Sprint has halted shipping new LG LX260 Rumor units to stores. The LG Rumor has a known issue where certain sets of key presses during startup can trigger a complete erasure of the phone’s firmware.
Sprint has isolated the issue to a specific debugging menu, intended for LG engineers to work on the device during development. Unfortunately, the menu is triggered by accessing the main menu, and/or dialing phone numbers. Sprint has not disclosed the specific code, to prevent abuse.
Clarification: The trigger is timed to function only at start up. To work around the issue, we suggest not pressing any buttons on the phone for at least 30 seconds after it has fully powered on.
The phone, once triggered, cannot be restored except at the factory. The debugging code even erases the portions of the firmware that would allow a Sprint Store to recover the device (requiring what is known in the industry as a JTAG restore, which can only be done at the LG factory or in a lab setting).
LG is working to fix the issue, by creating an updated firmware that removes the code from being accessible. Once that firmware is issued and approved, existing customers will be able to download the update over-the-air at no charge. Sprint intends to resume shipments of the LX260 Rumor to stores once devices can ship with the forthcoming update already installed.
This is the second phone in a row to need shipments halted from LG on Sprint. The LG LX160 had hardware-level issues preventing the speakerphone and caller ID display from working properly. Sprint halted shipments of the LX160 to stores until the issue could be resolved, and replaced phones for free, provided the Sprint Store had been properly informed of the silent recall.
I’ve had the lg rumor for about 5 months now and i’ve NEVER had a problem until this morning! a friend sent me a txt and when i pushed reply my screen started blinking white and black and then had grey stripes. i shut it off plenty of times, took out the battery and put it back in, left it off for a while, even pushed the reset button at the buttom ( which came off INSIDE of the phone as soon as i touched it )…so i’m heading to a sprint store to try to get it fixed or replaced. you think if i send my phone in i’ll lose all my contacts? that’d be a drag…
dam LG, I purchased the rumor in November and wish I would have read these commit sooner. My phone would go off in my pocket every once in a while. Never thought about it till now, just turned it back on . It was an early sign ,now that I think about it. Today i was flying a kite in a huge open field with my child when my keys fell out of a hole in my pocket. When i realize i lost my key back at the car. i went to call for help and notice my phone stated “SERVICE REQUIRED”. After a miracle I found my key, the luck stop there. Hours spent on the phone with sprint. Hour spent in the repair office. NOTHING no help from sprint at all. MY insurance did not cover this issue. only opinion PAY. only hope now is LG . I called them at (18007938896) they requested I mail the phone to them and pray it can be fixed. I will return to deliver hopefully only good news. Lost my phone for 10 to 14 days. At least I found my keys.
Got this phone in December, in April the screen became garbled so sent back to LG for repair under warranty. They had the phone for 2 weeks then sent it back without fixing it. They say it’s not repairable due to broken receptacle pattern. After much time on the phone I discovered this means there was some kind of issue with the charger port. Then I discovered that LG removed the charger port so the phone is completely inoperable. LG won’t return my calls. I was happy that Sprint replaced the phone for $55, I thought the Sprint handling of this was excellent.
I’m glad all I’ve ever bought from LG is a cheap phone. Sure wouldn’t want to have spent thousands on any of their other products with the kind of service I was provided. I’ll never by an LG anything based on their customer service.
I just ordered the LG Rumor through Sprint and should receive it on May 27th. Has anyone out there placed any recent orders for this phone and what is your experience? I got the phones for free, no activation or shipping just $19.23 tax charge. I’d like to know if I should just cancel the order and ship these phones back the second they arrive….
i got this phone on may 23 and it broke the nxt day all it does now is have a white screen and only makes nosies at shut down and start up
hopfully sprint can fix this
I have had 2 of these phones for 47 days. Used to love them but not anymore! One of them just got the dreaded “white” screen on Saturday. Sprint store says my 30 day warranty is out and that I must send it to LG for replacement. They were quite rude and would gladly fix it for $55. They said the crystal was broken, but after searching internet I now know this is not true and it is a defect by LG. No wonder Sprint had buy one get one free! They needed to get rid of the first batches that were defective. I haven’t had the phones for 2 months yet! Of course I have insurance on one of the phones, but not the one that has the white screen so they just don’t care. Don’t buy this phone!
