Develop Bugs

Samsung "Flash Counter" Discovered in SGSII's

Check this out guys. The following is a post from a member named coomb on the darkyrom.com forums. Check this out...its almost scary
"Hello everyone!
As I was surfing the web to look for a jig for the first SGS, I've discovered the SGS II has an internal counter which goes up by 1 everytime you flash something that's custom
What does this counter do exactly?
It's very simple: it counts the number of times you flash a custom ROM or kernel on your SGS II, so the guys over at Samsung know of it when you return the phone to them for any kind of problem you may have (this is done so they can say whether you've voided your warranty or not). Even using Odin to get back to stock won't help you and will let the counter go up by one
The good news is that the counter can be reset by using one of those jigs we all know very well
Ha, Samsung! You thought you could fool us that easy?
No, unfortunately Samsung has very clear in mind what it's doing.
It seems there is a second counter, which counts the number of times the custom flash counter has been reset, and the bad news is that its position/folder has not been discovered yet.
So, it seems all the future SGS II owners and flash addicts over here (and not only here) will have a hard time returning their SGS II to Samsung after having flashed something... I hope someone over at XDA will get everything sorted out (Chainfire is already working on it).
Speaking about XDA, here's the source of this article: XDA-SGS II flash counter.
That's it for now, bye! "
Link to the original thread, remove spaces http://www. darkyrom. com/community/index.php?threads/attention-the-sgs-ii-has-a-custom-rom-kernel-flash-counter.3827/

a couple of points:
1.) I deal with Sprint, not Samsung. Sprint's front-lines CS people aren't typically known for their technical prowess (my apologies to those in present company)
2.) This sounds doubtful. The way this is phrased makes it seem as if it's a file in the current file system we have all the tools required to wipe that clean. If that's true they should expect that someone here *will* figure it out.
3.) All this is going to do is encourage those of us with insurance/TEP et al to render the phone completely inoperable within the scope of our insurance (or return period). Poof, problem solved.
So even if this is in fact true, and it could very well be, I don't see the immediate threat to us and I don't see how Sprint would use this ability to prevent us from using our insurance or return ability given that it would be trivial to render the phone and any file system or electronic counter completely inaccessible by any practical means. Coming up with a process to read the "counter" would involve more time and inconvenience for both the customer and the carrier than either would find acceptable to bear. Though there is that suspicious hole right about the volume rockers that may be a nearly fool-proof direct port to a "counter" it would be impossible to make that a 100% reliable mechanism either.
EDIT: after thinking about this some more I am of the belief that while in our unique circumstance (in the US) it wouldn't be too big a hurdle to pass, should we need to, that it is definitely possible if inconvenient/implausible in practice. (In most of the world you just buy the phone and then hook it up to a carrier, in the US you pick your carrier and get your phone from them....so while everyone else would have to deal with Samsung for warranty claims we do not.)
However I was also wondering what it was counting. Writes to /system and/or any directories/partitions that are typically R/O without root?
There are plenty of times in your phones life where that may be flashed for legitimate purposes. Upgrading the OS comes to mind (cue "Samsung never updates" jokes), as would any carrier provided "flash to stock" (which at my area stores is their last, and usually only, attempt to repair a device for just about any reason). There are likely other scenarios that escape me at the moment.
Any reason legitimate is enough to place a reasonable doubt on any claims of tampering that would cause any court of law to demand far more compelling evidence than merely "the counter went up" in order to find you guilty/uncovered by warranty. "What if the counter is unreasonably high?" You say...well what if you tried desperately to flash and reflash and reflash your broken phone attempting to repair it to get your data back? That's a pretty likely scenario.
EDIT²: ...and if "legitimate writes" don't tick the counter up a notch then there is a mechanism to avoid flash detection and it will be found.

daneurysm said:
3.) All this is going to do is encourage those of us with insurance/TEP et al to render the phone completely inoperable within the scope of our insurance. Poof, problem solved.
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Click to collapse
That.
Let's see them prove I've flashed custom roms after I pass the phone under a powerful electromagnet a few times.

