Chinese refusbished LG G4 with bootloop problems - G4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

A while ago I had the bad idea of buying a refurbished G4 H818p on a chinese store. It was so cheap I couldn't be happier when it arrived and it apparently worked like new.
A month later I had to read a lot about bootloop and how to fix it as the phone suddenly stopped working.
I managed to disassemble the phone and I found that a new dissipator was applied to the main board but the quality was so low the whole repair lasted just one month. I tried to fix it with some new pieces of copper and thermal paste but it didn't work. So I went to the software solution and applied a tot file that made my phone to not use two cores. The phone resurrected but now I have some random green points on the screen after using it for a while (they are not dead pixels, as they change always) and many apps just crash after loading them the first time (they stay there if I load them three or more times). Are these problems related to the excessive temperature in the main board too?
Can I fix them too?
Thank you.

Related

Blue screen after serious slow down

In case anyone else suffers the same symptoms - a couple of weeks ago, my G3 started running really slowly (and possibly a bit hotter).
Booting from cold seemed to take a long time and the ui starred freezing temporarily on a regular basis.
I was waiting for an ota marshmallow update and hoped that would fix whatever was making it go slow.
I was wrong.
The other night, I was using it and the screen went bright blue and the phone then started boot looping. Sometimes it only got as far as the LG logo and other times it for all the way to the lock screen (on a couple of occasions I could get to the desktop and use the phone 'normally'). Every time it ended up blue screening and then rebooting.
Ultimately, it was dead and despite managing a full wipe, nothing fixed it.
As a phone, when it worked it was ok but cracking screen, poor call quality (only realised that when I got a different phone) and general slow downs (possibly related to overheating (and I could only infrequently increase screen brightness to full because of the warning about overheating) means that I think this phone has been fair rather than excellent.
Its motherboard problem only way to fix it is replace it with new one
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
That's what I thought. Phone is well over a year old, so just got a different one.
Good feedback for anyone who has similar symptoms.
I have the same problem, went to the LG service center in my country
and yes they said that I had to replace the motherboard, because the IC power is broken
the cost is around $160, 1/3 the phone price when I bought it mid 2014
I have only used my phone for only 1.5 years and very disappointed with the quality of G3 phone
same **** happened to me, they replaced the motherboard, luckily it was still under warranty.
Don't update its motherboard problem
Same here blue screen came and phone is dead. Gone to lg service center and they told to replace the motherboard yesterday.
The whole phone now only cost 1000AED and they are telling me that motherboard replacement is gonna cost me 950AED .what the heck, better to buy a new phone. Atleast i will get one yeAr warranty new phone for same cost hehe...
The updation of lg g3 software is the main reason for this, so dont update the phone to new version of android pls.
Sorry to unbury such an older thread.
I just got a new (sic) LG G3 D855. A few minutes after the official LG updates were installed, the screen began flickering, with intermediate blue screens, and consecutive reboots. After a BSOD the screen went dark, and the phone seemd to be powered off. I am not sure about this, but I could not power it on again for approx. 20 minutes. Then it was starting again, but I feel very uncomfortable about it and plan to ask for a replacement, since I have full warranty.
Before I return it:
How to I find out the manufacturing year of the motherboard and/or if there is a newer revision or something? Is it printed on the motherboard or readable via an app (e.g. CPU-Z or similar - if I can start it at all)?
Any help in this regard is very much appreciated. Thank you.
Wishing you all a great year 2020!

I HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION FOR THE LG G4 BOOTLOOP ISSUE *Story & Tutorial*

