[Q] Reset ODIN counter - T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII

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!
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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.
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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

Related

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

[Tutorial] How to purposefully "brick" your Nexus

Scroll down to get to the Tutorial ---- This method WILL cause your phone to go through bootloops or not boot!
If you like the tutorial or think it may be helpful in some weird way, thank me!
So I had a problem with my nexus yesterday and couldnt unroot, relock, or go back to stock.
Since i had no way of getting my charger to connect or even come up on the computer, i needed to make my phone look as stock as possible to try and replace it
I basically had to make my phone look like it was "Bricked"
I still had a good battery charge and everything but the charging port was working. I simply rebooted into CWM and interrupted a fresh rom install.
"I don't know what happened. My charger hasnt been charging and i woke up to a dead phone this morning. I just replaced my extended battery with the stock one, and now all i get is this google logo. Please verizon rep, Help me!"
What i got out of this?
A free replacement of my phone and a free charger.
MOD EDIT
Good job commiting fraud
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
flyerwire said:
Good job commiting fraud
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
And then sharing it on xda.
I wouldn't say that it was a fraud. His phone was broken and I don't think it had anything to do with root. Anyways this will not brick your phone, you could just aswell wipe everything and then reboot without flashing a rom.
Cause we, over here at XDA, have NEVER committed any type of crime! This is CRIMINAL!!!! LOL
io53 said:
I wouldn't say that it was a fraud. His phone was broken and I don't think it had anything to do with root. Anyways this will not brick your phone, you could just aswell wipe everything and then reboot without flashing a rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THIS^^^^^^
shojus said:
Cause we, over here at XDA, have NEVER committed any type of crime! This is CRIMINAL!!!! LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AND THIS^^^^^
Fraud? Chargers are always a problem... and he was nice enough to get me a replacement.
As far as the phone, If i had a way of restoring it back to stock settings, i Totally would have done that for them. It really wasnt a problem with rooting, but a piece of hardware.
In fact, if it wasnt for the broken charger port, i would have no reason for needing to take it back... but Isn't that always our excuse? It is for me
But thanks for all your feedbacks! Dont you love XDA?
And people wonder why cell phones are so expensive.
Sent from my Nexus in Texas.
You evil, evil person
I don't think that's fraud. He had a phone that is defective and should be covered under warranty except he rooted it and vzw considers that voiding the warranty which is bull. We should be able to do whatever we want to our phones software short of bricking them. If we can't restore that's on us. But when something physically breaks and it is not the result of rooting or romming, then they should honor the warranty.
io53 said:
I wouldn't say that it was a fraud. His phone was broken and I don't think it had anything to do with root. Anyways this will not brick your phone, you could just aswell wipe everything and then reboot without flashing a rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still fraud lol being ignorant of it doesn't mean it's not.
When you root and rom your phone you accept that you've now broken your warranty. This means if anything goes wrong, it's now all on you. He tricked Verizon into thinking his phone was untouched...making it fraudulent.
Can we call for a ban, plz?
---------- Post added at 04:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:08 PM ----------
Synopsis: Just because you *THINK* something should be a different way doesn't mean it's acceptable to lie to people to make it seem true. Just because you believe rooting and installing a rom shouldn't break the warranty doesn't make it acceptable to lie to them.
The cliche "Two wrongs don't make a right" is acceptable here.
still not an excuse considering the bootloader can be relocked and software can be flashed back to 100% stock
I stand on OP side in this.. yes, you invalidate your warrenty when modding your phone, but this was a serious hardware issue and had nothing to do with rom-ing and therefor hardware warrenty should still be valid but verizon would probably not have replaced it if they found traces of software tempering.. don't get me wrong, i'm not FOR frauds in any kind. But this was a faulty device even before modding it.
Sent from my X10i using xda premium
So we don't advocate posting ways to "brick" your phone to get it replaced. Technically this would be fraud, whether or not the device had some major hardware flaw is irrelevant, still fraud. Thread closed anymore posts on ways to intentionally "brick" your device may lead to an infraction. Thanks for your cooperation.
Sent from my HTC Evo 3D using xda premium

