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My Vivid does all sorts of crazy stuff. Sometimes when you flick the screen one way, it will flick 4 screen the other way. Sometimes when you press an icon on the home screen it will select the icon to the right. Some times when returning to the home screen i will get black bars along the sides of the home screen. Is anyone else seeing things like this with their vivd?
It also seems that as soon as you run an app like Pandora the phone slows a lot. No more smooth transition back to home screen.Instead I get a second of the black screen instead of that nice fade back to home. Its like the phone goes stupid as soon as you a running something. Is this phone really not that powerful?
By the way, I returned a phone for this already. This is the second phone running in the same way.
Not so cool.
You seem to be alone. Take that one back too. Inconvenient but you deserve better.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
This is my 3rd phone.... i dont think they will take it back again ..
this is my first android phone from an iphone and to me it seems a little buggy, but my problems are in android and they dont happen often.
i clicked on the messaging app once and it opened my browser
2 apps randomly got deleted when i rebooted
dropbox app was there but the app wasnt, so i had to uninstall it and reinstall it
it froze on my once the second day i got it
this might be normal for android, but its frustrating coming from an iphone. the problems might be user error clicking the wrong thing, but in my book that still falls on android for making a hard os to follow for noobs. maybe now that im learning more of android im able to stop problems or prevent them but your problems sound weird seeing as its your third phone
randrewm97 said:
this is my first android phone from an iphone and to me it seems a little buggy, but my problems are in android and they dont happen often.
i clicked on the messaging app once and it opened my browser
2 apps randomly got deleted when i rebooted
dropbox app was there but the app wasnt, so i had to uninstall it and reinstall it
it froze on my once the second day i got it
this might be normal for android, but its frustrating coming from an iphone. the problems might be user error clicking the wrong thing, but in my book that still falls on android for making a hard os to follow for noobs. maybe now that im learning more of android im able to stop problems or prevent them but your problems sound weird seeing as its your third phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problems you are having are not very typical either. My main suggestion would be to check your Micro SD Card for the app thing. Sounds like the card is glitching out to me or you got a phone that has a Micro SD Card reader flaw.
Regardless though to the OP sounds like where ever you are getting the phone from got a Bad Batch of phones shipped to them. As for return even if it is your third one if you are still having issues and still withing 30 days keep returning until you get a fully functional phone I would say.
randrewm97 said:
this is my first android phone from an iphone and to me it seems a little buggy, but my problems are in android and they dont happen often.
i clicked on the messaging app once and it opened my browser
2 apps randomly got deleted when i rebooted
dropbox app was there but the app wasnt, so i had to uninstall it and reinstall it
it froze on my once the second day i got it
this might be normal for android, but its frustrating coming from an iphone. the problems might be user error clicking the wrong thing, but in my book that still falls on android for making a hard os to follow for noobs. maybe now that im learning more of android im able to stop problems or prevent them but your problems sound weird seeing as its your third phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I experienced a few issue with reboots and jittery transistion the first few days I had the phone, but after that it is smooth sailing. I've been with android since I installed it on my HTC HD2 and was with WINMO before that. I can understand there would be a bit of learning curve coming from iOS. I actually flirted with the idea of getting the iPhone 4s, but settled on HTC Vivid instead, better media managment and couldn't get over the small screen size of the 4s, espcially when my proir phone was the 4.3-inch HTC Inspire.
---------- Post added at 05:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 AM ----------
92hatchattack said:
My Vivid does all sorts of crazy stuff. Sometimes when you flick the screen one way, it will flick 4 screen the other way. Sometimes when you press an icon on the home screen it will select the icon to the right. Some times when returning to the home screen i will get black bars along the sides of the home screen. Is anyone else seeing things like this with their vivd?
It also seems that as soon as you run an app like Pandora the phone slows a lot. No more smooth transition back to home screen.Instead I get a second of the black screen instead of that nice fade back to home. Its like the phone goes stupid as soon as you a running something. Is this phone really not that powerful?
By the way, I returned a phone for this already. This is the second phone running in the same way.
Not so cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As malickie suggested in his post, there may be a bad batch of phones delivered to stores in your area. I would return it and by it online, as I assume those may be delivered from a central warehouse or distrubtion center.
