LG Logo Brick/Hang (particularly after a VC update) possible fix(es)...

[tmeader]

Well, just an FYI to let everyone reading this know that I managed to fix this problem (at least for my phone) while trying to fix another error. I was having a problem updating the PRL or Profile on my phone no matter how many times I tried. So, on the suggestion of sfhub (big thanks), I cleared out the NVRAM on my phone using the method he describes in his reply:

http://forum.androidcentral.com/lg-...2-absolutely-cannot-update-prl-tr-1-7-vc.html

Used the program "CDMA Workshop" to get the MSL for my phone ([How To] Retrieve MSL CDMA Workshop Method - xda-developers), and then just did as he described. After letting the Hands Free Activation do its thing, I'm now able to check the PRL and Profile without issue, and, better yet, can now power off my phone and turn it back on without anymore problems.

Something must've really been screwed up with the NVRAM area, because not only would the PRL/Profile not update, but I also couldn't use the CWM Recovery method "LG Style Factory Reset", which SHOULD have done the same thing as the ##786# reset. Soon as I hit it in CWM though, the phone would just reboot and that's it... nothing was wiped or anything.

Anyhow, just wanted to give the heads up that clearing the NVRAM MIGHT help some others fix the hang at the LG Logo. If you do this though, PLEASE, read everything that sfhub stated in that other thread, and be prepared to restore all your apps and data afterwards.

 

[ccrs8]

Well, just an FYI to let everyone reading this know that I managed to fix this problem (at least for my phone) while trying to fix another error. I was having a problem updating the PRL or Profile on my phone no matter how many times I tried. So, on the suggestion of sfhub (big thanks), I cleared out the NVRAM on my phone using the method he describes in his reply:

http://forum.androidcentral.com/lg-...2-absolutely-cannot-update-prl-tr-1-7-vc.html

Used the program "CDMA Workshop" to get the MSL for my phone ([How To] Retrieve MSL CDMA Workshop Method - xda-developers), and then just did as he described. After letting the Hands Free Activation do its thing, I'm now able to check the PRL and Profile without issue, and, better yet, can now power off my phone and turn it back on without anymore problems.

Something must've really been screwed up with the NVRAM area, because not only would the PRL/Profile not update, but I also couldn't use the CWM Recovery method "LG Style Factory Reset", which SHOULD have done the same thing as the ##786# reset. Soon as I hit it in CWM though, the phone would just reboot and that's it... nothing was wiped or anything.

Anyhow, just wanted to give the heads up that clearing the NVRAM MIGHT help some others fix the hang at the LG Logo. If you do this though, PLEASE, read everything that sfhub stated in that other thread, and be prepared to restore all your apps and data afterwards.

This is potentially great! While I am able to update profile and PRL, the logo hang issue is enough of a worry for me that I am willing to erase my data in order to fix it. Unfortunately, the site for CDMA workshop link on the xda post goes to yet another URL that my employer has decided to block, and I'm guessing it is a windows-only app that I won't be able to use at home.

For my clarification, the CDMA workshop program finds my phone's MSL, and that MSL is what I enter in to the "service code" field after dialing ##786#?

sfhub mentioned that restoring from a nandroid backup doesn't touch the NVRAM, so if I can get my MSL and successfully ##786#, then I could simply restore from said nandroid backup and have my phone back to where it was, but able to shut completely down and then boot back up? If so, definitely sounds worth it!

Good find!

 

[tmeader]

Not sure about the nandroid part of it (whether you can do it that way or not). However, just to bring a little rain back to the thread... last attempt to power down and boot back up got hung on the logo. About to go check if I can still update the PRL okay. It WAS working fine. All I did was restore all my apps with Titanium Backup, and now there seems to be an issue again. Can't see how that could POSSIBLY be involved in the NAND issue though, or causing a problem that would make it start hanging again vs a stock TR 1.7 install. I mean, it was JUST the applications being restored. Ugh.

ccrs8, I would like to know if you get the same result though, if you don't mind giving it a shot. See if, after the initial reload you are able to turn it off and on just fine like I was able to.