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

hi can someone help me i cant turn on the phone anymore i tried to clear used data and it just frose i took of the battery now i cant turn it on on download or in regular mod or in clockwork recovery any advice
majmuni said:
hi can someone help me i cant turn on the phone anymore i tried to clear used data and it just frose i took of the battery now i cant turn it on on download or in regular mod or in clockwork recovery any advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I wouldn't answer, because this question should be posted in the Q&A board, not here, but....
You hardbricked. WHen you try to turn on the device, you just get a solid blue LED, right? That's a hardbrick. Most likely because you did not follow the instructions in the OP telling you DO NOT FLASH ROM/KERNEL FROM ANY ICS RECOVERY. Only flash from EL26 StockCWM
If you have device insurance you can get Sprint to replace it, so long as you don't tell them HOW you killed it If you DON'T pay for insurance, it'll cost $35 to replace.
Moral of the story? READ THE OP. TWICE.
well my bad thanx no way to get it to turn on
neatchee said:
If you have device insurance you can get Sprint to replace it, so long as you don't tell them HOW you killed it If you DON'T pay for insurance, it'll cost $35 to replace.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of this is true. However, Sprint doesn't care HOW the phone gets bricked. I work for a Tech Store in Buffalo. If any tech/rep tells you that they won't replace a rooted/attempted root phone, call them a liar. Tell them to check Sprint's M&P's (methods and procedures).
That being said, rooting STILL voids your warranty, but Sprint is supposed to work on them. Chances are we just flash stock and work on it from there.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
dav3wash said:
Most of this is true. However, Sprint doesn't care HOW the phone gets bricked. I work for a Tech Store in Buffalo. If any tech/rep tells you that they won't replace a rooted/attempted root phone, call them a liar. Tell them to check Sprint's M&P's (methods and procedures).
That being said, rooting STILL voids your warranty, but Sprint is supposed to work on them. Chances are we just flash stock and work on it from there.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So...how do you flash them back to stock if it gets bricked? care to share
d1msum4lyfe said:
So...how do you flash them back to stock if it gets bricked? care to share
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I manage some repair shops. Last one I saw, last Wednesday, I couldn't get it going. I only had about an hour to mess with it, but I couldn't get anything to work. I wouldn't say I had completely given up, but given my resources at the store, it wasn't happening. Neither of the 2 computers we use in the tech room would recognize the device in Odin mode (while it read other Touches in Odin mode just fine). It would recognize the device if you booted regular and let it sit on the Galaxy S screen, but flashing wouldn't work and it would never advance past that screen. We just ordered a replacement for the guy. He had flashed a ROM from an ICS kernel.
Only problems I've had on mine is losing signal and the phone going into Airplane mode on rare occasions. Power button menu will actually say it's in airplane mode, too. Turning it off usually fixes things. My phone did have LOS problem initially, but that went away once Samsung updated the modem awhile back. So, it does seem that I end up in low signal situations now and again. Currently running the FC05 modem.
d1msum4lyfe said:
So...how do you flash them back to stock if it gets bricked? care to share
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh if its hard bricked, we don't lol. I guess my point was more that if you bring a rooted phone into a sprint store, Mr. Hesse says we have to work on it or replace it if there's no physical or liquid damage
you did not follow the instructions in the OP telling you DO NOT FLASH ROM/KERNEL FROM ANY ICS RECOVERY. Only flash from EL26 StockCWM
Flash stock rom with odin and pit file then go from there.....
dav3wash said:
Oh if its hard bricked, we don't lol. I guess my point was more that if you bring a rooted phone into a sprint store, Mr. Hesse says we have to work on it or replace it if there's no physical or liquid damage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then why did the rep say I had to wait a day and speak to the store supervisor to approve a replacement?
