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User Reports His LG Nexus 4 Randomly Died and Refuses to Turn back On

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Filed in: Android , Mobile Phones

By , November 30, 2012 @ 6:20am

LG Nexus 4

When it comes to launches of new phones, problems tend to occur, no matter what the brand or ecosystem on the phone is. We have already heard about some LG Nexus 4 owners reporting issues with random buzzing and distorted calls. Earlier today we also reported that some LG Nexus 4 handsets are ending up with cracks on the back of the phone. What could be worse than that? How about your new Nexus 4 completely dying out of the blue?

We have just received a tip that a proud new Nexus 4 user was navigating through the phone’s menu when out of nowhere they heard an electronic sound ring for about a half a second. Instantly, the phone switched off. According to the tipster, any attempts to switch the phone back on have gone in vain.

The Nexus 4 tipster says that the phone has never been dropped or came into contact with liquid. Google support suggested the user try a “hard reset”, which unfortunately didn’t fix the problem. The good news is that Google taking the phone back and will send out a replacement.

Doing some research online, we’ve yet to find any other articles or news posts regarding this issue. This suggests that this problem is probably pretty uncommon, and maybe just limited to this one fluke situation.

Honestly, the LG Nexus 4 is a solid device and is one of the greatest smartphones on the market right now. Should information like this worry you or detract you from getting it? Of course not, new phones have problems, and the LG Nexus 4′s issues have been quite minor. Think about the iPhone 5 for example, how many problems was it plagued with at the beginning? Bad maps, scuffs and more.

Has anyone else had a similar problem where their new LG Nexus 4 shuts off and refuses to turn itself back on again?

Updated to more accurately reflect the fact this was a rare occurrence, and likely nothing more.

Special thanks goes out to the Nexus 4 owner that sent us the tip!


66 commentsback to post

  • Nishan Bilazarian

    I never dropped or got water on either of them ever.

  • Nishan Bilazarian

    My Android Motorola smartphone did the exact same! It was working just fine and I had it all running well when suddenly I woke up one morning late this March to it all of sudden refusing to turn on again with just the start up icon showing but no further! I have tried everything which just doesn’t work. And whats absolutely amazing is to have this happen once. But for me my very previous smartphone (a blackberry) did the same thing completely freezing when I was restarting it. There’s probably nobody else on earth who has had it happen BACK TO BACK TIMES!!

  • Narendra

    I was playing a game on my nexus 4 and suddenly it turned off and did not respond for half an hour. It started radiating heat from the phone, then i surfed on the internet and I pressed the decrease volume button and power button at the same time for 30sec.
    Now it gained life again.

  • Alex

    My Nexus 4 died a few hours ago, after having it for less than 24 hours.

  • Cinnabar Afar

    put alcohol into female end of usb mirco cord, and insterted onto male and this fixed problem , gunk on male usb micro

  • dreas

    I have had then same problem with mine.. It shuts off randomly and I have to hold then pier button for about 10 seconds before it kicks back on.. Never dropped it or wet it.. Love the phone besides this weird problem

  • Nettieo

    Had the same experience yesterday. Driving in the car, playing music via the GrooveMobile app, and suddenly the phone shut down. Battery was at 87%. Tried to reboot, got vibrate indicating reboot was commencing, but nothing on the screen. Phone was “on”, but no display on screen. Back began to heat up. Can’t pull battery, of course, so waited. An hour later I was able to reboot back to normal working order.

  • Geoff Stuart

    Mine has been doing it ever since I first put it on the charger. After charging, there’s a slowly-flashing white light at the bottom and the power switch does not work. Google Play Support, after guessing for a while, took a stab at holding Vol-Down and Power for 30 seconds. The phone starts up but it’s in some Bootloader status with the little green Android robot on his back with his hood up and a bunch of technoid geek-speak on the screen. Then I hit Power again and it powers up. Not good.

  • sinistarded

    My Nexus 4 has been dying randomly. From 50% battery to dead without warning.

  • winnie

    Yes, mine did 3 times now. But only overnights. Twice it was charging over night, one it wasn’t. In the morning, the alarm didn’t go off. What could be the problem? Who can I contact?

  • K R

    me 2

  • KenG12

    I’m currently experiencing a similar issue. Once the battery drops to about 65% or lower it starts flickering, I lose all signal bars then it shuts off. When I turn it back on it shows the battery at about 35% then shuts off again. If I try to turn it back on again it will stay on for a bit (1min or so) with the battery life in red and it shuts off again. It operates fine if it’s being charged or if battery life is 100% or near it.

  • Greg

    I got my Nexus 4 two weeks ago and it just shut up randomly and refuses to turn on. What do I do?