And yeah, just follow the directions on the XDA thread for CDMA Workshop (except under the SPC section, you choose "LG Method" instead), and enter the MSL number when it asks for service code.

 

[ccrs8]

Not sure about the nandroid part of it (whether you can do it that way or not). However, just to bring a little rain back to the thread... last attempt to power down and boot back up got hung on the logo. About to go check if I can still update the PRL okay. It WAS working fine. All I did was restore all my apps with Titanium Backup, and now there seems to be an issue again. Can't see how that could POSSIBLY be involved in the NAND issue though, or causing a problem that would make it start hanging again vs a stock TR 1.7 install. I mean, it was JUST the applications being restored. Ugh.

ccrs8, I would like to know if you get the same result though, if you don't mind giving it a shot. See if, after the initial reload you are able to turn it off and on just fine like I was able to.

And yeah, just follow the directions on the XDA thread for CDMA Workshop (except under the SPC section, you choose "LG Method" instead), and enter the MSL number when it asks for service code.

I'd be happy to give it a shot, and if it turns out that somehow even restoring apps makes it hang (which I agree, makes NO sense), then I'll simply reinstall everything manually.

That being said, it will probably be a 2 day process. Tonight when I get home, using my computer running linux, I'll try to download the CDMA workshop program (which I assume is a Windows program). I'll put it on a thumbdrive and then install it tomorrow morning on my work computer, which is the only windows computer I have readily available. I can't download the program directly from my work Windows computer because my company is blocking the URL where the xda post sent me to get the CDMA workshop program. Hopefully once I get it installed on my work pc I can get my MSL and give this a shot.

 

[tmeader]

Okay, so, I CAN still update the PRL and Profile just fine. But yeah, looks like the LG Logo hang is back. Wonderful.

On the plus side, the Insert Battery screen is now appearing every time on only the second insert of the power cord (no more 6-13 tries). So it's slowly working its way back to health... heh.

 

[tmeader]

ccsr8, check your PM.

 

[ccrs8]

I now have my MSL, so I will go about trying this out. I'll see if immediately after the initial reload I can completely shut down and then start back up without the lg logo hang. Then I'll nandroid restore and see if the hang comes back. My only fear is that if I do get the LG logo hang, the battery pull trick won't be as reliable for me as it is now. But that's OK - I'm willing to risk it for research. That being said, I won't do it until at least I get home tonight from work - I'm trying to finish a few things here and playing with your phone while distracted by "work" leads to permabrick.

 

[ccrs8]

I now have my MSL, so I will go about trying this out. I'll see if immediately after the initial reload I can completely shut down and then start back up without the lg logo hang. Then I'll nandroid restore and see if the hang comes back. My only fear is that if I do get the LG logo hang, the battery pull trick won't be as reliable for me as it is now. But that's OK - I'm willing to risk it for research. That being said, I won't do it until at least I get home tonight from work - I'm trying to finish a few things here and playing with your phone while distracted by "work" leads to permabrick.

Bad news - I reset using my MSL in ##786# and while it looked promising, I'm still getting LG logo hang. After I confirmed my reset request, it booted in to recovery, did its thing, and then booted in to fresh ThundeROM 1.7. It automatically hands-free activated, updated profile, updated firmware (none found), and then rebooted. Once it completed booting back up in to ThundeROM, I shut it completely down, and when I powered it back up, LG logo hang. I didn't even get the one good cold boot that tmeader experienced. Bummer.

 

[ccrs8]

On the plus side, the Insert Battery screen is now appearing every time on only the second insert of the power cord (no more 6-13 tries). So it's slowly working its way back to health... heh.

Sweet spit, you're right! It only took me two tries instead of 10 or more. We're making progress!

