Galaxy S6 freezes on boot at AT&T logo, only factory reset fixes it. Why is it doing this?

[AC Question]

Galaxy S6 freezes on boot at AT&T logo, only factory reset fixes it

When I try to boot my refurbished AT&T-branded Samsung Galaxy S6 I received a month ago, it freezes at the AT&T logo.

This is the second time it has happened (I just factory reset it already) and I noticed before both times I would get "Unfortunately [whatever app] has stopped" messages on multiple apps - almost any app I try to open. The first time it was the phone app, the second time it was my Amazon Shopping app (along with Google Drive, as I tried to upload my images before restarting). The error messages would prompt me to restart to try to fix the problem, at which point the phone freezes on restart.

Things I AM able to do:
Power off the device using POWER + VOL DOWN
Boot into the recovery menu using POWER + VOL UP + HOME

Other stuff:
Does not respond to the power button alone when frozen.
Freezes at the same place when trying to boot into safe mode.
I tried wiping the cache from the recovery menu - still didn't boot after that
The phone isn't rooted

 

[menkster]

Re: Galaxy S6 freezes on boot at AT&T logo, only factory reset fixes it

Original poster here. My question for the original post is: Is there a possible way to prevent or fix the freezing without doing a factory reset? Without knowing exactly what causes this, if this pattern continues, I'll need to do a factory reset every couple weeks.

 

[Feldon]

Re: Galaxy S6 freezes on boot at AT&T logo, only factory reset fixes it

I'd drive down to the AT&T store and show it to them and say "Your bullsh*t is literally stopping me from using my phone. Fix it."