The kinda-official LG G4 bootloop thread

[HaboobZ]

Have you tried sending it in for warranty repair (to LG) instead of having vzw replace it? Most likely your replacements have not been fixed so you're sitting on a ticking time bomb wait for the boot loop to happen again.

I didn't. I went to the VZW store today and the first guy was an [language]and said it would be 5-7 days for them to send me a new one or I could pay to have it expedited overnight (since I don't have insurance through them - I had the Geek Squad Protection, which I also found out is canceled after it's "Fulfilled" and they don't tell you that you need to re-up it on the new device). Went back and someone else helped me and said it would be 2 days, no charge.

Beginning to hate the VZW store...

At this point I'm under the impression that this bootloop will happen to everyone eventually. Happened to me and now it happened to my girlfriend twice. This is absolutely insane in this day and age that this is even remotely acceptable. The fact that they offer to fix it without any compensation for their horrendous product management and you're pretty much stuck without a phone for up to a month [language]

As I previously stated this will be my last experience with LG ever. I actually hope their business takes a hit off of this madness.

Yeah, the lack of compensation from VZW or LG is kind of ridiculous. VZW won't even give me a loner or anything - they said to ask friends/family... who the hell has a spare phone lying around these days? No one that I know.

 

[gendo667]

Yeah, the lack of compensation from VZW or LG is kind of ridiculous. VZW won't even give me a loner or anything - they said to ask friends/family... who the hell has a spare phone lying around these days? No one that I know.

No loner from T-Mobile for me or my wife. The guy at Tmo told my wife to buy a cheap phone from Walmart. And getting a referb back when you're paying for a new phone is borderline outrageous. Still, got it in two days. It was a great phone too, up to the point I Jumped. Figured I'd give l LG a shot at redemption with the G5 and I'm loving it. So far, so good.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Yeah, the lack of compensation from VZW or LG is kind of ridiculous. VZW won't even give me a loner or anything - they said to ask friends/family... who the hell has a spare phone lying around these days? No one that I know.

People ask me why the heck do I hoard a number of old phones from a 2013 HTC One M7 to a 2011 iPhone 4S and Galaxy S2.

I point them to this thread. Having a backup phone in this case was of immense help as I was still able to keep myself updated and make important calls and texts while my G4 was out.

Given that my second one seems to be on its last legs (it's starting to die a little randomly at times, usually at 10-15% battery, even when swapping, Yeah, I know that's low, but dying when it has that much is odd, and I know the battery gauge isn't out of sync.), it's probably time to look for something new. The recent rumors on the Note 6 point to a heck of a phone. Stoked for that.

 

[HaboobZ]

People ask me why the heck do I hoard a number of old phones from a 2013 HTC One M7 to a 2011 iPhone 4S and Galaxy S2.

I point them to this thread. Having a backup phone in this case was of immense help as I was still able to keep myself updated and make important calls and texts while my G4 was out.

Given that my second one seems to be on its last legs (it's starting to die a little randomly at times, usually at 10-15% battery, even when swapping, Yeah, I know that's low, but dying when it has that much is odd, and I know the battery gauge isn't out of sync.), it's probably time to look for something new. The recent rumors on the Note 6 point to a heck of a phone. Stoked for that.

Yeah, I sold my 5S to get some extra cash for stuff, and I've not had a phone before that worth keeping (Thunderbold, Incredible).

I'm not sure what I want to do next. Probably sticking with the G4 until it's paid off (13mos) and possibly going back to Apple, as I don't know that I can trust Android OS phones (the OS seems way better than past experiences, but now it's the hardware of the phones...). If it's not one thing, it's another. So frustrating.

 

[troshs]

For anyone who hasn't bootlooped yet (including myself, somehow), I recommend getting a SIM adapter in case you have the issue and have an older phone lying around. I'm starting to see screen issues, so if and when it happens, I can take the micro SIM out and put it into the adapter so that I can use it in my old Blackberry until fate sets itself right. I bought mine for I think >$10 on amazon and it came with the full size adapter plus a nano to micro, etc. Best to be prepared [language]

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Seskoi]

I have an international G4 (factory unlocked bought on Ebay) and LG Canada + LG US both refuse to get it repaired

 

[Peter Venkman]

Bootloop happened to me on Sunday. No rhyme or reason, just went into the LG logo screen and stayed that way until I pulled the battery. Took the phone in to the carrier today, they took it back, ported my number onto an old phone, and I'll decide on whether to get an S7, 10, or wait for the Note 6. In any event, LG lost a customer. Funny thing: I visited a Verizon store shortly afterwards and they had two G4's on display. One worked perfectly fine and the other, yep, had the bootloop startup screen and wouldn't budge. I guess even America's biggest carrier hasn't realized, admitted or found a way around it. I agree, this will eventually happen to all G4's.

