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.
Hi there. Personally if I was anyone out there thinking about the LG cell phones, I’d think twice. I personally bought the Fusic for my self about a year and a half ago, it took me about 3 months, 2 phones and 5 batteries to get it to work properly (it would get really hot and drain the battery). That was a nightmare back then, and not thinking when we went to get my wifes new phone, we got her a rumor. HUGE MISTAKE. It worked fine for about 4 months and now her phone is having similar issues, plus downloading on its own, among others. I am now on week 2 of daily e-mails and calls to customer service with little or no results. LG phones really suck, and anyone out there that is thinking about buing one, get ready for some big headaches. Sprint should really take better care of its subscribers, we have given them 4 years of monthy payments, and they are giving us nothing but the run around….
Hi all, is anyone having trouble with the connection port to charge??
Update on Sprint swaping out for a new phone:(Lisa on July 24th, 2008, 10:24 am ) We finally got the phone back from LG after being without it for 35 days. Took it into Sprint to swap out and what do you know since LG said it’s a broken recept (where charger plugs in) which is BOGUS, and we didn’t have insurance (cancelled it after first time we took the Rumor back when we were told we’d still have to pay $50.00 for a new phone) we still had to pay $35.00 for a REFURBISHED phone, which was bent, but it was the only one they had in the color we wanted. We got this lousy crap after being told over the phone that they would swap it with no prob! Typical Sprint customer service. I’m about to cancel my contract and pay the cancellation fee just to be rid of dealing with this dishonest rude company and their employees, and I sure will never buy another LG product no matter what it is! Is there any way to forward all these complaints to the top dogs at Sprint? even though I doubt it would make a difference, their policy on customer service must come from the top.
Hi, i was thinking about buying the Lg Rumour. Is it a good phone?
Had the phone not even a week and it stopped chargeing. Phoned Bell Mobility and they said if it was 15 days and under, we could get an exchange immediatly. We’ll see how it goes. I asked the guy, who used to work in tech support where I work, if the phone would be a problem phone like our previous LG. He said that it was second only to the blackberry in reliability. He was probably full of crap at the tech centre too. I like the layout of the Rumor but if this is going to be an ongoing thing, I’ll be talking with someone’s supervisor eventually. Hold off on getting this phone till an update to the firmware is done or you could be looking at months of headache. My two cents.
I am having problems with my Rumor right now and have been for weeks! It continually powers off on its own and the screen freezes. I have been to Sprint and they told me that it is a known issue and they can’t do anything until LG comes up with a way to fix it. That’s great, except for the fact that I’m missing out on important work calls because my phone turns itself off when it pleases and sometimes I don’t find out for hours. What can i do?!
Yes I have had this phone since March and has had nothing but problems. The phone shuts off when Im using it, on the internet or looking at emails. Its crazy. It has been replaced once already to find out that the 2nd phone does the same thing. Sprint says they really have not had any complaints. I have 4 friends that has the same phone and has the same problem. They told me to contact LG.
Good luck dealing with LG. All you’ll get is a bogus reason why it doesn’t work and how it’s not covered under the warranty, so you have to pay to have it fixed. I’m on my 3rd phone in 6 months and had the same problem with each.
I got the Rumor 1 1/2 months ago loved it, then was just changing settings on day and had the blinking LG Rumor screen, could not text, call, recieve calls, etc.
Talked to some guy at the resurant I was at, said same happened with his son’s phone, he had not taken in yet.
Was PISSED OFF to say the least, HATE Sprint dealers in Riverside, Ca. they blow you off, they won’t even look at it without $100 fee, so, I raised a stink, was loud, and it was packed in there, by the way, went through 3 reps got finally a store mananger, got my new phone, but, had lost all contact info on last phone,and had to pay for Insurance, HOLY HELL !
Really, love the phone,but, as all these other folks, waiting for the next ball to drop………Here’s hopin it doesn’t ?????
“Hi all, is anyone having trouble with the connection port to charge??”
Yes!! I have had my phone since December, so about 8 months. Thank God I have not gotten the “white screen of death” yet but I do get the automatic turning on/off problem. The most recent problem that started about a month ago, is that is does not charge. The charge slot is loose and so you have to jiggle the charger to make a contact and then figure out some rigged up way of holding the charger in that position. I went out and bought new chargers as I thought that might be the problem but to no avail. I am so frustrated! What’s worse, is that the charger, if not in the right “position”, not only does it NOT charge, but it ends up draining the phone faster by leaving the screen lit up.
