Did LG fix the bootloop or could I get one if I bought it?

[Ayyylmao]

From reading sounds like a big issue, did LG come about fixing the hardware flaws, or does it continue to plague the model?

 

[shadavis08]

There may be a few left out there. The ones LG is selling are fixed and any that are being sold as refers have been fixed as well. I would be leery of any sold singly or by non reputable companies. Main thing to look for or ask for is the first 3 digits in the serial number. They will tell the manufacturing date. I believe 508 are the worst ones about boot loop issue. But others near there also have had issues. 507 509. I have a T-Mobile 507 but its a referb

 

[Ayyylmao]

There may be a few left out there. The ones LG is selling are fixed and any that are being sold as refers have been fixed as well. I would be leery of any sold singly or by non reputable companies. Main thing to look for or ask for is the first 3 digits in the serial number. They will tell the manufacturing date. I believe 508 are the worst ones about boot loop issue. But others near there also have had issues. 507 509. I have a T-Mobile 507 but its a referb

Thanks, I'll be cautious.

 

[FijiSun]

Thanks, I'll be cautious.

I bought two G4's H815 unlocked . The first had the 509 serial and the build date was 9-2015. That one just failed about a month back. My other one has 511 serial or a 11-2015 build date and still works. From what I've read here and other forums the issue was finally fixed on the 10-2015 builds and after. In Jan 2016 LG made the official statement of the issue. What is really unfortunate is that it took LG so long to isolate the issue. They even implemented fixes to no avail. So the G4 was plagued for the first 5 months of production. IMO, this sealed the fate of the G4 which was otherwise a great device. Being mine was a international model LG told me sorry fella, no goodwill. But I bought the device on Amazon with no warranty. Still I think LG should have recalled all of them due to the defect.

I just bought another one since the prices on the H815 are hitting rock bottom. 284 USD is a great price for a phone with this much spec. If my build date is from the older serial numbers I won't even open the box.. I'll just send it back. Hopefully the build date is from sometime in 2016. Allot of people are pissed at LG and rightfully so. But I'm still going to buy the G4 again because the issue is fixed and its still the best design. I can't see paying 150 more on amazon for a G5. The G4 is the value king in smartphones. But perceptions will keep people from buying it. That's why it's so cheap. As far as I know, the G4 is still in production. I will try to post back what the production date is when I receive my new device.

 

[Bruce_205]

I just bought one that was "new" - the ebay seller (an electronics store) said it was surplus. The phone did appear completely new but not in an LG box. Its the H810 (AT&T) model. It has a serial number that starts with 509 and also the battery has a date of 09-20-2015 on it. So this is in the affected range. Does this mean that it was one of the LG buybacks and refurbished?

 

[FijiSun]

I just bought one that was "new" - the ebay seller (an electronics store) said it was surplus. The phone did appear completely new but not in an LG box. Its the H810 (AT&T) model. It has a serial number that starts with 509 and also the battery has a date of 09-20-2015 on it. So this is in the affected range. Does this mean that it was one of the LG buybacks and refurbished?

There would be no way to know. Especially from an Ebay seller. I just received another H815 unlocked international version from Amazon. Took 3 weeks for it to arrive from China post. I bought two others from Amazon. One had the 9-15 and it did fail. Got burned on that one. But my other was from 11-15 and still doing fine. The new one's serial says 6-1 so from Jan this year. It appeared to be factory sealed. Also had the 3000 mAh battery which is nice. My other ones came with the 2900 mAh size. The first two were from the UK region and included a nice pair of LG beats earphones. This one is the Hong Kong region. But it works exactly the same and says H815 which means it has all the worldwide bands. But it came with shitty earphones that I will never use. Oh well. But I only paid 284 dollars for it and its new. The other two I paid just over 400. The other thing I noticed is the new phone had Android 6.0 out of the box. My other two had to be upgraded. So that also made me feel a bit better.

