[Q] Warranty question. - Defy General

Apologies if this has been covered before- searched a couple of times with no joy...
Waiting for delivery of my Defy and still not sure what mods to do...Having read about a lot of UK models having the dreaded ear-piece fault, I'm just wondering:
1. what I can do that can be undone if my phone develops this fault?
i.e. Is it possible to root the phone, remove some of the Motoblur bloatware, overclock and scale, and still be able to return it to it's original state if the earpiece goes? (or at least make any mods undetectable!)
2. From what I've read it is possible to skip the Motoblur registration. Would I still be able to use the phone portal- what apps require the Motoblur registration?
Basically I'd love to tweak the phone but am paranoid about voiding the waranty!
Thanks in advance!

Once you are rooted and have recovery installed backup your system before doing anything else. If something happens restore the backup and unroot. Only problem might be if you have some type of hardware issue and can no longer boot the phone.
There is always risk, but that will help.

rbeier1221 said:
Once you are rooted and have recovery installed backup your system before doing anything else. If something happens restore the backup and unroot. Only problem might be if you have some type of hardware issue and can no longer boot the phone.
There is always risk, but that will help.
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Click to collapse
Thanks. Is it the case that you can mod the phone any way you like as long as you backup, restore and unroot before returning the phone for any possible warranty claim? Would a Mototola tech be able to tell that the phone had been modded and then reset to it's original state? Just wondering if I'd be better to wait a couple of months for any possible fault to appear...Thanks again.

cwhiggs said:
...am paranoid about voiding the waranty!
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Click to collapse
If that's your primary concern, tweaking isn't really an option.
As soon as you start fiddling with the software, you technically void your warranty.
That said, most fiddling can be undone and if the phone were to end up in a state that you couldn't boot it to fix your fiddling, there's a fairly good chance that the engineers wouldn't be able to boot it to discover what you've done.
Not to mention, from past personal experience, a lot of front-line engineers that actually deal with faulty handsets that are sent away for repair don't really care or may not be bright enough to be able to tell that you've messed with your phone.

Thanks. Think I'll go ahead and mod it. Been reading the relevent posts/stickies and from what I can see as long as I'm carefull and follow the various steps closely and in order, I'll be unlucky to brick it. Think I'd get pissed off waiting several months for any fault to show- just wary of the earpiece going and then being told I'm screwed coz I've played with the software! Thanks again.

Related

possible to return phone after rootiing?

Has anyone tried returning the phone after rooting it? How about after flashing a different ROM? Any differences before the 30 days and after as far as the same questions above go?
I'm curious before I decide to root my phone.
Thanks!
You can just run the stock RUU to go back to the shipped rom. Check the wiki if you need it.
damn this question has been asked alot
I'm more interested in if you can't flash it back to stock Ruu. For example if you have an issue and need to return it or send it in for warranty repair and switching back to stock isn't possible.
bigdogdan2 said:
I'm more interested in if you can't flash it back to stock Ruu. For example if you have an issue and need to return it or send it in for warranty repair and switching back to stock isn't possible.
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Click to collapse
By rooting you have voided your warranty. So no, if you root and leave it rooted then your warranty is void. I just restored my rooted phone to factory so I can return it due to the screen separation issue.
if the unit powers on you can RUU, else you cant. if sprint/radioshack whomeever cant power the unit on and you've not opened it or water damaged it, then it should be fine to replace. they arent going to hunt you down, at least i dont think they will.
yeah my evo was in a boot loop while rooted, with damagecontrol 3.2 rom, and a new radio update and i got a new one, within the 30 days of course. but i learned my lesson and bought a security plan XD
everyones still within the 30 days
Last week I was in the BB I bought my phone from, trying to get a replacement for a few issues. When the rep walked away I took a peek at his monitor, as he was searching for any memos on the issues i had.
He had one email open that pertained to Rooted devices and how to test if the device was rooted or not, and instructions on NOT to accept any returns if the device was rooted considering it does void the warranty and changes the original item itself.
Just a heads up lol.
That's kinda dumb. Rooting is just software change it's not any change to the hardware itself, it should be fine to return.
strung said:
That's kinda dumb. Rooting is just software change it's not any change to the hardware itself, it should be fine to return.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But rooting can also brick your phone if you do it wrong.
Yes, but if you get it back to stock RUU then any such risk has been neutralized.

