[Q] Phone won't turn on - Epic 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Last night I had dropped my phone from about a foot on a sitting-swing and it hit the ground. I have the black case from the sprint store on it. After that I attempted to turn it on and it just got stuck on Samsung loading screen with the genocide 2.0 logo below it, it then proceeded to be stuck there and eventually rebooted, this never seemed to end. When I attempted to plug it in to charge it the battery charging icon appeared but just has the loading symbol inside of it frozen, after many battery pulls and attempted clockwork-recovery boots failing I decided to go to bed. When I awake I went and tried to turn on my phone which immediately booted up into clockwork recover, fearing for my phones safety I backed everything up on it and then rebooted it. It seemed to work fine! It came on flawlessly and worked well. Throughout the day the battery seemed to drain extremely fast and then eventually died, having just gotten home I have found that the same thing is happening and it won't even charge.

Re flash the ROM then flash journaling on zip right after you flash the ROM then re boot & download you're apps fresh cuz you're data might be corrupted! Hit the thanks button if I've helped in any way! ;-)
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

I flashed back to stock rom to see if it would turn on, same thing happens, and I don't know if this is significant or not but when my phone boots up the buttons light up, then turn off, then back on again and stay on until the phone reboots itself or the battery is pulled.
EDIT: I have a strong feeling it's my physical battery that is causing the issues because it was working completely fine earlier yesterday.

Try booting in safe mode by holding power and the physical menu button until the phone gets to the lockscreen... Im curious to see if it helps because safe mode might help us get out of soft bricks? I wanna test this theory...

No it does not work, just get stuck at the Samsung loading screen. I don't honestly believe this is a software brick either because of the way it's acting, as I said in my above post I believe it's the physical battery and will probably be going to get it replaced soon

Related

why does zedomax keep my phone from staying off?

I rooted the phone using odin, then threw lost kernal on the phone. then used odin to flash the stock pulled kernel to eliminate the yellow triangle then used CWM to flash back to lost kernel. then went to zedomax V3. phone has been working very good. did freeze one time when opening a game and then restarted on its own after a few seconds but this is only once so far. I never knew about this problem until last night when i attempted to do a 100% charge with the phone off so I could reset batt stats. well, EVERYTIME I turn the phone off, it stayed off for a few seconds but then it would always turn itself back on... just flashed back to lost kernel (stable version) and it is now sitting powered off charging just like normal. I liked the OC ability but I will sometimes need my phone to stay off, say when I get on a plane...
anyone else have this problem
Same here I am running version V3 of Zedo, stock rooted.....and have the same issue the phone will not stay off. I have tried it both ways with QuickReboot and also manual with the power button and still have the same results. For me it is NBD but I have not been in a situation where I need to have the phone stay off.
I also tried it with quickreboot (not sure if I have the same app, blue circle with a yellow lightning bolt?). also, does your phone do this? when I shut down using the power button long press, choose power off and then hit ok, it shows the sprint logo with the exploding boxes looking screen, capacative buttons stay lit up for a while as its shutting down, quick reboot just SHUTS DOWN! lol, its like the difference of being on a PC and choosing shutdown or just flipping the switch on the back of the PSU. is it better to shut it down the stock method?
(side note- my palm pre power button started acting up so now I do what I can to use the epics power button as little as needed, which is why I have a screen icon to lock my phone and reboot with quick reboot)
yea we have the same quick reboot program....as for shutting it off which way, I think it is better to shut the phone down using the power button and have the phone go thru the shut down process vice just shutting down right there and then like a light switch. I do the same on a pc i try never to just hold the power button to shut down the pc unless it freezes, I just do the regular shut down process.
I flashed zedo v3 too and had problems too. At random moments i couldnt text, browse web,make calls or get calls unless i reboot. I unrooted it and phone went back to normal. Im sure zedomax will put out a better kernal, he knows wats up. Has anyone else had dat problem?
actually the not-staying-off was the only problem I even had on that kernel except the freeze that happened one time. today on lostkernel, right in a row I had 4 texts say they failed to be sent but then when I talked to the people later they all told me that they were actually delivered. I even rebooted the phone after the first 2 and the next 2 still said failed so I highly doubt that it was anything other than a weird problem with the network though... although I dont know exactly how the whole process works. I think I am going to go back to zedomax later though, I dont fly often so if I end up on a plane Ill just flash lostkernel again since I leave both files on the card on a daily basis. and I like the setcpu profiles. could always go with the experimantal build of lost kernel since technically the zedomax is a beta as well...

