How To Fix Galaxy S8 And Galaxy S8 Plus Stuck In Bootloop Or Recovery Booting

If every time when you try to boot your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus it remains stuck or you end up running in the Recovery Mode, you need to investigate this problem as soon as possible. It could be a minor firmware issue or a third-party app messing with your system, but, at the same time, it could also be a more serious problem.

Since boot loops are not so uncommon and, most of the time, they occur during a firmware update, chances are you won’t even notice it the first time when it happens. However, as you cannot seem to be able to access your smartphone in the normal functioning mode, you will get worried soon after that. Your first thought, especially if you’re not the kind of tech-savvy user, will probably be to take it to a technician.

While troubleshooting is essential and you could, eventually, end up with the device in service, it is best that you take a little time for some troubleshooting on your own. Particularly if it’s the type of minor problem that we have previously suggested, you will be perfectly capable of handling it by yourself, provided you follow this tutorial.

Our aim, with this article, is to help you determine how serious is the problem of the device, decide if it needs the intervention of a technician and, if not, what can you do to fix your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus stuck in boot loop.

Bear in mind that our purpose, just like yours, isn’t to cause even more problems so the procedures and the steps we are about to suggest you aren’t the type of measures that could get the average users into troubles if executing them incorrectly. As an experienced user, you might choose to skip some steps or take some shortcuts, though, if you aren’t very confident in your tech knowledge, it is best to stick to our instructions.

All these being said, let’s move on to the exact steps that you should follow:

Connect the smartphone to a charger

Whether it’s the dedicated charger or just a USB cable connected to a computer, your purpose here is to ensure a stable flow of current through the circuits of the device and to notice how it reacts. If you see all the things that you’re supposed to – like the charging notification on the display and the LED indicator turning on, you might be lucky enough not to deal with any kind of hardware issues. Let it charge and try to turn it back on after 10 minutes or so.

To be honest, this measure is most likely to work when the device simply refuses to turn on. Nevertheless, there are instances when you need to give the battery a boost to make the device boot up normally and even the simple connection to a computer, which would normally trigger the process of connecting another device to the smartphone, could take it out of this frozen state.

Since we’re here to try out all the possibilities and to test with all the means that we have at hand, this is a great start for your troubleshooting. Remember, look up for any sign of normal charging – if icons display correctly or if the computer detects your phone and recognizes it as usually, you should be confident that you’re not facing a serious problem.

Access the Safe Mode environment

When you boot your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus into Safe Mode, you’re not actually doing something that will literally help you to fix the problem. What you will do, however, is to let it run in an environment where only the preinstalled apps and services will be active. If all the other third-party apps and services are blocked, it means that the simple fact that the smartphone works fine under the Safe Mode indicates the third-party apps as being responsible for the boot loops.

Troubleshoot by accessing the Safe Mode;
Let the device run and monitor its state;
Start investigating all your third-party apps one by one.

To boot into Safe Mode:

Press and hold the Power button;
Release it when you see the Samsung Galaxy S8 text on the display;
Press and hold the Volume Down button;
Release it when the Galaxy S8 finishes the reboot and the Safe Mode text shows up on the display.

If you have managed to boot into Safe Mode and you bypassed the nasty boot loop, it’s a clear sign that you have a software problem with one of the third-party apps that you have previously installed. Despite the fact that it’s going to be a time-consuming process, it’s actually a good thing because you have found the problem and whatever app may be responsible, it is definitely something that you can spare of. Since it’s not a system app nor one of the default apps that come preinstalled on your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus, you can uninstall it anytime without having to worry about it.

The only thing that this fix could “cost” you is losing some data stored by that application. Other than that, your phone should be just fine. And for you to switch from the discovery state and move on to actually pinpointing the faulty app, you will have to do trial and errors with every single one of those third-party apps. If you’re lucky, you will find the malfunctioning app soon enough. If you’re not and it’s taking you too long, you can proceed to back up all your data and just perform a hard reset that will erase everything from your phone, your boot loop included.

Delete system cache and wipe the cache partition

Assuming you haven’t performed a hard reset yet and you prefer to try a middle option first, you can delete the cache memory. This one won’t affect any of the data and files stored on your computer, perhaps only some of your setting preferences for those apps and the login credentials previously saved for easy login.

The thing is that system and app caches can often be corrupted, during normal use or during updates, resulting into what manifests as a boot loop. That’s why if nothing from above worked so far, you should continue with the following steps:

Turn off your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus;
Press and hold the three hard keys: Home, Volume Up, and, of course, Power;
When you see the Galaxy S8 text on the display, let go of the Power key;
When you see the Android logo on the screen, you can also let go of the remaining two buttons, the Home and the Volume Up keys;
Now use the Volume Down key to switch from one menu to another, until you identify and highlight the option labeled as Wipe Cache Partition;
Press the Power key to activate this option;
Use the Volume Down to highlight the Yes option and confirm the action;
Press the Power key once again to officially start the Wipe Cache Partition;
When the process ends, use the Volume Down key once again to highlight the Reboot System Now option;
Initiate the process of going out of the Recovery Mode and rebooting into the normal mode by pressing the Power key one more time.

The reboot from the Recovery Mode to the Normal Mode would take longer than usually but when it finally ends, you should be able to use your device like you normally do. If you’re still stuck in the boot loop, proceed to the last step.

Perform a factory reset

When not even a wipe cache partition had the anticipated effects, the master reset will solve any kind of issues, including the firmware ones. Especially if you can’t go out of the Recovery Mode or, instead of the normal mode you’re being taken to the Safe Mode, you have no other option than to do a master reset.

This is usually the last troubleshooting step because it implies erasing all your data and you should first backup everything you have on the device. Whether you use your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus’s special settings to back up all your data and files or if you use Smart Switch for a more automatic approach, after you have created your backup, you can proceed to:

Repeat the steps from above of simultaneously pressing the Home, Volume Up and Power keys until you boot into the Recovery Mode;
When you see the text “Installing system update” you can expect the Android logo to show up soon after that and you can let go of the keys when you see the logo;
Wait for 30 to 60 seconds, after you have entered the Recovery Mode, and then you can start using the Volume Down and the Power keys to:
- Run the option labeled as Wipe Data / Factory Reset;
- Confirm with “Yes – Delete all user data”;
- Run the option labeled as Reboot System Now.

Wait, again, a little longer than usually, until your Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus will go out of this mode and boot into the normal running mode.