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How to unfreeze a frozen Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (easy fix)

ByHarold Hisona

Even a powerful smartphone like your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 may encounter some hiccups every now and then. In fact, many of our readers that own this device complained about freezes and lags and there were also some who reported to have experienced having a frozen unit. It means that no matter what they do, the phone won’t respond. Unlike the Black Screen of Death where the screen is frozen on a blank screen, this issue may occur even if you’re using the phone and it might be frozen on a certain screen.

In this post, I will walk you through in determining what the problem with your phone is because if we know what it’s all about, it would be a lot easier to fix it. This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered this problem so we already know a thing or two that could solve the problem and that’s what I want to share with you here. So, if you’re one of the owners of this device and are currently bugged by a similar problem, continue reading as this article may be a great resource for you.

Before we move on to our troubleshooting, if you are looking for a solution to a different problem in your Note 8, visit our troubleshooting page as we have already addressed some of the most common issues reported by our readers. Find problems that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you need further assistance, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

How to reset a frozen Galaxy Note 8

There are only a couple of things I want you to try with your phone here because more often than not, this problem occurs due to a system crash. After doing the known solutions for this problem below and your phone is still not responding, then I suggest you bring the device back to the store or to the shop so that a technician can check it for you.

First solution: Do the Forced Reboot

If you’re familiar with battery pull procedure that we often do to phones with removable battery when they crash, well, it’s similar to that only that we do this with phones that have non-removable batteries. Your phone is hard-wired to do this method if the combination is done correctly. In fact, it’s the only thing that could make your device respond if the problem is indeed a firmware crash. This is how you do it:

  • Press and hold the Volume Down button and the Power key simultaneously for 10 seconds or more.

If the combination is performed correctly, your Note 8 will reboot normally and boots up to the Home screen. You can then continue to use it however, there’s no guarantee the problem would never happen again in the future.

On the other hand, if your Galaxy Note 8 doesn’t respond to it, try doing it a couple more times to make sure your doing it right. Or, you may try this instead:

  1. Press and hold the Volume Down button and don’t release it.
  2. Then, press and hold the Power key while holding down the Volume Down button.
  3. Keep both keys held down together for 10 seconds or more to simulate battery disconnect.

It’s similar to the first procedure only that we’re making sure that you press and hold the volume down button before pressing the power key because that’s the way it should be. Pressing and holding the power key first won’t give you the same result and the Forced Reboot won’t be performed. However, if your phone is still not responding after this, then you have to move on to the next procedure.

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Second solution: Try charging your phone and do the Forced Reboot again

Another possibility we have to consider is a drained battery. Of course you can immediately rule this out if your phone is frozen on a screen that still shows a picture. For instance, if you were texting when the phone crashed and the screen is frozen on the screen that shows your text. But then again, if that’s the case then the first solution should have already fixed the problem. So, if your device is stuck on a black screen and won’t respond, then there’s a possibility that the battery got drained plus the fact that the system may have crashed just before the battery runs empty. To rule this out, all you have to do is this…

  1. Plug the charger to a working wall outlet and make sure you’re using the original wired charger.
  2. Using the original power / data cable, connect your device to its charger.
  3. Regardless whether the charging signs are showing or not, allow the phone to be connected to its charger for 10 minutes.
  4. After which, press and hold the Volume Down button and don’t release it.
  5. Then, press and hold the Power key while holding down the Volume Down button.
  6. Keep both keys held down together for 10 seconds or more to simulate battery disconnect.

If the issue occurred due to a drained battery and firmware crash, your Note 8 should already be booting up by now. But if it still not responding, then it’s time to bring it back to the shop so that a technician can check it for you.

Now, this is just optional but I suggest you try running your phone in Recovery mode to see if it’s capable of doing so. Even if your Note 8 has a serious firmware issue, it may still be able to boot into this mode and from there, you can try doing the Master Reset but it’s all up to you. Should you decide to do it, then follow these steps:

  1. 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).
  3. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
  4. Press Power button to select.
  5. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  6. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  7. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  8. Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope that we’ve been able to help you one way or another. If you have other concerns you want to share with us, you may contact us or leave a comment below.

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