Boot loop problem and my factory repair story

[Adam Frix]

Mine simply says "DATE: 10/2015" clearly.

And they fixed in in 12/2016, 14 months later.

 

[cuckooc]

Thanks, Adam.

It looks like your phone is repaired under warranty. And you are smart that you send the phone for repair right before the warranty ends.

 

[Adam Frix]

Lucky, not smart. It happened to boot loop within 15 months. And I was moments away from smashing it with a hammer when I figured, what's to lose with a repair request? No idea what put that thought in my head--although I had already, a few days earlier, seen LG's web site and process for repair.

 

[kiragn01]

As you can see from my earlier posts, my phone was from Nov 2015 and I filled out a claim to fix a boot loop issue just over a week ago. I got it back yesterday and they replaced the mainboard and it is working like brand new again. (Was factory reset of course) I did NOT upload any proof of purchase on the form, simply put a date and the rest of the relevant info including mentioning the phrase 'boot loop' in the description. Printed out the RMA label and shipped it back to LG (TX, USA repair facility). They fixed it and shipped it back at no cost to me saying it was an in-warranty repair.

Mine was an AT&T model to be specific. I did not call or talk to anyone. Simply went to their web site and filled out a repair request.

Thanks for the update. So they do actually factory reset the phone. Mine boot loop V10 was shipped 2 days ago. Hopefully, it will get repair and ship it back within next week.

Your question has been answered in a post by Adam Frix above yours when I asked a similar question a couple of days ago.

So yea, it will factory reset and erase everything

 

[fwaits]

Fwait, thanks for your reply.

When you setup repair on LG website, you can skip providing proof of purchase. But I think you need to provide IMEI/ serial number to them. With that number, LG knows your phone's manufacture date. As I said before, LG provide warranty for 1. 1 year within purchase date or 2. 15 months within manufacture date.

Fwait, you said you bought your phone in Nov, 2015. So, this is about 15 months. Your phone might be manufactured about the same time. So LG consider it is under warranty.

You can input your serial number on website and check your phone's manufacture date. I got my V10 in April, 2016. And I check my phone, it is also manufactured in the same month.

Yeah I wasn't originally aware of the 15 month from manufacture warranty, I only thought it was 1 year from purchase. Good info.

 

[gustav30]

I had an OIS problem with my camera. 14 months in. Figured I'd outline that the phone was alsp bootlooping but not all the time, in the hopes that they'd just do the bootloop repair while they fixed the camera module. In the repair email it said they fixed the OIS module. I chatted with an LG rep to see if they did anything about the bootloop and because they couldn't reproduce it, they didn't do anything there. I knew it was a long shot but since I had to send the phone for the OIS had nothing to loose. I asked if the phone began bootlooping all the time when my warranty was over(which I think was today) if they'd still fix for free the rep said yes.
Great phone but man I do kind if feel it's a time bomb waiting to happen.
Glad I never sold my M8!

 

[hoang51]

Hoang, I am not uninformed as you think. I have done all the homework before getting H960A. I am not getting this phone because of the price, so please stop assuming or imaging anything and try to play smart. I travel a lot between US and Asia, so I need a phone which can cover all the frequency that I need. Just don't trust the info on GSMarena, their frequency support info is not correct. The US version, H900(ATT), cover band 2,3,4,7,12,17. H960A supports band 1,2,3,4,5,7,12,17,28,38,(it is printed on my original V10 package). Band 1,3,4,7,12,17,38 are the frequency that I need. No US model can support that many frequency as H960A.

Sorry, too many people I've seen gone the cheap route and got burned, assumed you were one of them.

I know G4 bootloop issue before I get the v10. That is why I have been holding off getting a phone with similar spec. I have waited for 8 months and still no one report bootloop issue. I think LG has fixed the loose contact of component issue with the second batch of stock, as they has replaced H815 with US991. So I think V10 should be immune to bootloop. Also, H960A has 1 year warranty covered by a reputable company, B&H. I think I am safe if anything happens.

But I am wrong, LG does not care about their reputation, their 2nd batch, 3rd batch of stock are still plagued with bootloop issue. Also, I never think of B&H would take 2 months to try to repair my phone. I have Sony, Samsung repaired under warranty, it only take 10 days at most. But B&H takes 2 months, which is not a reasonable time frame.

You cannot compare apple to orange and expect similar results. In this case, you're comparing to top tier brand name company repair centers (Sony/Samsung) with third party repair center (B&H contracted) with who know what tier level they're at. It sucks but the time frame of repair would suggest low budget, which equates to longer service wait times for third party. If anything at the most, I'm going to guess they have a long wait time for either sourcing materials for repair and/or other people ahead of you to repair other type of devices. You're not the only one getting serviced.

I have already chatted with LG staff online and email back and forth. I have googled it and still could not find the country which can repair H960A. It seems Czeck, Germany and hungary handle it though, but still could not setup the repair on their website. So I just send it back to B&H and wait for 2 months and see.

Did you see this website: Global Service Network | Support | Business | LG Global ?
or even go through here selecting a European country and then find warranty repair from there: LG Electronics common.d ?

 

[cuckooc]

Sorry, too many people I've seen gone the cheap route and got burned, assumed you were one of them.

Again, you are assuming something. Unlocked European version is not always cheaper. You can googled the H900 price and H960A. H960A is about 60% more expensive than H900(att) now.

You cannot compare apple to orange and expect similar results. In this case, you're comparing to top tier brand name company repair centers (Sony/Samsung) with third party repair center (B&H contracted) with who know what tier level they're at.

Again, we don't know what B&H warranty really is. My phone is still within one year, so B&H can ship it back to Europe to repair for free. But they choose to ship out to 3rd party company and pay them to repair. If I don't post it here, you would not know what first tier repair center vs bottom tier repair center.

Even I have to send about 5 email to B&H asking the same question over and over again. And they still ignoring my question where the phone will be repaired. They answered it in the sixth email.

Did you see this website: Global Service Network | Support | Business | LG Global ?
or even go through here selecting a European country and then find warranty repair from there: LG Electronics common.d ?

I need to register and have an European address. There is too much trouble and so I have already sent it back to B&H.


Here I would like to talk about the H900(att) and unbranded H960. I just bought a V10 H900 Unlocked as a temporary phone while my H960 is under repair. I have it for 4 days and I found that I hate branded phone so much.

1. There is an ugly At&t Mark on the back cover. It can be resolved by getting a oem back cover for 20 dollars.

2. When I first turn on the phone, I see an ugly At&t splash screen instead of LG logo animation. It can be resolved by not looking at it.

3. The H900 comes with marshmallow pre-installed. The startup time is 20 seconds more than my H960 which is also updated to marshmallow. I have already disable all the bloatware when comparing. And install the same 46 apps which I have been using and the same home screen setting.

4. There are a lot of AT&T bloatware which cannot be removed. It can only be disabled. ATT address book cannot be disabled and it always opened itself when I click the contact. I have to use a trick to complete the registration to prevent it open itself again.

5. All the bloatware takes up 3 additonal GB and no way to remove. While my H960 comes a lot cleaner.

6. There is a carrier name on the status bar on the top left screen, which always leave a image rentention there. If I don't use ATT network, it shows HOME there. It is very bad that it takes up a lot of space on the status bar. There is no way to get rid of it. While H960 has no carrier showing, it is a lot cleaner.

7. There is no home theme setting in H900 and I really like two themes from the LG smart world, it is just my personal preference. It can be resolved by download an app and create a shortcut yourself. While H960 is just one click. Much more easy.

8. The LG file manager in H900 cannot connect to Google drive, One drive and LG air drive. There is just no such option to choose cloud storage in ATT version. While H960 can connect to them. I like the stock file manager because I can choose 20 files to move to or copy from cloud in one pick. While others has to click them one by one. The only way to resolve this is to use 3rd party file manager, but I have to tolerate the ad each time I move the file unless I pay for it.

9. I don't use ATT network, it shows a line under the time on the lock screen, which is very ugly. While H960 is clean.

10. The battery life of H900 is a lot worse than H960. I installed the same 46 apps and exactly same setting on the phone, using the same battery. H900 can only last for 4 hours for continuous internet browsing before dropping to 20%. While H960 can last for 5 And a half hours.

11. I run Antutu on both phone. H900 gets 44000 -45000 while H960 get two thousand higher. This one is no big deal. I don't game and my phone is for checking info and communication only.

12. The turn off screen of ATT is an ugly blue circle, while h960 is an android robot if I remember correctly.

13. Poweramp cannot be set as default player in H900. While I can do it H960. So every time I download a song, I cannot click on the downloaded file to open it. I have to open it through Poweramp.

14. H900(att) comes in an ugly at t package box. It really looks like a trash. And it is missing the headset. H960 unbranded comes in a nice LG package box. And it comes with a earbud which is tuned by AKG. You can just pay $80 to get a better sennheiser headset.

There are too much hassle to setup a branded phone as the bloatware is really annoying especially the ATT address book.
I think I will never get a branded phone again. I am willing to pay extra to get an unbranded unlocked phone. It is too bad that V10 do not have unbranded phone in US.

 

[cuckooc]

15. The FM radio chip in H900 is disabled and there is no way to activate it, which means I cannot listen to air radio without using network. H960 comes with FM radio app pre-installed and I can use the headset as antenna. It use a lot less battery to listen to air radio.