so i purchased the lg rumour two weeks ago and i was texting on the qwerty keypad and i pushed the send button and i watched my LCD screen crack all the way across and start to bleed i have contacted lg and they said $280 to replace the screen!!!! has anyone else had this problem? if so is it a manufacturer warrenty i am really hoping so. $u/\/D3
my phone blew up in my condo and now my condo is blown up and i live on the streets and im on this computer at starbucks because it is free to use and is already built in. starbucks owns this computer and LG owns my life….
has anyone else’s rumor had a problem with the display,
like the imaging it blurred?
or does anyone have a problem connecting to the vision service?
I have had mine since the end of november, so it was one of the first ever made, some one help me? i really dont plan to buy a new one, what a waste of 300$
I bought one for my son on April 12th. He is having the screen problems so I took it in to the sprint store where I bought it. They called me and said it must of gotten wet and there is nothing they need to do because it is past the 30 days. I told them that I know this is a known issue but they played dumb. I had to program the phone myself at the store when I first bought it and the bill was 600 because they forgot to put it under our family plan. Sprint is a nightmare. I called their customer service and was told to leave a message on their sprintcares.com website and sometimes they send someone to the specific store and if bad they will fire on the spot. That doen’t help with the phone though. You can go to Best Buy and purchase a phone and for only 30 extra you will have full replacement for 2 years. 3 of our phones renew in December but will be a long wait.
Finally got off the phone with a sprint customer service agent that was understanding. They took down my complaint and transferred me to the retention center. He was understanding and is sending a phone to exchange for the other one at no cost. Do not go to the individually owned stores, they will nickel and dime you.
Hey guys- Hoping somebody out there is sharing my symptoms and might have a clue on how to help. I got a new Green LG Rumor last week and it’s been great minus one thing. Whenever I try to make an outgoing call to somebody who is not on the sprint network it only works about 40% of the time. I will put the number in, hit send, and the timer starts counting the seconds, but I hear nothing but dead in my ear… meanwhile the phone im calling is actually ringing! The other person picks up and obviously hears absolutely nothing from me, as I can’t even hear anything but the sound of dead. My timer is counting but it sounds like the phone isnt even on. Like I said, about 3 or 4 out of 10 times I will actually hear the ringing followed by the other person answering and all that. But 6 or 7 out of 10 its like I never even hit send. I have never had this problem when calling other Sprint customers or landlines, and never a problem with anyone calling me. Anybody else having this issue? And could anyone please help me solve this? I have been to 2 stores and spoke with multiple reps over the phone. Please help!
To update my previous posting… i decided to stay on the line when the phone sounds dead. My buddy just let his phone ring (Cingular/ATT) and it eventually showed a “missed call” and immediately after his phone began ringing again and all of a sudden my phone could hear the ringing and his answer…
I tested my outgoing calls on Verizon and it worked 100%, but Cingular/ATT is where my problem lies…. any ideas?!
Ok so I have had my wonderful rumor for a little over 3 months now. Well about 6 weeks ago it started just randomly shutting itself off. I took it to the Sprint store where they “checked” it and told me that it was a software issue with the phone, that it was nothing that I had caused and that it couldn’t be fixed. They were more than happy to offer me a refurbished phone, which I refused because 1-I had 22 months left in my contract and 2-why if its nothing i caused can I not get a new one and not one that someone else has already had problems with. I told them that I would just deal with it…..well its getting worse. I can’t even set the phone down without it shutting off. I called LG hoping to get somewhere with this piece and they told me to upgrade my firmware (its already has the most current available) and if that didn’t work that I could send it in for a refurbished one……not gonna do it. I am soooo frustrated. I have been with sprint for over 9 years and all I want is a phone that works…..I can see why they are rated the #3 company in the US with the worst customer service. Please advise if you have had or are having the same problem…..thanks
has anyone had the issue with the rumor when you text with the keyboard it will sometimes auto send the text before your even done writing it?
