How to unroot for repair? - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi guys
My device spent 15 minutes on a wet patch of grass, embedded in mud though thankfully it had stopped raining. I found it caked in gloop and spent that night cleaning the ports and making it shiny again. It worked fine after until 3 days later (today). Now the USB port appears to have stopped working; it won't charge nor will my PC recognize it. It worked flawlessly before the mud incident.
I have the JellyBelly ROM installed with CWM recovery ... and obviously need to send it in for repair. Good chance Vodafone won't do it under warranty because I'm rooted etc. Plus it's a work phone so I will get told off if I truly voided the warranty!
Can I get the phone back to stock status, either ICS or JB, with a locked bootloader?
Thanks in advance ~ !
Edit: I realise I can unroot and re-lock using USB cable through my Win PC but .... worse case scenario came true & cannot use the USB cable!

tweeny80 said:
Hi guys
My device spent 15 minutes on a wet patch of grass, embedded in mud though thankfully it had stopped raining. I found it caked in gloop and spent that night cleaning the ports and making it shiny again. It worked fine after until 3 days later (today). Now the USB port appears to have stopped working; it won't charge nor will my PC recognize it. It worked flawlessly before the mud incident.
I have the JellyBelly ROM installed with CWM recovery ... and obviously need to send it in for repair. Good chance Vodafone won't do it under warranty because I'm rooted etc. Plus it's a work phone so I will get told off if I truly voided the warranty!
Can I get the phone back to stock status, either ICS or JB, with a locked bootloader?
Thanks in advance ~ !
Edit: I realise I can unroot and re-lock using USB cable through my Win PC but .... worse case scenario came true & cannot use the USB cable!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think that is possible to do such things without using pc. just try that to another pc cause it might be your phones fault and the pc`s.

nikolas7gr said:
I dont think that is possible to do such things without using pc. just try that to another pc cause it might be your phones fault and the pc`s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I have two cords, a charger and a USB cable. Neither works all of a sudden and yes, I tried another PC with same result. All my reading seems enforces that a PC connectoin is required to lock the device through fastboot / ADB.
Any other ideas, xda? (and thanks for your reply)

Sometimes if you take for a repair shop that they repair phones they can do it without a problem. I'm not sure if they would mind if it was rooted or not and if you have an unlocked bootloader. All they need to do is change the USB port. I haven't checked but with a friend of mine he has jailbroken his iphone and the power button stopped working and the repair shop accepted it. So, just try but I'm sure they would accept it.

UslessSniper001 said:
Sometimes if you take for a repair shop that they repair phones they can do it without a problem. I'm not sure if they would mind if it was rooted or not and if you have an unlocked bootloader. All they need to do is change the USB port. I haven't checked but with a friend of mine he has jailbroken his iphone and the power button stopped working and the repair shop accepted it. So, just try but I'm sure they would accept it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do thanks.

Happy to help. But remember I'm not 110%sure it would work. Tell me if it did.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Related

Can I unroot?

