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

Counter for amount of times ROM flashed

As some of you might or might not know.
Can anyone that has flashed a Custom ROM verify if there is a counter on our incarnation of SGS2
details here:
[HOWTO] reset custom binary counter in download mode
and here:
Default [ROOT] Stock FW, w/o increasing custom counter

Dude. I was wondering how the hell we were gonna fix this. Thanks for sharing
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

mikeyinid said:
Dude. I was wondering how the hell we were gonna fix this. Thanks for sharing
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing!!! ur psychic

Why do they want to keep a record of how many times we flash? I wonder if it's to prove that they don't have to pay for warranty.

most likely something along the line
or perhaps to count how many times the internal storage has been written to, which causes wear

AllGamer said:
most likely something along the line
or perhaps to count how many times the internal storage has been written to, which causes wear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally, I'd scoff at the idea that a company was being all big-brother and trying to embed ways to track what your doing to your device but I see no reason for this type of software besides A) giving my wife more proof that I spend way too much time, effort, and money on my phone and B) giving Samsung another reason to not honor your warranty. That said, I'm not the type to try and make someone else pay out for my mistakes but I'm not a fan of being spied on.

i got the jig that is "suppose" to reset the counter also. maybe its with our variant of the GSII that it doesnt reset?

lookitzjohnny said:
i got the jig that is "suppose" to reset the counter also. maybe its with our variant of the GSII that it doesnt reset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
possibly, since our CPU is different, it might be related to that?
or perhaps related to the SIM unlock, which in our phone is also different than the regular SGS2

kenvan19 said:
Normally, I'd scoff at the idea that a company was being all big-brother and trying to embed ways to track what your doing to your device but I see no reason for this type of software besides A) giving my wife more proof that I spend way too much time, effort, and money on my phone and B) giving Samsung another reason to not honor your warranty. That said, I'm not the type to try and make someone else pay out for my mistakes but I'm not a fan of being spied on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was one of the reasons I started the thread on getting insurance. I don't want any problems when it comes to getting my phone replaced. Manufacturers suck when it comes to that. I could see them easily denying a replacement for that reason alone. I'll just deal with tmobile instead.

this is one of the little reasons that actually makes the Best Buy no question no hassle insurance really worth while

I know someone that was having problems with their vibrant and called in a warranty replacement. They told the rep that the phone was rooted and had a different ROM. The rep checked with their supervisor and said that the warranty was still in place. He got a new vibrant and was not charged an out of warranty fee.

has anyone found a way to reset it yet?

Where is this counter? Didn't know there was one. I've done a lot of exchanges ( Vibrant, G2, G2X and SGS2) from different phones and never bothered to reset any counter.
Ooopps!
Hercules Hercules!!

The thing is, from having,worked at Tmobile is that most phones will get inspected for common warranty breaking.g things, like water damage, taking apart your phone. Other than that, I believe they just factory wipe the data with their computers and either refurb. Or recycle. I've sent back phones that have been bricked from bad ROM flashes and have never incurred a fee.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

Jigs work to get into download mode but they don't reset the count. This is from my personal experience
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

I saw I forgot to post the URL. I added it to op
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

i would be really interested to know if this resets the counter tooooooo

What does the counter do anyways? In terms of flashing ROMs, does it limit the number of times we can flash custom ROMs?
Sent from my SGH-T989D using xda premium

Why would we need to reset the counter? I've returned lots of phones without resetting and I've had no problems.
Just curious as to why? Thanks.
Hercules Hercules!!

if u sent ur phone back to samsung it tells them how many times u have flashed roms on it! ive never heard of a person getting in trouble for a high count before but thats wht i know

So... Sprint rooted my phone...

I have had both Camera and GPS issues since the day I bought my E4GT. My Camera will randomly give me "Recording Failed" when I try to take photos. Changing Camera settings was also a good way of reproducing "Recording Failed" And my GPS simply just doesn't lock, and if it does it is unbelievably inaccurate.
So, I took my phone in several months back, of course all they did was flash it to stock, I came back in an hour and they claimed it was fixed. Within 24 hours I was still having the same Camera issue, and GPS wasn't improved.
I have dealt with this issue up until today and simply ignored it, used my girlfriends GPS etc. Keep in mind that both these issues exist on stock EK02, EL30, and any custom ROM I install, and GPS status or other GPS related apps don't help either.
So, after flashing to EK02, using a USB Jig to reset my download count and then doing the OTA to EL30, the problem persisted. I brought it to the Sprint store, came back an hour and a half later, and they claimed it was fixed. I instantly starting taking photos in the store, after 2 photographs my phone actually just restarted itself. Once it restarted, I tried taking several more photographs and received my usual "Recording Failed" message. At this point the tech takes the phone back, fiddles around on his computer and tells me they will just have to order a new one.
Great news! Glad I'm getting a brand new E4GT. The real kicker... I got back in my car, drove to work and then I noticed something funny, I have the superuser app installed. I installed Titanium backup to confirm I had root, and I did. The Sprint tech seems to have rooted my phone, most likely in attempt to try a few 3rd party fixes.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Doesn't rooting technically void my warranty... Or is it only flashing non-official ROMs? I know I'm still ok on my warranty because they already confirmed they are shipping a phone to the store for me to pick up. I was just shocked to have Sprint root my phone.

