Unlocking your tablet - beware of warranty! - Transformer TF300T Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I installed CM 10.1 on my TF300T recently, in hopes that it would fix the random reboots, wifi power, and freezes that have plagued my tablet from the day I bought it. My tablet still has these problems, and I contacted Asus to see about repairing it. They said that since it's unlocked, they won't honor the warranty. Even though I've had these problems since I bought it. I'm not a happy camper right now.

Where are you from? EU?

stenc55 said:
Where are you from? EU?
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I'm in the USA, and it's a USA tablet. It's especially frustrating because I read stories from other people saying Asus would honor the warranty even on unlocked devices. The reversal of this policy has me regretting buying this Tablet.

northben said:
I'm in the USA, and it's a USA tablet. It's especially frustrating because I read stories from other people saying Asus would honor the warranty even on unlocked devices. The reversal of this policy has me regretting buying this Tablet.
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Welcome to the club. I have a hardware defect in the form of a faulty Micro SD card slot (found out well after I unlocked the tablet), and they won't honor the warranty since I'm unlocked. Never again.

northben said:
I installed CM 10.1 on my TF300T recently, in hopes that it would fix the random reboots, wifi power, and freezes that have plagued my tablet from the day I bought it. My tablet still has these problems, and I contacted Asus to see about repairing it. They said that since it's unlocked, they won't honor the warranty. Even though I've had these problems since I bought it. I'm not a happy camper right now.
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Click to collapse
they DID place an huge "you warranty will be void if you continue" alert when you unlocked, didnt they?
now, if you were in a country where they give a damn about consumers rights your choice would be excusable, but you live in USA, the Land of the Free ( Companies), what were you thinking, that the "your warranty will be void" was just a party joke?

have you opened a claim with your credit card company's extended warranty benefit? I paid with American Express. They've always been good on these sorts of things, so I hope they will help me here also!

Since the AmEx extends the factory warranty I think by voiding it you prob void the extension, but it's worth a shot.
OP, How long did it take before you first noticed these issues? I just got a new device and have been using it for a couple days, trying to get comfortable enough with it to know I can root it and play around a bit.

northben said:
I installed CM 10.1 on my TF300T recently, in hopes that it would fix the random reboots, wifi power, and freezes that have plagued my tablet from the day I bought it. My tablet still has these problems, and I contacted Asus to see about repairing it. They said that since it's unlocked, they won't honor the warranty. Even though I've had these problems since I bought it. I'm not a happy camper right now.
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Click to collapse
With those problems your tablet had you just decided to unlock it, hoping, those issues would disappear? Wow...I mean, could've been software, but you should've contacted asus and get a replacement or your tablet fixed on warranty instead of unlocking

Related

[Q] returning an unlocked tablet?