  • http://www.facebook.com/NZXTXZN Taylor Jay

    Unfortunately this happened to me two hours ago. Phone was 100% dead, I charged it in my car while obtaining breakfast used for ten minutes and then phone turned off when it appeared to have 15% or more left in it. plugged in after and it does not appear to charge, turned on for 10 seconds then went dead. Hopefully it will begin to work again

  • Kerry

    I just wanted to mention about my recent purchase of the LG Nexus 4. Withing the past 1 hour I began using it and within the past 5 minutes it died while just sitting on my desk. It came out of the box, inserted the SIM, used it for one phone call and voila it’s dead! I don’t know how to make it come again…any help!

  • http://www.facebook.com/Speakeseh Charlotte Speakes

    I’ve just found this article as mine has done exactly this, wondering who to contact first now :(

  • Alan

    Yes, I got this problem twice today! It is crazy!

  • rozitasuperstar@gmail.com

    I got my Nexus 4 on Friday 2/15. It was working perfectly. It turned off mysteriously on Saturday, but I didn’t pay much attention. Thought it had run out of battery, plugged it in, and eventually it turned on.
    However, today, I was very aware it had at least 40% battery left. It was sitting on my desk, when I tried to turn it on, no reaction. Long press to power button: nothing. I had to plug it in and after quite a while it finally started showing the charging animation. Then I was able to turn it on.
    So, I’ve read quite a few stories. Will be contacting Google for a replacement.

  • http://twitter.com/Barrykelly76 Barry

    I own this phone in the UK on Virgin network and whilst using the inbuilt movie maker software my phone powered down and refused to switch back on again. Took me several attempts at random button pressing…in the end I think it was the power button held in and volume down button that made it reboot. My phone is only 3 days old and has never been rooted.

    • rontho

      The exact same thing happend to me yesterday. I was trying this movie maker and my phone turned off. No way to turn it back on unti I try an hard reboot. I don’t know what’s wrong with this app but it’s very scary…

  • Vasudevan

    Today new phone which i got yesterday is not switching on… I called the technical person from google play. They asked me to press volume – ve key and power button simultaneously. But no use.. the nexus not able to power on… So, they ask me to return the instrument and sent link to order a new one. Let see how the new one work’s?

  • Avishaan

    I am (probably soon to be past tense) a google fan. My phone is having the same problem after 1 day of use. Completely Stock.

  • http://www.facebook.com/zbloomq Zach Bloomquist

    I had this issue today, it can be fixed by holding Power for 30 seconds.

  • Joel Parker Henderson

    It’s happened to me twice in a week: the phone dies completely and won’t turn on. Brand new Nexus 4. Vanilla software, i.e. no odd bootloaders. 90%+ battery. To start the phone, it must be plugged in.

  • Henri3

    He isn’t the only person experiencing this issue I bought two phones for my husband and I and they do randomly shut down. You have to hold the power button in for about 30-45 seconds to get it to power back on and find a fully charged battery. I do not know when it happens as each time we have picked up the phones we randomly find it off. This morning was the latest incident on my phone. I have it set as an alarm and at 7:36 was awaken by my husbands phone ringing. Now an hour late I scramble to get up get our kids dressed and get everyone out the door. Now settled I pick up my phone and find that it is off. Although it was plugged in to charge all night long. Anyhow, upon turning my phone back on I searched google to see if this is common and found this article. This is either 3 flukes as we have 2 doing the same thing at different intervals or there are more people this is happening to who have not over thought the issue and just kept on without reporting their concern. Anyhow off to contact google. We love our phone and upgraded from the Nexus S. They have both been in use for a month at best we wouldn’t use them until we got cases for them and new micro sims. We won’t give up on google because we love their options and as stated we knew as with any technology issues will arise. This is actually the first time we bought something as a per-order because we usually like to wait until all the kinks are worked out first. Lesson learned we will go back to the wiring game next go round and avoid being impatient. Have a great one.

  • ExAppleUser

    Amend – It should be ‘refusing to switch ON’….

  • ExAppleUser

    This thing first happened to me around 4-5 days after I started the Nexus 4 and is CONTINUING to do it!!! I googled this problem and found your article. Like this guy, I have never dropped my phone etc. It is now turning off without any warning and refusing to switch off every other day. Another big problem is after a phone call, it just paused and won’t let me hang up! I thought the phone was just slow to react to my hand movement or something but combine that with the switching off issue I am now taking it back to LG!!! Thank you for posting this!

  • Andrew

    This just happened to my Nexus 4 last night. I’ve had it for 1 month and have not even taken the protective plastic off of it yet. Google is going to work on getting the RMA underway. Very f***ing disappointing!!

