Phone bricked? Maybe not...

[epp]

My Galaxy Exhibit 2 was running a little sluggish last week while it was running the Opera browser. Not sure what the problem was.

But I did the trick to reset the phone, by removing the battery while the phone was powered on.

After a few minutes, I put the battery back in and the phone would not power on. I figured at this point, something happened to it and it's now bricked. When I plugged it into the AC charger, it didn't light up with the charging indicator. "Definitely bricked." was the thought.

I pulled the battery and placed it in a drawer, figuring it was history.

A couple of days later, I retrieved it and placed an aftermarrket battery (RayOVac) inside it, thinking that the OEM Samsung battery might have caused the phone to cease operating when I pulled it.

I then plugged in the charger and the phone lit up. I let it continue to charge the RayOVac, then when it ws finished, I put the Samsung battery back in it and that also charged up.

When I put the SIM back in and it connected, I did a Factory Reset on it for good measure, in case it was a software issue and the phone has been fine since.

So, if it looks like your phone might be bricked, try leaving the battery out of the phone for at least a few days (if you have a spare phone you can use in the interim) and you might be surprised.

 

[Frisco]

Good tip. I'd replace the charger/cable for good measure, epp.

The live battery pull likely had no effect on the system, but having the device shut down for a few minutes (much longer in your case) along with a factory data reset will often remedy issues, some of which even have the appearance of being "bricked."

 

[epp]

Thanks.

The charger I used, was a Samsung OEM charger, in fact, it was the same one that came with the phone, but I also have a few other Samsung OEM's that have the exact same output, one of which has a USB cable attached to it, which is probably better to use since that cable is thicker than the cable on the charger I used. I've read that the thicker the cable is on a charger, the better it is.