Why does my phone start up halfway then stop?

[AC Question]

I have a Galaxy S3 mini (8190) , 16GB. I've never rooted it or anything, though last month I had to perform a re-set and it got my IMEI number messed up. I took it for repairs and it was restored within 20 mins. My problem now is that I was browsing last night and in the middle of it the browser (opera mini) froze up. After a minute or so, the phone went off (usually if it does that I perform a battery pull) and I waited for it to restart. When it didn't do so immediately I tried pressing the power button. Nada. Then i pulled out the battery and it began to restart, but hangs on the second droid screen ( I am running Android version 4.1.2) , black and white. Normally it's supposed to continue and show the next droid (coloured) screen with startup tone and vibration. It doesn't do that. All you can see is the backlight on. It cannot be switched off either unless I pull the battery again. if I attempt switching it on, it hangs at exactly the same point again. I cannot reset or anything. It doesn't seem to match the "sudden death" syndrome I've been hearing so much about. What to do?

 

[Paul627g]

Very odd that a factory reset would mess with your IMEI number. Then you mentioned going in for repairs? What exactly did they do?

Sounds like software more than hardware to me.

 

[citizenk]

I just registered myself. I posted this question. Anyway, when I reset the phone I noticed the IMEI number printed inside the phone (under the battery) was slightly different from the one on the software (i.e. when you go into the phone details). But that was 2 months ago. My problem is the fact that it isn't starting up fully as I described above.

 

[Paul627g]

I just registered myself. I posted this question. Anyway, when I reset the phone I noticed the IMEI number printed inside the phone (under the battery) was slightly different from the one on the software (i.e. when you go into the phone details). But that was 2 months ago. My problem is the fact that it isn't starting up fully as I described above.

Thanks for registering. It sounds like something in the boot up sequence software speaking is borked. It could however be hardware too, but since your getting some sort of response out of the device we know its functioning to a point.

How to fix.. Have you tried to boot into the stock recovery and perform a factory reset from there?

 

[citizenk]

Is that the method wherre you plug in per USB to the pc? Trying it now...

 

[citizenk]

ok, it has now done a factory reset ( I connected it to the pc via USB, and held down home, volume and start buttons simultaneoeusly - which wasn't working with the battery only), but at the samsung logo it goes black again, the backlight is still there though. Let me also mention that the battery is fully charged, and the charging screen was working without fail, either connected to the mains or pc.
What now?

 

[Pranav Nandu]

Hi, I too have galaxy s3 and i have got the same problem. My phone wont start except if i pulled out the battery for a minute it would start off till the second android screen and then switch off. I have not repaired it at all, it just started acting this way. Did you find a solution to this?

 

[citizenk]

Pranav, no answer yet, but I've given it to the repairman, who asked me to check in tomorrow...certainly I know I might never go for a Samsung again. I've had this phone less than a year, and I've had so much freezing, re-starting and others, I'm just tired. Freezing of keyboard is another popular one...I don't get how Samsung makes such record sales!

 

[citizenk]

Hi Pranav, and everyone else out there who's interested. My phone is now toast. Thanks Samsung for sucha great phone that took 8 months to survive and never gave me a day of pleasure without restarting randomly, apps collapsing while in use, freezing whilst browsing or freezing whilst typing and only returning to normal upon a battery pull. Infact, the battery was the only thing that worked normally. Great charging.
Thanks for all the help from everyone.
SAMSUNG? NEVER AGAIN.