I’ve had the Rumor for about 7 weeks. I originally bought 2. One for me, one for my wife. The first one I had totally crapped out after about three weeks. I made a call on it, put it in my pocket and about five minutes went by, I tried to make another call and the phone was stuck on the start up screen. I tried shutting it off, taking out the battery, etc, etc. The only thing it would do was cycle throught the start up process over and over. I called Sprint, most of you know that got me no where. I went to the local Sprint retailer: nothing. That trip basically confirmed that as soon as my contract is up I am done with Sprint and their sh***y customer service. Seriously, I have never dealt with such crap customer service. No wonder they lost over a million costumers last year. Anyway, I wound up going to little the little Sprint store in my local mall , which was on my way home from the major sprint store I was told by the rep over the phone to go to, just to try my luck. I got the best service from those guys. I don’t think they were actually Sprint employees. They replaced the phone on the spot. I’ve had the new one for about 3 weeks. So far no problems. My wife has had no problems at all with hers.
I’ve had LG phones in the past. The first one I had was one of the better cell phones I’ve ever had. The second was one of the worst. If this thing goes down again I will avoid LG products in the future.
I bought a Rumor a few months ago. Two months ago the screen began getting static. Over a week it got progressively worse. I took it to the sprint store but i was told it would be $55 to repair it. I wasn’t about to pay that so I went home and called LG. I paid $10 to ship my phone to them. LG called to say the problems weren’t covered and it would cost $35 to repair it, i agreed. It took them more than 3 weeks for them to send me a referbished phone. This phones screen was completely white. So i sent that one back and now im still waiting on them to send me another shity phone!
Ok so just an update to my problem with the Rumor. I took it back in to the sprint store again today expecting to receive a refurbished phone and was told that there is a software update due out at the end of the month. They also acknowledged that this is a growing problem with the Rumor. Let’s hope that it works!!!
I have had my Rumor is mid December. It has started completly draining the battery within 12 to 14 hours after fully charging. Is anyone else having this issue?
Hey you guys i had the white screen on my rumor phone also i know it sucks alot. Well i called Lg and they tld me to ship my phone and i did. They gave me a replacement for free and it came back good as new. Well thier is some good news an bad news. Supposidly the tech at one of the sprint stores in PA told me that all rumor phones are gonna go bad. But the good news is a different tech told me thier is gonna be a software update to fix the problems with these phones. I dont know who to believe with this anymore with this crap becuase i dont want my phones to keep goin bad
I have been having the same problem. The screen goes white for a long period of time, and when its not white it only shows half a screen. Im a teen and texting is sorta my life and im pissed off cuz i can only talk on the damn thing. Sprint told me to send it back to the LG company, but i dont want to do that cuz they want to send me back a refurbished phone. Why would i want a refurbished one if i paid for a brand new one, they must be crazy. I have not even had this phone for 3 month…and its acting retarded. But idk if its just the phone or the sprint company, cuz before the rumor i had the Katana II and i had a problem with that one too, the speaker blew and still to this day i have no clue why. I really think that sprint should stop selling these bullshit phones….too bad it cost so much to end contracts with them…because im sure they would have no customers
I am on the phone with LG customer service as I write this – what a waste. My rumor phone broke after 5 months of very limited use. I was told to send it in for repair. They have had my phone since 5/27. No word. Ofcourse when I call I get no information only promises it will be shipped or a supervisor will call. Nothing!!!!!!!!! Do not buy LG – both their product as well as their customer service is useless!!
i got my rumor as a gift in late december 07.. it shuts on and off, says i’m on the web when i have it disabled, and when its plugged in the charger it will say its charged and uncharged on and off. so two days ago i got that dreaded white screen and i saw some said it’s going on and off, but mines just stuck. i can’t see a thing and we shouldn’t have to pay for service i can’t use. i’m a teenager so it’s pretty frustrating that i can’t recieve texts, and i’m going to a soccer camp tomorrow two states away and i won’t even have a phone to use?! i went to sprint yesterday, which only sent me to another store that was closed. i have to go back today and i refuse to pay for a defective phone that THEY sold me.
