S7 won't start after self turn off.

[westoz]

Hi all... 1st time poster here... Google is not my friend this time.

I was using camera on my S7 with 35% battery when the screen went black, as if it had turned itself off. Power button would not turn it back on again. Tried a few button combos with no response until I did Power, Volume D and Home keys, finally got a custom OS warning screen with options download for Vol U and cancel for Vol D, so I cancelled. Repeated procedure a couple more times and cancelled each time. Tried to start phone again just using Power button, nothing. Tried the same 3 button combo again, this time hitting Vol U as there seemed to be no other choice, despite my not wanting a custom OS. Got a brief message that the download has started and the screen then went black, never to turn on again despite all my attempts at all the combos that Google had to offer.

Have I bricked it somehow, even though I have only used documented methods for recovery for an unrooted phone with factory OS? Is there any chance of recovery here? Thanks in advance

 

[Deleted User]

If you havent rooted your phone etc then.i suggest either taking the battery out if able to, wait 2 mins and put it back in...if still doesnt boot i think you need to reflash the os again..but first did you try factory resetting your s7 via its recovery?

 

[westoz]

If you havent rooted your phone etc then.i suggest either taking the battery out if able to, wait 2 mins and put it back in...if still doesnt boot i think you need to reflash the os again..but first did you try factory resetting your s7 via its recovery?

Hi... thanks for reply. I have the tools to open the phone and disconnect battery (this is the 3rd time I have replaced the battery, always with genuine Samsung ones... I wish Samsung had not gone the way of iPhone since the S6 by not making battery replacement user friendly) and the current battery is only a month old. The fact that the unit did show the custom OS screen after the random self turn off tells me that the battery is connected and powered. I will try your suggestion tomorrow and see what happens after that, and post the result here.

As for factory reset via recovery, isn't that what the Vol D, Power and Home Key buttons do? I will also need need to search on here on how to reflash the OS if I get that far.

 

[westoz]

As a post script, there are files and images I dearly would love to recover... I am resigned to the possibility that it may not be possible unless they were somehow saved to the "cloud" which I am still learning about.

I have already taken delivery of a new S7 (couldn't afford the S8 at this time) and only partially recovered pics, files, contacts, msgs etc) and I've searched through the SD card but my settings didn't allow for autosave of these items so I only managed to retrieve a very small portion of what was in the cloud, and practically nothing of what is important to me. Recovering what was in the phone is vital to me, so any useful and successful tech help would be invaluable.

 

[lunatic59]

Power + volume dn + home I believe is for Samsung's iteration of 'fastboot' which lets you load custom firmware (hence the dire warning and contortionist button presses necessary to get there.)

Power + volume UP + home is the recovery menu.

I would try to boot into recovery and wipe the cache. I would also try a simulated battery pull, which I think it holding the power button only for 15~20 seconds.

If you had USB debugging enabled, you might try booting into recovery and using adb to pull the files you need from your phone.