Silly question but I if I root and I need to do a wrranty claim, can I unroot by restoring the phone or is it rooted for good?
Thanks
From what I have heard...all that you need to do is uninstall the apps that show you rooted (Superuser, Titanium backup, ROM Manager, Busy Box, etc) and delete the update.zip from the SD card and you'll be all set.
I'm not completely sure on this but I THINK that's it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Does it show the lock on the phone like on the nexus one on boot up if you root it?
the only way to really unroot is to restore your phone using odin3.
this will completely wipe your phone including the os and reinstall it. you'll then have all the att apps if you deleted it. Make sure you keep it connected. I bricked my phone purposely by disconnecting it while it was whipping. There is absolutely no way to get it out of this brick. you'll end up having to get a new phone (all i said to att was i think the usb port went bad lol)
p8ntballsk8ter94 said:
the only way to really unroot is to restore your phone using odin3.
this will completely wipe your phone including the os and reinstall it. you'll then have all the att apps if you deleted it. Make sure you keep it connected. I bricked my phone purposely by disconnecting it while it was whipping. There is absolutely no way to get it out of this brick. you'll end up having to get a new phone (all i said to att was i think the usb port went bad lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha that is one hilarious solution to getting a phone replacement. Did AT&T give you any issues?
Check out the one-click Root Tool in the Dev section. I believe the dev just updated the tool to have a one-click UNROOT option as well.
Nope, didn't give me any issues. The phone was completely bricked with no response to outer source power. Plug in the USB, not even the battery thing shows up. the ATT guy tried 3 different chargers and figured it had to be the USB too. Swapped out phones and he grabbed me a new one straight from the box.
I used to do this a lot back with my iPhone 3G. Not that I like to cheat companies out of their money... I'm definitely not for that. But really, the batteries would degrade an hour less capacity a month so i needed to replace a phone without making it seem like it's the users fault nearly every 3 months.
p8ntballsk8ter94 said:
Nope, didn't give me any issues. The phone was completely bricked with no response to outer source power. Plug in the USB, not even the battery thing shows up. the ATT guy tried 3 different chargers and figured it had to be the USB too. Swapped out phones and he grabbed me a new one straight from the box.
I used to do this a lot back with my iPhone 3G. Not that I like to cheat companies out of their money... I'm definitely not for that. But really, the batteries would degrade an hour less capacity a month so i needed to replace a phone without making it seem like it's the users fault nearly every 3 months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds exactly what I went through. They had no problems exchanging it either.

[Q] Hard brick from OTG cable

I just hard bricked my second GS3. I bricked the first one a couple of months ago (the day I got it) when used a cheap OTG cable to attach a flash drive to the phone. The phone just shut down. No charge light ever, no response to usb, just nothing.
When I got my second phone, I took a deep breath and tried the OTG cable again and it worked fine. I thought I just got a bad phone.
But today, on a whim, I wanted to see if my phone would run an external USB cd drive. BAM, the phone shuts down and is hard bricked again!!
So, I guess this is a cautionary tale, as well a plea to the community for any recommendations. Someone had a similar problem months ago, but I didn't see a resolution. I will probably end up sending it for JTAG repair, but I don't know if it will do any good since this wasn't caused by borking a ROM install. Anybody have any experience with this?
One thing is for sure. That OTG cable is going in the trash.
I have never heard of this. Very interesting. Sorry to hear this for you. I have been using my cable for awhile now and only ever had one problem with it. I was viewing pictures and looked away from the phone for a few moments. Phone went into sleep mode like normal. Dull screen then screen off. Prob was it wouldnt wake up. Nothin i did woke it up so i had to do a battery pull. Phone was fine after that and havent had the problem since. Gonna keep fingers crossed after reading the OP.
Set from my Verizon Stock Rooted (Modded) Galaxy S3 using xda-developers app
Yeah, it is a real pain. I found some other people who had the same issue.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/32816-sgs-3-and-otg-usb-adapter-might-equal-brick/
I just can't imagine what must be happening. I wish one of those uber-smart hackers who were working on the bootloader unlock would see this and give me some idea if it is even fixable. It is almost like it blew a fuse.
Anyway, I have an email out to mobiletechvideos to see if they think it can be jtag-ed. I have a feeling that a $2 cable is going to end up costing me $600.
----- Update -----
I made and tried a usb jig, just for kicks. No luck. Still waiting to see if mobiletechvideos gets back to me.
Another quick follow-up... I got a response from mobiletechvideos.
Unfortunately that has been damaging many people’s phones. It damages the PMIC and the device is not repairable by any of our services or any other shop that I know of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are too lazy to google PMIC, it is the power management chip. Sounds like there is a problem with the cable where the power is being directed somewhere it shouldn't be.
This weekend, I will carefully cut open the cable and see if I can see the problem.
Bort76 said:
This weekend, I will carefully cut open the cable and see if I can see the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't like resurrecting threads, but was curious for an update. This just happened to my Verizon GS3 as well. Completely unresponsive. I'm still under warranty so am about to go to the store to have it sent back, but came across this thread while trying to hunt down solutions.
Fwiw, it was with this cable: www()amazon()com/gp/product/B00932N46S/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00
(Stupid spam filter.)
N

[Q] Returning phone for warranty, how to unroot with no working screen?