Basically what happened, was on Friday, my phone got stuck in a boot loop. It would get to the "Optimizing Apps" screen and shut off again. Other people may just get to the Verizon screen, or even just the LG screen. I looked it up and found that it was a major issue affecting many people, so I just filed for a warranty and received my new phone today. Well, on Saturday night LinusTechTips, a popular tech YouTube channel(You should really check them out, they are great), released a video on how they fixed a dead Graphics Card and PCI-E SSD by heating them up past the melting point of solder and then testing them. For them, it only worked on the GPU. As I was packing up my seemingly dead phone to ship back to LG TODAY, i decided to give it one more shot. I disassembled the device to the point where I could take out the logic board. I took the logic board and wrapped it in one layer of parchment paper and two layers of tinfoil, shiny side facing in(FYI tinfoil has two sides, shiny and matte). I then placed this package into a barbecue. I turned on the left and middle burners and left the package with my logic board inside on the right side to the grill so it wasn't receiving direct heat. After 10 minutes, I took it out, re-assembled my phone and it booted. I was able to get all of my pictures off of it. This has only been confirmed to work on my phone, but seeing as this SAME issue is affecting thousands of people, It's definitely worth a shot. If you are going to use an oven, PLEASE, make sure it's above 385 degrees Fahrenheit and that you don't plan on using that oven for food ever again, this may release some toxic chemicals etc. I plan on using my grill again, so I just made sure to leave the grill open for 24 hours and I'm going to clean it before I use it next. If you have any questions let me know!
P.S. My LG G4 was the Verizon model.
I highly recommend doing this ONLY if you have no other option. Remember that heating a logic board to high temperatures can release toxic fumes. Don't use an oven you use for food preparation! Toxic fumes can leave residue in the oven and will be re-released upon reheating over many cycles!
Assuming LG's press release regarding the issue is correct and it is really a loose contact, this "fix" could actually work. Of course, only if the loose connection is a soldered connection. Though, it's controversial. You have to remember that the melting point for SMD solder is around ~350°C, or 662°F. So 358°F, or 181°C, is not nearly enough to actually re-solder a loose connection. My guess is that the loose solder point is only expanding due to the heat. There is no real reconnect. It might only be a matter of time until it also breaks. If you could locate the actual loose connection you could really re-solder it and have it fixed permanently.
I've done this on many many devices, including graphics cards, smartphone logic boards, PC mainboards etc. It only works if a soldered connection has a crack small enough that heat expansion is enough to gain reconnection. If there is a loose contact on the PCB or the "crack" in the solder is too big, it does not work. Also, if you really have a dead chip, this trick also won't (always) work.
I read a similar story on reddit. The guy put his main board in the oven, reassembled it, and the phone started working. The last update I read was 3 days later, still working.
I fixed mine temporarily by heating up the emmc chip using solder hot air gun. It seems to be just the emmc chips connection.
Failed again after a fortnight when the phone got too hot. The connection seems to break when the g4 gets hot.
One option to try is to boot the phone inside a freezer. I found that worked too.
Pretty poor quality control on lg's part.
I'm going to try again and see if I can fix permanently.
Worked for me too
I have a LG G4 H815 with serial number starting with 507. It died yesterday night. The bootloop escalated quickly to full death. Even the freezer trick did not work.
I followed the OP instructions. I heated up the grill to ~250 degrees Celsius and cooked the motherboard for 10 minutes.
Magically the phone has been working for a couple of hours since and I have been able to backup files to the external SC card.
I wonder how much more will it work.
Thank you for help OP!!!
Word of advice to other LG G4 users. Backup your phone regularly. Use an external SD card. Set the camera to save images and videos to the SD card. At least at doom day you will have them saved.
Cheers
Silverdace said:
I'm going to try again and see if I can fix permanently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any more info on this? Looks like my phone bit it the other day, no boot...just dead...
I'm going to take her apart to see if I can find a bad solder, luckily I still had my G2 lying around.
NFN, I sent mine back to LG US in Texas for a full warranty repair. 10 days RT, no cost at all, shipping included.
No unfortunately. I managed to overcook it and it stopped booting altogether
Do you have the address and info Re your communication w/ lg
metropical said:
NFN, I sent mine back to LG US in Texas for a full warranty repair. 10 days RT, no cost at all, shipping included.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the address and info Re your communication w/ lg, I'd like to send mine back for repair due to this same issue.
http://www.lg.com/us/support/repair-service/schedule-repair-us
they did a **** job. touch screen peeling and failing. Phone slowing down again after about 6mos. Looking for a new phone, but the choices are so limited.
My phone is 2 years 4 months old....never bootlooped
Feel bad for u guys
deltadiesel said:
My phone is 2 years 4 months old....never bootlooped
Feel bad for u guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine made it just about the same but died from other causes.
deltadiesel said:
My phone is 2 years 4 months old....never bootlooped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the beginning of your phone's serial number?
Hi bro kindly tell is it worth to install custom rom kernal with root to prevent the cpu to clock high speed so it will not go into bootloop? My is also 2 years old thanks
250 degrees F for 6 minutes and brought the phone back to life. We'll see how long it lasts.
Actually it worked on BOTH G4s I have. I first just went dead and I bought a used one for $100 on eBay and it worked fine until the bootloop showed up.