  • Andy

    I had this problem too just to add to the list of others

  • asija

    i had been using my new google nexus phone for 4 days and jad to disconnect the sim for some reason, the next day when i placed the sim, it did not switch on. it never came in contact with any liquid or did it drop anywhere.

  • Lavie

    Exact same thing happened to me, phone vibrated and turned off, then refused to turn on, getting a replacement for it

  • http://twitter.com/AaronNofski Aaron Kennedy

    my nexus 4 just died, had it since fri started using it on Sat (its Monday now) no drops, no water… i was messaging a friend back and it just turned off, can’t get it back on sooo pissed. 4 and a half weeks of waiting then this….

  • elmalditodetarantado

    it prompts to ask password when the moment you create a lock code. It also switch to google search when the moment to unlock the phone.

  • kris

    lots of dead nexus 4 issues on XDA forum. I have a 15 days old bricked nexus 4, just red LED lights and not charging. wouldnt turn on.

    • http://twitter.com/MCWet Marty Wetherall

      I’m experiencing this dead phone issue for the second time now. Heading to XDA forum for advice.

  • Sarath

    Same thing happened to me…..

  • http://www.facebook.com/potatofrancis Francis Tai

    I actually have the same problem. I just bought it from the states and brought it back to Hong Kong for my own use. Turned it on for a couple hours inserted my new sim card, everything went fine until half an hour ago it shut itself down automatically, and whenever i try to turn it on it just tells me it’s shutting down and then it’s off.
    I’ve reset it to factory settings and I swear I have done NOTHING to the phone except installing some applications such as whatsapp and facebook whatsoever.
    You won’t believe how ridiculous it is to turn on my phone then to see it turn itself off.

  • Chris

    It happened to me today… it may not be an isolated incident. Google was quick to offer a replacement. I was talking on the phone and there was a pop sound.

  • bronc0h0us3

    Umm… I just did a random search for nexus 4 dies…want to know why? That is exactly what happend with mine about 5 minutes ago. I can’t get the thing to turn on. I plugged it in, unplugged it. Tried pressing multiples buttons at a time. Nothing will get the damn thing to come back on. I have not dropped it and in fact it has been in a case since I got it. No water or any other liquid has come into contact with it. Can you please change the article name to “2 users report…” Also I want to point out that I did not try rooting the phone or anything else. It is pure stock. And I have had signal drop outs since the 1st day I got the phone. The signal does come back within seconds but it is really annoying when i type something into search and it says no signal or hot facebook update and no signal.

    thanks

    • http://www.facebook.com/kittgill Kitt Gill

      Mine too, just died, red light comes on when I try to charge it and it wont turn on full stop… and to add insult google wants another £280 out of me to get a replacement until they make sure its under warranty!

  • Ashish

    Can anyone tell is earpiece buzzing a hardware or software issue?

  • Shaun

    Hi andrew can you get some news on when the stock is coming in the uk. i am sick of hearing silence. thanks :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/chill.guy.758 Chill Guy

    Wow some article buddy…HEY HERE’S ANOTHER! IM ENJOYING MY PHONE, QUICK BEFORE THE STORY GETS SCOOPED UP, ISN’T THAT NEWS WORTHY COMPARED TO THIS?? HUH?? *shaking head*

  • http://www.facebook.com/elandarigo Gabriel Arvizu

    I have an issue with my Nexus 4. I have had it for a bit over a week now and the issue is that it looses gps signal all the time! I have to be switching the gps off and then back on so it can find its bearings again. I came to Mexico for a week, dowloaded the map of Tijuana so I could navigate offline, and it seems that if there is no wifi at least, the gps wont find my place on the map. This is very annoying. Anybody has a similar problem? Other than that….I love my phone!!!

  • Anonymous

    Did they even mention anything about the battery? It may have ran out.

    • Andrew_Grush

      That’s a good point, it could certainly be a faulty battery or something.

  • M_Rodriguez

    I must point out you reply very professional to you commenters.

    • Andrew_Grush

      Thank you, I appreciate it.

      I understand that a lot of journalists bash Android (or other platforms) and so that gets people on the edge a little if they feel that an article is unfairly representing a product. I try to be as fair as possible but I don’t always get it right I suppose. :)

    • abodd

      I have to agree, while their are literally 1 million other tech sites or article based news sites, its great that you respond to your audience. It builds this sense of care of our half. I have never heard of mobilemag, but consider me a subscriber!

    • Andrew_Grush

      Thanks, again I appreciate the kind words. I feel it is important to try and reach out and understand other perspectives. I also try to be as neutral and platform agnostic as possible, though I can’t say I always succeed at it.

