How To Fix Samsung Galaxy J3 Won’t Turn On

Power-related issues are very common not just to the #Samsung Galaxy J3 (#GalaxyJ3) but to all smartphones or devices that use battery to power up their hardware. So, if you own a smartphone, you can already expect that one of these days you will encounter issues like your device won’t turn on and charge or stays frozen for hours.

In this post, I will tackle an issue with the J3 that’s frozen and won’t turn on. It’s one of those common issues that may occur anytime, anywhere. One of the good things with the J3 is that it’s battery is user-removable. Meaning, if the battery gets damaged, you can just buy another battery and replace the old one without voiding your warranty. This is one of the features that many people wish available on the new Galaxy devices.

The troubleshooting guide below is basic and safe to follow. It’s based on the actual troubleshooting procedure that we technicians use when we’re trying to fix a problem that’s similar to the one we’re tackling here. So, it’s not just based on suggestions from people without experience. But then again, the steps are just suggestions. Things can happen even if you’re doing the safest of procedures so please proceed at your own risk.

Troubleshooting Galaxy J3 that won’t turn on

There is no guarantee that the problem will be fixed but it’s imperative we do some troubleshooting to determine the cause or the reason behind the phone’s refusal to power back on. Now, before we continue, here’s one problem we received from one of our readers who happen to own this phone and encountered exactly the same problem we’re tackling here.

“My phone is J3 and I hope you guys support this phone too. Before this, I was using the S6 but I want to have a new device so I gave my other phone to my brother and bought this one instead. Yesterday, it turned off and when I turn it back on, it won’t. The screen stays black and the phone won’t respond at all. Can you help?”

Step 1: Try to force reboot your device

This is a necessary procedure just before you jump into some complex troubleshooting procedure. Many would think charging is as simple as the charger pushing electricity to the battery. But let me tell you, the firmware plays a great role in this process. The system is actually the one that allows the current to flow through the circuits and into the battery. If the firmware crashed and won’t respond anymore, then charging would also be impossible.

To force reboot your phone, you just have to remove the back cover and then pull the battery out. Now, to make this procedure even more effective, press and hold the Power key for a minute while the battery is not connected to the device. This will drain store electricity in the capacitors, thus, refreshing your phone’s memory.
After a minute of pressing and holding the Power key, replace the battery and then the back cover. Try turning the phone on. If it turns on, then the problem is solved, otherwise, we might be dealing with a service firmware or hardware issue.

Step 2: Charge your phone

If the phone still won’t turn on after the forced reboot or battery pull procedure, then try to plug your phone in to charge because maybe the battery just got drained totally that’s why the phone cannot power up all the components.

Aside from the obvious reason, charging the device will also give you an idea if the problem is caused by a hardware or firmware issue. If it’s a hardware problem then the device may not display the usual charging icon on the screen and/or the LED indicator won’t be lit.

Allow the device to charge for a few minutes regardless whether the charging signs are showing or not. After that, try to turn the phone back on.

If the phone won’t charge, read this post: How to fix Samsung Galaxy J3 that won’t charge [Troubleshooting Guide].

Step 3: Attempt to boot it up in different modes

After the battery pull and charging procedures and the phone is still not turning on, then you need to try to boot it up in different modes. The first mode you have to try is Safe Mode. All third-party apps will be temporarily disabled in this mode so if the problem is caused by one of those apps, the phone should be able to boot up without any problem.

How to boot Galaxy J3 in Safe Mode

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

If the phone still won’t boot up in safe mode, try to start it up in recovery mode. When in this mode, the Android interface won’t be loaded so if the problem is due to firmware issue, the phone should be able to boot up successfully.

How to boot Galaxy J3 in Recovery Mode

1. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
2. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
3. 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).

Step 4: Attempt to boot it up in different modes

After the battery pull and charging procedures and the phone is still not turning on, then you need to try to boot it up in different modes. The first mode you have to try is Safe Mode. All third-party apps will be temporarily disabled in this mode so if the problem is caused by one of those apps, the phone should be able to boot up without any problem.

How to boot Galaxy J3 in Safe Mode

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

If the phone still won’t boot up in safe mode, try to start it up in recovery mode. When in this mode, the Android interface won’t be loaded so if the problem is due to firmware issue, the phone should be able to boot up successfully.

How to boot Galaxy J3 in Recovery Mode

1. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
2. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
3. 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).