I have been with Sprint since 1998 and I take care of my phones; they usually last for years. I am dreading dealing with then on this problem. But if I can’t charge the phone, it is useless.
It is definitely a design error by LG in the charge port area. Look at all the complaints.
:-(((
I bought my lg rumor 2 months ago and today I went to use my phone and there are static lines all over the screen. It is difficult to read the screen. Wondering if anyone else has had this problem and how to fix issue. I do not have insurance on the phone. I will be taking it to our local sprint store/repair shop. Also calling LG, has anyone else had this problem and how was it fixed?
Yup! See my previous posts. Good luck!
I purchased 4 lg rumors 3out of 4 don’t work. Brought 1 in to be fixed (white screen), turning on and off. Asked if there had been a issue sprint informed me that the phones were fine charged me 100.00 found out later about the defect went back to repair rep was told by him that he knew that there was a defect but was instructed by sprint not to say anything just take the phones in and repair them. Sprint has the worst customer service. Trying to get my cancelation fee waived but they are unwilling to work with me. I filed a complaint with the better business bureau. Recommend everyone do the same.
Got the Rumor on on upgrade at the end of June 2008 for my teen son, he is allowed unlimited txt. Yesterday morning he looked at his phone at 8:30am and 15 minutes later he took the phone out of his pocket and the screen was white. I deal with Bell Mobility in Canada. I was told when I got it that it was a great phone and they have not had any problems. When I took it in yesterday I was told it’s the first they have had come back. After reading everything here, I highly doubt it.
*Update* Called LG – Said that they have a 12 month warranty on phones. First gave me a trouble shooting technique – Told me to shut off phone, take off battery and plug it into the charger and when you see Sprint logo replace battery while charger is on and turn on phone. If that works, charge the phone up completely before use. If this doesn’t work other alternative is to send phone in for repairs, they said if they deem it to be a manufacturer problem then they will fix no charge to me. However, if they see that it is something that I caused they will call to tell me how much it will cost to get fixed.
I am trying all avenues to get this fixed without me having to pay for it so I’ll keep you posted. Taking into local sprint store/repair center next, also calling sprint. Checked online to fix screen, it will cost 100.00 for screen and 30.00 for repair. Kept that in mind when LG calls back for estimate if I decide to send it in.
This is so lame i got the rumor and within a month the screen cracked i didnt drop it or anything i had it in my pocket and i took it out and it was fucked up so lame
*Update* Problem has been resolved. Called Sprint and surprisingly did not have to yell and they said they will be sending me a new phone immediately. They didn’t even check to see how long I had the phone which was over 30 days. However, sprint has had my monthly bills screwed up each and every month. I have a priority account with them since they can’t seem to get anything right with my bill but they do fix it everytime and are very nice about it. Customer Service is actually very accommidating even though your monthly bill is never correct. Will never switch companies, However the phone is rather stupid. Scratches very easily and very flimsy. LG customer service kinda sucks. Will never get another LG. I had cellphones for years never had a problem before unless I did something drastic. Simply having my phone in my pocket should not cause such a problem.
Here starts our saga. Took phone out of pocket to find white screen. Brought to US cellular, claimed it was damaged to to mishandling! Cost $75.00 to repair even though within 30 days of contract. Called LG customer service. They want the phone sent to them. Will update with their response!
I bought my phone at the beginning of Feb. and experienced similar problems.
It started with my phone spontaneously turning off. I could be answering a text, it’d be sitting in my pocket, etc.
Soon I started to get white screens and it took several resends to send txt msgs.
Now my phone won’t pickup the charger (for a long time i had to wiggle it around to hold a charge), and it’s completely dead.
I went to the sprint store which gave me the number to LG (sprint wanted 100 bucks to fix the issue that was “with my port”. I contacted LG and found out: DO NOT SEND YOUR PHONE TO LG IF IT DOESN’T pick up a charge. If something is wrong with your port LG wont fix it because “the cost of fixing the phone exceeds the cost of the phone”. All it will do is send your phone back after about 2 weeks saying unrepairable and they’ll offer to send a refurbished one or to fix it for about the same amount sprint wants.
I called sprint back and had them send me through through tech support. I explained my issue with the phone and finally after a day full of calls sprint told me they would send another new rumor to my house in 3-5 business days. I still have the issue of loosing everything on my phone though…
Sprint SUCKS!
