How to fix your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 that’s stuck in boot loop [Troubleshooting Guide]

Booting problems are often caused by firmware issues and the same is true with a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 that cannot continue starting up because it’s stuck in a boot loop. This problem is often occur when the phone is booting up and you would know your phone has it if it reboots a few moments before reaching the home screen.

It may occur without apparent reason but there are cases wherein a phone enters this state after a firmware update which gives us a hint that it’s more of a firmware-related problem than a hardware. But the thing is we’ve seen boot loop issues in the past that were caused by failing batteries. So, we have to troubleshoot your phone so that we would know what the issue really is all about and that we can try to formulate a solution that might fix the problem for good.

Troubleshooting Galaxy Note 8 that’s stuck in boot loop

In troubleshooting your phone with this problem, we have to consider every possibility and rule them out one-by-one until we can easily determine what the issue really is. This way we can try to find a solution or two that may fix it for good. Don’t worry though as we won’t be suggesting procedures that can potentially damage your phone or make the problem worse. With that being said, here’s what I suggest you do about this:

Reboot in Recovery Mode and wipe cache partition

More often than not when the phone gets stuck during the boot process or enters a boot loop, it’s a firmware issue and the best way to address it is by deleting all system caches from the cache partition. Caches are temporary files created by the firmware or apps and they are prone to being corrupted especially during firmware updates. At this point, we really don’t know what the issue so we will try with a procedure that’s safe to do but very effective. Follow these steps…

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

After following the steps above, you would immediately know if the problem is fixed or not because if it is, your device can reach the home screen, however, if the problem still persists, move on to the next procedure.

Try running your phone in Safe mode

Another possibility is that some of the apps may have crashed and they might be the reason why your phone cannot boot up successfully. Having this problem won’t tell us which of the apps is the culprit that’s why we need to try to run your device in safe mode. Doing so will tell us if the problem is due to an app and in what category the apps belongs.

Assuming the phone successfully boots up in safe mode, it’s clear that the problem is due to a third-party app because in this environment, all of the applications you downloaded and installed will be temporarily disabled. If however, the phone cannot boot up in safe mode, it could be that one of the pre-installed apps is causing the problem but since they are embedded in the firmware, we can already consider it as a firmware-related issue.

Now, here’s how you boot your Note 8 in safe mode…

1. Turn the device off.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
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 successful, the next thing you should do is find the app that’s causing the problem and then uninstall it. You may have to uninstall more than one app to fix this problem…

1. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings > Apps.
3. Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
4. Tap the desired application.
5. Tap Uninstall.
6. Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

Perform the Master Reset on your Note 8

You only have to do this if your phone cannot boot up in safe mode and if wiping the cache partition doesn’t work. This is you last resort and among these three procedures, this one is the most effective in dealing with firmware-related issues. But the thing is you may lose all the files and data saved in your phone’s internal storage and you may not be able to recover them even if the problem is fixed. That’s a compromise you would have to take just to try to fix this problem.

As long as the firmware has not been modified in any way, a reset should be able to fix this problem…

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

If the problem still persists after the reset, then bring your phone to the service center so that a Samsung technician can take a look at it. As far as basic troubleshooting is concerned, you’ve already done what you need to do.

I hope this troubleshooting guide can help you.