Samsung bootloop fix: phone stuck restarting on the logo

A boot loop is a phone that starts, shows the Galaxy or Samsung logo, and starts again, over and over. The steps below go from the ones that keep your data to the ones that do not. Do them in order and stop as soon as the phone reaches the home screen.

Software or hardware?

What happened just before the loop started tells you most of what you need to know.

  • After an update, a flash or a new app: almost certainly software. The steps below usually fix it.
  • After a drop, water, or the phone getting very hot: could be the board or the battery. Try the steps, but expect step 5 to fail too.
  • It loops only on battery but boots on the charger, or it restarts at a certain percentage: the battery is worn and cannot hold the voltage while booting. That needs a new battery, not new firmware.

1. Forced restart

Hold Volume Down and Power for ten to fifteen seconds, until the screen goes black and the phone vibrates. It cuts power to everything that hung during boot. A surprising share of loops after an update end here.

2. Safe mode

Safe mode starts Android without any app you installed. If the loop is caused by an app, a launcher or a widget, the phone will boot this way.

  1. Force a restart as in step 1.
  2. When the Samsung logo appears, press and hold Volume Down and keep holding until the phone finishes booting.
  3. "Safe mode" appears in the bottom corner if it worked.

In safe mode, uninstall whatever you added or updated just before the problem, then restart normally.

3. Wipe cache partition

The cache holds temporary system files. A stale cache after an update is a classic loop cause, and wiping it does not touch your photos, apps or accounts.

  1. On current models, connect the phone to a PC or charger with a USB cable first: recovery opens only with a cable attached.
  2. Hold Volume Down and Power. The moment the screen goes black, switch to holding Volume Up and Power until the recovery menu appears. Older models also need the Home or Bixby key held.
  3. Use the volume keys to select "Wipe cache partition" and Power to confirm.
  4. Choose "Reboot system now".

Some recent models no longer show "Wipe cache partition". If yours does not, skip to step 4.

4. Reinstall firmware with HOME_CSC

If the system files are damaged, writing them again fixes the loop. Using HOME_CSC keeps the data partition, so this is still a step that can save your files.

  1. Get the model number from the box or the Download mode screen.
  2. Find it on the models page and download a build for your region (CSC) that is the same as or newer than the one installed. Not sure about the region? The CSC codes list helps.
  3. Put the phone into Download mode: power off, hold Volume Up and Volume Down and plug in the USB cable (key combinations for older models are in the Odin guide).
  4. In Odin, load BL, AP, CP and HOME_CSC into the CSC slot. Click Start.

The first boot after this takes several minutes. Let it run before deciding it failed.

5. Factory reset or full CSC flash

When the system is fine but your data or settings are what crashes the boot, only a reset clears it. This erases everything that is not backed up to Samsung Cloud or Google.

  • From recovery: "Wipe data/factory reset", then "Reboot system now".
  • Or flash again with Odin, this time with the regular CSC file instead of HOME_CSC. This resets the phone and rewrites the partition layout as well.

After a reset the phone asks for the Google account that was on it (Factory Reset Protection). Make sure you know the password before you start.

When it is hardware

If the phone still loops after a clean CSC flash with official firmware for its exact model, the software is not the problem any more. A worn or swollen battery and a failing storage chip are the usual suspects on older phones, and a cracked board after a drop on newer ones. Odin failing at the same partition every time points to storage. That is a repair, not a flashing job.

One last thing worth checking: if the loop started right after you flashed firmware yourself, confirm that the build really matches your model and did not change the region. Mismatched packages are covered in the firmware upgrade error guide.

Related guides

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