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.
Click to expand...
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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

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?
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.

Rooted Galaxy Nexus. Repaired NO Warranty problems!! No unroot needed?

So i've been spending a couple of hours over a couples of days trying to unroot en relock my phone.
I had some USB problems and Charging issue's So i wanted to return it in stock..
But Like I said my USB didnt work so I decided to take my losses and just return it, rooted with Superuser installed.
after Explaining my situation the Tech Guy from my Carrier Tells me...
O you have rooted your Phone. Well that might be a problem with the insurance... unless you got a Nexus Device.
I was like what do you mean.
well with all Nexus Devices you are allowed to root your phone...
So i was wondering , who knew about this?

What carrier? This is definitely not the company line from any carrier I know.

Probably just doing so nice customer service. If I was the tech guy id repair it for free since most people always root it anyway. Plus its kind of encouraged anyway.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Wow man lucky
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

I was in Sprint yesterday asking them about the newest radio for the JB build (I was having issues with a backup I made and having old radios preventing me from getting the JB OTA update). Anyways, the guy asked why I would need to know about the radios and I played dumb as to why I wasnt updating. My phone was relocked and unrooted but he picked up on it and said he wouldnt even touch the phone to give me help as modding the phone voids warranty. I was able to figure out on my own and fix it but they were pretty strict on the rules.

You're lucky man!! I asked in a shop and they said that I'll lose warranty. What carrier??

poda13 said:
I was in Sprint yesterday asking them about the newest radio for the JB build (I was having issues with a backup I made and having old radios preventing me from getting the JB OTA update). Anyways, the guy asked why I would need to know about the radios and I played dumb as to why I wasnt updating. My phone was relocked and unrooted but he picked up on it and said he wouldnt even touch the phone to give me help as modding the phone voids warranty. I was able to figure out on my own and fix it but they were pretty strict on the rules.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true, rooting is discouraged but is not grounds for denial of warranty.

petemills8 said:
Not true, rooting is discouraged but is not grounds for denial of warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can still have a valid warranty if you are rooted, but it depends for what you a claiming damages. If your power button stops working, that has nothing to do with root, they will just repair the button or give you a new model. However, if you call up your carrier and say something about your phone not turning on, then they might deny you coverage if they find out your phone was rooted/flashed

Quasimoto27 said:
You can still have a valid warranty if you are rooted, but it depends for what you a claiming damages. If your power button stops working, that has nothing to do with root, they will just repair the button or give you a new model. However, if you call up your carrier and say something about your phone not turning on, then they might deny you coverage if they find out your phone was rooted/flashed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reread what you posted, your first sentence and last sentence kinda contradict each other. Also, all I am talking about is rooting, not hardware failures, not water damage.
You should read the pdf I posted, they cannot deny you warranty just for rooting. Individuals may give you problems because they do not know Sprint's own policies, but if you escalate you should eventually find someone who knows what's what.

Oops I had it mixed up thanks for clarifying. Hardware problems can be fixed rooted as long as they don't check. If its something root related then no. Always best to return to stock everything and if you can reset flash counter.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Last year when I bought my Galaxy SII, I forget what I was asking the guy at the T-Mobile store but he suggested I root it (planned on it anyway), he rooted all his phones, and I shouldn't have any problems if I have to return it but if I do to just go back to stock first.

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
Click to expand...
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...

[Q] Reset ODIN counter

I have an issue with my T999 and that is, I cannot connect via USB (charging or otherwise). I talked with T-Mobile and they're sending me a replacement phone and I have to send my current phone back to them. This is great, but what my concern is, the ODIN counter is at 8, but it is currently not rooted and no custom ROM. I read that if there is any number on the counter, it will void warranty, in which case, I will have to pay for the replacement. I read that I can reset the counter while rooted, but I cannot even connect my device to the computer to do so. I am only asking, because I have searched and could find no information to help me out. I feel that I am just screwed unless someone knows how I can root, reset and flash without USB connectivity.
Thank you.

Do you have CWM or TWRP recovery? If so, it's quite easy. If not, then I'm not sure of any way to do so.
Have you tried other cables or on a different computer?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
Do you have CWM or TWRP recovery? If so, it's quite easy. If not, then I'm not sure of any way to do so.
Have you tried other cables or on a different computer?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I do not have any recoveries that I know of. I have tried other cables and computers, but the connection on the phone itself is screwed. It's so bad in fact, that it shuts the computer down for safety reasons. :crying:

Cannibalshymn said:
Unfortunately, I do not have any recoveries that I know of. I have tried other cables and computers, but the connection on the phone itself is screwed. It's so bad in fact, that it shuts the computer down for safety reasons. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I don't thing there is anything you will be able to do then. You have to be able to connect to the computer to root the phone. Theres just no other way that has been discovered that I am aware of.
I have heard a lot of people claim that they don't bother checking the counter, so there is hope. Sorry I dont have any better ideas for you man. Good Luck though!