16. H900 phone update is done by connecting to ATT, it seems I have to click it manually and I can only check it every 24 hours. ATT update is slower than LG update. H960 phone is divided into LG app update and OS update. They can be set to auto update or manual update separately. I can connect to their server whenever I want. I update LG app automatically, and it has updatea about every 3 months and I sat OS update manually. I only update it after a month later, just to make sure there is no major bugs reported. The LG Update is a lot faster than ATT.

 

[cuckooc]

17. There is no multiple user setting in H900, while Lollipop and Marshmallow support it. In H960, I have user setting. It is useful if you let your kid to touch your phone. It is no big deal though.

18. When the phone enter battery saving mode, the screen in H900 will turn red. H960 gives you a notification and the screen remain normal. That red screen is very annoying. I just turn off battery saving mode and never let my phone battery drop below 15%.

 

[Fully Charged]

My V10 is doing the same thing! I'm going to give this a try! Like you said, I'm already at the "nothing left to lose" stage! LOL Thx!

 

[blueeyebrat]

When you received your repaired phone were you able to retrieve data/info (docs, contacts, pictures)? Or would they have been lost forever? My phone has stopped and being not too technical I didn't know to back up anything. I'm just sick about things that may be lost. If I can send my phone to be repaired and be able to save my things I will surely do that! Thank you in advance for your response.

 

[Adam Frix]

Comes back in out of the box factory fresh condition.

If you're lucky, your photos are backed up to Google Photos. Log into your Google account and check. Your basic phone is backed up to your account, and should restore when you set it up again. You'll have lost your SMS messages.

 

[blueeyebrat]

Thank-you for the quick response. I'll check it out. I was going to put it in the freezer. thanks again!!!

 

[blueeyebrat]

I do have a google acct but have never installed a photo app. Were you kidding when you said to put the phone in the freezer for 15 minutes, turn it on and then do a backup?

 

[Marshall Read]

So, was all of your original data intact? Mine just started doing it and i'm worried about losing my local data if I send it in.

 

[fwaits]

So, was all of your original data intact? Mine just started doing it and i'm worried about losing my local data if I send it in.

Highly likely it will be a factory reset device with no user data if you get it repaired. Mine was a mainboard replacement and was factory wiped on return. Only SD card data and whatever backup/cloud data you have will remain.

 

[kaaru]

so, here is my story with LG v10 h900 space black

After so much research done under my budget, I found that LG V10 has all the features I needed and then I bought it from eBay.in (i live in india)

so, after 2 months of usage, the demon has come to my phone THE BOOTLOOP ISSUE

So, I didn't know what to do at that time, the phone has become really hot and it was boot looping.

Finally, I found a video where he rips the phone apart and heats the motherboard up to 200C. He then applied some thermal paste and installed some thermal pads.. and the issue was solved for him.. (I DONT THINK SO)

I followed the same tutorial- Applied heat, thermal paste, thermal pads and put everything back in.

Annnd BAMM! It worked. Sad thing was, the proximity sensor was not working.

well, it worked for 2 days and then I wanted the proximity sensor working. I opened the phone again, double checked everything and put everything back.. Now the proximity is working.. but the camera is gone..
opened it again, installed everthing back and everthing was fine for a day.. and then THE BOOTLOOP WAS BACK! :/

So, i opened the phone again.. cleaned everything (the thermal paste, thermal pads) with a small artists brush.. carefully.. Well here, the things were gone bad.. worse actually..

I BY MISTAKE BROKE A SMALL CHIP IN THE BOARD..

I lost all hopes for the phone that it'll work again

Put everthing back, turned on the phone, STUCK AT LG LOGO

Then i contacted LG that my phone has a bootloop problem and shipped to them

(I KNOW THAT THE PHONES WARRANTY IS VOID NOW AND THEY WONT REPAIR IT FOR FREE)

I shipped the phone to the LG Facility Center and guess what

They said that the phone is under warranty and we're gonna repair it for free..

they said, they replaced the motherboard, battery and now everthing is perfectly fine now.

They emailed me today as follows

Dear Karthikesh,

The repair on your LG mobile product has been completed and it has been shipped from our repair facility.

Defect: Unit is not charging with cable Payment Type: NOT APPLICABLE
Repair Results: Swap Board (Main/RF) : Others Repair Cost: $ 0.00
Warranty Status: In Warranty Tax: $ 0.00
Total: $ 0.00

I WAS LIKE WOAHH! THATS FAST AND UNEXPECTED!

THANKS TO LG FOR THIS..

Will reply after the phone is in my hands!

Thanks!

 

[muckrakerX]

That's amazing! Hope your phone comes back better than new!

 

[kixfan]

I almost wish mine would bootloop so I could send it in and get this overheating/battery drain fixed. Sad that I am forced to carry an extra battery if I leave my house for more than a couple hours. Factory reset helps with the heat a little for awhile but it always ends up back to overheating. Oh well...upgrade due next month. No idea what phone I want next.