HELP: S3 doesn't turn on, keeps flashing "Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-i9300"

[TheaSerious]

I'm assuming its the power button as it appears that it is trying to turn on and never has enough battery to fully go through with it. How will I repair this?

 

[GSDer]

I'm assuming its the power button as it appears that it is trying to turn on and never has enough battery to fully go through with it. How will I repair this?

Yes, it looks like the Power button. Sometimes it's just stuck; I saw a YouTube video of a guy flicking his finger hard against the phone which caused it to become unstuck. You can take the phone apart and clean around the actual Power switch on the mainboard using compressed air and a toothbrush; or you could try electronic contact cleaner (be sure to remove the battery). Or you can get it replaced (ex. http://mobiletechvideos.mybigcommerce.com/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-power-button-repair/).

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk

 

[Mads07]

Welcome to the forums!I hope your figures are reversed - you should never let the free space drop below 1GB on the internal storage - the OS appears to be very finicky about this and people have reported similar OS crash behavior when this happens.

You could try booting into Recovery mode and clearing the system cache.

Next would be to try booting into Safe mode Safe Mode - Samsung Galaxy S® III - if that works immediately backup any important information; then clean up your storage situation.

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Thank you for the help mate, I finally did a factory data reset by holding my breath, much to my surprise, I got the photos, downloaded files back in the phone. I lost inbox messages and internet saved pages and bookmarks.

Thanks a lot for guiding me through, now over a GB of the internal memory is free.

Dear GSDer,

I got the problem again, after doing the factory data reset, the phone was absolutely fine, with over a GB of free internal memory. I installed very few apps such as Skype, Twitter, Hotmail, Wats app, BBC, Economist, Play books(had only one book of 2mb) and FT. just that. I never visited Google play for long time, but to my surprise, the internal memory was nearly full, left with just 182MB free space with a warning message, so I deleted almost all essential apps, Now I have only wats app, map, dictionary and 2 others, all put together make no more than 90 MB, but still the free space available now is just 250 MB.

Apart from that, I got contacts stored for about 7 MB and close to 20 text messages in total. Moved all possible files to External storage.
I have tried doing clear cach by holding power, home and volume up buttons, but nothing helps,

Please help me to protect my phone going into another factory data reset and firmware upgrade. I don't really know what is eating my internal space as all my photos, videos are stored in external storage which also has over 3 GB free space. I understand that as and when I use the some apps like Twitter, the catch can grow, but frequently I do "clear catch" and now I have uninstalled that too.

Thanks and Regards

Phone model "Samsung NOTE 1(one) GT-N7000"

 

[GSDer]

after doing the factory data reset, the phone was absolutely fine, with over a GB of free internal memory

Something is rotten in Denmark! (the poor Danes always get blamed for this one )

According to the specs for this phone (ex. http://m.samsung.com/latin_en/consumer/mobile-phones/galaxy-note/galaxy-note/GT-N7000ZILTTT-spec) it came in 16GB and 32GB variations; if we assume that stock Android occupies ~5GB then you should have ~11GB shown as the Total space in Device memory (assuming that you have the 16GB version), which is nowhere close to what you have. (BTW, do you have an SD card installed? If so, remove it until we get to the bottom of this.)

I'd suggest using the Kies software to completely reload the firmware on the phone to see if it corrects this problem.
Or you can use Odin to reload the firmware, which can be found here - mouse-over the region codes until you find your country/carrier.

In either case, once the firmware flash is complete be sure to boot into Recovery mode and clear the system cache. Then skip all of the activation/setup steps and check the Storage view to be sure that the correct amount of space is shown.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk

 

[Mads07]

Something is rotten in Denmark! (the poor Danes always get blamed for this one )

According to the specs for this phone (ex. Samsung N7000 - SAMSUNG) it came in 16GB and 32GB variations; if we assume that stock Android occupies ~5GB then you should have ~11GB shown as the Total space in Device memory (assuming that you have the 16GB version), which is nowhere close to what you have. (BTW, do you have an SD card installed? If so, remove it until we get to the bottom of this.)

Yes mine is 16 GB version and I no SD card is installed.

I will do as per your guidance. Thanks a ton again!..

 

[Mads07]

Something is rotten in Denmark! (the poor Danes always get blamed for this one )

Hi GSDer,
I would like to share what happened.

Just before reloading Firmware, I dialed "*#9900#" then selected "delete dumpstate/logcat" which was my friend's idea, And much to my surprise 1.5 GB of space was cleared.

Thank you for the your continuous support.

