Help Software Update issues and more

[Viosmic]

I own a Samsung Galaxy Tablet A, with the model number SM-T350. For a few weeks now, it's had a few issues. To explain the issues though, I'll have to start from the beginning. Also, my tablet is not rooted.

So, I was being rather stupid and left my tablet in the bathroom. I went to go take a shower, I get out, check the time, and accidentally drip a drop of water into the audio jack, perhaps the charging port as well. So it registers there's something in the audio jack. As I'm cleaning it out with a Q-Tip, a notice stating that there's a new update appears. I dismiss the update, making a mental note to update it later. I then decide to restart the tablet, as the headphone issue is starting to irritate me. I restart it, and the issues begin. It starts up, and it shows me the download screen, the teal one that you use to download custom ROMs onto I believe. But it didn't give me a warning about custom ROMS or operating systems or anything (I forget the exact warning for the regular screen) it said "Downloading... do not turn off target." I waited for awhile and it did nothing, so I restarted it. It then cycled through the first two start up loading screens (Samsung Tab A screen and the Samsung screen, both black and white.) It did that for awhile and I went into recovery mode, starting to panic. In recovery mode I ended up clearing both the cache and the whole tablet, resulting in a factory reset. That still doesn't work. After me leaving it alone for a night, I decide to go and try to fix it again, but it just turns on oddly enough. It's reset, so I enter in my Google and Samsung accounts, set up a few things, I don't download any apps though. I leave my tablet alone for a few weeks, and here I am now, picking it up again. I decided to try and update the software today and it said "Unfortunately, Software Update has stopped." In addition to this, when I boot it up, it says "Process System isn't responding. Do you want to close it?" with it saying Wait or Ok. In addition, when I boot it up, it no longer prompts me for my encryption password (due to the factory reset?) and it also has a black screen with only the time and I believe the battery level, it may just be the time, before the lock screen is displayed when I start it up. Should I be alarmed, if so, what do I do to fix these issues? What caused them in the first place? I'll comment if I see any more issues...

 

[svim]

Should I be alarmed, if so, what do I do to fix these issues? What caused them in the first place?

Just speculating but I'm assuming your Tab A was just exposed to too much moisture. While it was just lying there in your bathroom. the entire time you were showering it was surrounded by warm, very humid air. As it acclimated to the warm temps, once you took it into a bedroom (or hallway, or wherever) another factor is condensation, as your warmed up Tab was then exposed to cooler, drier air. Add in whatever actual water you might have dripped on it and there could be any number of problems as moisture and consumer electronics don't generally mix well.

Anyway, hopefully there isn't some kind of component failure inside, caused by some moisture-induced short. If it is just a temporary glitch matter, it might be worth trying to do another Factory Reset. It sounds as if you might have just more or less stumbled into doing it that first time. Note that along with the normal way you always use your Tab, it also has a Recovery Mode and a Download Mode. The first is a maintenance and utility mode, the second is more of a single-purpose mode. Also, when in Download Mode that message you're seeing isn't referring to downloading some ROM from an online source, a typical scenario is you have your Tab connected to a computer via a USB cable and you're in Download Mode to transfer a previously downloaded ROM from your computer to your Tab. To get into Recovery Mode you start up your Tab by simultaneously holding down the Volume Up button, the Home button, and the Power Button. To get into Download Mode you start up your Tab by simultaneously holding down the Volume Down button, the Home button, and the Power Button.
So to do the Factory Reset, start up your Tab in Recovery Mode, use the indicated buttons to navigate the text only Recovery menu and select the 'wipe system cache' option. Then to the Factory Reset. Hopefully when it reboots this second time around it will work out better.
If it's still running quirky, the next thing to try is re-flashing the factory ROM. This will involve a Windows PC as you need to connect your Tab to it and run a utility called Odin to install a downloaded ROM onto your Tab. Here's an article with instructions and links to what you need to download:
http://www.droidviews.com/install-stock-firmware-on-samsung-galaxy-devices-using-odin/
It's mentioned in the article so note the reference to having both Kies and Odin on your computer. And don't necessarily assume the latest version of Odin will work, for older hardware it's often better to use an older version of Odin. Also linked in the article is a reference to Heimdall. Odin is a Windows utility so if you don't have access to a Windows PC, Heimdall is an equivalent to Odin for Linux and OS X (macOS) users.

 

[Viosmic]

Wow, that worked great! My tablet is working just fine now after I cleared the cache and reset it. I think the problem was I didn't clear the cache the first time. It isn't erroring anymore, and started updating itself upon set up.