Fendulon said:
I have had both Camera and GPS issues since the day I bought my E4GT. My Camera will randomly give me "Recording Failed" when I try to take photos. Changing Camera settings was also a good way of reproducing "Recording Failed" And my GPS simply just doesn't lock, and if it does it is unbelievably inaccurate.
So, I took my phone in several months back, of course all they did was flash it to stock, I came back in an hour and they claimed it was fixed. Within 24 hours I was still having the same Camera issue, and GPS wasn't improved.
I have dealt with this issue up until today and simply ignored it, used my girlfriends GPS etc. Keep in mind that both these issues exist on stock EK02, EL30, and any custom ROM I install, and GPS status or other GPS related apps don't help either.
So, after flashing to EK02, using a USB Jig to reset my download count and then doing the OTA to EL30, the problem persisted. I brought it to the Sprint store, came back an hour and a half later, and they claimed it was fixed. I instantly starting taking photos in the store, after 2 photographs my phone actually just restarted itself. Once it restarted, I tried taking several more photographs and received my usual "Recording Failed" message. At this point the tech takes the phone back, fiddles around on his computer and tells me they will just have to order a new one.
Great news! Glad I'm getting a brand new E4GT. The real kicker... I got back in my car, drove to work and then I noticed something funny, I have the superuser app installed. I installed Titanium backup to confirm I had root, and I did. The Sprint tech seems to have rooted my phone, most likely in attempt to try a few 3rd party fixes.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Doesn't rooting technically void my warranty... Or is it only flashing non-official ROMs? I know I'm still ok on my warranty because they already confirmed they are shipping a phone to the store for me to pick up. I was just shocked to have Sprint root my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol the only thing that happened to me like that was:
i brought my evo 3d in so they could check out the power button... (it was pushed down and wouldnt turn on) the phone had cm7 on it... and the tech showed me his OG evo with cm7 on it with the same theme on it (cm7 red remix)
i couldnt restore it back to a stock RUU because of the power button...but he got a replacement for me even when he got it turned on and seen cm7 on it

I've noticed that most techs don't care if your phone is rooted or not. In fact, I used to go down to the Sprint store to look at new accessories, and I would show off that mine was rooted and running CM. I had a couple of the people working there have me root their phone for them.
It would surprise me at all if the tech rooted your phone. Probably jumped on XDA to see if anyone else had solved the problem yet too.

blackroseMD1 said:
Probably jumped on XDA to see if anyone else had solved the problem yet too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL i bet he did... anyone that has any problems with their phones i direct them here... im waiting for the day that the techs in the sprint store ask me "have you checked xda to see if they have any resolution to this problem"
because ive had customer service reps/android tech department (on the phone) tell me to check xda or android community..

Out of curiosity, when recording video were you recording to internal memory or a microSD card? And if a microSD card, what Class? I got that error all the time with my Class 2 16GB, but when I upgraded to my 32GB Class 4 I have no trouble. Apparently the write speed wasn't high enough for the video stream.

Weird. I've got problems where my GPS sometimes won't lock.... but I reboot and it seems to work for another day or whatever.

TurboFool said:
Out of curiosity, when recording video were you recording to internal memory or a microSD card? And if a microSD card, what Class? I got that error all the time with my Class 2 16GB, but when I upgraded to my 32GB Class 4 I have no trouble. Apparently the write speed wasn't high enough for the video stream.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually never recorded video really. This was an issue with simple picture taking at any resolution. I could save to internal or external storage and receive this error. I currently have a class 8 16gb that I use that hasn't given me issues that I know of.
As for the GPS, it was a longstanding and ongoing issue with my phone. No amount of reboots, reflashes or GPS fixes would remedy it. I've tried at least a half dozen roms, plus every OTA and sprint leak. I'm just glad to be getting a new phone.
Also, I've never dropped this phone once. It is literally in pristine condition, you could probably put it in a box and nobody would know that it was used.

yea crazy.. obviously the sprint rep thought he knew what he was doing but in the end, you probably know more than he does .. then again, anybody can read lol. i would have pointed it out in the store and been like hey buddy, whats this? lol then watched him try to explain himself..

elliwigy said:
yea crazy.. obviously the sprint rep thought he knew what he was doing but in the end, you probably know more than he does .. then again, anybody can read lol. i would have pointed it out in the store and been like hey buddy, whats this? lol then watched him try to explain himself..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol that would have been a fun one to watch him try to talk his way out of. At least you had a competent sprint guy, my stores in reno seem to never have people who know anything, not even the selling points of a phone in their store!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Haha I would have loved to ask in store, but unfortunately I didn't notice this for about a half hour when I was at work.
I'll definitely be asking them about it when I go to pick up my replacement phone. I still have my "Sprint Rooted and certified" phone in my hands haha.

