[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Questions & Answers] coldengrey:
What I'm trying to accomplish as far as the hardware or attempting to distinguish that there is a very distinct difference between a totally defect-driven (overheating interrupted official update, I imagine) Operating System Corruption causing integrity checks to fail, defaulting it's status to 'custom' vs Samsung automatically labelling Quote "ROOTED"?

Bottom line is, I'm trying to ascertain the exact specifics as to just how many ways and specific causes a device is triggered to be 'custom'....

As I've dealt with the Samsung Executive Office, after 13 calls, final being from State's Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division - Problem is that samsung does not bother to do any type of diagnostic to determine just how a 'custom' status is triggered. To be clear, they do not differentiate ANY difference between 'custom' and 'Rooted'.. EVEN when Samsung Knox has NOT been tripped/flagged for deliberate modification and/or security circumvention for gaining root access to run unsigned code (or whatever)...

If there is ANY way a device can be 'custom' from a simple operating System corruption (even worse, when directly attributed to being a symptom of a hardware defect - overheating, ect) and Samsung has systemically and unilaterally denied thousands of MFR Warranty claims on inaccurate assumption that all 'custom' status devices are in fact QUOTE: "ROOTED" - then there could be a very compelling argument for a class action.

What I do know is my despite NEVER having rooted, rather extreme overheating has caused thermal override to trigger up to 20 reboots an hour.... I and a Verizon Tech Level 2 or 3 (?) spent an entire day back and forth trying to pinpoint why/how my device become 'custom'. We postulate that a simple Operating System Corruption caused hash checks to fail and, by default, trigger an innocent 'custom' status.... This hypothesis seems to stand up (seems to is where you experts come in) [correct us if we're wrong] when considering that the Verizon Variant has a locked bootloader - which means any modifications would require "Rooting", which would be detected by Samsung Knox and flagged as such, and cannot be reversed. My (and, perhaps many other) device's software/operating system integrity was EASILY repaired and returned to 'OFFICIAL', with Samsung Knox UNFLAGGED, by simply using the Verizon Software Repair Tool. The tool simply reflashed the official firmware which was corrupted when update was interrupted by overheating.

I believe, in addition to my scenario, there is evidence that other users may have obtained a 'custom' status from something which is not QUOTE: "ROOTING", for example. a package disabler? That isn't anything that was used on my device, but merely another precedence, possibly, of there being more than one clear cut 'custom'="ROOTED" as far as Samsung treats ALL MFR warranty claims where HOW/WHY 'custom' status may completely matter - and if there is some question, their refusing to even inspect or investigate the specific reason a device is 'custom' maybe screwing thousands of legit mfr warranty claims > hence class action.

At first, I merely wanted my premium $800 device repaired/replaced... My device has exhibited dangerous behavior, after constant overheating may have warped component leads, shorted soldier traces, melted components, made lithium ion chemicals unstable. My device, upon charging with OEM supplied charger and cable, will completely become unresponsive to ANY user input (not even home/power/volume) - it continues to heat to such temps it cannot be handled without a glove or towel for very long - there's only one of three scenarios A) Chemicals become unstable causing a volatile chemical reaction (fire/explosion) B) Chemicals and/or components reach catastrophic state and simply fail permanently C) Battery dissipates 100%. I made sure to present my device in this state to a Verizon dealership so it was documented and an agent could affirm via an affidavit, should something awful happen. I was lucky that a regional Samsung Field Rep also overheard and was obligated to attempt to intervene as not doing so would have been negligent on his part - he's the one who tried for me but was told that any device that was 'custom' had to have been rooted... He hinted that he had knowledge that this was a bogus practice that Samsung policy dictates without any consideration for whether or not the 'custom' status was deliberate, nefarious, or even violated MFR Warranty terms....