For those of you looking for answers to your own #GalaxyNote4 issues, here’s another post that addresses some power-related problems. Should you want to browse previously posted articles about this device, don’t hesitate to follow this link.
- Galaxy Note 4 keeps restarting and remains in constant boot loop
- Galaxy Note 4 battery loses charge too fast and no longer provides power
- How to recover files from a wet Galaxy Note 4 that is stuck in Odin mode
- Galaxy Note 4 showing “downloading do not turn off target” error after Marshmallow update
If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.
When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.
Problem #1: Galaxy Note 4 keeps restarting and remains in constant boot loop
About 3 weeks ago, I swapped a new battery in my Note 4. Started recording a video and it powered down and would not restart. Was in a building where only spotty 3G would come up and phone was getting warm. Put the original battery back in and all was fine. Continued to get a bit warm while in spotty 3g service, but later no problems at all.
A couple of days ago I was on the the internet on a news site and went to watch a clip and shut down again. It then went into a reboot loop not going past the Samsung screen. I pulled the battery to shut it down then plugged it in for the night.
In the morning it booted up but then during the day it started into the boot loop again. I pulled the battery and then started it in safe mode. I uninstalled all of the most recent apps and left it in safe mode for the day. I then rebooted it normally and it was fine for a little while. I then noticed I had gotten a notification that Marshmallow was available to download. I downloaded and everything seemed to be okay.
Then after the next day I was going into the samsung Gear app and it started boot looping again. I pulled the battery.
Later that day I went in to recovery mode and did a hard reset. Started up and ran for a while, then boot loop again. Took it to the Best Buy, they tried plugging it into a laptop to clear it but it was not able to recognize the phone. One more hard reset. Froze up during reset, so I pulled battery until I got home tonight. Plugged in the power cord and started up. Reset finished and got everything loaded back up. Battery showed 100%. I unplugged and it immediately went into boot loop. Plugged back in and it boots up fine.
So could it be as simple as a bad battery? (it is the original and shows charged, never had any issues other than it wouldn’t last all day, so switched to the backup — which caused the original shutdown). Never used since then. If not the battery what could fix it? Thanks for any help you can provide. — Jason
Solution: Hi Jason. There are only two possibilities here. The problem is either due to a bad phone, or a malfunctioning battery. We do think that the former is more likely the cause because even the new battery you’ve tried shows the same exact problem. The thing is, there’s probably nothing that you can do on your end to fix it. That factory reset did not change anything is a confirmation that you have a hardware issue at hand. We suggest that you find a way to have the phone replaced to resolve the issue.
Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 battery loses charge too fast and no longer provides power
I have been having issues with the battery on my Note 4 for several months. The phone is close to 2 years old (20 months to be exact). I started noticing battery issues at about the 1 year mark. I usually keep my phone on the charger during the day while at work and throughout the night to ensure its fully charged when I’m out and about, away from a charger. The phone would stay charged for roughly 10-15 hours before dying. I would put it on the charger and it would quickly recharge and everything would continue in that fashion.
As of late, my battery dies quickly and even on a full charge still dies or shuts down. Most times the phone needs to be on the charger to work. If I take it off the charger, it dies within minutes. Prior to today, it would die at about 80%. Now it dies on a full charge (100%) and the reason I am searching for help is because with all the “remove battery, wait, soft reset, etc. the battery is at 100% but it won’t stay on. It powers down immediately after turning on and continues to power down and turn on but does not actually stay on. I ordered a new battery with hopes this will fix my issue, but it will take a few weeks to receive it. I’m hoping I can get a resolution for this inquiry. Thanks in advance and I hope I explained my issue clearly. — Natia
Solution: Hi Natia. A Lithium-based battery like the one on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 loses capacity over time. The end-of-life of a typing Lithium-ion battery depends on how often you charge and discharge it. A battery of this kind usually starts to show fast battery drain issue after about a year of usage, which also coincided with your story.
