[Q] Galaxy S4 i9505 reboots - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi,
I have a Galaxy S4 i9505 LTE which is is rebooting every 10 minutes and sometimes even every minute.
I have also flashed the phone using odin to I9505XXUENAA 4.3 and wiped both userdata and cache partitions, to ensure all data has been lost. However the phone still does the reboots. The reboots only happen if the phone happens to be in sleep and running on battery, if the phone is either connected with the USB or with the screen on, it simply won't restart however if a certain time passes and goes to sleep then after 10 seconds it triggers the reboot.
Maybe this can even add some more info I noticed that exactly at the time before a restart is about to happen (the phone is currently in sleep state) if you press either the home or power button to wake it up, it simply does not show the screen and after few seconds you can hear a short vibrate then another short vibrate and the Samsung Logo appear.
I have also tried to monitor the logcat through ADB, and I tried to study the log for the E/ logs. Basically every minute or so the following line is printed on the logs:
Code:
E/watchdog (xxx) [email protected] Y
(where Y is a incremental number starting from 0 from the time booting)
Attached here is also a copy of the logcat textfile generated. (Sorry I had to archive it as it is too large to attach)
Do you think this is a software or hardware issue, it seems that an android watchdog timer is not happy with some sort of thing, can anybody help me?

AnArChYm said:
Hi,
I have a Galaxy S4 i9505 LTE which is is rebooting every 10 minutes and sometimes even every minute.
I have also flashed the phone using odin to I9505XXUENAA 4.3 and wiped both userdata and cache partitions, to ensure all data has been lost. However the phone still does the reboots. The reboots only happen if the phone happens to be in sleep and running on battery, if the phone is either connected with the USB or with the screen on, it simply won't restart however if a certain time passes and goes to sleep then after 10 seconds it triggers the reboot.
Maybe this can even add some more info I noticed that exactly at the time before a restart is about to happen (the phone is currently in sleep state) if you press either the home or power button to wake it up, it simply does not show the screen and after few seconds you can hear a short vibrate then another short vibrate and the Samsung Logo appear.
I have also tried to monitor the logcat through ADB, and I tried to study the log for the E/ logs. Basically every minute or so the following line is printed on the logs:
Code:
E/watchdog (xxx) [email protected] Y
(where Y is a incremental number starting from 0 from the time booting)
Attached here is also a copy of the logcat textfile generated. (Sorry I had to archive it as it is too large to attach)
Do you think this is a software or hardware issue, it seems that an android watchdog timer is not happy with some sort of thing, can anybody help me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My mate has a i9500 and it was rebooting at random. He took it to the Samsung Repair Centre here and they replaced his battery on the spot. Since then he hasn't had any random reboots. Apparantly there was a faulty batch of batteries with serial numbers starting with BD
It could be that you have a similar case. Might be worth the check.

Thanks Gboss01 for your reply, I quickly checked the serial number basically phone's serial starts RF and battery serial starts with LC.
I have already tried changing the battery as the current battery was exposed to high water damage, the other battery I tried with is a shop battery which we use for just testing to check whether or not a samsung s4 powers on. However tonight I will try to install a new battery and see how it goes.
Basically my S4 was bought in pieces, and all parts were subjected to the water damage, however the board was offered from a friend (from a complete different handset) who decided to scrap his phone after he has smashed the screen, so the board is clean (even checked it under a microscope), that is why I'm ruling out hardware problem at the moment.

AnArChYm said:
Thanks Gboss01 for your reply, I quickly checked the serial number basically phone's serial starts RF and battery serial starts with LC.
I have already tried changing the battery as the current battery was exposed to high water damage, the other battery I tried with is a shop battery which we use for just testing to check whether or not a samsung s4 powers on. However tonight I will try to install a new battery and see how it goes.
Basically my S4 was bought in pieces, and all parts were subjected to the water damage, however the board was offered from a friend (from a complete different handset) who decided to scrap his phone after he has smashed the screen, so the board is clean (even checked it under a microscope), that is why I'm ruling out hardware problem at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No prob, I hope you get to the bottom of your random reboots.

Gboss01 said:
No prob, I hope you get to the bottom of your random reboots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
After numerous attempts via software, battery replacements and even trying to rewrite the bootloader of the phone via riffbox, I concluded it was coming from the board, basically after a bit more testing found out that during standby the phone heats up, enough to trip the main power management chip which then reboots the phone to not let the phone from overheating. Basically I replaced this chip and everything is working fine I think the phone was smashed pretty bad when my friend "dropped" it as I could notice some contacts from under the chip which were not making proper contact with the board.

Related

Wizard shut itself down after about 20 sec.

I've had several Wizards with problems, the Wizard I've got right now has a problem that I've never seen before.
When I turn on the (SPV M3000) It shows the Orange bootscreen with this information:
IPL 2.18
SPL 2.18
GSM 01.04.10
OS 2.18.1.3
After seeing this bootscreen for about 20 seconds the SPV M3000 shut down itself.
Starting the phone from the bootloader doesn't make any difference.
When I use the buttons for a hard reset and press the send button, the phone shows Format is complete. After a few seconds it boots and show the bootscreen but than it also shut down itself.
Can anyone tell me if this is a hardware or a software issue ?
Cant say for sure.If the phone is still under warranty take it back for repairing.If it is not,hen you have screwed up anyway I mean if its not under warranty try upgrading the rom (flash it) to one of the many excellent roms available here..
It may be possible for a dead battery (or the battery failed to charge due to some reasons).
Pat123 said:
Cant say for sure.If the phone is still under warranty take it back for repairing.If it is not,hen you have screwed up anyway I mean if its not under warranty try upgrading the rom (flash it) to one of the many excellent roms available here..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No the phone is not under warranty anymore. I bought if from someone becouse I thought it was just a simple problem. But how shouldI flash the rom if the phone shut itself down after 20 seconds ? This also happens when the phone is in bootloader mode.
starkwong said:
It may be possible for a dead battery (or the battery failed to charge due to some reasons).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I allready used a full charged battery from another Wizard but still the same problem.
Is there some else with another solution please ?
Not much help from me here, but from what it seems, since the phone also shut downs in bootloader mode, it would heavily suspect it is a hardware fault (as it is not the battery). As in bootloader mode, you either can get into it or not. Once you are in it, it will go into a listening mode and do nothing. As such, I cant think of a software problem that can mess it up that good. As for the 20 seconds shut down, chances are there are some (example) short circuit around the unit that, once you switch it on, things inside gets hot, and activating the problem.
You can also do some test. Try to use a accurate stop watch (to the mili seconds) to time the shut down (in bootloader mode) in different temperature environment (i.e. at night cold, in the sun warm, etc), and it should give you a slight different in the shutdown time. IF NOT, you can hope it is a software issue.
The battery works on other Wizard?
I'm still having this problem, does anyone knows a solution ?
I had similar problem but after several times it restarted it was unable to turn it on again. It`s not working anymore. I think the same, that this is a hardware issue. Maybe the water or humidity caused some short circuit and made some damage.

[Q] Phone refuses to boot - sometimes.

I've run into a problem with my S4. I'm rooted, and running Hyperdrive 15.
My phone refuses to boot quite often. Sometimes it will boot up perfectly fine and run for a day - day and a half, or it'll lockup and then refuse to boot up again, OR it will just not boot at all. My power button seems to be unresponsive, and the only way that I can get some action out of the phone is by reseating the battery in the well.
What I think it is, could be 1 of a few things, or a combination of them - i'm not sure.
Scenario 1: While playing with the Hyperdrive tweaks, my phone was hung after running the Zipalign tool for over 20 minutes and I had to pull the battery.
Scenario 2: I'm deployed on a ship currently, and I have my phone in a high-salt enviornment and I'm afraid that there might be salt corrosion inside of the power switch or the USB connection - shorting it out. I took my phone apart tonight and cleaned both items with isopropyl alcohol ( the switch itself on the main board ) but that didn't seem to produce any new results.
Scenario 3: I was recently rooting a Kindle Fire HD 7" for a friend out here, and I was dumb and didn't realize that I was pushing boot loader files that were designed for the Kindle Fire and not for my Galaxy S4. I have since tried to enter recovery, but with little avail. Download mode is also out.
A description of what my phone does when I reseat the battery: My phone will vibrate, the Galaxy S4 logo will show for 1.5 to 2 seconds ( same for download mode ) and if I hold the appropriate button, ' Recovery Booting.... ' will display as well. At that point, my phone will shutoff and the power button will become unresponsive.
If anyone can give me a bit of guidance on how to proceed to repairing my phone, I'd be super grateful.
Scenario 3: I was recently rooting a Kindle Fire HD 7" for a friend out here, and I was dumb and didn't realize that I was pushing boot loader files that were designed for the Kindle Fire and not for my Galaxy S4. I have since tried to enter recovery, but with little avail. Download mode is also out.
This sounds like the most plausible reason.
You will need something like JTAG to really fix it.
Lennyz1988, thanks for the quick reply. Internet out here is slow at best, and sometimes unusable.
As far as your JTAG option, I believe that would work, except that I dont have access to that kind of hardware right now. Sending my phone out at this point entails a month of transit time on each side of the turnaround time required for someone to re-flash my phone, and I wholly believe that I can do this.
As an update to my phone, it will not charge the battery anymore. I'll use someone elses phone to charge my battery soon. If anyone can give me a direction to go as far as how to completely reflash my phone IF it turns on, i'd be grateful beyond belief. I dont want to believe that if I can get it to start up again, that it is a total brick and completely useless - if it turns on again, i need someway to push new boot loader files to it. Really hoping someone can help.
Thanks again in advance.

Is my Note 4 dead?