Mattheyu said:
Then why did the rep say I had to wait a day and speak to the store supervisor to approve a replacement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because the employee was a moron, doesn't know how to read, or doesn't know how to do his job properly.
Mattheyu said:
Then why did the rep say I had to wait a day and speak to the store supervisor to approve a replacement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because technically you voided your warranty by flashing software to your phone... It says that everywhere there is a big difference between rooted and custom firmware.... That would be why most everyone has a USB jig to reset the flash count in download mode ....
If they can prove you had ics on it they really don't have to do anything but flag your phone as warranty void
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Epix4G said:
Because technically you voided your warranty by flashing software to your phone... It says that everywhere there is a big difference between rooted and custom firmware.... That would be why most everyone has a USB jig to reset the flash count in download mode ....
If they can prove you had ics on it they really don't have to do anything but flag your phone as warranty void
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Their system reported that it was running stock EL29 (from a rep when I asked), the ODIN flash count was zero, and it reported that it was running official Samsung firmware. I could only get a vague answer pertaining to "microcode" when I asked them to prove it.
Mattheyu said:
Their system reported that it was running stock EL29 (from a rep when I asked), the ODIN flash count was zero, and it reported that it was running official Samsung firmware. I could only get a vague answer pertaining to "microcode" when I asked them to prove it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well call back and get the info so that you can at least inform us about micro code or whatever....good info is good info sorry about your phone but if you're going to be doing stuff like flashing alpha rooms you really need insurance too
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Epix4G said:
Well call back and get the info so that you can at least inform us about micro code or whatever....good info is good info sorry about your phone but if you're going to be doing stuff like flashing alpha rooms you really need insurance too
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have insurance, and they are now replacing it, but they refused to do it that day because the supervisor was not there.
Can you suggest a graceful way of convincing the tech who relayed this information to divulge his methods?
Mattheyu said:
I do have insurance, and they are now replacing it, but they refused to do it that day because the supervisor was not there.
Can you suggest a graceful way of convincing the tech who relayed this information to divulge his methods?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just ask them ... It's my phone And just tell him you would like the info if possible just be nice is usually the thing kind of BS with them
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Mattheyu said:
I do have insurance, and they are now replacing it, but they refused to do it that day because the supervisor was not there.
Can you suggest a graceful way of convincing the tech who relayed this information to divulge his methods?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear you're getting a replacement. I'd been think about this microcode thing, ever since you posted about it in the other thread.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode
I have a feeling the tech was using the word "microcode" as a synonym for the phone's firmware, taking the stance that the only way for the firmware to get wiped was if you manually flashed your phone. They're replacing your phone because 1) they really can't prove you rooted and flashed it, and the microcode thing was bull**** and 2) at the end of the day, they have to replace your phone anyways under warranty if you didn't drop it in the toilet.
If Sprint techs had some other way to identify that a phone had been manually flashed, other than the known methods, I'm quite sure the good folks at XDA would already know about it.

