Samsung Galaxy S3 stuck SAFE MODE

[Tanel T]

today morning i switch on my phone and there is Safe Mode.
I restart phone several time and take off battery and restore my factory settings but nothing still Safe Mode
any help??????

 

[Joan McArthur]

I picked this up from another forum....just turn power off. Then push power button and volume 'up' button at the same time, until the phone starts up again.
Safe mode is gone, and all your apps are back (at least this worked for me....hope it does for you, too).

 

[Juan Gonzalez4141]

Thank you it did work!!! it was driving me crazy for three days!!!

 

[JonBOY26]

Hey all, I have an S3 (GT-i9305T) that automatically boots into safe mode, even when not buttons are pressed during a reboot. I've removed the battery, I've factory reset the device, but it still boots into safe mode.

The phone is running 4.3, and when it's operating the volume up button works but the volume down button does not work. I suspect the safe mode booting and volume down button problem are related.

I've been googling around and have found the above suggestions (reboot, remove battery, factory reset). I also saw a recommendation to clear the cache partition, however when I attempt to boot holding the volume up + home button + power button the phone just goes through reboot loop.

Anybody have any suggestions to try before I resort to replacing the ribbon cable for the volume buttons? Thanks

 

[jimdil4st]

What makes you believe the ribbon cable is causing the problem?

 

[JonBOY26]

Hey jimdil4st, I suspected the ribbon cable was the problem as the volume down button does not work the phone is booted into safe mode, whereas the volume up continues to work. However I was wrong. Here's some added details I've uncovered since my last post.

-The original owner of the phone got it wet only a few weeks after receiving it (on a 2 year contract). The phone was dried out though and continued to work fine thereafter for over a year.

-The phone then began exhibiting the current behaviour, which is volume down button not working at all, and the phone automatically booting into safe mode every single time it is powered on.

Since my last post I dissambled the phone and noticed the water indicators had indeed been triggered toward the top of the phone. As such a replaced the ribbon cable that operates the volume buttons and ear speaker.

However even after replacing the ribbon cable the problem still exists; ie volume down button does not work and phone boots into safe mode.

I reset the phone to factory default (through the settings menu) but that didn't help. So I thought I'd try flashing a new firmware (I was going to ditch the telstra firmware anyway). If I power on the phone holding the volume down button + home button then I can access the menu when it asks if I want to press volume up to launch download mode, or press volume down to cancel.

If I press volume up nothing happens. If I press volume down nothing happens. Likewise for the power button. All I can do at this point is remove the battery to restart the phone (into safe mode again).

After determining that the volume button ribbon cable was not the problem, I went looking around for anything else that seemed amiss. There is an length of antenna cable that connects to a radial connector and runs up the side of the phone. I noticed that where this cable weaves under the motherboard the plastic had worn through and a tiny section of bare metal was exposed, and no doubt would have been in direct contact with the motherboard. I taped over the exposed section but that hasn't helped. So either the exposed wire wasn;t the problem, or the exposed wire has damaged a component of the phone somewhere.

I've tried powering on the phone with different components disconnected (ie camera, volume ribbon cable, sim tray + sd card component), but that each time it still boots safe mode.

I cannot see any fried circuitry or components on the motherboard, but that's certainly not to say that something hasn't been cooked as a result of the exposed cable that contacted the motherboard.

 

[kelsey8242]

This is interesting, JonBoy26, because I'm having the same issue. Dropped my phone in the toilet last week, and dried it out really well. Everything was fine until I did an update, and now my phone is stuck in safe mode, and only the "up" volume works. I've done all of the "tips and tricks", even a factory reset... still in safe mode.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with the phone to take it apart to look at the internal makeup, but I just wanted to see if you'd come up with any other solutions.

 

[JonBOY26]

Yeah that is interesting, Kelsey. I read elsewhere that other people began experiencing this problem after applying an update. My problematic i9305T is running Android 4.3. What's yours running?

I've reached out to the original owner to find out whether the problem only began after she installed an update. Although she did get it wet, it worked perfectly fine for a year after that. It could be the update alone, or perhaps the combination of a water-damaged component + the update.

As far as resolving the problem goes I haven't found a solution yet. However, I'm about to try flashing a new firmware. If your phone is doing the same thing as mine then you aren't able to enter download mode by using the volume buttons. However I've discovered that I can still get the phone to boot directly into download mode by using a micro-USB dongle (which I bought for a few dollars off eBay for a couple of dollars a while ago to fix a different phone).

I'll flash the new firmware later today and let you know if it solves the problem.

I know you said you're not familiar with pulling your phone apart, but it would be really interesting to know if the antenna cable in your phone has the same section of bare wire exposed where it passes under the motherboard, like on my phone. It's really only a matter of removing 10 or so screws from the rear housing, and all th screws are the same so you don't even need to worry about getting them mixed up. After that the rear housing can be lifted up, exposing the motherboard as well as the antenna cable, which will be on the right hand side of the phone (with the phone lying face down). If you decide to give it a go, then at the bottom of the phone where the antenna cable connects to the motherboard there is a point where the cable runs underneath the motherboard. This is where my phone's antenna cable was worn through. The antenna cable just pops off by lifting it upwards. The below video shows exactly what's involved, and you only need a small Philips screw driver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo93EF7rVIw

 

[JonBOY26]

No good on the firmware upgrade. I used the dongle to put the phone into download mode and then used Odin to flash the XSA (Australia) version of Android 4.3. The firmware upgrade/swap completed as normal, but the phone still booted into safe mode unfortunately.

I got a bit more information form the original owner. She got the phone wet, dried it out and continued using for a year or so. Then one day she noticed that the volume down wasn't working. A few days later she rebooted the phone and it went into safe mode. She said that pulled the phone apart and sprayed any possible sites of water damage with electrical cleaner. It worked, and the phone came out of safe mode, but it only lasted for 1 day and went into safe mode again.

So now I'll try cleaning the motherboard with isopropyl alcohol and see if it helps.

 

[Muchuzz Teekeyz]

mee tooo same somebody help me please

 

[JonBOY26]

Well cleaning the motherboard with isopropyl alcohol didn't work either.

To zero in on the problem the best thing to try at this point would be to install my phone's motherboard into a different phone. If the problem occurs with my motherboard inside a different other phone then that means it's definitely a motherboard problem. However if the problem doesn't occur it means the problem must be related to some other component.

Trouble is that my S3 is a i9305T, which is the LTE version, so I'm not sure if I could put my motherboard into a non-LTE phone (i9300), which are more common and cheaper.

 

[Dr_Android]

I have an S3 i9300 in the exact same situation. Volume down does not work, always boots into safe mode. One quirk mine have is that the flash turns on when powering up.

I took it to the Samsung Technical Center, and the technicians said that the motherboard had to be replaced. Not willing to spend 2/3 of the money that would get me another second-hand S3, I just took my phone back.

 

[novedevon]

Hey, I've had the exact same situation. Phone got damp, volume button down randomly engaging, boots most of the time into safe mode (although I've been able to get it out sometimes). Any others have found a solution?

I was trying to go in and disable the volume down button by commenting out the line in the firmware, to do that I needed to get into download mode and because of the volume down issue this did not work. Now I'm back into safe mode . Any hints would be helpful!

 

[Alceu Rodrigues Neto]

I'm in the same situation: S3 i-9300, volume down doesn't work. flash turns on when powering up and device boots always into safe mode.

I'm capable to enter in download mode and I've changed my firmware to CyanogenMod 10.2 but the device still stand in safe mode.

I'm interested in the solution posted before "disabling the volume down button by commenting out the line in the firmware". How can I access that modified firmware?

Thanks in advance!

 

[HellaYea]

Guys I have found a solution, well this worked for me when I was dealing with the same situation. I had accidentally spilt water on my Samsung lite then a couple hours later the off button was troubling me so I decided to restart my phone and then winded up on safe mode. I could not get my phone off of safe mode so I started to scour the forms in search for a solution. I found this page and it had described my exact situation but had not yet been resolved.. Sooo after Sulking in a black abyss of misery I had attempted to turn my phone on while pressing on the home button. This led me to a page on the phone that's similar to a reboot page on a computer. There was a list of options and I chose the reboot option which was the first one given. My phone rebooted and I had found that the safe mode had vanished and that all my apps have been returned. I was so overjoyed that I decided to make an account in hopes that my solution will assist others in the future.

 

[ezequielbenoni]

Hi. What have you done to solve your problem?

 

[Gakeem Asso]

I picked this up from another forum....just turn power off. Then push power button and volume 'up' button at the same time, until the phone starts up again.
Safe mode is gone, and all your apps are back (at least this worked for me....hope it does for you, too).

It's working again! Thanks.

 

[Soleoe]

Hi, so i "seemed" to have the same issue as most of you. volume down didn't work sometimes randomly going off by itself then after i reset safe mode activated and i could not turn it off. Tried all the tricks many other forums and suggested pages all failed. So i decided to do what some of you have done. Open it up exam motherboard and possible faulty wiring etc... I noticed the antenna board had some mild residue on it I de-attached it before attempting anything else turned it on without the antenna plugged in. Turned it back on and it worked! Cleaned the antena board with some rubbing alcohol and and q-tips put it all back together and it DID NOT WORK! Confused i reopened it and thats when i realized the first time i also had unhooked the speaker/headphone piece that covers the antenna board. I removed the speaker/headphone piece and turned it on again. Worked perfect once again! I inspected the piece for several minutes until i had the thought possibly water got into the headphone jack itself and was corroded on the inside where i could not see. Finally! A few toothpicks/q-tips and some rubbing alcohol with some patience cleaning and drying it out (after i cleaned as well as i could i let it sit for 20 mins) put it back together turned it on and worked perfectly. Reset it 10 times to verify it was fixed and still no problems! I assume the entire problem was in the headphone jack but in case it was multiple issues i included all that i did. You could easily text the headphone jack theory without opening your phone any more then to remove the battery. I hope this was helpful and solved this incredibly frustrating issue for everyone else!

 

[Soleoe]

good luck!

Well cleaning the motherboard with isopropyl alcohol didn't work either.

To zero in on the problem the best thing to try at this point would be to install my phone's motherboard into a different phone. If the problem occurs with my motherboard inside a different other phone then that means it's definitely a motherboard problem. However if the problem doesn't occur it means the problem must be related to some other component.

Trouble is that my S3 is a i9305T, which is the LTE version, so I'm not sure if I could put my motherboard into a non-LTE phone (i9300), which are more common and cheaper.

mee tooo same somebody help me please

This is interesting, JonBoy26, because I'm having the same issue. Dropped my phone in the toilet last week, and dried it out really well. Everything was fine until I did an update, and now my phone is stuck in safe mode, and only the "up" volume works. I've done all of the "tips and tricks", even a factory reset... still in safe mode.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with the phone to take it apart to look at the internal makeup, but I just wanted to see if you'd come up with any other solutions.

Thank you it did work!!! it was driving me crazy for three days!!!

today morning i switch on my phone and there is Safe Mode.
I restart phone several time and take off battery and restore my factory settings but nothing still Safe Mode
any help??????

Hi, i posted my solution i believe it was the same problem as you all. Hope it works!

 

[airlarr7]

It works, thanks so much!