My phone acts that when when I'm using it with it plugged in to a wall charger. Strange...
i've found that my phone sketches out on me when plugged in to an AC power source. things like random screen activity and button presses because of the power supply. doesn't matter what combo of cords and adapters i use, it still wigs out on me. when it's plugged in to USB it works flawlessly. i noticed i had the same problem with my old iPhone 4 and 4s. same deal as now, works perfectly on USB charge. i think it has to do with some power circuits in older houses because it doesn't happen in some places, and in other places the intensity isn't as bad.
are these issues happening when your device is plugged in?
if not, then it is certainly a device problem because it shouldn't go bonkers at the slightest touch. regardless of how many times it happens, i would keep returning it. if they keep giving you defective equipment, then the onus is upon your cell company to provide you with working equipment. i can personally vouch for the power and functionality of the Raider (here in Canada) so i think you may have gotten the bad luck of being stuck in the middle of a bad batch of stock. try going to a different store and see if one from there makes a difference.
This may sund dumb, but any chance a certain wallpaper would be glitchy? I changed the wallpaper today to a more demanding live walpaper, and opened up every app i could find with pandora streaming and gps navi going and the phone was running very smooth still.
I wonder....... ill report back in a few days to see how it goes.
It's entirely possible you e been using one that has bugs, so if it fixed it then that may be the culprit.
See if the issue repeats without the LWP and go from there
Sent from my HTC-X710a using XDA App
92hatchattack said:
My Vivid does all sorts of crazy stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OP, i think i was able to duplicate your problem... I used a cheap micro usb cable last night to charge my vivid, while it was plugged in it started doing crazy stuff, the touch was way off etc... i tried a different cheap micro usb charger and was able to duplicate the problem. I then tried the OEM charger as well as a motorola micro usb charger and had no problems. So i would check the charger you are using..
interesting.. i will be keeping a better eye on when i have problems. Allthough with this new wallpapers once in a while its not super duper smooth going back to homescreen, i have not seen any of these crazier glitches in the past 24 hours...
Yes
See my separate thread on the HTC Sense and Location Service problems.
Patience is wearing thin, and I'm getting ready to return it before the 30 return period expires.
Mine has done it twice while I've been trying to unlock the screen with the power button on top. I press it and nothing, then press again, and again, then the phone would reboot. I also sent the logs to HTC.
dirt_squirrel said:
i've found that my phone sketches out on me when plugged in to an AC power source. things like random screen activity and button presses because of the power supply. doesn't matter what combo of cords and adapters i use, it still wigs out on me. when it's plugged in to USB it works flawlessly. i noticed i had the same problem with my old iPhone 4 and 4s. same deal as now, works perfectly on USB charge. i think it has to do with some power circuits in older houses because it doesn't happen in some places, and in other places the intensity isn't as bad.
are these issues happening when your device is plugged in?
if not, then it is certainly a device problem because it shouldn't go bonkers at the slightest touch. regardless of how many times it happens, i would keep returning it. if they keep giving you defective equipment, then the onus is upon your cell company to provide you with working equipment. i can personally vouch for the power and functionality of the Raider (here in Canada) so i think you may have gotten the bad luck of being stuck in the middle of a bad batch of stock. try going to a different store and see if one from there makes a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
shogunmark said:
OP, i think i was able to duplicate your problem... I used a cheap micro usb cable last night to charge my vivid, while it was plugged in it started doing crazy stuff, the touch was way off etc... i tried a different cheap micro usb charger and was able to duplicate the problem. I then tried the OEM charger as well as a motorola micro usb charger and had no problems. So i would check the charger you are using..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had similar results under different charging circumstances as well.
In two of my cars I have power inverters that plug into the cigarette lighter sockets. With both of my OEM HTC chargers, as well as two different Samsung chargers, the phone goes haywire. Touch is sometimes completely off - if it even registers - and there's noticeable lag. However, the same chargers plugged into any other normal household outlet do not seem to affect the phone at all. What I took particular note of was that how when the engine is running, the phone acts up. But when it's off and the inverter is pulling straight from the battery, all is well.. perhaps the phone does not like running off of alternating current, although the current a car's alternator produces is still rectified into DC. Weird.
Me too
ninethree said:
Mine has done it twice while I've been trying to unlock the screen with the power button on top. I press it and nothing, then press again, and again, then the phone would reboot. I also sent the logs to HTC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, I thought I was the only one. It's kinda annoying.
