Constant reboot

[RodBarnes]

I have a Galaxy Tab A 8" which just received a security update (2019-11-30) and now it just constantly reboots -- gets to the logo screen and then just reboots again. Tried using the hardware reset (needle hole) and it didn't even recognize it. Tried holding the VolUp button to get to the loading screen and that does display the blue "Installing system update" screen for about .5 seconds and then it shows a blue Error screen and just goes back to a reboot again.

Any other options?

 

[James L]

I have a Galaxy Tab A 8" which just received a security update (2019-11-30) and now it just constantly reboots -- gets to the logo screen and then just reboots again. Tried using the hardware reset (needle hole) and it didn't even recognize it. Tried holding the VolUp button to get to the loading screen and that does display the blue "Installing system update" screen for about .5 seconds and then it shows a blue Error screen and just goes back to a reboot again.

Any other options?

Try a factory reset or a firmware flash.

 

[RodBarnes]

@James L -- How do you do a factory reset when you can't get it to boot? How do you do a firmware flash?

 

[James L]

Hold volume down and power, when the screen goes black switch to Volume up, home and power. Then factory reset it.

A firmware flash is done using Odin, download the appropriate firmware for your device, boot into download mode. Volume down, home and power. Put the firmware in the appropriate slots, they say ap, bl, home csc to keep data intact etc. Once it's loaded, drivers installed press start and it'll boot up.

 

[ocnbrze]

@James L -- How do you do a factory reset when you can't get it to boot? How do you do a firmware flash?

to factory reset (also called a hard reset):

1. power off the phone
2. use the combo buttons of power+vol up+home
3. this will take you to recovery
4. select wipe data/factory reset

https://www.hardreset.info/devices/samsung/samsung-t350-galaxy-tab-a-80/

for firmware go to sammobile firmwares type in your model number and download the latest firmware. you will then need to use odin to flash the firmware. instructions should be on the sammobile website.

try the hard reset first then if that does not work then you will have to flash the firmware. just make sure that the firmware you downloaded is the correct one for your device.

 

[RodBarnes]

It does not recognize/respond to holding Power+VolDown -- it just continues in the reboot cycle. Holding Power+VolUp+Home is also not recognized. I am unable to turn off the tablet -- it does not respond to the Power button. As noted in the original post, holding VolUp got it to the "Install system update" screen but only for a split second then it displayed the "Error" screen.

Overnight, it ran down the battery (due to the constant reboots). So I plugged it in again this morning but no change in behavior or in responsiveness to the various key presses.

The "sammobile firmwares" site does not list a US version of firmware for this model. I did find some here.

I'll search around for Odin. I had it some years ago but haven't had to use it in a while.

UPDATE: I was finally successful getting the download screen to appear so maybe once the FW is downloaded, I can get it working again.

 

[RodBarnes]

Well, I downloaded Odin3 (v3.12.3) and downloaded the FW update (XAR-T380DXU3CSK1-20191125134039) from https://samfrew.com/model/SM-T380/. I selected the AP file and after the MD5 was confirmed (this page said I only needed the AP file), I clicked start but it failed (see below).

<ID:0/003> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/003> Odin engine v(ID:3.1203)..
<ID:0/003> File analysis..
<ID:0/003> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/003> Initialzation..
<ID:0/003> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/003> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/003> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/003> boot.img.lz4
<ID:0/003> FAIL!
<ID:0/003>
<ID:0/003> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

So, then I saw this page which says you always need to flash all of the files. This set didn't include the CP (modem) but I tried flashing the BL, AP, and HOME_CSC. But it got to a point and just stopped (see below). It is still just sitting there.

<ID:0/003> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/003> Odin engine v(ID:3.1203)..
<ID:0/003> File analysis..
<ID:0/003> skip file list for home binary
<ID:0/003> aboot.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> sbl1.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> rpm.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> tz.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> devcfg.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> cmnlib.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> keymaster.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> apdp.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> msadp.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> NON-HLOS.bin.lz4
<ID:0/003> lksecapp.mbn.lz4
<ID:0/003> sec.dat.lz4
<ID:0/003> boot.img.lz4
<ID:0/003> recovery.img.lz4
<ID:0/003> system.img.ext4.lz4
<ID:0/003> persist.img.ext4.lz4
<ID:0/003> userdata.img.ext4.lz4
<ID:0/003> modem.bin.lz4
<ID:0/003> adspso.bin.lz4
<ID:0/003> cache.img.ext4.lz4
<ID:0/003> Home Binary Download
<ID:0/003> SetupConnection..
.

I've uploaded the image of the download screen where it is sitting and of the model tag.

I found this page which describes applying a custom recovery. Best next option?
.