What to do if Galaxy Note8 won’t install system update after a factory reset
Hello Samsung Galaxy fans! Today’s #GalaxyNote8 troubleshooting article will answer three common problems for this device. As usual, the cases mentioned below are all taken from reports we received from some members of our community. Make sure to browser through entire article to see if any of the cases is similar to your experience. We hope that our solutions below will help you fix your own Note8 issue.
Problem #1: How to fix your Galaxy Note8 that is stuck on boot loop
Hello. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 8, 128GB, Hong Kong Specs since February 2018. Recently I have started facing problems with the phone (Camera & heart rate sensor not working, in addition to a couple more minor issues). But the major problem, which now I’m facing, is that the phone is stuck in the Boot Loop cycle (Boot/Samsung logo/vibrate/reboot). (this happens especially if I restart the phone and sometimes when I turn off the phone & turn it back on, but doesn’t happen if the phone battery drains out and turns off).
So before going to an expert shop, I tried to read all the troubleshooting on the web, but I can not find the appropriate fix for my problem. These are the things that I tried:
1) Hard press the “Power Key” in order to turn the phone off, but It never worked.
2) Hard press the “Volume Up Key + Bixby Key + Power Key” in order to make a “Soft Reset” but it never worked, because it keeps stuck in the boot loop.
3) Hard press the “Volume Down Key + Bixby Key + Power Key” but it never worked, because it keeps stuck in the boot loop.
4) Hard press the “Volume Up Key + Bixby Key” in order to make a “Soft Reset” but it never worked, because it keeps stuck in the boot loop
5) Hard press the “Volume Down Key + Bixby Key” for several seconds then it took me to a screen with “Aqua” background that says “Warning” on the top. First try, I pressed the “Volume Down Key” but again the phone entered the boot loop; Second try, I pressed the “Volume Up Key” it showed me to the same screen and in the middle “Arrow Down” under it “Downloading…” and on the top left of the screen wrote the following: – RPMB fuse blow (Pink Color) – RPMB PROVISIONED (Pink Color) – CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official (White Color) – SYSTEM STATUS: Official (White Color) – FRP LOCK: OFF (White Color) – CROM SERVICE: ON (White Color) – WARRANTY VOID: 0x0 (White Color) – QUALCOMM SECUREBOOT: ENABLE (Yellow Color) – RP SWREV: B3(2,1,1,1,1) K0 S0 (Grey Color) – SECURE DOWNLOAD: ENABLE (Blue Color) – DID: 205EE96B9AD7 (Grey Color) I kept it for a few minutes, but again nothing happened. Then I pressed the “Volume Down Key + Power Key” for around 10 seconds then the phone again entered the boot loop. What shall I do?????? Please HELP!!!!!
Solution: First off, we want to let you know that we’ve already covered your initial issue about sensors not working in one of our articles before. If you want to check what our suggestions to fix were, check this article out: Galaxy Note8 sensors (Iris scaner, auto-rotation, heartbeat sensor, GPS, etc) stopped working after Oreo update.
Secondly, you won’t be able to boot your device to Recovery Mode (to wipe the cache partition and perform a factory reset) unless your phone is totally off. In order to boot the device to Recovery Mode, these are the steps that you need to take:
- 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.
- 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).
Once the device has booted to Recovery Mode, you can try to wipe the cache partition first to see if it will make a difference. You may eventually need to factory reset the phone if nothing changes after wiping the cache partition.
Flash stock firmware
If your phone encountered the sensor and boot loop problems after installing OTA (over-the-air) update, or failed rooting or flashing procedure, you have to consider flashing the stock firmware back. If you haven’t heard of the term flashing before, we suggest that you skip it and go directly to Samsung for support.
If you’re an advanced Android user and has tried flashing devices before, the cause of your issue may be an incorrect firmware version or corrupted system partitions. Consider flashing the stock firmware versions, preferably the one that came with the device when you unboxed it (we assume you’re wise enough to have kept tab of the firmware version before flashing). If flashing back to stock won’t help, then your phone may have a damaged software that you can’t fix on your level. In this case, consider sending the device to Samsung so they can replace it.
Problem #2: What to do if Galaxy Note8 screen has horizontal lines and won’t turn on
My Galaxy Note8 had the front LED indicator light lit bright white, but the phone screen was black. When I press the power button, the screen illuminated with two columns of horizontal grey bars about 2mm wide. I tried resetting it by pressing the power and volume up and down buttons for 20+ seconds, but no luck. One other thing I noticed. When I press only the power button with the horizontal lines on the screen, the screen will turn off and the front LED indicator very briefly turns yellow. I cannot turn off the front LED, it just stays on bright white. Otherwise, the phone is completely unresponsive. It is fully charged. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Solution: Try to boot the phone to Recovery Mode (refer to the steps above) and see if you can factory reset it. This should cover the possibility that there’s a software bug preventing the screen from working properly. If you are unable to boot to Recovery Mode, or if nothing happens when you factory reset, you should get professional help from Samsung so they can check the hardware and repair it needed.
If your phone was accidentally dropped or exposed to water, we suggest that you stop wasting your time looking for software solutions. You won’t be able to fix a broken screen by tweaking the software. Instead, skip directly to repair or replacement with Samsung.
Problem #3: What to do if Galaxy Note8 won’t install system update after a factory reset
So I purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note8 from someone and it seemed to work fine. I went home and did a factory reset to clear everything and then tried installing the latest update. The update tried to install and failed and now my phone is stuck on the Samsung Galaxy Note8 screen (unresponsive to any buttons). The screen says “Samsung Galaxy Note8” and then there is a symbol of an open lock and the word “Custom” underneath the open lock and “powered by android” at the bottom.
I held down home, power and volume up. The phone turns on to the Samsung Note8 screen and says “RECOVERY BOOTING…” at the top left and then the android figure shows up with “Installing system update…” The update tries to install. The blue bar below the android figure gets to almost full and then it says “Error!” below the android figure which is now laying on it’s back like it’s dead. It then goes back to the “RECOVERY BOOTING…” message on the Samsung Note8 screen and tries to install update over and just keeps doing this over and over. I tried the same process but released the power button after the phone vibrated but then instead of the “RECOVERY BOOTING…” message it just goes to Samsung Note8 screen and gets stuck there. I hear the jingle but the screen doesn’t do anything else. Please let me know how I can fix my phone. I don’t know the android version and the phone was originally on Verizon but I think it was unlocked. Thanks.
Solution: There can be a host of reasons why your Note8 fails to install updates at this time. The common reasons why an Android device may not install an update includes:
- lack of available storage space
- device trying to install incompatible firmware
- Android OS is corrupted
- there’s unknown software glitch
- there’s unknown hardware malfunction
Because factory reset did not do anything, the problem is either due to a bad software or hardware malfunction. If you can, try to flash stock firmware to your device and see what happens. If you can’t do that on your own, let an expert do it for you. Just remember, flashing is a risky procedure and can potentially damage your device software environment for good. If you can accept the risks involved, do some research on how it’s done properly.
If flashing can’t be done on your device for some reason, or if it’s the cause of the problem in the first place, we doubt there’s anything else that you can do at this point. If possible, bring the device to Samsung so they can fix it for you.