Galaxy S7 unresponsive hard reset not working

[AC Question]

Hi

I have had an S7 for around 3 months no issues and last night it suddenly switched off and was caught in an endless cycle of restarting, I couldn't do anything so left it so the battery would die and it would actually switch off.

Today the phone has just gone unresponsive, black screen, buttons not responding. I tried soft/hard reset but absolutely nothing happens ( I am doing this correctly my friend has an S7 and I tested to ensure I was doing the correct key combination to get to recovery mode) I have tried plugging it into a charger & then a laptop but nothing happens on the phone or laptop.

Is there anything else I can do? the only way I know it is still on as the notification light flashes deep blue every five seconds.

Thanks
Jamie

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Hi

I have had an S7 for around 3 months no issues and last night it suddenly switched off and was caught in an endless cycle of restarting, I couldn't do anything so left it so the battery would die and it would actually switch off.

Today the phone has just gone unresponsive, black screen, buttons not responding. I tried soft/hard reset but absolutely nothing happens ( I am doing this correctly my friend has an S7 and I tested to ensure I was doing the correct key combination to get to recovery mode) I have tried plugging it into a charger & then a laptop but nothing happens on the phone or laptop.

Is there anything else I can do? the only way I know it is still on as the notification light flashes deep blue every five seconds.

Thanks
Jamie

Welcome to the forums!

Are you sure the phone has recharged?

When you plug it in, tap the power button or home key, do you see a battery graphic pop up on the screen?

I hard reset is holding the power button and volume down button for several seconds, maybe at least 10. It will either turn off the phone and you can restart or reboot the phone.

If the phone isn't charged back up, nothing will work.

 

[TheCranberrie]

Hi

Thank you, and thanks for the reply.

The phone is on as the blue notification light flashes every 5 seconds (like it would when you receive a message or something similar)

When you put the charger into the phone absolutely nothing happens, no changing of the notification light, no indicator on the screen, nothing.

The hard reset will not work, I have tried these set of combinations holding for over 10 seconds each
volume up and power
volume down and power
volume up and power and home button
volume down and power and home button
volume down, volume up and power and home button

Absolutely nothing happens, I would think it was bricked if it wasn't for the blue notification light

Any suggestions as to what I can do?

Thanks
Jamie

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Sometimes, if you don't use those button combos a lot, it can be tricky to actually get the buttons pushed in exactly the same time.

When I want to boot into recover, I always press and hold in this order..

Home, volume up, power.

With the hard reset, it is power then the volume key.

You can take it to the Samsung counter at a Best Buy store and it might simply be you aren't getting the button combo like you should. Sometimes carriers have employees that are familiar enough to check this.

If you are on a city near a Samsung walk in center you can have them check it while you wait. They also do repairs at those centers, I'll attach a list.

If none of that works, there is then two options. Sending the phone to Samsung for warranty repair or doing a warranty exchange (or insurance claim) with your carrier.

 

[TheCranberrie]

Thanks Kelly, I have tried this many times, I can do it first time on my friends S7 so I would hope I can do it on this phone too

I appreciate the information, I actually live in London so will take it to the Samsung experience store in central London after work.

Thanks again for your help. If I ever find the root cause I'll be sure to come back in case it helps anyone else.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Thanks Kelly, I have tried this many times, I can do it first time on my friends S7 so I would hope I can do it on this phone too

I appreciate the information, I actually live in London so will take it to the Samsung experience store in central London after work.

Thanks again for your help. If I ever find the root cause I'll be sure to come back in case it helps anyone else.

Oh you are in London? You have actual service centers there then, right? Take it there for sure.

Good luck!

 

[TheCranberrie]

Yes, they have a little service center at the back of that experience shop.

Just to update I let the battery run dead and plugged it into a charger, low and behold - it started to charge.

I let it charge up to 10% before switching it on in case it crashed again where I could press no buttons (I know that not being able to hard reset seems unheard of I was literally not able to get it to hard reset when it was in crashed mode)
I switched the phone on, everything seemed normal for a few minutes, I checked what drained the battery (in case there was a app/process running that got stuck) but nothing stood out just the normal wifi, screen, system ect.
The phone switched its self off after a few minutes and did the same again after.

Today I plugged it into a charger and started the phone, went straight to reset to factory mode and ran that.

I have set the phone back up (minus all the apps so far) and it seems stable again.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Yes, they have a little service center at the back of that experience shop.

Just to update I let the battery run dead and plugged it into a charger, low and behold - it started to charge.

I let it charge up to 10% before switching it on in case it crashed again where I could press no buttons (I know that not being able to hard reset seems unheard of I was literally not able to get it to hard reset when it was in crashed mode)
I switched the phone on, everything seemed normal for a few minutes, I checked what drained the battery (in case there was a app/process running that got stuck) but nothing stood out just the normal wifi, screen, system ect.
The phone switched its self off after a few minutes and did the same again after.

Today I plugged it into a charger and started the phone, went straight to reset to factory mode and ran that.

I have set the phone back up (minus all the apps so far) and it seems stable again.

If they had a Samsung center near and this was my phone.. I would take it by, let them look at it.

At minimum it could be something corrupted and they can completely remove the OS and put it back on.

Also if your battery is messed up, they can replace it there and it should be warranty.

 

[Heloise O]

sponsive hard reset not working

Yes, they have a little service center at the back of that experience shop.

Just to update I let the battery run dead and plugged it into a charger, low and behold - it started to charge.

I let it charge up to 10% before switching it on in case it crashed again where I could press no buttons (I know that not being able to hard reset seems unheard of I was literally not able to get it to hard reset when it was in crashed mode)
I switched the phone on, everything seemed normal for a few minutes, I checked what drained the battery (in case there was a app/process running that got stuck) but nothing stood out just the normal wifi, screen, system ect.
The phone switched its self off after a few minutes and did the same again after.

Today I plugged it into a charger and started the phone, went straight to reset to factory mode and ran that.

I have set the phone back up (minus all the apps so far) and it seems stable again.

The reason why your reset did not work is becasue your phone was on. The phone must be turned off for hard reset. Because the screen was black and crashed and unresponsive it couldnt be turned off for you to do a hard reset. As everywhere i have read says first turn off the phone before pressing buttons.