[Q] Soft Bricked or Hard Bricked? (Please, PLEASE help!!!)

I have a SPH L710 galaxy s3 (sprint). I recently flashed a Rom called hyperdrive 4.1.2 that was on it's RLS11. following the instructions (factory reset x2, wipe cache, wipe dalvik, wipe system), I then picked the features i wanted in the built in aroma installer and let the rom flash. When it was done I noticed i kept getting the message "the process com.android.phone has stopped". So i performed a clean install of my previous Rom which was Liquid Smooth.
A day or two later I noticed hyperdrive has released it's RLS 12, so i decided to give it another try. This time there was an option in the aroma installer for developer picks so i selected that, thinking my previous attempt i may have picked conflicting files in the aroma installer. The Rom worked fine for about a day. Then the next day while it was charging after the battery have completely died the night before. I noticed the phone had rebooted on its own, then it started going into a boot loop. I did a battery pull, and i noticed when i put it back in, before i could even hold the buttons to get it into recovery mode or download mode, the phone would vibrate and turn on by itself, without me pressing any buttons at all. After some trying i was able to have the buttons held so when i inserted the battery, i was already holding the buttons to try to get to recovery. When I did this it would say it was about to go into recovery, then the screen would go black. The same thing when I tried getting it into download mode, It would show the download mode screen, then go to a black screen. I Then did some research, after seeing no one else really having this problem, and noticing that since it was still seeing boot screens before the black screen, it shouldn't be a hard brick.
I decided to order a USB jig for my phone that came today. When inserted the battery with the usb jig the phone still turned on by itself, but it was able to go to download mode and it stayed at the screen. I used odin 3.07 to flash SPH-L710_MD4_1130792_Rooted_Nodata, which was a tar file you would use if you wanted to keep your user data. It took 10 minutes to flash but everything seemed to be a success, it rebooted my phone and everything seemed to be working fine. After about 20 minutes of my phone being plugged back into a charger and i was halfway through with downloading an app from the android market where out of nowhere my phone temporarily froze and then rebooted, to where it will show the samsung screen, then the samsung galaxy s3 screen, then just goes to a black screen. Now even with the USB jig, it will still power on by itself as soon as a place in the battery, go directly to download mode, but then go to a black screen within 3-4 seconds before i can do anything.
Has anyone ever encountered anything like this before? At first i thought it might be a stuck power button, but when I was able to flash through download mode with the USB jig that first time it makes me think it is bricked. Any help or insight would be GREATLY appreciated.
dubbz84 said:
I have a SPH L710 galaxy s3 (sprint). I recently flashed a Rom called hyperdrive 4.1.2 that was on it's RLS11. following the instructions (factory reset x2, wipe cache, wipe dalvik, wipe system), I then picked the features i wanted in the built in aroma installer and let the rom flash. When it was done I noticed i kept getting the message "the process com.android.phone has stopped". So i performed a clean install of my previous Rom which was Liquid Smooth.
A day or two later I noticed hyperdrive has released it's RLS 12, so i decided to give it another try. This time there was an option in the aroma installer for developer picks so i selected that, thinking my previous attempt i may have picked conflicting files in the aroma installer. The Rom worked fine for about a day. Then the next day while it was charging after the battery have completely died the night before. I noticed the phone had rebooted on its own, then it started going into a boot loop. I did a battery pull, and i noticed when i put it back in, before i could even hold the buttons to get it into recovery mode or download mode, the phone would vibrate and turn on by itself, without me pressing any buttons at all. After some trying i was able to have the buttons held so when i inserted the battery, i was already holding the buttons to try to get to recovery. When I did this it would say it was about to go into recovery, then the screen would go black. The same thing when I tried getting it into download mode, It would show the download mode screen, then go to a black screen. I Then did some research, after seeing no one else really having this problem, and noticing that since it was still seeing boot screens before the black screen, it shouldn't be a hard brick.
