The kinda-official LG G4 bootloop thread

[J240]

UGH, my G4 just died and went to bootloop heaven while I was at work listening to Pandora and texting. Those were the only two programs I was using and I've had this phone WITHOUT a SINGLE ISSUE since release day. It has been the best phone I've ever used up until this very minute. My bf's iPhone 6+ just took a dump last week, so sometimes these things just happen... I'm glad to come here and find I'm not the only one though and I will see if I can jump to the V10 or get a new phone and not a refurb. If anyone knows of a way to save the phone, I am all ears. But I'm pretty sure its the bootloader of death that others are describing.

 

[gendo667]

UGH, my G4 just died and went to bootloop heaven while I was at work listening to Pandora and texting. Those were the only two programs I was using and I've had this phone WITHOUT a SINGLE ISSUE since release day. It has been the best phone I've ever used up until this very minute. My bf's iPhone 6+ just took a dump last week, so sometimes these things just happen... I'm glad to come here and find I'm not the only one though and I will see if I can jump to the V10 or get a new phone and not a refurb. If anyone knows of a way to save the phone, I am all ears. But I'm pretty sure its the bootloader of death that others are describing.

I know the feeling, I want a new phone too. I'm on a refurbished G4 and I feel like I'm sitting on a ticking time bomb. This phone is still a beast though.

 

[Tsukiyomi]

UGH, my G4 just died and went to bootloop heaven while I was at work listening to Pandora and texting. Those were the only two programs I was using and I've had this phone WITHOUT a SINGLE ISSUE since release day. It has been the best phone I've ever used up until this very minute. My bf's iPhone 6+ just took a dump last week, so sometimes these things just happen... I'm glad to come here and find I'm not the only one though and I will see if I can jump to the V10 or get a new phone and not a refurb. If anyone knows of a way to save the phone, I am all ears. But I'm pretty sure its the bootloader of death that others are describing.

If you're LUCKY and your battery has a full charge, try having the phone off, hook it up to your computer via the USB cable and turn it on. It will possibly come on long enough to grab some data if your phone's set as a media device (this might take a good few tries and might not even work at all, but it's worth trying). Good luck and an unfortunate 'welcome to the club'

 

[J240]

If you're LUCKY and your battery has a full charge, try having the phone off, hook it up to your computer via the USB cable and turn it on. It will possibly come on long enough to grab some data if your phone's set as a media device (this might take a good few tries and might not even work at all, but it's worth trying). Good luck and an unfortunate 'welcome to the club'

Thank you for the suggestion! It went into the 'android optimizing' screen exactly one time, and now it won't turn on at all anymore and I've been swapping between two batteries that should be at least 60% charged each. I will try that if I ever get it to turn on again!
I am not opposed to jumping to the V10 since I should be eligible, however, I am afraid of sending my phone back to Tmobile without it being wiped clean. I just lost most of my pics/content and while that sucks, the worst part is that I just really don't feel comfortable sending back a phone with my data/info on it.

 

[J240]

I know the feeling, I want a new phone too. I'm on a refurbished G4 and I feel like I'm sitting on a ticking time bomb. This phone is still a beast though.

The phone IS a beast, but now that this happened once, I don't think I want a refurb. I refuse to play the refurb roulette. lol. I should be eligible for an upgrade though, so I will see what I come home with later tonight! I wanted to wait for the G5, but I don't have a backup phone (my mom is using my G2 to this day and I swapped my G3 for this) so I need something NOW. :-$

 

[Tsukiyomi]

Have you tried to see if you can get to the Recovery Mode (hold Power Button & Vol Down until you get some options in a text/DOS-looking format?) If so, try to clear the cache and restart the phone. Obviously, don't do a full factory reset unless you're happy wiping everything, but if you've got to send it back then that might end up being an option anyway.

How To Enter Recovery Mode on LG G4

 

[J240]

Have you tried to see if you can get to the Recovery Mode (hold Power Button & Vol Down until you get some options in a text/DOS-looking format?) If so, try to clear the cache and restart the phone. Obviously, don't do a full factory reset unless you're happy wiping everything, but if you've got to send it back then that might end up being an option anyway.

How To Enter Recovery Mode on LG G4

After trying about 20 times, I finally got to the recovery screen, but all it asks me is if I want to factory data reset. I will do this if I don't have any other choice obviously, but how would I get to the option to clear the cache?

 

[J240]

Also, for anyone else struggling with this issue, I found this thread on XDA that states if you freeze your phone and battery for 15+ mins or more, it may help it boot up to get your data off of it. I will try this when I get home!

How to Recover Data from Boot Loop Defect De… | T-Mobile LG G4

 

[Tsukiyomi]

Are you seeing the options as in this video? If not, try to do it the way he's showing it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4LorCj9j3s

 

[TNCattleDog]

For those of you wanting to jump the the V10, I encourage you to do so. I have a G4 (505) and my wife has had a V10 for a couple months and she loves it, especially since she moved up from a G2. I absolutely love her V10, and suffer from extreme phone envy. It feels good, especially in the speigen slim case, works great and takes awesome pics. She is a fairly moderate user and gets greater than a days worth of battery on it with about 2 - 3 hours SOT.