hi,
i bought my tf700 at a bestbuy in portland. i still have this whole month for returning the tablet and i am looking for potentially deal breaking defects... one thing i am worried about is that if i unlock it, i cannot "technically" return the tablet anymore because it cant be relocked... so how likely do you think it is that best buy will notice that i am returning an unlocked tablet?
How about checking it for these deal breaking defects before you unlock it?
Edit:
Also, it's not about whether or not they'll notice it, it's whether or not you should return an unlocked tablet. Which you shouldn't.
Einride said:
How about checking it for these deal breaking defects before you unlock it?
Edit:
Also, it's not about whether or not they'll notice it, it's whether or not you should return an unlocked tablet. Which you shouldn't.
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i understand this. but i am not going to argue about ethics when a $500 product has been conveniently pushed into the market with rampant cases of defects/software issues/ota failures. besides afaik best buy will not lose anything on the replacement. a defective tablet is the vendor's fault. further, unlocking the bootloader hardly does any damage to the tablet itself. asus can easily relock it if it wants - such cases are well known for primes gone in for repair.
i am just asking for experiences of people. it does not make me happy to do this either. but its $500 afterall
You're talking about returning it within a month, which seems to be the store's return policy. If you then return it, Asus plays no part in that since it's the store taking it back. Not Asus. I doubt that the store will contact Asus to check whether it's been unlocked or not.
That would be a problem since they'll sell the tablet to someone else, maybe with a $20 discount since it's been returned. That customer will then end up with a device that doesn't have a warranty from Asus since it's been unlocked.
If you're RMA-ing it, that's different. Asus handles it then.
The way that I understand it, when you return something to Best Buy (or any retailer for that matter) and tell them that it was defective, they simply return it to Asus and they get their money back as well. Now, if you tell them that it works fine and you just didn't like it, they *may* re-sell it as an OpenBox item.
I'd suggest that you claim it is defective so that nobody else ends up with an unlocked bootloader when they didn't want one.
In my eyes, if it can't be unlocked, it's defective. While the unlock app does void the warranty and Asus won't support the app, it should still work! By releasing the unlock app, they are essentially saying that it's possible to unlock the bootloader on the device. If you can't do so, then it's defective.
At least thats my opinion on the matter!
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
silenced3 said:
hi,
i bought my tf700 at a bestbuy in portland. i still have this whole month for returning the tablet and i am looking for potentially deal breaking defects... one thing i am worried about is that if i unlock it, i cannot "technically" return the tablet anymore because it cant be relocked... so how likely do you think it is that best buy will notice that i am returning an unlocked tablet?
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Click to collapse
Did you receive the ota
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
gmfeny said:
Did you receive the ota
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
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nope no ota for me. im stuck with the .21 firmware. plus i am getting an impression of the speaker burning smell too
the reason i posted the OP was because i was expecting something like the speaker burning issue to crop up. now that it has, i am not going to unlock it. its going back X(
silenced3 said:
nope no ota for me. im stuck with the .21 firmware. (
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It is probably a moot point since apparently if you can not get OTA updates you probably can't unlock.
silenced3 said:
hi,
i bought my tf700 at a bestbuy in portland. i still have this whole month for returning the tablet and i am looking for potentially deal breaking defects... one thing i am worried about is that if i unlock it, i cannot "technically" return the tablet anymore because it cant be relocked... so how likely do you think it is that best buy will notice that i am returning an unlocked tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First I would check to see if you can receive the OTA update. If you can't, then you can't unlock. I would make a case that the unit is defective because you can't get updates, but normally BB doesn't ask any questions (I'm in Portland too and have done plenty of returns/exchanges).
FWIW, I exchanged my unlocked TF300 for the TF700 and they didn't notice. Normally if it is something that is defective, they'll send it back to Asus anyways and they would re-lock it.
I unlocked my TF700 mainly to see if it would since so many people could not and will be returning it to B&H this week as i'm not happy with the performance of the tablet. I'm within the return window and don't anticipate any problems doing so.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Premium HD app
I see no moral issues with returning a device that is defective or not as expected due to bugs and performance issues. Now I would not mod the heck out of it for 29 days then take it back, but a detached screen, terrible lag, failure to update, and other issues have no bearing on whether its unlocked or not unless you have done something to cause these issues. I have returned several devices over the years to retailers and none have ever been checked for root/roms except at a T-Mobile store where the guy asked how I liked the ROM as he was trouble shooting before boxing it up and giving me a new one. He didnt care one bit. Most Best Buy employees don't know a thing about how to check for this and wouldnt even know a custom ROM by looking at it, there are exceptions however so no offense to anyone here that may have this type of job. Most of these folks just want to get you taken care of so they can move to the next person so they will check receipt, check that the serial number matches and so on then do the refund/exchange.
Returned an unlocked TF300 to Bestbuy and picked up a 700 in return. No issues at all.
Are returns to BB fairly easy? I kinda want to give the tab a test run, but don't want to commit right away.
689 dollars is a small fortune.
upstandingcitizen said:
Are returns to BB fairly easy? I kinda want to give the tab a test run, but don't want to commit right away.
689 dollars is a small fortune.
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Get the 32gig version for $500 + tax. As far as return policy they are about on par with anyone else out there. Expect a line and other inconviences, but they did away with their re-stocking fees on everything except special order items, and thats a hefty 25%. Regardless, I wouldnt recommend modding anything untill you know your going to keep it. Here's the link to the return policy.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Returns...es/pcmcat204400050025.c?id=pcmcat204400050025
upstandingcitizen said:
Are returns to BB fairly easy? I kinda want to give the tab a test run, but don't want to commit right away.
689 dollars is a small fortune.
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Just erase/format the tablet before you return it. The BB employee will turn it on, see that you already erased everything and then give you your money back. Super easy.
richB7 said:
I unlocked my TF700 mainly to see if it would since so many people could not and will be returning it to B&H this week as i'm not happy with the performance of the tablet.
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I'm curious: What, specifically, are you unhappy with? I assume that it's not a physical defect?
I had the original 101 and liked it. Then got the 201 and even though it performed nicely I couldn't get past the WiFi and GPS defects. Returned two. Then went with the Samsung 7.7 and liked it well the responsiveness really took of after installing jelly bean. When the A700 came out tried that but it was way too slow. Waited for the tf700 got it and even though it was less choppy than the acer still pretty lame in moving between screens,browsing or just about anything. Heck Netflix on my $75 mk-201+ device works far better than it does on the 700 for $700.
This weekend I upgraded my phone to a Sammy sgs3 and I was blown away by how responsive it was. Yes they are different devices but it just made it very clear to me just how sluggish the 700 was in comparison. I won't criticize you who love the device, to each his own, but I expect better for this kind of money. Hope you get jb soon....
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Premium HD app