Lol.
Once again, contrary to popular belief, rooting does not void your protection plan with us, nor does it prevent us from doing a paid repair (no TEP). Only the iPhone holds the distinction of having it's protection plan voided by software modification, as per Apple.
Now, are we allowed by corporate rules to root your phone as a method of repair? No, of course not. But we're also supposed to only use software that's provided to us, and a lot of times that just isn't enough.
Of course, there are special cases; if somebody carelessly lost their wimax keys when trying to get s-off, i wouldn't replace the phone for two reasons: it's nonessential to telephony functions (meaning youre not stuck if you need to call 911), and it's technically DBR (damaged beyond economical repair), because our warehouse wont be able to get them back, and the board would end up being scrapped.
To that end, hard bricked phones could be rejected due to DBR, but i have no way of telling if it happened due to flashing the phone, now do I?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

squshy 7 said:
Lol.
Once again, contrary to popular belief, rooting does not void your protection plan with us, nor does it prevent us from doing a paid repair (no TEP). Only the iPhone holds the distinction of having it's protection plan voided by software modification, as per Apple.
Now, are we allowed by corporate rules to root your phone as a method of repair? No, of course not. But we're also supposed to only use software that's provided to us, and a lot of times that just isn't enough.
Of course, there are special cases; if somebody carelessly lost their wimax keys when trying to get s-off, i wouldn't replace the phone for two reasons: it's nonessential to telephony functions (meaning youre not stuck if you need to call 911), and it's technically DBR (damaged beyond economical repair), because our warehouse wont be able to get them back, and the board would end up being scrapped.
To that end, hard bricked phones could be rejected due to DBR, but i have no way of telling if it happened due to flashing the phone, now do I?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thank you very much for this info. Its nice to know the ins and outs of my warranty service. May even take a look into the the terms of service and such for it. It'll nice to have a shiny new phone though for sure.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Bear gri11z said:
because ive had customer service reps/android tech department (on the phone) tell me to check xda or android community..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Viewsonic G-tablet and if you contact viewsonic customer support, they always point you to XDA fourms. lol. I wish i could get paid just telling people to check XDA

Just wanted to second this. At this time only jailbroken iPhones have their warranty/protection voided.
You should have no problem getting help even if your phone is rooted, though we should not be the ones doing it for you lol
squshy 7 said:
Lol.
Once again, contrary to popular belief, rooting does not void your protection plan with us, nor does it prevent us from doing a paid repair (no TEP). Only the iPhone holds the distinction of having it's protection plan voided by software modification, as per Apple.
Now, are we allowed by corporate rules to root your phone as a method of repair? No, of course not. But we're also supposed to only use software that's provided to us, and a lot of times that just isn't enough.
Of course, there are special cases; if somebody carelessly lost their wimax keys when trying to get s-off, i wouldn't replace the phone for two reasons: it's nonessential to telephony functions (meaning youre not stuck if you need to call 911), and it's technically DBR (damaged beyond economical repair), because our warehouse wont be able to get them back, and the board would end up being scrapped.
To that end, hard bricked phones could be rejected due to DBR, but i have no way of telling if it happened due to flashing the phone, now do I?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Full Disclosure: I am a Sprint employee. Any opinions are my own and in no way endorsed by Sprint.
Sent from my SGSII on the Sprint network.

When i went to go get my e4gt one of the salesmen was talking about his jailbroken iphone to someone he was selling an iphone to. I wasnt really paying attention since they were talking about iphones and i was downloading the xda app while they finished my paperwork.

You sure your method of returning to stock didn't preserve your root? It's possible.

