Hey guys, I haven't been on XDA for years but I'm really in the need of some help... I wounder if you guys have some solutions!
I used to have a Sony SP, the thing broke and I decided to look for a replacement. Buying a new phone wasn't in my budget so I went and looked for a Samsung S4 that had a broken screen, bought the replacement OLED (I think it's an oled display), and took it to a technician to repair it. It was a good buy but little did I know that fixing the hardware on the device will disable my ability to update it! I've wanted to stay stock and not flashing any ROMs on it because I just want a phone that works. I don't want the hassle of having to worry about the latest firmware, and flashing new kernels, I just want a laid back experience. My phone was already rooted when I got it, in fact I had the SuperSU app already installed (which I thought was pretty weird but I didn't think much of it), everything else is stock. Is there any options so that I can update my device that don't require any flashing on my PC?
I have another phone with the same issue, my mothers Samsung S3. Full story, I live in Venezuela and smartphones here are extremely expensive, so obviously if something happens to them you much rather repair it then buying a new one because it's unthinkable to afford one, besides a Samsung S3 is still a good device. So one day the phones screen starts fading black, and it stops accepting touch input, we had to replace the digitizer (Touch Screen), and it functioned like normal! Problem is we needed to restore the device because it was getting a bit bogged down, low and behold, same issue as my Samsung S4. Now I can live without having my firmware updates, but I'd really like to at least help my mom get hers sorted out!
I want to thank everyone who took the time to read this, and that can help me fix my devices!
The reason you can't update your S4 is because you're rooted.
As for the S3, maybe there aren't any updates available.
Samsung stopped updating the S4 like two years ago at Android 5.0 and I don't think the S3 ever got Lollipop.
I'm also pretty sure that replacing a screen won't magically prevent your phone from receiving updates; The restore may have caused that.
Related
I'll start by saying I really DO like this phone and don't wish to return it. I am coming from a BB 8320 which I also was a big fan of. This being my first wm/htc phone I have no idea how these two companies support their platforms. The phone obviously has some pretty bad lag/freezing issues as well as some weird glitches where the screen will shift and be half black. Now since its a brand new device in the market I'm totally willing to work with that as most new technology has some kinks to be worked out. I have even been looking into flashing a custom rom as I hear this will help. All this being considered I was hoping you all could perhaps tell me what to expect as far as a possible fix. Do you think this is something htc is working on fixing, or do you think I'm out of luck and should just get used to it? My phone is fully stock and has no additional progs/tweaks on it. I remember when I first got my BB that it had some problems with locking up while web browsing and eventually this was addressed and fixed by an update from BB, do you see a similar thing happening here? Thanks
OneNutShort said:
I'll start by saying I really DO like this phone and don't wish to return it. I am coming from a BB 8320 which I also was a big fan of. This being my first wm/htc phone I have no idea how these two companies support their platforms. The phone obviously has some pretty bad lag/freezing issues as well as some weird glitches where the screen will shift and be half black. Now since its a brand new device in the market I'm totally willing to work with that as most new technology has some kinks to be worked out. I have even been looking into flashing a custom rom as I hear this will help. All this being considered I was hoping you all could perhaps tell me what to expect as far as a possible fix. Do you think this is something htc is working on fixing, or do you think I'm out of luck and should just get used to it? My phone is fully stock and has no additional progs/tweaks on it. I remember when I first got my BB that it had some problems with locking up while web browsing and eventually this was addressed and fixed by an update from BB, do you see a similar thing happening here? Thanks
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Click to collapse
To be completely honest I have never relied on the actually manufacturer to fix my problems... because even as you said that they eventually do... how long did you wait to do so.
I own a blackberry, windows phones galore (mostly HTC)... and both I have learned to fix on my own / use the forums to fix my problems. Blackberry 9700 for example.. greatest blackberry alive.. yes... but people hate the phone unless i fix /tweak it like i have mine because the OS the came in the phone with TMO sucked... but uploaded a unofficial rom and all better...
back to windows since thats the topic... every windows phone i have had has lasted longer than it normally would have (i based this on my patience with lag, lack of memory, and frequent crashing over time) because I learned how to flash "cooked" roms on to the phone.
These developers don't make the perfect rom... no one every will.. because not even the manufacturers can and they know the phone not only software wise but hardware better than any of us... BUT:
These developers make the best rom you will ever use compared to an "official" rom.
Will it fix your issue.. no idea... i get half a black screen some times on my cooked roms.. but it has happen once in a week... i will wait to see if it keeps it up. But the speed is better, the cooked in applications are better, and the support if there ARE problems is 10 folds over manufacturer support.
