I am into flashing since about 4 years, but I never touched Samsung, only HTC. Due to a postal strike in Germany I have to wait since 2 weeks for the device. So I want to be best prepared for my first Samsung device.
Now I read that your warranty is void if you root the device. That makes up a few questions:
1. Is it possible to root and install a custom recovery (like twrp) without loosing warranty?
2. What do I need to know?
3. Is it possible to unlock your boot loader? If so, is it worth it?
4. If all goes wrong, is there a way to get back and claim warranty?
Thanks for help and advices.
So if I don't flash a custom kernel, I am good to go?
Related
can I root my phone without voiding warranty?
and if I rootit can I unroot it and return to its original state?
thank you
jusleen said:
can I root my phone without voiding warranty?
and if I rootit can I unroot it and return to its original state?
thank you
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teoreticaly yes, you lose warranty.
but you can unroot it.
Actually technically the answer is NO. Rooting your phone should not in and of itself void your warranty, but the things you can do may and most likely will. For example lets say you root your phone and keep the stock kernel just debloat the stock ROM, and then the volume buttons stop working...unless you did hardware mods it would be under warranty. When I rooted my HTC using the HTCDev method to unlock the bootloader the disclaimer said it MAY, not that it will or does, and a few months after rooting and reading their warning I sent in my phone for warranty repair/replacement with no problems, even though my phone was documented as being rooted. Now if you hard brick your phone flashing a ROM with bad mount points that is a different story altogether.
A few years back I had a Samsung Interceptor that I had rooted and it had an issue with a physical button (Power button I believe), I brought my phone to Sprint and the rep saw it was rooted (before I sprung for Superuser Elite to hide the app). His words to me were that as long as NO hardware mods were done and the phone can be flashed back to a stock state it would still be covered under warranty. Important to note...Carriers will not service a phone with a custom recovery PERIOD, which is why I left the Sprint store and reflashed the stock image to the phone.
My advice to people who are concerned with their warranties is to know exactly how to get it back to stock...before its ever customized. The reason for this should be obvious. And don't let it leave your hands (sent out for repair, or brought to the back for testing) prior to flashing it back to stock
i won't use anything larger than 4"2
ItzCrooK2UxD said:
Actually technically the answer is NO. Rooting your phone should not in and of itself void your warranty, but the things you can do may and most likely will. For example lets say you root your phone and keep the stock kernel just debloat the stock ROM, and then the volume buttons stop working...unless you did hardware mods it would be under warranty. When I rooted my HTC using the HTCDev method to unlock the bootloader the disclaimer said it MAY, not that it will or does, and a few months after rooting and reading their warning I sent in my phone for warranty repair/replacement with no problems, even though my phone was documented as being rooted. Now if you hard brick your phone flashing a ROM with bad mount points that is a different story altogether.
A few years back I had a Samsung Interceptor that I had rooted and it had an issue with a physical button (Power button I believe), I brought my phone to Sprint and the rep saw it was rooted (before I sprung for Superuser Elite to hide the app). His words to me were that as long as NO hardware mods were done and the phone can be flashed back to a stock state it would still be covered under warranty. Important to note...Carriers will not service a phone with a custom recovery PERIOD, which is why I left the Sprint store and reflashed the stock image to the phone.
My advice to people who are concerned with their warranties is to know exactly how to get it back to stock...before its ever customized. The reason for this should be obvious. And don't let it leave your hands (sent out for repair, or brought to the back for testing) prior to flashing it back to stock
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Then do you know how to get it back to stock after i rooted it??thanks
jusleen said:
Then do you know how to get it back to stock after i rooted it??thanks
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Click to collapse
I can probably point you in the right direction...did you unlock the bootloader or not? I am seeing a few unroot methods for locked bootloaders. If you did unlock the bootloader you will need to lock it back. Also it is important to note that some bootloaders will say *relocked* after relocking them, and not *locked* if it says *relocked* they will know it has been rooted. This is NOT a problem because once again having root access does not void the warranty, but you should be aware that if it says relocked they will know it has been rooted. This link has a root/unroot tool that may help it makes no mention of a specific firmware for your model phone so it should be fine. Also this video should help with the relock procedure but not knowing the phone I would need more specific details. Firmware and method used to root/unlock bootloader if you unlocked it. One of the relock procedures can be see here
*EDIT* I did a little looking and thought you might find this of interest. About midway through there is a section about warranty claims and returns...I didn't sign up so I can't see the links there but it should help .
I just wanted 100% clarification to whether on not it's possible to remove bootloaders, kernels and custom roms from the phone and restore it to its out of the box state, incase I need to return the phone under warranty? I have only had my phone for a few days and am itching to root my phone, but as its still so new I'm worried some manufacturers fault may arise and I have to send it back. Will they be able to tell if it was modified previously?
Thank you.
Hi all,
I've had a bit of experience in rooting and flashing, back on my old Nexus 4. Haven't done it in awhile due to my 4.4 Nexus 5 stock being bloody perfect in my opinion.
But coming up to Android 5 lollipop... I'm really looking for a new ROM as I believe 5.0 stock is terrible. So my first question: Is it now possible to restore the tablet back to a state that the warranty provider will not be able to tell it's been rooted/flashed (and voided warranty)?
My Second is: How on earth do you chose between ROMs now? I'm thinking of using xTraSmooth 3.1 but OptiPop has also caught my eye!
Cheers.
Tomo8281 said:
Hi all,
I've had a bit of experience in rooting and flashing, back on my old Nexus 4. Haven't done it in awhile due to my 4.4 Nexus 5 stock being bloody perfect in my opinion.
But coming up to Android 5 lollipop... I'm really looking for a new ROM as I believe 5.0 stock is terrible. So my first question: Is it now possible to restore the tablet back to a state that the warranty provider will not be able to tell it's been rooted/flashed (and voided warranty)?
My Second is: How on earth do you chose between ROMs now? I'm thinking of using xTraSmooth 3.1 but OptiPop has also caught my eye!
Cheers.
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Click to collapse
First of all, the Nexus 5 isn't a tablet.
It is possible to reset the bootloader tamper flag and relock it, either with a few apps that require root access then removing root with the option in SuperSU, or simply flashing with LG Flashtool. The Nexus 5 doesn't have anything else to show if it has been modified or not, unless you blatantly have the bootloader unlocked or a custom ROM/SuperSU binaries installed (which doesn't matter if the phone can't even boot up at all I guess).
Also, if you bought it from Google via the Play Store, they don't seem to mind any sort of software state if its a legitimate manufacturing defect that the warranty usually covers. People have sent in their devices for legitimate defects with unlocked bootloaders and custom ROMs + kernels and Google hasn't really cared.
Regarding your second question: you try a few out and find the one you like. Or if that's not possible then some of us end up building our own.
Lethargy said:
First of all, the Nexus 5 isn't a tablet.
It is possible to reset the bootloader tamper flag and relock it, either with a few apps that require root access then removing root with the option in SuperSU, or simply flashing with LG Flashtool. The Nexus 5 doesn't have anything else to show if it has been modified or not, unless you blatantly have the bootloader unlocked or a custom ROM/SuperSU binaries installed (which doesn't matter if the phone can't even boot up at all I guess).
Also, if you bought it from Google via the Play Store, they don't seem to mind any sort of software state if its a legitimate manufacturing defect that the warranty usually covers. People have sent in their devices for legitimate defects with unlocked bootloaders and custom ROMs + kernels and Google hasn't really cared.
Regarding your second question: you try a few out and find the one you like. Or if that's not possible then some of us end up building our own.
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My mistake for posting this while thinking of my new Christmas present (Galaxy Tab S tablet) !
Thanks for your reply, really appreciate it!
I think I'll install xtrasmooth today !
umm......... i had a doubt : if we're gonna root a zenfone will the ota updates come? and even if they come, this means i gonna lose my root.
so will it also mean that i have restored mah warranty? might seem silly forgive me thanks in advance!!
Hi,
Root itself will not stop you from installing ota updates. But a custom recovery will, and a custom rom will. So it depends how you root.
Yes, ota updates usually break root. But as long as the new Android version is rootable for your device... You can root again.
And yes, Rooting almost always voids warranty. But again, it depends how you root and if you can return completely stock again so there's no sign you were rooted. This is different for each device.
I can't point you to further help or an area to find help unless I know your device model number.
Good luck!
Hi there. I haven't been in the xda scene since the Galaxy s 2. I was wondering what the status is of the safetyknox and whether or not the 'corrupted' logo indicator was reversable yet. Back in the old days I was able to just factory data reset to the stock rom and submit a warranty claim no problem.
I would love to hack my pixil 2 but I use Netflix and Android pay regularly so that may be a problem..
aspen1135 said:
Hi there. I haven't been in the xda scene since the Galaxy s 2. I was wondering what the status is of the safetyknox and whether or not the 'corrupted' logo indicator was reversable yet. Back in the old days I was able to just factory data reset to the stock rom and submit a warranty claim no problem.
I would love to hack my pixil 2 but I use Netflix and Android pay regularly so that may be a problem..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Knox is a proprietary system by Samsung - Pixel users don't have to worry about that.
If you unlock the bootloader, you'll get a warning on (re)boot that the device is potentially insecure, which is pretty standard. There is no loss of features from unlocking the bootloader. And you can always relock it and flash a factory image to return it to stock state.
On the other hand, custom kernels and some root solutions will indeed trip Safety net, which will in turn disallow applications that depend on them. But there are plenty of threads on those issues.