# Can Verizon tell if a phone has been altered, after restoring to stock?



## starkquark (Oct 9, 2011)

I've been pretty unsuccessful with this so far, and my friend is leaving in a few hours.

I'm hoping that if I can't figure out how to resolve it, he might have the ability to return it to a store.

Right now, after "restoring to stock" it just boot-loops the red "Droid" animation.

Thoughts?

I tried searching the forums, didn't seem to find too much.


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## iwasaperson (Sep 4, 2011)

If you Odin EE4, then they will not be able to tell.


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## lane32x (Aug 1, 2011)

starkquark said:


> I've been pretty unsuccessful with this so far, and my friend is leaving in a few hours.
> 
> I'm hoping that if I can't figure out how to resolve it, he might have the ability to return it to a store.
> 
> ...


When you restored to stock, did you use ODIN?
When/if you used ODIN, did you tell tell ODIN to repartition and include the "charge.pit" file?


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## anoninja118 (Aug 3, 2011)

as stated use EE4 stock with PIT file and repartition checked... then no they won't be able to tell


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## neyenlives (Aug 5, 2011)

if you leave the sdcard in and they look in it and find log files and what not from voodoo or other non-stock apps, someone who knows what they are looking at will know easily

thats the first place i would look if i were a VZW employee tasked with determining if a device had been altered at some point


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## rj57 (Jul 19, 2011)

The partitions on /dev/block/mmcblk0 probably have some ext2 or ext4 filesytems if the stock+pit flash fails. (mount errors on boot)

That being said, I have no idea if VZW even looks for that kind of thing.

_____________________________
Rooted and Bloat frozen Stock EE4
V6 SuperCharger


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## anoninja118 (Aug 3, 2011)

"neyenlives said:


> if you leave the sdcard in and they look in it and find log files and what not from voodoo or other non-stock apps, someone who knows what they are looking at will know easily
> 
> thats the first place i would look if i were a VZW employee tasked with determining if a device had been altered at some point


well you kinda reinforced my point by saying "someone who knows what they're looking at" which probably 99% of the store reps won't know... as for checking the sim for stuff like that I doubt it would save there and if it was would be overwritten every time an odin was done just like the rest of the phones internal storage, I could be wrong as I don't know too much of the technical details with sims

also I've always been under the impression that the F. Reset Time button being checked in odin resets the phones internal counter/sensor of how many times firmware has been flashed to the phone so that would help disguise flashaholics' work  also its not anything illegal to flash custom firmware just voids your warranty so big whoop you'll have to pay $5 for a sim and full cost if you want the phone to be fixed or replaced (shouldn't need to as this phone is almost unbrickable, plus the user knows the risk and there are disclaimers for anything flashable)

Sent from my 4G Droid Charge using RootzWiki Forums


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## JimmyInTheROC (Sep 10, 2011)

The real point to think about here is the "Urban Legend" that Verizon is going to come back at you for modding your phone. When they get the phone back, the first think they do is look at its physical condition -- this is 99% of what they care about. If the phone is physically broken they may bill you for the refurb unit they send. Unless there is some special circumstance and your device's MEID is flagged, it will get wiped and re-rom'ed before they even look at what you had on it. (A device will be flagged when they want to check your specific device for the problem you told customer sevice about).

Here's what WILL get you in trouble. Having multiple device replacements for software problems (or "bricks"). If this happens, they will start to look look at what you're doing and see if its your fault.

Pay your monthly bill, don't cause Verizon exessive service costs, you're good.


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## yutzybrian (Jun 24, 2011)

Sent in an Omnia once with fully custom firmware on it (was too bricked to even restore) and nothing ever happened


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## anoninja118 (Aug 3, 2011)

"JimmyInTheROC said:


> The real point to think about here is the "Urban Legend" that Verizon is going to come back at you for modding your phone. When they get the phone back, the first think they do is look at its physical condition -- this is 99% of what they care about. If the phone is physically broken they may bill you for the refurb unit they send. Unless there is some special circumstance and your device's MEID is flagged, it will get wiped and re-rom'ed before they even look at what you had on it. (A device will be flagged when they want to check your specific device for the problem you told customer sevice about).
> 
> Here's what WILL get you in trouble. Having multiple device replacements for software problems (or "bricks"). If this happens, they will start to look look at what you're doing and see if its your fault.
> 
> Pay your monthly bill, don't cause Verizon exessive service costs, you're good.


