Being stuck on the boot screen is one indication that your phone is suffering from a firmware issue and whether it’s serious or not is something we need to find out and find solutions for. We have received quite a lot of complaints from our readers who encountered having stuck on the Samsung logo and many of those complaints arrived after the roll out of the Android Nougat update for the Samsung Galaxy S7. Needless to say, many of the S7 owners have experienced issues during boot up shortly after updating their phones.
In this post, I will tackle this issue with the S7 being the subject of our troubleshooting. We will try to find out why the phone gets stuck on the logo and let’s try to determine the possibilities and rule them out one by one until we arrive at a point where we can easily pinpoint what the problem really is and what needs to be done to fix it. So, if you own this phone, have recently updated it to Nougat and are currently experiencing a similar problem, continue reading below as this post may be able to help you.
But before we jump right into our troubleshooting, if you have other issues with your phone, make sure to drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed hundreds of problems with this device since it was released. Find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions and/or troubleshooting guides we suggested. If they don’t work or if you need further assistance, feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.
How to troubleshoot your Galaxy S7 that’s stuck on the Samsung screen after an update
Problem: Hi, I just did the new update and it’s been over 4 hours and the SAMSUNG screen shows up and is pulsing. It’s been that way for 3 hrs. I tried doing a soft reset, the Galaxy S7 screen shows up and then goes back to the pulsing screen. That’s all that happens, I can’t get into safe mode either based on your tips for safe mode. What can I do? Shaw
Solution: Hello Shaw! It seems like there’s something wrong with the firmware of your phone. The reason that the screen is pulsing or flickering is because the system may have crashed and couldn’t load up its firmware normally. Meaning, this may be a software-related problem and it can be fixed through simple procedures without bringing your phone to the tech. So, to make sure what triggered the issue, we need to rule-out all possibilities by doing the step by step procedures on your phone. Here’s how:
Step 1: Perform the forced reboot for it might be a system glitch
As the firmware has been upgraded we have to expect that several features were also added to the device. So, if those features were running simultaneously there is a tendency that the system could not handle all the tasks and if that happens, there is a big chance that the firmware will crash and couldn’t boot up successfully. In performing forced reboot we are refreshing phone’s memory and closing those apps that you launched before the issue started. To start with, just press and hold the Power and Volume Down keys together for 7-10 seconds and wait until the device reboots.
If the screen still stays black and is pulsing, then the forced reboot procedure didn’t actually fix the problem. So, you have to move on to the next step.
Step 2: Attempt to restart it in Safe mode
Since the first step failed to bring the phone back to life, you have to try this method. It doesn’t actually fix the problem but it will give you insight as to what really caused the problem. By doing this, you’re ruling out the possibility that this problem is caused by a third-party app. Starting the phone up in safe mode temporarily disables all third-party elements so if one of them is causing the issue, you should be able to start your phone up in safe mode and this is how you do it:
- Press and hold the Power key.
- If Samsung Galaxy logo appears, release the Power key and simply hold the Volume Down key.
- Continue holding the Volume Down key until the device finishes rebooting.
- If you can see “Safe Mode” in the bottom left corner of the screen then, you may release the Volume Down key.
If the phone successfully powered on in safe mode, then our suspicion that the cause of the problem is a third-party is confirmed. You just have to find that app, clear its cache and data or uninstall it if the problem remains. Here’s how you do those things:
How to clear apps caches and data on Galaxy S7
- From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Applications.
- Tap the desired application in the default list or tap Menu icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
- Tap Clear cache.
How to uninstall applications from the Galaxy S7
- From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Applications.
- Tap the desired application in the default list or tap Menu icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
- Tap Uninstall.
- Tap Uninstall again to confirm.
However, if the screen stays black and pulses even after trying to boot the phone in safe mode, then move on to the next step.
Step 3: Try to start your phone in Recovery mode
The Android system recovery environment is actually a fail-safe for all Android phones. Even if your phone suffers a serious firmware issue, it would still be able to boot up in this mode wherein you can do things that have great impacts on the device’s performance. In fact, all of the procedures you can do while in recovery mode are somehow designed to help bring your phone to its normal operation that’s why it’s important you do this step.
If successful, the first thing you should do in recovery mode is wipe the cache partition so that all system caches will be deleted and replaced. It’s a very effective procedure in fixing issues that occurred after an update or any problems that are caused by the firmware itself. Here’s how you do it:
- Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
- When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
- Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
- Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
- Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
- Wait until your phone is finished wiping the cache partition. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
- The phone will now reboot longer than usual.
Assuming you have successfully booted up your phone in recovery mode, wiped the cache partition but the phone is still stuck on the black screen after the reboot, then you have to reset it as the problem might have been caused by corrupt, obsolete or missing system files. You have to reboot in recovery mode and unfortunately you cannot make a backup of your important files since you cannot make the phone to boot normally prior to the reset.
- Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
- When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
- Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
- Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
- Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
- Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
- The phone will now reboot longer than usual.
If the problem still persists after doing all this, then you have to bring the phone to a shop and let a tech handle the problem for you.
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