daneurysm said:
a couple of points:
1.) I deal with Sprint, not Samsung. Sprint's front-lines CS people aren't typically known for their technical prowess (my apologies to those in present company)
2.) This sounds doubtful. The way this is phrased makes it seem as if it's a file in the current file system we have all the tools required to wipe that clean.
3.) All this is going to do is encourage those of us with insurance/TEP et al to render the phone completely inoperable within the scope of our insurance (or return period). Poof, problem solved.
So even if this is in fact true, and it could very well be, I don't see the immediate threat to us and I don't see how Sprint would use this ability to prevent us from using our insurance or return ability given that it would be trivial to render the phone and any file system or electronic counter completely inaccessible by any practical means. Coming up with a process to do so would involve more time and inconvenience for both the customer and the carrier than either would find acceptable to bear. Though there is that suspicious hole right about the volume rockers that may be a nearly fool-proof direct port to this "counter" it would be impossible to make that a 100% reliable mechanism either.
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Click to collapse
In response.
1. As far as phone returns, you never deal with the the phone maker anyway, you ALWAYS deal with the returns per the carrier. My thoughts on this is that Sprint has been supplied with the tools and info from samsung to verify if the phone has been flashed or not, seeing as how it would be pointless for samsung to include such a feature when they wont be doing the warranty checks.
2. This doesnt sound beyond the scope of samsung in my opinion. And as far as how it was "phrased" this was from a regular user with no real dev experience or technical experience. So if what he said sound a bit odd or simpleton in terms of terminology or his guess as to where this counter would be, thats why. Just because he made a guess that its in the filesystem somewhere doesnt mean much. Also where do we all get these magical tools that you say we have to delete this data that no one knows the location of yet?
3.If you render the phone completely useless in a way that there could be no data pulled from the phone (aka smashing it) then you wouldnt be able to redeem your warranty anyway. bricking the phone wouldnt matter as sprint/samsung have the tools to easily access and repair any bricks that you or I could perform, and then read the information that they need.
Also the fact that the user ChainFire is working on this confirms its vailidity to me, as he is a major dev in the Galaxy S I & II Scenes.

HaiKaiDo said:
3.If you render the phone completely useless in a way that there could be no data pulled from the phone (aka smashing it) then you wouldnt be able to redeem your warranty anyway. bricking the phone wouldnt matter as sprint/samsung have the tools to easily access and repair any bricks that you or I could perform, and then read the information that they need.
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TEP covers all that.
I guarantee after I put the phone internals into the microwave for a few seconds there is no tool in the world that's going to be able to repair the brick.

eagercrow said:
TEP covers all that.
I guarantee after I put the phone internals into the microwave for a few seconds there is no tool in the world that's going to be able to repair the brick.
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Well for the 90% of people out there that dont pay 30 dollars a month for the protection plan, and just want a warranty exchange for something that actually wasnt their fault and at one time or another had a custom rom on their phone, they will be out of luck. So this is a problem for people like myself. Ive never bricked a phone, but i did have my captivate radio antennae die and was getting no signal whatsoever and was able to get att regular warranty to replace it. Had i been in that situation NOW, with this counter in place, i would be screwed. for something that wasnt caused by myself.
---------- Post added at 10:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 PM ----------
Torethyr said:
That.
Let's see them prove I've flashed custom roms after I pass the phone under a powerful electromagnet a few times.
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If I remember correctly flash based storage isnt effected by magnetic fields. Also if that did work, good for you....but where do the rest of us get an expensive highpowered electromagnet lol.

I think this is very low of Samsung ... but i doubt anything will change ... sprint employees know less about this stuff than we do on here .. and haven't people already mess their phones up and got them replaced easily ? ..
Sprint can't accuse you and deny you a replacement if you play stupid and never admit to rooting/ modding ..

HaiKaiDo said:
In response.
1. As far as phone returns, you never deal with the the phone maker anyway, you ALWAYS deal with the returns per the carrier. My thoughts on this is that Sprint has been supplied with the tools and info from samsung to verify if the phone has been flashed or not, seeing as how it would be pointless for samsung to include such a feature when they wont be doing the warranty checks.
2. This doesnt sound beyond the scope of samsung in my opinion. And as far as how it was "phrased" this was from a regular user with no real dev experience or technical experience. So if what he said sound a bit odd or simpleton in terms of terminology or his guess as to where this counter would be, thats why. Just because he made a guess that its in the filesystem somewhere doesnt mean much. Also where do we all get these magical tools that you say we have to delete this data that no one knows the location of yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's in the file system I would use "rm". If it is being stored in a non-standard way as to escape a deep directory/partition inspection I would have to say that it's outside of the file system. A pedantic gripe of mine, to be fair.
3.If you render the phone completely useless in a way that there could be no data pulled from the phone (aka smashing it) then you wouldnt be able to redeem your warranty anyway. bricking the phone wouldnt matter as sprint/samsung have the tools to easily access and repair any bricks that you or I could perform, and then read the information that they need.
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I don't even have to present the damn phone to get a new one , it must be lost or stolen....or flashed to boost, lol. Not that I ever have or would, but, that's pretty feasible.
Also the fact that the user ChainFire is working on this confirms its vailidity to me, as he is a major dev in the Galaxy S I & II Scenes.
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I don't doubt the veracity of the claim. Nor do I doubt the word of chainfire. What I am not certain of is what exactly they found and what it is counting and how that counter can be used as incontrovertible proof of a warranty damning activity.
I updated my post above which partially addresses this.

