How to fix a Galaxy Note8 that’s showing overheating message and keeps restarting by itself

Do you have an overheating #GalaxyNote8? If you do, today’s troubleshooting article should tell you what you need to do.

Problem #1: How to fix a Galaxy Note8 that’s showing overheating message and keeps restarting by itself

My Note8 keeps displaying the message the device is overheating then shuts off ten seconds later. The device doesn’t even get hot or warm to the touch. It refuses to charge because of this issue. I have hard reset the phone and cleared all cache from the phone, nothing seems to work. i can not take the phone back to a store due to i bought it from third party seller. can you please help at all? thank you for you time on this matter. — Babygirl7285

Solution: Hi Babygirl7285. There are a number of possible factors that might cause the situation you’re in so let’s discuss each of them very briefly.

Bad app

With hundreds of thousands of apps in the Play Store, adventurous users may sometimes stumble upon a few bad ones. By bad we don’t necessarily mean malicious. Some apps may not be designed to be right down malicious but they may be too poorly coded so as to cause interference with Android. To check if the reason why your Note8 keeps showing an overheating message and restarts on its own is a third party app, you need to boot your phone to safe mode. In this mode, no third party app can run, allowing only pre-installed apps to work. So, if your Note8 works normally and won’t restart on its own, that means that the problem must be coming from one of your apps.

To boot your Note8 to safe mode:

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
Observe the phone for a few hours and see if the overheating message appears.

If you think one of your apps is causing the trouble, you should boot the phone back to safe mode and follow these steps:

Boot to safe mode.
Check for the problem.
Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
If your Note8 is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.

Unknown software bug

Frankly, your case is not common for this device so there’s really no way to find out whether or not there’s a coding glitch causing it. In order to better understand isolated cases, we need more similar cases to examine. Since there are not a lot of cases to check, there’s a chance that your problem may be caused by an unknown software bug, or by something entirely different, like a bad hardware. To ensure that you cover the possibility of having a bad software scenario, make sure that you factory reset your Note8. By doing this, you are effectively returning all software settings back to their defaults. We know that factory version of Android will not cause an overheating message to pop up so you have a baseline from which to compare.

To factory reset your Note8:

Create a backup of your data.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
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).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

IMPORTANT: After you factory reset your Note8, be sure to let it run for several hours without installing any of your apps.

Hardware malfunction

One of the most common reasons for overheating cases is hardware trouble. Your Note8’s hardware is a complicated set of components that is designed to operate in a specific manner. If one of those components encounters a problem or error that the system can’t resolve, problems may happen. For example, if your phone’s battery may have suddenly become problematic for some reason, it may trigger a chain of events that can cause the entire system to shut down randomly. The same is true for the Power Management IC, one of the common components to fail as well. If one of the hundreds of components in the motherboard fail to work as expected, it can trigger an issue that a user may not be able to fix.

If you haven’t realized by now, there’s only so much that you can do and all of them are software solutions. If your Note8 continues to show the overheating message after a factory reset, even when there are no apps installed, that’s a clear sign that you have a hardware problem. To fix your phone, you must let a Samsung technician check the device physically. Visit your nearest Samsung dealership and have your phone repaired. If you can’t do that, call Samsung and ask how you’re going to send the phone in.

If you can’t let Samsung repair the phone for you, go to a trusted repair shop for repair.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note8 won’t turn on after putting it in a freezer

Hi. I did a really stupid thing. My phone overheated ( a lot) and went off. So to cool it down I very cleverly put it in the freezer for five minutes. I have no idea why I behaved so impetuously – normally I would google this kind of stuff. Anyhow said phone came out frozen and not turning on. I then stuck it in a bag of rice overnight in case condensation had built up. In the morning I found my Note8 creature semi split open…imagine my horrified shock. I wasn’t prepared for that. Anyway now it’s not turning on. I tried the volume down then power on thing . Nada, PLEASE can you help ? Or have I murdered my own phone? What do I do? Thank you. — Roze Roze

Solution: Hi Roze. Like too much heat, exposing your phone to freezing temperature may permanently damage the hardware, especially the battery. A Lithium-ion battery like the one in your phone works best in normal temperature. Expose it to heat and it’ll get damaged. Leave it in a very cold place and it will die. To see if you can still revive the battery, let it set in normal room temperature for up to 12 hours before charging. Then, charge it for at least 30 minutes before attempting to power it back on. If that won’t work, try another charging cable or adapter. Or you can see if it charges fine if you use a wireless charger. If all of these things won’t help, you’re out of luck and you’ll have to send it in for repair. Contact Samsung for that.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note8 can’t boot up, won’t go past Samsung logo screen

Hello! I’ve been recently having a problem with my phone shutting off in the middle of using it. It will sometimes have as much as 50% battery and it will cut off and try and reboot itself. Only, it never is able to. The SAMSUNG GALAXY screen pops up and then the screen goes black and it continually switches back and forth between both screens until I hold down the power button or plug it in. Once I do plug it in, the battery is always at 0%. I also did leave it in the hot car one day without thinking for a couple of hours. Thank you for your help! — Clare DeLuca

Solution: Hi Clare. Poor battery performance is the most likely culprit in this one. To see if you can fix the issue without sending it in for repair, you can try two things:

Battery and OS calibration
Factory reset

Battery and OS calibration

Sometimes, letting a smartphone run continue for weeks can cause the operating system to lose track of true battery levels. This inaccurate reading, in turn, can lead to random shutdowns and boot problems. To see if all you need is a battery calibration, follow the steps below:

1. Drain the battery completely. This means using your device until it powers down by its own and the battery level reads 0%.
2. Charge the phone until it reaches 100%. Be sure to use original charging equipment for your device and let it charge up completely. Do not unplug your device for at least two more hours and also don’t use it while charging.
3. After the elapsed time, unplug your device.
4. Restart your Note8.
5. Use your phone until it completely runs out of power again.
6. Repeat steps 1-5.

Factory reset

If the above suggestion won’t fix your issue at all, restore all of your phone’s settings to their defaults by doing a factory reset. Refer to the steps above on how to do it.