Galaxy S3 i747/AT&T Version Won't Boot!!!!! (Not Rooted)

[Libby4ever21]

Hello everybody, this is my first post.

I'm feeling supremely frustrated and I want to smash my phone to smithereens because it won't start for some reason. I first noticed it when I attempted to shut the screen off the way you're supposed to, by hitting the power button. Well, whenever I hit the power button, the phone would freeze. Then I would get the power off/restart dialogue but the screen would just turn off despite me not opting to shut down. The first few times that happened, the phone would restart as normal, but the problem persisted: if I touch the power button, the phone shuts off again.

Well later yesterday, the problem got much worse. My phone simply wasn't turning on. I held down the power button to boot up, and it gets to the "SAMSUNG" logo, then shuts off again. I connect the charger, it displays a grey battery, then shuts off again. Sometimes, it would get to the "SAMSUNG" logo, followed by the "Samsung Galaxy S3" logo, followed by the blue light turning on (which would get me very excited)...but of course, it shut off again. I kept trying until eventually, no logo showed up AT ALL. I would get just a single vibrate before it went back to black.

A lot of people had success with smashing the power-button-side of the phone across a hard surface, so I tried it. When I did it, my phone just did that boot-up vibrate about eleven times, but the screen remained black. I tried opening the back and making sure all of the electronic pieces were connected, and they were. My phone's battery was at around 60% when it shut down, so I know the battery isn't dead...even if it was, I can't get the phone to stay on to charge. The only way I can get ANY reaction at this point is by whacking the phone. I can't get to recovery mode (volume up + home button + power button) because the phone just won't let me.

What's wrong here? Is there a way I can fix this without factory resetting? How would I factory reset anyway, considering I can't get to my phone? The last time I backed up my data to online cloud storage was sometime in July, so I will lose months of precious data. I tried connecting my phone to my computer via USB, but the computer can't possibly recognize it because the phone is shut down. Is there a way I can find out what's wrong with the hardware and fix it, without messing with my internal storage data? (I don't have an external SD, by the way). My phone is not rooted, nor has it ever been rooted, and I've tried the battery pull several times.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Hello everybody, this is my first post.

I'm feeling supremely frustrated and I want to smash my phone to smithereens because it won't start for some reason. I first noticed it when I attempted to shut the screen off the way you're supposed to, by hitting the power button. Well, whenever I hit the power button, the phone would freeze. Then I would get the power off/restart dialogue but the screen would just turn off despite me not opting to shut down. The first few times that happened, the phone would restart as normal, but the problem persisted: if I touch the power button, the phone shuts off again.

Well later yesterday, the problem got much worse. My phone simply wasn't turning on. I held down the power button to boot up, and it gets to the "SAMSUNG" logo, then shuts off again. I connect the charger, it displays a grey battery, then shuts off again. Sometimes, it would get to the "SAMSUNG" logo, followed by the "Samsung Galaxy S3" logo, followed by the blue light turning on (which would get me very excited)...but of course, it shut off again. I kept trying until eventually, no logo showed up AT ALL. I would get just a single vibrate before it went back to black.

A lot of people had success with smashing the power-button-side of the phone across a hard surface, so I tried it. When I did it, my phone just did that boot-up vibrate about eleven times, but the screen remained black. I tried opening the back and making sure all of the electronic pieces were connected, and they were. My phone's battery was at around 60% when it shut down, so I know the battery isn't dead...even if it was, I can't get the phone to stay on to charge. The only way I can get ANY reaction at this point is by whacking the phone. I can't get to recovery mode (volume up + home button + power button) because the phone just won't let me.

What's wrong here? Is there a way I can fix this without factory resetting? How would I factory reset anyway, considering I can't get to my phone? The last time I backed up my data to online cloud storage was sometime in July, so I will lose months of precious data. I tried connecting my phone to my computer via USB, but the computer can't possibly recognize it because the phone is shut down. Is there a way I can find out what's wrong with the hardware and fix it, without messing with my internal storage data? (I don't have an external SD, by the way). My phone is not rooted, nor has it ever been rooted, and I've tried the battery pull several times.

I know you said you pulled the battery but try one more time, but leave it out for say 15 minutes. While it is left out, look this over: http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...ing-into-recovery-mode-galaxy-s2-s3-tab2.html

If you can reboot into recovery, try clearing the device's cache and then restart.

 

[Libby4ever21]

Golfdriver97,

Thanks for your response. I actually got really pissed and decided to break the power switch off of the motherboard. I posted about it here:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...power-switch-off-motherboard.html#post3395327

 

[Libby4ever21]

UPDATE:

My first thought was to buy a USB jig (which would take several days to arrive). I knew the USB jig could take me to download mode, and download mode would give me the option of cancelling the download process, which would then restart the phone. I was pretty sure this was the only way to do it, but I kept racking my brain for a workaround nonetheless. After I removed the power button and fixed THAT problem, the only way I could turn the phone on was by plugging in the charger cord, which kept me at the battery charging screen. The charger cord and the power button are not essentially the same thing, but in the case of a powered-off phone, they serve the same function: TURNING ON THE PHONE.

Then it hit me. If they serve the same function, then I might be able to get myself into download mode without the USB jig. So, I did exactly what you usually do to get into download mode: volume down + home button + power button...and in this case, "power button" means "plug in the charger cable". Then I died and came back to life several times because download mode was now on my screen. IT WORKED!!!!!! All I had to do next was press volume down to cancel dialogue, which rebooted my phone as usual! I might have permanently broken my power switch in the process, but I feel like it was worth it.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Thanks for the follow up. Hopefully, what you did helps someone else in the future.

From a Sprint Moto X using AC Forums app

 

[Libby4ever21]

Thanks for the follow up. Hopefully, what you did helps someone else in the future.

From a Sprint Moto X using AC Forums app

Hopefully it does! A lot of people are having this issue lately.

 

[miaeastin]

Don't know who you are but I love you. I was having this issue too. After reading your posts I popped out the power button and with a knife I some-what popped out the actual button attached to the mother board and it freakin worked!! No need to completely rip out the power button. It was just stuck or something. THANK YOU SO FREAKIN MUCH! My older phone (my galaxy s2) had the same issue. Now I'm gonna try this too on it. THANKS AGAIN!

 

[Libby4ever21]

Don't know who you are but I love you. I was having this issue too. After reading your posts I popped out the power button and with a knife I some-what popped out the actual button attached to the mother board and it freakin worked!! No need to completely rip out the power button. It was just stuck or something. THANK YOU SO FREAKIN MUCH! My older phone (my galaxy s2) had the same issue. Now I'm gonna try this too on it. THANKS AGAIN!

You're welcome! So glad I could help!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Sierra8561]

Golfdriver97,

Thanks for your response. I actually got really pissed and decided to break the power switch off of the motherboard. I posted about it here:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...power-switch-off-motherboard.html#post3395327

I picked at the power button with my finger nail until I was afraid it would come off. Phone booted up fine and has worked fine for a few hours.

 

[kanyescorner]

Golfdriver97,

Thanks for your response. I actually got really pissed and decided to break the power switch off of the motherboard. I posted about it here:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...power-switch-off-motherboard.html#post3395327

Thank you so much! I’ve been frustrated for so long. I was almost going to smash it. My phone was doing the exact same boot loop thing. And I couldn’t go into download mode or anything.
I can’t believe that actually worked! My phone came on the moment I wrenched off the power button. But how am I suppose to survive without a power button now?