 

[junkshow]

Per DCJoe's request, I'm moving over discussion of how I was able to fix my LG Logo hang from the PRL update thread. Here goes:

I nandroided to v9 stock ROM and recovery, did a ##786# reset to fix my NVRAM, accepted the OTA VC update, force flashed back to v9, installed v9 recovery, KP500 updated to VC, rooted via recovery, had to do another #786#, as my NVRAM was borked again, installed CWMA .4, and all has been well since.

Yes, that is as in "I can now power down and turn back on with no issue." It was a brute, but so nice to have it fixed

junkshow, please post again to confirm that you are able to power down normally and power up without the phone getting stuck at the LG logo. Had you been stuck at the LG logo before when you tried to run VC? The reason I ask is because I went through the same steps as you and was not able to avoid the LG logo sticking problem.

Yes, VC was killing me with LG Logo hangs at cold boot the first several times I applied it via the LG Software Updater, and also when I was running Zefie's VCROM. I tried every documented method of fixing it in these forums, but nothing worked. Finally, I decided to try accepting the OTA update, as it installs differently than the LG Software Updater. I don't know for sure if that is what fixed it, but it is FIXED now. I can cold boot. I have installed nROM 1.5.1 and CM7 and been able to cold boot in both of those.

Yesterday, I installed Xionia 008 into my stock VC ROM, and that caused it to hang at the boot animation. When I pulled the battery and restarted, I was back to the LG Logo hang. Doing the good old "pull the battery and SD Card and wait for a while" trick worked so I could boot back to recovery and restore my stock VC ROM. Of course, I figured that was the end of my good luck, but I had to check, so I cold booted and...IT STILL WORKS!

I'm not sure what we can learn from any of this...Zefie thought that maybe the misc partition wasn't getting updated correctly by the LG Software Updater and I thought that might be why accepting the OTA update got it working. BUT, my recent experience with the Xionia 008 kernel makes it look like the boot partition is the key.

Something else I should mention. I used the think the recovery had to do with the LG Logo hang, as it would often happen to me when rebooting out of recovery. Since getting my working VC ROM, I have LG Stock V9, GNM 1.1 and CWMA .4 and all of them allow my phone to cold boot normally. I do not believe the recovery is the issue.

 

[DCJoe]

Thanks so much, junkshow. I am pretty sure I tried those steps at some point, but your success gives me motivation to give it another try. I'll report back.

 

[neilgoldstein]

Per DCJoe's request, I'm moving over discussion of how I was able to fix my LG Logo hang from the PRL update thread. Here goes:





Yes, VC was killing me with LG Logo hangs at cold boot the first several times I applied it via the LG Software Updater, and also when I was running Zefie's VCROM. I tried every documented method of fixing it in these forums, but nothing worked. Finally, I decided to try accepting the OTA update, as it installs differently than the LG Software Updater. I don't know for sure if that is what fixed it, but it is FIXED now. I can cold boot. I have installed nROM 1.5.1 and CM7 and been able to cold boot in both of those.

Yesterday, I installed Xionia 008 into my stock VC ROM, and that caused it to hang at the boot animation. When I pulled the battery and restarted, I was back to the LG Logo hang. Doing the good old "pull the battery and SD Card and wait for a while" trick worked so I could boot back to recovery and restore my stock VC ROM. Of course, I figured that was the end of my good luck, but I had to check, so I cold booted and...IT STILL WORKS!

I'm not sure what we can learn from any of this...Zefie thought that maybe the misc partition wasn't getting updated correctly by the LG Software Updater and I thought that might be why accepting the OTA update got it working. BUT, my recent experience with the Xionia 008 kernel makes it look like the boot partition is the key.

Something else I should mention. I used the think the recovery had to do with the LG Logo hang, as it would often happen to me when rebooting out of recovery. Since getting my working VC ROM, I have LG Stock V9, GNM 1.1 and CWMA .4 and all of them allow my phone to cold boot normally. I do not believe the recovery is the issue.

I went through all of this and finally made a trip to the Sprint Store last night. They told me that they had 2 other Optimus S's yesterday with the LG logo issue. Waiting on a replacement now.

