Authorization]. We have worked closely with the user to better understand what occurred and how best to secure the account going forward.
Google Spokesperon Alex Moriconi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To prevent this sort of issue in the future, too, Google will apparently start providing new instructions to help users lock down their accounts and data, presumably in addition to the current instructions that already recommend resetting the device before sending it in.
Specifics aren’t available, but Google apparently told Jane McGonigal that new security instructions for those who cannot factory reset their phone before sending it off for repair will be coming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse