Develop Bugs

[Q] HELP - Phone Not Turning On

Hey guys,
I apologize for the long post - I tried to provide as much detail as possible.
So over a month ago, my phone randomly turned itself off. Then I noticed that it kept trying to turn back on again - it was going into a loop of loading up to the 'Samsung Galaxy S III' boot screen before turning off and so on. Upon looking it up, I noticed that people with the same issue attributed it to the power button getting jammed (Makes sense as it's hit numerous times per day). The advice to hit the power button on an edge to unjam it worked fine for me. My phone was back up and running.
More recently, it had gotten into the habit of randomly turning off and restarting - I attributed it to a software glitch and did not think much of it. Yesterday, it turned itself off. When I tried to turn it on, it gave me no response. I took out the battery and put it back on and noticed that without me hitting the power button, it would turn itself on and load up to the 'Samsung Galaxy S III' boot screen before going to a black screen (Not even the blue LED or Samsung logo came on that usually follows the initial boot screen). Taking out and putting the battery numerous times gave me the same result. The difference from the first time is that now it's silent after turning to a black screen indicating that it was still on. Initially, I thought it was the same problem as before - a jam on the power button. But trying what I tried last time has not worked. My phone is completely useless. Even hooking it up to a micro-usb charger did not change anything. The closest problem and potential solution can be found by googling "Samsung Galaxy S3 not booting up, keeps restarting showing ”Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-19300” black screen" (I cannot post the link as a new user). Upon taking the suggestion from that webpage of running 'adb logcat', I realized that my PC is not even recognizing that my phone is connected as of course it is incapable of booting up. I've tried entering recovery mode - it gives me the blue "entering recovery mode..." text before turning into a black screen.
I rooted it a while back and have had no issues - I only rooted it in order to get rid of the bloatware that was starting to affect the performance. I have not tried flashing any ROMs at all - I'm still running stock albeit rooted.
I care more about getting the data out of the phone (that is not synced to anything such as some crucial text messages..etc) than the actual phone's status. Please if anyone could help me that, it would be really appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Well, your not gonna get anything until you can power up and stay that way.
It sounds like the power button. Just because attempts to unjam it this time don't work, doesn't mean it's not the source this time. The tapping it to free it up is temporary at best and for most people it doesn't help. Best I can say is either open it up and attempt a true fix yourself (replace the button, or if lucky reseat it), or take it to a repair shop.
You can most likely ignore any search results that include I9300 issues. It's too different and has different problems than ours.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4

johankid15 said:
Upon taking the suggestion from that webpage of running 'adb logcat', I realized that my PC is not even recognizing that my phone is connected as of course it is incapable of booting up. I've tried entering recovery mode - it gives me the blue "entering recovery mode..." text before turning into a black screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's assume its not the power button issue, If it is then follow Doc's advice.
When you plug it to PC, under these conditions, PC won't recognize it unless its in Download mode. So while its turned off, press and hold home + Volume down and then press power on button. Keep them pressed until you actually see the Big yellow triangle and warning. Then plug into PC. It hopefully will install the drivers if not installed before.
Run command
ADB Devices
it should recognize and list your device.

99% it's the button. Afaik, only that or a short could cause the device to try and turn on by itself after inserting the battery.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4

DocHoliday77 said:
99% it's the button. Afaik, only that or a short could cause the device to try and turn on by itself after inserting the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm... absolutely not disputing the button but just being Devil's advocate here.
Would something similar happen if the kernel boot image somehow got corrupted ?

Thanks all for your responses. I've taken it to a repair shop and instructed them to try and fix the power button. They were going to first flash it to see it was a software related problem. If what DocHoliday77 has said is true, then it should be able to work without affecting the software (given that they can fix it).
I will keep you posted. Thanks again!

