Interesting Boot-Up Issue - Major Assistance Needed!!!

[Dankees]

Everyone, please help me. I don't know what else to do. I am desperate here!!!

So, I've had my Galaxy Note 4 since the day they came out (October 24th, 2014), and I baby my phone.

Anyway, I've never dropped it, got it wet - nothing.

Last week, out of nowhere (I don't recall downloading anything out of the ordinary), my phone started getting extremely sluggish. I wiped the cache partition, but that didn't solve my issues.

Then, the phone was shutting down (abruptly, not powering down) out of nowhere. So, I pulled the battery, and did so many other recommended things.

Now, I cannot turn on my phone without first pulling the battery. Every so often, the phone shuts down (abruptly) and I have to pull the battery to start it up again.

I've changed batteries to back to my original battery, but that didn't help.

Then, every so often a screen comes on with the Android character saying, "Downloading. Do Not Turn Off Target !!"

Please help me!!! What can I do? What should I do?

I love this phone and it's gonna be a long time before the Galaxy Note 8 comes out!

 

[Golfdriver97]

Have you tried clearing the cache in recovery?

 

[Dankees]

Is that "Wipe Cache Partition"...?

If not, can you please elaborate on how to do this?

 

[Golfdriver97]

Recovery needs a button combination to boot into? Is this how you wiped the cache?

 

[Dankees]

Yes, Power Button, Volume Up, and Home Button.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Ok. That's what I was referring to. I'm wondering if there isn't some of the buttons sticking to cause this?

 

[smvim]

You might want to try re-flashing the stock ROM as it sounds like something became corrupted with the Android OS itself. Here's walk-through guide on how to do this:
How to Unroot Galaxy Note 4 with Stock Firmware! | GalaxyNote4Root.com
It does refer to taking a rooted phone back to stock but whether your Note 4 is rooted or not the procedure is still the same. (Re-flashing to the stock ROM will require you to re-root it.) Also, if the article refers to it's own ROM archive but if you want to use something else sammobile or updato are reliable and have verified ROMs.
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/
Download Firmware – Samsung Update
Keep in mind you need to use the firmware that's specific to your model, there's no mix and matching involved and there is no universally compatible ROM.
If you follow the instructions as is your personal data should be OK (using Odin and make sure you DO NOT select the 'Re-partition' check box. When done, you might want to reboot into Recovery Mode and wipe the system cache partition as that's often a good thing to do whenever your Note has a firmware upgrade.
Oh, the Odin utility is Windows only. If you don't have access to a Windows computer, take a look at Heimdall. It's an Open Source alternative to Odin and will run on Linux, Mac, and Windows. The exact menu phrasing will be different using Heimdall but just follow the article's instructions for Odin but substitute the equivalent.
http://glassechidna.com.au/heimdall/

 

[Dankees]

You might want to try re-flashing the stock ROM as it sounds like something became corrupted with the Android OS itself. Here's walk-through guide on how to do this:
How to Unroot Galaxy Note 4 with Stock Firmware! | GalaxyNote4Root.com
It does refer to taking a rooted phone back to stock but whether your Note 4 is rooted or not the procedure is still the same. (Re-flashing to the stock ROM will require you to re-root it.) Also, if the article refers to it's own ROM archive but if you want to use something else sammobile or updato are reliable and have verified ROMs.
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/
Download Firmware – Samsung Update
Keep in mind you need to use the firmware that's specific to your model, there's no mix and matching involved and there is no universally compatible ROM.
If you follow the instructions as is your personal data should be OK (using Odin and make sure you DO NOT select the 'Re-partition' check box. When done, you might want to reboot into Recovery Mode and wipe the system cache partition as that's often a good thing to do whenever your Note has a firmware upgrade.
Oh, the Odin utility is Windows only. If you don't have access to a Windows computer, take a look at Heimdall. It's an Open Source alternative to Odin and will run on Linux, Mac, and Windows. The exact menu phrasing will be different using Heimdall but just follow the article's instructions for Odin but substitute the equivalent.
http://glassechidna.com.au/heimdall/

This sounds very complex, as I have never done this before. Is it hard to do?

Is it risky?

Also, you gave a few options. What (with the simplest of instructions) would you recommend I do and how?

 

[Golfdriver97]

Zedomax has really good guides. As long as you follow the instructions and use the same carrier ROM as your phone, you should be fine.

 

[Dankees]

I looked on that site. Where is my carrier ROM? I'm on Verizon in the US.

 

[smvim]

This sounds very complex, as I have never done this before. Is it hard to do?

Is it risky?

Also, you gave a few options. What (with the simplest of instructions) would you recommend I do and how?

Yes it's risky but if you follow the directions as written you should be OK. It's always a risk doing something like re-writing the firmware. Read through the steps a couple of times so you get familiar with the process and then when you actually do it things won't seem so complicated. You'll need to download a couple of things, one being the Odin utility (note that this is not the latest version but it is the one that works with your Note 4, newer versions are often not compatible with older hardware) and the other being the ROM for your Verizon Note 4. The Odin download is under 1 MB, the ROM download will be close to 2 GB.
The ROM for your Note 4 is here:
Download GalaxyNote4/SM-N910V/N910VVRU1ANJ5_N910VVZW1ANJ5_VZW.zip at StockROMs.net
The Odin download is here:
Download Tools/ODIN/Odin3_v3.09.zip at StockROMs.net
Once you have both on your computer just follow the steps as listed here:
How to Unroot Galaxy Note 4 with Stock Firmware! | GalaxyNote4Root.com

If all works out your /data partition should still be intact, this process only affects the system-related partitions on your Note. Again, when you're using Odin make sure that 'Re-partition' box is NOT checked. When everything is done and your Note 4 is up and running again, I'd boot up into Recovery Mode and wipe the system cache partition as a final wrap-up.
Good luck!



Read through this guide:
How to Unroot Galaxy Note 4 with Stock Firmware! | GalaxyNote4Root.com