I have had the rumor for about 2 months. Yesterday it started turning off and on…BY ITSELF! It would do it @ random while the phone was in my pocket or when i would receive and email. SO ANNOYING! My husband is deployed to Iraq-so my phone is my lifeline!
Other problems include:
-Searching for Service CONSTANTLY
-Text Messages don’t go through half the time, I have to send it more than once
-ANNOYING messages that say “Call Data is still in progress” when i would try to open my text messages. When i wasnt even using my phone to make calls!
We have had Sprint for 4 years and have ALWAYS had issues…..not so much with the phones being faulty, but the customer service sucks (I can never understand what they are saying,the only time I understand them is when they are repeating what I just said!) They screw up our bill and when you call to fix it, they assure you they will take care of it…..next month rolls around and the same WRONG crap is on the bill!!!
***I am SERIOUSLY considering canceling the contract if my phone gets any worse, I am not going to pay for a gimp phone or gimp service anymore!***
My husband and I both have the rumor. They suck. We bought them in Feb. of 08 and already replaced mine in April. Ever since then we’ve continued to have the same issues. Although its not exactly the same as whats described in the main article…its aggravating enough.
I will be texting, and it seems to just try to send a text without me pressing send, or it will try to access the internet at random times, without my consent to do so. It will also power down and then power back up, whether out of no where, or when I am texting or going on to check my email.
It burns up the battery, these issues, and with a 10 mos. old, and being in college, I need my cell phone to be usable!!!
My husband and I have considered canceling our contract because Sprint acts as if they dont’ want to do anythign about it, even though the problem is logged through LG and Sprint Tech support!
I have been waiting for my LG Rumor to come back in the mail. I filed an insurance claim and then found out that this was a known issue. They quoted 10 buisness days its going on 3weeks now. Im thinking Im not college educated but three weeks is more the ten ******* business days. I love my rumor but I think sprint should provide better customer service and let a customer know what is going on the having to sit and wonder when the **** Im gonna get my damn phone back.
Angry in Tennessee
I like Roberts idea about putting our phones in a tube sock and beating someone to a bloody pulp!! I used to work for sprint customer service so I know the kind of lies they are spreading you guys that job lasted 4 weeks before I said I have more morals then this and walked out.
This phone is nothing more than a pile of crap with a keyboard. Not only does it do the common turn on/off thing but now the phone will shut off and say “battery is required” while it might be from water damage, does anyone else have this problem or know about it?
i have a rumor. its screen just started freaking out on me all over the place. i cant use it now until i get a new one. it is really frustrating. i think it is the contacts for the screen and they got all worn down but im not a phone expert. it is useless until i get a new phone.
I have a rumor that has failed. Started shutting off by itself , then the white screen delima happened.
I did not have insurance, bought the phone for my son in March. He is 13 and I personally have seen him drop it multiple times. The phone is not damaged physically (no cracks). Sprint has a self service return option on their website 35.00 for replacement phone if it is due the manufacture defects. They had a replacement phone to me within 3 days. I was happy to pay the 35.00 instead of sending my phone to LG then waiting another 2 weeks for them to send it back and most likely tell me it was my fault as others have reported on here.
Seems as if most people on here are blaming their cell phone providers when in actuality you should be contacting LG and filing complaints with them for their shotty phones.
I feel that my son probably did not treat his phone as he should have, with more care. His phone is not cracked, but as I stated before it had been dropped plenty. If there is a next time I will most likely purchase him a phone that is up to military standards (whether it looks cool or not) from the rugged category. He is a teen and his phone is a priviledge. If he breaks it again, he just won’t deserve one or have one. Kids should be more careful and appreciative.
P.S. It does seem as if older phones hold up better to abuse, then the newer phones on the market today.
My old Motorola’s were dropped plenty 1 even landed in the toilet by accident, it dried out it worked just fine.
So, I have the LG Rumor phone now and it’s been fine until recently the screen stopped turning from horizontal to vertical screen when i slide open the QWERTY keyboard. Can anyone tell me why it would’ve stopped flipping horizontally (to landscape) when i slide open the keyboard? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
my sister got this phone befor it came out from her teacher I don’t know where he got it but she had all the same problems shuting off and back on white screen etc. but the one day the spot that you plug the charger in to pulled out with the cord. this phone is set up for at&t. do you think that I could still get a replacement from lg or does the plugin problem void out the rest. I brought it to at&t and they said that they offer the phone so they couldn’t do anything but it was brand new there isn’t even a mark on the screen.
