Why your device does NOT turn on and how to fix it

If your cell phone turned itself off and doesn’t turn on, don’t panic. First try to remember what you did or what happened to the phone in the previous moment. Only doing that can help you find the cause of the problem and a potential solution.

If you have no idea what happened, don’t worry. Possibly just a bug in the software, which is easy to fix with the solutions below.

Why my phone won’t turn on

There are two possible causes. The most favorable case is when it comes to software failure. That is, the Android operating system or the applications. If so, perhaps you can fix the phone yourself by practicing the solutions below, in the order indicated until the Android turns on normally.

The worst situation is when it comes to a hardware problem or the physical part of the mobile. That is, some component in the cell phone is disconnected, damaged, broken, or burned (maybe your phone fell or got wet earlier?). In this case, the solution you have left is to take it to an official technical service.

In addition to the recommendations below, I also suggest you review the article related to battery problems, if your phone has turned itself off .

Solutions

1. Charge the phone for a few minutes

Probably the Android phone or tablet has just run out of battery. A prudent time connected to the charger and hopefully it will turn on again.

In some cases, the cell phone will show a low battery warning as soon as it is connected to the charger, but in other cases, nothing may appear on the screen. This may be because the battery is completely depleted. In this case you have to let it charge for at least 15 minutes before trying to turn it on. Here it is not necessary to pretend that it lights up as soon as it is connected to the charger.

If it doesn’t turn on, try a different charger or another USB cable, because the one used may have been broken or damaged.

2. Do a hard reset (or remove the battery)

It is very common for an Android phone to be frozen , that is, it may be on but the screen is black and does not respond to buttons.

In this case it is only a matter of removing the energy completely. You just have to take out the battery for about 10 seconds (5 minutes in the worst case), put it back and turn on the phone.

If the battery cannot be removed from the phone, the alternative is to do a hard reset , holding down the power button for 10 seconds. On certain devices, it may be necessary to press and hold this button for up to 30 seconds.

Why does my Android phone FREEZE and what to do if it hangs

3. Factory restore

If unfortunately the above does not solve the problem, you should try to reset the device to its factory settings, which implies that all user data will be erased.

In this scenario that we are talking about, there can be two ways to factory restore the mobile:

From the recovery mode

This mode is entered by pressing a specific button combination. Once in this mode, tap on the wipe data / factory reset option .

The combination of buttons to use varies from device to device. To find out the combination for a specific phone, do an online search for the model plus the phrase “recovery mode”.

For example, on the Samsung Galaxy S6 , you have to press the start button + power button + volume up button at the same time and for a few seconds.

Hard reset

Some phones can be reset directly with a specific key combination, without having to enter the recovery mode.

Again, this button combination is not the same for all devices. You have to do the online search for the device model plus the phrase «hard reset«.

For example, on the LG L5 2 you have to press the start button + power button + both volume buttons at the same time (all are released when the LG logo appears). On the Motorola Moto G, press and hold the power button for 120 seconds, with the phone connected to the charger.

How to restore Android from FACTORY (format, reset)

4. Reinstall the device firmware

If there is a serious software glitch from deleting improper files, making advanced modifications, or changing ROMs, and even restoring doesn’t fix the problem and the phone won’t start in normal mode, the option might be to try reinstalling the Android system.

This can be easy or difficult, depending on the phone. Some manufacturers like Google offer “factory images” of their devices and instructions for reinstalling or “flashing” the device. In the same way, you have to do a web search of the phone model with the phrase “reinstall firmware” to get the factory image and instructions on how to flash it .

5. Boot into safe mode

When starting an Android in safe mode, only the phone’s software or factory applications are loaded, excluding third-party or user-installed applications. If the problem is here, the phone will probably turn on in safe mode, allowing you to uninstall these applications to fix the failure.

The way to enter the safe mode varies from cell to cell. It will be necessary to do a web search of the cell phone model and the phrase “safe mode” to know how to do it on a specific device.

For example, on the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini and other Samsung models, you have to turn on the phone as you normally would and, during startup, press and hold the volume down button until the phone starts. You are known to be in this mode if “Safe Mode” appears in the lower corner of the screen.

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