Bear gri11z said:
LOL i bet he did... anyone that has any problems with their phones i direct them here... im waiting for the day that the techs in the sprint store ask me "have you checked xda to see if they have any resolution to this problem"
because ive had customer service reps/android tech department (on the phone) tell me to check xda or android community..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im a sales rep in a preferred retailer. but because of the time ive spent here, im also the unofficial lead technician in our store, and the last resort for our actual techs when they cant fix it themselves... and they went into training for their job..
evantribley said:
Just wanted to second this. At this time only jailbroken iPhones have their warranty/protection voided.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
99% correct. if an android has a rom flashed, its warranty is void. but we can still repair/replace them with TEP, and paid repairs are fine too. its the unlocking of the bootloader that is looked at, not the actual rooting
see: htc evo3d (htcdev dot com), unlocking nexus s, flash/binary counter in E4GT

As much as I like to side with Sprint employees in regards to TEP & rooting, it tends to be more of a personal Sprint employee decision as opposed to actual TEP policy.
After reading over the TOS in regards to TEP, there are some things written in there that could potentially be used against you should rooting be considered the cause of your problem:
"Sprint is not liable for the websites you visit or anything you download or cause to be downloaded to your device. Damage related to websites visited or downloads to your device may not be covered by Sprint's Service and Repair policy or your device insurance policy."
Personally, it's a chance one takes & it depends on who you deal with on any given day should you run into any trouble. There just seems to be alot if what if's in how it's written, how it's defined & how a Sprint rep would handle the situation.

You are right in that it may change but their are policies and procedures in place that dictate how we do our job. We have clear direction to help Android customers who have rooted devices. The other poster who corrected me is right in the fact that your manufacturer warranty is likely voided from rooting but Sprint will still make an attempt to help you with paid repair or TEP.
We also have clear direction that a jailbroken iPhone loses it's protection.
That is in the ToS so you cannot hold Sprint liable if you break your phone, if you download a virus/malware, install custom apps/software etc.
Yes you can break your phone beyond a point that can be fixed but that doesn't mean that we won't try to help you. Sprint doesn't get anything out of a customer who cancels because their rooted phone breaks and can't be fixed.
EL TEJANO said:
As much as I like to side with Sprint employees in regards to TEP & rooting, it tends to be more of a personal Sprint employee decision as opposed to actual TEP policy.
After reading over the TOS in regards to TEP, there are some things written in there that could potentially be used against you should rooting be considered the cause of your problem:
"Sprint is not liable for the websites you visit or anything you download or cause to be downloaded to your device. Damage related to websites visited or downloads to your device may not be covered by Sprint's Service and Repair policy or your device insurance policy."
Personally, it's a chance one takes & it depends on who you deal with on any given day should you run into any trouble. There just seems to be alot if what if's in how it's written, how it's defined & how a Sprint rep would handle the situation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Full Disclosure: I am a Sprint employee. Any opinions are my own and in no way endorsed by Sprint.
Sent from my SGSII on the Sprint network.

Overstew said:
You sure your method of returning to stock didn't preserve your root? It's possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can honestly say I am absolutely certain I didn't have root when I handed them my phone to be repaired.
I ODINed EK02, which removed my root, then I used a USB Jig, which reset my download count, and then I booted up my phone and was informed there was an update, and so I did the OTA to EL29. At this point I actually tried to install Titanium for ****s and giggles, only to be told I didn't meet the requirements to use the app, root, so I uninstalled it.

What happens to refurbished phones?

I recently had a Samsung phone of mine break, so I took it into the store, used my warranty, and they gave me a new one, and I gave them my broken one. I then began to wonder, what happens to my old phone's data? If my phone is fixed and sold (I don't know if they do that, but if they do) will its next owner be able to read my text messages, etc? Or are they wiped? If wiped, how do they make sure that the next owner doesn't have some way of recovering the previous user's data?

2momo123 said:
I recently had a Samsung phone of mine break, so I took it into the store, used my warranty, and they gave me a new one, and I gave them my broken one. I then began to wonder, what happens to my old phone's data? If my phone is fixed and sold (I don't know if they do that, but if they do) will its next owner be able to read my text messages, etc? Or are they wiped? If wiped, how do they make sure that the next owner doesn't have some way of recovering the previous user's data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe they are fixed, a factory reset is done to erase all user data, then it is sold to insurance companies to be used as insurance replacements. I doubt they are too interested in your texts, but naked pics you left on there might show up on some adult websites, nothing to get too worried about...

Ye that what i did but they didnt look if it has root. So they sold my broken phone (fixed) and the guy that buyed it knowed thats not right.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda app-developers app

They sell some to Asurion and keep some to use for Advanced Exchange replacements. In either instance, they replace the broken parts, flash a new ESN and then they do a clean ODIN flash (with Samsungs) which clears out any data anyways.
In my experience, Asurion refurbs are of lesser quality than Sprint refurbs.