My LG G2 stopped working last week. The screen totally went dead out of nowhere, and I went to the store and ordered a replacement. I have the new phone so everything is good, but how do I go about returning the old one? I rooted it like 2 weeks ago, how can I unroot without a working screen? The phone won't even connect as a usb device to my computer anymore (and I can't change the settings cause of the screen..).
Will verizon know it is rooted even if the screen doesn't work? I don't want to get shafted with a $500 charge just for rooting. I'm sure this has to have happened to people before so if anyone has any info I'd appreciate it.
mrgrowl said:
My LG G2 stopped working last week. The screen totally went dead out of nowhere, and I went to the store and ordered a replacement. I have the new phone so everything is good, but how do I go about returning the old one? I rooted it like 2 weeks ago, how can I unroot without a working screen? The phone won't even connect as a usb device to my computer anymore (and I can't change the settings cause of the screen..).
Will verizon know it is rooted even if the screen doesn't work? I don't want to get shafted with a $500 charge just for rooting. I'm sure this has to have happened to people before so if anyone has any info I'd appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Throw it in download mode and get the KDZ or whatever it's called for your device. it'll install a completely stock ROM on your device.
the last time i had to return a phone for non-functionality after i'd gained administrator access, they didn't even look at the phone before they gave me a replacement. that's what my money's on here, too, especially with a broken screen and no usb function. they probably won't even attempt to repair it, it's just not worth it. they'll try to recover the precious metals from it and be done.
no promises of course, but that's my guess.

SM-G920F - USB broken

So, my S6 is ****ed.
My USB port doesn't work anymore other than for charging.
I bought this phone second hand (with a warranty) a few months ago and everything was fine.
Since then I flashed the aTerminator ROM (lollipop) and tripped knox.
I copied the tyrannus rom (6.0.1) from my server over wifi and tried flashing it, something went wrong and I've lost TWRP (3.0.2.0) and the phone doesn't boot, I've waited longer than 30 minutes as I know sometimes we have to be patient.
I can reboot to "Download" mode but without any USB connection to a PC I'm stuck.
I have tried 4 different PCs and one Macbook, 5 different USB cables. These PCs and cables work with my neices S7 so I know the drivers are installed and the hardware is ok.
I've ADB on these computers and when I run "adb devices" nothing is listed for the S6 but works for the S7.
Any suggestions from you geniuses?
Thanks
Does Smart switch recognize the phone, have you tried emergency initialization w/ sn?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/how-to-smart-switch-emergency-t3383448
brenner650 said:
Does Smart switch recognize the phone, have you tried emergency initialization w/ sn?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/how-to-smart-switch-emergency-t3383448
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply, yes I tried that too but nothing is recognised by the computers.
I guess I have to accept that the USB is dead, so my question is (I'm pretty sure I know the answer), is there any way from the Samsung "Download" mode to do anything with the phone only in the absence of a working USB to send commands or use ODIN?
If not, do you think it would be worth while getting the phone repaired? (I live in Switzerland and everything is expensive here)
I did see a video explaining how to replace the USB card but it requires completely dismantling the phone and I wouldn't be capable of doing this myself.
My G920F's USB port also broke somehow. The phone wasn't being detected by Windows, either in Android or in TWRP. It did charge as well, and Odin detected it in Download mode so I was able to flash stuff. I understand your phone isn't detected by Odin?
I had the USB port replaced in a repair shop, eventually. It cost me about 55 E total. I did repair a few phones over time but I hate working with glued glass phones. It's slow and stressful. I'd rather spend a bit more money to avoid it.
I would replace it if I were you. The new one I got feels much better, stiffer, stronger. I have since heard or read on the web of some s6 and Edge models having problems with the USB port. Maybe the parts were of poor quality. It might break completely eventually. The new port feels better than the old one, even when the phone was new. It was loose and all cables would move in it. Ideally it should have been replaced under warranty, but I tripped Knox as well, and they invalidated my warranty until I replace the mainboard.
sandulea said:
My G920F's USB port also broke somehow. The phone wasn't being detected by Windows, either in Android or in TWRP. It did charge as well, and Odin detected it in Download mode so I was able to flash stuff. I understand your phone isn't detected by Odin?
I had the USB port replaced in a repair shop, eventually. It cost me about 55 E total. I did repair a few phones over time but I hate working with glued glass phones. It's slow and stressful. I'd rather spend a bit more money to avoid it.
I would replace it if I were you. The new one I got feels much better, stiffer, stronger. I have since heard or read on the web of some s6 and Edge models having problems with the USB port. Maybe the parts were of poor quality. It might break completely eventually. The new port feels better than the old one, even when the phone was new. It was loose and all cables would move in it. Ideally it should have been replaced under warranty, but I tripped Knox as well, and they invalidated my warranty until I replace the mainboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your story.
Yeah, our difference is that nothing is detected on the computer, including ODIN so I suppose I'll get a quote to see how much it'll cost to replace it here.
Did your repair shop say how long it took them?
footballmad said:
Thanks for sharing your story.
Yeah, our difference is that nothing is detected on the computer, including ODIN so I suppose I'll get a quote to see how much it'll cost to replace it here.
Did your repair shop say how long it took them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It took them 2 days, but they were busy, they told me it could have been done in a day normally.
sandulea said:
It took them 2 days, but they were busy, they told me it could have been done in a day normally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, 55euros for a days work !!
In that case it'll probably cost 3 or 4 times as much here