Return Infinity with unlocked bootloader?

So I unlocked the bootloader before reading that you cant relock it (dumb me, I know). After playing with the tab for a few days in not 100% satisfied with it. Has anybody returned one with the bootloader unlocked?
I've seen people returning it with the tablet being unlocked. They usually don't check the internal stuff. They just want to make sure it turns on. But still there is a small chance you will get caught. Maybe when Asus receives the tablet and then backtracks to the seller to warn them they broke the warranty. But then I'm just making that up (Asus contacting seller).
If you happened to buy from Amazon you'll have no problem...
I got it from Best Buy, should have got it from Amazon. Ill try to return it and see what happens
dreamsti said:
I got it from Best Buy, should have got it from Amazon. Ill try to return it and see what happens
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Sooner or later the stores are going to start cracking down on tablet returns. I see A LOT of open box tablets on the shelves. If the store puts your tablet back on the shelf, the next person who buys it has basically no warranty. I think since you messed with it and it's not defective, you should be keeping it. It's a good tablet, why not keep it?
Rob
silverball.slayer said:
Sooner or later the stores are going to start cracking down on tablet returns. I see A LOT of open box tablets on the shelves. If the store puts your tablet back on the shelf, the next person who buys it has basically no warranty. I think since you messed with it and it's not defective, you should be keeping it. It's a good tablet, why not keep it?
Rob
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Cracking down how? Like checking to see if the bootloaders are unlocked?
The reason I want to return is its just not as fast and fluid as I was hoping it would be. I get tons of force closes, jitters and laaaaag! It's fast at times, but then slows down to a crawl. Im just not happy with its over all performance for a $500 product.
silverball.slayer said:
Sooner or later the stores are going to start cracking down on tablet returns. I see A LOT of open box tablets on the shelves.
Rob
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Click to collapse
Nah,
They don't care.
I see openbox crap myself at Fry's all the time.
All these Taiwan manufactured devices are not worth anything in realtime all the profits are in the original sale.
The junk that comes back eventually goes thru the grinder, and there's even profit in that.
These massive companies have it handled.
The days of Mom and Pop retail are long gone.
I'll bet even if you told BB it's unlocked they'd say (with a blank stare) "did you find everything you were looking for and would you like your original receipt?"
I just went to BB this morning to return my tf700 with unlocked boot loader. Lady just checked to see if it turns on and if anything was wrong with it and then bam! Money back.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
grinchyboy said:
I just went to BB this morning to return my tf700 with unlocked boot loader. Lady just checked to see if it turns on and if anything was wrong with it and then bam! Money back.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
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Good to hear, I'm taking mine back in hour or so. :good:
BB doesn't care
I've also returned my with an unlocked bootloader. The reason was for cosmetic damage however, straight out of the box. Cust service just asked if all accessories are in the package and BAAAAAM...another brand new unit was handed to me like free lunch.
Return in Netherlands
The Dutch law protects the buyers. In the Netherland you can return it with out any issue.

Extra insurance for unlocking needed?

Hi all,
I'm thinking about unlocking my TF700 after all things I heard about CleanRom. However, Asus stupidly decided that it voids all warranty (idiots). So I seek your advice. Is it really worth to unlock the device for that ROM and is it recommended to take extra insurance? If so, does anybody know a good one in The Netherlands?
Thanks!
Anybody? Really eager to get the ROM on but that is the only thing that is bothering me and preventing me from doing at this moment :crying:
It's worth unlocking.
How long have you had the tablet?
If you have absolutely no manufacturing deficiency and are happy with the tablets looks.
Then unlock it and flash CleanROM.
Don't let Asus hold a gun to your head.
IMO Asus isn't helping the tablet much with OTAs and their RMA process can be a nightmare.
If your still unsure "Squaretrade" is a good way to go, yet in opinion not worth it.
Thanks!
Well there are two complications I've had the tablet for about 3 - 4 weeks and it is the best Asus tablet (in terms of defects) I've owned yet (before had a TF101 that has been 4 times for RMA and have had 7 Primes). There is also the catch. After lots of complaining, I came in contact with the marketing manager of Asus Benelux who agreed on swapping my Prime (after first sending me in some more Primes which all had some kind of problem) for a TF700. So I don't have a receipt, everything should probably be dealt with the manager directly. Furthermore, I don't think SquareTrade is availabe in The Netherlands.
Have you tried CleanROM, is it worth the risk and really makes the tablet fly? I find it very sluggish atm...
flight777 said:
Thanks!
Have you tried CleanROM, is it worth the risk and really makes the tablet fly? I find it very sluggish atm...
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Click to collapse
It's right below in my signature...
Been running CleanROM for about 4 days now.
I have difficulty putting the tablet down, I run the battery down everyday now, My Infinity has become my go to device.
I really-really like the tablet now, prior to CleanROM I was really-really hating it.
The Infinity is no longer a sluggish device!
Definitely worth the risk!
My recommendation hold it tight because you will be using it more and more.
flight777 said:
Thanks!
Well there are two complications I've had the tablet for about 3 - 4 weeks and it is the best Asus tablet (in terms of defects) I've owned yet (before had a TF101 that has been 4 times for RMA and have had 7 Primes). There is also the catch. After lots of complaining, I came in contact with the marketing manager of Asus Benelux who agreed on swapping my Prime (after first sending me in some more Primes which all had some kind of problem) for a TF700. So I don't have a receipt, everything should probably be dealt with the manager directly. Furthermore, I don't think SquareTrade is availabe in The Netherlands.
Have you tried CleanROM, is it worth the risk and really makes the tablet fly? I find it very sluggish atm...
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Click to collapse
I see you type Benelux, so if you are from the Netherlands there should not be an issue. The Dutch law protects you against such unreasonable warranties. The Dutch law says that a manufacterer has to deliver a proper functioning device.
Hi bought mine at BCC and bought an extra warranty that covers all stupid actions for about € 100,- ex.btw. for 3 years.
When repair is needed no questions asked, broken screen, bricked etc.
flight777 said:
Hi all,
I'm thinking about unlocking my TF700 after all things I heard about CleanRom. However, Asus stupidly decided that it voids all warranty (idiots). So I seek your advice. Is it really worth to unlock the device for that ROM and is it recommended to take extra insurance? If so, does anybody know a good one in The Netherlands?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Risk in unlocking before returning?

I recently (like a few days ago) exchanged a 32gb model for a 64gb model at Best Buy. This new one has some of the body creaks that I'v read about online, and more light leaks than the first version I had. Probably should have stuck with that one in hindsight considering all the expandable memory options....anyway....
I'm pretty set on returning this one for one that doesn't creak and leak as badly. BB has a 30 return policy, so I'm all good there. I'm thinking about unlocking and playing with CromI to get a feel for it, but I'm wondering if there would be any risk in doing so. I'm well aware that unlocking voids the warranty with ASUS, but if I have no intention of needing that warranty with this device, then is it an issue. Will ASUS get the returned device, find it to be unlocked and trace it back, or is that just paranoid thinking? I would imagine they can relock it if necessary.
n8w said:
I recently (like a few days ago) exchanged a 32gb model for a 64gb model at Best Buy. This new one has some of the body creaks that I'v read about online, and more light leaks than the first version I had. Probably should have stuck with that one in hindsight considering all the expandable memory options....anyway....
I'm pretty set on returning this one for one that doesn't creak and leak as badly. BB has a 30 return policy, so I'm all good there. I'm thinking about unlocking and playing with CromI to get a feel for it, but I'm wondering if there would be any risk in doing so. I'm well aware that unlocking voids the warranty with ASUS, but if I have no intention of needing that warranty with this device, then is it an issue. Will ASUS get the returned device, find it to be unlocked and trace it back, or is that just paranoid thinking? I would imagine they can relock it if necessary.
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Click to collapse
I would return and get a new good one first before thinking about unlocking!
So far the only thing I read is it comes back locked and then people are having (SOME) getting it rooted again. I don't they are doing so good. SamsClub selling them for $439 32gb now.
buhohitr said:
I would return and get a new good one first before thinking about unlocking!
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^^^^^^^^^^^
The best advice right thar!
buhohitr said:
I would return and get a new good one first before thinking about unlocking!
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Click to collapse
+1 -- or risk having someone with more than one synapse somewhere down the line and be scr**ed.

[Q] Am I in for a bad time? Refurb TF700T and unlocking

I just purchased a refurbished TF700T and keyboard dock from BuyDig for 269.99. Pretty good price. I briefly owned a TF700T before, and did notice the sluggishness out of the box, but a 1200p tablet for practically $170 is hard to beat. When I had originally owned it, I was aware of CleanROM cleaning up Asus' slow eMMC mess, but at the time given the expense of the device I wasn't willing to give up the warranty. So now that the investment is a little lower, I'm more willing.
The refurb I believe is carried out by ASUS who then sells them back to BuyDig.
The reason I'm asking if I'm in for a bad time is because I've seen reports of other refurb owners who had terrible times getting their devices to unlock, specifically with messages like "unknown" or "invalid" serial numbers when attempting to input theirs. Or they were getting network access errors when trying to communicate with the servers that were responsible for unlocking the devices.
Does anyone have any input on this or experience being in this situation?
Would also like to hear any reports of unlockable success by recent buydig purchasers.
The unlock bootloader poll is only showing that 20% of the responders have issues...but 32% is unknown.
Buydig has a 45 day return/exchange policy, so I’m thinking that I’m going to roll the dice and hope that I don’t need to try and return it.
The only way to find out is to try it! If one thing is consistent in this unlock mess it's that it's totally inconsistent.
Works like a charm for some, others can't unlock at all. And it does not seem to have anything to do with new/refurb/repaired under warranty
berndblb said:
The only way to find out is to try it! If one thing is consistent in this unlock mess it's that it's totally inconsistent.
Works like a charm for some, others can't unlock at all. And it does not seem to have anything to do with new/refurb/repaired under warranty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks. I just received my refurb today. is it possible to try out the unlook tool to see if it is going to work for a specific device without actually voiding the warranty?
I'd like to wait at least a week or so to see if any major hardware issues pop up. so far, tablet looks to be in working order but some more time before going all in would be nice.
ginhead said:
thanks. I just received my refurb today. is it possible to try out the unlook tool to see if it is going to work for a specific device without actually voiding the warranty?
I'd like to wait at least a week or so to see if any major hardware issues pop up. so far, tablet looks to be in working order but some more time before going all in would be nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you click the button, it either works, and your warrent is voided, or it doesn't work.
Or another option is to contact Asus, and ship it to them, and have them unlock it for you.
bluewr said:
Or another option is to contact Asus, and ship it to them, and have them unlock it for you.
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Click to collapse
LOL! Never heard of that option! If you have first hand experience I would love to hear about it!
I think it's rather the other way around: You ship it to them unlocked for an unrelated problem and it comes back permanently locked.... Asus does not support unlocking.
berndblb said:
LOL! Never heard of that option! If you have first hand experience I would love to hear about it!
I think it's rather the other way around: You ship it to them unlocked for an unrelated problem and it comes back permanently locked.... Asus does not support unlocking.
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Click to collapse
No, I had problem unlocking it, and gave it to the local Asus refurb place, and had them unlock it for me, took them a week to finally unlock it though.
bluewr said:
No, you click the button, it either works, and your warrent is voided, or it doesn't work.
Or another option is to contact Asus, and ship it to them, and have them unlock it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for posting that. I'll probably wait a week or so then give it a try.
overall, I’m pretty happy with it so far. There is some lag – noticeable in Chrome – but definitely useable. Hopefully, I can get a custom/optimized rom running on this shortly.
Really liking the display so far. Native blu-ray files look great.

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