Okay.
I see I’m not the only one here who has the white screen. I mean, I was out playing laser tag, and I took my phone out of my pocket, and it was white! I took the battery out, and kept turning it on and off, but nothing seemed to work. I’m a teenager, and my parents limit my talk time. I do have unlimited texting, but how am I supposed to do that if my screen is white?!?! If anyone has any advice, or a way to fix it, please post something on here. I’ll check back here.
Thanks,
Becca
i had tht happen to my phone bak in febuary and then i got a new one. but now my rumor has a plain white screen and it wont go away. ive tooken the battery out, turned it on and off and it just wont work. it will ring and stuff wen i get a text or call but it wont let me see it. the same problems happend to my friend and he had to get a whole new phone!
my phone keeeps flashing on and off at this moment…its been doing it for about an hour.this is the second Rumor that i had to get…..now ill be getting a third one tomorrow!!
Okay.
I was curious on how to upload music onto LG Rumor and how to upload the pictures from my phone onto my computer.
Thanks,
neonchickennugget
libbyskibby92@yahoo.com
The phones turning on and off is not only a sprint LG Rumor problem but its also happening to the LG Voyager and LG EnV2 phones on the verizon network. Verizon is denying this is a problem but its happening right now to me. i have had both of those phones from verizon and verizon has no clue what to do to fix it. Dont have to fix a problem if they deny there is a problem.
Still waiting for the miraculous update to fix my Rumor………..
IVE HAD MY PHONE FOR 10 DAYS.. and it is already broken!
it shut itself down and now it wont turn on!… instead it flashes “LG”.. then goes black.. then flashes “LG” then goes black. and i cant get it to turn off or stop that or anything it just keeps flashing! :@ argh!@!
Look, all of you people who think Sprint’s customer service sucks have a right to (because it does). But don’t blame the whole problem on them. I’ve had my green Rumor since March, and the only issues I’ve had were that I forgot my voicemail passcode and I had to update my data profile to get picture mail to work. Ok, the mp3 player I can’t figure out… My only real complaint is that I can’t get my Rumor to play videos. The only thing i can say for some of you people is not to buy things immediately after they come out. Just take Microsoft Vista or XP for example (XP had 2 or 3 service packs). As a matter of fact, I’m typing this from my Rumor! Yes, the plastic is softer than most phones… I have a few dents in my phone, but how does “softer” plastic affect the phone’s performance? It’s better for the phone to just dent rather than shatter or have a piece snap off when its dropped. Having Sprint tv on here would nice… If only I knew what exactly it is. Honestly, I don’t remember hearing of it before reading this. I hope that people having issues with the Rumor are able to get them resolved soon.
I just replaced my daughter’s Rumor for the 2nd time…so 3rd phone in 3 months. The phone started getting the white screen with lines that others are talking about. I guess the Sprint people are used to this problem now because they just looked at it and gave me another one. No questions asked. I asked the rep if they were having alot of problems with the Rumor and he was hesitant to tell me but he said they are having lots of problems with the Rumor and the day before a guy came in and got his 5th Rumor in 5 months. All for the same problem. So, I decide to look online and see if others are having the same problem and ran across this article. I keep saying I am going to stop using Sprint but I keep getting phones and renewing the contracts. Well this is definitley the last time. Between this and the billing problems with this company I am done.