I have gooten a refurb and used a recovery tool and found pics and videos on thr internal sd card. Its best to securely wipe the phone if possible.
sent from MY BAD A$$ ET4G

I guess if you're the kind of person who feels it is morally right to recover and look at someone else's data that you know you shouldn't look at, then more power to ya, buddy. Sure, they could have securely wiped their data, but seriously, how many people who own smartphones know how to do that? There's alot of people that don't even know how to do a hard reset on their own. Everyone should, but they don't.
I don't know if you're boasting or what, but whatever floats your boat.

agent852 said:
I guess if you're the kind of person who feels it is morally right to recover and look at someone else's data that you know you shouldn't look at, then more power to ya, buddy. Sure, they could have securely wiped their data, but seriously, how many people who own smartphones know how to do that? There's alot of people that don't even know how to do a hard reset on their own. Everyone should, but they don't.
I don't know if you're boasting or what, but whatever floats your boat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any time I get a used device I recover and then securely wipe everything using DoD approved software. Don't want to get in trouble cuz the guy before me had kiddy pr0n or some sh*t on there and it didnt get wiped properly. And I've recovered some really messed up sh*t off of phones and laptops I buy used and clean up and flip.
I like to break stuff!

I've never seen the need to do any more than 1 pass of 0's. Without actually pulling the platters out I've never seen any data other than 0's from raw data recovery. (i.e. dd) I've also never been able to recover anything that i'd overwritten on flash media either.
I guess if it makes you feel better, then by all means, write 27 passes of garbage.

I only used the program because I wiped the internal losing my pics. I had the phone for about a month and a half before I needed to. I deleted those pics and vids after I found them. It wasnt my intent to look for that. I did however get most of my pics back so ut was worth it.
And no I was not boasting or bragging. Just sharing info. Sorry if it came across that way.
sent from MY BAD A$$ ET4G

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
Any time I get a used device I recover and then securely wipe everything using DoD approved software. Don't want to get in trouble cuz the guy before me had kiddy pr0n or some sh*t on there and it didnt get wiped properly. And I've recovered some really messed up sh*t off of phones and laptops I buy used and clean up and flip.
I like to break stuff!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kind of see your point. But what is the point of doing a recovery? I fully understand doing a secure wipe to prevent trouble, but there is no need to recover anything off the device if you are getting it from another person and then flipping it after the wipe.

graydiggy said:
I kind of see your point. But what is the point of doing a recovery? I fully understand doing a secure wipe to prevent trouble, but there is no need to recover anything off the device if you are getting it from another person and then flipping it after the wipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's basically saying while you(the end user) may not want to recovery things... there may be others who want to. A "7 wipe" of changing all bits to 0 7 times is the DoD official solution to ensure any data is wiped - prior to physical destruction. (If done right you will never see a disk drive for sale at DRMO. If you do someone screwed up royally.)

garwynn said:
He's basically saying while you(the end user) may not want to recovery things... there may be others who want to. A "7 wipe" of changing all bits to 0 7 times is the DoD official solution to ensure any data is wiped - prior to physical destruction. (If done right you will never see a disk drive for sale at DRMO. If you do someone screwed up royally.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that. But I am asking why he recovers anything off of a phone if he intends to wipe and sell said device. Why bother with the recovery? Just wipe it and call it a day. I know the DoD standard for erasing information. Hell when I was in the Army we had a microwave specifically for CD's and DVD's then put them through a shredder.

I recover the data and store it on a external drove for 90 days. I do it because I usually contact the original owner (if I can get ahold of them) and ask them of theyd like their photos and stuff back. The few times I've found really ****ed up stuff like kiddy pr0n amd **** I stored it until the police could come and collect the device and recovered data and yes I take losses on those devices because I buy them and then turn them into police. Usually I just get people's family photos and stuff back that they thought were lost forever. I usually wont go through the data in any detail except to see if its worth storing until I can contact the owner. Unless it's something of an illegal nature then I have to go thru it and make a report with the police. The only things I report tho are violent/sexual crimes, drug stuff I just laugh at hell I may need to call the original owner for a bag of trees when im dry lol
I like to break stuff!

I wouldn't even go all that far. Trust me when I say that kiddy porn is bad and so are violent crimes and whatnot. But I personally wouldn't go through the trouble. I just wipe it a ton of times, throw random data on it then wipe it some more before I sell it. A friend of mine did the same as you and found what seemed to be kiddie pron. He reported it and they came and took his computers and all of his electronics that could store any kind of data. He wasn't charged with anything but since he was in possession of it even though he reported it, they took all his sh1t and only gave him back his 3 computers. He took a huge loss costing him about 3k. So i dont even bother trying to find it. What can be done and I have done it before is leave an anonymous tip with the police. If they get reports with children involved and a name of the accused, they will investigate.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