Perseus71 said:
Umm... absolutely not disputing the button but just being Devil's advocate here.
Would something similar happen if the kernel boot image somehow got corrupted ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know you were just giving possible alternatives. Wasn't trying to argue against you at all. More just stating that I'd look into the button as the culprit first.
johankid15 said:
Thanks all for your responses. I've taken it to a repair shop and instructed them to try and fix the power button. They were going to first flash it to see it was a software related problem. If what DocHoliday77 has said is true, then it should be able to work without affecting the software (given that they can fix it).
I will keep you posted. Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Putting me to the test, eh? I'm glad to hear you told them that though. If I am right, and they attempted a flash, but then the phone powered off.....hard brick!
Good luck!
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4

DocHoliday77 said:
I know you were just giving possible alternatives. Wasn't trying to argue against you at all. More just stating that I'd look into the button as the culprit first.
Putting me to the test, eh? I'm glad to hear you told them that though. If I am right, and they attempted a flash, but then the phone powered off.....hard brick!
Good luck!
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it was a problem with the button - Yes I was putting you to the test! But it was something I had suspected given what had happened the previous month. The repair shop fixed it and it's all good. While we are on the topic, I was wondering if there is a one-stop solution to backing up the contents on your phone? I know there are multiple apps for various purposes (calls/texts, application data..etc) - is there one that is capable of backing it up (from phone memory + sd) and restoring it? I figured something like that would be very easy. For example, you could connect your phone to your PC/mac and it would automatically back up your stuff for you... This experience has taught me the power of such a tool. If anything that could be an idea for you devs
Thanks again for all your help! It's greatly appreciated! I'll be working diligently to back up everything on a regular basis now

Glad you got it fixed! And glad to hear I didn't send on some goose chase to find what was wrong!
There are several solutions for backups, but most require root. Using CWM or TWRP recovery, you can make a nandroid backup, which basically creates an image of the partitions you select. Root not required but you do have to flash a custom recovery.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4

DocHoliday77 said:
Glad you got it fixed! And glad to hear I didn't send on some goose chase to find what was wrong!
There are several solutions for backups, but most require root. Using CWM or TWRP recovery, you can make a nandroid backup, which basically creates an image of the partitions you select. Root not required but you do have to flash a custom recovery.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers! Actually I know about both recoveries - I think I have one of them already. But a nandroid backup is merely an image so it will return it to that point in time (not very different to system restore, although i know system restore does not actually touch your documents & files). I was thinking something more flexible that would allow you to easily backup on a regular/daily basis by just adding to whatever has already been packed on a remote location (PC, cloud solution...etc). A solution similar to how some external hard drive softwares work - once set up, you have the option of automatically backing up stuff (certain directories...etc) set by a certain time interval...

Sounds like you have a grasp of the nandroid concept. For backing up apps and app data, there is no better than Titanium Backup. But for your personal files there are lots of apps that can do this. Many are tied to a cloud storage service, so if you have an account for one, see if they have an app that'll help. There are also those that can sync to your computer. I've never used either myself.
Personally I use nandroid and TiB (titanium) and the rest I can manually back up easy enough using a wireless FTP app.
Everyone will have their own opinions on the best way. In the end this is just one of those "find what works best for you" situations. Gather info on a few solutions, try them and see what you like.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4

DocHoliday77 said:
Sounds like you have a grasp of the nandroid concept. For backing up apps and app data, there is no better than Titanium Backup. But for your personal files there are lots of apps that can do this. Many are tied to a cloud storage service, so if you have an account for one, see if they have an app that'll help. There are also those that can sync to your computer. I've never used either myself.
Personally I use nandroid and TiB (titanium) and the rest I can manually back up easy enough using a wireless FTP app.
Everyone will have their own opinions on the best way. In the end this is just one of those "find what works best for you" situations. Gather info on a few solutions, try them and see what you like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 all the way. I personally don't use beyond nandroid and TiBu. Do please note, TiBu does indeed have an option to sync automatically with cloud of your choice, typically used after backup but can be used on its own.
I know for a fact many friends have been using various free cloud services and their apps to sync Google drive included. I for one, periodically copy my nandroids and my TiBu files to a personal cloud (WD Mybook Live) and that's that. I am sure there are concerns with using such a method. As doc correctly said, use what works best for you.

