An Android smartphone or tablet that does not turn on is considered bricked; it’s as useful as a house brick because it has no features available. But don’t give up hope, because you might be able to revive your device. Read on what to do when your Android does not respond, learn about the causes of bricking and how to unlock an Android masonry device. The instructions in this article apply to all Android smartphones and tablets.
What to do when your Android doesn’t respond (Soft-brick, hard-brick, and bootloop)
Soft-brick and hard-brick- how they can occur
What to do when your Android doesn’t respond or turns on but doesn’t work is considered soft bricked. A device that doesn’t turn on at all is hard bricked.
A soft brick device can boot into recovery mode or crash on the startup screen. For example, if you tried to install a custom ROM without first erasing the original ROM data, the device may encounter errors during startup and may crash in a boot cycle (bootloop).
Other potential Soft-brick and hard-brick causes include:
- Improper installation of important updates
- Problems related to the root of your Android device
- System files missing or damaged
- Physical damage or faulty hardware
- Accidental download of malware
How to unlock an Android phone or tablet in Soft-brick and hard-brick
Not everything in this list will work for everyone, but there is probably something here that will awaken your Android device. Try these steps until your device is up:
Remove and reinsert the battery. If possible, remove the battery and put it back in place safely. Also, connect your device’s charger to make sure a defective battery is not the cause that prevents it from turning itself on.
Contact the manufacturer. If the device is under warranty, the manufacturer could repair or replace the device for free. If you have rooted your Android device to install custom firmware or apps, your warranty is probably void, so you’ll have to solve all the problems yourself.
Contact your telephone operator. If the phone is bricked, contact the service provider. They may be able to restore the phone and even recover the data. Back up your Android data on a regular basis to avoid losing them.
Take it to a shop for repair. If your device is physically damaged and you have no warranty, the best solution is to take it to a technician. They have access to tools and software that you probably don’t have, so paying them to fix the problem with your unresponsive phone may be the cheapest option.
Put it in a bag of rice. If the device does not work due to water damage, store it in a plastic bag filled with uncooked rice overnight. Rice will absorb part of the water, thus improving the resuscitation possibilities of the device. If the phone is physically damaged, remove the SIM so you can retrieve the contacts.
Replace the display. If the device turns on, but the screen remains black, the device may not be bricked, but the problem may be the display. Take it to a technical support shop or replace the screen yourself.
Perform a forced restart. If the device turns on and locks up immediately, try restarting. This is usually accomplished by holding down Power + Home but differs depending on the device.
Restart Android in recovery mode. Try restarting the device in recovery mode:
- With the device turned off, press Volume Up + Power to start in recovery mode.
- Use the volume buttons to navigate the menu and highlight Restart the system now.
- Press the power button to select the highlighted option.
- Wait to see if your device restarts normally.
Steps to start in recovery mode may vary depending on the device model. Consult your phone or tablet manual for further instructions.
- Start the device in recovery mode.
- Select Clear cache partition.
- Select Restart the system now.
- Clear the cache. Deleting temporary files can sometimes resolve.
Restore your Android device to factory settings. If you have made changes to your device and these have caused a soft brick, a factory reset can undo these changes. Performing a Hard Reset on the Android device will restore the system to the state it was in at the time of purchase. As a result, you will lose everything you have downloaded and installed.
To restore the factory settings of an Android device with soft bricks:
- Start the device in recovery mode.
- Select Clear data/Restore factory settings.
- Select Yes to reset the device and wait. At the end of the process, you will return to the main menu of the recovery mode.
- Select Restart the system now.
If successful, Android will start normally and you will need to configure your device as new.
Reinstall the operating system on your Android. If your device has an SD card slot, you can reinstall the device’s operating system.
This method will also delete all your personal files.
- Search the web for a factory firmware ROM file for your device. A good starting point is the XDA developer forum. In the search bar, enter the name of your device + firmware.
- Download the appropriate ROM (usually contained in a ZIP file) on an SD card.
- Insert the SD card into your device.
- Start your Android device in recovery mode.
- Select Install updates from the SD card.
- Select the ZIP file containing the ROM.
- Select Restart the system now.
DONT MISS- How to update the Android operating system
Flashing an incompatible ROM can damage your device. Make sure you download the correct firmware for your model.
Use an Android unlock tool. If you’re not comfortable with Odin, there are more intuitive tools to unlock specific devices. For example, the Fone Lab Android data recovery program is a versatile data recovery tool used to recover Samsung phones and tablets. It is available for Windows and Mac.
How to recover a Samsung Android device
Unfortunately, there is no program capable of repairing all types of Android phones and tablets and Samsung creates a particular problem, because Samsung devices work with a proprietary version of Android. Fortunately, there are a couple of programs that could help you bring your Samsung phone back to life.
- Use Odin to restore a Samsung phone. Odin is a program developed by Samsung to install custom firmware on Android devices. It can be used to repair Samsung masonry Android phones as long as you have a computer with Windows. You must be logged in as an administrator to run Odin on your PC.
- Use FoneLab to recover your Samsung Android device. If you have a Samsung device, you can use the full version of FoneLab to restore it.
Although there is a free trial version of FoneLab (alternatively known as U.Fone Toolkit ), most features, including data removal and data recovery, are only available with a premium subscription.
- Connect your Android device to your computer with a USB cable.
- Download and install the Android Fone Lab data recovery tool on your computer.
- Open Fone Lab and select Android Data Extraction not working.
- Select Start on the right side of the window below the Android icon.
- Select the option that best applies to your device and select Next.
- Choose the device name and model of the device, then select Confirm.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to start the device in download mode, then select Start to download the recovery package.
- When finished, manually restart the device if it does not restart automatically.
If the process was successful, your Samsung device should work normally.
If you are not sure how you locked your phone, you may need to take some additional precautions in the future.
To avoid bricking your Android:
- don’t root the device…
- avoid downloading anything that does not come from the official app store…
- do not delete or modify important files.
- always keep the phone in a protective case.
