How to fix a Galaxy S8 that’s stuck on boot loop after doing system update

We’re now seeing increasing numbers of power-related issues for the #GalaxyS8 so here’s another troubleshooting guide for our community. We hope you’ll find this article helpful.

Problem #1: Galaxy S8 stuck on boot loop after doing system update

I have a Samsung S8. My phone did a software update today (June 21st, 2018), and now it’s stuck in a reboot loop. I can’t call, text, or use apps. Holding the up volume and Bixby button + power doesn’t do anything. In fact, when I hit power off and then the power off confirmation…my phone just reboots!! I’ve read through everything that seems relevant and can’t find a solution. Please help if possible! Thanks! — Ray

Solution: Hi Ray. A Samsung device may get stuck in a boot loop situation, just like what’s happening on your phone, for many reasons. Let’s discuss each of them.

Root or unofficial ROM

One of the common reasons though is the use of root or unofficial software. If your device was previously rooted or was running unofficial ROM prior to updating it, there may be some software corruption or incompatibility that happened. In order to fix the issue, you can either try to unroot the device or return all software back to stock. If you were the one who rooted or flashed the device before, then you should know what we’re talking about.

If it’s your first time to hear the terms rooting and flashing, or if you are positive that your device has always been running official firmware, then you should continue with the rest of the troubleshooting below.

If someone gave the phone to you as a gift, or if you purchased the device online, there’s a chance that its software may had been modified by the previous owner. If possible, get as many information from that person as possible before doing anything to avoid wasting your time and effort. If he or she confirms that the phone had been modified or rooted, you should do some Google research to bring it back to its stock state. If it’s only rooted, you can easily unroot your S8 by doing a master reset, or with the help of some software. If it’s been flashed with a custom ROM, you’ll have to reflash it in order to return the operating system back to its official state.

Force reboot

Some cases of boot loop issues can be easily fixed by simply removing the battery of a device. In such cases, the reason for the problem is a temporary bug in the operating system. Disconnecting the power source sometimes fixes bugs like these as they can only continue to exist as long as the current OS session is going on. Once the device is shut down and its memory is refreshed, the bug may no longer return.

You can’t obviously just disconnect the battery from your device so you’ll have to simulate it. Here’s how it’s done:

1. 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.
2. 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.

Bad system cache

Sometimes, updates may corrupt the system cache, which in turn, can be a source of problems. In some rare cases, a corrupted cache can also prevent a device from booting up properly. To see if you have a cache issue, you need to clear the cache partition. Here’s how to do that:

1. Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
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 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.

Third party app

Third party apps can interfere with Android sometimes causing it to behave erratically. This usually happens due to incompatibility. To check if one of your apps is causing the problem, you can boot the device to safe mode. Here’s how to do that:

1. Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Safe Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting it to Safe Mode.
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.

If your phone boots to safe mode fine but continues to refuse to boot normally afterwards, that means one of your apps is to blame. To identify which of your apps is causing the trouble, you should boot the phone back to safe mode and follow these steps:

1. Boot to safe mode.
2. Check for the problem.
3. 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.
4. After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
5. If your S8 is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.

Unknown software bug

If your S8 still won’t boot up at this time, you need to perform a master reset to deal with a possible operating system bug. We can’t say for sure what this bug might be but this type of situation happens a lot. To fix the problem, all you need is to boot the phone back to Recovery Mode again, just like what you did when you tried to wipe the cache partition. Then, once you’re in Recovery Mode, you can wipe the phone from there. Here are the exact steps that you need to do:

1. Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
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.

Get professional help

Should all our suggestions above won’t fix the problem, you can assume the phone has a bad hardware. That means that it’s very unlikely that there’s anything more that you can do to try and fix it. In this case, we strongly suggest that you let Samsung handle the situation. Call them and set up a repair request so you can send your S8 to them.

Problem #2: What to do if your Galaxy S8 won’t turn on or boot up

My S8 seems to have come into some fairly irritating issues and I’m hoping you guys will be able to help. Essentially when you go to turn the phone on, the whole “Samsung Galaxy S8″ screen pops up with the whole “powered by Android” thing at the bottom. Business as usual as you’d assume. However of late, when that screen pops up as you try to turn the device on, it stays on for approximately 10-12 seconds, goes blank, and then just starts all over again with that screen and a slight vibration. I’ve since downloaded Kies 3 from Samsung’s website in an attempt to fix it. however since the phone won’t boot up (I’m guessing that’s where the problem lies), I can’t really do much…. I’ve tried booting through safe mode, normal boot, factory reset, and recovery mode. Hopefully there’s something we can do about this! and if not, well I appreciate the effort and thought put into it. — Adam Hall Hall.adam93

Solution: Hi Adam. As mentioned above, there’s a list of possible reasons why a Samsung device may no longer boot up properly. If you’ve already tried the suggested software troubleshooting above, especially a factory reset, you can bet that the problem is beyond your ability to address. Possible hardware malfunction can be due to bad battery, malfunction of Power Management IC, or unknown motherboard bug. Make sure that you let Samsung check your phone for you so you’re guaranteed to get it back in good working order.

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