I checked into this before I returned my 1 day old bricked epic touch 4 g, and Sprint replaced it no questions asked.

akkord64 said:
I checked into this before I returned my 1 day old bricked epic touch 4 g, and Sprint replaced it no questions asked.
BTW - After you use the JIG it resets the counter..
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But what about the counter-counter?

akkord64 said:
I checked into this before I returned my 1 day old bricked epic touch 4 g, and Sprint replaced it no questions asked.
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lol yeah it resets the FIRST counter...but thats not the problem. Theres appearently some mechanism in place the count how many times youve reset that first counter lol. Im sure itll be killed in a few days if not weeks by people here on XDA, but i sure do find these kind of things interesting.

HaiKaiDo said:
Well for the 90% of people out there that dont pay 30 dollars a month for the protection plan, and just want a warranty exchange for something that actually wasnt their fault and at one time or another had a custom rom on their phone, they will be out of luck. So this is a problem for people like myself. Ive never bricked a phone, but i did have my captivate radio antennae die and was getting no signal whatsoever and was able to get att regular warranty to replace it. Had i been in that situation NOW, with this counter in place, i would be screwed. for something that wasnt caused by myself.
---------- Post added at 10:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 PM ----------
If I remember correctly flash based storage isnt effected by magnetic fields. Also if that did work, good for you....but where do the rest of us get an expensive highpowered electromagnet lol.
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Click to collapse
Bro, you are high if you think this has any bearing on Sprint users being able return an Epic Touch 4G. Moreover, Steve Kondick...hired by Samsung. Team CM, given GS2's to hack by Samsung.
Also, if this is an issue with the Galaxy SII international variant, why don't you POST IT IN THAT FORUM?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

All you have to do is flash something in odin with the OG Epic Pit and check re-partition. Start it, run it for a minute or 2 and pull the cord. Completely inoperable.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Hope you people that want to make the phone inoperable and stuff under stand you are the reason the insurance deductible keeps going up......
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

abowlby said:
Bro, you are high if you think this has any bearing on Sprint users being able return an Epic Touch 4G. Moreover, Steve Kondick...hired by Samsung. Team CM, given GS2's to hack by Samsung.
Also, if this is an issue with the Galaxy SII international variant, why don't you POST IT IN THAT FORUM?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh god you called me bro -_-. second off, im not high, i just found this interesting.
Also Steve being hired by samsung doesnt make him president of the "i get to do whatever the **** i want" club lol. He still has to adhere to NDA and the like.
and finally, its in our phones too. our phones are SGS II's lol. Sprint just gave ours a "fancy" name.
---------- Post added at 10:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 PM ----------
SAShady said:
All you have to do is flash something in odin with the OG Epic Pit and check re-partition. Start it, run it for a minute or 2 and pull the cord. Completely inoperable.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Inoperable to you sure. To the people with the equiptment MADE to run diagnostics and access low level bootloaders, not a problem. Half flashing a bootloader isnt the end all to a warranty claim. Also i dont know why you all are taking this almost personally as if i was saying this is something that will never be patched or worked out here on xda. And continue to come up with scenarios where you are above the counter lol.

As long as mine doesn't count how many times it sees me masturbate I'm happy...