1240 65682648
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I'm familiar with Titatanium Backup and My Backup Root. I haven't used either in a while so should get on that!
Just to confirm between the three (nandroid, TiBa and My Backup Root), I should be able to save non-syncable text messages correct? (I believe apps like groupme stores them in the cloud, though I am not sure about whatsapp (do either of you know if you switch phones, you'll get your old messages back? Are they synced to the whatsapp server or just live on your phone locally?))
One last question (sorry!) - do you know what is the easiest way to document all the apps installed on your phone before wiping it out (without manually taking a screen shot of every single page of the app drawer)? I have nova launcher installed so I can backup all the home screen settings and save it to the cloud...
Thanks!

johankid15 said:
Just to confirm between the three (nandroid, TiBa and My Backup Root), I should be able to save non-syncable text messages correct? (I believe apps like groupme stores them in the cloud, though I am not sure about whatsapp (do either of you know if you switch phones, you'll get your old messages back? Are they synced to the whatsapp server or just live on your phone locally?))
One last question (sorry!) - do you know what is the easiest way to document all the apps installed on your phone before wiping it out (without manually taking a screen shot of every single page of the app drawer)? I have nova launcher installed so I can backup all the home screen settings and save it to the cloud...
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To whatsapp, the app itself has a way to backup the message history to your internal SD Card. From there you will need to copy to external SD. If you used Titanium, it will backup the messages as well as your Whatsapp account. On the new device if you restore that backup and open Whatsapp, it would be as if you were at the time of the backup. You don't have to login to whatsapp and re-validate.Titanium will also help document all the apps you had on the phone. If you copied all of Titanium backup to the new phone, all these apps will appear as un-installed there. You can then restore them and they will appear in App drawer. Nova's settings included.

Perseus71 said:
To whatsapp, the app itself has a way to backup the message history to your internal SD Card. From there you will need to copy to external SD. If you used Titanium, it will backup the messages as well as your Whatsapp account. On the new device if you restore that backup and open Whatsapp, it would be as if you were at the time of the backup. You don't have to login to whatsapp and re-validate.Titanium will also help document all the apps you had on the phone. If you copied all of Titanium backup to the new phone, all these apps will appear as un-installed there. You can then restore them and they will appear in App drawer. Nova's settings included.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brilliant thanks a lot!

Note that if you use stock messaging, and you switch phones you probably will not be able to restore your messages. DB structure will be different which can cause anything to performance issues to app hangups and data loss.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
Note that if you use stock messaging, and you switch phones you probably will not be able to restore your messages. DB structure will be different which can cause anything to performance issues to app hangups and data loss.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually use Textra and before Handcent. Restoring from those should be fine right?

From one app to the same app just on a different device should be fine. The app will still function as it did before.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk

Transferring Apps/Data to Replacement Note7

When we get it, will "Smart Swich" do the job, Kies doesn't seem to want to back me up.
Perhaps best just to start clean again?

When I first set up my Note 7 I used smart switch and within a week I did a factory reset because of some insane battery drain. I'm paranoid of that happening again and will probably just set it up, and load everything from the cloud after initial set-up completes.

So it's a cloud restore vs. a clean install. Just planning for the best way to go when I get my replacement.

Most of my stuff is already on SD card, when I moved my files from previous phone, so it's just settings and installed programs, so I may take few screen shots to help in the future settings, maybe do back up to cloud, but probably do manual restore. Google has option, where any new phone will have all your programs automatically reinstalled, but my kids have couple tablets registered on my account and I don't want their games on my phone (already been there). If I figure how to manually mark programs for reinstall, I may use that. Either way no big deal.

pete4k said:
Most of my stuff is already on SD card, when I moved my files from previous phone, so it's just settings and installed programs, so I may take few screen shots to help in the future settings, maybe do back up to cloud, but probably do manual restore. Google has option, where any new phone will have all your programs automatically reinstalled, but my kids have couple tablets registered on my account and I don't want their games on my phone (already been there). If I figure how to manually mark programs for reinstall, I may use that. Either way no big deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When restoring the phone there should be an option for you to see & select apps you want to install on the new device.
You can also go to the play store, under my apps and remove ones you don't want associated with your account any longer, and I believe they'd disappear from the list of apps being installed on the new device.

