How to fix Samsung Galaxy S8 that’s stuck on T-Mobile screen [Troubleshooting Guide]

This post is for Samsung Galaxy S8 owners who are under the umbrella of T-Mobile, wherever you may be in the world. We have received complaints that some units can no longer continue booting up as they are stuck on the T-Mobile screen. It’s basically one of the boot screens you would see and there are times that when the firmware glitches, the phone gets stuck on one of the boot screens.

Now, when it comes to powering up issues, we can almost say it’s a hardware problem but when it comes to booting up problems like this, it might just be a minor issue with the firmware. But the thing is we won’t really know unless we try to troubleshoot your phone. So, in this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy S8 that’s stuck on the T-Mobile boot screen. We will try to rule out one possibility after another until we can determine what the problem really is and formulate a solution that would fix it. Continue reading our troubleshooting steps below.

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.

Troubleshooting Galaxy S8 that’s stuck on T-Mobile screen

First off, I would assume that you didn’t, in anyway, tried to modify the firmware of your phone. If you did try to root it or installed a custom ROM and then this problem started, the best way to fix it is to re-install the stock firmware but please note that we can only do so much if you messed up your phone by trying to install a third-party firmware. Now, if this problem started without apparent reason, here’s what you should do:

Step 1: Perform the Forced Reboot procedure first

Aside from fixing system crashes, the forced reboot can actually do a lot more. It can fix almost all firmware-related concerns including this one. The thing about the forced restart is that it’s safe to do and is very effective.

Just press and hold the Volume Down button and without letting go of it, press and hold the Power key. Keep both keys held together for 10 seconds and your phone attempt to reboot.

You would know immediately if the problem is fixed or not because your phone will either boot up successfully to the home screen or still gets stuck on the T-Mobile screen. If it’s the latter, then move on to the next step.

Step 2: Attempt to boot your phone in Safe mode

One of the reasons why a phone can’t successfully boot up is when there are third-party apps that keep on crashing. We don’t know if this is the case though but to rule this possibility out, you have to start your phone up in Safe mode. Doing so will disable all third-party apps temporarily and if it’s successful, then this confirms our suspicion. You can then proceed to finding the app that’s causing the problem and then uninstall it. Follow the steps below on how to boot your Galaxy S8 in safe mode and uninstall apps.

How to start your T-Mobile Galaxy S8 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.

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.

However, if your S8 cannot boot up in safe mode but instead still gets stuck on that screen, then you should try the next step.

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

When a phone gets stuck during the boot up process, it might be due to a minor firmware issue or a more complex one but either way, it might still be able to start up into the Android system recovery menu. So, that’s the next thing I want you to do because if it’s successful, you can do a couple of things that have great impact on the firmware and one of them may fix the problem; you can try wiping the cache partition or do the Master reset. So, follow these steps to do those things.

How to start Galaxy S8 in Recovery Mode and wipe cache partition

  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 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 start your phone in Recovery Mode and do the Master Reset

  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.

I hope that one of these procedures fixes the problem but if after doing all of these and the problem still persists, then you have to bring the phone to the tech as the firmware may need to be re-installed.

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