Why won't my S3 mini open?

[AC Question]

My samsung galaxy s3 mini wont open, help please.

My phone only shows the samsung galaxy sIII etc. and the samsung logo. I dont think that there is something wrong with the battery because whenever i plug it, it charges just fine.
Before it happened, i tried to open vlc and it came up with a notif about video lan but i cant remember anything more. It lagged and I got really annoyed and it has always been my habit to restart the phone when it lags. and when i pushed the power button, instead ofhaving the choices of turn off, restart etc, it just died.
Twice did it end up saying "android is upgrading... starting apps." But then it just lags. I really have no idea what to do.
I also tried removing the sd card beforebooting but nothing happened.

 

[Rukbat]

Re: My samsung galaxy s3 mini wont open, help please.

If it's starting apps, it could take a few hours, depending on how many apps you have installed. If you stop it, it starts over again the next time. You have to let it finish.

If it ddoesn't even get to that step, start it in safe mode (see Power the Device Up in Safe Mode Samsung Galaxy S III mini | Verizon Wireless - it'll work for the mini for any carrier) and uninstall VLC. Then restart the phone (to get out of safe mode) and it should work, if VLC is what was causing the problem.

 

[alvadama]

Re: My samsung galaxy s3 mini wont open, help please.

I think i made my problem more complicated. I haven't been able to read your reply asap so I ended up downloading samsung kies on my laptop and went software update and initialisation. It took so long and i was afraid to lose all my files so i again, ended up cancelling the process by disconnecting my phone. And now, its stuck with "firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in kies & try again"
I do appreciate your help so much. Please help me some more.