# Phone stuck on boot screen?



## theunderfighter

Sorry guys, I am late for work, don't have time to run a search.... But my phone's touch screen wasn't working for some reason. I did a battery pull to reboot, and now it won't boot. It'll flash up the Samsung logo and the Yellow exclamation mark, then the mark goes away, and it just says Samsung. No progress from there. What can I do?


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## acejavelin

First I would boot into recover, either stock or CWM and factory default, if that still fails then you probably need to flash a ROM.


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## theunderfighter

acejavelin said:


> First I would boot into recover, either stock or CWM and factory default, if that still fails then you probably need to flash a ROM.


Can you walk me through that, or link me to a page that describes it?


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## acejavelin

Try the factory default route first, boot into recovery (you said there is a yellow exclamation so I assume you have Clockwork Mod Recovery) by powering off competely, then power on holding VOL UP+VOL DOWN+POWER until the Samsung logo flashes off an back on, then release all buttons, it might take a few tries to get it but should take you to a menu like the attached photo, then use the volume keys to move up and down in the menu and power to select, move down to "wipe data/factory reset" and select it then confirm, and once it is done, reboot.


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## Crystawth

No no no... just delete system32 ... it will fix everything


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## theunderfighter

acejavelin said:


> No no no... just delete system32 ... it will fix everything


Fuck I did this, and now nothing will work, what did I do wrong?!


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## Crystawth

theunderfighter said:


> I cannot get it to boot into recovery for the life of me... I have the phone all the way off. I hold all 3 buttons, phone turns on, I keep holding them until it turns off and comes back on, then release them. And it just stays with the Samsung logo, nothing happens...
> 
> Fuck I did this, and now nothing will work, what did I do wrong?!


As for the first issue, hold all 3 from power off, then when SAMSUNG appears, release the power button, but keep holding the volume buttons...

as for the second, you must have divided by zero. tough luck i guess!


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## theunderfighter

Crystawth said:


> As for the first issue, hold all 3 from power off, then when SAMSUNG appears, release the power button, but keep holding the volume buttons...
> 
> as for the second, you must have divided by zero. tough luck i guess!


Damn, I never was good at elementary division... Still no luck on the Recovery mode... I'm gonna try flashing a new Kernel/ROM as described here... http://rootzwiki.com...sphere-7282012/
I just really want to have a functional phone while I'm out and about all day today.
EDIT: >.< That's right... I need some way to get my computer to read my SD card, and that's not possible without a functional phone!
EDIT again: Through a series of transfers from various computers and USB drives, I've made it possible.... So from what I've read, there's a chance flashing a new Kernel/ROM could fix it, so that's what I'm banking on. Especially since I can't get into recovery mode for whatever reason >.<

EDIT Again again: And of course.... I forget I need to get into Recovery to flash anything.... so I just successfully reflashed cwd recovery, but I still can't get it to load >.<


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## Crystawth

Well there's really only one way into Recovery.. and that's Vol+,Vol-, and power... beyond that, i'm lost as to how to help you.


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## theunderfighter

Crystawth said:


> Well there's really only one way into Recovery.. and that's Vol+,Vol-, and power... beyond that, i'm lost as to how to help you.


Well I set my phone down for some beers and then went to work. 12 hours later, I try it, and it goes into Recovery right away. I try to do a backup and it fails. I accidentally click to restart my phone, and low and behold, my phone restarts! So... it worked? Haha. I just had to boot recovery, and restart. I'm back in action.
So, thank you gentlemen for your help!


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## acejavelin

Beer will cure most things I guess, glad you got it working... Odd that booting into recovery got it for you, I am guessing somehow your old kernel got corrupt and when you root/rom-ed your Strat it cleared stuff up. Might want to put a Kernel and a ROM on your SD card for future use, just in case!


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## theunderfighter

acejavelin said:


> Beer will cure most things I guess, glad you got it working... Odd that booting into recovery got it for you, I am guessing somehow your old kernel got corrupt and when you root/rom-ed your Strat it cleared stuff up. Might want to put a Kernel and a ROM on your SD card for future use, just in case!


Well... I'm gonna have to start drinking again, cus it's down again.
I was using the phone just fine, sending a message. All of a sudden, the touch screen stops responding. So I pull out the keyboard and everything works fine. Hold the power button to do a restart to get my touch screen back up. And it's back where it was yesterday. Refusing to boot into recovery again. I let it sit all night. I've done battery pulls, SIM pulls, I've tried getting all three buttons at the same time, getting them in order of +, -, power... It's like my phone is just trolling me, and will decide to boot into recovery whenever it wants... which happens to be at 2 in the morning. Fuck. I knew I shoulda flashed a fresh ROM/Kernel when I had the chance.