I decided to order a USB jig for my phone that came today. When inserted the battery with the usb jig the phone still turned on by itself, but it was able to go to download mode and it stayed at the screen. I used odin 3.07 to flash SPH-L710_MD4_1130792_Rooted_Nodata, which was a tar file you would use if you wanted to keep your user data. It took 10 minutes to flash but everything seemed to be a success, it rebooted my phone and everything seemed to be working fine. After about 20 minutes of my phone being plugged back into a charger and i was halfway through with downloading an app from the android market where out of nowhere my phone temporarily froze and then rebooted, to where it will show the samsung screen, then the samsung galaxy s3 screen, then just goes to a black screen. Now even with the USB jig, it will still power on by itself as soon as a place in the battery, go directly to download mode, but then go to a black screen within 3-4 seconds before i can do anything.
Has anyone ever encountered anything like this before? At first i thought it might be a stuck power button, but when I was able to flash through download mode with the USB jig that first time it makes me think it is bricked. Any help or insight would be GREATLY appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How long did you let it set on the black screen because it takes a while to boot up the first time after flashing a ROM.
GiantJay said:
How long did you let it set on the black screen because it takes a while to boot up the first time after flashing a ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i just placed the battery back in, it started on it's own without my pressing anything again, and i've been timing the last 5 minutes. but it seems like it will stay a black screen indefinitely. unless i remove the back of the phone, or snap it back into place, or any kind of micro impact movements it seems, when I do that it vibrates like it's first being turned on, and shows the samsung screen, then the samsung galaxy s3 screen, then it will go black again.
See if your adb on your computer can recognize the phone while it's stuck on the black screen. You might be able to push a Rom or recovery over using that.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
You may want to just start fresh and lose your data with a different stock file. That kinda happened to me before on the gs2 and I found better results with a 100% fresh start. The no data always left me with a hangup or two after getting the phone to boot.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
topherk said:
See if your adb on your computer can recognize the phone while it's stuck on the black screen. You might be able to push a Rom or recovery over using that.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not picking it up on adb.
dante32278 said:
You may want to just start fresh and lose your data with a different stock file. That kinda happened to me before on the gs2 and I found better results with a 100% fresh start. The no data always left me with a hangup or two after getting the phone to boot.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After the first odin flash i was thinking the same thing. But that's the thing, it won't stay on the download mode screen long enough for me to even try to flash anything else through odin. I'm also noticing when connected to the charger, if i make a slight impact against the phone with my palm, the screen will briefly show the battery icon as if the phone is charging when it is turned off, then the screen will go black again. When it is unplugged, is when it will show the samsung screen, then the samsung galaxy s3 screen, then go black again.
That's weird...sounds like something is loose. Any kind of recent impact damage to the phone? Dropping it, throwing it at your cat, anything like that?
To me it sounds like maybe your power button is stuck "down"
If you didn't know, the power button has a fail safe reboot that happens after holding for about 10 seconds. So no matter what, if you phone is frozen or whatever, holding power more than 10s will cause it to reboot. That would also explain why its turning itself on as soon as you pop in the battery.
toolegit said:
That's weird...sounds like something is loose. Any kind of recent impact damage to the phone? Dropping it, throwing it at your cat, anything like that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not recently, and if it was ever dropped, it would be in it's case... But i had noticed that while it was in it's power glove case, sometimes i would have to use more than normal pressure on the power button to get the phone to respond. I was wondering if something was stuck, just haven't read anything like that happening to anyone, and when I used the jig the first time the screen stayed on.

