How to fix Galaxy Note8 that won’t turn on after battery goes to 0% (after an update)

Unlike its predecessor, the doomed Galaxy Note7, the #GalaxyNote8 is generally free from any major battery issues. Recently however, we’ve been getting anecdotes from around the web of some Note8 failing to power back on after the battery drains to 0%. Basically, what’s happening is that after an update, some Note8 devices seemed unable to recover or power back on again after battery has been emptied to zero. We can’t say for sure if this is update-related or not at this time but we’re trying to gather more data to see if that’s the case. If you’re one of the people who experienced this issue recently, try doing our tips below to see if you can solve the issue on your end.

Tip #1: Verify charging cable and adapter are working

The first troubleshooting step that you want to do in this case is to ensure that the problem is not due to defective charging accessories. A lot of Samsung Galaxy users often blame the phone right away if they encounter a problem similar to yours. Be sure you don’t fall for that too by making sure you check your charging cable and adapter. If you have original Samsung cable and adapter, you can use that to charge your Note8. Remember, your first task is to identify where the issue lies. At this point, it can be anywhere.

If you don’t have a spare charging cable and adapter for your Note8, try to bring it to a store that can allow you to charge your device. If your Note8 comes back to life using another set of accessories, make sure to replace the current ones you’re using.

Tip #2: Check the charging port for obvious physical damage

The other thing that you need to do right after checking your charging accessories is to see if there’s a visible charging port problem. Sometimes, a bent pin or a pocket lint may prevent the charging cable from charging the phone properly. If possible, try to inspect the charging port using some form of a magnifier so you can the interior as much as possible. Don’t forget that the goal here is to inspect and not to fix. If you think a pin is bent inside, don’t attempt to fix it unless you are 100% that you can do it. In this case, you want a professional handle the damage so make sure to bring your phone to a Samsung service center.

If there’s a debris inside, try using a can of compressed air to dislodge it.

Sometimes, a wet charging port may prevent charging as well. If you can see water moisture or liquid in the charging port area, let the device air dry. Do not use a can of compressed air as that might push the liquid inside, especially if the water resistance seal has been compromised. Water naturally dry out eventually so just leave your phone for several hours near an indirect heat source like the back of a TV or computer or anything that emits gentle heat. DO NOT place your Note8 near an oven or fireplace as excess heat will damage components inside.

Tip #3: Charge your Note8 for at least 30 minutes before turning it on

Once you’ve made sure that the charging accessories and charging port are in good shape, the next logical thing to do is to try charging your Note8 again. Normally, a device can be powered on right away a few seconds after charging but in your case, you want to be a little more patient by waiting for at least half an hour. Once the phone has been connected to the charger for at least 30 minutes, that should give more than enough boost to the battery. If there’s no problem with the phone or the battery itself, your Note8 should power on without issues. Sometimes, a Lithium-ion battery just needs more than its usual dose of charge to work after it got drained. Again, be sure not to attempt to power the phone back on if it hasn’t charged for 30 minutes yet.

Tip #4: Force reboot

Sometimes, a forced reboot is all that a device needs to power back on. In older Galaxy models, this is done by simply removing the battery. This is useful in cases when the device has crashed or has become unresponsive after an error. It can appear totally dead and won’t power on even when pressing the power button for several seconds. Because your Note8 does not have a removable battery pack, you need to simulate the effects of physically removing the battery by doing a soft reset. This is done by pressing a combination of hardware buttons. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Press and hold the Power + Volume Down buttons for approximately 10 seconds or until the device power cycles. Note: 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. Also, allow up to 90 seconds for the reset to complete.

A lot of Note8 users have found out that their devices are not totally dead but rather only unresponsive after doing a soft reset. If your Note8 constantly freezes even when you’re not using it, that can be a symptom of a serious software glitch or a hardware malfunction. It’s also a totally different issue and we won’t cover that here in this guide. Even normally working devices can encounter system errors they can’t recover from so they tend to freeze or become unresponsive. If this is the first time that you encountered your Note8 to become unresponsive, you don’t need to be alarmed. Just make sure to restart it once every few days to keep the system refreshed.

Tip #5: Boot to safe mode

If doing the soft reset won’t help, the next tip for you is to see if you can boot the device to safe mode. This is a different type of software environment that blocks third party apps. Sometimes, poorly coded apps or inefficient app codes can interfere with Android, resulting to problems. The thing is, there’s often no way to know if you’ve added a bad app. Only when issues start to show afterwards will you have the hint that something may not be working right with your apps. To check if you can boot your Note8 to safe mode, follow these steps:

  1. With your Note8 off press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
  2. When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
  3. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
  4. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
  5. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  6. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.

If your Note8 turns on to safe mode but not on normal mode, that’s a clear sign that one of your apps is indeed problematic. To know which app is causing a problem, 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 Note8 still refuses to power back on, repeat steps 1-4.

Tip #6: Try to boot to alternate modes

Aside from normal mode and safe mode, there are two other software environments that you can try — recovery mode and download mode. Each of these modes has its own troubleshooting purpose but we’re not here to use them to troubleshoot. Our main goal here is to find out if your Note8 boots up to any of them. Only then shall we use follow-up troubleshooting steps in order to fix the main issue, which is why your Note8 won’t turn on normally.

To boot your Note8 to recovery mode:

  1. With your Note8 turned off, press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  2. 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).

To boot your Note8 to download or Odin mode:

  1. With your Note8 turned off, press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  2. You will be shown Samsung logo followed by a warning screen almost instantly – you can let go of all three keys now.
  3. Press Volume Up to keep going.

If your Note8 will boot to any of these modes, that means it’s NOT totally dead and may only be encountering a software error. This is actually good news for you because there’s a chance you may be able to fix the problem on your level.

If your device only boots to recovery mode, try to see if wiping the cache partition or factory reset will help. These are two options that you can find once your Note8 is on this mode already.

If your Note8 only powers on to download mode, it’s a sign that there may be an issue with the firmware or Android. These types of issues usually occurs when the operating system becomes corrupted after rooting, flashing, or even a system update. To fix your problem, try to flash a stock firmware to it. By stock firmware we mean the official firmware build that came with the device when you first unboxed it. If you don’t know what we’re talking here, do some digging by using Google.

Tip #7: Contact Samsung

If all our suggestions above won’t help fix your at all, you need to seek professional help to see what’s wrong with the device. It may have suffered a catastrophic power management IC failure, its battery may have gone bad, or the motherboard may have been damaged for some reason. Only you know the history of your device so you may even have the idea what’s wrong with the device. If it happens out of the blue after an update, like some Note8 users who reported this trouble to us and in other Android forums, there may be some unique factors on the device that triggers it. Again, it’s up to Samsung to determine what’s causing this problem at this time. As far as official word from them is concerned regarding the issue, we are yet to receive them. So, in the meantime, you want them to fix the issue for you by sending the phone in.


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