The response I received from LG is terribly disappointing. I owned a RUMOR phone for 10 weeks when the screen went.
Background: I bought three (3) Rumor phones in June and did not pay the $21.00 per month to have a warranty – that equals $252 dollars per year to cover our phones… !
We purchased 3 phones from Sprint, all the same but different colors. All 3 phones that we purchased through Sprint have had problems.
1. I took a picture in a restaurant… I did not drop it, throw it, bang it,… I just took a picture and the screen blew.
2. My husband’s phone did the same thing, but his entire screen blew the first week he had his. All he did was try to take a picture. He brought it back to Sprint and they treated it as an exchange because it was within the first 30 days.
3. My daughter’s phone has had issues as it thinks it is a modem… and the memory is always full so she has trouble taking pictures – and she even bought a memory card and it still has issues.
LG said I damaged this phone and it had corrosion! All I did was take a picture! How can a phone 10 weeks old have corrosion? OMG! They are demanding $95 to repair the phone and Sprint is worthless… I also plan on canceling with Sprint at the end of my contract – 10 year customer…
No matter how cute or fancy looking, stay away for LG!
This is for mike I have the same story and let me tell you the escalation management team will blow just about the same amount of smoke up your @#*! if not more. I have gone everywhere I possibly can go and I am getting nowhere. I am now speaking with the legal dept. and awaiting my complaint with the BBB. Let me know if anyone has had any luck with getting out of their contract.
I got two of these phones with a new contract at Sprint. I love the phone and all it’s little features. I had always bought LG phones and really only had a few problems over the years. With these phones my phones charger stopped working within two weeks. So for a while I was content to use the second charger, but with a teen age daughter it was difficult to get the charger away from her because hers was always charging. The battery life of these phones is little to be desired! So needless to say I purchased another charger. She gets four hours, I can get a day or two. But with the constant texting and instant messaging that she does it’s to be expected.
Her phone suddently did not work with her charger so she took the brand new one that I purchased. All of the sudden that doesn’t work. She had to minuver the charger is wierd positions and wrap the cord around the phone to get it to work, but no more. The brand new charger no longer works on her phone either. I have to constantly keep swapping the batteries on the phone and constantly have my phone hooked up to a charger now. It’s a real pain in the A@$.
I need to take it to the Spint store and I hope they do not give me a bunch of crap especially knowing all of the “known” issues. Other than these issues except not being able to view annimated texts (which Sprint’s network apparently can not handle) I have not had a ton of other issues. Just be careful with the chargers.
UPDATE
Sent my sons LG Rumor phone to LG priority mail , they received 09/05/08
I called back 09/12/08 Phone was shipped back to me 09/11/08 via FEDEX tracking. I should receive it 09/17/08 weather permitting due to Hurricane IKE it may be delayed. Customer Service Agent at LG said they sent me out a NEW phone to replace my sons damaged one. I got my fingers crossed he is tellng me the truth. A few more days and I will know for sure.
I have had my Rumour for about 4 months now with no real complaints. The main down side is that I live in a basement and like most phones, the battery drains quickly if there is no signal. The phone can be fully charged and be dead within a few hours if it’s in the basement.
My main concern is how to delete the recent contacts list for text messaging. When you select to send a text message you can either “Go to contacts” or send to a recent contact which creates a long, undeletable list. I want to delete the list of recent contacts texts have been sent to, but haven’t been able to figure it out. Any knowledge of how to do this would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
My husband and I purchased the LG Rumor in White and Green in July. He has had no problems. Mine, however, has been having power issues for the past 2 weeks. It currently will not work unless it is connected to a power source either home or car charger. Contacted LG and they said I can send the phone in and they would look at it and get it back to me within 10 days or go to a Sprint Repair store. What a pain!! This is crazy
UPDATE
Lg got the phone back to me Sept 17th as promised. I activated it the same day. They sent me a brand new phone. NO problems with it so far. I was not charged a replacement fee.
Happy Customer 🙂
Im looking forward to the release of the Samsung Rant (looks a lot like the Rumor) in a couple of months and the LG Lotus …Love the purple!!
Recieved my Rumor in Feb 08 I am now having the infamous turning off deal when sending a txt.Now I send the txt wait for it to send hope the reciever gets it then close the phone”OFF” it goes.Turn phone back on.Went to Sprint store cust agent gave me a addy with a tech name to talk to about my phone.After reading this all above me I have loads of pics and a couple of videos of my daughter on this hunk of crap that I need to get off before it loses all of it.I am so glad I found this tonite.Folks thx for writing all this in here as we are all on the same boat with most issues.Just now glad I’m not the only one.