I'm debating whether to do a clean install and not use the cloud or any other restore option. Don't want to bring in any "cruft" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruft

That was the reason I opted to manually download the apps once setup was completed. I was trying to limit any "cruft" myself and my phone ran a lot better the second time around. Probably had nothing to do with the fact that I did it this way hahaha

fenderguy05 said:
When restoring the phone there should be an option for you to see & select apps you want to install on the new device.
You can also go to the play store, under my apps and remove ones you don't want associated with your account any longer, and I believe they'd disappear from the list of apps being installed on the new device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I should have said easier, you're right you can delete them etc. but there has to be 400 to 500 of them on my account, probably want maybe 40-50 for now, so probably easier to manually download 50 than delete 350 to 450 LOL.

I will backup to Samsung cloud, but I have never used Samsung cloud before so I don't know how the reinstall works on the new device. In all my past devices I rooted them first thing after activating then used titanium and installed all my apps AND data (the data is the hard part to migrate) to my new device. This time I came from a Dev edition Note 4, rooted, but with no root (at the time) on the N7 I opted to try Helium. Helium was able to migrate almost (there were a few that didn't) all my apps and data from my N4, to my dropbox, then on my N7 I installed the apps and data from my dropbox using Helium. I let the texts and that kind of data stay with my N4 - I have probably 50K of various texts over the almost 2 years I had my N4. Didn't want all of that migrated over, started fresh on the N7. So I will be using Helium again. It will take probably a day to get things set up on my new N7 like it is on this current N7. Yes, it's a PITA, but there really isn't much choice. I could keep this N7, and according to samsungs website where you can check the IMEI to see if your phone is one of the effected ones with a battery issue, mine is not, but still I think I should do the swap if it is available. I am concerned if I don't that Verizon and/or Samsung could say they will no longer warranty or cover the phone since I didn't swap it out. Right now Verizon has no N7's to swap to (I called them last night, they don't have any), so I will wait until they do then switch over to the new N7 then.

So I used Helium when I moved from my last phone to my Note 7. It took me about a week and a half after that to get everything the way I want it and I rather not go through that again. When I use Helium it shows that about 1/3 of my programs can not have their data backed up, things like: skype, paypal, Nova Launcher, Samsung Pay, etc. I know if I root the phone I can use Titanium backup to do a full backup of all the apps and data but I don't want to risk putting a Sprint Rom on my phone and loosing everything and I don't I like loosing the ability to use some of the programs that won't work if the phone is rooted (like Samung Pay).
Is there an alternative program that will grab all these programs and their settings or is root my only option? And is there a temporary root option as I would only need it for one session on each phone (one to back up and once to restore)? I know this isn't the forum for the root question but it all goes together with getting my phone mirrored to my new one when it comes in.

Apps did not restore

So... Finally got my replacement Note 7 from Verizon meaning I had to turn my loaner Galaxy S7 in.
The Verizon employee I was working with skipped through the setup wizard (didn't input my Google Account information or anything), then proceeded to do use Smart Switch. I insisted he use the cord because it would be faster he denied it and used the store's wireless network instead. Because he used the wireless, Smart Switch estimated the transfer to take an hour and six minutes so he suggested we didn't bring over the apps which cut it down to 15 minutes. I didn't think this was a big deal at the time because I figured the apps would come back from the Play store anyways.
Later on, I signed into my Google account to realize that my old apps weren't queueing for download. Does anyone know another way around this without manually installing every app that was on the old phone? Maybe rerunning the setup wizard?