this

as long as its not physically broken and boots up they will just wipe it and fix/replace... unless you're sending it in for a software problem and when they get it its running CM7 or whatever then derp they're gonna put two and two together

Sent from my 4G Droid Charge using RootzWiki Forums


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## blackdraggin (Jun 11, 2011)

Just a warning on stuff on sdcard. Not all Verizon are the same tho but my wife went in to return her phone because the physical keyboard wasn't responding. I had returned phone back to stock but forgot to wipe all things root on sdcard. First thing rep did was checked SDcard and found superuser and other files on it and told her no soup. So just a heads up


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## anoninja118 (Aug 3, 2011)

"blackdraggin said:


> Just a warning on stuff on sdcard. Not all Verizon are the same tho but my wife went in to return her phone because the physical keyboard wasn't responding. I had returned phone back to stock but forgot to wipe all things root on sdcard. First thing rep did was checked SDcard and found superuser and other files on it and told her no soup. So just a heads up


that should be common sense like odining back to stock, however mistakes happen and that sucks... you should've wiped it then went to a different store  on that note I wonder if they make a note on your account or something that you voided that phones warranty...

Sent from my 4G Droid Charge using RootzWiki Forums


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## JimmyInTheROC (Sep 10, 2011)

anoninja118 said:


> this
> 
> as long as its not physically broken and boots up they will just wipe it and fix/replace... unless you're sending it in for a software problem and when they get it its running CM7 or whatever then derp they're gonna put two and two together
> 
> Sent from my 4G Droid Charge using RootzWiki Forums


Thats what I'm talking about with the flagged MEID. Devices that are returned do not get personalized care, they are simply evaluated to be sent back out as "certified" refurbs. They don't go: "Ok, here's Tom's phone and he said so and so is wrong..." That doesn't happen unless the MEID is flagged.


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## JimmyInTheROC (Sep 10, 2011)

blackdraggin said:


> Just a warning on stuff on sdcard. Not all Verizon are the same tho but my wife went in to return her phone because the physical keyboard wasn't responding. I had returned phone back to stock but forgot to wipe all things root on sdcard. First thing rep did was checked SDcard and found superuser and other files on it and told her no soup. So just a heads up


The only way that actually happened is if the phone was out of warranty. If the keyboard was actually broken, they are going to give you a replacement under warranty. The tech may have said something about the phone being modded, but it had nothing to do with it.


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## blackdraggin (Jun 11, 2011)

JimmyInTheROC said:


> The only way that actually happened is if the phone was out of warranty. If the keyboard was actually broken, they are going to give you a replacement under warranty. The tech may have said something about the phone being modded, but it had nothing to do with it.


the tech made the statement that "since the phone was modified from stock, that it may have caused the issue. we can not replace it due to that reason."

i just popped in a sdcard i had layin around and sent her to another verizon and got a replacement. with that said, they did refuse service to my wife for having a rooted phone, and its still under warranty also. so just saying tho


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## fixxxer2012 (Jul 31, 2011)

always go back to stock and wipe your sd card, or don't take it there with an sd card inserted. i think it's pretty much common sense at this point. i can tell you the charge is much easier to unroot than the tbolt i had. setting that back to stock and going s-on again was a real pain.


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## Cruiserdude (Jun 23, 2011)

Yeah, just odin stock, pull the sd card, and remove any root apps the market may have restored. I just bring my laptop and flash it back in the parking lot when I leave.


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## neyenlives (Aug 5, 2011)

anoninja118 said:


> well you kinda reinforced my point by saying "someone who knows what they're looking at" which probably 99% of the store reps won't know... as for checking the sim for stuff like that I doubt it would save there and if it was would be overwritten every time an odin was done just like the rest of the phones internal storage, I could be wrong as I don't know too much of the technical details with sims
> 
> also I've always been under the impression that the F. Reset Time button being checked in odin resets the phones internal counter/sensor of how many times firmware has been flashed to the phone so that would help disguise flashaholics' work  also its not anything illegal to flash custom firmware just voids your warranty so big whoop you'll have to pay $5 for a sim and full cost if you want the phone to be fixed or replaced (shouldn't need to as this phone is almost unbrickable, plus the user knows the risk and there are disclaimers for anything flashable)
> 
> Sent from my 4G Droid Charge using RootzWiki Forums


i will be nice and just say that you don't even know your phone bro. I said sdcard, not SIM. Odin doesn't touch your sdcard. It doesn't even touch the SIM card either for that matter. Your sdcard has a ton of files and directories on it that only get there if you run rooted, custom roms, voodoo kernels...that sort of thing...so the only way to really wipe a device clean is to Odin the phone and format the sdcard. Thats was my point. I know they don't come after you. The question was asked, can they tell? They can really really easily tell. It doesn't take a "phone geek" to know how to browse files on the sdcard.....

also, if you are running the latest GBE 2.0 rom, it identifies your device to the network as a "GBE 2.0 Gummycharged" or similar instead of a "Samsung SCH-i510"

so they technically never have to see your phone to know you had been running non-stock firmware


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## Steve.G (Sep 7, 2011)

Half the time reps in the store know nothing at all about what a rooted phone even means. No fault of their own, there is no training provided on such. I Odin'd back to EE4, took my phone in for a new SIM and the guy barely knew how to get that right. That was retail.

In an indirect store we usually laugh or talk a little shop with people that rock rooted devices. Out of 7 employees in my store 6 are running custom ROMs and 7 are rooted.


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## Cruiserdude (Jun 23, 2011)

It would be cool to run into reps like that, but I don't wanna risk getting my device flagged, so I just reflash and play dumb. I had a CS lady on the phone mention something about rooted, modified software and how it's nothing but trouble. I of course agreed with her, as again, all it takes is one over-zealous employee to flag my device and render my warranty useless, not to mention the possibility of them being more watchful for tethering.


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## quarky42 (Sep 15, 2011)

EE4 + the PIT file + the SamsungPST flashing program was able to recover my phone where Odin had failed, multiple times, in the same combination. Sounds like it is too late for the OP, but anyone else that really wants to try and return their phone to stock, I can highly recommend the SamsungPST w/ Charge PIT file w/ EE4 Stock ROM. You can get the SamsungPST and EE4 ROM HERE. You can search and find the Droid Charge PIT file around here I'm sure.


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## anoninja118 (Aug 3, 2011)

"neyenlives said:


> i will be nice and just say that you don't even know your phone bro. I said sdcard, not SIM. Odin doesn't touch your sdcard. It doesn't even touch the SIM card either for that matter. Your sdcard has a ton of files and directories on it that only get there if you run rooted, custom roms, voodoo kernels...that sort of thing...so the only way to really wipe a device clean is to Odin the phone and format the sdcard. Thats was my point. I know they don't come after you. The question was asked, can they tell? They can really really easily tell. It doesn't take a "phone geek" to know how to browse files on the sdcard.....
> 
> also, if you are running the latest GBE 2.0 rom, it identifies your device to the network as a "GBE 2.0 Gummycharged" or similar instead of a "Samsung SCH-i510"
> 
> so they technically never have to see your phone to know you had been running non-stock firmware


derp you were right I read the post wrong  (I do know about the phone though having taken one apart, also I know there is still plenty of risk despite what I said and if everyone feels compelled to do a complete wipe before going to the store by all means go ahead because I'm not saying you shouldn't) but I still stand by my saying that most VZ reps in the store either 1) don't know or 2) don't care... I took my Charge to verizon just yesterday cuz I had my sim crap out on me, was running Infinity and had all my root apps and roms/kernels on my sd card and got nothing but compliments on how fast/responsive it was and how awesome tw4 widgets/launcher looked... it was passed around by a few associates and a manager, all thought it was done by apps or whatever and not one of them made a mention of rooting or 'jailbreaking' the phone (I shudder when I hear someone say this about an android phone, especially someone like a VZ rep who should at least have an idea of what it means)

long story short went in with rooted phone running custom rom and the reps just derped and said it was awesome, I got my new sim no questions asked and we all went about our business as usual... now I will admit that when you send a phone in to get fixed or replaced they check there and also tech support have knowledge of it and can/will check

just my .02¢ not trying to ruffle feathers in here

Sent from my Infinified 4G Droid Charge using RootzWiki Forums


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