Becky C
If you have sent any of those photos or videos to anyone else from your phone they are automatically stored on http://www.pictures.sprintpcs.com
If you haven’t sent them to anyone then it would be a good idea to upload them to your albums before your phone goes out completely.
Hope this info helps.
Hey! I was just wondering if anyone else has the same issue as me. It’s not really a problem, i just find it kind of annoying. When you get a text message, you read it, then you hit reply, then it asks if you want to reply by text message or picture message, you select text message and write your reply, then sent it. I’m just wondering, once your message has sent, do you get the same menu again asking if you want to reply by text message or by picture message. This also happens if your just sending a message, it will ask whether u want it to be text or picture then you send your message and it asks again if you want to send a text or picture. Should it not just go back to the inbox once your message has sent. I just wanted to know if this is just my phone, or if it is just the way the phone is supposed to work. Thanks 🙂
There are many problems with the LG Rumor / Rubbish, but don’t expect LG or Sprint to stand behind their products. The service centers are now just denying service and repair requests and making excuses.
http://www.geldpress.com/2008/10/lg-rumor-not-charging-warranty-not-honored/
i love my phone its so awesome im so glad that i chose it!
Arno —– Sprint does not manufactur the phones, LG does, and LG provides the 1 yr manufacturer warranty.
I dont understand why people are blaming their carriers when their phone fails, they do not manufacture the phones.
I do understand your frustration, being without a phone and still having to pay on a montly contract, but the blame needs to be put where it is due. New phones are quite expensive and they should be made more durable for the price the companies are charging.
—-Just like if you bought a product at Sears, Walmart, JcPenny, ect the amount of time you have to return an item varies for each store, but is usually 30-90 days for returns, otherwise you must contact the manufacturer regarding the warranty. —-
Sprint gives you 30 days. Tmobile gives you 14 days. I have no idea what the other carriers give you but they most likely range 15-30 days also, unless you pay for the additional insurance. You have to pay a deductible when the phone is replaced, unless it is due to a defective phone (determined by a repair center) then you dont have to pay the deductible with most carriers, they just exchange it outright.
I had no problem returning my phone to LG and receiving a new replacement. It would be nice if the manufacturers had their own local repair stores. I didn’t like the wait time, but I am satisfied with the service I received. My phone did not have water damage, no cracked parts, and the charger port was not damaged.
okay well i tried to fwd a picture mail.
and a white bow popped and it said something..
idk what it was.
then my whole phone froze.
so i took out the battery.
i turned it back on and it blinked on and off of the opening screen.
so i took out the battery again and tried charging it.
it still is blinking and i have to take out the battery to make the phone turn off….
ughhhhhhh!
oh i ment white box..not bow.
shit i just got one today lol to bad i schouldnt have
ive had a rumor for about two months now and have had no problems. i know people who have had problems and i think some of it is the charger is very hard to plug in making things pop lose.i barley plug mine in until it makes contact not all the way in.also i see people open and close these things like mad u can here them click really loud.be careful and close it easy.im not saying lg doesnt have problems because they do but some of what ive seen with friends is just carelessness.
I’ve read through these problems you guys have had and I have to say, wow. I got my phone when they first came out, too and these past few weeks my phone has been randomly shutting off on its own. For example, the other day someone tried to call me and as soon as i pressed “talk” it turned off completely. Other times, i’ll just leave it sitting on the table and it’ll do the same thing.
It’s ridiculous, but i haven’t taken it in to the store because I know they won’t do anything to fix it if the problem doesn’t occur right then and there…also, has anyone else had problems with ringtones? I downloaded a few and they only work sometimes, othertimes the phone just reverts back to vibrate or doesn’t make any sound at all unless I assign one of the tones that are already on the phone.
it’s really irritating…
My phone keeps shutting on and off too, now. And the screen keeps going white at random times, and when I try to go on the Internet, it freezes up for hours at a time, wasting my battery. I’ve had problems with the alarm, and downloading ringtones too.
I’ve had my Rumor for about 3 months now. No problems up until last week…it keeps freezing/pausing when I’m texting or checking my email. It’ll freeze for about 1/2 a minute & then resume what I was doing. Heading to Sprint to see what’s up!