go to settings and go to google backups. or you can try re-restoring it. in the future, only use smart switch, and save it on your external SD. Then you will always have a backup on you no matter what. On top of that i use nova launcher so i make a back up of that as well and email it to myself. then i just restore it and my phone is always set up visually the way i had it.
you can always run the back up again whenever. also a good idea when your phone feels sluggish or has a lot of battery drainage to just factory reset, and restore the smart switch backup.

chillsen said:
go to settings and go to google backups. or you can try re-restoring it. in the future, only use smart switch, and save it on your external SD. Then you will always have a backup on you no matter what. On top of that i use nova launcher so i make a back up of that as well and email it to myself. then i just restore it and my phone is always set up visually the way i had it.
you can always run the back up again whenever. also a good idea when your phone feels sluggish or has a lot of battery drainage to just factory reset, and restore the smart switch backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your quick response. In settings, I see 'Google' and I see 'Backup and Reset'. Neither menus seem to have an option for 'Google Backups' or mention anything about restore EXCEPT automatically restore which is turned on and doesn't seem to be working.
Looks like I may have to backup Smart Switch to external sd, then reset and do the setup wizard again. I wasn't aware that you could backup to SD from smart switch so that's good to know.

Brttclne22 said:
Looks like I may have to backup Smart Switch to external sd, then reset and do the setup wizard again. I wasn't aware that you could backup to SD from smart switch so that's good to know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it should be more visible but the option to do that is in the menu button on the top right of the screen, there's an option for "external sd" sorry that happened.

I had the same problem. I had to manually go through my apps and tell it to install each one..... the freaking guy that handled my swap went through and did the initial setup and crap on all my apps..... The bone head also started and accepted the terms on all the garbage Verizon apps before I could explain that I don't need use or want any of them.... he looked like I told him his cooking sucked when I told him if I could pay an extra 50 bucks to get my device WITHOUT any of their garbage apps I would....
Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

How to backup and restore pixel without root? Having vibration problems.

Hello,
The vibration motor has suddenly failed on my phone. It now hardly vibrates at all and is extremely loud.
The problem seems more or less identical to this one watch?v=ZPqGD2uGG4o if you are curious.
The sound doesn't come from the speakers and I have no reason to believe it could possible be a software issue. Ie no recent installs or updates.
First thing I did was contact google. They had me boot into safemode to see if the problem persists. It does. However they now require that I reformat the phone.
This leads me to my question on how I can backup ALL app data. I have 400+ apps and it would suck to have to reset them all and or lose data.
I can sync phone contacts and such but without root I don't have a way of backing everything up.
Or is there another way to get Google to actually get me a replacement?
Thank you for your time.

If you're bootloader unlocked then root it and use Titanium backup, save it to the computer afterwards. Then unroot and factory reset as they ask. I'd probably not do that but if you have to get a new device, well then you have to. Maybe there is another way, but I've not seen it. Non root backup apps don't backup and restore your data reliably. If you are bootloader locked then I do believe you're out of luck. Pretty lousy of them to make you do that. If they just sent you a new one then you could copy from the old to the new. Maybe suggest that to them.

When you set up the new pixel using info from an old device, how much data is transferred? That may be an option.
I just went from rooted with custom ROM to full stock unrooted. All of my apps restored from the play store. I had to log into a few, but others seemed to retain app data, like Strava for instance. Google's back up seems to be getting better and better. I use SMS backup and restore for SMS/MMS because Google's backup service does not support MMS.