Problem with screen flickering

Hello. I start writes at the beginning of what the problem is. My G3 is very unlucky. Underwent operations 3 exchanges panel (display + touch). After the final exchange of the phone came two days after what appeared screen flickering. Having traced the various forum decided according to the recommendations of users heating the main processor. Not happily operation failed. The phone does not respond to anything. Now I have a chance at a low cost to get a G3 with a broken touch to transplantation motherboard. Only now is the question. Is it really the problem lay in the motherboard whether there is a possibility that the display itself is defective. Sorry for a bad English. Thank you gentlemen for your interest in the subject and I hope that you will help me with this problem. At the end I might add, with the phone still went smoothly in the display white spots. Have a nice day guys!
yes the problem is in the motherboard -- the SOC heat cause that issue
So the change of the motherboard will fix it ?
Okey tommorow or later arived to me brake screen g3 and i swipe motherboard and type there result thanks again for yours interesting this thread.
It's either a:
A) Dying battery
B) Bad screen or not a proper connection
C) Motherboard
I would check the screen and battery first as they were the first tampered with.
Taking the motherboard from another G3 is a good plan. You can also try applying a thermal pad to the back plate.
And for ****s sake, for the 1000th time:
DO NOT PUT YOUR MOTHERBOARD IN THE OVEN.
And expect a repair that is... As a means to try to boot it up for a couple of minutes to backup your data, sure, suit yourself.
If it is the same problem that others describe it is probably the motherboard. I just bought a new one and replaced mine. Like a new phone now. You can read my comment on another thread here for more details.

