What to do if Galaxy S7 encounters “cant finish update” error, can’t install update
Hello and welcome to today’s #GalaxyS7 troubleshooting article. This post addresses one of the possible situations that can occur following an update. We hope you’ll find our solutions helpful.
Today’s problem: Galaxy S7 won’t finish installing update, stuck in bootloop
I was prompt via notification that there is a latest update for my S7. So i decided to install update via wifi with battery power at 80% capacity. Half way through the installation part, screen showed ‘cant finish update …BRK not installed, please install BRK..’ something within that line. So i decided to power off the phone and now it is in a boot loop. Boot loop pattern is twice flashing black background with SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 powered by ANDROID logo and then followed by a blue screen of white android robot with ‘installing system update’ at the bottom and instantly followed by a blue screen with an orange triangular with black exclamation mark in the centre and a diagonal android robot with a small ‘Error!’ word at the bottom. Please advice. Thanks You! — Ian
What to do if your Galaxy S7 can’t finish installing Android update
Update problems are usually rare but if they do occur, they can be really annoying. To fix an update issue like the one Ian is experiencing, try the solutions below.
Solution #1: Clear cache partition
Android devices divide internal storage into partitions in order to keep group of files together. In your Samsung S7, the cache partition is automatically created the moment Android operating system is installed to separate temporary files called cache from system or operating system files and others. Downloaded contents, installer packages called APKs, and other system files used to load things quickly are all stored in the cache partition. Sometimes, files in this partition may get corrupted causing problems. One such problem is failure of the device to boot up normally or install updates. Since he case above talks about situation where update seems to have stopped working normally, it’s logical that the first troubleshooting step that you need to do is to wipe the cache partition. If you haven’t tried this yet, follow these steps:
- Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
- Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
- When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
- Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
- Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
- Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
- Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
- The phone will now reboot longer than usual.
Solution #2: Wipe the phone thru Master Reset
Wiping the cache partition can only do so much. If your S7 remains problematic after you’ve cleared the system cache, the next logical step is to perform a master reset. Master reset, also known as factory reset, will revert all software (operating system) settings to their defaults. Here’s how it’s done:
- Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
- Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
- When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
- Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
- Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
- Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
- Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
- The phone will now reboot longer than usual.
Solution #3: Reflash the bootloader
In some cases, a Samsung device may fail to load Android properly after an update because the bootloader or Recovery software has been corrupted. Though this rarely occurs when an update is routed via a carrier’s network (over-the-air) and happens almost always following a failed rooting or flashing procedure, you should consider flashing your device’s bootloader back to its default setup. Keep in mind that flashing is essentially changing core operating system files. If not done correctly, you’ll most probably end up with more problems than you have now. To ensure that you have the correct steps to do this procedure, we suggest that you visit other sites that can provide you with a good flashing guide for your phone model. Flashing procedures can vary by model and using an incorrect one can potentially brick the device for good. Below are the general steps on how to flash a bootloader of a Samsung device. Flashing your device’s bootloader may be slightly different from the steps below.
- Look for the correct firmware for your phone model and download it. Make sure that you select the right one. It should be the same exact firmware that ran previously on your device. We assume that you list down the firmware version somewhere. If you did not take note of it before, there’s a chance that you may pick the wrong one. As you may know now, using an incorrect firmware can cause complications so good luck with that.
- Let’s now say that you have identified the correct firmware. You then want to download it to your computer. The firmware file should have a bunch of files in it like AP_, BL_, CSC_, etc.
- Look for the file that starts with a label BL; this should be the corresponding bootloader file for this firmware. Once you’ve identified the bootloader file, copy it to your computer’s desktop or to any other folder that you can easily access.
- Proceed with the rest of the flashing procedure using the Odin program.
- In Odin, click on the BL tab and make sure to use the bootloader file you’ve identified earlier.
- Now, make sure that the “Device Added” status and its “ID:COM box” has turned blue before hitting the START button. This will initiate the flashing of your phone’s bootloader.
- Restart the phone once the procedure is finished.
Contact Samsung or send the phone in
There’s no better substitute in terms of resolution than letting Samsung know and fix the device. Remember, as an end user, there’s only a limited set of troubleshooting that you can do. If you never rooted nor manually flashed the software, or used custom ROM on your S7 before, chances are something must have corrupted the software. It may be a coding problem, which means the update file you received was problematic in the first place, or there’s a unique variable in your device that blocks updates. Samsung has special tools to determine the software status of a device so they can most likely fix the issue for you.