Galaxy s7 won't boot. how to recover data? stuck boot loop - installing system update no command

[misstique]

Hey everyone,

My phone is stock everything and not rooted etc. I was using my phone normally and all of a sudden it just froze. I haven't had a system update from samsung/carrier in a long *** time and it's been working fine until today. The battery was full and it was plugged in. It then tried to restart and got past the splash screen then the samsung animation came up and it froze half way through. then i tried to vol down + pwr and the screen just went off but the blue led stayed solid on. i pulled out the SD card. but no buttons worked and my pc wouldn't recognize it so i unplugged it and left it alone. the phone did not get hot at any point.

the blue led finally went off (battery drained) and i tried to restart it and it froze again. I restarted it using vol + home + power and the android guy came on with the arrow on the stomach and it said "installing system update" then it changed to a dead android guy and said "no command" then after some seconds, went into the regular recovery menu:

Android Recovery
samsung/heroltebmc/heroltebmc
8.0.0/R16NW/G930W8VLS8CTI1
user/release-keys
Use volume up/down and power.

Reboot system now
Reboot to bootloader
Apply update from ADB
Apply update from SD card
Wipe data/factory reset
Wipe cache partition
Mount /system
View recovery logs
Run graphics test
Power off

#fail to open recovery_cause(No such file or directory)#

#Reboot Recovery Cause is [UNKNOWN]#
No support SINGLE-SKU

File-Based OTA
Supported API: 3

# MANUAL MODE v1.0.0#

Successfully verified dmverity hash tree
E:Failed to clear BCB message: failed to find /misc partition

i tried to just use the wipe cache option and it said E:Failed to clear BCB message: failed to find /misc partition again and restarting just does the same thing: installing update. and then no command.

the most important thing to me is recovering my data off it, the phone can get chucked for all I care since it sucks!!!

how do i get my stuff of it before i try flashing things? i don't want to corrupt my stuff before getting it off first. i can still get it to go into download mode and recovery menu. nothing else.

please and THANK YOU so much to anyone that can help

 

[L0n3N1nja]

It sounds like the storage may have corrupted/failed already.

Regardless of what is actually wrong with the phone, if you can't get into the Android operating system and get past your lock screen you won't be getting any information off the phone. Android is designed this way for security, it's the only way it's safe to walk around with all the personal information we keep on our devices. Hate to say it but anything that wasn't backed up is probably already lost.

 

[mustang7757]

Welcome to AC !

You would need to try factory reset or install the firmware through odin. Which both will delete your data.

Im surprised u dint back up data more regularly for such important things and i cant help retrieve data but suggest you start backing up your device in future to avoid these things in multiple places .

 

[misstique]

and yes I know i'm an absolute ***** for not backing up my stuff that matters ha......... >_<

 

[misstique]

thanks for the replies, guys.

my other post didn't show up maybe because i linked to reddit but i tried the freezer thing and it kind of worked. i managed to get past the pin lock screen and into my phone but it rebooted before i could start getting stuff off it

1 - Get it shut down (If it's in the boot loop then hold volume down / power / home buttons and select shut down).

2 - Charge the battery to full

3 - Put it in the freezer for a good long time. 20 minutes. Get that sucker frozen

4 - Plug in an external battery pack to it, with the USB cable running outside of the freezer door to the battery. When it gets that cold I found that it had trouble reading power levels from the internal battery. The phone may tell you it is too cold to charge the battery and that it will resume charging when warm enough. Fine.

5 - Boot it up while it's in the feezer

6 - Hopefully it boots and stays booted. Don't take it out of the freezer. Mine rebooted within minutes of being taken out.

7 - Do whatever you need to do to back up your data while it's in the freezer. I installed SMS backup and restore to backup my conversations, etc.

8 - Connect it to a laptop via the USB cable, mount it as a file system, and shut the freezer door again

9 - Copy off any data you may need

Yes, there is risk to freezing it. Condensation can form when it thaws, etc - but since it was basically dead anyway it was worth a shot, I'm glad it worked for me. I hope it does for you.

for now it wasn't staying booted but I'm going to charge it more and then try. i think the battery is the problem it keeps saying random %s when it reboots but maybe that's because it's almost frozen, lol. it could be the motherboard too but at least my crap is still there. it's just REALLY HARD to get.

 

[mustang7757]

Hopefully can charge it and get back in to back it up.

 

[misstique]

Just wanted to post an update in case anyone comes across this and has a similar issue. THE FREEZER WORKED! I charged up the phone to full then I ran an extension cord with the charger to my phone and closed it in the freezer and booted the phone. And the phone just had to be cold enough to display the warning popup that it is too cold to charge the battery and that it will resume charging when warm enough. Then I ran smart switch to my new phone and got everything off of it. The phone rebooted at about 15% and I shat a brick but I rebooted it and it resumed where it left off, and FINISHED! I'M SO THANKFUL IT WORKED! Thank you to whoever came up with this crazy but smart idea!!!

 

[mustang7757]

Just wanted to post an update in case anyone comes across this and has a similar issue. THE FREEZER WORKED! I charged up the phone to full then I ran an extension cord with the charger to my phone and closed it in the freezer and booted the phone. And the phone just had to be cold enough to display the warning popup that it is too cold to charge the battery and that it will resume charging when warm enough. Then I ran smart switch to my new phone and got everything off of it. The phone rebooted at about 15% and I shat a brick but I rebooted it and it resumed where it left off, and FINISHED! I'M SO THANKFUL IT WORKED! Thank you to whoever came up with this crazy but smart idea!!!

Thanks for sharing your fix