LG G3 D855 Screen flickers and fade to darkness

Hi and thank you for checking my thread
I have a problem with my G3 as described in the tittle, I did the Paper trick I saw on YouTube but sadly it didn't work
After a while I found out that placing a piece cut from Credit card under the CPU might work and I did , but one week later I had the same problem, likely I can just click sleep button and it returns to normal
After these many problems I decided to give up on it and sell it, but I need a permanent Fix so I don't get involved in Cheating
Also , does replacing motherboard will fix the issue ?
Does G4 Worth it now ? I know about bootloop problem
Probably is a bad motherboard
When my G3 finally died (digitizer went bad), I just replaced it with a used G4 for $150. That was like 6 months ago. The phone has been phenomenal. I know there is many who say that every G4 will bootloop eventually, but I really don't see how thats possible if you just browse google for the issue. Yeah, a lot of people had the problem, but if everyone did you wouldn't see the G4 still being sold at a ton of outlets, and you would see hundreds of links to the issue. I think there was a large batch of them that were bad... and they got past QC, but the vast majority of them are probably fine.
resinis said:
Probably is a bad motherboard
When my G3 finally died (digitizer went bad), I just replaced it with a used G4 for $150. That was like 6 months ago. The phone has been phenomenal. I know there is many who say that every G4 will bootloop eventually, but I really don't see how thats possible if you just browse google for the issue. Yeah, a lot of people had the problem, but if everyone did you wouldn't see the G4 still being sold at a ton of outlets, and you would see hundreds of links to the issue. I think there was a large batch of them that were bad... and they got past QC, but the vast majority of them are probably fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Replacing the Motherboard will fix the issue ?
Yea, i saw "1 month/year after" Reviews on youtube and no one montion the bootloop issue, people ask them in comments and they reply that the phone works normal with no issues
Thank you for replying dude appreciate it
I was skeptical at first, but by baking the motherboard in the oven did the trick for me. It has been a couple of hours now an no flickering, no black screen and no troubles. And i know i'm asking for Murphy to come and bite my as*, but as a little trick, i'd like to suggest before putting the mobo in the oven to try something: i have an old Akasa X4 cpu cooler which has metal fins which are removable. I took one of those things and cut a square a little bit smaller than the power IC to the right of the SoC and then cut another one the exact same size then stacked the two one on top of each other, making sure to not short any capacitor around the IC and then put the metal shield back, making sure to put pressure on the IC. Then preheated the oven at roughly 180 degrees celsius, then put the motherboard SoC face up into the preheated oven on three balls of aluminium foil, one at the bottom near the micro usb, and the others to balance the motherboard, like a BMW Isetta, and put the timer for 10 minutes. After these nervous 10 minutes, I took out the mobo and let it to cool at room temperature for ~30 minutes. And voila, now it works. I do hope that it is going to last, and i will be very careful with this phone, unlike the previous owner. Seriously, how can you put a freaking button (small one, from a shirt) between the SoC and the mid-frame? Crazy. And that's why i got it for ~8000 JPY (about 70 bucks).
Takadi said:
Hi and thank you for checking my thread
I have a problem with my G3 as described in the tittle, I did the Paper trick I saw on YouTube but sadly it didn't work
After a while I found out that placing a piece cut from Credit card under the CPU might work and I did , but one week later I had the same problem, likely I can just click sleep button and it returns to normal
After these many problems I decided to give up on it and sell it, but I need a permanent Fix so I don't get involved in Cheating
Also , does replacing motherboard will fix the issue ?
Does G4 Worth it now ? I know about bootloop problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a similar problem for about two months. I tried the paper thing over the camera sensor and I felt like it helped some but the problem still continued. The screen would just slowly go dark with vertical lines running through it. All apps would still work in the background while this was happening. I could boot to TWRP and this problem never happened while in TWRP which was odd. Seemed like if it was a screen issues or hardware malfunction it would happen all the time. That's when I decided to just flash back to stock. I was thinking about getting the S8 anyways so what the hell. I flashed to stock 10B and took every single OTA. Took all night but I've been running stock for over a day now and the issue has not replicated itself one time since reverting back to stock. I was on RR Nougat and Fulmics when it happened prior. Has to be a root or Rom issue?
Pozman1 said:
I had a similar problem for about two months. I tried the paper thing over the camera sensor and I felt like it helped some but the problem still continued. The screen would just slowly go dark with vertical lines running through it. All apps would still work in the background while this was happening. I could boot to TWRP and this problem never happened while in TWRP which was odd. Seemed like if it was a screen issues or hardware malfunction it would happen all the time. That's when I decided to just flash back to stock. I was thinking about getting the S8 anyways so what the hell. I flashed to stock 10B and took every single OTA. Took all night but I've been running stock for over a day now and the issue has not replicated itself one time since reverting back to stock. I was on RR Nougat and Fulmics when it happened prior. Has to be a root or Rom issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wondering if your G3 is still functioning without the issue.
It really feels like a hardware issue but as you pointed out it didn't happen in TWRP... but like many, I encounter the issue when the phone gets a bit warm (>35C), so maybe TWRP and your stock android is not as hot as RR Nougat? Then again, I'm on MM when this happened...
Update: Actually the flicker n fade happened to me in TWRP while I was backing up. The temperature read about 60C.
I had bigger problems with my g3 and they started as follows
Problem 1. camera not being detected and crashing. 2. Reboot once a while which got worse over time. 3. Bluetooth sketchy and WiFi not connecting. 4. Sd card being ejected and mounted constantly. 5. Mobile data stopped working.
Solution: baked it in the oven 10min with cpu side up at 185c removed to cool 4 30min. Problems gone for the meantime.
This morning at work my D852 died with the exact same screen fades to black and would only stay on for at most like 10 seconds and would only come on again after the processor cooled enough. I came across this youtube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF1s4RCZAvc
Since I didn't have any copper foil tape, I substituted with Aluminum foil tape and placed the tape in the same places as detailed in the video. (copper works better than aluminum for heat dispersal)
My phone is now back to normal and hasn't shown any issues with the past 5 hours since I applied the fix.
UPDATE: My phone has worked perfectly for several days now until I turned on the GPS from Cell Tower to High Accuracy and it immediately started to die again. Once it cooled down I was able to get to the settings screen to turn off GPS and it went back to functioning like normal
How to fix
I tried the paper trick and it did not work. No need to replace the motherboard or the phone. The issue is just a bad connection between the motherboard to the LCD display.. Probably due to dirt (in my case, I found that quite a few places in my motherboard had corrosion buildup). Here is the fix...
1. Remove battery cover and Unscrew The back plastic from the base of the phone to get to the motherboard.
2. Disconnect all the connectors from the motherboard.
3. Scan the motherboard for anything unusual. (My motherboard had corrosion on several different places).
5. Clean any dirt or corrosion with lint-free cloth. (I didn't have one so I had to use a Q-tip).
*if needed, Dip the cloth in rubbing alcohol to assist in cleaning. make sure that the cloth is JUST BARELY Damp and not dripping, otherwise you will risk water-damaging the phone. If you use rubbing alcohol, make sure that you dry the spot right after you wipe it.
6. Once you have cleaned the motherboard, check the base of the phone and clean any dirt from here also.
7. Replace the motherboard, re-connect the connections, screw on the back, and put the battery cover back on.
Viola! Mine has been working like new for 4 days so far with no issues...
Takadi said:
Hi and thank you for checking my thread
I have a problem with my G3 as described in the tittle, I did the Paper trick I saw on YouTube but sadly it didn't work
After a while I found out that placing a piece cut from Credit card under the CPU might work and I did , but one week later I had the same problem, likely I can just click sleep button and it returns to normal
After these many problems I decided to give up on it and sell it, but I need a permanent Fix so I don't get involved in Cheating
Also , does replacing motherboard will fix the issue ?
Does G4 Worth it now ? I know about bootloop problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So a permanent fix is a new motherboard or a new screen?