      I don’t love Microsoft, Google, RIM, or Apple— I love technology, first and foremost. I really truly couldn’t care what the brand is, I find it fun just to play around with and write about various tech. :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/beaniesnbits Alicia Todd

    My Google ideos stopped working for 2 whole months, until i realised the battery was flat ;) These guys must be bored to be posting this.

    • Andrew_Grush

      Yah— honestly, you are right, probably not the most pressing news. I wrote it more to see if anyone else was having the problem or if this was a random issue. It seems that this is probably a very random fluke and nothing more. :)

  • Joe

    Guy gets phone. Guy’s phone has a problem. Guy email you. You make an article about this one guy with this one phone.

    GENIUS. Maybe make the title say “LG randomly dies for this one guy, and we decided to generalize the title because that’s how statistics work”.

    • Andrew_Grush

      You make a great point Joe. The title could certainly have been worded better. Adjusting now. I made the article just to see if anyone else has the same issue. I don’t think anyone should be scared to buy the LG Nexus 4— it’s a solid an excellent phone. I actually wouldn’t mind having it myself but I’m locked to Verizon and stuck with my older Samsung.

      Again thank you for commenting! Much appreciated.

    • http://www.facebook.com/NZXTXZN Taylor Jay

      it just happened to me. It felt like a solid phone and everything until the power button stopped doing anything. It actually feels really cheap in my hands right now.

    • Anis Gandhi

      It just happened to me. No root, no mods, no liquid, no heat, nothing. I’m really careful with my phones. But I’m in India, had the phone sent to me. How do I get Google to replace this thing? Send it back to the US and ask them to replace?? Please help me…

    • Dave Jeffery

      This happened to me literally just this morning. Turned itself off and now refuses to turn back on. No amount of button combos work. Stock phone, no root/custom roms, never been dropped or had any liquid damage :(

  • ECh

    Again, pull the Apple out of your A**. These people were messing with the bootloader and rooting

    • nut

      You are 100% correct….. bloody A** holes….trying hard to defame nexus 4….

    • Andrew_Grush

      I apologize if I made it sound negative towards the LG Nexus 4. Just reporting on this random fluke incident. I updated the article slightly to reflect the fact that this is no reason to avoid the LG Nexus 4– it is a solid phone.

      For the record– I’m a Samsung Android user myself. Never had an iPhone. :)
      Thanks for commenting.

    • Jonas

      It’s fine, Andrew. The Nexus 4 has an unbelievably long list of issues, be they hardware or software.

    • ECH

      LONG???? Certainly debatable

    • Jonas

      Software:
      Auto-brightness bugs
      Bluetooth as good as broken
      Random reboots
      Major Instability
      Extreme battery drain
      Slow charging
      Lockscreen widgets
      Camera app
      Macro mode bug
      December was missing

      Hardware:
      Buzz from earphone speaker/ back of the phone
      Very hot device
      Poor battery performance
      Poor touchscreen sensitivity
      Feedback when plugged in
      Easy scratching/cracking
      Rattle
      Yellow tint
      Volume/ power button loose/ mushy
      Clicking USB port
      Misaligned camera
      Low sound output from headphone jack
      light/screen bleeding
      Screen unresponsive
      Power button unresponsive
      Brightness gets stuck
      Interference during calls
      Bad call quality
      Problems with connecting to wifi
      Wifi/ wlan doesn’t switch off.
      Touch controls haywire when charging
      Dead pixels
      Force closes
      Grainy photos
      Black/ grey dots under screen

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1504421167 Yingtong Li

      You’ve just taken a couple of problems… And reworded/recategorized them a bunch of times. Some of them aren’t even problems/don’t even make sense!

    • Andrew_Grush

      You could certainly be right, there could certainly be more to the story. That’s why I asked if anyone else has had this problem. It seems to be a very rare and random fluke– nothing more.

      The LG Nexus 4 is a solid phone, sure it has a few small problems— but honestly they aren’t nearly as bad as the launch issues that occurred with the iPhone 5.

      I updated the article slightly to point out that this is clearly a random incident and shouldn’t make people avoid the phone, etc. Thanks for commenting!

    • Rambir

      If this guy did brick his phone, he is a retard, Nexus phones are the most difficult phones to brick. They almost encourage you to root them. I should know, I have a Nexus 4, Nexus S and Nexus One, all rooted, never bricked. All you have to do is type oem unlock and flash superuser after replacing the recovery with an app from the play store. But you are right, he probably bricked it and should not get a replacement, partly as hes voided his warranty, but mostly as he is a retard.

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