My vivid has been screwing up bad all day. I was in the middle of trying to perma-root when it rebooted itself... Loaded up to the ATT beginning message and instantly shot to black screen, buttons didn't work. I pulled out the battery and booted it up again and when it got to the att screen a message came up saying it couldn't load the OS. I pulled the battery and the sim out and let it sit for about 10 mins. Booted it up for the third time and finally it loaded the home page. But now the status bar has been failing and my data drops in and out all the time. I think I might have to install a new OS
Dawakat said:
My vivid has been screwing up bad all day. I was in the middle of trying to perma-root when it rebooted itself... Loaded up to the ATT beginning message and instantly shot to black screen, buttons didn't work. I pulled out the battery and booted it up again and when it got to the att screen a message came up saying it couldn't load the OS. I pulled the battery and the sim out and let it sit for about 10 mins. Booted it up for the third time and finally it loaded the home page. But now the status bar has been failing and my data drops in and out all the time. I think I might have to install a new OS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not the phone, it's you. On a serious note, I don't think the bootloader is unlocked yet, so how will you install a "new OS"? /rom
Sent from my HTC Vivid via Tapatalk
slimslim said:
It's not the phone, it's you. On a serious note, I don't think the bootloader is unlocked yet, so how will you install a "new OS"? /rom
Sent from my HTC Vivid via Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I didn't know what it was called, I'm extremely green on HTC lol. As far as the phone goes it had a random reboot during the temp root loading and wouldn't turn on.
You should feel glad though cause I was gonna call it iOS at first =p
Dawakat said:
My vivid has been screwing up bad all day. I was in the middle of trying to perma-root when it rebooted itself... Loaded up to the ATT beginning message and instantly shot to black screen, buttons didn't work. I pulled out the battery and booted it up again and when it got to the att screen a message came up saying it couldn't load the OS. I pulled the battery and the sim out and let it sit for about 10 mins. Booted it up for the third time and finally it loaded the home page. But now the status bar has been failing and my data drops in and out all the time. I think I might have to install a new OS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My first attempts at rooting gave me the same status bar error. Hold off on rooting for a few and restart the phone a couple of times, letting it boot completely and then properly using the restart option in the power menu. Then try again.. it took me seven tries before the status bar errors and glitchiness went away, and it finally rooted.
Hi guys.
First post, apologies if it is in the wrong place.
I was given a Motorola XT925 3 days ago, running what I can only assume is the most recent version of android (i tried updating it, and it claimed it was up to date). No SIM card in, no SD card.
All was well, until I noticed an app, "media" sucking 50% of the battery. It was killing me, so I did some extremely brief Googl-ing and arrived at the conclusion that a factory reset would be a sensible thing to do to nip the problem in the bud.
Unfortunately, my battery ran out half way through the reset (derrrrrrpppp), leaving my new phone semi-hard-bricked.
The loading icon will come on sometimes if it's put on to charge after some time off charge, and sometimes the stupid little robot even pops up, with a loading bar underneath him, and a tangled blue web protruding from his abdomen. He freezes a short time later.
The power and volume buttons are unresponsive, and the whole semi-booting pattern is erratic, but things seem to happen if I leave it off/on the charger all day.
I have a suspicion that my phone in it's current state has half the operating system un-installed, and will therefore not boot correctly.
Anyway I was hoping to get some recommendations for the most appropriate next step. I will be taking it to a nearby shop tomorrow, and see-ing if the people who sold it to the person that gave it to me can help...
I have read about "flashing" devices etc, and if the shop-people can't work it out, I'm probably going to give it a try. I am running a mac as well, so many flashing programs will probably be incompatible.
Thanks for the help
tl;dr: Motorola XT925 hard-bricked following complete battery depletion during factory reset. Wat do?
metal man007 said:
Hi guys.
First post, apologies if it is in the wrong place.
I was given a Motorola XT925 3 days ago, running what I can only assume is the most recent version of android (i tried updating it, and it claimed it was up to date). No SIM card in, no SD card.
All was well, until I noticed an app, "media" sucking 50% of the battery. It was killing me, so I did some extremely brief Googl-ing and arrived at the conclusion that a factory reset would be a sensible thing to do to nip the problem in the bud.
Unfortunately, my battery ran out half way through the reset (derrrrrrpppp), leaving my new phone semi-hard-bricked.
The loading icon will come on sometimes if it's put on to charge after some time off charge, and sometimes the stupid little robot even pops up, with a loading bar underneath him, and a tangled blue web protruding from his abdomen. He freezes a short time later.
The power and volume buttons are unresponsive, and the whole semi-booting pattern is erratic, but things seem to happen if I leave it off/on the charger all day.
I have a suspicion that my phone in it's current state has half the operating system un-installed, and will therefore not boot correctly.
Anyway I was hoping to get some recommendations for the most appropriate next step. I will be taking it to a nearby shop tomorrow, and see-ing if the people who sold it to the person that gave it to me can help...
