Re: [luv-talk] alternate OS voids warranty
On Wed, 15 May 2013, Arjen Lentz <arjen@lentz.com.au> wrote:
Putting original Android back on a CyanogenMod phone just for a warranty issue is of course a bloody pest, but whether it makes sense depends on the claim. Let's say the screen is stuffed - pointing out to the shop that you're simply asking for your statutory warranty rights should bypass the nonsense. But again remember that the people you're talking to are not tech savvy - they've just been trained to follow specific steps and if the question "has the device been modified from the original" can in any way be answered with "yes" then they will give their standard line. You may have to ask for their manager if they don't want to take the proper responsibility for providing you with service as required by law.
I want a warranty replacement on my hard drive, it gives errors and when it doesn't it just says "GRUB" on the screen instead of booting Windows 8. ;) -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
Hi Russell
I want a warranty replacement on my hard drive, it gives errors and when it doesn't it just says "GRUB" on the screen instead of booting Windows 8. ;)
*sigh* I have a true story though - had an issue with a Shuttle mainboard LAN port not working properly. At some point it worked with really short packets but anything longer than N failed, so things like ping were fine but decent TCP/IP was stuffed. Tweaking MTU made a difference, and sending longer pings did too. So the case was pretty clear. So we returned it for warranty. We noted Linux along the way (possibly a mistake) and they claimed it was thus not their problem (implying it was Linux that was stuffing up).It worked for the people who tested it, and they said so. We made the case that my OS was not relevant, but the packet size - and showed it. Their test was inadequate, it was not testing packet sizes > N otherwise it would've fail also; even though we'd identified specifically that the pkt size was the key factor, they used a tool that didn't test that properly. Simple explanation is that they just used their standard testing tool, which wasn't suited for this particular issue. Anyway, in the end they saw sense and replaced the mainboard. The incorrect presumption was that their tool would catch any issues - of course that holds true for the majority of cases so it's a good baseline but not an absolute. It is quite important to figure out what logic is used on the other end (the process flow), then you can identify specifically where it went wrong and address that in the context of the person you're dealing with understands. Regards, Arjen. -- Exec.Director @ Open Query (http://openquery.com) MariaDB/MySQL services Sane business strategy explorations at http://upstarta.com.au Personal blog at http://lentz.com.au/blog/
Quoting Arjen Lentz (arjen@lentz.com.au):
*sigh*
I have a true story though - had an issue with a Shuttle mainboard LAN port not working properly. [...]
One way to discourage this sort of nonsense in advance: # dd if=/dev/sda of=bootsector.img bs=512 count=1 # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1 Store a copy of bootsector.img somewhere safe. Bring unit in for warranty service. If they try to boot it, say 'I've wiped the hard drive, as it has sensitive data that I am not allowed to disclose.' WIth reasonable luck, they will not insist on installing an OS for some wacky reason. (If they do, you have backups, right?) Assuming they don't reinstall the hard drive, when you take the unit back, you can just dd bootsector.img back, reboot, and you're back in business. The shop doesn't even know Linux was there all along. Of course, putting a spare HD into the unit would also do.
Hi Rick ----- Original Message -----
Quoting Arjen Lentz (arjen@lentz.com.au):
*sigh*
I have a true story though - had an issue with a Shuttle mainboard LAN port not working properly. [...]
One way to discourage this sort of nonsense in advance:
# dd if=/dev/sda of=bootsector.img bs=512 count=1 # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
Store a copy of bootsector.img somewhere safe. Bring unit in for warranty service. If they try to boot it, say 'I've wiped the hard drive, as it has sensitive data that I am not allowed to disclose.'
WIth reasonable luck, they will not insist on installing an OS for some wacky reason. (If they do, you have backups, right?)
Assuming they don't reinstall the hard drive, when you take the unit back, you can just dd bootsector.img back, reboot, and you're back in business. The shop doesn't even know Linux was there all along.
It's a useful trick, but wouldn't have avoided the mishap from the case I described. Their standard testing tool didn't catch the problem on the LAN port. The problem was the testing tool/approach, not the OS. A regular ping on Linux worked as well, and a long packet on Windows would fail as well. It's just that their tool didn't check with long packets. That was what needed to be rectified in their testing process. Regards, Arjen. -- Exec.Director @ Open Query (http://openquery.com) MariaDB/MySQL services Sane business strategy explorations at http://upstarta.com.au Personal blog at http://lentz.com.au/blog/
participants (3)
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Arjen Lentz -
Rick Moen -
Russell Coker