HTC One S restarting every 5 seconds

[mssviviann]

I got my HTC One S in June 2012. It never froze and went completely blank until last night.
It started restarting and showed the HTC: quietly brilliant theme- then it suddenly turns off.

It restarts itself every 5 seconds, it is stuck in a continuous loop.

Charging: I tried to charge it and there is no red light shown- it continues to restart.

After leaving it alone for a few mins. it stops restarting but if I use the power key and hold it for 10 seconds or longer it starts restarting again (sometimes the screen glitches like it trying to restart itself fully)

I was able to get to the HBOOT menu (fastboot, factory reset, recovery, etc) but I do not want to risk losing my entire phone storage. I really do not want to end up with a factory reset and lose my photos, videos, and notes. Very important things.

There is a moment where I try to plug it into an outlet or a computer and sometimes the phone is blinking a red light- possibly telling me the phone is completely drained.

How can I charge it if it doesnt want to charge since the red light doesnt appear but when it does- it is simply blinking.

I should mention- I was using an app, I can say it sometimes overheat if Im using too many apps but this time it completely froze and turned off.

All of this has been happening for the past 15 hours. Please help, I am more concerned about my phone storage than the phone- sure my apps will erase but I'm very concerned with my photos, videos, notes (which are a part of the app) sigh..

Oh and I called techincal support and other t mobile stores and nobody had a solution for me besides a replacement

 

[Hadron]

Hi msviviann, and welcome to AF,

Sorry to hear this. To be honest, I'm not sure I have any idea which will help, but I'll explain my understanding and then make one suggestion.

Generally if a phone is "boot looping" like this and there is no hardware problem, then it would imply corrupt software or data. If the device is not rooted the solution to that would be a factory reset, which you don't want to do (if you don't know what rooted means, you are not rooted - it's something you have to do yourself).

But you are correct that a flashing light means that it is not charging. That suggests there is a hardware fault, which is consistent with the overheating when heavily used. (Sometimes you may get the flashing light if the battery is simply very low, and it becomes steady later, but I guess you've tried leaving it on charge).

One thing you could try: if we think heat may be an issue, try cooling the phone and then see whether you can boot it. By cooling I mean sit on an ice pack (with a tea towel inbetween, to avoid condensation), or even put it in the freezer for 10 minutes (sealed in a plastic bag with the air squeezed out - again, to minimise condensation). Then, when it is well below room temperature, see whether it will boot. If it does, copy your important data off as quickly as you can.

Anyway, no promises, but that's the best I can come up with. This has worked for other devices with an overheating problem, so there's a change, but that's all. It won't fix it though - the best you can hope for, if it does work, is that you can save your data.

Good luck!

 

[raynoldsk]

Also, try replacing the battery.

I had a phone that constantly restarted, and replacing the battery cured this.

 

[mssviviann]

Hi msviviann, and welcome to AF,

Sorry to hear this. To be honest, I'm not sure I have any idea which will help, but I'll explain my understanding and then make one suggestion.

Generally if a phone is "boot looping" like this and there is no hardware problem, then it would imply corrupt software or data. If the device is not rooted the solution to that would be a factory reset, which you don't want to do (if you don't know what rooted means, you are not rooted - it's something you have to do yourself).

But you are correct that a flashing light means that it is not charging. That suggests there is a hardware fault, which is consistent with the overheating when heavily used. (Sometimes you may get the flashing light if the battery is simply very low, and it becomes steady later, but I guess you've tried leaving it on charge).

One thing you could try: if we think heat may be an issue, try cooling the phone and then see whether you can boot it. By cooling I mean sit on an ice pack (with a tea towel inbetween, to avoid condensation), or even put it in the freezer for 10 minutes (sealed in a plastic bag with the air squeezed out - again, to minimise condensation). Then, when it is well below room temperature, see whether it will boot. If it does, copy your important data off as quickly as you can.

Anyway, no promises, but that's the best I can come up with. This has worked for other devices with an overheating problem, so there's a change, but that's all. It won't fix it though - the best you can hope for, if it does work, is that you can save your data.

Good luck!

Sigh, I did not like reading about the possibility of corrupted data. I'm starting to get very nervous- I really hope it has something to do with the battery and that's all but I have little faith.

 

[mssviviann]

Also, try replacing the battery.

I had a phone that constantly restarted, and replacing the battery cured this.

Hopefully this is the only problem I have! Though the HTC one s doesnt have a removable battery so is this still possible? Maybe the tech people can help by replacing it.

 

[tommo47]

There is a moment where I try to plug it into an outlet or a computer and sometimes the phone is blinking a red light- possibly telling me the phone is completely drained.

How can I charge it if it doesnt want to charge since the red light doesnt appear but when it does- it is simply blinking.

Hi, as a matter of interest, how long have you let it blink for? It is just possible that your battery IS totally drained, in which case it may recover if you let it blink for at least 15 minutes, ideally with the device powered off.

See this thread for a similar situation :-

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d...ected-power-charge-led-blinks-normal-yes.html

Hope this helps and good luck!