This is a very strange problem. I never saw anything similar in my life and I searched for someone with a similar problem but I cannot find anything. So I am posting this thread, maybe someone here knows what I should do.
This tablet has been riddled with problems, but this one makes it close to useless. I had several problems since I got the tablet where it won't wake up after sleeping and you had to reboot the thing, where the dock is not available after sleeping and you have to undock and redock it, where the battery drains while sleeping etc etc. Annoyances but I can live with them. I know there is a fix for the dock and you have to send it to Asus, but shipping is expensive so I'll learn to live with it.
This problem though.. this is a big one. So just to clarify, the tablet is rooted with the original 4.4.2 ROM. I did not make any changes in the past week. Yesterday morning, I woke up and used it normally. Later that morning I unplugged it from the charger and that's when I noticed this problem. So while it is connected to the charger the tablet will function normally. After I unplug it the tablet will freeze after a few seconds, reboot on its own and then it will boot until the icons start coming up. Usually after this you get the lockscreen, but instead the screen will black out. After a few seconds the icons start coming back and the the screen will black out again and so on. This loop will continue forever unless you plug the charger in. When you plug in the charger, the icons will come up and after you get the lock screen (instead of the black screen), and you can use it normally. If you unplug it again, the boot loop starts again. This behavior is the same whether using the dock or not.
I don't want to do a factory reset just yet if I can. Last time I did a factory reset, the tablet would not boot and I had to send it back for a replacement. When I get to the fastboot screen, trying RCK I get the dead Android with the red exclamation, and cold booting does nothing.
Any suggestions please? Any kind of log I can get to help? I can post a video if the problem is not clear.
Thanks.
pantera1989 said:
This is a very strange problem. I never saw anything similar in my life and I searched for someone with a similar problem but I cannot find anything. So I am posting this thread, maybe someone here knows what I should do.
This tablet has been riddled with problems, but this one makes it close to useless. I had several problems since I got the tablet where it won't wake up after sleeping and you had to reboot the thing, where the dock is not available after sleeping and you have to undock and redock it, where the battery drains while sleeping etc etc. Annoyances but I can live with them. I know there is a fix for the dock and you have to send it to Asus, but shipping is expensive so I'll learn to live with it.
This problem though.. this is a big one. So just to clarify, the tablet is rooted with the original 4.4.2 ROM. I did not make any changes in the past week. Yesterday morning, I woke up and used it normally. Later that morning I unplugged it from the charger and that's when I noticed this problem. So while it is connected to the charger the tablet will function normally. After I unplug it the tablet will freeze after a few seconds, reboot on its own and then it will boot until the icons start coming up. Usually after this you get the lockscreen, but instead the screen will black out. After a few seconds the icons start coming back and the the screen will black out again and so on. This loop will continue forever unless you plug the charger in. When you plug in the charger, the icons will come up and after you get the lock screen (instead of the black screen), and you can use it normally. If you unplug it again, the boot loop starts again. This behavior is the same whether using the dock or not.
I don't want to do a factory reset just yet if I can. Last time I did a factory reset, the tablet would not boot and I had to send it back for a replacement. When I get to the fastboot screen, trying RCK I get the dead Android with the red exclamation, and cold booting does nothing.
Any suggestions please? Any kind of log I can get to help? I can post a video if the problem is not clear.
Thanks.
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Click to collapse
Hi, to start this reply, I'll let you know that I am no professional at any of this stuff. I am a regular person that has had experience with flashing ROMs and whatnot. In my opinion, this seems like a software (maybe hardware) related problem. So there are a couple of options you have here.
1. Are you still under your warranty period? You could return it and get another one (easy fix)
2. You could try to factory reset, and if it doesn't turn on, rma the tablet (which it sounds like it may be cheaper to just buy a new one anyways)
3. You could try unlocking the bootloader. Then install a custom ROM (kind of risky, but might be less risky than #2)
Overall, you are not in an amazing spot with your tablet. It saddens me to see all the problems with asus's tablets. I have been with them since the transformer prime because of their laptop like tablet makes it easy to use in school, but its always been a struggle staying with their lineup. I have returned their tablets multiple times. Please update when you can
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
If you have a microSD in the tablet take it out and try to boot it. I have seen the weirdest problems because of a card on the fritz....
