Galaxy S8 freezes and reboots randomly, keeps turning off by itself when wifi is on, other issues

Hello Android fans! Welcome to our new #GalaxyS8 post for the day. Just like any other Samsung device, the Galaxy S8 is not immune to one of the common problems that keeps plaguing smartphones today — power issues. We hope that the solutions we provide here today will help not just the users mentioned here today but other users who may have encountered similar situations.

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.

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.

Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:

Problem 1: Galaxy S8 won’t charge, completely unresponsive

Samsung Galaxy S8 T-mobile. I let the phone run out of power and now it is completely unresponsive to all boot and forced boot attempts. Unresponsive to different chargers also. I caught a glimpse on the screen of a circle with a small lightning bolt in it, but now nothing at all. This happened a few weeks ago and I took it in to a store. They said it fell below zero and the battery has a memory that can “learn” a bad charging cycle? They popped the SIM card and whilst on a charger they somehow got the charge back up above zero. I am currently trying the same steps to no avail. How do I get my phone above zero so it can charge normally again? — Justin

Solution: Hi Justin. Whatever the guys in the store did was obviously not effective as your phone remains dead at this time. Lithium-ion batteries like the one in your phone retain a certain amount of power even if battery level is already saying 0%. The remaining charge is designed to allow the battery circuit to be charged once you plug the device in to the wall outlet. In some rare cases though, overdischarge can happen. This means that a battery drains everything, including the remaining small charge to keep its circuit alive while waiting for the next charging cycle. Unfortunately, once this situation occurs, the entire battery pack becomes unserviceable. If you’ve already tried leaving the phone charged for at least an hour without apparent positive result, you should consider sending the phone in so the battery can be replaced. We suggest that you let Samsung service center fix the issue for you to ensure that a trained personnel takes a look at the device. There’s a chance that the problem may not be battery-related at all so a full hardware diagnostics may be run to identify the cause.

To prevent this problem from happening again in the future, make sure not to let your phone turn itself off due to 0% battery level. Try to do shallow charging and discharging by charging the phone when battery level reaches below 50%. Stop the charge when the battery is at 90%. This will not only prevent the problem you’re having right now, but if done regularly, may also lengthen the life of the battery in general.

Also, we recommend that you recalibrate the system in how it detects battery levels at least once every month by doing the following:

1. Use the phone by playing games or doing tasks to hasten power discharge, until the phone turns itself off.
2. Charge the phone without turning it back on.
3. Wait until the battery says it is fully charged to 100%.
4. Wait for an hour before unplugging the phone from the charger.
5. Use the phone until battery reaches 0% percent. The phone should turn off by itself.
6. Recharge the phone to 100%, wait for an hour before unplugging it again.
7. The battery should now be recalibrated. Observe how phone works.

Problem 2: Galaxy S8 freezes and reboots randomly

Hey, i am getting desperate. I was using my S8 that’s 2 months old and it randomly froze and shut down. And I can’t get it to turn back on. It does nothing with the power button. The Galaxy S8 screen does turn on for about 10 seconds when i hold the power button and the volume down button button but it turns right off. when connected to a charger it gives no indication that it is charging. I sent it to Samsung and they sent it right back saying it can’t be repaired but didn’t give a reason why. it just sucks because I just bought this 2 months ago and I have always babied my phone. Any reason what it could be and is this fixable ? Thanks. — Brandon

Solution: Hi Brandon. There are a number of reasons why Samsung may refuse to repair a phone. These reasons include the following:

• phone has been tampered with
• phone has been rooted or runs non-official software
• phone is fake or not manufactured by Samsung itself
• phone is out of warranty due to customer misuse (shows signs of physical impact, water damage, heat/cold exposure) and customer does not want to pay for repair

We don’t know the full history of your device so what we can tell you is limited to how you describe the device above. However, in general, if Samsung can’t fix their own product, that also means that no one may be able to too. If your phone has any physical damage due to accidental drop or water exposure, we suggest that you stop wasting your time looking for software solutions. Instead, just bring it to an independent service center so the hardware can be examined. If you’re lucky and the damage is minimal, they may be able to fix a component or two to bring the phone back to its normal working order.

If your phone was never physically impacted or did not suffer any hardware damage at all, you may be able to fix the problem by reflashing the bootloader. Below are the general steps on how to do it. Keep in mind that the flashing steps vary by phone model and the steps we provide below may not be right ones for your device. Do some extra research on how to do it for your specific phone model.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Proceed with the rest of the flashing procedure using the Odin program.
5. In Odin, click on the BL tab and make sure to use the bootloader file you’ve identified earlier.
6. 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.
7. Restart the phone once the procedure is finished.

The steps above are a bit similar to the ones from this link as well.

Remember, flashing is a risky procedure and if not done correctly, may result to temporary or permanent software damage. Do it at your own risk.

In some cases, a bad battery can also show the symptoms you’re describing here. If flashing the bootloader won’t work, consider replacing the battery (you may have to send the phone in to a service center).

Problem 3: Galaxy S8 keeps turning off by itself when wifi is on

Hi. My S8 seems to keep rebooting itself. I have tried clearing the system cache and deleting third party apps (after trying to reboot in safe mode) with no change. I went to bed yesterday with my cell phone functioning normally. When I woke up and tried to unlock it, it displayed a message requiring me to put in my backup password because the phone had restarted and fingerprints don’t work after a system reboot. I thought this was strange, as I hadn’t remembered turning off the phone. I left it alone for awhile and after about 2 hours I noticed that the wifi was turned off and when I tried to turn the wifi on, the phone started to turn itself on and off again. It has been doing this on repeat for the past 2 hours. I finally managed to get it stay off. When I finally turned it on again, I quickly went to settings to turn the wifi off, and now it’s running smoothly. Is this a result of a battery defect? Please offer any advice as soon as possible. I’m now in the process of backing up my information and am about to factory reset the device. — Jessica

Solution: Hi Jessica. There may be an unknown operating system glitch causing this problem. If the phone continues to reboot on its own even when booted to safe mode, that’s a clear indicator that there’s no third party apps involved. This leaves you with either a bad hardware or a firmware glitch. We say you go ahead with your planned factory reset.

Problem 4: Galaxy S8 freezes and reboots continuously when third party apps are installed

After the latest security update, first time hanged for 10 seconds approx and restarted. then happens multiple times continuously. Then after 20 minutes phone becomes dead. No response. In morning I tried recovery mode but failed but successfully entered download mode. Then I flashed new firmware with Odin. Next day phone hanged and turned off again. Install firmware again and remove all apps. I thought it’s an apps problem. Now it’s been 2 days since the phone is working properly. I want to download many apps but I don’t have balls to do it. One thing to mention, whenever phone turned off it shows no response on charging. — Salman shahid

Solution: Hi Salman. If your phone works normally when there are no third party apps installed, that’s a clear indicator that one of them is causing the problem. You need to install your apps one at a time so you can observe the phone for some time after every install. This can be a tedious process if you have a lot of apps but it’s the only effective way to identify where the problem comes from.

 

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