[Q] Not quite sudden death - but still a major problem

So I recently installed CM 10.1.2 on my S3, and everything worked perfectly for a few days. Yesterday though, my phone started acting strangely (lag when turning screen off, registering phantom input, etc) and began rebooting every few minutes. At some point, it ran out of battery - and now I can no longer boot past the CM loading wheel screen.
I can't boot to recovery, and I don't think my phone is taking charge (from my computer or a wall outlet), and the farthest I can get is the loading wheel - sometimes it only gets as far as displaying the Samsung logo, or the Galaxy S3 screen with the android dude at the bottom.
I'm still covered under warranty, and would love to take it to the store for a replacement (I've had battery issues prior to this), but the fact that it can get to the CM loading wheel means that they might figure out that I've rooted and whatnot. But I can't get to recovery to flash a stock image, so...what can I do?
vortexface said:
So I recently installed CM 10.1.2 on my S3, and everything worked perfectly for a few days. Yesterday though, my phone started acting strangely (lag when turning screen off, registering phantom input, etc) and began rebooting every few minutes. At some point, it ran out of battery - and now I can no longer boot past the CM loading wheel screen.
I can't boot to recovery, and I don't think my phone is taking charge (from my computer or a wall outlet), and the farthest I can get is the loading wheel - sometimes it only gets as far as displaying the Samsung logo, or the Galaxy S3 screen with the android dude at the bottom.
I'm still covered under warranty, and would love to take it to the store for a replacement (I've had battery issues prior to this), but the fact that it can get to the CM loading wheel means that they might figure out that I've rooted and whatnot. But I can't get to recovery to flash a stock image, so...what can I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your best shot is to either borrow someone's S3 battery or buy a battery pack. Use that to restore your phone back to stock (unroot) and then you can go to the store for replacement.
alltechinside said:
Your best shot is to either borrow someone's S3 battery or buy a battery pack. Use that to restore your phone back to stock (unroot) and then you can go to the store for replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So turns out battery isn't the issue, I used a wall charger to get it to full charge. I can get it to the download mode confirmation screen, and can press volume up to confirm - but my phone reboots soon after that.
Recovery isn't really possible either, I can see the blue text in the upper right but my phone reboots after that as well.
My phone will often show an empty battery icon with a little refresh icon in the middle; does this indicate that it doesn't see the battery as charged (even though it is)?
vortexface said:
So turns out battery isn't the issue, I used a wall charger to get it to full charge. I can get it to the download mode confirmation screen, and can press volume up to confirm - but my phone reboots soon after that.
Recovery isn't really possible either, I can see the blue text in the upper right but my phone reboots after that as well.
My phone will often show an empty battery icon with a little refresh icon in the middle; does this indicate that it doesn't see the battery as charged (even though it is)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone started having the same problem yesterday and I tried my friends battery but it still doesn't work.
mtmodi said:
My phone started having the same problem yesterday and I tried my friends battery but it still doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I've been doing some research into the issue...
I've noticed that my phone automatically boots when I put the battery in, and that it'll do a quick vibrate when plugged in to a power source (outlet or computer) but won't turn on.
Apparently the phone isn't supposed to boot automatically when the battery is put in, and this could be the source of the random reboots - I think if I can get the rebooting under control, I'll be able to get into download mode and fix it all. But I'm not sure how to do that. Maybe the power button has gone bad, as it also doesn't usually respond when I try to use it to turn on.
If there is a problem with the power button, does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it?
vortexface said:
Yeah I've been doing some research into the issue...
I've noticed that my phone automatically boots when I put the battery in, and that it'll do a quick vibrate when plugged in to a power source (outlet or computer) but won't turn on.
Apparently the phone isn't supposed to boot automatically when the battery is put in, and this could be the source of the random reboots - I think if I can get the rebooting under control, I'll be able to get into download mode and fix it all. But I'm not sure how to do that. Maybe the power button has gone bad, as it also doesn't usually respond when I try to use it to turn on.
If there is a problem with the power button, does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine does the exact same thing where I have to pull the battery and when I put it back in it automatically starts up and when I go to download or recovery it turns off before I can do anything
Sounds like power button issue.
I was having the same issues (random reboots, boot loop, powering on when battery put in, reboots in download mode and recovery)
This is not an easy fix. I ended up pulling the power button out and just setting my screen to time out after 15 seconds. Sucks but it works now.
If I ever need to turn off or hard reboot, I stick a pin in the power button hole and push down on the button.
Really turning me off on purchasing future Samsung phones
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
The power button is a common issue for these phones.