graydiggy said:
I wouldn't even go all that far. Trust me when I say that kiddy porn is bad and so are violent crimes and whatnot. But I personally wouldn't go through the trouble. I just wipe it a ton of times, throw random data on it then wipe it some more before I sell it. A friend of mine did the same as you and found what seemed to be kiddie pron. He reported it and they came and took his computers and all of his electronics that could store any kind of data. He wasn't charged with anything but since he was in possession of it even though he reported it, they took all his sh1t and only gave him back his 3 computers. He took a huge loss costing him about 3k. So i dont even bother trying to find it. What can be done and I have done it before is leave an anonymous tip with the police. If they get reports with children involved and a name of the accused, they will investigate.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You realize its a class 3 federal felony to not report child sex crimes right? I have 2 boys if someone found out they were being abused by someone id hope theyd report it. I have a contract that tge original owner signs agreeing to data recovery even if they don't want it at the moment, which is why I hold it for 90 days in case they change their mind. Any kiddy pr0n **** I store to flash drives and turn it all over to the cops. Since Im friends with about 45% of the local sheriff's office including the sheriff himself they know I have no involvment other than reporting it. And everything I turn over isn't stuff I accidentally downloaded its all stuff tied back to the original owner thru their information and signature on the paperwork. It also covers my ass if the devices comes up stolen, basically same paperwork a pawnshop would have you fill out to pawn something. I had all my paperwork written up with the local DA and my attorneys to make sure I'm in the clear for anything I find and report. I got a laptop a couple years ago that actually had enough information still buried in the drive to help the cops solve a cold case murder of some eldery woman from the early 90s. Someone at some point who owned the laptop had saved emails and pictures and other documents on there, erased them but were still in a hidden partition that had never been touched by other data
I like to break stuff!

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
You realize its a class 3 federal felony to not report child sex crimes right? I have 2 boys if someone found out they were being abused by someone id hope theyd report it. I have a contract that tge original owner signs agreeing to data recovery even if they don't want it at the moment, which is why I hold it for 90 days in case they change their mind. Any kiddy pr0n **** I store to flash drives and turn it all over to the cops. Since Im friends with about 45% of the local sheriff's office including the sheriff himself they know I have no involvment other than reporting it. And everything I turn over isn't stuff I accidentally downloaded its all stuff tied back to the original owner thru their information and signature on the paperwork. It also covers my ass if the devices comes up stolen, basically same paperwork a pawnshop would have you fill out to pawn something. I had all my paperwork written up with the local DA and my attorneys to make sure I'm in the clear for anything I find and report. I got a laptop a couple years ago that actually had enough information still buried in the drive to help the cops solve a cold case murder of some eldery woman from the early 90s. Someone at some point who owned the laptop had saved emails and pictures and other documents on there, erased them but were still in a hidden partition that had never been touched by other data
I like to break stuff!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I report any crimes involving children. I just do it anon style. I don't have all that extra stuff though. Like contracts and a good friendship with the police force. I haven't even bought and flipped any phones for almost a year now. Too many of them are stolen these days. Not Worth the hassle anymore.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

graydiggy said:
I report any crimes involving children. I just do it anon style. I don't have all that extra stuff though. Like contracts and a good friendship with the police force. I haven't even bought and flipped any phones for almost a year now. Too many of them are stolen these days. Not Worth the hassle anymore.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah stolen device's are why I originally had paperwork drawn up, but after talking to some of my cop buddies they suggested I add data recovery to my paperwork cuz they'd been able to solve or get leads on a lot of crimes doing data recovery on stolen or confiscated phones and other electronic devices. Id say 90% of what I recover is normal family photos and stuff like that but 10% of it is crime related mostly pot stuff or drug talk/pics but theres the rare occasion something really messed up shows up, like the pics I found a few weeks ago of some dead bodies that were all mutilated. Luckily I have a strong stomach cuz those pics made me nauseous and I've seen quite a few dead people in person over my lifetime.
I like to break stuff!

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
Yeah stolen device's are why I originally had paperwork drawn up, but after talking to some of my cop buddies they suggested I add data recovery to my paperwork cuz they'd been able to solve or get leads on a lot of crimes doing data recovery on stolen or confiscated phones and other electronic devices. Id say 90% of what I recover is normal family photos and stuff like that but 10% of it is crime related mostly pot stuff or drug talk/pics but theres the rare occasion something really messed up shows up, like the pics I found a few weeks ago of some dead bodies that were all mutilated. Luckily I have a strong stomach cuz those pics made me nauseous and I've seen quite a few dead people in person over my lifetime.
I like to break stuff!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will look into doing the contract stuff. Do you happen to have a general outline of your contract that you wouldn't mind sharing so I may use it. I do plan on getting back into phone repair and reselling When I can afford it. I would like a good solid contract to cover my a$$. There is a ton of phones out there that have busted screens or messed up software begging to get fixed and sold. Plus the money isn't too bad either. Also, what program do you use for data recovery on the phones? I too have seen some pretty crazy stuff in my life as well. More than I want to see...
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