I'm in the process of changing jobs (Neurosurgery PA for those interested ) and my new employer is providing me with a free verizon phone and service... so guess which phone is on my short list.

So if you move up to the V10, you certainly won't look back or regret it!

David

 

[jhilker]

I have S/N 507, had it since August, and I haven't had the problem yet. Tbh, I really don't expect LG to replace every phone out there, as I expect not all of them have the hardware issue (maybe I'm naive). I'm ok waiting for the problem to show up, and then I'm sure my carrier (Sprint) will make it good. They are pretty quick to swap out, and I'm ok with a refurb, as long as the manufacture date is September or later. Sure do like that V10, though...

 

[J240]

Ok, for anyone having the bootloop issue, I just want you to know that freezing it actually DOES work. I tried it last night for 15+ minutes and it allowed me to boot up the phone long enough to get my stuff off of it and factory reset the phone before I turned it in. The only thing is, I tried backing up the phone using the LG software and it got to 80% (took a longgg time) and ended up going back into the bootloop, so that is when I just gave up and reset it. So yes, I lost all my texts and app info, stuff like that, BUT at least I got my pics/info off of it and factory reset it so someone else doesn't get it. I'd call that a great success! It did go back into the bootloop once the phone heated up enough, so be advised it is only a temporary fix while the phone is frozen.

 

[mbnocx]

Ok, for anyone having the bootloop issue, I just want you to know that freezing it actually DOES work. I tried it last night for 15+ minutes and it allowed me to boot up the phone long enough to get my stuff off of it and factory reset the phone before I turned it in. The only thing is, I tried backing up the phone using the LG software and it got to 80% (took a longgg time) and ended up going back into the bootloop, so that is when I just gave up and reset it. So yes, I lost all my texts and app info, stuff like that, BUT at least I got my pics/info off of it and factory reset it so someone else doesn't get it. I'd call that a great success! It did go back into the bootloop once the phone heated up enough, so be advised it is only a temporary fix while the phone is frozen.

This is great info to add. Sadly I did not do this and the crazy part is I thought about putting my phone in the freezer but for whatever reason I just opted to ship it to LG. I should have known that there was very little chance I could have made things worse this way. Live and learn. Thanks for posting your results though.

 

[anon(782252)]

Ok, for anyone having the bootloop issue, I just want you to know that freezing it actually DOES work. I tried it last night for 15+ minutes and it allowed me to boot up the phone long enough to get my stuff off of it and factory reset the phone before I turned it in. The only thing is, I tried backing up the phone using the LG software and it got to 80% (took a longgg time) and ended up going back into the bootloop, so that is when I just gave up and reset it. So yes, I lost all my texts and app info, stuff like that, BUT at least I got my pics/info off of it and factory reset it so someone else doesn't get it. I'd call that a great success! It did go back into the bootloop once the phone heated up enough, so be advised it is only a temporary fix while the phone is frozen.

Nice that it worked. Sounds like possibly a soldering issue similar to the Xbox 360 RROD. Freezing contracts the connection, heating it up expands it.

 

[J240]

Nice that it worked. Sounds like possibly a soldering issue similar to the Xbox 360 RROD. Freezing contracts the connection, heating it up expands it.

Yep! Exactly! I had read that it was an issue with the connectors coming loose so I tried pressing on it from all directions and that got me to the 'android optimizing screen' a few times, but ultimately did not help for long enough. The whole heat = expand thing made me think there had to be another way. Thanks to the dude who wrote that over on XDA! It seriously worked on the first try! You just have to keep the phone plugged in while its in the freezer or it will heat up too quickly. Its a fine balance in temperature though because the screen got a little too frosty and started behaving funny, so I had to balance its time out of the freezer and in.

 

[CellTheUltimateAndroid]

I'm considering returning my g4 and buying a moto x pure. Should I pull the trigger?

 

[ffejjj]

I'm considering returning my g4 and buying a moto x pure. Should I pull the trigger?

I have both and they're both great. I like my Pure though.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[CellTheUltimateAndroid]

I have both and they're both great. I like my Pure though.

Posted via the Android Central App

Why do you prefer the pure?
Which has the better screen, camera, battery etc.

 

[vor]

Why are so many not utilizing the SD Card for storage?

 

[mbnocx]

Why are so many not utilizing the SD Card for storage?

I do. But your logins to your various apps/services are not stored on the SD card. If you are logged into Gmail and you disable access after losing the phone, the phone still has access to the previously sync'd messages. What I did with my replacement phone that I should have done in the past was encrypt the phone. If someone gets the phone now I have zero reasons to be concerned about lost data or logins accessing stuff I don't want them to.