Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - Stuck on Boot - Not Rooted

[MattGreer]

First off, the phone is "stock" save a 64 GB microSD card that I added a few years ago. I'm the only owner and it's never been rooted. I'm on T-Mobile.

Was using my phone to record some video using the DJI Osmo app/gear and it froze up and spontaneously rebooted. Since that time it's just stuck at the initial loading screen where it says "Samsung Galaxy Note 3" (if I recall correctly, I'm working remotely and I left the Note in my tent for now). It just sits there at that screen and if I hit the off button it turns off and then back on again. Only way to get it to shut off is to pull the battery.

If I hit the down-volume, home button, and power button it does go into the loader screen for an alternative ROM, if I understand that correctly, but I don't know what to do from there.

If I hit the up-volume, home button, and the power button it starts up with a blank screen and every 90 seconds or so some red text flashes on the screen, too quickly to read, and then it seems to reboot and give the quick pulse-vibrate.

I also read somewhere that turning on the phone and then immediately holding down the down-volume button would do something. I tried that, no joy.

As you can tell I'm just a normal cell phone user. I don't know much about them other than how to back stuff up and wipe them now and again.

I backed up just about everything about two weeks ago, but I'm at Scout Camp and was taking video and I'd hate to lose that. I'm pretty certain the DJI app wouldn't let me put the video on the SD card, so it's probably stuck in the internal memory.

I removed the SD card and tried all of the above and still got the same results.

Any help or advice you can give me is much appreciated. Forgive me if I don't respond quickly as I'm "borrowing" WiFi that is reserved for the camp staff, so I try to stay off of it. Plus I gotta watch the kids and such.

Thanks!!

-Matt

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It sounds like either corrupt firmware or faulty hardware. Since you can get into Download Mode, you could try reinstalling the stock firmware for your exact model: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...w-flash-stock-rom-via-odin-new-interface.html

 

[MattGreer]

My son is pretty sure it's faulty hardware. BUT, I'm not ready to give up on my beloved phone. Thank you for your reply and the help! I'll report back once I get home from camp!

-Matt

 

[MattGreer]

By the way, T-Mobile fed me this line that they have eliminated their 3G network, so a 3G phone would no longer work with them. Is this true? The sales people are obviously pushing me to buy a new phone/device (this conversation took place last fall) but I've got an old HTC and a Blackberry (that I loved, heh) that would work just fine in the meantime while I wait for the Note 8, should my efforts here fail. I guess the obvious answer is to go to the store and tell them to re-integrate my HTC into their network...

 

[B. Diddy]

Is that exactly what the rep said? It's an odd statement -- 3G is HSPA (and also HSPA+, technically, although they call it 4G), which is still very much in use. I know that AT&T recently shut off its 2G network, but T-Mobile hasn't done anything like that -- in fact, T-Mobile actually made a pitch to snag AT&T customers who use IoT devices and who were affected by the shutdown: https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/att-2g-iot-lifeline.htm

 

[MattGreer]

Mr. Diddy,

Looked up the model from Sammobile and unfortunately there is not an exact match. I have SM-N900T. They have available N900V, N900A, and N900. Would it be a bad idea to try to load one of those? If not, which would be closest to my firmware?


edit: After a quick google, are any of these sites trustworthy?

http://galaxynote3root.com/galaxy-note-3-stock-firmware/

http://stockandroidrom.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-sm-n900t-firmware/

http://www.samsungstockrom.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-sm-n900t-firmware


Thanks again,

-Matt

 

[B. Diddy]

You're in the US, right? You should be able to use any of those ROMs: https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-note3/SM-N900T/

 

[MattGreer]

Well, as it turns out I still had insurance on the phone so I got a replacement for $5. Worked out pretty well. Lost a few files. I don't know why I couldn't find that file on sammobile. I guess my google-fu sucks pretty bad.

I did look in my favorites, however, and found a link that would have been helpful: https://www.idroidspace.com/official-stock-rom-for-samsung-galaxy-note-3/

All that being said, if I tried to flash it and then it failed and I turned it in they may have refused the claim. So I decided to get the replacement phone. I think my phone was failing slowly over time, or something, as this one, once loaded up, is a lot zippier. Could be other bloatware, dunno.

Thank you so much for your help. I think if/when this one fails I'll be able to come back here for instructions. Hopefully by that time there will be a Note with a removable battery AND expandable memory. One can dream, no?

Thanks so much.

-Matt

 

[B. Diddy]

Oh, that turned out well! That's pretty good insurance to get a new phone for only $5. Most insurance requires the customer to pay at least $50 for the replacement.