Something else im curious about.....it says that Odin wont help reset the second counter. To my mind that makes me think that theres something hardware based thats keeping track. Lol exbawkz eFUZE

paniro187 said:
Hope you people that want to make the phone inoperable and stuff under stand you are the reason the insurance deductible keeps going up......
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree and would never do that to my phone, I would just find somewhere else to return it that would accept it. That always works.
But the main point here is that it is the natural "next thing to do" when you go about punishing people for treating their own hardware as, well, their own hardware and installing whatever software they would like on a device that they own...
...Why don't they expend this type of effort on making the phones unbrickable? That would surely save them far more money than "catching the bad guys" and denying people warranty service for things issues that have nothing to do with the software you chose to install on a device you own.
If my PC were to **** itself and something broke because I was running linux/macos/beos/MSDOS/Windows/Xenix/AmigaOS/etc do you know what that means? That the computer was a piece of crap and the computer (or component responsible) should be replaced if it was under warranty... do you suggest that a piece of hardware failing is the softwares fault?
Most (non oem) motherboards come with overclocking tools built into the BIOS these days with safeguards to keep you from blowing your isht up.
This has less to do with hardware failures than it has to do with the freedom to run whatever you want on a computer you purchased....with a dual-core 1.2ghz chip and 1 gig of ram you can be damn sure this is a computer.

alnova1 said:
As long as mine doesn't count how many times it sees me masturbate I'm happy...
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Best post of the day +1 lol
xDDDD

HaiKaiDo said:
Well for the 90% of people out there that dont pay 30 dollars a month for the protection plan, and just want a warranty exchange for something that actually wasnt their fault and at one time or another had a custom rom on their phone, they will be out of luck. So this is a problem for people like myself. Ive never bricked a phone, but i did have my captivate radio antennae die and was getting no signal whatsoever and was able to get att regular warranty to replace it. Had i been in that situation NOW, with this counter in place, i would be screwed. for something that wasnt caused by myself.
---------- Post added at 10:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 PM ----------
If I remember correctly flash based storage isnt effected by magnetic fields. Also if that did work, good for you....but where do the rest of us get an expensive highpowered electromagnet lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't sure you were crazy, until you said TEP was thirty bucks. It's 8. Honestly not having it on your plan is crazy at this point, unless you have a good backup device you aren't planning on selling.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

[Q] I flashed CM9 now i cant turn on the phone anymore

hi can someone help me i cant turn on the phone anymore i tried to clear used data and it just frose i took of the battery now i cant turn it on on download or in regular mod or in clockwork recovery any advice

majmuni said:
hi can someone help me i cant turn on the phone anymore i tried to clear used data and it just frose i took of the battery now i cant turn it on on download or in regular mod or in clockwork recovery any advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I wouldn't answer, because this question should be posted in the Q&A board, not here, but....
You hardbricked. WHen you try to turn on the device, you just get a solid blue LED, right? That's a hardbrick. Most likely because you did not follow the instructions in the OP telling you DO NOT FLASH ROM/KERNEL FROM ANY ICS RECOVERY. Only flash from EL26 StockCWM
If you have device insurance you can get Sprint to replace it, so long as you don't tell them HOW you killed it If you DON'T pay for insurance, it'll cost $35 to replace.
Moral of the story? READ THE OP. TWICE.

well my bad thanx no way to get it to turn on

neatchee said:
If you have device insurance you can get Sprint to replace it, so long as you don't tell them HOW you killed it If you DON'T pay for insurance, it'll cost $35 to replace.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of this is true. However, Sprint doesn't care HOW the phone gets bricked. I work for a Tech Store in Buffalo. If any tech/rep tells you that they won't replace a rooted/attempted root phone, call them a liar. Tell them to check Sprint's M&P's (methods and procedures).
That being said, rooting STILL voids your warranty, but Sprint is supposed to work on them. Chances are we just flash stock and work on it from there.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

dav3wash said:
Most of this is true. However, Sprint doesn't care HOW the phone gets bricked. I work for a Tech Store in Buffalo. If any tech/rep tells you that they won't replace a rooted/attempted root phone, call them a liar. Tell them to check Sprint's M&P's (methods and procedures).
That being said, rooting STILL voids your warranty, but Sprint is supposed to work on them. Chances are we just flash stock and work on it from there.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So...how do you flash them back to stock if it gets bricked? care to share

d1msum4lyfe said:
So...how do you flash them back to stock if it gets bricked? care to share
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I manage some repair shops. Last one I saw, last Wednesday, I couldn't get it going. I only had about an hour to mess with it, but I couldn't get anything to work. I wouldn't say I had completely given up, but given my resources at the store, it wasn't happening. Neither of the 2 computers we use in the tech room would recognize the device in Odin mode (while it read other Touches in Odin mode just fine). It would recognize the device if you booted regular and let it sit on the Galaxy S screen, but flashing wouldn't work and it would never advance past that screen. We just ordered a replacement for the guy. He had flashed a ROM from an ICS kernel.
Only problems I've had on mine is losing signal and the phone going into Airplane mode on rare occasions. Power button menu will actually say it's in airplane mode, too. Turning it off usually fixes things. My phone did have LOS problem initially, but that went away once Samsung updated the modem awhile back. So, it does seem that I end up in low signal situations now and again. Currently running the FC05 modem.