Well in case anyone is wondering... I bit the bullet and did the factory reset. The problem still exists of course.
Rant ahead, sorry/
There is an odd sound coming from within the device itself (not the speakers) and Google blames software? Is there some hidden second speaker inside?? It quite dumb and infuriating.
Even if there was doubt you would think running in safe mode which disables all the third party software would be enough to prove it.
It took me hours to copy everything and make sure everything was backed up. I don't blame the rep, he told me he HAD to make me do this. Honestly, I kinda wish I would have just told him I did it and it didn't work since there was no way it could have been software.
Well now a refurbished replacement is on the way. Which isn't ideal either. It has an issue that isn't too uncommon. I can find a dozen posts online about it which means there is probably hundreds of people with this problem at least. Now I have to put up with a refurbished which probably has a battery worse off as well as who knows what else.
This whole phone feels rushed, to be honest, and I regret buying it.
I won't be buying any more google hardware unless either they change in the future or the particular device has months of reviews.
/End rant
bobby janow said:
If you're bootloader unlocked then root it and use Titanium backup, save it to the computer afterwards. Then unroot and factory reset as they ask. I'd probably not do that but if you have to get a new device, well then you have to. Maybe there is another way, but I've not seen it. Non root backup apps don't backup and restore your data reliably. If you are bootloader locked then I do believe you're out of luck. Pretty lousy of them to make you do that. If they just sent you a new one then you could copy from the old to the new. Maybe suggest that to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know you could unroot and make it seem like it didn't happen. This is what I should have done. Thanks for the suggestion.
"If they just sent you a new one then you could copy from the old to the new. Maybe suggest that to them" I suggested this to them several times. One guy told me he wasn't allowed to even rma it until I reformat despite there being no way its a hardware issue.
mlin said:
When you set up the new pixel using info from an old device, how much data is transferred? That may be an option.
I just went from rooted with custom ROM to full stock unrooted. All of my apps restored from the play store. I had to log into a few, but others seemed to retain app data, like Strava for instance. Google's back up seems to be getting better and better. I use SMS backup and restore for SMS/MMS because Google's backup service does not support MMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I had the replacement phone up front then transfering is easy. Google even has a built in mechanism, but google wouldn't RMA it and have one sent out until AFTER resetting it. A lot of data is synced but my 400+ apps, none of them seem to sync via the backup and restore feature. I also have 80+gbs of other files beside pictures. I bought the 128gb for a reason... Thanks for the suggestion.

My Note 10+ 5G (Snapdragon) factory reset itself and my SD card...any hope?

I have no idea what happened. I was cleaning up leaves in my yard today, went to pull my phone out to take a picture, and found that it had factory reset itself in my pocket, and wiped my SD card along with it. I have a lot of my stuff backed up, but there is a lot that's not backed up as well. I'm really hoping there is a way to get my data back -- is there?
A quick search on Google for recovery applications gives many options, but they all need root access, and I don't think that's possible on the Snapdragon.
I'm currently running a scan on my SD card outside of my phone with an application called MiniTool. No idea if this will yield results or not.
Any suggestions?

Theres an app called galaxy labs but dont think that would be much use I think what would have happened was phone in pocket pin got accidentally typed 10 times to then cause the factory reset you could try the samsung and google route to restore but might not have everything

Ugh. Bummer, for real. My heart is broken.
Is there a way to disable the 10 attempts thing? I've noticed that this phone unlocks itself and hits buttons quite often. I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.

It's also possible that someone hacked your google or Samsung account and wiped your device remotely...
Not probable but I'd definitely be resetting passwords...
Just a thought...

nomaxtech said:
Ugh. Bummer, for real. My heart is broken.
Is there a way to disable the 10 attempts thing? I've noticed that this phone unlocks itself and hits buttons quite often. I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Under secure lock settings. It's off by default actually normally.
If your sd card wasn't encrypted you have a chance of finding those files. Just make sure you keep it out of the phone and don't write anything on it until you have been able to use a file eraser app to find them. I've done it before myself.

That sucks man, if you had encrypt the card then i don't think data recovery will help. Well here's to hoping you didn't.
Losing data sucks especially if it's years worth....I've been there. I had an old tool I used back in the day I'll try to find it again man that thing did wonders recovering images but videos not so much, did recover a good amount though.
Also, don't go downloading any and all data recovery tool on the internet....lots are bogus.