LG Phone Device not registered fix
December 1, 2014
Background
If you’ve received the LG error message: “Device not registered yet” when trying to perform a software update on your phone, it’s the result of the phone never being used on its targeted network.
I paid full price for an unlocked LG G Flex phone via BestBuy, but immediately began using the phone with my cricket account (AT&T network and plan is $35/month unlimited – can’t pass that up). Everything worked fine, but when I tried to perform an OTA update of the android software: Settings > General > About Phone > Update Software, I would get a “Device not registered yet” error. Apparently some others have experienced a “Phone not registered yet” error (maybe since the LG G Flex is ridiculously huge, they didn’t know whether to call it a phone, so settled for the nebulous “device”). The phone was running Android 4.2, and I wanted to perform an OTA update to the latest AT&T released 4.4.2 KitKat version.
Solution
Things I saw recommended online that didn’t work:
- Registering the phone with LG (warranty registration)
- Confirming with Cricket that they had the correct IMEI registered
- Hard reset
What worked:
- Borrow a SIM card from a friend who is on the AT&T network.
- Pop it into your phone for a few minutes.
- Check for software update. Voila!
If you get a “Your device is up to date. You may check again in…” message, you can manually set your clock ahead 24 hours, and check again. When I first checked with my friend’s SIM card entered, it gave me the usual “not registered yet” error, but a few minutes later I set the clock ahead manually, and everything worked!
Other Notes
Once my phone had been used via the AT&T network, it was registered, and I was able to pull all future updates even though I was using my Cricket Wireless SIM.
This was with Cricket, but should apply to all affiliated prepaid providers i.e. Net10, Boost, Republic, StraightTalk, metroPCS, Virgin, etc.