DocHoliday77 said:
Unfortunately, I don't thing there is anything you will be able to do then. You have to be able to connect to the computer to root the phone. Theres just no other way that has been discovered that I am aware of.
I have heard a lot of people claim that they don't bother checking the counter, so there is hope. Sorry I dont have any better ideas for you man. Good Luck though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was afraid that I would not have any other options. Thanks anyway. I will continue my online research and try things on my own (avoiding complete BRICK).

Cannibalshymn said:
I was afraid that I would not have any other options. Thanks anyway. I will continue my online research and try things on my own (avoiding complete BRICK).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You never know! Maybe someone else here will have something you can try.

DocHoliday77 said:
You never know! Maybe someone else here will have something you can try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true. If I find something, will surely post in here. Also, would like an opinion. My phone is going back due to a hardware malfunction, not software. Is it a possibility that the counter won't even be an issue?

Cannibalshymn said:
This is true. If I find something, will surely post in here. Also, would like an opinion. My phone is going back due to a hardware malfunction, not software. Is it a possibility that the counter won't even be an issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they check it, it will be an issue. This is why so many have major problems with this practice. Rooting the phone, or flashing a rom has nothing to do with a faulty usb port, speaker wiring, loose button, etc. But they can and have refused warranty claims for this before.
Like I said though, I have seen plenty of people claim they got theirs replaced and the counter was tripped. So apparently they never checked it. But on the other side, there have also been people who verified that their claim was denied due to the counter.
If you have insurance though, such as Asurion through Tmobile, this doesnt matter at all. You can flash it, drop it, kick it, drown it. light it, and then throw it across the room, and they will still replace it, minus deductible of course.
I have seen where a few people have replaced the usb port on their phone though. The part is probably pretty cheap, and if its an easy replacement, you may want to consider it.

DocHoliday77 said:
If they check it, it will be an issue. This is why so many have major problems with this practice. Rooting the phone, or flashing a rom has nothing to do with a faulty usb port, speaker wiring, loose button, etc. But they can and have refused warranty claims for this before.
Like I said though, I have seen plenty of people claim they got theirs replaced and the counter was tripped. So apparently they never checked it. But on the other side, there have also been people who verified that their claim was denied due to the counter.
If you have insurance though, such as Asurion through Tmobile, this doesnt matter at all. You can flash it, drop it, kick it, drown it. light it, and then throw it across the room, and they will still replace it, minus deductible of course.
I have seen where a few people have replaced the usb port on their phone though. The part is probably pretty cheap, and if its an easy replacement, you may want to consider it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. I get that. I went to a T-Mobile store yesterday with my issue and was told that, if there was an issue with the warranty, I would have to pay $110 (I currently do pay for insurance/protection plan through T-Mobile). The man who looked at the phone said that it looked as though it was just damaged by a faulty Micro-USB plugin, and said that in his opinion, there should not be any issues as far as the warranty goes. That is why I was wondering about the counter and if that would impact it. But the insurance I have is through T-Mobile, and on that note, I should not stress too much about it? I receive the replacement phone as early as tomorrow, in which time, I will send the old one back, where they will inspect the damages and come to their conclusion on whether or not I will have to pay, or if everything is covered. I have found a couple of wireless ADB connections for the phone, but it has been so long since I have rooted the phone that way, that I am just going to take my chances and hope all goes well with the exchange process. Thanks for everything!

Please let us know the final outcome.

If you filed through T-Mobile it's going to be warranty. If you went through Asurion it's insurance. Insurance has a $150 deductible, so either way it sounds like you're better off using warranty.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

Update: The phone that they sent me is a T999L. Now have 4G LTE. I am returning the old T999 tomorrow afternoon through UPS. As soon as I know something from T-Mobile, I will share the results here.

Cannibalshymn said:
Update: The phone that they sent me is a T999L. Now have 4G LTE. I am returning the old T999 tomorrow afternoon through UPS. As soon as I know something from T-Mobile, I will share the results here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice! Congrats on the free upgrade!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 AM ----------
Cannibalshymn said:
Update: The phone that they sent me is a T999L. Now have 4G LTE. I am returning the old T999 tomorrow afternoon through UPS. As soon as I know something from T-Mobile, I will share the results here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please make sure you read my T999L thread before flashing anything! Some important stuff you should know first is in there.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk