Help Galaxy Tab A 9.7 stuck in boot loop (Optimising apps)

[Ripp]

This is my Mothers tablet and I can't factory reset it as I need to backup her photos first.

Problem:

When powered on it gets stuck on "Optimising App 41 of 41", it sits there for a minute or so then reboots itself and does the same thing over and over again, stuck in a loop, won't boot and won't power off.

What I've tried so far:

1. I have to let the battery drain before it will let me do anything, I have been to the recovery menu and tried wiping the cache partition which it seems to do successfully but when it reboots just does the same thing again, gets stuck on "Optimising app 41 of 41" and goes back to boot looping.

2. Installed both Kies and SmartSwitch on my PC but neither will recognize the tablet while it's boot looping so I can't get any data off of it that way.

3. Tried to boot into Safe Mode but not entirely sure I'm doing it right as there are conflicting methods online, the screen goes black for a second and says "Safe Mode" in the bottom left but then it just boots straight to "Optimising Apps" and gets stuck looping again.

I really need the data off of this tablet so if anyone has any ideas that would be great.

 

[ocnbrze]

sorry but your data is lost and there is not much you can do at this point. if you can get to recovery mode, you can try a hard reset. if that does not work, then you most likely need to flash a firmware update. you can get it and instructions on how to flash it at https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/

 

[Ripp]

Seems a little extreme considering it's just stuck optimizing apps, are you sure all data is lost?

 

[ocnbrze]

Seems a little extreme considering it's just stuck optimizing apps, are you sure all data is lost?

its not just optimizing....it is in a bootloop which usually suggests that a partition could be corrupted in which case a hard reset or flashing a firmware update should fix the issue.....the data IMO is lost at this point.

 

[Ripp]

Well bugger.

 

[ocnbrze]

Well bugger.

yeah sorry, if it was not looping and your pc could recognize the tablet, then you should be able to pull the data off to the pc. but if it does not recognize it, you can't get access to the data.

sorry, but i think the only way to revive the tablet and get it working again is to flash a firmware update or hard reset it.

 

[Ripp]

Would flashing a firmware update also result in lost data?

 

[ocnbrze]

Would flashing a firmware update also result in lost data?

yep

 

[Ripp]

:-(

 

[Ripp]

It did flash up the lock screen very briefly yesterday. Is there no way to somehow remove the storage hardware and plug that directly into a PC?

 

[ocnbrze]

It did flash up the lock screen very briefly yesterday. Is there no way to somehow remove the storage hardware and plug that directly into a PC?

no idea, i'm not very good with taking things apart.....but i doubt it.

 

[Ripp]

no idea, i'm not very good with taking things apart.....but i doubt it.

lol. I spoke to a local repair place today, the guy seemed pretty confident he could recover the data. He said he wouldn't charge me anything if he couldn't recover it and stated that if that was the case then the tablet would be returned in the same condition, ie: he won't wipe anything. And if he can recover it the charge would only be £20 so at this point I have nothing to loose so I'll let him have a look tomorrow.

 

[ocnbrze]

lol. I spoke to a local repair place today, the guy seemed pretty confident he could recover the data. He said he wouldn't charge me anything if he couldn't recover it and stated that if that was the case then the tablet would be returned in the same condition, ie: he won't wipe anything. And if he can recover it the charge would only be £20 so at this point I have nothing to loose so I'll let him have a look tomorrow.

ok keep us posted on what happened......good luck

 

[Ripp]

Will do, can't hurt to try.