d1msum4lyfe said:
So...how do you flash them back to stock if it gets bricked? care to share
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh if its hard bricked, we don't lol. I guess my point was more that if you bring a rooted phone into a sprint store, Mr. Hesse says we have to work on it or replace it if there's no physical or liquid damage

you did not follow the instructions in the OP telling you DO NOT FLASH ROM/KERNEL FROM ANY ICS RECOVERY. Only flash from EL26 StockCWM
Flash stock rom with odin and pit file then go from there.....

dav3wash said:
Oh if its hard bricked, we don't lol. I guess my point was more that if you bring a rooted phone into a sprint store, Mr. Hesse says we have to work on it or replace it if there's no physical or liquid damage
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Click to collapse
Then why did the rep say I had to wait a day and speak to the store supervisor to approve a replacement?

Mattheyu said:
Then why did the rep say I had to wait a day and speak to the store supervisor to approve a replacement?
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Click to collapse
Because the employee was a moron, doesn't know how to read, or doesn't know how to do his job properly.

Mattheyu said:
Then why did the rep say I had to wait a day and speak to the store supervisor to approve a replacement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because technically you voided your warranty by flashing software to your phone... It says that everywhere there is a big difference between rooted and custom firmware.... That would be why most everyone has a USB jig to reset the flash count in download mode ....
If they can prove you had ics on it they really don't have to do anything but flag your phone as warranty void
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Epix4G said:
Because technically you voided your warranty by flashing software to your phone... It says that everywhere there is a big difference between rooted and custom firmware.... That would be why most everyone has a USB jig to reset the flash count in download mode ....
If they can prove you had ics on it they really don't have to do anything but flag your phone as warranty void
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Their system reported that it was running stock EL29 (from a rep when I asked), the ODIN flash count was zero, and it reported that it was running official Samsung firmware. I could only get a vague answer pertaining to "microcode" when I asked them to prove it.

Mattheyu said:
Their system reported that it was running stock EL29 (from a rep when I asked), the ODIN flash count was zero, and it reported that it was running official Samsung firmware. I could only get a vague answer pertaining to "microcode" when I asked them to prove it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well call back and get the info so that you can at least inform us about micro code or whatever....good info is good info sorry about your phone but if you're going to be doing stuff like flashing alpha rooms you really need insurance too
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Epix4G said:
Well call back and get the info so that you can at least inform us about micro code or whatever....good info is good info sorry about your phone but if you're going to be doing stuff like flashing alpha rooms you really need insurance too
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have insurance, and they are now replacing it, but they refused to do it that day because the supervisor was not there.
Can you suggest a graceful way of convincing the tech who relayed this information to divulge his methods?

Mattheyu said:
I do have insurance, and they are now replacing it, but they refused to do it that day because the supervisor was not there.
Can you suggest a graceful way of convincing the tech who relayed this information to divulge his methods?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just ask them ... It's my phone And just tell him you would like the info if possible just be nice is usually the thing kind of BS with them
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Mattheyu said:
I do have insurance, and they are now replacing it, but they refused to do it that day because the supervisor was not there.
Can you suggest a graceful way of convincing the tech who relayed this information to divulge his methods?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear you're getting a replacement. I'd been think about this microcode thing, ever since you posted about it in the other thread.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode
I have a feeling the tech was using the word "microcode" as a synonym for the phone's firmware, taking the stance that the only way for the firmware to get wiped was if you manually flashed your phone. They're replacing your phone because 1) they really can't prove you rooted and flashed it, and the microcode thing was bull**** and 2) at the end of the day, they have to replace your phone anyways under warranty if you didn't drop it in the toilet.
If Sprint techs had some other way to identify that a phone had been manually flashed, other than the known methods, I'm quite sure the good folks at XDA would already know about it.

Rediculously noob question: Will I be able to use my $7.99 t-mo warranty if I root?

I really want to root my phone because I don't like touchwiz at all. However, I recently dropped my One S in a pool and I'm scared of doing that to my S3. Can I use my tmobile full warranty if I mess up my phone? If not, are there any good warranties that cover rooted phones?
This is my first post so I don't know if I'm doing it right.
Thanks in advance guys.