Yours might also say android 6.0 but that does not mean anything. It should come in an LG box. All three of mine did. The only way I would take a chance is if I bought it from seller on Amazon and it said "factory refurbished". And it would also have to say "fullfilled by Amazon" which puts a little more bite that it really was refurbished. If your device is really new then it will.. no if's or but's FAIL. They all fail. Its a ticking time bomb.

Honestly, get yourself the H815 on Amazon. Its a better phone. ZERO carrier bloat. Plus you get the real LG smart world and better lock screen. And the FM radio which works really good. You get all the updates directly from LG and they are still coming in on a regular basis from LG. ATT, Verizon, etc.. you may get them or may not. Or it will take their sweet time.

Good Luck

 

[Bruce_205]

Can you tell anything from the software version? (Not Android version). I assume this means LG's software. Mine says H81021z. I am thinking that mine is not actually "factory new". If LG took a lot of these phones back they'd have to do something with them....they aren't going to just dump them in the shredder. Maybe they are refurb'ing and selling on the secondary market. It would be nice to know though, if there's some sort of identifier that would flag it as brand new or refurb.

 

[Bruce_205]

I just did a check on the LG Warranty Check website. Interesting info to have though it doesn't quite tell me what I wanted to know.
Production Date: 9/9/15
ESN Go Date: 11/15/15

So my phone is 1 year old today, and officially out of warranty as of midnight. I wonder, what is a "Go Date"?

 

[FijiSun]

A google search shows ESN as the date a device can be activated with a carrier. Also the ESN can be "clear or unclear" Meaning that if the prior owner quits paying his bill or reports it stolen the device can quit working. But at any rate, the ESN identifies the device on a carrier to a specific individual. I doubt the ESN has anything to do whether it was refurbished or not. Since you did not buy the phone from the carrier they might not exchange if it starts to boot loop. But you can probably still call LG. LG might still repair the device outside a year. As long as your device is for the region you live. The one bad thing about the H815 was its for the UK region and owners that incurred the bootloop did not get good will from LG. So at this point, there is probably is no way to know if it was fixed or not. I would not worry about it. If it bootloops you can try to go to ATT store first to see if they will exchange/fix. But most likely you will need to call LG and hopefully they might allow you to send in for repair. I have no idea if they extend past a year. But you can always call them and ask.. LG is all too familiar with the G4/Bootloop fiasco. They knew exactly what to tell me about my dead H815 and it wasn't pretty. They will no doubt know what to say if your device fails outside a year.

Overall LG took the high road as far as the bootloop failure with the exception of the unlocked international failure. But in all fairness, the H815 tells the buyer there is no warranty (outside the Amazon return period of around 40 days).

Apple in comparison is having a ton of touch screen IC failures on the IP 6 plus. It too is from a defect since they removed the protective underfill and metal bracket protecting the touch IC. Apple's solution is for the buyer to pay for a used IP 6 plus for 350 dollars with a 90 day warranty. Those are failing at even a higher rate. There is a lawsuit currently over the mess and it will probably go to class action status soon. LG for the most part made good with their customers. Although the defect was probably the main reason it flopped commercially. The G5 is also a flop. Too bad, they are both really great phones. LG is restarting their mobile decision (firing allot of the top employee's) and my fear is they too, will become a unibody POS with a sealed battery next go around.

 

[Bruce_205]

wow. I didn't realize it was that bad. I did not experience this problem on my original G4 because it was not part of that batch. For phones that are, how long does it generally take for them to go bad? Is it just random?

 

[FijiSun]

wow. I didn't realize it was that bad. I did not experience this problem on my original G4 because it was not part of that batch. For phones that are, how long does it generally take for them to go bad? Is it just random?

Pretty random I would think. A loose component on the main board. Also there could be other factors. Dropping the phone may speed up the process. I gave my wife my first LG G4 with the build date 9-15. She is allot rougher on phones. It had a case with screen protector but not tempered glass. The last drop cracked the glass. Took it down to a repair and they were very professional.. They keep all the components in anti-static bags, they keep themselves grounded etc.. They put a new display on and all was well for about a day. Then it started to boot loop. The guys in the shop felt really bad and they tried to fix the device for a couple of days. I keep telling them it was not their fault. That this is a known issue. So it took a few drops, taking it apart, and replacing the screen before the defect showed its ugly face.

