How to fix Samsung Galaxy S8 that’s stuck on boot screen [Troubleshooting Guide]

More often than not, when a powerful smartphone like the Samsung Galaxy S8 gets stuck on the boot screen, it has something to do with the firmware. However, based on our experiences, there were cases wherein the same problem was caused by other factors. That’s why just by being stuck during boot up doesn’t guarantee that the problem is with the firmware. We have to try to troubleshoot your phone to know what’s happening with it and what needs to be done to fix it.

 

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy S8 that gets stuck on the boot screen and can’t continue booting up to the home screen. We will try to rule out one possibility after another until we can pinpoint what the problem is. But we have to take into consideration that your device is a new one so we won’t be suggesting procedures that may be grounds for you not being able to receive brand new replacement if the problem couldn’t be fixed by the technician.

But before anything else, if you’re currently experiencing different issues with your phone, then I suggest you visit our Samsung Galaxy S8 troubleshooting page for we’ve already started providing support to our readers who own this device. We understand your phone is still brand new and it should work perfectly without a hitch but not even Samsung can guarantee there won’t be any problems. What we do here is provide help to our readers the best we can so if we haven’t published posts about your concern, feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

Step-by-step guide to troubleshooting a Galaxy S8 that’s stuck on boot screen

The purpose of this troubleshooting guide is for us to know immediately if the problem can be fixed on your end without any help from a technician or not because if not, then you can go back to the store and have the phone replaced as soon as possible. That said, here’s what you should do to troubleshoot your phone with this kind of problem…

Step 1: Force reset your Galaxy S8 as it might be just a minor system crash

We’ve seen a lot of problems likes this in the past wherein the phone got stuck on boot screen due to a minor firmware issue or system crash. When the firmware crashes, you can expect that some files, especially caches, may get corrupted. When it happens, the phone may not be able to continue booting up as it can no longer load some necessary services. A reboot may fix this problem but there’s another procedure that’s more effective than that–soft reset.

Press and hold both the Volume Down and the Power keys together for 7 to 10 seconds. Assuming the phone has enough battery and that the problem is caused by a system crash, your phone should reboot normally. However, if after doing this and the phone is still stuck on boot screen, move on to the next step.

Step 2: Attempt to boot your Galaxy S8 in Safe mode

We have to know if the problem is caused by one of the third-party apps you downloaded and installed as there are times when they crash. Such things would have some effects on the performance of your phone regardless whether it’s an entry-level, mid-range or high-end smartphone.

The thing about it is that you can run your phone in its barebones by booting it up in Safe mode. You can then rest assured that no third-party apps will interfere the normal operation of your device once it reaches this mode. Here’s how you boot your S8 in this 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’ll have to do is find the app that’s causing the problem and then uninstall it. You may have to uninstall more than one app and reboot your phone to normal mode and back to safe mode to confirm if the problem is fixed.

How to uninstall apps from your Galaxy  S8

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.

On the other hand, if your phone still cannot boot up successfully in safe mode, then the next step might help you.

Step 3: Try to start your phone up in Recovery mode

Assuming your phone cannot boot up in safe mode, you should try starting it up in Android system recovery as there are a couple of things you can do–you can try wiping the cache partition first and if that won’t work, you can do the reset.

The first method won’t delete any of your files and data so it’s safe to do that even if you haven’t backed up your files yet. However, the reset will delete everything that’s saved in your phone’s internal storage but if your device won’t boot up successfully in either safe or normal mode, then there’s no way to backup your files and data. Considering the fact that the phone has just be released, you may still have few files in it and if reset is what it takes to fix the problem, then it’s worth it. Here are how you do those procedures:

How to wipe cache partition on Galaxy S8

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 the Power key to select.
6. Press the Volume down key to highlight “yes” and press the Power key to select.
7. When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
8. Press the Power key to restart the device.

How to Master reset your Galaxy S8

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.

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