Warranty is toast, you better going to a launcher like apex, nova, go launcher, it replaces your stock theme with sense, iphone (icrap) miui, asop, basically almost anything
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda premium

You could use it if you flash back to stock or if you mess it up so bad it wont turn back on
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

flashallthetime said:
Warranty is toast, you better going to a launcher like apex, nova, go launcher, it replaces your stock theme with sense, iphone (icrap) miui, asop, basically almost anything
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do the people at t-mo verify that its rooted? does it like go into their system or something?

If its damaged enough that it won't turn on, how will they find out? If it does turn on, then Odin back to stock, how will they find out?

stevessvt said:
If its damaged enough that it won't turn on, how will they find out? If it does turn on, then Odin back to stock, how will they find out?
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Click to collapse
yeah, im wondering if they can tell if its rooted in their system. do you know how they tell if its rooted?

If its damaged enough to need replacing, but you feel as though it may still be in good enough shape for them to find out, maybe it needs to meet a harsher fate. Like being introduced to your car tire.

stevessvt said:
If its damaged enough to need replacing, but you feel as though it may still be in good enough shape for them to find out, maybe it needs to meet a harsher fate. Like being introduced to your car tire.
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Click to collapse
very interesting idea... do you think it will actually work?

Juat root. If you need to replace it you can flash a stock odin..
Also idk that they check for that.. I sent a gs2 back rooted with no problem
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

stevessvt said:
If its damaged enough to need replacing, but you feel as though it may still be in good enough shape for them to find out, maybe it needs to meet a harsher fate. Like being introduced to your car tire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lmfao that's funny..
dude just root and flash away.. if u need to return it just odin back to stock and use triangle away to reset your flash counter to 0, done.

I highly doubt that they will not warranty you. All you have to say is your phone is acting up and you've tried everything. Like resetting the phone and etc... Eventually they will send you out a replacement phone. Just make sure you revert back to stock. Oh and unroot it if possible.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

I know people always say "your warranty is now void" when rooting but I've never had that actually be the case. I've had 2-3 rooted phones replaced on the spot in T-Mobile stores due to hardware defects. I even told one rep it was rooted and he still replaced it then and there. My Nexus One was rooted and I had it replaced by Assurion after breaking the screen and paying my $100 deductible.
And like others said, worst case you can just flash it back to stock via Odin.
I say root it. But I will warn you, you will get completely addicted to flashing new ROMs. I promise.

How does T-Mobile find out? T-Mobile isn't the provider of your insurance, Asurion is. How does Asurion find out? They don't, Sammy does. Odin counter unless you reset it after a stock flash and root. I've said too much.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII

I returned my old Samsung Vibrant for a hardware defect about a year back (it was rooted), they never found out. Then again, I did ODIN back to stock just to be safe.
Basically, if its working enough for them to find out, then you can probably flash it back to stock yourself. If it isn't, well hell, they probably aren't going to bother finding out what's wrong with it...
And from what i've heard, they really don't even check these phones out. They just replace whatever is wrong with them, and flash it back to stock themselves.

I had to do a 14 day exchange to get this one. I just flashed a stock Rom.
Triangle away works now: resets the flash counter.
Flash away
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

I returned a HTC Sensation that was rooted. It was DOA and wouldn't turn on. Warranty sent me a new one and a box for the old one. Never heard from them so they probably just recycled it.

I had to replace my last phone (vibrant) twice under the 7.99 warranty due to small hardware failures (no gps lock on stock, accelerometer broke), and both times I just ODIN'd back to stock and sent it back. Never had an issue.
I did test after going back to stock that the issue still happened, just to confirm it wasn't root or a custom rom-only.

Frankly getting tired of people asking if it's ok to commit insurance fraud to root their phone.
People like that cost us all money in the long run
Sent from the current Heavy Weight Champ GALAXY SIII

ingenious247 said:
Frankly getting tired of people asking if it's ok to commit insurance fraud to root their phone.
People like that cost us all money in the long run
Sent from the current Heavy Weight Champ GALAXY SIII
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blah blah blah... I'd bet money that if you hard brick your phone by accident, or find other hardware defects, you'll be going straight to the T-Mobile store. No matter what you say on the internet.

sn0warmy said:
Blah blah blah... I'd bet money that if you hard brick your phone by accident, or find other hardware defects, you'll be going straight to the T-Mobile store. No matter what you say on the internet.
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Click to collapse
First of all, if I find Hardware defects, that is not insurance fraud so maybe you want to rethink your statement. And going to the T-Mobile store to return under warranty for a hardware defect is not filing an insurance claim.
Secondly, if I brick my phone on accident, that's my dumb fault. Which btw, I have never done, ever. And I've been rooting/flashing for years.
That's my point. Don't come to xda looking to start rooting/flashing and not know what you're doing just because you have insurance fraud as a 'safety net' for idiocy.
People who promote that kind of crap are just as bad as the people who actually do it.

