How to fix a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 that won't turn on after installing a new update (easy steps)

Software updates are generally designed to enhance system functions and optimize your device. But it’s not always a guarantee for everyone to end up having no issues after implementing new updates. In fact, a lot of people have been raising various complaints as they ended up dealing with different types of post-update errors on their respective devices. This is what has occurred to some owners of the unlocked version of the Galaxy Note 8 after installing the new Android 8.0 Oreo on their smartphone. One of the issues that manifest is on the Note 8 that doesn’t power on after the new Android update was implemented. Apparently, it’s a software issue and so can likely be resolved by some workarounds. If ever you’re one of those who are facing the same dilemma after updating your Note 8 to the latest Android version, I have mapped out a few helpful workarounds and possible solutions you can try on. Read on and get help when needed.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our Galaxy Note 8 troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.

First solution: Force your phone to restart.

Forcing the device to restart can help rid of minor system errors that caused your Note 8 to crash and get stuck. It works the same as the usual restart but carried out using hardware keys. If you haven’t done it yet, then follow these steps to force your Samsung Note 8 to restart:

Press and hold the Power button and Volume Down button simultaneously for up to 45 seconds.
Release both buttons when the phone power cycles.

It is a simulated battery removal process to restart a frozen or stuck smartphone with non-removable batteries. It’s possible that your phone system has crashed and got stuck on black screen as some data might have been corrupted from the update. No data is affected in the process so creating a backup won’t be necessary.

Second solution: Charge your phone then force restart.

Some bad updates or update bugs can cause rapid power drain. Thus it is possible that your Note 8 has completely run out of power from the update and couldn’t boot up unless charged. That said, charge your phone. But charging may not be enough as some apps might have gone rogue from the update and halted the device from booting up even with sufficient power. This is when a force restart is needed. So here’s what you should do then:

Connect your Note 8 to the charger and let it charge for a few minutes.
While your phone is charging, force it to restart by pressing and holding the Power and Volume Down buttons simultaneously for up to 45 seconds until the phone boots up.

Let your phone charge up to 50 percent then start troubleshooting software errors or apps problems that might have caused your device to crash and get stuck on black screen.

Third solution: Access and restore your phone on a computer using Android backup and restore tools.

There are a lot of backup and restore applications designed to backup and restore an erratic Android device including Samsung Note 8 and one good example is the Android Assistant tool. These tools can be downloaded and installed on a Windows PC or Mac computer. Then all you have to do next is run the program and connect your phone to the computer using the supplied USB connector or data cable. Wait until your Galaxy Note 8 is recognized then follow the onscreen instructions to start backing up Android files to your computer. With the backup created, continue with Android system recovery.

What to do if your phone powers on?

If you managed to get your Note 8 back up and running again, do the following to prevent the same problem from recurring.

First method: Boot your Samsung Note 8 into safe mode then uninstall bad apps.

Enable safe mode on your phone to diagnose apps. This will help you rule out bad apps from the possible triggers. Follow these steps then:

Turn your phone off.
Then press and hold the Power button past the model name screen.
When the Samsung logo appears, release the Power button.
Immediately after releasing the Power button, press and hold the Volume Down key.
Keep holding the Volume Down key until the phone finishes restarting.
By then you should see the Safe Mode badge at the bottom left corner of the screen. At this point, you can release the Volume Down key.

Uninstall the apps you suspect are causing your Note 8 to crash and get stuck on black screen. Think of which apps you’ve recently downloaded, before your phone lost power.

Second method: Boot your Samsung Note 8 into recovery mode and wipe cache partition

Press the Volume Up, Home (Bixby), and Power buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
When the Android logo appears, release all buttons and wait for the Android recovery menu options to display.
From the Android recovery menu, press the Volume Down key several times to highlight or select wipe cache partition option.
Press the Power button to confirm selection.
Press the Volume Down key until Yes is highlighted.
Then press the Power button to confirm.
Wait until the wipe cache partition is complete and when it’s finished, the Reboot system now option is highlighted.
Press the Power button to restart your phone.

Wiping cache partition clears any corrupted cache or temporary files and data from the system partition that might have caused you this trouble. This process does not affect your data stored on the internal memory so all your files remain intact after the process.

Third method: Boot your Samsung Note 8 into recovery mode and reset it

Press the Volume Up, Home (Bixby), and Power buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
When the Android logo appears, release all buttons and wait for the Android recovery menu options to display.
From the Android recovery menu, press the Volume Down key several times to highlight or select wipe data/factory reset option.
Then press the Power button to confirm selection.
Press the Volume Down key until Yes — delete all user data is highlighted.
Then press the Power button to confirm select. This will instigate the master reset.
When the reset is finished, the Reboot system now option is highlighted.
Press the Power button to restart your phone.

A factory data reset is likely needed if some system files get totally messed up from the update and therefore requires re-setting up. This method results to data loss thus must only be regarded as the last resort and optional.

Repair options

If your phone still refuses to power on after exhausting all possible means to fix system issues that might have prevented your Samsung Note 8 from turning on or booting up, then it requires service. Your device might have accumulated some sort of physical or liquid damage from a previous drop or liquid exposure and that the symptom might have coincidentally occurred after updating your device. In this case, the problem you’re dealing with is attributed to hardware damage.

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How to fix a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 that won’t turn on after installing a new update (easy steps)