A Li-ion battery works by moving Lithium ions back and forth between two electrodes. When you use your phone, these ions move and stick to the Lithium-Cobalt Oxide cathode. If you charge the phone, the ions then move and stick to the Carbon anode. This back and forth movement is called a charging cycle. A typical smartphone battery starts to show degradation after a few hundred charging cycles. The more charging cycles are spent, the smaller the capacity of the battery becomes. This is because the cycling process is not 100% efficient. Everytime you charge a battery, a film of ions bond with the anode permanently, which means they no longer takes part in the movement process which powers the phone. The more the charging you do, the more ions are lost in the process, thereby reducing the battery’s capacity. Eventually, the battery will simply die or will no longer be able to power the device for long as it can’t hold any more charge.
We think this is what happened to your own battery at this time. The thing is, there is no way to reverse the loss of ions. In other words, there’s no way to make your battery work again, if that’s what you’re hoping to get from us. There’s no amount of troubleshooting that can be done to resolve your issue.
Your best hope of using your device again is to replace the existing battery with a new one.
Problem #3: How to recover files from a wet Galaxy Note 4 that is stuck in Odin mode
Hi. My son was found dead a few months ago and his note 4 was submerged in water. I just got the phone back from police today. My son was only 31, and you can imagine as his mom, I would love to get whatever pictures he has on his phone, maybe even find some videos and hear his voice again. It will not power on on its own, but it will when connected via usb. I have a solid green light on upper left. When doing the volume down/home/power I can get to a download screen but no usb connection shows on my PC in the Odin software. I can also get it to a Samsung logo screen, but it gets stuck there. I also occasionally see the charging screen with a solid lightning bolt on the battery on the screen. I am not a note user so I don’t know if that is normal. Is there any hope of retrieving anything off this phone?
I don’t know the version of Android but on the download screen it says N910P. — Tia
Solution: Hi Tia. We’re sorry to hear about your son but just like you, we are as powerless in accessing the phone’s storage device if it doesn’t even power on normally. The operating system must work properly too before a command can be done to browse folders. There are only two things that you can try — booting in safe mode and wiping the cache partition. If both of them won’t change anything, then you can consider those files gone.
To boot in safe mode, follow the steps below:
- Turn off the phone completely.
- Press and hold the Power key and the Volume Down key.
- When the phone starts to boot, release the Power key but continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone finished restarting.
- Safe mode will be display at the lower left corner; you may release the Volume Down key now.
In order to wipe the cache partition, try to do the following:
- Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
- Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
- When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Volume Up key.
- Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power key to select it.
- When the wiping of the cache partition is finished, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the power key.
Problem #4: Galaxy Note 4 showing “downloading do not turn off target” error after Marshmallow update
Following the Marshmallow update, my phone has disintegrated. Literally within hours of the update, first my phone began rebooting itself over and over again while I would be in the middle of anything. Then the apps began to lag to the point where the phone started to freeze repeatedly. Holding the power button to reboot was not working. I had to take the battery out to reboot. After doing that several time, I began getting an Android robot with “downloading do not turn off target’. My phone sat in that mode for 30 minutes not progressing, so I just went ahead and took the battery out again. Then my phone reboot itself again and another robot came up with the message “kernel panic”. It sat like that for over an hour before I decided to take the battery out again. It did it again and again. I left it a few hours, took the battery out put it back in and my phone rebooted. Now it’s not going past the “Samsung” logo when I try to reboot. — Alana
Solution: Hi Alana. While doing a soft reset — rebooting the phone by unplugging the battery — can be useful when the phone is not responding or frozen, doing it so often especially during boot up can eventually corrupt the operating system. Just like interrupting a device while it’s saving something, unplugging the battery may create a conflict and can result to file corruption. While it’s hard to know exactly what’s happening on your phone right now, the potential solutions for the situation remain the same. If you can no longer boot your Note 4 in normal mode, try to boot it in safe mode first. If that won’t change anything, wipe the cache partition. Finally, if nothing seems to solve the problem, wipe the phone clean by doing a factory reset. Here’s how:
- Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
- Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
- When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Volume Up key.
- Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
- Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
- When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
- The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.
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