On a side note, I didn't really appreciate what a P.O.S. Windows Mobile 6.5 was until I had to go back to it for a bit these last few days.

 

[cc0n01]

I went through all of this and finally made a trip to the Sprint Store last night. They told me that they had 2 other Optimus S's yesterday with the LG logo issue. Waiting on a replacement now.

Did you get hit with the $10 smartphone charge for the replacement?

 

[tmeader]

neil, please keep us posted how the new phone works out once you have it back to the same setup as your old one.

 

[tmeader]

Just realized why I thought my phone was working correctly yesterday after the NVRAM wipe: I must've had my phone plugged in when I did the full power off.

This appears to at least be another improvement in the behavior. I'm fairly certain that, before, even if the phone was plugged in, when I chose a full power down, the phone would just go off completely, without the charging animation popping up. Now, when I turn it off, it goes directly into the charging animation (as I'm sure it's supposed to) and from there I CAN turn it on fine. Looks like the key is getting into the charging animation.

So, at the very least, I know I can now turn my phone off fine (without having to do all the battery pull crap) as long as it's plugged in first. I'm pretty okay with that for now.

 

[O.a.T.]

Just realized why I thought my phone was working correctly yesterday after the NVRAM wipe: I must've had my phone plugged in when I did the full power off.

This appears to at least be another improvement in the behavior. I'm fairly certain that, before, even if the phone was plugged in, when I chose a full power down, the phone would just go off completely, without the charging animation popping up. Now, when I turn it off, it goes directly into the charging animation (as I'm sure it's supposed to) and from there I CAN turn it on fine. Looks like the key is getting into the charging animation.

So, at the very least, I know I can now turn my phone off fine (without having to do all the battery pull crap) as long as it's plugged in first. I'm pretty okay with that for now.

When I was on VC and having the LG logo hang, I could power down/up successfully as long as I was connected to the computer via USB. Of course, your experience may have been different.

 

[DCJoe]

Well, following junkshow's order of events, I first had the LG logo sticking when I powered off and tried to turn back on. But then I did the power cable in-out fix, and just turned my phone on and off three times (using normal power off, not quickboot) without getting stuck on the LG Logo!

I don't know why, but it seems to not be sticking anymore running ThunderRom 1.7 with the VC baseband! And I can update the PRL and Profile.

Thanks junkshow!

 

[tmeader]

DCJoe, so you're saying it's working fine for you now? If so, could you please list the EXACT steps in order that you took to get it that way? Would really appreciate it.

 

[DCJoe]

Welllll, things haven't been all rosy. I tried a few more times to do a full power off and power on. On the fifth one it locked up and was stuck at the LG Logo. I did the "insert power cable without battery" trick and that cleared it up, and since then I have powered off a couple of more times and turned back on without issue. I wouldn't say I am completely fine but in good shape overall. I am happy now, and not too worried about further problems, at least I know how to deal with it. I did exactly what junkshow listed:

I nandroided to v9 stock ROM and recovery,
did a ##786# reset to fix my NVRAM, a
ccepted the OTA VC update,
force flashed back to v9,
installed v9 recovery,
KP500 updated to VC,
rooted via recovery,
had to do another #786#, as my NVRAM was borked again,
installed CWMA .4

Then I installed ThunderRom 1.7

 

[junkshow]

Well, following junkshow's order of events, I first had the LG logo sticking when I powered off and tried to turn back on. But then I did the power cable in-out fix, and just turned my phone on and off three times (using normal power off, not quickboot) without getting stuck on the LG Logo!

I don't know why, but it seems to not be sticking anymore running ThunderRom 1.7 with the VC baseband! And I can update the PRL and Profile.

Thanks junkshow!

Hey, that's pretty cool! Another word of advice...make a nandroid/cwma backup! I've rebricked myself a couple of times trying to get Xionia kernel installed, but Cwma restore saves the day.