[Q] Voided Warranty clarification

Yes yes, tampering with the hardware of a device voids the warranty. But does it actually make a difference? Cant you just unroot your device, and send it back into the store for a brand new one (if something breaks, etc etc)? I feel kind of stupid asking this question but i honestly dont understand the difference between the two. Answer please?
Depends, I'm not sure if you can unroot the Evo. My Moment I could unroot. If the phone doesn't start up, then you're okay.
The first Evo (rooted) I bought fell in the toilet, the right side of the screen stopped working, all I did was uninstall Superuser and any rooted apps via ADB and they never suspected a thing.
You could still boot into recovery though but they never tried I guess
sW333t11 said:
Yes yes, tampering with the hardware of a device voids the warranty. But does it actually make a difference? Cant you just unroot your device, and send it back into the store for a brand new one (if something breaks, etc etc)? I feel kind of stupid asking this question but i honestly dont understand the difference between the two. Answer please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can just Unroot but just make sure to flash the S-ON zip first. They are big to say it voids your warranty, but I don't think they really go through phones all that much to check for evidence of rooting. But, don't take advantage of this being an option. It gets old seeing all the people on here who brick their phones because they don't know what they are doing then just returning it for replacement because they didn't read something closely enough. These antics only hurt all of us in the end, just more excuses for Sprint to jack it to us on insurance etc.
Thread moved to Q&A.
Nah its not me with the problems, my phone is perfectly fine. I was just wondering because one of my friends wants me to root their phone and such, but they're kind of hesitant because of the whole waranty being voided thing. With the S-On zip though, this unroots the enitre phone back to stock? I forgot to mention this before but the phone that would possibly need unrooting is an Evo purchased a couple weeks ago.
The if you used unrevoked, the s-on tool sets your nand security back to s-on, and then running a ruu with reflash all stock software. Doing these two things will completely unroot you and make the phone eligible for warranty stuff.
Got it. Thanks a bunch.
yea when we root its all software crap and so with software its easily taken on and off just gotta know what your doing. As for as hardware mods if you take your phone apart that voids the warranty .

[Q] Are there any downsides to rooting ?

Hi all, I've done a fair bit of searching and reading up but not sure I can find definitive answers to whether there are any downsides to rooting my One X.
I am thinking similar to tethered jailbreaks in the iOS world, where if you run out of juice you have to cable up to get it to boot up etc.
I would like to root, so I have the freedom to use a few of the tweaks and mods on xda (such as the tweak to change the default - read too high - auto brightness levels), not sure I will actually replace my entire rom at this stage, just root so I can use some of these minor tweaks.
so, is there anything that I need to genuinely consider before making the leap, some specific questions that spring to mind are;
1. Can I always easily revert it ?
2. Read some posts where people are struggling to charge once it hits 0% ? Is this an actual problem if I just root ? I do not want to brick a phone or have to prize open the case to take batteries out etc
3. If I chose to replace ROM's in the future, are there actual apps that more or less backup all your apps and settings so you can just reload that one app after a new ROM is installed, restore a backup and I am good to go, or do you have to manually setup everything from scratch again ?
Thanks for any advice you guys can offer.
ta
Mart
The only downside to rooting is you get hooked on flashing. It's very easy to get back to stock. As long as you have proper RUU for your region that goes with your CID and all is fine.
At present, the only rooting method involves unlocking the bootloader. It can be locked again. But it's 'relocked' rather than 'locked'. So your warranty is still void in some cases.
I'm waiting for root method which doesn't require an unlocked bootloader. Or non HTCDEV Unlocked bootloader and S-OFF before I do mine, but that's just me
Sentinel196 said:
So your warranty is still void in some cases
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Click to collapse
HTC will only refuse your warranty if you balls up your phone as a result of flashing roms. Everything else such as hardware defects will leave the warranty in tact.

Losing features upon bootloader unlock/root?

Hey everyone,
I've tried to google around and search the forums on XDA but there is no straight up answer to some questions I have. This is the first HTC device I own and although I have been rooting/unlocking devices since the Nexus 4, I am afraid to go ahead with this one. I just wanted the answers to the following questions, if anyone here knows them please:
1. Unlocking the bootloader seems straight-forward and supported by HTC. I'm in the UK which means no Uh-Oh protection. If something was to happen to the device and I sent it back under warranty, would I be ****ed or would HTC replace/repair it? HTC UK's call center was worse than useless and HTC US' policy doesn't apply to us so I thought I should ask here.
2. Does unlocking the bootloader and rooting mean I will lose access to the fingerprint scanner, camera quality or anything 'stock'? I know Android Pay won't work but at the moment I am not too bothered either way because it's a hit and miss thing with it.
3. Finally, is there a way to completely revert unlocking the phone/s-off and going back to S-ON/Locked without any signs of having messed around with the device? I ask in relation to question 1. If unlocking the bootloader voids the warranty for UK users, is there a way to go back to stock and make the phone as though NOTHING was done to it?
Thank you to anyone who helps answer even 1 of these questions :victory:. I want to root and get xposed onto my new device but not at the cost of losing features on a brand new phone or losing warranty on it either :silly:
1. I can't comment on this simply because I don't know and don't want to spread false information.
2. You will not lose any features at all. In fact, I'm running a bootloader unlocked and rooted setup and Android Pay still seems to work fine for me. It let me add a debit card but I haven't yet been able to actually try to purchase something.
3. Yes, if you are S-Off you can completely revert back to a locked bootloader with S-On if you want to.
I'd recommend both unlocking and S-Off so you can revert back to stock in the future for a warranty claim just to be safe.
jaredkzr said:
1. I can't comment on this simply because I don't know and don't want to spread false information.
2. You will not lose any features at all. In fact, I'm running a bootloader unlocked and rooted setup and Android Pay still seems to work fine for me. It let me add a debit card but I haven't yet been able to actually try to purchase something.
3. Yes, if you are S-Off you can completely revert back to a locked bootloader with S-On if you want to.
I'd recommend both unlocking and S-Off so you can revert back to stock in the future for a warranty claim just to be safe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for the reply! Only just saw this, not sure why it didn't notify me.
Right no worries about point one seeing as point 3 makes it irrelevant if I can revert back and save my warranty anyway. Just to be sure on points 2 and 3, I can definitely 100% go back to Locked/S-On status and the system won't show I have messed around at all? As for Android Pay, that's cool! Did you set it up before or after rooting? And does your fingerprint scanner work? Can you make payments on google play by authorising with your fingerprint?
Thank you again for your help!
Devzz said:
Hey, thanks for the reply! Only just saw this, not sure why it didn't notify me.
Right no worries about point one seeing as point 3 makes it irrelevant if I can revert back and save my warranty anyway. Just to be sure on points 2 and 3, I can definitely 100% go back to Locked/S-On status and the system won't show I have messed around at all? As for Android Pay, that's cool! Did you set it up before or after rooting? And does your fingerprint scanner work? Can you make payments on google play by authorising with your fingerprint?
Thank you again for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, you can definitely 100% go back to Locked/S-On state assuming you were previously S-Off. There will be no signs that the device was messed with.
For Android Pay, I had initially set it up prior to rooting but the rooting process wiped my phone. I had no issues setting it up again on a freshly rooted install.
Google Play and every other app that uses it still fully supports authorization via fingerprint. From what I can tell, I have lost absolutely no features by rooting. There really is nothing to lose once you get past the initial phone wipe that occurs when you unlock the bootloader.
jaredkzr said:
Yep, you can definitely 100% go back to Locked/S-On state assuming you were previously S-Off. There will be no signs that the device was messed with.
For Android Pay, I had initially set it up prior to rooting but the rooting process wiped my phone. I had no issues setting it up again on a freshly rooted install.
Google Play and every other app that uses it still fully supports authorization via fingerprint. From what I can tell, I have lost absolutely no features by rooting. There really is nothing to lose once you get past the initial phone wipe that occurs when you unlock the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah that's great! Would've thought HTC would implement some kind of security thing where rooting may cause the fingerprint scanner to not work like Samsung/Sony have. Good on HTC :highfive: I'm gonna start reading up now and unlock/s-off/root the phone in the next few hours! :fingers-crossed:
Devzz said:
Ah that's great! Would've thought HTC would implement some kind of security thing where rooting may cause the fingerprint scanner to not work like Samsung/Sony have. Good on HTC :highfive: I'm gonna start reading up now and unlock/s-off/root the phone in the next few hours! :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it really is a great thing they've done! HTC is being really friendly to developers and power users. If you have questions or need some help with the unlocking or rooting feel free to drop me a PM!

relocked tampered ?

i have an option of buying a soft bricked m8, that says tampered relocked, unknown history of what was done to it, but im thinking have a go at trying to get it running again, i cannot get past any of the screens it's s-on as well, cannot go into phone settings, so i cannot do anything there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v476/charvel_375/htc m8 broke.jpg?t=1515544191
So what is the question? Do you want to know if it's worth the risk/effort of buying? If we think it can be recovered? Or what exactly to do to recover it?
sorry i should have been more specific, answer.. can it be fixed, if so how, as i said i cannot get into the phone settings, i dont know if USB debugging is checked.
bluefender said:
can it be fixed, if so how, as i said i cannot get into the phone settings, i dont know if USB debugging is checked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You typically don't need debugging enabled, to get the phone running. You don't need debugging to use fastboot, and it's fastboot that is critical to get the phone running.
Whether or not the phone can be fixed, is not definite with the information provided so far. A lot of times, no boot just means the ROM is corrupt or otherwise damaged, which is fairly easy to fix by a tool called RUU. Or alternately by unlocking the bootloader, putting custom recovery TWRP on the phone, and using that to flash a stock ROM or custom ROM.
"Tampered" and "relocked" (versus "locked") means that the previous owner did at least try to do some mods (unlocked bootloader, custom recovery, custom ROM and/or root). Whether those attempted mods resulted in the current condition is another question we can't answer (only the previous owner can answer). It could be as simple as a botched root attempt, such as wrong version TWRP or wrong version SuperSU (also easily fixed). Or it could be the simple act of the previous owner locking the bootloader, which by definition renders the phone unable to boot (again, RUU is one possible solution) and the person just didn't know that.
On the other hand, it's possible that the current condition is caused by a hardware failure, such as emmc failure, and you won't be able to flash a ROM, and the phone is pretty much shot (needs new motherboard, etc.). But there is really no way of determining hardware vs. software failure without trying to recover it. Although my gut tells me, this is a pretty easy software fix, and that the current condition is mostly a matter of the previous owner lacking the proper knowledge.
What are the conditions of the sale? Are you buying it "as is" whether you can fix it or not? Or is the person going to let you mess with it, before decided whether to buy it? If you fix it easily, is there a possibility they change their mind, and going to want to keep it?
thanks for the info, buying as is, owner puts his arms up and says no idea, buy as is no returns, possible guilt of not rooting correctly ? who knows.
bluefender said:
buying as is, owner puts his arms up and says no idea, buy as is no returns, possible guilt of not rooting correctly ? who knows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be my guess, not rooted correctly, or tried to return to stock, and botched it.
The bet, if I had to make one, would be that it can be recovered (software issue). But as I said, no sure bet there. Might be worth a chance, depending on how much he is charging, and how much that amount of money means to you.
in the end i passed on it, as found out the phone has been doing the rounds, internal chip was dead iv been told.

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