galaxy note 4 reboot loop

After the last android update (Marshmallow) my not 4 randomly reboots and then gets stuck in a reboot loop. It doesn't seem to matter how much battery I have left. When the problem started about a month ago, it seemed to coincide with a 50% or less charge and now it happens when battery is fully charged. I've tried the soft reset (taking the battery out for 10 seconds) with no luck. When the battery is put back in, it goes right back into the loop. The only way to interrupt the loop and restart normally is to plug the phone into charger. I have backed up and performed the factory reset 4 times with no luck. In fact, I think the problem is worse. I have uninstalled all apps along with factory reset and the reboot problem persists. Does anyone have advice on this problem? As it stands now, the phone is only reliable if I can plug it in while using it. Thanks for any help you can offer...

Accepted answers

Pyewaquet

After many, many cache partition wipes, factory resets, hours on the phone, and on Google, I am cautiously optimistic that the immediatly malfuctioning replacement for my original malfunctioning Note 4 is finally fixed. Apparently is was the battery. I went to Batteries Plus and purchased ($35) a Duracell battery. I don't remember now what I stumbled on while searching Google that prompted me to suspect the the battery, but I'm glad I found it. It's just too bad that it wasn't suggested to me when I first called Verizon for trouble shooting and possible replacement with the total protection plan... it would have saved me some time and a few headaches. Anyway, all's well that ends well, right? I hope someone else might stumble on this thread and is able to save time.

All comments

Verizon_Support

Oh goodness! This is definitely not the intended purpose on this update Pyewaquet. We want to ensure we get this to stop with your phone. Thank so much for all the details and your efforts thus far. Just wanted to clarify with you, when the phone is on the charger, that is the only time it doesn't reboot, correct? Is there any damage with the phone? Click here to view examples: http://vz.to/1FAmX2E. As soon as you take it off the charger, does it start the reboot process?

NicoleB_VZW
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Verizon_Support

Pyewaquet, we definitely want you to have a working phone. We appreciate all the troubleshooting steps that you have completed. Let's get this fixed right away. I'd like to wipe the cache partition on the device to see if that will help the boot loop. Here's the step

1. Turn phone off completely.
2. To start the phone, press the following keys simultaneously: Power Button, Home Button, Volume +
3. When the first logo can be seen on the screen, release the power button, but hold the Home button and the Volume + button pressed
4. It now appears on the screen of your phone, a small menu. Navigate with the Volume + and Volume - keys. An entry is selected by the Power Button
5. Select in this menu now "Wipe Cache Partition".
6. After you have selected the entry the Wipe cache is flushed. This takes a few seconds. Then it automatically returns to the small menu.
7. Now select the top entry with "Reboot Now"

Let us know how it works for you.

ZangY_VZW
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Pyewaquet

Thanks for responding. Along with the resets, I did also wipe the cache partition in the manner you describe. No luck with that rither. As it stand now, I have another Note 4, a refurbished one through the Verizon replacement program, and the replacement is doing the same thing accept it now happens constantly. The phone *only* functions if it is plugged into a charger.

Pyewaquet

That is correct. The phone only works on the charger and plugging into a charger is the only way to stop the reboot loop. Now I have a replacement Note 4 through the Verizon replacement program and it's doing the same thing. Very frustrating.

Pyewaquet

And yes, as soon as I take it off the charger, it goes into the reboot loop.

Thanks for your responses by the way.

Verizon_Support

Pyewaquet, I know this has to be frustrating after getting a replacement. It is highly unusual to experience the same issue with the replacement. That usually means that there is an application causing your phone to malfunction. When you did the master reset did you restore all of you information right away? If so, try doing the master reset, and then going 20 minutes without restoring anything. Does it work then?

MarcusS_VZW
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Pyewaquet

I didn't reinstall any apps other than what seems to come pre-installed. By my information, do you mean contacts, etc... from the cloud? Because I did not get to that part of the reset for abut an hour after setting up the replacement.

cypaw1

Unfortunately, buying a new battery does not solve the problem. I did it about a month and a half ago and our phone is right back to doing the same exact thing as before. The phone itself has also been replaced. It is definitely an issue with the update. Something is causing the battery to be severely strained.

6speed8

Mine was doing the same thing. Verizon sent me a new battery since it was still under warranty. Been fine since. Except for the continued laggy texting.

Verizon_Support

cypaw1,

Help is here! I rely on my phone battery all the time. That is a bummer the new battery did not resolve the issue. I realize that you have been provided with a replacement, but I would like to work with you a bit more here to uncover this battery draining issue. Have you been able to charge the phone up to 100% & then put the phone in Safe Mode? Putting the phone in Safe Mode helps us find out if there are any 3rd party apps that are causing a “glitch” to your phone. Please click here http://vz.to/1XK4lDA for the steps on how to put the phone in Safe Mode. Please keep it in Safe Mode for at least 3-4 hours. While in Safe Mode, you will still be able to talk, text & use data as normal. While in Safe Mode, please keep an eye on the battery life to see if anything changes. To turn Safe Mode off, please turn the phone completely off & then back on. Keep us posted on how Safe Mode does.

AliciaS_VZW
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Pyewaquet

On July 30,2016 I posted that a new battery fixed the reboot loop problem with my Galaxy Note 4. I am happy to report that my phone has operated perfectly since. Good battery life and reliable fast charging. And most importantly, no random reboot loops.