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## theunderfighter

Finally got it back into Recovery mode.... it refuses to back up anything. Or recognize/mount my SD card. I've tried multiple cards >.< I must be missing something here.

EDIT: Rebooted into recovery mode, it is now cooperating. We'll see how it goes. Btw, phenomenal walk-through @Crystawth


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## acejavelin

This is starting to sound more and more like a hardware issue and less like a corruption issue... the fact you got it to work after sitting turned off for 12 hours before leads to believe that this is hardware related. I think I would let it sit again and then try to get into it, and if you can get it back to stock ASAP and warranty replace it with VZW.


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## theunderfighter

acejavelin said:


> This is starting to sound more and more like a hardware issue and less like a corruption issue... the fact you got it to work after sitting turned off for 12 hours before leads to believe that this is hardware related. I think I would let it sit again and then try to get into it, and if you can get it back to stock ASAP and warranty replace it with VZW.


I'm backing it all up right now. I think I was just timing the buttons wrong to go into recovery mode honestly... I just got it first try this time. As ridiculous as it sounds haha. But if it screws up again with this new flash, I'll revert to stock and take it in. Assuming it's smooth sailing from here...


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## theunderfighter

Seems to be running smooth on the new ROM/Kernel from that walkthrough. Which are very smooth, I like. Is there an easy way to restore my contacts and apps through Recovery? I know there's the "Restore" option, I just don't want to do the wrong thing.


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## acejavelin

Do NOT try to restore from recovery unless you want to restore the entire phone to it's backed up condition, including ROM, Kernel, system, user data, apps, eveything!

What contacts can't you restore? Any contacts in Google should restore during the setup process as long as you keep using the same Google account... If you are talking about phone contacts, they are usually on the Verizon Backup Assistant website, on a computer just log in with your Verizon Online credentials to verify, then your best bet is to export them to a CSV file, then go to Gmail and import those contacts into Google and you shouldn't ever have to worry about them again!


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## theunderfighter

acejavelin said:


> Do NOT try to restore from recovery unless you want to restore the entire phone to it's backed up condition, including ROM, Kernel, system, user data, apps, eveything!
> 
> What contacts can't you restore? Any contacts in Google should restore during the setup process as long as you keep using the same Google account... If you are talking about phone contacts, they are usually on the Verizon Backup Assistant website, on a computer just log in with your Verizon Online credentials to verify, then your best bet is to export them to a CSV file, then go to Gmail and import those contacts into Google and you shouldn't ever have to worry about them again!


Ok, that makes sense. My contacts should be backed up, just haven't really looked around for where they are. And what about apps? Those should all be in the Google Play account I presume? For some reason, whenever I try to download an app, is says there is an error? Is there a setting I need on, or is something just bugged up?


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## theunderfighter

Meh... same thing happened again. Although it was running smooth for a bit. Same issue though. I'm gonna revert to stock when I get a chance, get it replaced!


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## theunderfighter

Ok I can get it into the Odin Downloading Mode (Vol -, Power) whenever I want... it just really doesn't wanna go into recovery. Anything I can do from downloading mode?


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## theunderfighter

theunderfighter said:


> Ok I can get it into the Odin Downloading Mode (Vol -, Power) whenever I want... it just really doesn't wanna go into recovery. Anything I can do from downloading mode?


Anyone? Bueller? $5 to whomever leads me to getting this back to stock!


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## acejavelin

theunderfighter said:


> Anyone? Bueller? $5 to whomever leads me to getting this back to stock!


This should get you there... all that is really needed is to get into download mode and a few downloads on the PC.

http://rootzwiki.com/topic/31850-how-tonoob-friendly-guidegetting-your-stratosphere-back-to-stock-for-warranty-replacementrepair/


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## theunderfighter

acejavelin said:


> This should get you there... all that is really needed is to get into download mode and a few downloads on the PC.
> 
> http://rootzwiki.com...lacementrepair/


Thanks man. I've moved my last desperate hopes over there as well.


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## DeusEx

Hi, I'm currently experiencing the same rebooting issues on my Stratosphere, can anyone help? Thanks!


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