All my opinions are based on NRG's rom, using Mar 30th with cookie home tab (which once u use cookie home tab, you won't look back to stock home tab lol) He made my Touch Pro2 a better experience so I trust him with my HD2
Hello there,
I recently bought sgs4, because it was cheap from my carrier, but unfortunately it was i9515 version - almost completely without community support and locked (knox, flashing anything unofficial trips it's flag and loses you warranty). It's not realistic to expect custom roms etc, so I'm considering selling it and buying this device.
It seemed great, when I compared specs, I also read few threads and those about recovering from hard brick were very promising. Also many roms are present, a way To Flash original firmware and repair under warranty etc. etc. But I stumbled upon a thread about screen and it was really disturbing.
How often do people experience problems with screen? (Phantom touches, "noisy"input, black lines)?
Also, are there any other problems, that I overlooked and missed? Like that roms are nonfuntional, gps/cell radio/wifi radio doesn't work always. Would you consider this phone worth buying and selling relatively "safe" (I mean working hardware) s4?
Thanks for your replies.
marmelada said:
Hello there,
I recently bought sgs4, because it was cheap from my carrier, but unfortunately it was i9515 version - almost completely without community support and locked (knox, flashing anything unofficial trips it's flag and loses you warranty). It's not realistic to expect custom roms etc, so I'm considering selling it and buying this device.
It seemed great, when I compared specs, I also read few threads and those about recovering from hard brick were very promising. Also many roms are present, a way To Flash original firmware and repair under warranty etc. etc. But I stumbled upon a thread about screen and it was really disturbing.
How often do people experience problems with screen? (Phantom touches, "noisy"input, black lines)?
Also, are there any other problems, that I overlooked and missed? Like that roms are nonfuntional, gps/cell radio/wifi radio doesn't work always. Would you consider this phone worth buying and selling relatively "safe" (I mean working hardware) s4?
Thanks for your replies.
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Click to collapse
Hi!
So, for me, of course this phone is "safe": of course you can read trough forum that there is issues, sometimes, when you flash some ROMs or stuff like this.
But you have to know 1 thing; usage you made of your phone influences on his state: if you want to use it at daily phone, without custom ROM, in stock mode, is very safe.
If you want to flash custom ROM (click on the link in my signature, best ROM ever) but you respect installation rules, there is MINOR chances for you to have issue(s).
Even if it's the case, majority of time there is solution.
Do I answer to your question?
casual_kikoo said:
Hi!
So, for me, of course this phone is "safe": of course you can read trough forum that there is issues, sometimes, when you flash some ROMs or stuff like this.
But you have to know 1 thing; usage you made of your phone influences on his state: if you want to use it at daily phone, without custom ROM, in stock mode, is very safe.
If you want to flash custom ROM (click on the link in my signature, best ROM ever) but you respect installation rules, there is MINOR chances for you to have issue(s).
Even if it's the case, majority of time there is solution.
Do I answer to your question?
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Click to collapse
Hello, thanks for your post, but it didn't really answer my concerns. I'm more worried about hardware defects, which seem to happen to this phone and I want to know how many devices are affected and what is the chance that I'll have to repair it under warranty.
I can say that the biggest problem WAS the screen getting yellow spot. I've never heard about phantom touches. However it is possible. So about the yellow spot it was happening on the old devices, then it was fixed. There are a lot of brick scenarios, but most of them are easly fixable. Anyway i think it's more brickable than samsung. (I consider them as the easiest devices for unbrick) Then it's the performance. It's faster in any way. And last my friend have exatcly the same phone and after a bit of use it gets realyyyyyyy hot. I mean compared to G2 it's awful. It's still a great phone even that G4 was just released. I hope i helped and you buy the phone.
When I first got this phone it was relatively safe. However, I lost my first G2 and I ended up with this Asurion replacement and it was okay too but now I'm experiencing Phantom touches I'm not sure from what it could be: butt pocket, wallet case, tight shirt pocket, actually hitting the Snooze part of the screen too much. You see my point anyone of those things could be the culprit. I love this phone and I would love to keep it but as of right now I can't rely on it to wake me up.
comk4ver said:
When I first got this phone it was relatively safe. However, I lost my first G2 and I ended up with this Asurion replacement and it was okay too but now I'm experiencing Phantom touches I'm not sure from what it could be: butt pocket, wallet case, tight shirt pocket, actually hitting the Snooze part of the screen too much. You see my point anyone of those things could be the culprit. I love this phone and I would love to keep it but as of right now I can't rely on it to wake me up.
