Fix a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 that’s stuck on the logo during boot up, keeps rebooting
Here’s one problem that’s been haunting Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (#GalaxyNote5, #Note5) owners after the Marshmallow update–device is stuck on the Samsung logo during boot up or keeps rebooting. But just to make things a bit clearer here, being stuck during boot up is totally different from constant reboot and there are several factors that may lead to these issues.
We already received a lot of problems like these and we can say they’re not exclusive to the Note 5. They were common to the S5 and Note 4 and even the S6 series have these issues especially after the Marshmallow update.
Being stuck on the logo is one sign that the update may have corrupted the system cache and/or data while the other one may be a sign that the firmware is bad or corrupt or has some files missing. In other words, these issues are often firmware-related and I will walk you through in troubleshooting these issues. Read on to learn more about them but before going further, here is a few of the problems we received:
“My phone is stuck in the power up mode. It will display the “Samsung Galaxy Note 5 – Powered by Android,” then start to display the Samsung logo with the circle around it, and go black…then start all over again over and over and over again. I’ve tried everything in the Maintenance Boot Mode except Factory Reset and USB Debug Mode, but it’s still looping. It was screen locked when this occurred, and I’ve read that you have to manually unlock it from the android device manager – but it’s not even recognizing the phone right now. Short of waiting for a fully charged battery to drain, is there anything else I can do?”
“Hello. My Galaxy Note 5 updated to Android 6 about 4 days ago and I used it for a couple of days and then when it ran out of battery I charged it like I usually do and when I turned it on, it won’t continue. It just stays on the logo but never reaches the Home screen. Can you help me with this please?”
“Droid guy, I hope you can help. For some reason, my Note 5 keeps turning on and off. I really can’t remember any instances that could have led to this problem, it just occurred. Can you help?”
For other issues, visit our Note 5 TS page as we listed hundreds of problems we already addressed before. Fell free to use the solutions we previously provided or contact us by filling up this questionnaire. This is a free service so don’t worry about anything but just be accurate about your problem.
Step-by-step Troubleshooting
In this article, let’s try to rule out possibilities until we can square out what the problem really is but please remember this is a troubleshooting guide so there’s no guaranteed fix here. What we’re trying to accomplish here is to know what the issue with your device and there are always problems that we can’t fix on our own especially hardware-related ones. Try to follow the steps below:
Step 1: Forced reboot your Note 5
Press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys together for 10 to 15 seconds until your device reboots. It must be the first thing you should do if your phone just started to reboot on its own or got stuck somewhere during boot up.
A system crash is not limited to freezing and being unresponsive, it may also lead to boot loops especially if the crash corrupted some caches or data.
The forced reboot procedure is equivalent to battery pull in devices with removable batteries. The Volume Down and Power keys combo is hardwired on your device so once it detects those keys are held for a certain amount of time, it will perform the simulated battery disconnected.
Step 2: Try booting your Note 5 in safe mode
This is to find out if your phone is capable of booting up successfully with all third-party apps and services disabled. There are times when third-party applications go rogue and cause system crashes, freezes, lags, and unresponsiveness. When any of these things occur, the result may be the same as the issues we’re trying to fix here.
Booting in safe mode is a safe procedure so don’t worry, your data, files, etc. won’t be touched. Just follow these steps and see if the phone boots up:
- Turn off your Galaxy S6.
- Press and hold the Power key.
- When ‘Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge’ appears, immediately release the Power key and then press and hold the Volume Down button.
- Continue holding the Volume Down button until the phone finishes the restart.
- When you see Safe Mode on the lower left corner of the screen, release the button.
If the phone is still stuck on the logo or if it still keeps turning on and off, then proceed to the next step.
Step 3: Boot in recovery mode and wipe cache partition if possible
This step is still a test to see if your phone can boot up successfully in recovery mode. When you initiate the recovery boot, the phone may either get stuck again or won’t enter the recovery mode.
- Turn off your Galaxy Note 5.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
- When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
For the constant reboot problem, if the device won’t boot in recovery mode even after several tries, then there’s a chance that the Power key is stuck on your phone. Try pressing it many times to see if you can fix it with that, if not, then you need to see a technician about that.
If the power key is stuck, the phone won’t boot up successfully because by the time it reaches the logo, it will turn off and turns on again after a few seconds and the cycle never ends. In this case, the phone won’t also charge it’s battery so when it’s all drained, the constant reboot problem will become “won’t turn on” issue or not charging.
For devices that get stuck during boot up, if you can successfully boot in recovery mode, then try to continue wiping the cache partition:
- Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
- 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.
If it didn’t work, then follow the next step.
Step 4: Boot in recovery mode and do the master reset
For this, I am sorry for your data and files because they’ll all be deleted. But in order to regain access to your phone, you need to perform the master reset:
- Remove your Google account and disengage the screen locks to make sure you won’t trip the Factory Reset Protection (FRP).
- Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5.
- Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
- When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
- Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
- Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
- Press the Vol Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
- After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.
Step 5: If all else fails, seek help from a technician
If all of the steps above failed, it’s time you sought help from a professional. If you are savvy enough with Android, try re-flashing the firmware because it might have been corrupted and won’t load during boot up. For those who are average users and aren’t willing to take the risk, let the tech do it for you.
I hope this helps.
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.