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Root Couple of rooting & warranty questions

Snax

Lurker
Nov 14, 2010
6
0
I just have a couple of questions:

1. What is the risk of bricking my device really? Has anyone here ever had a problem with it before?

2. Does rooting absolutely void your warranty no matter what?

3. If it does void your warranty, can they turn you down if your phone breaks for something unrelated to rooting? For example if I root my phone now, and then 4 months later I drop it and it breaks will they fix it?

4. How do they know if you rooted your phone? If I brick it accidentally is there any way for them to know that it was rooted if I don't tell them? I mean it could have just as easily been a manufacturing error, they wouldn't know until they've restored it to it's original state.
 
This has been covered many times on many threads on many forums. But I am glad you asked...

1. What is the risk of bricking my device really? Has anyone here ever had a problem with it before?

Not likely but not 100% no. There is always a chance you can brick your phone
2. Does rooting absolutely void your warranty no matter what?

Yes 100%

3. If it does void your warranty, can they turn you down if your phone breaks for something unrelated to rooting? For example if I root my phone now, and then 4 months later I drop it and it breaks will they fix it?

Yes; My friend's headphone adapter broke, he rooted the phone. They sent a replacement, he sent the broken one back; then he found a $500 charge on his phone bill for a new phone. When he called they told him it was becasue he rooted the phone and that voids the warranty, so he asked for it back and they would not give it back. So before you do anything, understand you are playing with a $500 device that can become useless if you screw up.
4. How do they know if you rooted your phone? If I brick it accidentally is there any way for them to know that it was rooted if I don't tell them? I mean it could have just as easily been a manufacturing error, they wouldn't know until they've restored it to it's original state.

Yes and even for a bricked phone, they can (most of the time) still access the file system and see that you messed with the system files. They make/lose a lot of money replacing phones under warranty that have been rooted; so there are ways to find out.
 
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Note that the state that the Odin "1-click" method returns you to is not a perfect original "stock" setup. Some things are not quite the same. It's a way to recover the phone into a workable state again... not a silver-bullet to magically return to a point like nothing ever happened.

Hacking is a 1-way street.

Can you elaborate a bit?

By the way thanks for all the information everyone.
 
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You can unroot the phone though. Your best bet, if something happens (besides it being totally inoperational, such as from water damage or the like - which isn't covered by warranty anyway) just flash it back to stock and unroot before you send it in. Easy peasy.

But yeah, there's always a risk.

So even if you unroot your phone, will they still be able to find out the phone was once rooted?
 
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Can you elaborate a bit?

There's no compiled list, but there have been plenty of complaints from people regarding things still not working like a "stock" system after running Odin 1-click. One of the most-common is the continued inability to receive OTA updates.

Enough evidence to warrant a disclaimer that it is not a true return to "stock". It's a recovery tool that can bring it back to a usable state.
 
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Bump.....

I'm curious if anyone has ever flashed to stock, master cleared and had any issues returning the phone to AT&T?

My phone is perfect right now (knock on wood) but there's always the worry of something breaking on it.

If I were to flash back to stock and do a master clear, could they potentially find a root related issue???
 
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Bump.....

I'm curious if anyone has ever flashed to stock, master cleared and had any issues returning the phone to AT&T?

My phone is perfect right now (knock on wood) but there's always the worry of something breaking on it.

If I were to flash back to stock and do a master clear, could they potentially find a root related issue???
no there is no issue. the only way to tell a phone is rooted is the superuser app, all you really have to do is unroot and no one will be able to tell. but flashing back to stock with odin3 removes any trace of anything you have done to the phone
 
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Awesome man, Thank-you!!!
my phone had also been sent back to samsung after being rooted.

but anyway 99% of the people who work at att dont even know what rooting is so there isnt any risk. it is good to flash back to stock if you do need to return it though. but its doubtful you do anything to the phone you cant undo, i thought i had bricked mine several times and it always comes back
 
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