LG G3 Unable to Boot or Factory Reset (is the phone lost forever?)

[AC Question]

Hello everyone. This is kind of a complicated issue, and I would love any help I can get.

Back story:
I have a Verizon LG G3, purchased in December of 2014. I never rooted the phone, so it has been stock this whole time. A couple of months ago, the SD card holder randomly stopped working (no spills or drops). I tried multiple, new SD cards, formatted them and everything, but the phone just kept ejecting the SD card, and corrupting them, so I just gave up on it and stopped using an SD card in the phone. This is not the current issue at hand, but I wanted to preface that I've been having issues with the phone.

Fast forward to a month ago. I had my phone plugged into the wall charging, and was not using it. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my phone turned off. I unplugged the phone and tried turning it back on. It showed the LG logo screen, then the verizon screen, and then just turned off. When I tried powering it again, it did nothing. I pulled the battery, put it back in, and pressed the power button. I got the same series of lg logo, verizon logo, then off. I thought maybe it was a battery issue and took it to a local phone repair shop. They put in a new battery, but got the exact same boot problem I did. I left the phone with them, and they took it apart to see if it was a hardware issue (and the infamous stuck power button issue). When I returned, they told me that they did not find any hardware issues. It also was not an issue of the stuck power button/power button not working. They decided that it must be a software issue. Their explanation was that the phone had probably tried doing a software update and something went wrong. They said they could only fix it by completely wiping the phone and installing the software back on. I was reluctant to go through with it because (1) I would lose all my data (and I did not back it up, my fault, I know) and (2) it seemed like they wanted me to pay almost 100$ for something I could do at home. So I kept the phone and left it alone for a while. Now, it has been a month since the issue began, and I'm trying to see if I can fix it. Here is what I have tried.

1. Tried to power it normally again, but now the phone won't boot past the lg logo screen (no verizon screen, just turns off)
2. Held down the power button and volume down button, and able to get into recovery.
3. Tried safe mode -> boots to lg logo and turns off
4. Tried wipe cache -> boots to lg logo and turns off, does it twice
5. Tried USB debug -> shows the android icon, looks like its working, turns off
6. Finally tried factory data reset -> goes through the "are you sure" screen; select yes; shows android icon, looks like its working, turns off
7. Tried holding down the up button and plugging it into a computer to reinstall firmware, shows logo and turns off
8. When I plug the phone into the wall, it charges normally. Simply won't turn on past that.

I'm not sure what else I can do to the phone. Is there a way to factory reset from a pc or mac without the phone being on? Will I just have to take it to the tech store so they can do whatever magic they seem to possess? I already plan on never getting another android after the issues with this phone (and many androids before this one), but I need this phone to last until December.

Sorry for rambling and thank you for any help!

 

[enoli]

Bump.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Unfortunately, I don't think you have any good options. My guess is a failing motherboard. I'll move this to the G3 forum for more specific traffic.

 

[Lee Gee1]

I have exactly the same issue, and as far as I can tell, for no reason whatsoever.

Had the 'phone for about 18 months, without any issue.

Then one day, it freezes, won't turn off. After a soft-reset, it behaves just as the OP described.

Is this normal for LG phones? Is this built-in obsolescence?

 

[Sriki1]

Perfect Bro.I also have the same Issue and apparently the time period of the errors mentioned by you perfectly matches with mine.I also bought LGG3 in Dec 2014.I have discarded by phone and switched to Samsung the Best android phones.

 

[alieus222]

Solved - at least for me.

I had this exact issue yesterday with my wife's G3, though in her case the problem occurred in the middle of a phone call. Tried multiple things as described above; eventually the phone would not even enter the recovery screen. Once I got the red Verizon screen, but nothing past that. Several times I got the dead Android on his back with the red ! triangle. Tried a factory reset more than once - nothing.

But! In the past, I've had blue-screen problems - random reboots, etc. This was the same phone but a different motherboard. In that case I had some success with removing and baking the motherboard, so I figured it was worth another try. So, yes: removed the backplate and all screws, pried out the two plastic shells, unplugged and extracted the motherboard, and baked it at 250 F (on silicone parchment, not direct on the metal baking sheet) for about 15 minutes. Reinstalled and now (at least for now!) everything is working. All the original data is intact - factory reset never occurred.

And also, I prayed for it.

If anyone else is having this issue, I recommend both courses of action.

 

[njkian]

Hello everyone. This is kind of a complicated issue, and I would love any help I can get.

Back story:
I have a Verizon LG G3, purchased in December of 2014. I never rooted the phone, so it has been stock this whole time. A couple of months ago, the SD card holder randomly stopped working (no spills or drops). I tried multiple, new SD cards, formatted them and everything, but the phone just kept ejecting the SD card, and corrupting them, so I just gave up on it and stopped using an SD card in the phone. This is not the current issue at hand, but I wanted to preface that I've been having issues with the phone.

Fast forward to a month ago. I had my phone plugged into the wall charging, and was not using it. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my phone turned off. I unplugged the phone and tried turning it back on. It showed the LG logo screen, then the verizon screen, and then just turned off. When I tried powering it again, it did nothing. I pulled the battery, put it back in, and pressed the power button. I got the same series of lg logo, verizon logo, then off. I thought maybe it was a battery issue and took it to a local phone repair shop. They put in a new battery, but got the exact same boot problem I did. I left the phone with them, and they took it apart to see if it was a hardware issue (and the infamous stuck power button issue). When I returned, they told me that they did not find any hardware issues. It also was not an issue of the stuck power button/power button not working. They decided that it must be a software issue. Their explanation was that the phone had probably tried doing a software update and something went wrong. They said they could only fix it by completely wiping the phone and installing the software back on. I was reluctant to go through with it because (1) I would lose all my data (and I did not back it up, my fault, I know) and (2) it seemed like they wanted me to pay almost 100$ for something I could do at home. So I kept the phone and left it alone for a while. Now, it has been a month since the issue began, and I'm trying to see if I can fix it. Here is what I have tried.

1. Tried to power it normally again, but now the phone won't boot past the lg logo screen (no verizon screen, just turns off)
2. Held down the power button and volume down button, and able to get into recovery.
3. Tried safe mode -> boots to lg logo and turns off
4. Tried wipe cache -> boots to lg logo and turns off, does it twice
5. Tried USB debug -> shows the android icon, looks like its working, turns off
6. Finally tried factory data reset -> goes through the "are you sure" screen; select yes; shows android icon, looks like its working, turns off
7. Tried holding down the up button and plugging it into a computer to reinstall firmware, shows logo and turns off
8. When I plug the phone into the wall, it charges normally. Simply won't turn on past that.

I'm not sure what else I can do to the phone. Is there a way to factory reset from a pc or mac without the phone being on? Will I just have to take it to the tech store so they can do whatever magic they seem to possess? I already plan on never getting another android after the issues with this phone (and many androids before this one), but I need this phone to last until December.

Sorry for rambling and thank you for any help!

I had the same issue in 2016. 5 years later I still have the phone and have the same issue. Don't know why I'm still trying but if anyone has a better idea than unscrewing everything and baking the motherboard, would love to know.