 

[JohnnyBroccoli]

I have an international G4 (factory unlocked bought on Ebay) and LG Canada + LG US both refuse to get it repaired

That's the exact reason I payed more for a U.S. version of the phone.

 

[JohnnyBroccoli]

I sent my boot looping out of nowhere G4 to LG on 4/21 and am due to receive it back on 5/5. The work order email stated "no power with cable; Swap Board (Main/RF)". Hopefully this is a real hardware fix and the issue won't reappear in another 8 months.

Been stuck with the crappiest Alcatel loaner phone from T-Mobile in the meantime (they even made me pay a refundable $50 to use this service). 1.5GB bargain phone from 2013 and a total nightmare to have to depend on. T-Mobile and LG have both handled this absolutely terribly.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Funny thing: I visited a Verizon store shortly afterwards and they had two G4's on display. One worked perfectly fine and the other, yep, had the bootloop startup screen and wouldn't budge. I guess even America's biggest carrier hasn't realized, admitted or found a way around it. I agree, this will eventually happen to all G4's.

LOLWUT?

 

[tardus]

I sent my boot looping out of nowhere G4 to LG on 4/21 and am due to receive it back on 5/5. The work order email stated "no power with cable; Swap Board (Main/RF)". Hopefully this is a real hardware fix and the issue won't reappear in another 8 months.

Been stuck with the crappiest Alcatel loaner phone from T-Mobile in the meantime (they even made me pay a refundable $50 to use this service). 1.5GB bargain phone from 2013 and a total nightmare to have to depend on. T-Mobile and LG have both handled this absolutely terribly.

"Swap Board (Main/RF)" is better than just replacing flash memory - which is also a common repair description for boot loop by LG. I don't understand why they replace flash instead of the main board. Anyone know? Just for cost savings? Different points of hardware failure? BTW my G4 is in the "never boot looped" category. I'm still interested in this mystery!

 

[11222]

what I'm hearing is that this bootloop is a widespread issue that took LG longer than it should to acknowledge. many of these stories also note the difficulties they had working towards an effective resolution.

my V10 is having difficulty holding the power cord and recently takes longer than usual to charge. I've isolated the issue to it being the port on the phone. LG customer service is poor. LG customer support is unproffesional. in the past, when I was with Samsung, if I had an issue, they would send me a refurbished phone.

LG requires you to send the phone into them. I don't have a spare phone, so this is not an option. this issue is well documented on XDA and other Android forums.

I love the V10. but LG's insistence that the consumer assume the burden for their malfunctioning handsets will force me to review my relationship with them.

my options are to have T-Mobile buy out my ATT contract or get another battery with charger and rely on the wall mounted charger as my primary charging device.

 

[Scottie15]

You may believe that it will happen to all G4's but that doesn't mean you are correct. Well over 1,000.000 G4's in the "bad" range. If a very small % go bad that's enough to make it a known issue. I know some people that have early G4's and none have bootlooped. Not yet anyway. I'm not giving the benefit of the doubt to LG but I'd really like to know how widespread the problem really is.

That's why I said I believe it will happen eventually to most, if not all, G4s. Where did you get those numbers? Is there a source? We have 19 pages the exemplify is [language]poor handset (I'm sorry, but regardless of the specs, if the phone has a documented widespread hard drive failure issue that requires you to send your phone in for a 3+ week repair, it's [language] poor). If 19 pages on a phone that almost a year old doesn't speak volumes how how horrendous LG is, then I don't know what does. As I type this, my girlfriend's second LG G4 just bootlooped again after 2 weeks of use. After this, I am not entirely sure how anyone would consider purchasing any handset from LG. Their solution of "send it in and wait 4 weeks to get it back with 0 compensation" [language]

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

If 19 pages on a phone that almost a year old doesn't speak volumes how how horrendous LG is, then I don't know what does.

