What to do if your Samsung Galaxy J3 is stuck on the logo and won’t boot up [Troubleshooting Guide]

Getting stuck on the logo while booting up is a sign of a firmware issue but whether or not it’s serious or minor, we have to dig deeper to know. We have received a lot of complaints from the owners of the Samsung Galaxy J3 that have experienced this kind of problem. According to many of them, the phone just won’t boot up or can’t get past the logo for some reason.

In this post, I will tackle this kind of problem with the Galaxy J3 being the subject or our troubleshooting. We will look into possibilities and causes and try to rule out each one of them so that we can come up with a conclusion that may point out what the real culprit is. If you own this nice phone and are currently bugged by a similar problem, then continue reading below as this post may be able to help you fix it.

Before we jump right into our troubleshooting, if you have other issues, drop by our Galaxy J3 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed many issues with this phone since we started supporting it. Try to find problems that are similar with yours and use the troubleshooting procedures or solutions we suggested. Should you need further assistance from us, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit. Don’t worry, it’s free.

Troubleshooting Galaxy J3 that gets stuck on the logo during boot up

The purpose of this troubleshooting guide is for us to know what the problem is so we can do something about it. This kind of problem hinders you from using your phone so it has to be fixed as soon as possible. Before we jump into our troubleshooting steps, here’s one of the messages we received that best explains this issue:

Problem: Hi guys. I hope y’all doing great. I have a problem with my phone and I think it’s a serious one. But before I tell you what it is, I just want you to know that I’m always taking good care of all my devices and this one hasn’t been dropped nor submerged in water so it’s neither physical nor liquid damage. My phone is a Galaxy J3, it’s cheaper compared to other Galaxy devices but it gets the job done. However, a few days back, it rebooted on its own and could no longer boot up or reach the  home screen. It gets stuck on the logo when I reboot it and it stays there until the battery is drained out and yes, I’ve tried leaving it alone until the battery ran out. Since then I haven’t been able to use it so I need your help to fix this. What must I do?

Troubleshooting: Please go through the steps below to try and fix this kind of problem with your Galaxy J3.

Step 1: Reboot your phone in safe mode so third-party apps will be disabled

It’s always possible that one or some of the third-party apps on your phone is causing this problem. We’ve seen a lot of cases like this that were caused by third-party apps so we have to tackle this possibility first and rule it out. By booting your phone in safe mode, you’re temporarily disabling all third-party apps so if the problem is caused by one of them, your phone should be able to boot up successfully. Here’s how to start your J3 in safe mode:

1. Turn the device off.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the screen with the device name.
3. When ‘SAMSUNG’ appears on the screen, release the Power key.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode’.

If the phone successfully booted up in this mode, then it confirms our theory that at least a third-party app is preventing your phone from booting up successfully. So, the next thing you should do is find the app that’s causing the problem, clear its cache and data first, and if that won’t work, uninstall it.

How to clear app cache and data on Galaxy J3

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Applications.
4. Tap the desired application in the default list or tap Menu icon > Show system apps to display preinstalled apps.
5. Tap Storage.
6. Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
7. Tap Clear cache.

How to uninstall app from your Galaxy J3

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Applications.
4. Tap the desired application in the default list or tap Menu icon > Show system apps to display preinstalled apps.
5. Tap Uninstall.
6. Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

Every after you cleared the cache and data of an app, you have to try to boot your phone normally to see if the problem gets fixed, if not, then you have to boot in safe mode again, uninstall the app and try to normally start your phone. You may have to uninstall more than one app to know which of them is causing the problem.

Step 2: Reboot your phone in Recovery Mode and wipe cache partition

You only have to do this if your phone cannot boot if safe mode successfully because it might be a problem with the firmware. Phones that have issues with their firmware can sure boot in recovery mode as it is their fail-safe. However, instead of doing a reset, we have to try to wipe the cache partition first to delete all system caches so they’ll be replaced. It’s an effective method to fix this kind of problem but there’s no guarantee. The good thing when it works is that, you don’t have to go through the hassle of backing up all your files and data as none of them will be delete. Here’s how you do it on your Galaxy J3:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key.
4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’.
6. Press the Power key to select.
7. Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ and press the Power key to select.
8. When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

It will take a little bit longer for the phone to reboot after wiping the cache partition as it will rebuild caches that were deleted. However, if the phone is still stuck on the logo after this, then you have no other option but to reset your phone.

Step 3: Reboot in Recovery Mode and Master Reset your device

Assuming the phone can successfully boot up in safe mode but still gets stuck on the logo if started in normal mode, then you can still backup your files and data and then disable the Factory Reset Protection prior to the reset. To backup your data, simply sync your phone with your Google account and then copy your files to your SD card or computer. The FRP, however, has to be disabled so you won’t be locked out of your device after the reset especially if you don’t know what your Google ID and password is. This is how you do it:

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Cloud and accounts.
4. Tap Accounts.
5. Tap Google.
6. Tap your Google ID email address. If you have multiple accounts setup, you will need to repeat these steps for each account.
7. Tap Menu.
8. Tap Remove account.
9. Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.

After this, I suggest you reset your phone through the Settings menu to prevent further complications…

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Cloud and accounts.
5. Tap Backup and restore.
6. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
7. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
8. Tap the back key twice to return to the Settings menu, then tap General Management.
9. Tap Reset.
10. Tap Factory data reset.
11. Tap Reset device.
12. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your PIN or password.
13. Tap Continue.
14. Tap Delete all.

However, if your phone cannot boot up in safe mode, then you have to reset your phone via the Recovery mode but sad to say all your files and data will be deleted and can no longer be restored.

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
6. Press Power button to select.
7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope this troubleshooting guide can help you.

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