Hello dear community,
I'm posting there because I have some doubts about my phone and i'd like some answers from you.
1 month ago, I was charging my phone. When it reached 100% battery, It was fine but the problem is when I was trying to press "power" to turn it on but It didn't want to. So, I removed the battery because I couldn't even turn it off. When I tried to restart it again, it didn't want to. No reaction to the "power" button.
I followed EVERY tips on Google but none worked. I also tried to change my battery but nothing. I tried also to connect it to my computer, it was detected but my phone didn't turn on.
So, I guess my phone is dead unless if there is a solution to make it working? Also before that, my phone was becoming very laggy and when it had a small lag, it was turning off and was rebooting.
Thank you in advance for your answers.
CSM Fol said:
I have mustered some conclusions about your phone based on what you typed:
1st claim: The power button no longer works anymore
•Reason: "... when I was trying to press "power" to turn it on... it didn't want to... When I tried to restart it again, it didn't want to. No reaction to the "power" button."
—Seems like you're gonna have to find another Note 4 and replace its motherboard with the Note 4 whose power button doesn't work anymore after 5 years.
But before spending, I would like you to try this method from a Youtube comment:
"... you'll just have to keep the charger [cable connected] on [your phone] while you take off the battery, and put it back after; then, remove the charger quickly..."
—————
2nd claim: The screen no longer works
•Reason: "I tried also to connect it to my computer, it was detected but my phone didn't turn on."
—If the phone is charged, seeing nothing but blackness, but you still see an emitting LED light on the top-left corner, that's a sign that it still works, just not the screen. So I would suggest that you buy a new screen and replace it with your old one. If you think you can't, then go to a phone repair shop and let others do the repairing.
—————
3rd claim: The motherboard is dead
•Reason: "... before that, my phone was becoming very laggy and when it had a small lag, it was turning off and was rebooting."
—The motherboard might be dead if these are happening, but I don't think this is the right reason unless the first two conclusions are proven to be true. If the first two conclusions are proven to be false, then the motherboard is dead, and you may either buy another Note 4 motherboard or get a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your answer.
To answer you clearly about all the points you clarified, there is no led light appearing when putting it on charge and I also tried the "Youtube comment" but nothing.
So I think, the motherboard is dead as you mentioned. I just don't understand how it died after a charge but as I saw on Google, it's a general problem on Galaxy Note 4, so I think i'm not surprised at all. It's been since 2015 I had it.
Thank you for your time and to have solved my doubts about the death about my phone.
xSLOom said:
Hello dear community,
I'm posting there because I have some doubts about my phone and i'd like some answers from you.
1 month ago, I was charging my phone. When it reached 100% battery, It was fine but the problem is when I was trying to press "power" to turn it on but It didn't want to. So, I removed the battery because I couldn't even turn it off. When I tried to restart it again, it didn't want to. No reaction to the "power" button.
I followed EVERY tips on Google but none worked. I also tried to change my battery but nothing. I tried also to connect it to my computer, it was detected but my phone didn't turn on.
So, I guess my phone is dead unless if there is a solution to make it working? Also before that, my phone was becoming very laggy and when it had a small lag, it was turning off and was rebooting.
Thank you in advance for your answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put in cold fridge for 30 min without battery, then try to turn it on. If not, try the cardboard method under the emmc chip (search youtube)
Timpaa said:
Put in cold fridge for 30 min without battery, then try to turn it on. If not, try the cardboard method under the emmc chip (search youtube)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this a serious thing ? (fridge)
I did the oven trick on my n910t. I left my phone stuck in the grill of my truck when I changed the brakes. I took it for a test drive and ended up running over the phone. Me being a noob at the time didn't know the AT&T Note 4 would not unlock Bootloader for custom roms or custom recoveries. I purchased the AT&T Note and was sorely disappointed there after. Flash 2019 I still have the motherboard for my note that I ran over. I can only get in to go into download mode and only when it was plugged in. I flash custom ROM or custom recovery and it would say would pass but it would just boot loop and boot loop. So I read somewhere where you can put it in the oven for around 5 to 6 minutes at about 200° and that it would settle any of the cracked solder that be around the emmc or anywhere else on the board. So I tried it. I stuck it in two different times at five minutes a piece, pull the board out and let it set for a day. I installed the board just a little while ago and she fired right up. It's amazing
I've recently replaced the motherboard on my N910F with a used one bought from AliExpress. As it's used I've no idea how long it will last but for £30 was worth a try.
It was pretty straightforward replacing the motherboard using one of the tear down guides on YouTube.

Un-Wakelockable zombie: grey bar, bootloop & recovery missing

Hey friends of the beloved Note 4, I was deeply gutted by the malfunctioning of my phone. I have been using an N9100 for the past 6 months. The phone was new out of the box (manufactured in July 2016), with stock marshmallow installed. I rooted it by flashing cf-auto-root through odin. Everything was fine and dandy until 2 weeks ago, when reading comics (presumably not a particularly taxing job for the hardware) its screen suddenly started to glitch then the phone completely died. I found one useable recovery firmfare from trial and error to revive the phone (Kitkat 4.4.4). But the symptoms persists, which sounds eerily familiar to but somehow different from the infamous emmc failure:
1. A grey bar appears at the bottom left of the screen for 1-2 seconds when booting up;
2. Reboot or bootloop occurs when waking up the phone after display timed out or pressing the power button;
3. Screen glitches and phone randomly reboots from time to time;
4. Recovery mode cannot be accessed most of the times, even after freezing the phone in the refrigerator;
5. The tried and true wakelock revamp app is unable to stop the phone from going to sleep and rebooting.
It seems the phone itself is seriously compromised. What maybe the root cause of this nuisance? And more importantly, is there any solution to it other from switching the motherboard, that is logistically and economically sound?
Alas, roses are red and Samsung phones are high maintenance...
Switching motherboard will create a lot more issues.
It looks like the EMMC is dying. Search about it. Also someone found a solution to insert a heat artic pad underneath the eMMC and apparently it worked. Also search about this.