I have read about "flashing" devices etc, and if the shop-people can't work it out, I'm probably going to give it a try. I am running a mac as well, so many flashing programs will probably be incompatible.
Thanks for the help
tl;dr: Motorola XT925 hard-bricked following complete battery depletion during factory reset. Wat do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Unfortunately, we cannot help you with your XT925 on the Moto X forum.
You can post your request here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/droid-razr-hd/help
Someone in the Razr HD Forum will be better suited to help you with this.
Good Luck.
Hello, I've had my G Watch R for not quite a full week so far and I've really enjoyed it. Two days ago, I believe that I let the battery die so I placed it on the charger before going to bed. When I woke in the morning i grabbed the watch off the charger without looking at it. Just before i stepped out the door i noticed that it wasn't waking up and It wouldn't even power on. I ran back and slapped it on the charger thinking that it would be more than charged by lunch time. Thats when i noticed the apparent boot issue you can see in the video attached. It hasn't been dropped at all and I have the basic apps installed; facer, watchmaker etc. At this point, Is there anything that I can try short of sending it back?
I've left it on the charger for 24+ hours, it gets slightly warm and stays in the boot loop. As soon as its taken off the charger it has no visible charge and refuses to respond to anything. I purchased it through amazon, so I'm thinking it shouldn't be an issue for me to return it...
http://youtu.be/GgF3iXAhTTI/
Sorry i tried to embed the video but the youtube link for xda seems to be breaking the url somehow
So I have already initiated the return process with amazon and it should be pretty painless. I have almost 3 weeks to send it back, so if anyone has any tips/tricks or ideas I'm more than open to try them....The watch is 100% stock as far as firmware or root is concerned.
Any luck with this? I just got back an RMA for a broken touch sensor, I don't want to have to RMA it again.
try to see if you can get in to the bootloader, and restart the watch from there
i have notice when i charge the watch from empty (so thewatch boots up while charging) it causes problems, usually boot loops as well
I just watched the video (should've done this before hijacking the thread, sorry) and it seems like I'm having a different issue. Instead, mine does the android boot animation, the goes to "Starting Apps" and counting ("x of y Apps"; the y value seems to be different every time), then "Staring Apps" with no count, then it says "Powering Off" and shuts off. But I will post my experience in case someone else with my issue finds this thread.
I'm back up & running today. I got it into the bootloader last night and put it on the charger before I went to sleep (to avoid battery rundown by bootlooping while it charges). I woke up this morning to it bootlooping again. I'm guessing that it restarted itself sometime during the night. I took it off the charger and let it sit for a while (it was pretty warm, so I figured it would be better to let it cool down before trying anything else). I tried to restart it again after about a half hour, but it still only got to "Starting Apps" before shutting off. I reflashed the stock boot, recovery & system images found here: Stock Boot, Recovery and System for G Watch R . I restarted it and completed the initial pairing process (due to wipe when I unlocked it in order to flash system image) and it is now working.
I don't know if what I did actually fixed anything or if it just decided to start working, but I will post again if something happens again. If you don't see any more replies from me, then all is still OK.
EDIT 6/22/15 9:53 pm EDT: No good, see below.
To workaround the bootloop while charging, you can boot into recovery (swipe 10 to 4 a clock while Logo is shown, select and press okay to recovery), than charge battery for a while, after that, you can boot to as normally to AW-system and charge to fully battery!
You can charge with USB on PC, it's work fine for me.
scidon37 said:
I just watched the video
I don't know if what I did actually fixed anything or if it just decided to start working, but I will post again if something happens again. If you don't see any more replies from me, then all is still OK.
EDIT 6/22/15 9:53 pm EDT: No good, see below.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your gwatch r started doing the same thing again? I have the same problem and it won't connect to the computer via fastboot or adb. How did you get on with the RMA? I cant send mine back due to voided warranty. Still hoping for a solution.
Have you tried taking it off the charger and booting it? Also are you running custom software?
bricked watch
atmosphrericks said:
So your gwatch r started doing the same thing again? I have the same problem and it won't connect to the computer via fastboot or adb. How did you get on with the RMA? I cant send mine back due to voided warranty. Still hoping for a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ever find a fix for this? I've been searching like mad the last few weeks. :/
biohazard1150 said:
Ever find a fix for this? I've been searching like mad the last few weeks. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i took off the back plate, and found that the spring contact pins inside the watch weren't making good connections to the connect points on the inside of the back plate. Be careful, they are fragile, but you want to bend them out slightly. If you can source parts, get a new contact pin module.