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When did you receive the replacement phone? All replacements do come with a 1 year limited warranty!
A little background:
I have a 2012 Nexus 7 that I gave to my 6 yr old after I got the Nexus 10 - he's taken pretty good care of it, but recently the screen came up cracked. I went ahead and ordered a replacement screen in addition to a new battery and USB/audio port. (Since I was going to have it apart, might as well replace all the stuff in one go, right?)
Fast forward.
Device back together and boots fine, however the screen will not respond to touch input. I didn't think he needed a rooted device and it was interfering with getting OS upgrades, so I went ahead and restored it to stock a while back, however this has caused me to be unable to access his data which I plan on moving over to my Nexus 10 after I get my new Nexus 9. (he'll get the 10)
To the point:
Does anyone know of any particular reason why the screen won't respond? I read something about a driver incompatibility with Lollipop, but really unsure how to proceed without losing everything. Any assistance would be appreciated. I'd also like to sell or re-purpose the 7, but right now it's essentially a brick.
mdwbeex said:
A little background:
I have a 2012 Nexus 7 that I gave to my 6 yr old after I got the Nexus 10 - he's taken pretty good care of it, but recently the screen came up cracked. I went ahead and ordered a replacement screen in addition to a new battery and USB/audio port. (Since I was going to have it apart, might as well replace all the stuff in one go, right?)
Fast forward.
Device back together and boots fine, however the screen will not respond to touch input. I didn't think he needed a rooted device and it was interfering with getting OS upgrades, so I went ahead and restored it to stock a while back, however this has caused me to be unable to access his data which I plan on moving over to my Nexus 10 after I get my new Nexus 9. (he'll get the 10)
To the point:
Does anyone know of any particular reason why the screen won't respond? I read something about a driver incompatibility with Lollipop, but really unsure how to proceed without losing everything. Any assistance would be appreciated. I'd also like to sell or re-purpose the 7, but right now it's essentially a brick.
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Click to collapse
Was the screen touching at all after being replaced? You may have purchased a defective replacement. It does happen, I know, as this is my line of work. Make sure all of the cables are properly seated as well. Did you purchase this from a reputable seller? Perhaps they will work with you on an exchange.
Got it from Amazon. May look into a replacement, but I'd like to know if anyone has any experience with the Lollipop software issue before taking it all apart again....
Should I wait until my warranty expires?
I don't drop my phone, almost never.
But since I've been modding and "ROMing" my phones since I started using Android, I was wondering is Samsung's warrranty (my first Samsung) useful to have or should I just dive in and start downloading all those great ROMs (I know, it's all personal preference)?
Basically the question would be would you guys advise on rooting prior to warranty expire date or wait until the "mentioned" date (I've got almost a full year left)?
Sorry for the wrong section of J5, I just realized it -.-
The_LLH said:
Should I wait until my warranty expires?
I don't drop my phone, almost never.
But since I've been modding and "ROMing" my phones since I started using Android, I was wondering is Samsung's warrranty (my first Samsung) useful to have or should I just dive in and start downloading all those great ROMs (I know, it's all personal preference)?
Basically the question would be would you guys advise on rooting prior to warranty expire date or wait until the "mentioned" date (I've got almost a full year left)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After I got my Huawei Nova, I hesitated to root it for like 1 week or so just because i was afraid that I may encounter some problems with the phone itself since it is my first Huawei phone. Now it is rooted and guess what: I read that on Huawei we still have warranty after we relock the bootloader by reinstalling stock ROM, since there isn't any counter like on Samsung (Knox 0x1). I would have rooted it even if there would have been a counter.
I guess you already know what advantages has a rooted phone or that installing custom ROMs (like the famous CyanogenMod, now called LineageOS) or custom kernels can improve your phone and have a better experience.
Why to give up these? For a warranty? I rather enjoy my phone and use it the way I want, to it's full capability. And you know what? Android smartphones aren't really "smart phones". You can make them really smart by rooting them.
I still have my first Android smartphone, Samsung Galaxy Y which is old and still alive without any problem. But it isn't being used since 1-2 years or so (it's battery is dead, but is replaceable though and also it's quite old and slow). It was rooted, overclocked and God knows how many times I've flashed ROMs .
I also have my previous phone (before I got J5 2015), the Samsung Galaxy S Advance, which is also alive. With this one I had a problem. When I've been running AOSP 4.4 (custom rom and rooted) and browsing, the phone suddenly froze and after I've powered it off, I couldn't power it on anymore. I still had some months left of the two years warranty. Then I went to Samsung service and they've said that motherboard is dead and got a free repair.
After owning 3 Samsung phones, I can tell that they're quite durable phones. However, I don't think I'll ever buy one because it's running Crapwiz.
Go on and root your phone, without looking back.
And if you have J500F or J500FN and the downgraded camera quality or slower charging time of LineageOS, Snapchat video recording and FM-Radio bugs aren't a problem for you, then try LineageOS 13 (which is an updated version of CyanogenMod 13) and you won't regret.
The_LLH said:
Should I wait until my warranty expires?
I don't drop my phone, almost never.
But since I've been modding and "ROMing" my phones since I started using Android, I was wondering is Samsung's warrranty (my first Samsung) useful to have or should I just dive in and start downloading all those great ROMs (I know, it's all personal preference)?
Basically the question would be would you guys advise on rooting prior to warranty expire date or wait until the "mentioned" date (I've got almost a full year left)?
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Click to collapse
Warranty doesent cover dropped phones, broken displays unless you paid more for Screen insuarance / protection.
---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:59 AM ----------
#Henkate said:
After I got my Huawei Nova, I hesitated to root it for like 1 week or so just because i was afraid that I may encounter some problems with the phone itself since it is my first Huawei phone. Now it is rooted and guess what: I read that on Huawei we still have warranty after we relock the bootloader by reinstalling stock ROM, since there isn't any counter like on Samsung (Knox 0x1). I would have rooted it even if there would have been a counter.
I guess you already know what advantages has a rooted phone or that installing custom ROMs (like the famous CyanogenMod, now called LineageOS) or custom kernels can improve your phone and have a better experience.
Why to give up these? For a warranty? I rather enjoy my phone and use it the way I want, to it's full capability. And you know what? Android smartphones aren't really "smart phones". You can make them really smart by rooting them.
I still have my first Android smartphone, Samsung Galaxy Y which is old and still alive without any problem. But it isn't being used since 1-2 years or so (it's battery is dead, but is replaceable though and also it's quite old and slow). It was rooted, overclocked and God knows how many times I've flashed ROMs .
I also have my previous phone (before I got J5 2015), the Samsung Galaxy S Advance, which is also alive. With this one I had a problem. When I've been running AOSP 4.4 (custom rom and rooted) and browsing, the phone suddenly froze and after I've powered it off, I couldn't power it on anymore. I still had some months left of the two years warranty. Then I went to Samsung service and they've said that motherboard is dead and got a free repair.
After owning 3 Samsung phones, I can tell that they're quite durable phones. However, I don't think I'll ever buy one because it's running Crapwiz.
Go on and root your phone, without looking back.
And if you have J500F or J500FN and the downgraded camera quality or slower charging time of LineageOS, Snapchat video recording and FM-Radio bugs aren't a problem for you, then try LineageOS 13 (which is an updated version of CyanogenMod 13) and you won't regret.
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Click to collapse
there are people who got their device fixed even tho the counter said 0x1
In European Union knox 0x1 doesn't break your warranty.
Repair service may still try to screw you over though, so you should prepare given EU directive that talks about case like this. It's been laying around xda for a while.
Insightfull
thanks guys
I'm just gonna do it.
Don't know why I waited in the first place,
this touchwiz is... something
Besides I see Lineage OS is on the way (I've got J510FN) so that with some tweaks is probably going to satisfy my needs.
#Henkate Lol
I still have my first Android smartphone, Samsung Galaxy Y which is old and still alive without any problem.
I still have that device!! Actually the single sim and the dual sim version too. First battery is dead but the dual sim is alive and kicking!!! Lol
#Henkate said:
After I got my Huawei Nova, I hesitated to root it for like 1 week or so just because i was afraid that I may encounter some problems with the phone itself since it is my first Huawei phone. Now it is rooted and guess what: I read that on Huawei we still have warranty after we relock the bootloader by reinstalling stock ROM, since there isn't any counter like on Samsung (Knox 0x1). I would have rooted it even if there would have been a counter.
I guess you already know what advantages has a rooted phone or that installing custom ROMs (like the famous CyanogenMod, now called LineageOS) or custom kernels can improve your phone and have a better experience.
Why to give up these? For a warranty? I rather enjoy my phone and use it the way I want, to it's full capability. And you know what? Android smartphones aren't really "smart phones". You can make them really smart by rooting them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man you deserve a reward for this reply.