In short there is no way to know if and when it may happen. After all my research I have concluded that the bad batches were from around May to September 2015. I read reports from last year that some users said they went through 3 devices with the same issue. LG had apparently did another fix during that time in vain trying to fix the problem. But they keep allowing the carriers to switch out the devices. And some people were experiencing the failure pretty quickly. Later, after they finally located the issue LG would let people send in their devices and they were switching out the main-boards and then send the device back. I think that process took about a week. Which is pretty good.

Overall, I give LG a high mark for how they dealt with the issue. They officially acknowledged the issue last Jan. If you bought a device from your region they pretty much replaced the device no questions asked. If your outside a year I would not know. But time may be running out for those that have devices that are intended for their regions. In my case, time was out the day I received my H815. And in all fairness to LG, they do not have the parts to fix my phone in the US. They are not set up in the states to fix that model. And the seller says straight up on Amazon "no warranty". I like the phone so much I bought another one... People think I'm crazy for doing that. But at 284 USD you won't find a better phone. Not even remotely so.

Sorry for all the verbal glut here. In short, my advice is don't worry about it. It is what it is. If possible, try to contact that Ebay seller and ask him why the device was NOT in a factory LG sealed box. Just mention that in no circumstance would LG package a new device in that manner. And that you know that there is probably no way you could return the device at this time but would like to know the history of this device. That is was it refurbished, or just have the OS reset, cleaned and boxed. They probably won't be honest but I'd still let them know. You can also call LG and ask them if they will provide any good will outside a year. Other then that, there is little else you can do.

 

[FijiSun]

wow. I didn't realize it was that bad. I did not experience this problem on my original G4 because it was not part of that batch. For phones that are, how long does it generally take for them to go bad? Is it just random?

OK update on my Dead H815. This is A BIG DEAL. I noticed on a newer comment/review on Amazon that LG is allowing someone to return a H815 (out of region) unlocked device and LG will send a locked carrier device in exchange. I asked for a T-mobile version. I sent back my old H815. All I can say is wow. LG is really taking the high road on this one. Can say enough good things about how they handled this particular defect.

I think allot of these unlocked versions were sent to the states and they might need them back to replace the main boards for replacements on failed devices in the UK etc... Or either that they are just being nice. Not sure why the change of heart. They pretty much blew me off a few months back.. Regardless, they are doing the right thing now.

 

[biggles]

Hey folks, my Verizon G4 just bootlooped this past Monday and the replacement is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Would it be wise to keep it or trade-in? In other words, are the replacements reliable? Verizon currently offers $300 trade-in value if I gave them the G4 and I can get the HTC 10. So I am unsure which way to go. The wife thinks I should trade it in since she thinks it might bootloop again.

 

[Ricky Johnson]

My Sprint LGG4 had a bootloop a few weeks ago. It's my second G4. Latest one did last almost a year unlike the first that lasted a few months. Sprint doesn't do the G4 any longer (and for good reasons), and they upgraded me for free to the G5 at no cost. Hope the issue is fixed in this one.

 

[madmikess]

My G4 bootlooped, had it less then a year, paying extra for warranty with t-mobile. The issue I ran into is that they have the G4 on back order with basically no date for a replacement. So after 2 weeks of waiting I complained and they offered me a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge which I took. It's a little smaller than the G4, doesn't have replaceable battery or sd card slot, but I took it anyway. I'm fine with this. I really liked my G4 but don't appreciate not having a working phone indefinitely. My wife has a G4 also, we got them both at the same time when we got T-Mobile service. I'm hoping hers somehow was one of the lucky ones that isn't affected by the bootloop issue. She plays Pokemon Go all the time so she's been taxing it in the heat dept more than I ever did with mine. Keeping my fingers crossed.