After this, i was able to connect my watch and flash over stock firmware.
I can't guarantee this is what is happening with yours, but let us know if it does work.
I've scince broken the screen and can't find where to get parts!
atmosphrericks said:
So i took off the back plate, and found that the spring contact pins inside the watch weren't making good connections to the connect points on the inside of the back plate. Be careful, they are fragile, but you want to bend them out slightly. If you can source parts, get a new contact pin module.
After this, i was able to connect my watch and flash over stock firmware.
I can't guarantee this is what is happening with yours, but let us know if it does work.
I've scince broken the screen and can't find where to get parts!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still haven't found a fix. My charging works fine, but no PC connection. The bootloader/fastboot wont come up, no logo or anything. I'm sure the EMMC chip is fried, it sounds like many are seeing this issue, some with a black screen and some with a snowy screen. I've had several galaxy phones do the exact same so I'm doubting it can be fixed without going to the manufacturer which mine came from redflagdeals and LG wont service the random online store purchases
I had to take the back off and clean and adjust the contacts that make contact through the back panel. Then I could connect via fastboot.
ouranos2k said:
You can charge with USB on PC, it's work fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This solved my problem. As soon as I plugged it into my PC it booted just fine
ouranos2k said:
You can charge with USB on PC, it's work fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works for me too! Thank you!
Sent from my SM-N920C using Tapatalk
So I rooted my G4 a week ago. Everything was fine, was running a stock rom, no issues whatsoever. So today, I was watching a YouTube video when my phone froze. Couldn't do anything, had to pull the battery. Then it wouldn't come on after putting in the battery. I pulled it again and left it out for about 10 mins, put it in, put it on a charger and it started charging. Turned it on, the date/time was wrong, kept saying it was July 21st and 2:38 pm. Went into settings and updated the date/time; was working after that.
I left it on the charger and went on with my day. Came back and the phone was completely off, no charging LED. So it's been like this all day, it won't charge (at least the LED indicator doesn't come on), won't turn on, nothing. I figured the battery was shot. I went over to my buddy's (he has the same phone) and tried his battery in mine, nothing. I tried my battery in his and it worked, so I've established it isn't a bad battery. I've tried everything so far, keeping the battery out and holding down power so it resets it's charge, EVERYTHING, etc.
When it did come on and it was displaying the wrong date/time, that was the day I rooted it and about the time it was rooted too (2:38 pm). So, has this happened to anyone else? Am I bricked/screwed? I just don't understand why it would just die all of a sudden. It's well taken care of, no damage or anything. I really don't know what to do, I'm in a rough spot right now and not having a phone is really going to make things even worse.
Was just curious if somebody could help me with this or has any other info.
Thanks in advance!
I'm going to try the Unbrick Guide on here, hopefully that works.
So I was able to get it into download mode but then it died on me. The battery only had a 40 percent charge and now it won't do anything (again). Does the battery need to be charged at least to 50% or more in order to get in into download mode?
Though the classic bootlooping issue is just that--the phone locks up and freezes, and then on restart continuously reboots to the LG logo--the underlying problem causes a whole spectrum of conditions. For example, some affected phones will just shutdown during boot, and not continuously reboot. The stage at which the shutdown occurs is also variable--it can happen before the LG logo appears, after it appears, after the carrier logo appears, etc. The point is that the bootloop issue is not always expressed as the classic continuous rebooting to the LG logo issue. What you describe with your phone definitely falls within the spectrum of what is possible so I am going to guess that you have been hit with the bootloop issue like many others.
This just happened with my wife's VS986 after 1.75 years of flawless service. She was using it last week, then bam, it froze up, and after that it was dead. On trying to restart it immediately, it was completely dead. But by letting it sit around for a while to cool down, it could boot to the LG logo and sometimes would do this 2-3 times before shutting down again. By placing it in the freezer to really cool it down, I could boot up past the Verizon logo, but then during the Android optimizing apps screen, it would fail again. So out of the blue--after 1.75 years of perfect service--bam, it was struck with the bootloop issue.
Though I had seen mention of the bootloop issue previously, I never really investigated it till my wife's VS986 was strickened. If you do a search on it, you will see it is extraordinarily common...
Fortunately, LG is now taking responsibility for this though they were basically denying there was a problem initially. The good part is that they are repairing phones with this particular issue for free of charge even if they are out of warranty. In my case, my wife's VS986 was clearly out of warranty, but when I called up LG and explained the problem, they said they would repair it free of charge. So they steered me to the lgmobilerepair.com website to set up repair service.