graydiggy said:
I will look into doing the contract stuff. Do you happen to have a general outline of your contract that you wouldn't mind sharing so I may use it. I do plan on getting back into phone repair and reselling When I can afford it. I would like a good solid contract to cover my a$$. There is a ton of phones out there that have busted screens or messed up software begging to get fixed and sold. Plus the money isn't too bad either. Also, what program do you use for data recovery on the phones?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We used a basic pawn paperwork pack and edited it to fit my situation adding in a sub section about data recovery. I use a few different programs but the main one is one I got thru my full time job which is expensive I think around 800-1000$ its used for data recovery by most large corporations and the government in the event of a drive dying or other data loss. It will actually pull data from a DBR drive after you pull the disk out and put it in a drive reader which looks like a record player/caseless hard drive thing it had an arm that spins over the disk to read whats left on the broken pieces, I don't have that part just the software. We do have the drive reader at the office where they use it to try and recover peoples data when we receive their damaged electonics they filed a claim on. I'll get the name of it and some of the better of the cheaper ones I've used
I like to break stuff!

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
I recover the data and store it on a external drove for 90 days. I do it because I usually contact the original owner (if I can get ahold of them) and ask them of theyd like their photos and stuff back. The few times I've found really ****ed up stuff like kiddy pr0n amd **** I stored it until the police could come and collect the device and recovered data and yes I take losses on those devices because I buy them and then turn them into police. Usually I just get people's family photos and stuff back that they thought were lost forever. I usually wont go through the data in any detail except to see if its worth storing until I can contact the owner. Unless it's something of an illegal nature then I have to go thru it and make a report with the police. The only things I report tho are violent/sexual crimes, drug stuff I just laugh at hell I may need to call the original owner for a bag of trees when im dry lol
I like to break stuff!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude thats awesome , helping protecting kids is always a + in my book
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy s3

Dropped my GN2...Am I screwed with Asurion?

To the Community:
Does anyone have experience with what happens when you return a rooted device to Asurion?
I dropped my GN2 from 8' onto asphalt and over the course of the next few hours the contusion spread over the display. In the morning the display was completely black and unusable.
I put in a claim with Asurion, paid the $175 and received my new one the next day -- thank you Asurion.
Now when I send my old one back, does anyone know if they'll see it was rooted and charge me a whole lot more money?
If so, should I drive over it a couple of times and really destroy it?
(Hypothetically, of course -- I would never engage in any kind of fraudulent activity...)
Thanks in advance.

You should be just fine, but why not just Odin it to stock real quick. Pull the battery hold volume down, home and power you're in download mode.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

You are returning a broken phone on an insurance claim. I wouldn't bother about it and return the phone as is.
Hastily spouted for your befuddlement

i always crush with brick if i had to return a broken phone so no recovery or salvage can be done.

/\ /\ /\ fail
whatllitbenext said:
To the Community:
Does anyone have experience with what happens when you return a rooted device to Asurion?
I dropped my GN2 from 8' onto asphalt and over the course of the next few hours the contusion spread over the display. In the morning the display was completely black and unusable.
I put in a claim with Asurion, paid the $175 and received my new one the next day -- thank you Asurion.
Now when I send my old one back, does anyone know if they'll see it was rooted and charge me a whole lot more money?
If so, should I drive over it a couple of times and really destroy it?
(Hypothetically, of course -- I would never engage in any kind of fraudulent activity...)
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your fine, like kintwofan said if your at all worried why not odin back unrooted stock to ease your mind... looks at this program for your pc android screencast...http://code.google.com/p/androidscreencast/

T-Mobile warranty vs insurance.
All 3 of our phones have gone crazy. Our SGSII's lost all signal after updraging them to CM10.1.2. My phone, GSN2 went down when I tried to install tweaked 2.3 from CM10.1 Nightlies, complete brick.
Called tmo about an hour ago. Got my problems taken care of. Mon or Tues I'll have all 3 replaced at no charge. How? Call and talk to Customer Loyalty, not customer service!
Customer Loyalty's whole job is to keep you happy, so bully them into getting what you WANT!