Samsung is kind a phone that just needs to be rooted, either for debloating it (since without it, it becomes unusable and laggy) or either for custom roms
Koloses said:
In European Union knox 0x1 doesn't break your warranty.
Repair service may still try to screw you over though, so you should prepare given EU directive that talks about case like this. It's been laying around xda for a while.
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Click to collapse
And yes, actually, my friend bought Huawei P9 brand new, just when it came out on market and it came with that special kind of warranty (the one that even if you break your device, like display or something, the service must repair it for you for free. The only one thing that breaks the warranty is root.
So two week after my friend bought it, he rooted it and he was messing with the speakers sound, and he somehow completly blew them they couldn't work anymore, he knew that they wouldn't do anything since phone is rooted, so he flashed a faulty kernel (my idea lol) and after that the phone wouldn't turn on no matter what.
He just took the phone to service and said he dropped the phone, they told him that the motherboard is most likely damaged from fall, and guess what they gave him a completly brand new P9
he never rooted again but he did buy me a lot of beers during that week
haha I'll have to try that
Lol i have a similar story, basically my first andoid phone was a ZTE Blade 3 and i started putting all kinds of roms in it, until i put a rom from another ZTE (different cpu than mine) The device wouldnt even budge when i hold the power key anymore but i still had like some months of warranty, and they replaced the motherboard for free XD
Koloses said:
In European Union knox 0x1 doesn't break your warranty.
Repair service may still try to screw you over though, so you should prepare given EU directive that talks about case like this. It's been laying around xda for a while.
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Click to collapse
Are you talking about the fact that I have a warranty with the shop/company that sold it to me, not Samsung itself? From what I read around XDA that is the case, right?
The_LLH said:
Are you talking about the fact that I have a warranty with the shop/company that sold it to me, not Samsung itself? From what I read around XDA that is the case, right?
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So u have a one year warranty from Samsung and should have another year from the shop you bought it from
infixremix said:
So u have a one year warranty from Samsung and should have another year from the shop you bought it from
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I got 24months from store ?
I don't know if I am just suffering from correlation is not causation but I feel like the memory usage of the Pie rom was what just caused my phone to boot loop and then green screen. I just decided to use a Pie rom last week and despite seeing information in the threads saying there were issues with memory usage and other stuff I thought I would dive in. I loved the rom, it was working perfectly for 2 days and I enjoyed it. Then all of a sudden it just started having wifi disconnect issues, crackling speakers and finally one time when I was changing the volume on the phone it just BAM... restarted and got stuck at the google screen. I wasn't able to get back into recovery so I tried reflashing that using the BLOD method. That worked long enough to get a stock rom on the phone. I thought maybe I could just use my device like that but now it started going into a green screen and it wouldn't even power up. It did lead me to find information about getting my phone replaced. I think thats the only positive to come out of this for me. Obviously YMMV and flash at your own risk... but in 10 years of flashing I have never had an experience like this. Even with WM devices. I have kept an eye on both the Pie threads in Android Development and I see similar comments to my experience... I just suggest caution to people like me... who might only know what you are doing based on guides.
TLDR - I tried both the pie roms that were available. I decided on the PixelPie Rom. My phone started bootlooping withing 2 days. I think its the maxed memory usage.
Update: I just got an email that LG has fixed the board and they are mailing my phone back. I was afraid they were going to turn me down for one reason or another. I should get the phone in 2 days. I did personally speak with an LG rep over the phone about it since they were mailing me the same phone back. She said she would not be able to opt for me to receive a new phone because that is always based off the determination of the person repairing the phone. She said that if I ever have any more issues with the phone it will be covered by warranty since I am in the system. I would just have to mail the phone in and go through the same annoyance.
LG was nice enough to fix my phone... They also repaired the cracked screen free of charge. I am happy... I am sticking with stock. lol
As I know, there's a way to incrase your RAM sending motherboard to China (or just buying new from Ali) to install up to 4Gb. Can't precisely tell the prise, but something around $100. In some cases that can be a nice way to give your phone the second life.
orcgoblinsupply said:
As I know, there's a way to incrase your RAM sending motherboard to China (or just buying new from Ali) to install up to 4Gb. Can't precisely tell the prise, but something around $100. In some cases that can be a nice way to give your phone the second life.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I paid around $100 for mine like a half year ago. Works very smoothly with Pie.
My phone started having more issues after the warranty time started running out. The screen isn't working right, the phone is freezing up all the time, its also giving me memory errors. luckily this happened within the 90 days of extended warranty they gave me. Will they ever just completely replace my phone? sigh... heh