They supposedly fixed my VS986, and it is now being shipped back. Curiously, they identified the problem as "Unit is not charging with cable" with the repair being "Swap Board (Main/RF) : Others". By the way, this was definitely NOT just an issue of not charging--I have an H811, and on putting my H811 battery into the VS986, the VS986 had the same problem. And on putting the VS986 battery in my H811, it worked perfectly. Whatever the case swapping the mainboard is the solution, and they did that, so they can call it whatever they want.
Anyway, do a little bit of searching on the G4 bootloop issue, try the freezer test, etc., and I am guessing you will also become convinced your G4 has been hit by the bootloop issue. If so, call up LG, explain the problem, and I bet they will offer to repair it for free. Hope this helps, and do let us know the results!
Awesome response! I'm aware of the class action against LG, but with my phone being rooted I don't think it's the best option to contact them and it's out of warranty. I do not have a bootloop issue, my issue is I cannot get the phone to go into download mode. I really hope it isn't a main board issue like you had, that means I have no way of fixing it.
I was able to get the phone into download mode, this was right after I connected it to the PC via USB and held the volume down button while connecting it, it just came on. I was able to get to the T-Mobile splash screen then it started making a weird noise (almost like PC when it locks up, a high buzzing sound). I was able to then get it into DL mode (holding volume up while connecting) but it died on me during that phase or froze. After pulling the battery then, it will now not do anything. I'm optimistic that if I can get it back into DL mode I can flash the stock KDZ and get it working again. I will let you know what happens. After spending almost all day messing around and hassling my buddy for his battery (same phone, he charged his battery to 100% and let me use his, he's using mine) I'm going to have some beers and play Titanfall 2. I'll pick it back up tomorrow. Worst case is I have to get a new phone and I just don't have the means of doing that ATM.
Regarding your phone being rooted, my wife's VS986 was rooted as well. This did not even come up in conversation with the LG. Even though her VS986 was clearly out of warranty, as soon as I started to explain the symptoms I was seeing, the LG rep (without mentioning the word "bootloop") said he recognized the problem, and that they would repair it for free. In sum, at least in my experience, having the phone rooted did not make one iota of difference. I guess the takehome message is that this issue has obviously reached levels far greater than the average 5% electronics failure rate--LG recognizes it is a hardware problem, and is prepared to deal with it (even on rooted and out of warranty devices).
You said your phone does not have the bootloop issue, but I invite you to investigate it further because the bootloop issue is not strictly confined to continuously bootlooping as I tried to explain originally. What you have described completely fits within the spectrum of observed issues related to the bootloop issue. Question for you--when you turn on your phone, is it normal that it shuts off at some (whatever!) stage of booting? You said that at point you actually got into download mode, but then it failed there--is that the normal/expected reality? No, it's not, and this behavior is definitely one type of expression of the bootloop issue... And as you reported yourself, you boot seem to fail at a range of different spots, not always consistently at the same moment. If it were a software problem, wouldn't it always happen at the same stage? That it happens at different stages of the boot process suggests an external control, i.e. a hardware issue.
You asked about the freezer trick--let me roll things back a bit, and I'll get to this in a minute. The bootloop issue is supposedly related to a failed electrical connection for a component on the phone mobo, and so how far along the boot process actually gets before failing gets is related to thermal expansion of components, at least this is my guess. As I mentioned, when my wife's phone originally locked up, on trying to restart it immediately, it was completely dead, no LG logo no anything. But after letting it sit untouched for a couple hours to cool passively, the boot process would at least advance up to the LG logo, but then fail. After this, if I tried to reboot again while the phone was still warm, again, complete failure (not even reaching the LG logo) until I let it sit and cool for a while. This is all related to the freezer trick...
I read that on freezing their phones, some people were able to boot as far as the homescreen, and have a few minutes to rescue their contacts and photos before subsequent failure. So I tried that with the VS986, and was even able to get past the Verizon logo as mentioned above. But failure occurred during the optimizing apps stage, and I could never reach the homescreen. Whatever the case, this freezer trick simply works because of thermal contraction--by cooling the phone down enough, the components contract rebridging the failed electrical connection, and if it can can stay cool enough for long enough, you might actually have a few minutes to rescue things before failure.
There are some other data rescue techniques, too, and though you do not seem to be concerned about rescuing data, I mention them because they also point to this thermal issue. In particular, besides freezing, some folks have tried exactly the opposite--intense heating--and they have been able to get a few minutes of data rescue time out of their phones. This involves heating the back of the phone with a hair dryer until it is close to burning hot, and then trying to boot. This certainly works because of thermal expansion--heating the phone up so much causes everything to expand which literally forces the components back together bridging the failed electrical connection temporarily until the component heats up internally, and overcomes this extra pressure.
