The 3 hidden but most useful modes of troubleshooting on LG K51 are safe mode, recovery mode & download mode. Let’s learn how to make the most of these modes when facing an issue on your K51.
These modes work on all the K51 variants i.e Boost Mobile lmk500um3, Metro lmk500mm, Xfinity Mobile lmk500qm5, Spectrum Mobile lmk500qm6, Verizon lmk500umt, T-Mobile lmk500umt3 & Factory Unlocked K51 lmk500qm7.
Let’s begin with the Recovery Mode –
LG K51 Recovery Mode lmk500 / How to put LG K51 in Recovery Mode
To put the phone into recovery mode, we need to power off our K51.
Long-press the power button located on the right side of your phone.
Tap power off twice to turn off the phone.
To boot your K51 into recovery mode –
- Power off your phone.
- Press the volume down and power button to boot the phone.
- As soon as the phone vibrates ( or when LG K51 appears on the screen), release the power key for a moment and hold it again. Keep holding the 2 buttons until your K51 is on the factory data reset screen.
- During the whole process, never release the volume down button.
The above factory data reset screen is known as the recovery mode.
As the name suggests, the recovery mode is used to recover your phone if for any reason it fails to boot in the regular mode. The recovery mode is stored on a separate partition.
The touchscreen doesn’t work in the recovery mode. We need to use the volume rocker to move up/down. The power button is used to select an option.
To reset the phone using recovery mode –
Use the volume down button to go down from “No(Exit)” to “Yes”. Now, hit the power button to select this option.
Once again move down from No(Exit) to Yes and click the power key.
This step will initiate the factory reset process.
The Factory data reset is erasing the internal storage data.
After a while, it brings us to the Welcome screen of the setup wizard.
Follow the on-screen prompts to finish the setup wizard to land on the LG K51 home screen.
The recovery mode is most useful when you are locked out on your K51 due to a forgotten lock screen PIN, pattern, or password.
I’m locked out on my K51 and I don’t know the lock screen password.
To boot into recovery mode, we need to power off the phone.
It doesn’t allow me to power off or restart the phone without unlocking the screen.
So, how to put our K51 into recovery mode when locked out?
The only option left is to force restart the phone.
During the force restart, when the phone boots again we need to use the volume down and power button to boot into recovery mode.
To force restart your K51, press and hold the power and volume down keys for 10 seconds or until the phone restarts.
During the restart, as soon as “LG K51” appears on the screen, release the power button and hold it again until your K51 is in Recovery Mode.
During the whole process, don’t release the volume down button.
Use the volume down key to move down from “No” to “Yes” and confirm your selection with the power button.
The factory data reset will erase your internal storage data and bring you to the “Welcome” screen of the setup wizard.
During the setup, you need to go through the Google verification screen.
If you don’t know the details of the last-synced Google account, follow the below guide to bypass the LG K51 FRP/Google lock screen –
LG K51 Download Mode
The next very useful mode of troubleshooting on LG K51 is the Download Mode. Using the Download mode, we can flash a stock K51 firmware file. The download mode can restore your dead/bricked phone.
First of all, we need to power off the phone to boot into download mode.
Long-Press the power button on your K51.
Tap “Power off” to shut down the phone.
To boot your K51 into download mode –
- Power off the phone.
- Get hold of a Micro USB Cable.
- Insert one end of the cable into the K51 charging port.
- Turn on your computer.
- Connect the other end of the USB cable to the PC.
- The phone must be now on the “Firmware Update” screen also known as “Download Mode”.
The above firmware update screen is known as the Download mode.
To flash stock firmware, we need to install the necessary drivers.
You can follow the below post to download & install LG K51 Drivers –
I’ve successfully installed the “LGE Mobile USB Modem” & “LGE Mobile USB Serial Port” driver on my computer.
We need to use the LGUP flash tool to flash a stock kdz firmware file.
You can see the connected phone is detected as LM-LK500MM. This the model number of LG K51 MetroPCS.
LG K51 Safe Mode
When you’re able to use your phone, but it’s acting abnormally, you should try the Safe Mode.
If a downloaded app is causing trouble, we need to identify & uninstall this app using the safe mode.
Long-press the power button to view the Power options on the screen.
Now, long-press “Power off” to get the “Safe Mode” option on the screen.
The “Safe mode” window is visible on the screen.
Tap “TURN ON” to put your K51 into Safe Mode.
The phone will restart and into Safe Mode. A “Safe mode” watermark is visible on the bottom-right corner of the screen.
The downloaded apps and widgets are disabled in the safe mode.
Check if the issue you were facing is still present or rectified when in safe mode.
If the issue is gone, some downloaded app is the cause of the problem.
One by one, we need to delete the downloaded apps and identify the culprit app by trial and error.
To uninstall an app –
Go to Settings > Apps > App Info
Tap a downloaded app to uninstall it.
I’m deleting the “Screen Recorder” app.
Hit “Uninstall” and tap “OK” to confirm the deletion.
After deleting an app, reboot & check the phone in regular mode. Keep doing this until you remove the malicious app.
To exit the Safe mode, pull down the notification panel and hit “Safe Mode is On”.
Confirm your action by tapping “Turn off” as marked in the above screenshot.
Your K51 will now boot into the regular mode.
For any query or feedback, please leave a comment below.
Every other LG phone ive had I can get to a black screen to wipe cache partition by long pressing the power button and the volume button. How do I get to that screen from the k51? How do I wipe the partition if I cant get to that screen?
We had that black recovery mode screen with wipe cache partition in the older versions of Android.
the screen on mine wont come up, i feel it vibrating and like I feel it powering off and the light on top comes on, and there is a light on the screen as if it was on but nothing else, just black… idk what to do, I didnt drop it or anything, the phone is like 8 days old
Try to boot the phone into recovery mode or download mode
Can I use safemode to bypass the pattern lock someone put on my phone as a joke and then forgot what it is? Without data loss?
You cannot bypass the lock screen without reset. Please follow the below tutorial to reach the K51 home screen –
https://lgk20.com/lg-k51-lock-screen-bypass-forgot-password-pin-pattern-locked/