partzman2 said:
All 3 of our phones have gone crazy. Our SGSII's lost all signal after updraging them to CM10.1.2. My phone, GSN2 went down when I tried to install tweaked 2.3 from CM10.1 Nightlies, complete brick.
Called tmo about an hour ago. Got my problems taken care of. Mon or Tues I'll have all 3 replaced at no charge. How? Call and talk to Customer Loyalty, not customer service!
Customer Loyalty's whole job is to keep you happy, so bully them into getting what you WANT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not cool, you screw up flashing your phone and expect T Mobile to replace it. That's why flashing and rooting voids your warranty. To top off being a douche you bully the customer service reps, such class. You screw up, man up and take responsibility for your actions and pay for your f*** up.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

partzman2 said:
All 3 of our phones have gone crazy. Our SGSII's lost all signal after updraging them to CM10.1.2. My phone, GSN2 went down when I tried to install tweaked 2.3 from CM10.1 Nightlies, complete brick.
Called tmo about an hour ago. Got my problems taken care of. Mon or Tues I'll have all 3 replaced at no charge. How? Call and talk to Customer Loyalty, not customer service!
Customer Loyalty's whole job is to keep you happy, so bully them into getting what you WANT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flashing a ROM will NOT brick your phone... this case is whats called User error......... If people dont have the necessary skillset to fix a phone when they muff up . or the decency to pay for there own mistakes. Then for gods sake dont do it buy an iphone

deeznutz1977 said:
flashing a ROM will NOT brick your phone... this case is whats called User error......... If people dont have the necessary skillset to fix a phone when they muff up . or the decency to pay for there own mistakes. Then for gods sake dont do it buy an iphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did I insult you somewhere along the line? To my knowlege, I haven't. I have though, been rooting since the moto backflip, so don't accuse me of things that you have no idea of.
Actually, I do think that I did something wrong when reloading tweaked 2.3 after a lot of lagging, fc's, various crashes and such. Wanted to get everything from the phone, so I wiped everything including the internal card just in case (backed everything up to pc and external sdcard) I also have a long history with t-mobile.
When by talking aggressively to the loyalty agent, he knew the whole story, I told him. On the other 2 phones, I just checked and I had those phones stock, not CM. They lost signal after stock update to C6. Have been checking and I'm seeing posts on losing signal not data, exactly what the sgs2 have been doing.
Rhiannon224 said:
That's not cool, you screw up flashing your phone and expect T Mobile to replace it. That's why flashing and rooting voids your warranty. To top off being a douche you bully the customer service reps, such class. You screw up, man up and take responsibility for your actions and pay for your f*** up.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't expect anything in life. 15 months ago I received a liver transplant, and recently overhearing my dr's talking about putting me back on the transplant list. Our moral codes may
differ, but I have to have a phone constantly. ...
Actually I would be on your side before all of the health issues.
---------- Post added at 05:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:59 PM ----------
Rhiannon224 said:
That's not cool, you screw up flashing your phone and expect T Mobile to replace it. That's why flashing and rooting voids your warranty. To top off being a douche you bully the customer service reps, such class. You screw up, man up and take responsibility for your actions and pay for your f*** up.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I did 'pay' for my mistakes. I paid the $5 each she said it would cost me. Sounds like I did 'pay' for my mistake. When I called I was expecting a bill of $525.00, as that is what is in the insurance papers. I always have my facts straight when I call.
Next time have all the facts, please.

I always love these threads.
"hAlp i broke it"
"just warranty it on the internet bro"
"^what? are you some kind of internet dirt bag or something? you are the reason why we have expensive internet phone bills and why kids starve in china DIAF on the internet"
"bro did i offend you or something on the internet? pretty sure i didn't. no need to go all e warrior and be disrespectful to me on the internet
and furthermore i have a full time job on the internet and have kids on the internet"
Don't feel sorry for getting a one up on cellular networks.... they don't feel sorry for you when they screw you over.

Thats what I dont understand ...
Youre paying X amount of $$ for INSURANCE so use it. Asurion pockets all this money and still ask for a damn deductable. I dont even have a deductable for my Car Insurance.
So if going with the insurance, do whatever you like with your phone.
But, if going through Warranty then be sure its stock as possible.

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Insurance is for messing up no matter what, rooting, bricking, dropping. Warranty not equal insurance

I've done warranty 2x now both rooted with custom rom. Nothing ever said never had a problem. They will send you an email just telling you that they received your broken decide and thank you. Your good
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

OP here:
thanks for your replies to my original post everybody.
I love this place. (XDA)

OP did you end up sending back in a way they could see you were rooted? I dropped mine and have to do an asurion claim but i dont want any grief. I pay them enough money and this extra $175.
Also, my phone went swimming in the North Platte River with me drunk one night (the phone was drunk, not me) in a seperate incident, is that going to matter?
Last question, will I get a phone faster if I say this one doesnt work?

blackchad said:
OP did you end up sending back in a way they could see you were rooted? I dropped mine and have to do an asurion claim but i dont want any grief. I pay them enough money and this extra $175.
Also, my phone went swimming in the North Platte River with me drunk one night (the phone was drunk, not me) in a seperate incident, is that going to matter?
Last question, will I get a phone faster if I say this one doesnt work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Asurion doesn't care.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 4