Another data rescue technique involves adding a spacer above the CPU to cause more force pressing down on the component to bridge the connection failure. And some people have literally ironed their CPUs in attempts to resolder things, and have had various levels of success. But in the long run, all of these attempted repairs to phones with the bootloop issue have the common characteristic of rebridging the failed component connection temporarily, and that is key here--they are only TEMPORARY. They work for anywhere from 1.) not at all to 2.) a few minutes to 3.) a few hours to 4.) a few days, but in the long run, they are temporary, and mobo replacement is needed.
Anyway, I encourage you to investigate the G4 bootloop issue a bit more before you conclude that your phone is not affected. And furthermore, in the long run, if you do conclude that it is afflicted by the bootloop issue, contact LG about it, and they will probably repair it for free. Don't fear about being out of warranty or having rooted the device--at least in my case these things did not matter!!!
---------- Post added at 11:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 AM ----------
I have reread your description above, and now even more think you may have the bootloop issue! You wrote that you were able to get into download mode, but then it failed, and then it would not do anything. This is exactly my experience with the VS986--immediately after a failure when it was still hot, if I tried to restart it, bam, nothing, not even the LG logo. But if I let it sit around a while to cool, it then was willing to show some semblance of life. Let your phone sit around after the next failure to cool down a bit, and I bet that after that, again, you will start to see a few indications of life instead of it being completely dead. If so, this should convince you even more that this is a hardware-level issue, and not simply a matter of being able to get into download mode to reload the OS.
Well I let it sit without the battery for about 14 hours, tried it again today and nothing. It won't turn on, won't charge, no LED indicator, no download mode, no safe mode, nothing lol. I'm convinced it's completely dead at this point.
MTN927 said:
Well I let it sit without the battery for about 14 hours, tried it again today and nothing. It won't turn on, won't charge, no LED indicator, no download mode, no safe mode, nothing lol. I'm convinced it's completely dead at this point.
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A suggestion--remove the back cover and battery, put the bare phone in the freezer for an hour in Ziploc bag, then pull it out, immediately put in the battery, and see if you can get some sign of life out of it. Obviously, this is not a long-term workable solution, just an experiment to see if you can get any signs of life out of it at this point. When you finally decide to let it warm up, do so while it is in the sealed Ziploc bag so it avoids direct condensation.
Whatever you conclude about your phone, the G4 is still a nice piece of equipment with a great camera even though it was released over two years ago. So repairing it is worth the effort if LG will do it for free. If you live in the US, their contact number is 800-243-0000. I'd suggest calling them up, explaining that out of the blue, the phone locked up, and since then, even though you have been able to do partial reboots a few times, it would always shut off during one of these boot attempts. Now it doesn't boot at all. There is no reason to mention that you rooted your phone a week ago (unless you want to...) because again, this is a well-known hardware problem that they know about, and that they are repairing even for phones that are out of warranty.
Admittedly, sending the phone in for repair is a bit of a hassle. In my case, I had to foot the shipping bill out to the repair facility in Ft. Worth, TX, but the turn around time was super fast. Indeed, it arrived to the facility this past Monday according to tracking, but was not actually checked in to their RMA system until Wednesday night. Notwithstanding, by Thursday evening, they had diagnosed it, replaced the mobo, and put it into Fedex shipping back to me all at no cost! I expect you would have a similar experience if you contact them to explain the problem like I have suggested.
Good luck, and let us know how the saga ends!
Your freezer trick worked! For now at least, I have the phone in DL mode but the KDZ I tried to flash gets stuck at 9% when using LGUP, I think I need to find the right KDZ to flash, looking for that currently...
UPDATE: Dead again, lasted in DL mode for maybe 10 or so mins. If that KDZ I had was right it might've worked, gonna refreeze and try again with a different KDZ...
So MTN927, I think the evidence is pointing to a hardware problem... It seems that you are thinking that this is a software-level problem, and that by reloading the correct KDZ, the phone will return to normal. Why would freezing the phone have any effect on a software-level problem? Of course, freezing the phone could clearly have an effect on a hardware-level issue.
I am not really a betting man, but at this point, I suspect that even if you find and load the correct KDZ, it will not solve your phone's problem because it appears to be a hardware-level issue. Whatever the case, give it a shot, and here's to hoping my logic above is incorrect!