M30s does not boot - stuck at very first screen

Hi all,
my Gylaxy M30s rebooted itself yestarday, and now is stuck at the very first screen (the one showing "SAMSUNG Galaxy M30s" in the center and "Powered by android" at the bottom).
Vol down + power results in a reboot attempt (screen goes black, vibration), but the phone is stopping at the same screen again.
I am not able to turn the phone off.
Switching from Vol down to Vol up immediately when screen goes black does not enter recovery mode.
Vol down + power while charging sometimes leads to the charging symbol being shown on the screen, but without the percentage in the middle.
Charging over night did not help.
The phone cannot be connected to a Win PC.
Any suggestions what I can try?
Thanks,
Alchemist
Try volume down+volume up and while pressing those buttons, plug your phone into your computer. Tell me the results of that.
Nothing happening...
I mean trying those combinations immediately after using power+ volume down to reboot.
What did you do with your phone? Died suddenly when normally using?
Yes, phone died during normal usage.
Ah, I see - a screen comes up warning me that downloading a custom OS might harm the phone.
Also, the PC makes this "USB connected" sound when I then press Vol up, but I do not see a new drive connected, I think.
I am slightly optimistic now?
Press volume up.Then install Samsung usb drivers(search on Google)
Ugh, just wanted to do this, but now the phone is completely dead. No response to any button or charging. Will hang it on the charger for a few hours, but my optimism is gone...
OK, now it works again. I am in the screen with the colourfull stuff and the phone waits for some download.
Driver is installed on PC. Is there anything supposed to happen - the phone is still not accessible via PC, or is it?
Install Odin (search in Google 'odin samsung' and download)
Download stock firmware(android os) at www.samfw.com , after downloading you will see files like AP-M505xxxxxxx.tar.
Select, from the stock ROM AP-M305xxxxx.tar for AP in odin CSC-M305xxxxx.tar for CSC, and so forth then click start .
OK. All data will be lost, right? Is there some way to access the internal storage to rescue some files before flashing the new firmware?
Sorry to tell you that you cannot have data restored bad news for you sorry
Sorry. If you only see one file(make sure it is .tar or .tar.md5 file) after you extracted the .zip firmware, install it to the AP slot.
Any chance I could fix this issue with tools like dr.fone, UltFOne, ReiBoot?
I do not have any experiences with these - no idea if the just want to make money with desparate customers? ...
These could possibly brick your phones even more ( anyways flashing with Odin could also brick your phone). However, it in some cases can fix your device.
If you HAVE to have your data back and you don't mind paying, visit a service center and tell them: 'Hey my phone died and i HAVE to have the data back '.(I know, your warranty is expired probably, but they might still do the things for you with paying.)(if those stores closed during lockdown then I don't know any way to fix it.)
OK, another thing I have observed: The screen goes black after about 30 sec to 5 min when not charged - the shorter it was charged, the quicker the screen goes black. Buttons do nothing when screen is black. When reattached to charger, phone tries to boot and is then stuck at said screen - no button pressing needed for the phone to try to start. The longer the phone has been without charger, the longer it takes until the phone tries to boot.
Maybe it's just the battery that is dead - or would the phone with a dead battery boot normally when attached to charger?
If that is the case, open up your phone, put in a replacement battery, and try to boot up(yes, you need to. it will be a frustrating process.). Your phone could be having a faulty battery and nothing else, to cause this issue.
Im having the same problem mentioned above. The samsung service centre says to replace the motherboard which costs almost half the price of the actual phone..
Mystic_Jamdam said:
Im having the same problem mentioned above. The samsung service centre says to replace the motherboard which costs almost half the price of the actual phone..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Truth to be told: The guy in the repair shop opened the phone and wanted to change the battery - when he saw that water must have come into the phone, corroding the motherboard. So yeah, all data lost, but... no backup, no mercy. I now have set up a NAS for all computers and devices in our family... ;-)
If it really is a hardware problem then the quality must have been really bad.

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