Second possibility: Hardware. The behavior (working fine when connected to power) seems to indicate it doesn't get the charge it needs from the battery. Could be that it is going kaputt. It's not totally fried but enough that the tablet does not get a reliable charge from the battery.
Third option would be to reflash the firmware. That would eliminate a software problem. You will loose root if you do that...
Since you're still on the original firmware, I assume you did not unlock the bootloader and rooted with Towelroot - correct?
Whatever you do, backup everything you care about off the tablet now....
Thanks for your replies/suggestions. I could not use towelroot as it was on 4.4.2 (I think I read it is not possible). The bootloader is unlocked. This is my second tablet as I had returned the original one. I tried putting Cromi-X on it, and when I got to the step to factory reset it (using fastboot), the thing just was stuck in an endless loop. I could not even get to fastboot and my PC wouldn't recognize it. All it did was boot to the ASUS logo (and the message that the bootloader was unlocked) and reboot.
So this is the replacement unit and the charging issue was the problem. I say was because believe me or not the tablet is now smashed to bits. Since it must always be connected with a charger to work, I was carrying it around docked as I usually do and forgot that it was plugged in. I have resorted to an extra long extension cord with the charger plugged in to walk around. Anyway I forgot it was plugged in, the extension cord reached its limit and the charger cord yanked the tablet out of my hands and onto its side - screen facing away. I sweared, feared the worst and went to pick it up. The good news is that it still boots. The bad news is that the screen is completely smashed. The back cover is bent at one corner and the glass is smashed at that corner with cracks running to the other side. The touchscreen is not working anymore either. To add insult to the injury the tablet still only boots up with the charger plugged in..so there's that.
I don't know what to do now. I have contacted ASUS for a possible RMA but got no response yet. The thing is I don't feel like spending more money on it given the problems experienced. A screen with digitizer on ebay is about €75..so not exactly cheap.
I guess we can close this thread as it is now pointless. I hope no one has to go through my experience and that maybe it was a one off thing.
Thanks again to whoever replied. I appreciate it.
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.
Got up this morning to a black screen. At first power + down volume would show the Samsung boot screen, but it would never fully boot. One time it did make it to the the home screen but froze almost immediately. After that it has only showed the Samsung boot screen a few times while holding down power + down volume. I have tried tried power + down volume or up volume several times now and can never get it to show anything any more. The phone should also have power as it has been charging all day. After doing some reading I was going to flash it with Odin, but it only shows up as QUSB_BULK_CID... and Odin doesn't see it. This is after installing Samsung USB drivers v1.7.59. Is there anything else I can do?
hello colleague
Reading this post makes me think about making periodic backups.
since I also have an S20 FE 5g TMO.
I hope I have a solution to the problem.
but apparently I think it will be hardware problems.
I have investigated and there is also a publication of an s20 with the same problem.
greetings
Can you point me to the S20 with the same problem? I really hope it isn't a design issue with the hardware as I have 3 other S20FE's. All bought at the same time. The phones are only a few months past 1yr old. Would be nice if it is a software issue. Since I couldn't figure anything out with it, I dropped it off at a replace called ubreakifix by asurion. They were listed as a repair center on Samsung's website.
I got the phone back today. At first the shop said they couldn't reproduce the problem after I left it there. It was just slow to start up. Gave it back and didn't charge me anything. After I left I just started open and closing stuff. And the UI would freeze some, plus I would get System UI not responding and Process system isn't responding errors. I took it right back with the error. They were able to scan it again. This time there Samsung software said it had corrupt memory. They said the board would need to be replaced and that would cost what a new phone would cost. So, I just ordered a refurb S20FE from Back Market. I am still going to try and wipe and flash it. But, I don't know if I trust it now.
Just looked in the software update menu and noticed it updated the system on 2/7 at 12:10pm. The phone had the black screen on the morning uf 2/8. The alarm didn't go off at 6:00AM. So, it started acting up less than a day after the update. Coincidence?