I don’t own a Rumor, but I do have Sprint and after reading all these horrible nightmare comments will definitely drop them as my provider when my contract is up. I’ve been a loyal customer since 1998….drum roll please and have been thoroughly disgusted with their blazay attitude toward me and my problems all along. I have reported issues about their customer service as well and nothing gets fixed or improved. I’ve read that they have the worst customer service of all the carriers. Pathetic, you’d think someone at the top would slap his head and say oh dear, what can I do to fix this bad reputation. Guess he’s busier going to the bank. Hateful selfish individiuals. They’ll see one day.
So for an update to my rumor problem…..I went through 5 people yesterday including one rep at the store who absolutely would not help me with my phone. Finally I demanded to talk to someone about cancelling my contract….well I finally after 4 months of complaining I am getting another phone…of course another Rumor but at least its not refurbished. How irritating that it took 4 months to my phone that I have only had 6 months replaced. I definitely will be moving on from Sprint when this contract is up.
My daughter purchased the Rumor at the end of Jan 08 less than 2 weeks the screen went white and kept blinking so we took it back to the Sprint store and they acted like since we didn’t have insurance they couldn’t do anything without charging us. I blew a fuse and they finally gave us another phone but said they really weren’t supossed to. Less than 4 month’s later the same thing happened again. We took it to a different Sprint and they said it should be covered under the manufacture warranty or we coulld pay $55.00 for them to send it for repair. So I contacted Lg and sent it in at a cost of $10.00. I just got a response and they’re saying it isn’t covered under the warranty and it will be $35.00 to fix it. They said the problem is that the area where the charger plugs in is bent. Both phones do plug in hard so it may be bent, but it charges fine and I don’t believe that would make the screen mess up. Plus this is the second phone we’ve had that did the same thing. And by the looks of it others have had the same problem. I think they’ve just found a way to charge us for something that is a flaw in the design of the phone. What can a person? I’m not sure if reporting them to our states attorney generals office would do anything since they don’t physically have a facility in my state. I have learned my lesson after my contract is up I will not go back with Sprint. They should stand behind the products they sell.
Ok so I was reading everyone’s complaints about their LG Rumor and only a couple of people have had the same problem as me. This will be my SECOND LG Rumor phone due to the fact that it keeps telling me Looking for service. I got my first Rumor in April this year and had to replace it in early June becasue it was saying Looking for service. Well now here we are in late July and its doing the same crap again!!! It is sooo fustrating. Has anyone else had a problem like this? I noticed that it would turn on and off and now it just wont pick up service. Here we go again!!!
Same phones, same problems, same customer service issues. I bet there are hundreds or even thousands more people having these same issues that have not posted any comments. I received a mailing from GM today about a class action law suit against them due to faulty instrument clusters. Sounds like LG could be a candidate for such a suit. GM is fixing there problem and reimbursing customers who have already paid for the repairs when it wasnt a “problem” I sure would like my 2 $50 deductibles back as well as credit for “downtime” when LG had the UNREPAIRABLE: BROKEN RECEPTACLE PHONE.
Its July and today my dad said that after the summer he would get me the Rumor so i got excited and started looking it up…then i found out about the Problem they r haveing..and that they r halting the rumor shippments…i am sooo upset and i am wondering if they r still halting the Rumor..because some of these comments r from march and like i said i was was wondering if they r still halting the Rumor…plz tell me..im soooooooooo upset right know and i want to know.
Just wanted to comment re: Kri’s UNREPAIRABLE: BROKEN RECEPTACLE PHONE. This is the exact thing LG told me so I asked what that was and then they told me it was where the charger plugged in BALONEY!! I contacted the Sprint store again after thinking on this some more and they agreed to swap it out for a new phone (as long as there isn’t major damage or H2o damage) I then called LG and said to send me the phone back unrepaired and I told them what I thought about the whole deal (bogus claim of BROKEN RECPT) The person I spoke to could hardly speak english so I’m not sure what good it did but it made me feel a little better. I just hope I get the phone back soon it’s been 23 days since I sent it to them, 10-14 days for repair is BOGUS too!
