How to fix your Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) that keeps restarting on its own [Troubleshooting Guide]

Performance-related issues such as frequent reboots are among the most common problems we’ve received from our readers since we started providing support to some Android devices. Recently, many Samsung Galaxy A3 owners have been complaining about it and that’s the reason why we publish posts like this.

In this article, I will tackle this problem with the Galaxy A3 to provide support to our readers who contacted us regarding this issue. We will look into every possibility and rule them out one by one until we can determine what it’s all about and what needs to be done to fix it. So if you’re one of the owners of this phone and are currently bugged by a similar concern, continue reading below as this post maybe able to help you.

But before anything else though, if you are trying to find a solution to a different problem, then try to visit our Galaxy A3 troubleshooting page as we already addressed some of the most common issues. We might have already provided solution to your problem so try to find issues that are similar with yours and feel free to use our solutions and/or workarounds. If they don’t work or if you can’t find anything similar with your problem, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit. We’ll be looking into your problem.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy A3 that keeps rebooting on its own

Problem: Hello guys. I have a Galaxy A3 that I bought in January to replace my old Galaxy S4. Since then I’ve been using it without any issues but recently, I noticed that the phone slowed down a bit and that there are times when it reboots on its own. The phone is still working fine though  but I just want to make it work perfectly like before. Do you know what’s the problem with it and how can I fix it? Thanks.

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Troubleshooting: Based on our experience, when the phone starts to restart on its own, the problem must be with the firmware. However, we also have to consider the fact that third-party apps may also cause the system to crash, which may also lead to this kind of problem. So, in this troubleshooting guide, we will try to consider every factor just to be thorough. With that said, here’s what I suggest you do:

Step 1: Observe your phone closely while in Safe mode

It is important that you run your phone in Safe mode first to know if this problem is caused by one or some of the apps you downloaded and installed on your phone. Booting your phone in safe mode alone doesn’t fix the problem but it will give you a clearer view as to what the problem really is all about. This is how you reboot your A3 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’.

After you’ve successfully started your device in this mode, find out if it’s performance is still slow and if it still reboots on its own. Assuming these issues don’t occur in this mode, then it’s confirmed that one or some of the apps you installed caused them. You need to find out which of those apps is causing the problem but try updating all your apps first as it might have something to do with compatibility:

  1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Play Store.
  3. Tap the Menu key and then tap My Apps. To keep your apps automatically updated, tap the Menu key, tap Settings, and then tap Auto-update apps to select the check box.
  4. Choose one of the following options:
    • Tap Update [xx] to update all applications with updates available.
    • Tap an individual application and then tap Update to update a single application.

If, however, you already have some suspects in mind, then try clearing their caches and data and if that won’t work, uninstall them one by one until the problem is fixed.

How to clear apps cache and data on your Galaxy A3

  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 pre-installed apps.
  5. Tap Storage.
  6. Tap Clear cache.
  7. Tap Clear data and then tap OK.

How to uninstall applications from your Galaxy A3

  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 pre-installed apps.
  5. Tap Uninstall.
  6. Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

On the other hand, if the issues continue even if the phone is in safe mode, then move on to the next step.

Step 2: Delete all system caches as some of them may be corrupt or obsolete

Among the most common causes of performance-related issues are some corrupt system caches. These are temporary files created and used by the system to make your phone run smoothly. If some of them are corrupt or obsolete and the system continues to use them, then issues like this may occur. You need to delete them so that the firmware will replace them with new ones. Since you don’t have access to individual caches, all you need to do is start your phone up in Recovery Mode and wipe the cache partition, here’s how you do it…

  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.

The phone may take a little time booting up after this as it rebuilds the caches. Once it becomes active, closely observe it to know if the problems still occur and if so, then you have to do the next step.

Step 3: Backup important files and reset your Galaxy A3

As long as this problem isn’t caused by liquid or physical damage, then a  reset will take care of it. You have no other option at this point so make a backup of your important files and data and then reset your phone. But before you actually do the reset, make sure you take note of your Google ID and password or better yet, disable the Factory Reset Protection on your Galaxy A3 so that you won’t be locked.

How to disable the Factory Reset Protection

  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.

How to reset your Samsung Galaxy A3

  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.

If you like, you can also reset your phone from the Settings menu…

  1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Cloud and accounts.
  4. Tap Backup and restore.
  5. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
  6. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
  7. Tap the back key twice to return to the Settings menu, then tap General Management.
  8. Tap Reset.
  9. Tap Factory data reset.
  10. Tap Reset device.
  11. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your PIN or password.
  12. Tap Continue.
  13. Tap Delete all.

I hope this helps.

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