The Galaxy Note8 (#GalaxyNote8) is one of the best smartphones one can buy right now. It packs state-of-the-art hardware and the unique S Pen. Software-wise, Note8’s general performance is just as brilliant as that of its Galaxy S siblings like the S8 and S9. By far, we can say that the Note8 has not been a disappointment, in start contrast to its direct predecessor, the Galaxy Note7. Still, the Note8 can also be problematic sometimes and today’s troubleshooting article will address two issues on these device. We hope you’ll find this post helpful.
Problem #1: Galaxy Note8 email issue: email app keeps saying message failed to send
I have a Galaxy Note 8. I recently traveled from San Diego, CA to Spain on business. Somewhere in transit, my phone started displaying a notice that an email failed to send. However, when I go to the Outbox, there is nothing in it. Yet the notice keeps appearing, and in the email program it keeps displaying a “Tip,” telling me to go to the Outbox because an email failed to send. Please help. How do I make this stop? — Ksolar
Solution: Hi Ksolar. If there’s no indication of a message that failed to send in your email app’s Outbox, the reminder may be triggered by a bug in your email account itself. This means that the problem may not be caused by the email app but by something at the account level. To fix this issue, these are the possible solutions that you can try:
Force restart
The first troubleshooting step that you want to do in this case is force reboot. It’s basically just like a regular restart of your phone but you’ll have to do it to simulate the effects of removing the battery. In older devices that sport removable battery packs, this is achieved by simply disconnecting the battery for a few seconds. Since it’s almost impossible to remove your Note8’s battery, you can only simulate ti. Here’s how it’s done:
- Press and hold the Power + Volume Down buttons for approximately 10 seconds or until the device power cycles. Allow several seconds for the Maintenance Boot Mode screen to appear.
- From the Maintenance Boot Mode screen, select Normal Boot. You can use the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the lower left button (below the volume buttons) to select. Wait for up to 90 seconds for the reset to complete.
Clear email app cache
If your email continues to act erratically after force restarting your device, the next good thing to do is to ensure that you deal with the email app directly. There are two ways to do that. The first one is to clear its cache. If you haven’t tried it before, follow these steps:
- Open Settings app.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
- Select Show system apps.
- Find and tap your app.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear Cache button.
- Restart your Note8 and check for the problem.
Clear email app data
The second way to deal with your email app is by wiping its data. It is more drastic than the previous procedure as it will return the app to its factory state and clear all added email accounts. Before you do this, make sure that you know how to set your email/s up again. If you manually add the email accounts, be sure to know the exact steps and have the correct information like server types, and password handy.
To clear an app data:
- Open Settings app.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
- Select Show system apps.
- Find and tap your app.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear Cache button.
- Restart your Note8 and check for the problem.
Check your email webmail version
If nothing is fixed after doing our suggestions above, try to log in to your email’s webmail and see if there’s a stuck message in the Outbox. Sometimes, a synchronization bug may prevent messages from being deleted in an email client like an email app on your phone. By deleting the problematic message in webmail, you may be able to fix the issue easily.
If you don’t know how to access the webmail version of your email, contact your email service provider
Let your email service provider know
As a last resort, make sure to let your email provider know of the problem. There may be a server bug causing the issue so it means all you can do is wait until they can fix the issue on their end. Keep in mind, not all email issues are fixable on your end. Make sure to get your email provider get involved so you’ll know what you can do.
Problem #2: Galaxy Note8 keeps restarting after using Dr. Fone software
I have a Galaxy Note8. Recently I tried to recover some deleted videos by downloading the Dr.Fone recovery set up on my laptop. After hooking up my phone to the laptop , several minutes later the phone had a DOWNLOADING symbol on its screen and then the phone shut off. After that, the phone now has an unlock symbol & says CUSTOM. I’ve tried every tip from safe mode, clearing cache, to factory restart and in each case the phone continues to shut off and restart each time. Please help. I’m about to go over seas in the next few weeks & can’t be without my phone. Thanks. — Ryan Roberts
Solution: Hi Ryan. We are not familiar with how the recovery software you used work so the best thing that you can do is to contact the software developer itself. There may be a step that you missed causing the phone to be stuck in this situation.
In general, data recovery software usually reconfigure the operating system first so they can do a full scan of the device. We don’t know how Dr. Fone does its job exactly but if you paid for it, you are entitled to their support if you encountered a problem with their product. When contacting them, be sure to give as many relevant information as possible so they can easily identify where the problem is coming from.
Alternatively, you can try to reflash the device’s bootloader and see if that will help. If flashing the bootloader won’t help, you can then try to flash the firmware back to stock.
Because steps on how to flash a bootloader is often times not openly provided unlike firmware flashing, below are the general steps that you should follow. Exact steps may vary for your phone so be sure to consult other flashing guides to avoid bricking your device. Yes, flashing can seriously damage the software of your Note8 and render it totally useless. You want to be careful when flashing it. If you haven’t heard of flashing before or if you’re not confident to do it, then do yourself a favor and avoid it like a plague. If you can take the risks though, do some research and try to know as much information about it as possible. Also, make sure that you use the correct firmware version of your phone model. Not doing so is the easiest way to brick your phone.
If you’re ready, these should be the general (exact steps may be different for your phone model) on how to flash a bootloader of a Samsung device:
- Look for the correct firmware for your phone model and download it. Make sure that you select the right one. It should be the same exact firmware that ran previously on your device. We assume that you list down the firmware version somewhere. If you did not take note of it before, there’s a chance that you may pick the wrong one. As you may know now, using an incorrect firmware can cause complications so good luck with that.
- Let’s now say that you have identified the correct firmware. You then want to download it to your computer. The firmware file should have a bunch of files in it like AP_, BL_, CSC_, etc.
- Look for the file that starts with a label BL; this should be the corresponding bootloader file for this firmware. Once you’ve identified the bootloader file, copy it to your computer’s desktop or to any other folder that you can easily access.
- Proceed with the rest of the flashing procedure using the Odin program.
- In Odin, click on the BL tab and make sure to use the bootloader file you’ve identified earlier.
- Now, make sure that the “Device Added” status and its “ID:COM box” has turned blue before hitting the START button. This will initiate the flashing of your phone’s bootloader.
- Restart the phone once the procedure is finished.