LG G3 strange restarting/bootloop problem

So, i first posted this issue on reddit, now i'm trying here for solution. First, sorry for my grammar.
Recently, i cracked glass and touch-screen on my LG G3, and repair was too expensive (at third-party service), so i bought used LG G3 with perfect display, but it has strange problem with bootloop. It's not the same bootloop like when it's battery issue. Sometime it freeze, and restart itself, but at LG logo screen freeze again, and it came to bootloop like 4-5 times, and after that boot normal.
After that sometime works normal, sometimes restart itself again after while, and bootloop few times, and than boot normal. It doesn't matter if it's on battery or charger, it will bootloop until starts normal. I didn't find any patern that cause to freeze and restart itself.
1. I tried to change battery, but that didn't solve the problem.
2. last night, i flashed v30B firmware (because it was v30N firmware installed, so i thoght that is causing bootloop).
I serched on internet, but didn't find anything like this issue. I bought 32GB version of phone (my was 16GB), so i'm trying to fix it to use of course, if i can fix.
Temperature is just normal, 30-40 idle, and 40-50+ if doing something.
I swapped my working MB into new phone, and that is OK, but i'm trying to fix this faulty MB on my cracked screen through the OTG cable and PC mouse. I'm considering to reflow chip to try that at least.
Any suggestion is welcome.
RangoKiller said:
So, i first posted this issue on reddit, now i'm trying here for solution. First, sorry for my grammar.
Recently, i cracked glass and touch-screen on my LG G3, and repair was too expensive (at third-party service), so i bought used LG G3 with perfect display, but it has strange problem with bootloop. It's not the same bootloop like when it's battery issue. Sometime it freeze, and restart itself, but at LG logo screen freeze again, and it came to bootloop like 4-5 times, and after that boot normal.
After that sometime works normal, sometimes restart itself again after while, and bootloop few times, and than boot normal. It doesn't matter if it's on battery or charger, it will bootloop until starts normal. I didn't find any patern that cause to freeze and restart itself.
1. I tried to change battery, but that didn't solve the problem.
2. last night, i flashed v30B firmware (because it was v30N firmware installed, so i thoght that is causing bootloop).
I serched on internet, but didn't find anything like this issue. I bought 32GB version of phone (my was 16GB), so i'm trying to fix it to use of course, if i can fix.
Temperature is just normal, 30-40 idle, and 40-50+ if doing something.
I swapped my working MB into new phone, and that is OK, but i'm trying to fix this faulty MB on my cracked screen through the OTG cable and PC mouse. I'm considering to reflow chip to try that at least.
Any suggestion is welcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm following you correctly, you've swapped out the motherboard from your old phone to the newly purchased phone? If so, make sure you've reconnected the ribbon cables securely. If it is that you're experiencing the described problems on the newly purchased phone, it may explain why it was sold. But if that's the case it might be worthwhile to take the phone apart and check the connections as well. I'd bought a second lg g3 with the infamous screen flicker, fixed it by cleaning the connections with a small plastic bristle wire brush and a small bit of alcohol. If all else fails try new software. Hope that helps. You did say ... any suggestions welcome.

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