Another hard brick experience

I've been rooting and flashing since the droid Eris. Long time. And this is the first phone I've ever hard bricked. I guess I was overdue but I've always been able to sink a night or two into a phone and bring it back from death. Not this one. I was trying to restore to stock and the flashall bat file in the package from essential just shut it down. Alot of fails popped and suddenly the phone won't turn on. Getting a replacement from Essential and I gotta say it's made me gun shy about flashing anything else. I said if I have to replace it I'm just going to stay stock rooted. Now I'm a little hesitant to even root as that involves flashing a boot img. It may be the first droid in all these years I finally concede defeat. Just some thoughts and warning folks to be super careful what you do. This phone is easy to brick. It's still a great phone.
Yep
Exactly the same for me back in December 2017
A load of errors trying to flash stock, then dead.
Did you guys use the cable that came with it, that essential warns not to use?
Ryuk359 said:
I've been rooting and flashing since the droid Eris. Long time. And this is the first phone I've ever hard bricked. I guess I was overdue but I've always been able to sink a night or two into a phone and bring it back from death. Not this one. I was trying to restore to stock and the flashall bat file in the package from essential just shut it down. Alot of fails popped and suddenly the phone won't turn on. Getting a replacement from Essential and I gotta say it's made me gun shy about flashing anything else. I said if I have to replace it I'm just going to stay stock rooted. Now I'm a little hesitant to even root as that involves flashing a boot img. It may be the first droid in all these years I finally concede defeat. Just some thoughts and warning folks to be super careful what you do. This phone is easy to brick. It's still a great phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
johnny8910 said:
Yep
Exactly the same for me back in December 2017
A load of errors trying to flash stock, then dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have to "fastboot flashing unlock" and "fastboot flashing unlock_critical"
Yep
Did all that etc.
Used a different cable, still got me though.
Yeah same. Critical was unlocked and I used a good cable. Could've been a fluke but the fluke cost me a phone.
crixley said:
Did you guys use the cable that came with it, that essential warns not to use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What wire is that? USB type C to USB type C?
convolution said:
What wire is that? USB type C to USB type C?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the braided one, unless they included another one too. It was all over reddit
crixley said:
Yeah the braided one, unless they included another one too. It was all over reddit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a link to the reddit? I haven't been following it; just picked up the phone last week.
Also, even a wrong cable can cause a brick?
How do I know which cable will screw up my phone?
convolution said:
Do you have a link to the reddit? I haven't been following it; just picked up the phone last week.
Also, even a wrong cable can cause a brick?
How do I know which cable will screw up my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ones that are supposed to be charge only, and not data transfer.
Here's one link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/essential/...tial_recommends_not_using_the_ph1s_stock_usb/
There have been countless bricks.
crixley said:
The ones that are supposed to be charge only, and not data transfer.
Here's one link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/essential/...tial_recommends_not_using_the_ph1s_stock_usb/
There have been countless bricks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link...
If I have a USB-C cable, how can I tell if it's for charging only, or data transfer? If I can use it to transfer files to and from my phone to my computer, does that automatically make it a data transfer cable?
