Root and Warranty

[SoggyNugget]

OK so here's the deal. I've recently purchased a Nexus 5 and am considring rooting it. I purchase in Canada and live in Canada. I've done my research and some people say rooting voids your warranty no matter what, some say it only voids your warranty if the defect is caused by root. I've also seen some things about you handle to tee lock your boot loader or something along that. I really just want to know if you root and the defect is not causes by rooting does it void your warranty.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

I purchase in Canada and live in Canada. I've done my research and some people say rooting voids your warranty no matter what, some say it only voids your warranty if the defect is caused by root.

That latter statement is true if you are a citizen of the U.S. or EU (see links, below), but I don't think you have the same protections in Canada. Your safest option is to either not root, or if you do root, make sure you have a way of reverting back to stock if something goes wrong.

http://www.xda-developers.com/xda-tv-2/your-warranty-is-not-void-xda-tv/
http://matija.suklje.name/rooting-and-flashing-your-device-does-not-void-the-warranty-in-eu

 

[SoggyNugget]

That latter statement is true if you are a citizen of the U.S. or EU (see links, below), but I don't think you have the same protections in Canada. Your safest option is to either not root, or if you do root, make sure you have a way of reverting back to stock if something goes wrong.

So just to confirm rooting in Canada voids your warranty no matter what. In order to get your warranty back you need to unroot and relock your boot loader.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

No, what I said was that "I don't think you have the same protections in Canada"

 

[Unforgiven]

Welcome to Android Forums SoggyNugget. I made you the owner of your thread and moved it to the Android Lounge where more folks will see it and be able to hopefully answer your question about rooting voiding warranty.

In my experience, rooting always voids your warranty, but, but most manufacturers will still honor the warranty if the defect is unrelated to root.

 

[lunatic59]

So just to confirm rooting in Canada voids your warranty no matter what. In order to get your warranty back you need to unroot and relock your boot loader.

Let's look at this from a practical perspective.

First, rooting technically does void the warranty as you are "modifying" the factory firmware. Almost all warranties state this. Once a warranty is voided, you can't get it back.

Practically a warranty is voided only when the carrier or manufacturer no longer honor it. Rarely have I seen a warranty not honored simply because the device is rooted, or had been rooted.

Let's consider this. Why would you place a warranty claim? Obviously because the device isn't working properly. If the phone won't turn on, then root doesn't matter at all. If the phone turns on but won't boot into Android, it will be possible (very easy, as a matter of fact) to reflash the stock firmware. There are two very excellent toolkit's that will automate a lot of these processes. WUG's toolkit and Skipsoft's unified Android Toolkit.

If you can reflash stock and relock the bootloader ... AND the problem persists, then it's obviously hardware and has nothing to do with root. Moreover, there will be no way to tell that a Nexus has ever been rooted, unlike other branded phones that have various methods of trying to monitor this.

Now, let's look at how the warranty process works. You call the carrier or manufacturer, depending on who is providing the warranty service and put in a claim. They ask you to send the phone to them for evaluation. A lot of times they ask you to send only the phone with no sim, SD card or battery. Once they get the phone, they verify the problem and approve or deny the claim. Again, i've never seen a hardware claim denied because of rooting. The first thing they do, if the phone turns on, is to reflash the official stock firmware, including radios and recovery. If it passed diagnostics at this point, they return it to you. If not they will replace it with, most likely, a certified refurb which will be covered by the remainder of your original warranty.

Please understand that when you start to modify your phone you assume all the risk. If you end up with a problem and they decline the claim, then that's pretty much it. However, the risk is minimal, IMO. It's very hard to damage your phone's hardware with root, unless you are going to be flashing bizarre kernels and overclocking the bejeezus out of it.

Hope this helps. (FYI, All my devices are rooted )

 

[SoggyNugget]

So as long as I follow all the steps of rooting flashing a custom kernel ext. It should be extremely hard for me to brick my phone.

P.S- I'm very new to anseoid, this is my first android device.

 

[funkylogik]

I'd always thought (wrongly? ) that nexus were different to other devices and we're there to be unlocked, rooted and flashed to encourage innovation (look at Android L)
Was I wrong?