Iam from dominican republic so i can’t buy with a plan can you please e-mail were to get it i what it for my big sister so can you please tell me i like the mistek because she think is perfect
I have the blue LG rumor exclusive from bestbuy. my mother got the green one. The number porting process took over 24 hours to complete! (net10 to sprint) My phone was only partially activiated and i had to REPORT my number and it had a glitch in it so the qwerty keyboard didnt work AT ALL!It was programmed correctly though! So through a LONG process i could finally use my phone!
BEWARE DONT TRY TO PORT FROM NET10! THEY TRY TO HOLD ON TO YOUR NUMBER FOR A WHILE! AND THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS VERY POOR!
dude that phone has no problems ive had it since the day it came out its awsome
SERVICE REQUIRED!!!
Yep, same as everyone else. Honestly, I’ve never received worse customer service than I have about this issue. Everyone you speak to is so unbelievably shady about this entire issue. Its like you know they sent a mass e-mail to every sprint call center telling them to keep it on the hush. Everyone wants to pass the buck onto LG. Granted LG made the phone, but its Sprint that sells it and puts thier big huge logo on the box. I went to the service center and they were so nonchalant about the whole thing like “umm nope, nothing we can do, its corrupted, need to send it to LG or call customer service and hopefully you’ll get someone that can hook you up with a new one”. No talk about them sending it out for repair and giving me a loaner phone, no nothing. They just expect me to keep paying for service for a phone that doesnt work and wait out the few weeks until LG gets back to me. The “supervisor” then told me I needed to go back to Best Buy where I bought it and make them send it back to LG.
I’m a well paying customer for what will be 8 years next month. This is the last straw. All I want is for them to release me from my contract without the termination fee. They will NOT do it in anyway whatsoever.
I’m currently waiting on a phone call from someone on the “management escalation team”. I will let ya know how it goes.
I purchased my LG Rumor in April 2008 and paid full price of $299 for the phone because I just had to have this phone and was not eligible for an upgrade. About a month ago I noticed the phone was shutting itself off so I took it into the Sprint Store and they updated the firmware and did a system restore. Well this worked for just a few weeks and it is not doing the same thing again. I am about to go back to Sprint tomorrow and demand a brand new phone on the spot or I will call every newschannel in my area. I have had sprint for a little over a year and had 4 defective razr before this rumor.
I bought four rumors in march the screens turned white on two of them. they replaced them three weeks later screen goes out on one two of them turn on and off when they want and the last one likes to surf the
net. I think we should figure out creative ways to use these cellular devices. I know we can collect a few of these devices and put them in a tube sock and then find the person responsible and beat him to a bloody pulp unless someone has a better idea to resolve this situation
I had my LG Rumor replaced by Sprint store two months ago after just three months using the phone. My replacement Rumor just turned off itself again and would not turn on. The same problem I had two months ago. I am going back to the sprint store today to get it replaced. I will ask them if there is any firmware upgrade released by LG to fix this and other problems that everybody posted.
Hi, i am interested in the LG Rumour and I have noticed these comments are about the U.S and everyone that is having problems with the rumour is with sprint. In Canada i want to either go with bell or rogers with this phone but in this case it will probably be bell since i can get a corporate plan. My main question is, is the Rumour having these problems with Bell Mobility or Rogers?
Thanks and reply soon
Well, Frankie, it really is mainly issues with the phone itself and LG, not Sprint. The fact that Sprint is doing nothing but deny that they can do anything, provide horrible customer service, and remain steadfast in its greediness isn’t helping. It seems that the problems listed above are common problems, which oddly I have had none of myself, so you may want to reconsider getting a Rumor. But that’s just my opinion! Feel free to get one for yourself. Hopefully LG has better service up in Canada.
Hi again, thanks SeaCrane1 but you said it yourself that you have had none yourself and i know someone who has the phone and hasnt had any problems but then again he has just recieved it recently and these problems have occured later on while having the phone so as you said maybe i will re-consider getting the rumour but first i will research a little bit more.
Thanks Again..