I have a USB C cable from this guy: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B078T63VDF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's to hook up to a gamepad to allow me to play games wired. Would that be a data transfer cable, because you're transferring gamepad input data to the PC?
Thanks.
convolution said:
Thanks for the link...
If I have a USB-C cable, how can I tell if it's for charging only, or data transfer? If I can use it to transfer files to and from my phone to my computer, does that automatically make it a data transfer cable?
I have a USB C cable from this guy: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B078T63VDF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's to hook up to a gamepad to allow me to play games wired. Would that be a data transfer cable, because you're transferring gamepad input data to the PC?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem!
Yeah my assumption would be that that would be fine. You're correct about it being used to transfer data from the gamepad.
Don't want to see any more bricks around, it's a worrying issue for sure.
crixley said:
No problem!
Yeah my assumption would be that that would be fine. You're correct about it being used to transfer data from the gamepad.
Don't want to see any more bricks around, it's a worrying issue for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reading these stories has really woken me up. Before, for my previous devices, I would just grab any old micro USB cable lying around and perform all sorts of stuff... and I've been lucky thus far. I don't want this phone, which is the most expensive phone I've ever owned, to be the first...
Thanks again for your help.
convolution said:
Reading these stories has really woken me up. Before, for my previous devices, I would just grab any old micro USB cable lying around and perform all sorts of stuff... and I've been lucky thus far. I don't want this phone, which is the most expensive phone I've ever owned, to be the first...
Thanks again for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anything for a fellow Canadian haha
Add me to the list of hardbricks. Super bummed I only had the phone for a few days and no warranty.
What? I never flashed anything with the critical command... I'm rooted on stock... Should I worry?
jAm-0 said:
Add me to the list of hardbricks. Super bummed I only had the phone for a few days and no warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Send them an email. I got a out of warranty replacement for 200. It sucks to pay that but combined with the cost I paid originally it only brought me to the price of a new one so I bit the bullet. And the replacement has a year warranty too. I'm running bone stock. Weird not to be rooted but I'm gonna play it safe for a while.
joewoo said:
What? I never flashed anything with the critical command... I'm rooted on stock... Should I worry?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be ok. I think worst case for you would be losing root during an ota since your partitions are functional. Just be careful if that time comes and you go to re-root.
Pretty much my only reason to root now is adaway and titanium backup. I think I can live without those two. Just need to find a decent non root ad blocker. Backup was just more time saving than absolutely needed.
jAm-0 said:
Add me to the list of hardbricks. Super bummed I only had the phone for a few days and no warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a last question... when you unlocked your bootloader, did you type fastboot flashing unlock or fastboot flashing unlock_critical?
jAm-0 said:
Add me to the list of hardbricks. Super bummed I only had the phone for a few days and no warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pretty much had the same experience you did after reading your other posts. It was when I started with LOS that things went bad. I even got stuck in lineage at a point and couldn't go back. Vanilla android is where I'm gonna stay on this phone. Maybe down the road someone can figure out a way back from the hard brick status. I can't tell now but I seem to remember all hope being lost when my bootloader stop telling the variant and the serial went from the normal serial to a short number. Then black. Hopefully no one else goes through this.

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