[Q] SPH-L710 reboots in recovery Battery, power button issues possible

I have read the other posts regarding the rebooting issues of the Sprint Galaxy S3 variant, but I seem to have a touch more difficult problem. My phone constantly resets and seems to be getting worse. It now will reset in the middle of recovery. I was able to wipe the cache and dalvik and then it started resetting even more frequently in recovery and made reloading the rom impossible. It even resets in the download screen. So it makes it impossible to use Odin and other applications. If anyone has any ideas let me know. I have a few possible options that I am pondering. The following is what led up to this if you need some background:
A week ago, I noticed that my battery suddenly was not charging when wifi was on. I turned it off thinking it was some glitch and reset the phone and plugged it in to charge. It said it was at 100 % some hours later. then I turned it back on again and within a couple minutes, it said it was at 22%. So I hard reset and then plugged it into the wall, but it was still not charging. I had go somewhere,so I plugged it into the car charger and enabled fast charge. I turned on my data and all the sudden it rebooted, lost my wifi password, but when it came back on, it was charging properly. So I thought it was just some odd glitch. Charged properly for days.
Then I noticed the phone starting to randomly reset maybe once very other day when texting. I was actually going to put on a new rom tomorrow thinking maybe my old one had become corrupt. Then it suddenly increased drastically tonight to where it was starting to reset constantly. I thought maybe the button was stuck, and pulled off my otter case to make sure it wasnt being pressed down oddly, but it continued. Then I went into recovery and was able to wipe the cache and dalvik before it got really bad and now it won't even let me stay in recovery for any length of time. I almost got a rom loaded when it reset and its been resetting faster than ever. Becoming unresponsive to button presses as well. Even when I could get into the recovery, it would keep showing "swipe screen to open," as the power button was apparently continuing to activate or the phone was trying to reset itself. And yes, I have tried a battery pull several times and then tried to get into recovery, only to be booted out right as I see the recovery screen if I get there.
So that is my problem. I can't flash odin or anything else as the phone just keeps resetting. Part of me thinks to get a new battery and try to see if that doesn't solve my issue, as maybe the battery is causing the phone to reset? But part me is also thinking maybe the power button has gone sticky suddenly? It won't charge it seems as the red light will not come on and it keeps resetting before the battery charging icon can even come up. Any help or advice would be appreciated. I am leaning towards the battery going bad suddenly and shorting out the phone. I now have the battery, which last I saw was at 48% (It was charging when this happened), out of the phone and am waiting till morning to hopefully pick up a new battery. But I would appreciate any insights into this issue.
Thank you very much
Same issue
I'm having the same issue described above with the S3 constantly rebooting. I can get into download mode but it restarts a few seconds into the flash. I have tried a different battery but that did not solve the problem - I am also thinking it's a power button issue... any suggestions?
mawamd said:
I'm having the same issue described above with the S3 constantly rebooting. I can get into download mode but it restarts a few seconds into the flash. I have tried a different battery but that did not solve the problem - I am also thinking it's a power button issue... any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just had my phone replaced for same reason ( Thank god for insurance) Download mode would last about 5 seconds, Recovery would do the same. I managed to get a stock restore with flash counter reset to boot as i was walking into the Sprint store for the techs to look at this lol.. Same exact thing happened on my S2. Power button is done. If you have INS call and get it replaced (Took me about a week for new phone)
I read some post on possibly using Samsung Kies to flash a new ROM, but that was for the international version. I would be curious if anyone has ever tried this or if its possible to replace the power button with a part replacement? I have ordered an S4 but this time I will make sure to use the home and left touch pad more often to unlock the phone and save wear on the power button. I wold still be interested f anyone has found a fix for this.
mawamd said:
I'm having the same issue described above with the S3 constantly rebooting. I can get into download mode but it restarts a few seconds into the flash. I have tried a different battery but that did not solve the problem - I am also thinking it's a power button issue... any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So after looking around, I am pretty convinced this the power button,as people describe on this question. If you don't have insurance, I see there are selling replacements or you can pay someone to replace and fix the power button fairly affordably on ebay. I might go the second route, as I want it fine right and the man had a 100 percent rating positive, and I dont really know what I am doing lol. Thanks everyone for your answers.

[q] screen is glitchy after dropping!

Two days ago, my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 dropped out of my coat pocket as i was running for the bus. I picked it up and saw the screen was cracked along the top left and bottom left hand side. Everything was working for the past two days and i figured i'll just wait till Christmas to get a new phone. This morning i took my phone off the charger and turned it on. The Samsung logo flashed, and then the boot animation for Slimrom (the custom rom i'm currently running on) flashed for about a second but then the screen went black. I did a battery pull but the weird thing is whenever i put my battery back in, even without touching the power button, it boots up by itself but then the screen goes black again. I can access TWRP and download mode but they both go black after a few seconds as well. I was able to successfully turn on my phone and have it fully function for about 15 minutes after putting it back on the charger, but it quickly blacked out again. It also keeps randomly booting up by itself which is weird. Im guessing this is a problem with the screen itself, but could it be a software issue because the device keeps booting up by itself? If it is the screen, will i have to buy a new one or is it not worth it? I've also tried using a different battery and i have the same issue so it can't be that. Any help is appreciated!
Sounds like an issue with the power button, it probably got stuck somehow either when you dropped it, or after you dropped it. Do a simple search for power button and you will find ways to fix it!
Holy crap i didn't even think of that! It makes total sense since every time i even tap my power button, even for just a second, it turns on. I've read around that clearing the cache or a factory reset could work. Is this true?
Unlikely, unless it's a software issue but it's always a possibility. Slam the phone against something to try to get the power button back into place, or open it up and try to see if you can fix it yourself, or replace it
The problem seems to be gone. I haven't had any issues for two days now. All i did was press the power button really hard multiple times. Thanks for you help man!

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