Replacing Phone (With KNOX_WARRANTY)

Alright, so one of my buddies that works at T-Mobile, he Claims that as long as your phone is on Stock (Or looks like Stock) you should be able to turn your phone in for a Replacement or towards a different phone with Jump.
Obviously the phone I will be attempting to trade in has its Knox_Warranty flag at 0x1
I am going to try this tomorrow with one of my S4's that I unrooted today and back to 4.3 Stock. Anyone that has been curious on Replacement or upgrading with Jump etc, I should find out tomorrow hopefully. Wish me luck.
I will post results when I get back!
I wouldn't worry. I did a warranty exchange cause the back camera stopped working. All I did was Odin back to stock.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Android_Monsters said:
I wouldn't worry. I did a warranty exchange cause the back camera stopped working. All I did was Odin back to stock.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you put it that way, it should be a walk in the park then
Do post your result, but I think it should be ok
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
It was accepted! Got me a iPhone. Never had one so im gonna try one out. So GS4 and iPhone for me lol
Thought so, but now I'll feel more confident when I go trade mine in
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
I have a friend who works at a store, I asked him if they are told to look for anything (customization, etc) or even check the bootloader.
He said the only thing they are told to look for is water damage, other than that they don't care. All they do when you Jump is send the phone back and i'm assuming TM just erases everything and resets the device before sending it out as a refurb one.
Just upgraded my phone, no problems, you're good to go
TripFlex said:
I have a friend who works at a store, I asked him if they are told to look for anything (customization, etc) or even check the bootloader.
He said the only thing they are told to look for is water damage, other than that they don't care. All they do when you Jump is send the phone back and i'm assuming TM just erases everything and resets the device before sending it out as a refurb one.
Just upgraded my phone, no problems, you're good to go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying, I could return my phone on GE for my jump upgrade and it will be accepted? [emoji33][emoji53]
Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC running Lollipop
I'm actually glad to hear this. I may go and flash the latest bootloader so I can have everything up to date.
Just to make sure, if knox IS tripped, it does not effect the status of your warranty through T-Mobile? Meaning if something were to go wrong with my phone I won't have any issues getting a warrant replacement?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
LoopDoGG79 said:
Are you saying, I could return my phone on GE for my jump upgrade and it will be accepted? [emoji33][emoji53]
Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC running Lollipop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean return phone on GE?
elesbb said:
I'm actually glad to hear this. I may go and flash the latest bootloader so I can have everything up to date.
Just to make sure, if knox IS tripped, it does not effect the status of your warranty through T-Mobile? Meaning if something were to go wrong with my phone I won't have any issues getting a warrant replacement?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean I don't know the specifics, i'm sure if you actually asked T-Mobile if it voids the warranty they would say yes, all i'm saying is if you take the phone to use the Jump program they don't even look at the bootloader, most of those guys don't even know how to get into Download Mode let alone check it.
I would say No I don't think you would have a problem, but you never know, the decision is up to you.
TripFlex said:
I mean I don't know the specifics, i'm sure if you actually asked T-Mobile if it voids the warranty they would say yes, all i'm saying is if you take the phone to use the Jump program they don't even look at the bootloader, most of those guys don't even know how to get into Download Mode let alone check it.
I would say No I don't think you would have a problem, but you never know, the decision is up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To confirm what you said earlier, what T Mobile is doing is taking your used phone and doing a complete factory refurb on it. That means a total wipe of the entire memory and a clean now install, as well as replacing worn out body panels like a cracked glass or scratched up plastic peices, etc.
Doing this the way a factory refurb does it that will wipe out Knox and flash counters and custom ROMs and all that jazz. They have equipment that will do what Odin can't. So they don't care.
If you do get a T Mobile store rep who does check the bootloader and makes a big deal out of the Knox flag, just take your phone to another T Mobile store. Or come back to that one the next day and talk to someone else. 9 out of 10 store clerks are not phone nerds like us. They are people with minimal phone training just working a retail sales job. If you get get the 1 phone nerd, another store will have 4 guys who don't even know what a bootloader is.
Once T Mobile takes the phone from you and processes the exchange, they cannot come back later and claim that it doesn't qualify. If they did you can just say you have no idea what they are talking about and their rep inspected prior to the exchange so something must have happened after it left your possession.
elesbb said:
I'm actually glad to hear this. I may go and flash the latest bootloader so I can have everything up to date.
Just to make sure, if knox IS tripped, it does not effect the status of your warranty through T-Mobile? Meaning if something were to go wrong with my phone I won't have any issues getting a warrant replacement?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably won't. You should be able to still send it in for a replacement and get a different model back.
@LoopDoGG79 - Yup I got a different phone via jump so you should be good to go
TripFlex said:
What do you mean return phone on GE?
I mean I don't know the specifics, i'm sure if you actually asked T-Mobile if it voids the warranty they would say yes, all i'm saying is if you take the phone to use the Jump program they don't even look at the bootloader, most of those guys don't even know how to get into Download Mode let alone check it.
I would say No I don't think you would have a problem, but you never know, the decision is up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I asked in here because two T-Mobile Reps told me if the warranty is void on the phone, then they cannot honor the jump program. And seeing as they are accepting knox tripped devices for the jump program, it seems like knox does not void your warranty.. which makes me like Samsung even more (and T-Mobile)
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

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