How to fix Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) that won’t turn on [Troubleshooting Guide]

A phone that won’t turn might have some problems with the hardware or it could be just a minor glitch in the system. We have some readers who own Samsung Galaxy A3 units and reported that their devices no longer power on. The thing about this problem is that it’s not immediately clear if the issue started on its own or was caused by some factors that’s why it’s important that you, as the owner, would take a little time troubleshooting to know if this can be fixed without having to visit a tech.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your phone that won’t turn on and the subject of our troubleshooting is the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 Edition. This guide will be based on how our reader described the problem. So, if you own this phone and are currently bugged by the same problem, then continue reading below as this post may be able to help you fix it.

Now, before we jump to our troubleshooting guide, if even you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to different issue, then I suggest you visit our Galaxy A3 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most commonly reported issues with this device. Try to find a problem that’s similar with yours and use the solutions or workarounds we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and we will include your concern in our next posts.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy A3 that no longer turns on

We have to consider all possibilities and rule out each of them until we can easily pinpoint what the cause of the problem is and do something about it. It’s in knowing the cause that we can easily formulate a solution. But before we jump to the steps, try to read the problem sent by one of our readers below…

Problem: Hi guys. I have a Galaxy A3 phone, it’s a Samsung smartphone that I bought in February to replace my old Galaxy S3. Anyways, I noticed recently that it became really slow until one day the screen stays blank and would no longer turn on. I’ve already tried a lot of times to reboot it but it really won’t. I don’t know what to do about it so if you guys can tell the things I can do to try to fix this, please help me. Thanks.

Troubleshooting: Now that you know how this issue occurred, at least, to one of our readers, it’s time we tried something that might fix it. Here’s what you should do about it:

Step 1: Try to do the Forced Reboot procedure

We don’t know why the phone no longer turns on but the first thing we have to assume is that it might be just a glitch in the system, after all, it occurred without apparent reason or cause. So, the first things you have to do is to try to see if you can bring your phone back to life by doing the most simple troubleshooting procedure–forced reboot.

This is actually equivalent to the battery pull procedure we often do to phones with removable batteries. Your Galaxy A3 doesn’t have a user-removable battery that’s why you need to do this combo to soft reset your phone: press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys together for 10 seconds. Assuming your phone has enough battery to power up its components and if the problem is indeed caused by a minor glitch, it should reboot normally after doing this.

However, if your A3 doesn’t turn on with the forced reboot procedure, then move on to the next step.

Step 2: Attempt to run your A3 in Safe mode

It is also possible that the issue is caused by one or some of the apps you installed. We need to rule this possibility out, so in this step, I want you to try rebooting your phone in Safe mode. In this environment, all third-party elements are temporarily disabled. If one of them is the cause, then your phone should have not problem starting in this mode. Here are the steps in starting your Galaxy A3 in Safe mode:

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

If your phone successfully booted up in this mode, then one or some of the apps you installed is causing the problem. If you are suspecting an app to be the cause, then there are a few things you can do about it: you may try updating, resetting or even uninstalling it.

How to update apps on Galaxy A3

From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
Tap Play Store.
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.
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.

How to clear apps caches and data on your Galaxy A3

From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap Applications.
Tap Application manager.
Tap the desired application in the default list or tap MORE > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
Tap Clear cache.

How to uninstall apps from your Galaxy A3

From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap Applications.
Tap Application manager.
Tap the desired application
Tap Uninstall.
Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

On the other hand, if your phone still failed to start in safe mode and showing only the black screen or if doing the procedures above didn’t fix the problem, then you’ll have to go after the firmware as the problem might have been rooted from it.

Step 3: Attempt to start your phone in Recovery mode

Even if your device has a serious firmware problem, it may still be able to enter the Android system recovery environment wherein the usual interface you use when using your phone isn’t loaded. The problem is your phone won’t turn on so if we can successfully start it up even in this mode, you can already reset assured that the hardware is fine. In which case, there’s a big possibility that the problem can be fixed on your end by doing a couple of things: you can try wiping the cache partition and/or do the Master reset.

How to reboot your phone in Recovery mode and wipe cache partition

When it comes to your files and data, this procedure is safe. Meaning, none of them will be deleted as only the system caches will be cleared off the phone’s memory so that they can be replaced with new ones. This is the first procedure I want you to do in case your phone hasn’t successfully booted up in Safe mode and here’s how you do it:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
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).
Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power key to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ and press the Power key to select.
When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

The phone may take a little time rebuilding the caches after wiping the cache partition so wait for it until it becomes active.

However, if your phone still won’t boot up successfully after wiping the cache partition, then it’s time to reset it.

Step 4: Reboot your phone in Recovery mode and reset it

This will, of course, delete all your files and data that are stored in the phone’s internal storage but you don’t have a choice at this moment. At least now, your phone has successfully booted up in recovery mode and that’s a good thing. It’s time to bring it back to its factory default settings and here’s how you do it through the Recovery mode:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
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).
Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

After this procedure and if your phone still has issues, then it’s time to bring your phone to a shop and let the handle the problem for you.

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to contact us by filling up this form. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.