Develop Bugs

Stuck at boot - should i buy

The story goes like this:
I have a Desire and today saw a local Ad where a guy sells a Htc Desire Z stuck at boot after upgrading. Thats the only info provided.
Now, the price is around 160 euros or 222 us dollars.
I have lots of experience with root/s-off from the Desire and anything with that shouldn't be a problem.
My questions are:
Is there a way to brick this phone?
Can it be somehow unbricked?
If the guy tried to update the phone to the latest one, can i root it then or downgrade it perhaps and root then?
Thank you very much whoever answers this.

Well hopefully some brighter folks than I can ellucidate whether it is possible to get out of a bootloop.
What I can offer however is my opinion on the purchase overall. $222USD is a good chunk of change. If there's a chance that it is not recoverable, I don't think it would be worth the gamble. Now if it were the nearly unbrickable Vibrant or something, I'd say go for it.
I bought my G2 in near mint condition for $275.

It all depends, Is it S-off? Does he have a custom recovery installed? Can you boot into Hboot and then into recovery(Clockworkmod Recovery)? If so then you probably can install a rom on the sdcard and flash them from recovery.
If its in a boot loop with S-on I would not touch it.

Boot loop with S-ON means it still has Nand protection which means you can't do shiz with it. I do have a little story though.
Bought a G1 off craigslist and shortly after the screen started acting wonky so I said what the hell and called Tmo. Explained the problem and hoped theyd have some pointers since the G1 was new and resources like this didn't exist at the time. They ended up being able to look up the phone and determined it still had warranty time left on the device so they exchanged it for me. Sometimes warranty carries over with phones. I'd call Tmo before I bought though and have them go ahead and send me a refurb then go buy the bootlooped one and send it back.

Supposedly he tried to install a different ROM which implies that he's rooted.
That should be fixable then, right?
Or is s-off really necessary for the Z?
UPDATE:
he just lowered the price to around 100 euros.

hiko36 said:
Boot loop with S-ON means it still has Nand protection which means you can't do shiz with it. I do have a little story though.
Bought a G1 off craigslist and shortly after the screen started acting wonky so I said what the hell and called Tmo. Explained the problem and hoped theyd have some pointers since the G1 was new and resources like this didn't exist at the time. They ended up being able to look up the phone and determined it still had warranty time left on the device so they exchanged it for me. Sometimes warranty carries over with phones. I'd call Tmo before I bought though and have them go ahead and send me a refurb then go buy the bootlooped one and send it back.
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Click to collapse
I actually just did something similar. I bought a used G2 that was in perfect physical working order but with physical blemishes etc. and was about 3months old. About a week later dust started to accumulate under the screen. Even though the phone was used and I was on a EM+ plan with no contract and I didnt purchase the phone from a T-mo store, they still replaced it for free. More of a statement about how great T-mo support is than anything, but I think its interesting that they will support the device even though its used.
Now anything more than this is quite borderline not very ethical depending on who you ask, but I wouldn't really feel like buying a bootlooped phone just to try and send it back to T-mo and claim you don't know what happened. If that was very possible then the guy that currently has the phone would probably have done that already...

Yeah, i bought it.
The problem is/are it won't boot or turn on at all.
I'll send it to the repair shop to see if anything can be done.
And guess what.
Do you remember when the HTC vision/g2/desire z got leaked?
This picture here
It turns out, it's the same phone
THE SAME PHONE, Look at the serial numberl

DanijelDesire said:
Yeah, i bought it.
The problem is/are it won't boot or turn on at all.
I'll send it to the repair shop to see if anything can be done.
And guess what.
Do you remember when the HTC vision/g2/desire z got leaked?
This picture here
It turns out, it's the same phone
THE SAME PHONE, Look at the serial numberl
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PLEASE tell me you kept that. That would be like getting that first iphone that homeboy lost in the bar.

[Q] UnRoot w/ Shattered Screen (No Display)

I just shattered and ruined the screen on my Evo 4G and I have no visual feedback from the screen, but the phone still boots up. I had it rooted (revolutionary) running CM7, and I want to turn S-ON and restore to stock before I take it in to Sprint. Any suggestions on what I should do?