Well, considering how big the thread has become, I'm a little surprised that it hasn't got a lot of attention.

 

[beaglebaby]

My LG G4 just bricked yesterday. The freezer trick works to give me about 30 seconds with the phone. I would like to back up my photos in the short time i have access, but I am pretty clueless about these kind of things.

What would be the quickest and easiest way to get the photos off of the phone (about 1000). I have tried hooking it up to the computer, but I really don't know what I am doing and by the time I play around with it to see if I can figure it out, the phone goes back to boot mode.

I found my Google + app, but when I hit the 3 dots at the top right of the screen, I don't see the option to back up the photos as a site suggested when I googled for a way to save the photos.

Any suggestions? I need to do this in about 2 or 3 steps, as 1) that is about all the time I get with the phone before boot mode, and 2) I'm just not that tech savvy to do more than that, lol!

Thanks!

 

[gendo667]

My LG G4 just bricked yesterday. The freezer trick works to give me about 30 seconds with the phone. I would like to back up my photos in the short time i have access, but I am pretty clueless about these kind of things.

What would be the quickest and easiest way to get the photos off of the phone (about 1000). I have tried hooking it up to the computer, but I really don't know what I am doing and by the time I play around with it to see if I can figure it out, the phone goes back to boot mode.

I found my Google + app, but when I hit the 3 dots at the top right of the screen, I don't see the option to back up the photos as a site suggested when I googled for a way to save the photos.

Any suggestions? I need to do this in about 2 or 3 steps, as 1) that is about all the time I get with the phone before boot mode, and 2) I'm just not that tech savvy to do more than that, lol!

Thanks!

I while back, Google+ and Google Photos were made completely separate. You'll have to use Google Photos to backup your photos. I'm not familiar with anything that may come from the Play Store regarding photo backups.

 

[tardus]

That's why I said I believe it will happen eventually to most, if not all, G4s. Where did you get those numbers? Is there a source? We have 19 pages the exemplify is [language]poor handset (I'm sorry, but regardless of the specs, if the phone has a documented widespread hard drive failure issue that requires you to send your phone in for a 3+ week repair, it's [language]poor). If 19 pages on a phone that almost a year old doesn't speak volumes how how horrendous LG is, then I don't know what does. As I type this, my girlfriend's second LG G4 just bootlooped again after 2 weeks of use. After this, I am not entirely sure how anyone would consider purchasing any handset from LG. Their solution of "send it in and wait 4 weeks to get it back with 0 compensation" [language]

LG is doing a poor job handling this manufacturing defect. They should extend the warranty to all users - not just original purchasers. Even if 1% of 505's are defective - bootlooping - that is way way too high! I'm not saying I think 1% is the failure rate, likely higher. Some production runs likely have a failure rate much higher than others. If failure rate was 25% or 50% this would be a top story on tech blogs. That would mean close to 1,000,000 DOA phones out there. Which is definitely not the case.

Interesting resale value isn't taking much of a hit. For example, the H811 - T-Mobile version retails for $350 and on Swappa recent sales are all $250. For a phone that came out in June those numbers are what we'd expect.

 

[Mooncatt]

For the freezer trick to work, you have to leave it in. If that's not possible, I've heard of some people laying the phone on something like a bag of frozen peas to keep it cool while doing backups.

Using Google Photos is one option (plus you can have it backup automatically). If you're concerned about images being compressed or just want an additional physical backup, I'd get a micro-SD card and copy everything over to it. This maintains file quality and you can organize everything like you want. Just make sure to copy files, not move them. That way you don't risk losing anything if it boot loops again during the backup.

 

[skidmark]

What do other manufacturers do? Does Samsung give you a loaner?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[tardus]

What do other manufacturers do? Does Samsung give you a loaner?

Posted via the Android Central App

In the US no. I've never heard of a manufacturer providing a loaner. The best bet for a loaner is a brick and mortar carrier store or maybe Bestbuy. Don't count on it. If you can't get a loaner the next best option is a low cost and actively sold phone on Swappa - such as some of the Moto G's. Get one from someone in the same state or close with fast shipping, and have them commit to shipping right away. Sell it back once you get the working phone back. Total cost if you do it perfectly is around $20 or $25.