 

[lunatic59]

So as long as I follow all the steps of rooting flashing a custom kernel ext. It should be extremely hard for me to brick my phone.

P.S- I'm very new to anseoid, this is my first android device.

As long as you pay close attention to the proper steps and understand them thoroughly, yes. I would ask, though, if you are that new to Android, why do you want to root right now? The Nexus is pure Android and you can do quite a bit with it before you even need to get to root, let alone flashing a custom rom.

I'd always thought (wrongly? ) that nexus were different to other devices and we're there to be unlocked, rooted and flashed to encourage innovation (look at Android L)
Was I wrong?

They are considered "developer" phones so it is expected they will be unlocked and rooted, but if you look at the warranties (yeah, like everyone reads those ) they all still say modification of the firmware voids the warranties... on paper anyway.

 

[Unforgiven]

They are considered "developer" phones so it is expected they will be unlocked and rooted, but if you look at the warranties (yeah, like everyone reads those ) they all still say modification of the firmware voids the warranties... on paper anyway.

Ironically enough, the Moto X Developer Edition warranty now specifically states that unlocking the bootloader and rooting does not void the warranty. I'm surprised it does with the Nexus devices still, but elgooG doesn't own them.

 

[funkylogik]

Doh. Well the person who says it has to be proven that modifying firmware caused the fault is correct (in the European Union, by law, for sure)
But try telling a Korean company that lol.
I tried as an experiment, mailed them saying I was running custom firmware and my display was suffering premature burn-in and was told that they'd replace the display but I'd be charged if the phone was found to be modified in any way

 

[SoggyNugget]

I would ask, though, if you are that new to Android, why do you want to root right now? The Nexus is pure Android and you can do quite a bit with it before you even need to get to root, let alone flashing a custom rom.

I may have exaggerated my point a little bit. I know how android operates compared to to for example iOS. I've experimented with custom launchers and have done my research and I think I want to bring my android experience to the next level by rooting.

 

[John Bean]

Google UK told me rooting in itself does not invalidate the UK warranty. This was during a telephone call arranging a replacement for my rooted Nexus 4 that bricked itself attempting to perform the first KitKat OTA update; I told them up front that I had rooted it. The replacement arrived next day and still works fine after many more OTA's

Not helpful to the OP but perhaps useful information for other UK Nexus users.

 

[funkylogik]

Google UK told me rooting in itself does not invalidate the UK warranty. This was during a telephone call arranging a replacement for my rooted Nexus 4 that bricked itself attempting to perform the first KitKat OTA update; I told them up front that I had rooted it. The replacement arrived next day and still works fine after many more OTA's

Not helpful to the OP but perhaps useful information for other UK Nexus users.

Rooting yeah but did you ask about altering or replacing the operating system mate?

 

[John Bean]

Rooting yeah but did you ask about altering or replacing the operating system mate?

I did not, simply because I hadn't

My point was that rooting in itself does not invalidate warranty but it wouldn't surprise me if some of the things you may chose do after rooting may well invalidate it - if you admit to them of course.

Hardware can be damaged by incorrectly configured system software. I don't know how easy it is to damage a Nexus phone that way but as an example with a Samsung Chromebook it is trivially easy - almost a certainty - to destroy the speakers while trying to configure sound in a Linux installation if you don't do your research before starting on it.

It's hard for manufacturers/sellers to be fair with warranties when this sort of user-induced damage is a possibility so I was pleasantly surprised to find Google allows it. Samsung of course doesn't :-(

 

[SomeGuyOnMaui]

From what I can see, this is specific only to Samsung Nexus phones, and has absolutely no support for absolutely any other androids at all. TOO SPECIFIC.

 

[El Presidente]

From what I can see, this is specific only to Samsung Nexus phones, and has absolutely no support for absolutely any other androids at all. TOO SPECIFIC.

Which point are you referring to (this is a 2 year old thread btw)?

Rooting does not void the warranty on any device sold in the Europe, regardless of what a manufacturer tells you.

That's not the case in most other countries though.