The LG V10 might have the same bootloop problem as the G4

If you cast your mind back a few months you might remember a lot of LG G4 owners suffering from a bootloop problem that seemed to be plaguing way more of the devices than the bathtub curve would have you believe. Fast forward a few months and we seem to be at the same point with the LG V10, which also seems to be suffering from an inordinate number of bootloops (or random reboots that refuse to actually boot again).

The problem

While the problem seems to have been first reported in January on XDA, a lot more cases started popping up in June and July and have continued throughout August. While no guaranteed fix has yet come up, flashing new firmware has worked for a few people, while others haven’t even been able to do that because they can’t get the V10 to turn on long enough.

The issue seems to come out of nowhere, with multiple users reporting their phone just suddenly switched off and then got stuck on the LG ‘Life’s Good’ boot screen with occasional vibrations. Reddit, YouTube, XDA Developers and various other forums are littered with reports of very similar experiences, usually with no help from LG or carriers (the issue seems to be affecting all carrier models equally). Just take a look at the comments on any YouTube video for even more backup.

Random fixes

Battery pulls and factory resets generally seem to make no difference, but a few of the devices have been reported to just as suddenly reboot and work again as before. Others remained stuck on the boot screen, endlessly rebooted or never even got that far. Some victims reported heat problems in the lead up to the bootloop.

Bizarrely enough, either putting it in the freezer or “baking it” seem to be the only generally successfully recreaeted techniques to get it to stay on long enough to do a backup. For obvious reasons, we don’t recommend either of these “solutions”, but if you’re desperate and don’t care about potentially voiding your warranty, be our guests.

Here’s a typical “fix” story from AC forum user CountryDevil:

“Seems the issue with mine was heat related. Once it got to a certain temp it would wig out and start going through the boot-loop. The heat was coming from around the FPS/volume buttons. I was actually able to get around the heat issue and get a back up done by putting it in the freezer to keep cool enough to run. I ran a USB cord inside to the phone and ran the backup while while it was in the freezer. That took a bit if time since I did a full back up of the phone and SD card.” 

What can you do about it

If extreme heat or cold are the only ways to circumvent the problem, then it is clearly a hardware problem and not a software bug. As LG admitted six months ago during the G4 bootloop saga, that particular issue was caused by “a loose contact between components”. That was back in January 2016. Could some of the V10 components have suffered the same issue before LG was able to act on it?

We’ve reached out to LG for a statement and will update this post with any further information. If you’ve suffered this problem or found a reliable fix, please hit the comments below. In the meantime, know that you’re not alone and that either your carrier or LG should cover the problem under warranty if it is a hardware problem. Just make sure your carrier and/or LG know about your particular case and that it seems to be much more than a one-off issue.