Here is a possible technique that might give you a few more minutes to load a KDZ--after you freeze the phone, don't take it out, just let it sit there. And then, run a USB cable into the freezer to plug into the phone. I'm not sure it will buy you much more time, but maybe it will be just enough to get a KDZ loaded?
That's what I'm thinking, hardware and not software now, obviously.
I suggest you investigate the possibility of LG fixing it for free. Though it's a hassle to be without your phone for 1-2 weeks, at this point it's not working anyway so what do you have to lose? The G4 is still a great piece of equipment so repairing it is worth the effort.
verbage said:
I suggest you investigate the possibility of LG fixing it for free. Though it's a hassle to be without your phone for 1-2 weeks, at this point it's not working anyway so what do you have to lose? The G4 is still a great piece of equipment so repairing it is worth the effort.
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Yea, that's gonna be the last resort. I'm checking to see if I can get a new phone right now with my carrier. Thanks for all your help though, you've been great. Honestly, if I can get it fixed for free then sure, but I'm not too confident in the phones future considering what's already happened.
MTN927 said:
...but I'm not too confident in the phones future considering what's already happened.
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I will not be any less confident with my wife's repaired VS986, in fact, given that they replaced a known defective component, I think I will be more confident! Good luck with your replacement--here's to hoping your carrier is willing to help out given the G4's known history.
Hello everyone,
Having major issues with my Idol4S. It is the unlocked version (Cricket). It was working just great until a few days ago when I plugged it into the car charger. Phone instantly shut off, and got stuck with a blinking (rapid) LED light. This happens if plugged into my PC, or my Alcatel charger (both the wall and car).
The phone has suffered no damage (had a cover, but it was never dropped or exposed to external weather damage, nor water - I took great care of it), and was working quite well. I'm unable to boot it into any sort of recovery mode (as the screen is black, so I wouldn't be able to see anything anyways). The only indication of life is the flashing LED when plugged in ..(charging loop, maybe?)
I am using my idol4S Win10 (TMO/unlocked) phone in the meantime, but the base model was working just fine before this happened. I was also mindful of checking voltage/Amps when using chargers, so I would not have exposed it to any incorrect input/output. QuickCharge worked great too (sorely missed on Win10 model).
The phone was never rooted so it has the stock ROM, and whatever the last update Alcatel had pushed out for it. I did have developer mode and USB debugging on for MSVC/NSDK.
Is there anything I can do? After awhile being plugged in, the LED shuts off. I kind of need it as I was porting my game engine to it (using the SDK), plus it was my primary. I love the Win10 version too, but the Android idol4S was my primary phone. Kind of disappointed in Alcatel - I read it doesn't have an external battery otherwise I would attempt to transplant the battery (if that is even the issue). . .
Any tips, advice, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! <3
what you describe is what the phone does when it's plugged into the PC in download mode. Since you have the Cricket version which is also what I have, it is very easy to start from scratch and reflash everything. I have released a newer version TWRP and also have the ~CricketRom~ available if you're interested.
PizzaG said:
what you describe is what the phone does when it's plugged into the PC in download mode. Since you have the Cricket version which is also what I have, it is very easy to start from scratch and reflash everything. I have released a newer version TWRP and also have the ~CricketRom~ available if you're interested.
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Okay, but would it work even though the phone gives no indication of being plugged in to the computer, or the chargers for it? I plugged it into the PC just now, brief flash of light and then nothing. .
Should mention again that the screen does not turn on, ever since that day, the screen has not came back on -- so I really can't do anything, even accessing 'download mode' does not show anything on-screen, nor does Windows 10 alert me of the USB device being connected.
I wouldn't mind starting from scratch at this point. I'm definitely interested in getting up and running again! It's not like I can do anything else at this point except spend money and get it repaired by TCL.
Would it be rude of me to ask for links to the TWRP/CricketROM from you? Maybe a quick-start guide, I pick up on things easy, but I've never properly flashed with TWRP =)
Also @PizzaG, THANK YOU for your help!! Definitely appreciated <3
Oh! @PizzaG, I also have an older Onetouch Idol 3 that has the _exact_ same symptoms, I wonder if that too could be recovered? ... ^__^
well I guess the first thing to do would be plug it into the PC. Hold volume+ and volume- then hold power until you feel the buzz and let go of power. Hopefully you get the red Download mode screen? I didn't realize it had no life at all, I thought it was just messed up. It's sounding like more may be wrong then just a simple reflash.
New TWRP and ~CriketRom~ Beta5: https://forum.xda-developers.com/idol-4s/development/rom-twrp-recovery-t3792659