Nubbleet said:
I just shattered and ruined the screen on my Evo 4G and I have no visual feedback from the screen, but the phone still boots up. I had it rooted (revolutionary) running CM7, and I want to turn S-ON and restore to stock before I take it in to Sprint. Any suggestions on what I should do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you actually dont need to do that because sprint cant even tell that its rooted with the screen being shattered and all, but but if you need to watch this video on how to un-root the htc evo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEvozdRUIVg

I can't use the screen, so I don't think that UnRoot method is possible because it looks like I need to set the phone to HTC Sync mode.
Any other suggestions anyone?

if theres no way for anybody to see the screen then sprint wont even know that its rooted, because when the get the phone, they look at it, then they check it the warnty is voided (in your case the cant tell) then they repair the phone and send it back, so you could just send it in as is

Yeah, they have to fix the screen to see if it's warranty is voided anyway, wouldn't it be odd if when they repaired it and booted up they discovered it was rooted, and then smashed your screen again and sent it back?

Ok, should I deal directly with the warranty company because they can send me one overnight, or should I take it to the sprint store and have them deal with it?
And also could someone post some screenshots of clockwork mod so I can try and blindly navigate through and make a nandroid?

Nubbleet said:
Ok, should I deal directly with the warranty company because they can send me one overnight, or should I take it to the sprint store and have them deal with it?
And also could someone post some screenshots of clockwork mod so I can try and blindly navigate through and make a nandroid?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't want to restore a nandroid from your old phone to your new phone. You can, but be sure to not restore wimax if it's a new phone. If you do without wimax then you might still have some problems.
If you used unrevoked to root it's pretty easy to unroot. You can always just flash a PC36IMG RUU and leave s-off so it's not obvious if they repair it. If you're going through insurance it'll be $100, so if you're paying that you don't need to unroot. Don't know if Sprint can or will do repairs or how much it costs.

If you have a broken screen, as long as debugging is on and it shows up under adb devices when using adb, try android screencast. Just Google it to find it or pm me for file.
Basically it will show you phones screen on your computer but debugging MUST be on and showing under adb devices for it to work.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

Their policy is that if it's the end user's fault (you dropped it and broke the screen), they must charge the deductible. Pretty much all end user hardware problems trigger the 100 deductible.
Anyway, like others have said, they will receive the phone and replace it regardless because of the broken screen. However, if you're worried you could report it as lost (you still pay the 100 deductible) and wait for your replacement. I believe that may constitute as fraud though seeing as how you haven't lost your phone. The risk and choice falls on your hands.

Yea, if you are dealing with Asurion, no need to unroot, they don't care what you did to your phone, as long as you pay the deductible.

[Q] Touch Screen gone haywire

After flashing the stock google (yukju) roms on my galaxy nexus, everything went fine for a couple of months and now I am getting weird haywire issues with my touch screen. Without me touching anything, the phone will act like a part of my screen is being touched, it will not respond when I am indeed touching it at times, the screen will flicker back and forth and generally act strangely. Then for the other 70% of the time it is fine. I have re-flashed all stock roms, did a factory reset, and the problem persists.
Is anyone else having these problems?
any idea what to do next.
After contacting my provider, they said they cant help me because I had unlocked the phone. I have since relocked the phone so I might try calling back and seeing if it will fool them, but I doubt it. Now that I have re-locked the phone should I try to deal with Samsung?
Any help appreciated!

It sounds like a hardware issue. Most likely the touchscreen itself is bad. If you still have warranty or insurance coverage then bring it back to the store and tell them it is defective. By the way, NEVER mention that you have ever unlocked or rooted your phone.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the reply. Im worried that, like you say, it is a hardware issue because I bought it used, and therefore will probably have problems with warranty/insurance. My carrier has already said that they wont help me with it so I would have to go right to Samsung. Any tips on dealing with Samsung? I have already returned to stock and re-lock the phone and I never rooted it, I certainly wont say I did anything to it in any way. Anything else I should be aware of? Will they even help me out since I wasn't the one who bought the phone in the first place?

GentlemanBasdard said:
Thanks for the reply. Im worried that, like you say, it is a hardware issue because I bought it used, and therefore will probably have problems with warranty/insurance. My carrier has already said that they wont help me with it so I would have to go right to Samsung. Any tips on dealing with Samsung? I have already returned to stock and re-lock the phone and I never rooted it, I certainly wont say I did anything to it in any way. Anything else I should be aware of? Will they even help me out since I wasn't the one who bought the phone in the first place?
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Click to collapse
Although most manufacturers offer a 1 year warranty on hardware, I doubt they will honor it since you were not the original owner. Your next option is repairing it yourself. It took a look at prices on eBay and it looks like the digitizer (touchscreen) for a galaxy nexus goes for about $30 and the combination of digitizer and LCD screen go for about $150. I don't know how difficult it would be to separate the digitizer from the LCD on your phone, but $150 for the set is still better than buying a new phone.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

As has been said, it is probably a hardware issue - I had an HTC Desire S before my GNex and had the same issue with it, started all of a sudden. (The screen would go haywire as you said, almost as if a ghost was pushing buttons quickly - that's the best way I can describe it). Mine did not have warranty coverage because I had rooted and unlocked it but the HTC rep was helpful and said it happens sometimes because of moisture or humidity or some such thing and to replace the lcd/digitizer. Cost me a little ($110) but phone was as good as new after that, used it for six months before selling it and buying the GNex.

[Q] Dead HTC One denied warranty

Hello everyone,
Recently my Verizon HTC one stopped working. After reading around and contacting HTC customer support, I determined there was nothing to be done but send it back in for warranty. The phone would not respond to any inputs and could not be reset. The charging LED would not turn on when the phone was plugged into an AC adapter, nor would charging it for an extended period of time bring it back. It was dead.
After sending it in for warranty, I am now seeing that they are wanting $200 to fix it because I've rooted it. The included images show a picture of the bootloader which (I believe, it's a pretty small image) indicates that it has been rooted. My question is, if they were able to get it to boot into the bootloader does that mean I could likely refuse the repair and just fix any software issues my self? Has anyone else had a similar issue and solved it without having to pay the $200 repair fee?
Thanks

If they got it into the bootloader then yes, it should be fixable (if its just a software issue), I'd ask for it back and update to the latest firmware if its not already....or.....Get the decrypted RUU and take it back to stock and start over (or just leave it alone).......alot of this information can be found in the Android Development forum, hope this helps...goodluck

I was aware to believe that that Verizon did not check for unlocked or s-off status. Did they update their replacement policy in the past 2 years?

geeibara said:
I was aware to believe that that Verizon did not check for unlocked or s-off status. Did they update their replacement policy in the past 2 years?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I screwed up, but this was through HTC directly. For better or worse I have requested that the phone be sent back to me. If it is still dead when I receive it, I'm assuming I can either send it back in again for repair by HTC or try Verizon (if that is an option)?
I'd ask if anyone has tried this before, but my guess is I'm probably in uncharted waters here...

You can't send it back to HTC as I am sure they logged all the serial numbers that's on that phone and has already logged the phone as having a voided warranty due to rooting. You can try Verizon and hope they don't have access to HTC voided warranty list.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

Dark Jedi said:
You can't send it back to HTC as I am sure they logged all the serial numbers that's on that phone and has already logged the phone as having a voided warranty due to rooting. You can try Verizon and hope they don't have access to HTC voided warranty list.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would not really expect them to take it back for warranty work, but would they not take it back if I was willing to pay their required $200 fee? Or are you saying they won't even service out of warranty phones for pay?

Yeah if you are willing to pay the fee to get it fixed then they will fix it.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

I've never had Verizon give me an issue with rooted or unlocked devices.

More stupid questions.
I got the phone back, it turns on and seemed to work fine, but this morning it spontaneously rebooted and now the vibrate motor seems to be hosed. I have done a factory reset and a restore from an older nandroid backup, but nothing seems to make it work. I know for a fact it was working after I got the phone back. It just seems to suddenly have stopped functioning.
Is this something others have dealt with, or am I likely just dealing with a phone that has an intermittent hardware issue? I'm going to try flashing a different ROM, but thought I would check in with you guys here before doing anything too drastic.
Regarding Verizon, if I bought the phone at Best Buy, would it still be possible to go through Verizon and see if they would send me a replacement for the faulty hardware? Unless this is a known software issue, I'm really starting to think this phone has a hardware issue.

Wildwoodashes said:
More stupid questions.
I got the phone back, it turns on and seemed to work fine, but this morning it spontaneously rebooted and now the vibrate motor seems to be hosed. I have done a factory reset and a restore from an older nandroid backup, but nothing seems to make it work. I know for a fact it was working after I got the phone back. It just seems to suddenly have stopped functioning.
Is this something others have dealt with, or am I likely just dealing with a phone that has an intermittent hardware issue? I'm going to try flashing a different ROM, but thought I would check in with you guys here before doing anything too drastic.
Regarding Verizon, if I bought the phone at Best Buy, would it still be possible to go through Verizon and see if they would send me a replacement for the faulty hardware? Unless this is a known software issue, I'm really starting to think this phone has a hardware issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried an RUU on it first. it could just be bad software if the thing turns on. i would try that before anything else is done. you'll need to be s-off to do so though.

Well, I flashed back to stock, locked, and s-on. Still no vibrate functionality.
What is the general consensus on Verizon's CLNR policy? I do not see any defects on the phone cosmetically, but what are the chances I'd end up being charged for a replacement? The phone has pretty much been in a case since I got it, and I keep it in a pocket by its self.

As far as my dealings is just as long as it doesn't look like it went through ww3 you should be fine. I sent phones back that had scratches abd a few nicks on the case. They never had a problem with that.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

[Q] Am I screwed with the HTC warranty department?

Last week I was taking some photos with my M8 and noticed that they were just absolutely awful. I know the M8 doesn't have the greatest smartphone camera out there, but these shots looked like they were being taken through a cloud. Naturally I called HTC and explained the problem to them. They told me that I could do an exchange if I paid $19 for the shipping to and from them. I agreed and shipped my phone out a few days ago. Today I received an email telling me that my phone is out of warranty and if I want it fixed I have to pay $290. As soon as I read that I realized that I had forgotten to return my phone from "S-Off" to "S-On" before sending it. After Googling if that was the issue, I read that HTC usually doesn't care if you're S-On or S-Off since they occasionally ship devices out with S-Off on accident (I'm not sure if this is true, though). So I'm not sure what else it could be. I called again, made sure they knew I had the Developer Edition, and the representative told me to call back in a couple days and they'd be able to explain everything to me. Now I'm extremely worried that I'm either going to have to pay $290 or just deal with the issue for the remainder of the time I have with the device.
Does anyone have any experience with the HTC warranty department that can tell me what might be going on and how to deal with them in the event that this doesn't go my way? Thank you!

It is caused by the coating on the camera. There had been a lot of threads about the issue. I have not had that problem yet on my phone but if it does show up, it is good to know there is no need to panic because it is just a simple fix.

Normally, HTC reserves the right to void your warranty if you unlock the bootloader. But seeing as the DE comes with the bootloader unlocked, its never been clear to me how the warranty works in that case, I'd be curious to hear how they respond.
And yes, as the previous response states, the "cloudy" photos is an issue with the camera glass or coating being easily scratched, which is easily fixed by polishing with toothpaste, Turtle Wax, etc.

****. I just sent back my old one and forgot to s-on. I hope it doesn't happen with me. I'll have them send it back before I pay them any more money. I've had problems with both my replacement and original. I'd like to switch to a whole new phone at this point.

rossida said:
****. I just sent back my old one and forgot to s-on. I hope it doesn't happen with me. I'll have them send it back before I pay them any more money. I've had problems with both my replacement and original. I'd like to switch to a whole new phone at this point.
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Click to collapse
Unless its a Dev Edition like the OP, S-on or off doesn't matter if you unlocked the bootloader. They have a record of your IMEI when you unlocked.

redpoint73 said:
Unless its a Dev Edition like the OP, S-on or off doesn't matter if you unlocked the bootloader. They have a record of your IMEI when you unlocked.
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Click to collapse
Well I contacted HTC and they said warranty is voided when s-off. Trying to see what they can do since I can't afford the full price of this phone. Tbh I would go back to my s4 and send both these phones back. I'll try to keep my progress updated here. The replacement I got is also defective in speakerphone during calls and GPS locking. I pray they allow me to send this replacement back and not have to pay an insane amount for this.