How does Samsung feel about rooted phones?

I need to send my phone back to Samsung because they have a 1 year manufacturer warranty per Sprint. If I send them back a Stock but rooted phone will they notice/care? The repair is hardware related not software. I need to get half of the small little hooks that are compressed when the battery is inserted. My only though is they may want to wipe battery stats and when they go into Recovery and notice it's TWRP they might get pissy. Thoughts & experiences? Thanks.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

I took mine to sprint fully rooted and on a custom ROM, because my LCD was fried.. They didn't care at all. I wouldn't worry about unrooting it and crap. Just send that bad boy in.
Sent from my SPH-L710

xbmoyx said:
I need to send my phone back to Samsung because they have a 1 year manufacturer warranty per Sprint. If I send them back a Stock but rooted phone will they notice/care? The repair is hardware related not software. I need to get half of the small little hooks that are compressed when the battery is inserted. My only though is they may want to wipe battery stats and when they go into Recovery and notice it's TWRP they might get pissy. Thoughts & experiences? Thanks.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
My initial thoughts are as follows:
Samsung bootloaders are unlocked by default and they have indicated that they will not lock them in the future. So I'd think they're more likely to forgive rooting when it comes to their 1-year warranty.
According to Samsung's warranty page, as long as the defects you have are in no way caused by custom ROMs or the rooting process, they should cover the repair. Unfortunately, they have the final say in what caused the damage to the phone and could say that the custom kernel fried whatever part is malfunctioning. I seriously doubt that they'd do that, but it all depends on which service person you get and how good/bad their Monday has been. I'd say it'd be best to triangle-away the flash counter and to restore the stock recovery/rom. As always, qbking77 has a great video on how to unroot, so check it out.

I dont know. Samsung would probably be more "aware" of your phones root state compared to sprint. If its something simple like bad USB port, or burnt pixels, I doubt they would care. If your phones O.S. is jacked or you hard brick your phone, likely they will notice. You can avoid these problems if you install triangle away and have it automatically clear your bootloader every time you boot your device.
Remember,
You are taking a risk when you root your phone. Sometimes you will get a service rep who doesn't know anything about rooting and/or could care less....sometimes you will get an XDA Member service rep pissed you are raising their premium, it all depends.

Thanks everyone for your responses! Awesome I'm glad Samsung is open minded with this matter. Yes there is no way my hardware issue is ROM/Software related so I'm hoping they won't care. I'm still going to flash the stock MB1 ROM and use the paid SuperUser app to hide the icon in the app drawer before sending it out just in case. Thanks everyone!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

xbmoyx said:
Thanks everyone for your responses! Awesome I'm glad Samsung is open minded with this matter. Yes there is no way my hardware issue is ROM/Software related so I'm hoping they won't care. I'm still going to flash the stock MB1 ROM and use the paid SuperUser app to hide the icon in the app drawer before sending it out just in case. Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What happens after you sent your device to Samsung.... Please let me know....nothing personal just curious to see what their reaction is

tasnim_tamim said:
What happens after you sent your device to Samsung.... Please let me know....nothing personal just curious to see what their reaction is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread is 3 years old, they probably won't answer.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
This thread is 3 years old, they probably won't answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe Samsung didn't fixed it at all and they forgot their XDA password...

Replacing Phone (With KNOX_WARRANTY)

Alright, so one of my buddies that works at T-Mobile, he Claims that as long as your phone is on Stock (Or looks like Stock) you should be able to turn your phone in for a Replacement or towards a different phone with Jump.
Obviously the phone I will be attempting to trade in has its Knox_Warranty flag at 0x1
I am going to try this tomorrow with one of my S4's that I unrooted today and back to 4.3 Stock. Anyone that has been curious on Replacement or upgrading with Jump etc, I should find out tomorrow hopefully. Wish me luck.
I will post results when I get back!