 

[Douglas Oliveira]

Hi DSder

I'm facing the problem you just described. After falling couple of times on the floor my S3 won't go past the starting "samsung logo" booting image. It keeps flashing and won't let me get into download mode. Before that happened I was able to perform a Factory Reset but nothing else later on. When I plug the charger, it shows the static image of the battery, which does not move at all. The download mode shows up but after bout 2 secs it automatically boots again. Recovery mode (volume Up just isn't working anymore). I'm considering have the power button checked. I wonder if that got wrecked internally after it hit the floor. Please help on that.

Model: International (Brazil) - I9300GSMH

 

[GSDer]

Welcome to the forums!

I'm considering have the power button checked.

Good idea - if you take the battery out and reinsert it, does the phone turn itself on (without you pressing the Power button)? If so the Power button is the first place to look - it may have just gotten stuck. http://youtu.be/KXSbBG4NV-w

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[Douglas Oliveira]

Yes. It turns on by itself after replacing the battery. After spending hours trying out many alternatives, I ended up removing the button. I didn't remove the button on the chip itself but the external one, which engages the internal. It had actually able to stay on for a while but before I could celebrate, there it goes dead again. Boot loop mode back on. I wonder If I should finish the procedure and completely remove the button as shown on videos. Couldn't it be a matter of changing batteries and trying to load a new firmware thru an alternate miracle fashion?

Man this is getting in my nerves. 3 days with no phone.

 

[GSDer]

I ended up removing the button. I didn't remove the button on the chip itself but the external one, which engages the internal.

The actual Power switch on the mainboard is the one you need to deal with. It may just be jammed or gunked up, but it may have to be replaced (or at a minimum removed).

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk

 

[Douglas Oliveira]

Ok then...I'll give it a try. What else is left, right?? Which method do you recommend for removing? Just scrape it off with some sort of...what?

Thanks again

 

[Douglas Oliveira]

Just completely removed the actual button. Thing is....when I try to turn it on by plugging in the charger then pressing VOL Down + Home, nothing happens but the battery graph (it's recharging at least). I've seen some people showing such procedure and it worked but on mine, still no response. I think it's due to the fact I did a factory reset and before that I had done the Dalvin and stuff wipe...Maybe the phone is out of any existing ROM or firmware. I don't know...Please help me get my S3 back to life.

 

[Douglas Oliveira]

Can anyone help?

Has anyone had the same problem? Device not turning on after removing the power button? Only battery sign showing.

I'm about to pay some bucks to have the button replace on the chip...Would there be another solution???

 

[andromed2014]

Hi , I had exactly the same problem as first post describes, phone dead, Samsung Galaxy logo flashing no matter what I did, when connecting the phone to charger, the gray battery logo was flashing, but did not charge. Turns out it was a battery issue. I put in a different (fully charged) battery and voila, phone worked fine again.

Also, when the phone was working fine with the fully charged battery, I then powered it down properly. After that I put in the troubled (almost empty) battery again and it charged normally without problems and was usable again.
This shows that the battery can cause quite a phone problem when running really low.

 

[Jessa Villacampa]

I am encountering the same exact problem with my s3 and I did both the steps you recommended but nothing worked. It is still flashing Samsung Galaxy s3 GT-i9300, what should I do now?

 

[Alishba Abrar]

Mine has the same problem except my android is galaxy note.As you said i saw the warning then pressed volume up then it was downloading,I pulled out the battery but it did not work.
PLEASE HELP.

 

[GSDer]

Welcome to the forums!

As you said i saw the warning then pressed volume up then it was downloading,I pulled out the battery but it did not work.

I'm not sure which solution you were referring to - it would be very helpful to quote the post that you were following.

Putting the device into Download mode in-and-of-itself doesn't do anything - it just gets the device ready to have firmware downloaded to it. I have not come across any solution where simply putting the device in Download mode has corrected the problem that you're having.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk

 

[antoinefinch]

you need a pit file to use in Odin check samobile for your device.

 

[edo4cubs]

THATS IT it was the power button....those morons at samsung were useless they anted to charge me a hundred bucks to fix my phone and send it in.... i opened it up theres only a dinky microscopic rubbe piece holding the power button.... it came out of the holder.... WALA... IT STARTED ...this kid is correct ITS IN THE POWER BUTTON..... IT TOOK ME TEN MINUTES AND I FIXED THE PHONEJUST BY CLEANING OUT THAT CHEAP PLASTIC BUTTON....

 

[edo4cubs]

ITS THE POWER BUTTON... I OPENED IT UP THERES TWO FLIMY CHEAP RUBBER HOLDERS IF THEY COME LOSE FROM THERE HOLDER THE problem occurs.. the flashing samsung logo and the only fix is to open the phone take the 7 screws out and clean out the power button area and check the ridiculous cheap rubber holding the power button in place.... saved a hundred bucks it was easy watched the video on here and that was that...samsung was useless.....