I'm looking at buying a phone that's being advertised as "New, never used". Is there a way to find out if it's really new? I know how to check if it's been refurbished, but on older phones that data would look the same on a used factory reset phone as it would on a new phone.
A more pressing consideration is making certain the phone isn't a Verizon model. In any event, if the phone was previously unlocked and then locked back up the bootloader status will reveal that. Other than that, there's nothing I can think of that would give away that the device wasn't new. Not even the IMEI would help, since the information in the IMEI only reveals its manufacture date.
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Hi Guys,
I'm from the UK. I've previously owned a IPhone and I decided to try out Android and I love it. So I then purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 from a local phone shop. I bought the phone brand new and I was the first one to open the seals.
I had the phone for 2 days and today I was getting a message saying mobile network unavailable, emergency calls only, so I restarted the phone and that didn't fix the issue. I then decided to try my friends sim card and that didn't work, so I came to the conclusion that the phone is blocked or blacklisted or reported stolen.
So I went for a trip to the phone shop where I bought it from. The manager tried another sim card and still it wouldn't make a phone call. The manager said he would flash the phone and do a factory reset. So I was waiting for about 45 mins and he came back and the phone had SuperSu installed.
What is SuperSu all about?
is it a illegal software?
Thanks
SuperSu is there when the phone is rooted. I suppose the guy has the phone rooted.
A Heppieboeddah says, the phone has been rooted and while there is nothing illegal or wrong with that (most of us on XDA do it as soon as we get a new phone so we can remove bloatware, install custom ROMs etc), it's not something I would expect a legit phone shop to do as arepair.
I would ask for a refund as it sounds like the IMEI has been blocked, usually meaning it has been reported lost or stolen like you say. Even if it hasn't the phone isn't fit for purpose so you're well within your rights to request a full refund.
Then go buy a new phone from Carphone Warehouse or Phones4U etc, somewhere reputable.
EDIT: I wrote my initial reply on the assumption that you haven't modified the phone in any way and it is 100% stock, but I should have asked first, have you done anything to the phone... like installing custom ROMs? Is so then SU is just part of the rooting process and it may be that you have done something to cause the problem yourself. It would also mean that if you do need to return the phone then you will need to follow certain steps to return it to an unmodified state. Talk us through what, if anything, you have done since buying the phone.
Hi, the phone is stock, I didn't install any custom roms or software. As I was new to Android, I wasn't too sure about rooting.
But I don't understand why he put SuperSu on the phone.
keebb9 said:
Hi, the phone is stock, I didn't install any custom roms or software. As I was new to Android, I wasn't too sure about rooting.
But I don't understand why he put SuperSu on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SuperSU is part of the rooting process like CitizenLee said take phone back demand a refund and go to somewhere reputable and buy a Note 2
curious. after this "repair" the bloke did, could you then make phone calls?
i dont suppose you looked in the settings, about phone, status and noticed if you still had an imei number did you? before and after the "repair"
regardless, i agree with the previous posts and would definitely take it back, get a refund and get one from a known phone shop.
I just purchased this phone a week ago off of Craigslist, the phone worked great up until today. I noticed that I didn't have any service. I use a microcell at home so it was no big deal, thought that it had messed up like it does every now and again, however I got out to town where I usually have near full signal and still had none. I opened up settings and "Mobile Data" was turned off, I tried to toggle it back on and it will not allow me to do this. I went in to the "About Phone" part of the settings and the phone shows "Unknown" for cell phone number and IMEI.
This is the stock AT&T version G Pro that has not been rooted. I contacted AT&T thinking this may be a sim card problem or maybe I bought a stolen phone, but everything on their end seemed to be clean. I tried out a friends sim card and still had no luck. Called LG and they said I would need to send it in with a receipt. I don't have a receipt and I won't pay for them to repair the phone, because I'm sure the bill will wind up being more than the phone is worth.
Has anyone else had this problem? Are their any fixes anyone can think of that doesn't involve rooting the device? If not, what steps will I need to take to recover my IMEI so that the phone will actually make/receive phone calls and texts?
charlee08 said:
I just purchased this phone a week ago off of Craigslist, the phone worked great up until today. I noticed that I didn't have any service. I use a microcell at home so it was no big deal, thought that it had messed up like it does every now and again, however I got out to town where I usually have near full signal and still had none. I opened up settings and "Mobile Data" was turned off, I tried to toggle it back on and it will not allow me to do this. I went in to the "About Phone" part of the settings and the phone shows "Unknown" for cell phone number and IMEI.
This is the stock AT&T version G Pro that has not been rooted. I contacted AT&T thinking this may be a sim card problem or maybe I bought a stolen phone, but everything on their end seemed to be clean. I tried out a friends sim card and still had no luck. Called LG and they said I would need to send it in with a receipt. I don't have a receipt and I won't pay for them to repair the phone, because I'm sure the bill will wind up being more than the phone is worth.
Has anyone else had this problem? Are their any fixes anyone can think of that doesn't involve rooting the device? If not, what steps will I need to take to recover my IMEI so that the phone will actually make/receive phone calls and texts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are YOU SURE you did not do anything to the phone? Cause loosing an IMEI requires the USER to do something wrong, like flashing other carrier Versions.
hyelton said:
Are YOU SURE you did not do anything to the phone? Cause loosing an IMEI requires the USER to do something wrong, like flashing other carrier Versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had my phone do that before. Wasn't rooted or hacked in any way. I didn't even know of a way to do it. What fixed mine was a **** load of factory resets. And I mean a **** LOAD!!! Luckily it came back and I've been good ever since. Don't know what happened or how but that was very weird.
Note to the wise: I don't care who says what about what! NEVER buy a phone off of craigslist or from anyone for that matter other than a carrier or authorized reseller. Because when it breaks, you can't do **** about it!
hyelton said:
Are YOU SURE you did not do anything to the phone? Cause loosing an IMEI requires the USER to do something wrong, like flashing other carrier Versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I have no reason to lie about something like this. I've only rooted one phone of the dozen or so I've owned and that was a old Galaxy Note.
This morning when I got home from work the phone had 76% battery left, woke up and it was dead. It powered up and showed 2% battery. I went into battery under settings, android system used 26% of the battery. Not sure that's enough to drain the batter while I was asleep.
Must be something definitely wrong in the phone.
Jammol said:
I've had my phone do that before. Wasn't rooted or hacked in any way. I didn't even know of a way to do it. What fixed mine was a **** load of factory resets. And I mean a **** LOAD!!! Luckily it came back and I've been good ever since. Don't know what happened or how but that was very weird.
Note to the wise: I don't care who says what about what! NEVER buy a phone off of craigslist or from anyone for that matter other than a carrier or authorized reseller. Because when it breaks, you can't do **** about it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, lesson learned. Craigslist is usually where I do my cell phone trading and buying.
I'll keep trying resets to see if this fixes the problem. Thanks!
Try to re flash a stock using an LG flash tool it might work as what other users did on their G Pro have the same issues
Still haven't found anything that works.
I'm guessing something has malfunctioned in the phone.
Alright so I have had my LG G4 since last summer. Last night I went to check my phone, and it was turned off. After turning it on it showed the LG G4 logo then went black. Tried charging it but same thing. Can't restore it because it won't stay in Download mode long enough to be reset. I have read that serial numbers that start with 505 to I think 507 or 509 can have faulty mobo's. I was thinking of taking it into Tmobile to get it upgraded or replaced, but there's one catch. My bootloader is unlocked an I don't know if that breaks warranty, when you turn on the device it shows bootloader unlocked. Kinda stuck here. Please give advice thanks :/.
What in case they knew about bootloop problem on the early stage, or they specially injected this problem to explode in two-three years (when the warranty is off). Just to save a lot of money they offered free bootloader unlock with non-removable message on the screen and "your warranty will be void". In my opinion they should fix it for free, just because this situation is a shame. Mine has unlocked bootloader as well, now in service, but still don't know the status. If they will not fix it for free - I will push them to do this
BleepBloop said:
Alright so I have had my LG G4 since last summer. Last night I went to check my phone, and it was turned off. After turning it on it showed the LG G4 logo then went black. Tried charging it but same thing. Can't restore it because it won't stay in Download mode long enough to be reset. I have read that serial numbers that start with 505 to I think 507 or 509 can have faulty mobo's. I was thinking of taking it into Tmobile to get it upgraded or replaced, but there's one catch. My bootloader is unlocked an I don't know if that breaks warranty, when you turn on the device it shows bootloader unlocked. Kinda stuck here. Please give advice thanks :/.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The circumstances are very different for the US than it is for the rest of the world. Your one catch is no catch. It doesn't matter. Just do it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66931869&postcount=1048
Snakecharmed said:
The circumstances are very different for the US than it is for the rest of the world. Your one catch is no catch. It doesn't matter. Just do it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66931869&postcount=1048
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Click to collapse
Alright I am calling the 611 number today. Thanks.
Not sure if the policy is the same worldwide but mine's just been for repair in the UK with an unlocked bootloader and CM13 loaded on it. They fixed it under warranty with no questions asked.
That said it was repaired by the retailer who probably don't care as they just fix it and claim the cash from LG.
Hi Everyone,
As the title says, I sent my SM-N910A to get the crashing/restarting/hanging/lag/restarting issue fixed. I was using a partial wakelock app the last few months and it fixed most of the problems, but the phone kept on lagging more and more, so I decided to send it in while it was still under warranty.
I looked at the info provided on the RMA portal of Samsung's website, they said that " SOLUTION: Replaced Cosmetic - Replaced Component - Replaced PBA".
From my understanding, IMEI is the same, but what I'm worried now is that my phone is going to be re-locked to AT&T, which isn't fun as I don't even have an AT&T SIM card or account, so I don't know how I'd go about getting it unlocked.
Has anyone else sent their unlocked SM-N910A to Samsung and got it back locked to AT&T? If so, what did you do to resolve it?
Thanks
I'd Contact Samsung support first thing in the morning and ask. They are usually great to work with....
dan0430 said:
Hi Everyone,
As the title says, I sent my SM-N910A to get the crashing/restarting/hanging/lag/restarting issue fixed. I was using a partial wakelock app the last few months and it fixed most of the problems, but the phone kept on lagging more and more, so I decided to send it in while it was still under warranty.
I looked at the info provided on the RMA portal of Samsung's website, they said that " SOLUTION: Replaced Cosmetic - Replaced Component - Replaced PBA".
From my understanding, IMEI is the same, but what I'm worried now is that my phone is going to be re-locked to AT&T, which isn't fun as I don't even have an AT&T SIM card or account, so I don't know how I'd go about getting it unlocked.
Has anyone else sent their unlocked SM-N910A to Samsung and got it back locked to AT&T? If so, what did you do to resolve it?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an att note 4.
Once the phone is unlocked, the phone remains unlocked it should NOT reset.
If you've rooted the phone (which there's no root for att note 4) that can be reset, bc rom they flash is usually not rooted.
This is my understanding, experiences will differ. Please do followup with your experience once you get your phone back.
Good luck.
Shanghai.Knight said:
I'd Contact Samsung support first thing in the morning and ask. They are usually great to work with....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would, except for the fact they said that they've never heard of my issue, that updating the software/uninstalling apps will fix it, thought a wakelock was equal to rooting (even though you can't root the AT&T version), etc. Since this I've had little faith in them aside from the actual people doing the repairs at RSI...
kparikh82276 said:
I have an att note 4.
Once the phone is unlocked, the phone remains unlocked it should NOT reset.
If you've rooted the phone (which there's no root for att note 4) that can be reset, bc rom they flash is usually not rooted.
This is my understanding, experiences will differ. Please do followup with your experience once you get your phone back.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the unlock wouldn't reset normally, but I'm assuming if you replace the PBA, that includes the baseband processor, which in turn would result in a different IMEI, which in turn would be re-locked to AT&T. I don't think you can replace the components and assign the same IMEI to the device.
I know this is a question for Samsung, but when you email "tech support" and they tell you that if the processor is bad, they'll just replace the processor (you know, the one that's soldered on the PBA) I start to get a little low in confidence...
An update for everyone who was curious:
I got my device back, several components were replaced, and the phone basically looks brand new, even though I had taken good care of it.
Now, the IMEI of my device is the same, which confuses me even more, especially when I powered it on with my non-AT&T SIM card installed and was prompted for the unlock code.
Thankfully, I was able to reach out to the person I bought it from (new & unlocked) on eBay, and he provided me with the code, and it worked flawlessly. The best part of all of this is I'm on Marshmallow now, and notice several improvements (and like it more aesthetically). The RMA was straightforward with RSI (Samsung's partner) and I've got a non-wakelocking device once again.
i sent my unlocked AT&T Note 4 in last month to replace the rear camera (focus problems)
under warranty and they broke the LCD while taking it apart so i got a new LCD too. it was still unlocked
when i got it back.
hey guys, just bought a NOTE 10 PLUS from a friend dirt cheap since he cant unlock it. i tried to do the factory rest and now im stuck at the setup screen saying i need to varify myself. can you guys link me to the proper thread to download the firmware to flash with odin. theres so many varients that i need to ask for guidance. this is the N975U for the Sprint network. id like to just have it as a web browser if possible.
Simply return it to it's owner and they will be able to unlock it. Flash whatever you like, you won't be able to get around a frp lock.
The fact that 'the friend' is unable to unlock it makes it a bit suspicious...
Jeff202020 said:
hey guys, just bought a NOTE 10 PLUS from a friend dirt cheap since he cant unlock it. i tried to do the factory rest and now im stuck at the setup screen saying i need to varify myself. can you guys link me to the proper thread to download the firmware to flash with odin. theres so many varients that i need to ask for guidance. this is the N975U for the Sprint network. id like to just have it as a web browser if possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully this will help for future encounters...
Before you buy/accept any Android device make sure the seller/owner of the phone does a factory data reset before he/she sells/gives it to you.
Performing the FDR will disable the FRP lock (Google Anti-theft Measure). As stated previously if the previous person doesn't do the phone will ask for the previous Google Account login information for verification. Without that information you won't be able to use, flash or Factory Data Reset the phone.
There is 100% a way to unlock it as previously mentioned, return it to its owner. Buying stolen goods is not a good idea, that is what we can learn from this.
Wish I would have known this was locked this way. Dont think its stolen.. just found. Oh well..... learned the hard way.
I'm sure you do but the owner didn't buy it just so you could get a sweet deal on a Note 10 Plus. Stolen or lost, it could easily be returned to it's owner.
Jeff202020 said:
This is a found phone over the holiday shopping spree. That's what I was told at least. I've been out of the flashing world for years and was not aware about these new security system with Google. Bought the dang thing for 200$ thinking I was getting a awesome deal by just flashing it. looks like I lost money. So there's no way to unlock it? I was also forwarded that he couldn't unlock the thing. I thought I'd stay quiet and use is in since he doesn't even know what it is. Lol. I might have shot myself in the foot.
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Click to collapse
Am I understanding this correct? Your friend found the phone (he didn't buy it nor did he actually own the phone, he just happened to find it) that you bought?
If so then that is in fact a stolen phone. Regardless of what your friend said if someone happened to loose the phone it does not mean it belongs to the person who found it. If the friend didn't make a reasonable effort to find the owner of the phone then they have committed theft by finding.
The correct and legal thing to do when you found a lost phone is if you see any sort of carrier branding on the phone (Verizon, AT&T or etc) take it to the nearest store matching the carrier branding. Inform them that the phone was found on the ground. They will be able to locate the appropriate owner. If you can't locate any branding you should take it to your local police department in case someone called it in as lost. If the phone was found at a local store, give the phone to the store in case someone comes looking for the phone they lost.
And the answer is no. The FRP lock is an anti-theft measure. Surrender the phone to the applicable provider or local authorities so the owner can claim the lost device. Your friend should be able to give your money back if they are your friend.
You have received your answer here and also here
Return it to the authorities as your posts about this are inconsistent
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