I wouldn't worry. I did a warranty exchange cause the back camera stopped working. All I did was Odin back to stock.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Android_Monsters said:
I wouldn't worry. I did a warranty exchange cause the back camera stopped working. All I did was Odin back to stock.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Since you put it that way, it should be a walk in the park then

Do post your result, but I think it should be ok
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

It was accepted! Got me a iPhone. Never had one so im gonna try one out. So GS4 and iPhone for me lol

Thought so, but now I'll feel more confident when I go trade mine in
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

I have a friend who works at a store, I asked him if they are told to look for anything (customization, etc) or even check the bootloader.
He said the only thing they are told to look for is water damage, other than that they don't care. All they do when you Jump is send the phone back and i'm assuming TM just erases everything and resets the device before sending it out as a refurb one.
Just upgraded my phone, no problems, you're good to go

TripFlex said:
I have a friend who works at a store, I asked him if they are told to look for anything (customization, etc) or even check the bootloader.
He said the only thing they are told to look for is water damage, other than that they don't care. All they do when you Jump is send the phone back and i'm assuming TM just erases everything and resets the device before sending it out as a refurb one.
Just upgraded my phone, no problems, you're good to go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying, I could return my phone on GE for my jump upgrade and it will be accepted? [emoji33][emoji53]
Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC running Lollipop

I'm actually glad to hear this. I may go and flash the latest bootloader so I can have everything up to date.
Just to make sure, if knox IS tripped, it does not effect the status of your warranty through T-Mobile? Meaning if something were to go wrong with my phone I won't have any issues getting a warrant replacement?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

LoopDoGG79 said:
Are you saying, I could return my phone on GE for my jump upgrade and it will be accepted? [emoji33][emoji53]
Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC running Lollipop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean return phone on GE?
elesbb said:
I'm actually glad to hear this. I may go and flash the latest bootloader so I can have everything up to date.
Just to make sure, if knox IS tripped, it does not effect the status of your warranty through T-Mobile? Meaning if something were to go wrong with my phone I won't have any issues getting a warrant replacement?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean I don't know the specifics, i'm sure if you actually asked T-Mobile if it voids the warranty they would say yes, all i'm saying is if you take the phone to use the Jump program they don't even look at the bootloader, most of those guys don't even know how to get into Download Mode let alone check it.
I would say No I don't think you would have a problem, but you never know, the decision is up to you.

TripFlex said:
I mean I don't know the specifics, i'm sure if you actually asked T-Mobile if it voids the warranty they would say yes, all i'm saying is if you take the phone to use the Jump program they don't even look at the bootloader, most of those guys don't even know how to get into Download Mode let alone check it.
I would say No I don't think you would have a problem, but you never know, the decision is up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To confirm what you said earlier, what T Mobile is doing is taking your used phone and doing a complete factory refurb on it. That means a total wipe of the entire memory and a clean now install, as well as replacing worn out body panels like a cracked glass or scratched up plastic peices, etc.
Doing this the way a factory refurb does it that will wipe out Knox and flash counters and custom ROMs and all that jazz. They have equipment that will do what Odin can't. So they don't care.
If you do get a T Mobile store rep who does check the bootloader and makes a big deal out of the Knox flag, just take your phone to another T Mobile store. Or come back to that one the next day and talk to someone else. 9 out of 10 store clerks are not phone nerds like us. They are people with minimal phone training just working a retail sales job. If you get get the 1 phone nerd, another store will have 4 guys who don't even know what a bootloader is.
Once T Mobile takes the phone from you and processes the exchange, they cannot come back later and claim that it doesn't qualify. If they did you can just say you have no idea what they are talking about and their rep inspected prior to the exchange so something must have happened after it left your possession.

elesbb said:
I'm actually glad to hear this. I may go and flash the latest bootloader so I can have everything up to date.
Just to make sure, if knox IS tripped, it does not effect the status of your warranty through T-Mobile? Meaning if something were to go wrong with my phone I won't have any issues getting a warrant replacement?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably won't. You should be able to still send it in for a replacement and get a different model back.
@LoopDoGG79 - Yup I got a different phone via jump so you should be good to go

TripFlex said:
What do you mean return phone on GE?
I mean I don't know the specifics, i'm sure if you actually asked T-Mobile if it voids the warranty they would say yes, all i'm saying is if you take the phone to use the Jump program they don't even look at the bootloader, most of those guys don't even know how to get into Download Mode let alone check it.
I would say No I don't think you would have a problem, but you never know, the decision is up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I asked in here because two T-Mobile Reps told me if the warranty is void on the phone, then they cannot honor the jump program. And seeing as they are accepting knox tripped devices for the jump program, it seems like knox does not void your warranty.. which makes me like Samsung even more (and T-Mobile)
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk