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TF700T totally dead, but I'm worried about the exchange [privacy]

So, I was watching a video. Battery was sufficiently charged, so I removed the power cord and the device immediately went black. Completely unresponsive after that and all attempts to resuscitate have failed (power button 3-seconds, power and volume-down for 12-seconds, power-button alone for 30-seconds... all of the things). No charge light, nothing. Its dead.
Here's the thing, I realized that I've got some sensitive data on there. Email. Dropbox. WAN access to my NAS, saved PDF's, incriminating pictures (just kidding). Holy crap... I can access my whole life from this thing. Now, if it was alive, I could wipe it. If I'd lost it I could (hopefully) remotely wipe it. With it dead there's nothing I can do... and if [when] I bring it back to the store for an exchange and somewhere down the line someone is able recover it in a way that I wasn't able to - ouch.
What can I do, other than password resets on everything. Am I being too paranoid? I dont know where these things end up!!

nearlydigital said:
So, I was watching a video. Battery was sufficiently charged, so I removed the power cord and the device immediately went black. Completely unresponsive after that and all attempts to resuscitate have failed (power button 3-seconds, power and volume-down for 12-seconds, power-button alone for 30-seconds... all of the things). No charge light, nothing. Its dead.
Here's the thing, I realized that I've got some sensitive data on there. Email. Dropbox. WAN access to my NAS, saved PDF's, incriminating pictures (just kidding). Holy crap... I can access my whole life from this thing. Now, if it was alive, I could wipe it. If I'd lost it I could (hopefully) remotely wipe it. With it dead there's nothing I can do... and if [when] I bring it back to the store for an exchange and somewhere down the line someone is able recover it in a way that I wasn't able to - ouch.
What can I do, other than password resets on everything. Am I being too paranoid? I dont know where these things end up!!
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Click to collapse
Do you have password screen lock?

Negative
buhohitr said:
Do you have password screen lock?
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Click to collapse

nearlydigital said:
Negative
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Click to collapse
Well, if you don't have password protected screen lock, then there is a risk there. Right now you don't have too much of a choice really, either not send it in or buy a new one. If it's me I would send it in, I believe Asus would have some kind of corp policy to prevent their employee from temper with users' data. To have a piece of mind, you could call Asus tech support and ask them about your situation.

Stick it in an MRI magnet, that will ensure your data would never be recoverable

Unibrow said:
Stick it in an MRI magnet, that will ensure your data would never be recoverable
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Flash memory isn't susceptible to that. There isn't anything magnetic in flash memory.

FineWolf said:
Flash memory isn't susceptible to that. There isn't anything magnetic in flash memory.
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Click to collapse
A MRI magnet would ensure it never boots up again again though at the very least and while the MRI wouldn't erase the information like it would on a hard drive it would probably damage the internal storage to some extent.

I'm sending mine back to amazon for a similar death, spoke to then and they have a pretty serious security guarantee for any info on returned devices. They assured they will clear any info.
Sent from my LT26i using XDA Premium HD app

OK, couple of thoughts. Did you try another cable to charge? Have you tried it on your PC? It sounds hardware related, just giving you some long shots to try. Also, do you have Accident insurance? And how long ago did you buy it, what is the return policy where you purchased it? Best Buy is great about returns, and the Geek squad may be able to assist you too.

I predict a debit card transaction from some Taiwanese restaurant appearing in your bank statement. j/k. Like already mentioned. Try a different cable, check for bent pins that are shorting via power connector. Try to plug into computer to have device come up as media storage. Tab the hell out of back and see if you can jar something back in place. Do you feel a vibration when you try and turn it on? If all else fails return it. Tell them its defective. Usually a store will mark it defective and just return it back to Asus, instead of trying to resell it. Or just send it directly back to Asus and have them repair it. GL

Try letting it sit plugged in for about 15 minutes. Then see if it turns on. Sounds like the battery may have come loose, or the software could have glitched and prevented the battery from charging. (second scenario is easily remedied by turning it off and on again if you can manage to get it back on again of course)

Change your google, email, dropbox, etc passwords and you should be fine.

I used to work in a repair center for another company. Although I can't speak for ASUS specifically, if we got a unit in we would plug it in and restore factory settings before even trying to turn it on. If it didn't power up, we started pulling it apart and replacing components. You can change your passwords just incase, but in that environment everyone has a "get it off the bench ASAP " mind frame so I doubt your information will be compromised.
Hope you feel a little better about it anyway.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

tbtaf said:
OK, couple of thoughts. Did you try another cable to charge? Have you tried it on your PC? It sounds hardware related, just giving you some long shots to try. Also, do you have Accident insurance? And how long ago did you buy it, what is the return policy where you purchased it? Best Buy is great about returns, and the Geek squad may be able to assist you too.
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>> No, no other cable to try. Doesn't seem likely. Its not short of battery. I was watching video, power was about 50-60%, I unplugged, and the instant the cable was removed, it went dead with no further signs of life after that. Yeah, its hardware related. Bought 3 weeks ago and will return under warranty.
Erusman said:
I predict a debit card transaction from some Taiwanese restaurant appearing in your bank statement. j/k. Like already mentioned. Try a different cable, check for bent pins that are shorting via power connector. Try to plug into computer to have device come up as media storage. Tab the hell out of back and see if you can jar something back in place. Do you feel a vibration when you try and turn it on? If all else fails return it. Tell them its defective. Usually a store will mark it defective and just return it back to Asus, instead of trying to resell it. Or just send it directly back to Asus and have them repair it. GL
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Checked pins everything looks good. Banged, shook, jiggled, pressed and wished really hard on the thing. Nothing. Nadda on the computer connection. No vibration when turn it on. It is the definition of a brick.
rightonred said:
Try letting it sit plugged in for about 15 minutes. Then see if it turns on. Sounds like the battery may have come loose, or the software could have glitched and prevented the battery from charging. (second scenario is easily remedied by turning it off and on again if you can manage to get it back on again of course)
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Let it sit overnight on charge. Nothing. Battery was 50-60% went it bit it.
atgmartin said:
Change your google, email, dropbox, etc passwords and you should be fine.
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Click to collapse
YUP.
Biohazard0289 said:
I used to work in a repair center for another company. Although I can't speak for ASUS specifically, if we got a unit in we would plug it in and restore factory settings before even trying to turn it on. If it didn't power up, we started pulling it apart and replacing components. You can change your passwords just incase, but in that environment everyone has a "get it off the bench ASAP " mind frame so I doubt your information will be compromised.
Hope you feel a little better about it anyway.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorta kinda, thanks
... thanks everyone... back to the retailer it goes.

Well Dropbox is easy. Just change the password from computer and it can't be accessed from tablet anymore.
Yet a bit curious that if you are so paranoid why even store some private data on cloud storage which basically is managed by some third party company. I am quite sure that people at dropbox COULD see any data there any time they wanted but I am quite convinced that my home porns don't interest them enough.
I hope..
Probably also if your unit is that much dead they need at least do factory reset before getting back to anywhere. I am assuming your motherboard got dead. You wouldn't be the first one.

I'm sure you will have - but have you tried the hard reset button? (pin in the side)
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Unibrow said:
A MRI magnet would ensure it never boots up again again though at the very least and while the MRI wouldn't erase the information like it would on a hard drive it would probably damage the internal storage to some extent.
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Click to collapse
No. Your device won't boot, but your data and internal storage will be 100% intact.
There is nothing magnetic in flash memory. In fact, it was originally created to be used in environments with high magnetic interference. Trust me, an MRI magnet will do nothing at all.
But please, continue believing that you will.

LOL, I actually thought that was another microphone hole like the other side (as they look exactly the same). But no, that didn't do anything.
pnharrison said:
I'm sure you will have - but have you tried the hard reset button? (pin in the side)
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse

FineWolf said:
No. Your device won't boot, but your data and internal storage will be 100% intact.
There is nothing magnetic in flash memory. In fact, it was originally created to be used in environments with high magnetic interference. Trust me, an MRI magnet will do nothing at all.
But please, continue believing that you will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not saying I'm right but MRI magnets are pretty damn strong and they can mess up a lot of stuff that isn't necessarily magnetic itself.
http://superuser.com/questions/338641/is-it-possible-to-wipe-ssd-with-strong-magnetic-force
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T

I didn't even put much thought to privacy when I returned my Transformer Prime in for an Transformer Infinity at Best Buy.
Hopefully those returned Primes were all sent back to ASUS where they were probably dismantled, destroyed, and turned into new raw material for new tablets.

desire s keep turning off

everytime if i was to slightly drop it on a table as putting it down it would turn off
as anyone had this issue and know how i can fix it
im guessing its a loose connection

clitheroelad said:
everytime if i was to slightly drop it on a table as putting it down it would turn off
as anyone had this issue and know how i can fix it
im guessing its a loose connection
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe connector issues...try different rom and if it keep happen is hadware issues :S

if it does same am i best to open it and see if anything is loose

clitheroelad said:
if it does same am i best to open it and see if anything is loose
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Click to collapse
be carefull, and i suggest u to see many video (on youtube or ifixit) before open it

might just be best selling it then rather the hassle making it worse

Its a loose connection. Put some material in-between the batt lock and the batt. Like a piece of folded paper.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda app-developers app

Also, check that the connections of the battery are clear.
Before all that, I would check the SIM card for being loose, too.

clitheroelad said:
everytime if i was to slightly drop it on a table as putting it down it would turn off
as anyone had this issue and know how i can fix it
im guessing its a loose connection
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, mine had/has this, though not quite as sensitive as yours! Mine would sometimes just die in my pocket when it got jarred. I tried the folded paper fix - put it between the battery and the clip to help hold the battery firm - and it helped a bit, but not completely.
So I sent it off under warranty for repair, after a long email debate with Nokia tech support about this battery issue (they didn't think it was a battery problem, and were unwilling to test it, but were happy to check out the phone itself.). After it came back, they said "our repair centre fully tested the device and found a fault with the function keys of which they replaced", and true, it is better now. It still dies occasionally, but it's more like once a week instead of twice a day.
The other thing Nokia tech support requested was if I could test it with another battery. So I have a third-party spare battery now, and *so far* the phone hasn't died while it's had that in it, only while it has the original Nokia battery in.
It's worth noting that as a result of an EU Directive, the manufacturers warranty on consumer goods (including mobile phones) now has to be two years, so your phone is probably still covered. Send it off for repair! http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/consumer_topics/buying_goods_services_en.htm

what has nokia got to do with this?
Sent from my supercharged :tank:

Never had this problem. I think you need to check with repair service.

I had this error too, sendet it in for checking and it came back; repaired on warrenty. But it keept turning off all the time...
Then I recoqnized that the phone turned off, when my battery was about 16% discharged. I testet the phone with another battery I got form a friend and after one total crash cause of too many apps I did reset my phone and since then it works fine.
Try a differnt battery maybe it works too

I flashed the MOAR rom, everything was great for almost 2 days, and then this...

Just as the title says. A couple of days ago, I flashed the MOAR rom, everything was great with it up until last night, when I went to look at my phone and it was doing this. I cannot restart the phone using the "simulated battery removal" method of holding vol down + power button. Any ideas? Do I actually need to take this sucker apart?

Let the battery die completely is the first step. Plug it in to charge holding the buttons to start Download Mode/Recovery. If that works try (if you boot to recovery) and wiping the cache/davlik to see if that does anything. If not then a factory reset and then if not a full odin.

I'm under the impression that it's using very, very minimal battery. Thus, letting it drain may take days. But you may be right, maybe I'll just have to live without it for now.

To speed the process up, you could take the device apart and manually unplug the battery from the board. Its not the most difficult device to take apart, but that is coming from someone that takes apart phones for a living. If you're willing, and have the tools available, that would be the quickest way to get the phone to at least boot into recovery (if it will) and try an reflashing MOAR/stock.
edit: and you could also check and see if the board connection to the display is not loose as well if you go this route. If you do not feel comfortable, and you have Total Equipment Protection, you could take it in to a Sprint Service & Repair location and they can take it apart as well (or at least should be able to). I cannot speak for their level of competence when it comes to taking apart devices, but all of my technicians are well aware of how to take the Note 5 apart without causing any damage.

Get an usb otg cable and charge something from the phone lol that'll kill that battery
PS: This is just me being nosey, but it looks like your phone has "seen some things" aka it looks a little rough lol. Has it been dropped in the past? I used to be a phone repair technician for sprint and I saw this same thing, it ended up being that the cable from the digitizer had barely become wiggled loose on one side. There was another occasion where the GPU had toasted itself (this was an htc one) and we had to send it in to be repaired.
So im interested to know if a reboot solves your issue.

I took the phone apart at work, and from what I can tell, the main board has gone bad. I believe that simply because I've disconnected every non-essential component from the main board and it's still doing the same thing. I'm going to part out any good parts on ebay and scrap some cash from it.

The display should fetch a pretty penny. Enough to get yourself Nexus 5X without having to pay too much out of pocket, seeing as a Note 5 outright is pretty pricey.
If you have TEP, you can always go through the store and get a new one ordered for you. If you do not, a $75 fee occurs, but at least its a cost effective route for a bad board, if you do not want to part it out.

[Q] My Galaxy S7 won't boot or charge, tried the various suggestions

Never dropped it or got water in it. Never tried to change the OS or anything like that either.
It started freezing and a soft reset would get it back up. Started happening more often and eventually none of the suggested resets would work and even when charging with the phone off it would freeze. I eventually managed to get it into the recovery boot (just the once) and it said E:/ failed to mount over and over. When i pressed a button it froze again and since then i haven't been able to get any response. Not even the little battery symbol or red light when it's on charge. It seems completely messed up and essentially a brick right now.
Any ideas? I can get it repaired via my UK network provider (O2) which would take a couple of weeks but would really like to back up and factory reset my stuff if possible as i have lots of personal data on my phone including passwords to peoples websites (i'm a web developer). As well as the ordinary things your girlfriend wouldn't want ending up on the net. My online banking and everything is on there. There's pictures with some famous people at Glastonbury and also some brilliant sporting events i was at that i'd never be able to get the vids/pics back.
With the failed to mount error, would that mean they'd have to factory reset it regardless of what happens and i'd have no chance to back it up either? I'd really rather not lose my files but i also don't want some random guy snooping through my stuff.
Thanks in advance for any replies guys!

Have you tried a different charging method?
From PC with a different USB lead for example
Leave it connected overnight and see how it is the next day

Thanks for the reply.
My girlfriend uses my charger to charge her blackberry as she lost hers and it works fine. I also tried leaving it for a few hours connected to the laptop using the USB connection from the original charger with no response whatsoever. My mother has as Samsung too... given the points i just told you, is it worth trying to borrow another charger still?
I'd reluctantly be happy even if i have to factory reset to save me having to wait for ages to get it back.

No, sounds like you can rule out the charger being the problem
Sounds like something inside the phone has fried, possibly the charging port if you can't even get an LED on, but considering the errors leading up to the fault it sounds more like the motherboard has died, which, unless you saved anything to external SD (MicroSD), contains the Internal storage where all your files are
More than likely, Samsung will just replace the board rather than fiddling around trying to repair that one, so unless it is something else at fault you can probably relax about them snooping, it'll end up in the recycling bin to be melted down for it's gold contacts never to be powered up again
I can't think of anything else you can try to get life out of it tbh other than opening it and charging the battery another way / replacing the battery with a charged one, but warranty is gone after that and not even sure how you would go about switching batteries tbh, if you can
If it is already out of warranty, you could find where the battery terminals connect to the motherboard, and put an alternate power source to them matching the battery voltage etc (Removing the battery first), might give you time to remove / erase / copy

Thanks again for the reply.
So you think the motherboard just progressively died? I hadn't mentioned this but a while ago i accidently left the phone on the radiator for a short while whilst working. It worked fine afterwards and when i asked on another forum they said if any damage was going on it would have restarted or gave an overheat message (which it didn't).
I guess i'll be sending it off to my network provider (O2 UK) then, it's still in warranty (just) so they should fix it or send me a new one. I've seen so much stuff on amateur porn sites of videos or pictures that probably weren't meant to be "released", leads me to having a fear about my girlfriend ending up on them. And like i said, passwords are stored on there to some websites i create for people so its not just my personal data but theirs. I don't really know how these businesses are run, i'd imagine they'd want to get as many phones done as possible... but knowing me if i was doing that job i'd probably have a snoop where i could lol.

powlesy6 said:
Thanks again for the reply.
So you think the motherboard just progressively died? I hadn't mentioned this but a while ago i accidently left the phone on the radiator for a short while whilst working. It worked fine afterwards and when i asked on another forum they said if any damage was going on it would have restarted or gave an overheat message (which it didn't).
I guess i'll be sending it off to my network provider (O2 UK) then, it's still in warranty (just) so they should fix it or send me a new one. I've seen so much stuff on amateur porn sites of videos or pictures that probably weren't meant to be "released", leads me to having a fear about my girlfriend ending up on them. And like i said, passwords are stored on there to some websites i create for people so its not just my personal data but theirs. I don't really know how these businesses are run, i'd imagine they'd want to get as many phones done as possible... but knowing me if i was doing that job i'd probably have a snoop where i could lol.
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If the phone powered on when you sent it in then no doubt somene would have a snoop, but if it is DOA they won't waste their time, they'll be getting thousands of phones a day to go through, yours will just be another number: Press power > Nothing > test with some USB device > Nothing > open > replace motherboard > test > working > job done
Something like that I would imagine
For future reference, get a MicroSD card for your replacement and save all media to that, then you don't have this problem if it dies

hard brick - any hope?

So, I flashed my S8+ onto BatMan-Rom today with no apparent issues. Clean flash, booted with no problems. While restoring apps (not system data) with Titanium Backup, my phone's screen switched off and I couldn't get it back on. The phone got really hot but would not reset with holding power+vol+bixby or any other button combination. Tried plugging into my PC, ADB didn't detect the phone. Desperate, I disassembled the phone far enough to disconnect the battery from the mainboard and then reconnect it, hoping that would force some kind of reset. Instead, I went from a hot phone I couldn't do anything with to a cold one. No button combo gets me anything - no recovery, no odin mode, nothing. Am I as screwed as I think I am? It seems to me I'm out $900 on a paperweight, and I can't even figure out what went wrong since I wasn't messing with anything at the system level when this happened.

tardis_42 said:
So, I flashed my S8+ onto BatMan-Rom today with no apparent issues. Clean flash, booted with no problems. While restoring apps (not system data) with Titanium Backup, my phone's screen switched off and I couldn't get it back on. The phone got really hot but would not reset with holding power+vol+bixby or any other button combination. Tried plugging into my PC, ADB didn't detect the phone. Desperate, I disassembled the phone far enough to disconnect the battery from the mainboard and then reconnect it, hoping that would force some kind of reset. Instead, I went from a hot phone I couldn't do anything with to a cold one. No button combo gets me anything - no recovery, no odin mode, nothing. Am I as screwed as I think I am? It seems to me I'm out $900 on a paperweight, and I can't even figure out what went wrong since I wasn't messing with anything at the system level when this happened.
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Oh, dude...I feel your pain....wish I could help.
Can't you just contact the retailer and sort of, ahem, forget to tell them that you rooted it and took it apart and that it just, well, simply broke?
Surely there's some kinda warranty?
Or claim on home contents insurance?
Sorry i can't be more help..but hopefully some of the XDA experts will be replying very soon.
Come on guys, try and help this guy out:good:
Matt

matthew33 said:
Can't you just contact the retailer and sort of, ahem, forget to tell them that you rooted it and took it apart and that it just, well, simply broke?
Surely there's some kinda warranty?
Or claim on home contents insurance?
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Click to collapse
You're proposing fraud, which is a form of theft. And ultimately, it's all the other customers who subsidize such acts.

What we customers are subsidizing is Samsung's greedy bull**** of producing different versions of a product specifically so they can get away with not offering warranty coverage for unlocked/rooted devices in North America. If there were a way for me to game the system to force them (or a retailer) to replace my phone, believe me, I would, especially since this happened when I was restoring apps and not in the course of flashing a rom or otherwise messing with anything at the system level; it does feel like a defect in the device to me at this point.
That's all academic though, since I'm outside the retailer's return window and there's not going to be anything accomplished through that angle. Worst case scenario at this point is selling the device for parts and going back to my Nexus 6P with all its battery issues until I can get my hands on a phone made by a company that doesn't pull this "no warranty for power users" crap - an Essential Phone or a Pixel 2 XL, I guess. But I would of course prefer to find a way to fix my S8+. At the moment I think the first problem is that it's not charging - battery doesn't even get warmer than room temperature after being plugged in for hours. I'm going to try a wireless charger tonight and see if the charger lights up saying it's connected to the device, but I'm not holding out much hope.
I've read that previous Galaxy devices could be reflashed to stock with special USB devices that repair shops had access to...do we know if there's anything like that with the S8?

"Power users" amount to nothing now with all the millions sold and billions made. They make more locking down there stuff. Doing the stuff we do now is considered a security risk.

Look, this is getting off topic. Whether or not you think billion-dollar corporations should be able to artificially create situations that drive certain customers to purchase devices without warranty coverage so they can ignore us when things go wrong and make another easy $800 is not really important. The situation I'm in is what it is, and I imagine others might find themselves in that situation sooner or later, so does anyone have any ideas on a) how this might have happened in the first place or b) what I might try in the way of repairs, short of replacing the mainboard?

tardis_42 said:
Look, this is getting off topic. Whether or not you think billion-dollar corporations should be able to artificially create situations that drive certain customers to purchase devices without warranty coverage so they can ignore us when things go wrong and make another easy $800 is not really important. The situation I'm in is what it is, and I imagine others might find themselves in that situation sooner or later, so does anyone have any ideas on a) how this might have happened in the first place or b) what I might try in the way of repairs, short of replacing the mainboard?
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just sent it to change/repair using ur garant...it seems a phisical problem more than firmware/software issue...if not go to a repair service so they can check wich piece is making the problem.
Theres a posibility is the mainboard so dont waste more time asking here and go to a repair center in or out of warranty.