CIRCUITHEAD

Wow, just found all of these posts. I had the same thing happen to my Note 4 after the android 6 version update.

The problem didn't happen right away. I was at Disney having my daughter get a ONCE IN A LIFE TIME makeover in the Cinderella Castle that took over a year to reserve. I powered down my phone at 20% battery to save the rest for the video and photos, when I turned it back on it went to a reboot loop until it overheated the battery where it was to HOT to hold and shorted battery to 0%. Lost a once in a lifetime video. My wife wanted me to drop Verizon and Samsung immediately!

I went back to Hotel and recharged phone in the hopes of saving the photos that we already took. Luckily it worked. It operated unreliable after that, sometimes working and sometimes going to the reboot loop. Actually thought it was going to start on Fire after it got so hot, so we only charged it while monitoring it.

My Samsung S4 stopped working after the 5.0.0 update and warranty replaced that phone. Seems Samsung is not the greatest. Gave my son the S4 replacement phone when I got the Note 4. Seems Samsung can't do updates without killing their phones.

With my Note 4, I took it in to the corporate store, had bad luck with phone reps. Well now the phone got sometype of error screen instead of the reboot loop. Corporate Store manager was great as I've delt with her in the past. She said warranty would not let me get another brand of phone even if an older one, I had to get the Note 4 as a replacement. Told I feared it would catch on fire after how hot it got, the Note 7 experience, and other model Samsungs reported catching fire in stories on the web.

I dumped the phone and went to a LG V20. Great phone, screen is much easier to see in bright sun light and functions much better and easier. I like their GUI much better. Camera is much MUCH better and second screen is USEFUL and isn't on the silly edge of the screen. Has removable battery and has a SD card slot which I must have.

While the Samsungs use a AMOLED screen which offers better blacks and angle viewing, it's very hard if not impossible to be seen in bright sunlight with the screen brightness at max. The screens also have a yellow tint on white screens. I can see the LG screen at 60% brightness with full sunlight on the screen, something I could see with 100% brightness with the Note 4.

I know one thing, I'll never buy another Samsung phone after their updates destroying their phones and the lack of recalls or acknowledgement to correct these issues. Then add their Note 7 Fires and now exploding washing machines, and where's their customer safety concerns??!!

sathersc23

Keep in mind this is as much a Samsung issue as it is a Verizon issue. Verizon specifies a number of carrier specific "features" with . Samsung manufactures the SM-N910V to Verizons hardware specifications and writes Android releases to Verizon software requirements. Verizon approved an update that is not stable, and causes the phones to crash - it is as much their problem. My next step is to root the phone, since no one at Verizon seems to care, likely back to Lollipop as I wasn't a fan of a few updates in Marshmellow anyway.

I've got to live with it for 6 months or so until my phone is paid off - it's not a good position to be paying on a phone that was broken by the people who sell it to you - but this seems to be the case we're stuck in. After that it will be a toss up between the S7/S8 (whichever doesn't have an "edge" version), or a new carrier who doesn't screw around so much with the software requirements.

serendip80

I'm having the same problem. Perhaps Verizon will find this info useful.

When i first got the phone, i could use it until the battery was below 10% before it would start turning things off and refusing to do things like turn on the LED or take a picture.

After a looong wait for the first couple of OTA updates to the Note 4, each update resulted in problems with when the phone would refuse to do some (power hungry) functions. After the first update, the phone would cease to work properly and turn itself off if i tried to take a photo at about 30% charge. (I think this was an update to Lollipop.)

After the second update, that changed to about 40%. I believe this was to Marshmallow.

This was unacceptable so i did the factory reset. This is a pretty involved ordeal taking several days to complete, as i do use a lot of apps. The factory reset got me back to about 30%.

Then Verizon started pushing updates pretty regularly. Each and every update has caused the phone to stop working at higher and higher battery charge levels. I bought a new battery, but it had no effect. At some point, it stopped turning things off and simply went into the infinite reboot loop as soon as i tried to do something when that critical battery level was reached - which always causes the battery to heat up, never results in a successful start up (the first couple *might* get to a fully booted phone, but turning on the screen causes it to reboot again. This is now the standard mode of operation when the battery charge gets too low. Only by removing the battery can i stop the reboot cycle. If i can get to a charger within a couple of minutes, it will stop as long as i don't try to use the phone until the battery charges past the critical level. However, with each update, that critical level has gotten higher and higher. This summer, an OTA update in late July or August caused the critical level to get up to 59%. A factory reset in late August returned that to 49%. However, almost as soon as i got the reset fully completed, there was another update. Boom - 59% was the lowest battery charge that the phone would function at. Another OTA update - 69% minimum. My life is now about keeping the phone plugged in as much as possible. Chatted with a Samsung rep this morning - as much as 13 days without the phone to get it fixed. I run a business with many calls every day coming in. No way can i send it in for repair.

BTW, i *did* get this phone swapped out early on - i'm a little hazy on the timeline there - the problem starts as soon as the first OTA is received. Both my batteries are Samsung OEM equipment. I'm going to try the suggested Duracell replacement in the next few days - that would be great if it makes this problem go away. The Note4 is a great phone, with great features and performance, so i would be more than happy to drive it into the ground for a long time to come. If not, my contract is up next month. New phone is likely to be a Pixel.