Help Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - Dead (Not powering on)

[davidhaigh]

sabarahat, you have my sympathies. The symptoms sound exactly as I experienced.

In summary, I sent mine to Samsung who declared it "severely physically damaged internally" refusing to repair it. I had not dropped it, but it did have a small dent on the corner, received 6 months before the phone died - enough for Samsung to use the excuse of "severe physical damage." An independent phone repairer eventually got it back working by reinstalling every software file but they did NO physical repair. They had to source some files from Dubai, informing me that my phone must have been a grey import. This is now believable as I bought it at the cheapest price on-line. My phone is working but will no longer do software updates and is slightly lower in performance than another NoteII that I compared it with. Odd.

My advice to you, sabarahat is to send it back to Samsung and fight your case better than I did.

IMHO there is a software issue here somewhere.

 

[kaulu]

When I had the same problem I was reluctant to send my

phone to Samsung because of the many negative remarks by

other users. Finally since I could not find a solution I

sent it to Samsung Service Center and was surprised they

repaired it at no cost since it was still under warranty

(2 years)! The service sheet indicated:
Parts No. GH82-06842A
Description: A/S ASSY-PBA MAIN(COMM)GT-N7100,M16,SVC

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Isn't the motherboard problem isolated to GS3 ONLY?

The sudden death issue also effects the samsung note ii.

 

[Hemel]

Hi All, I have just joined this forum after reading this Thread. I am experiencing the same issue with my Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100. I Bought it from a seller on Ebay last October (2012). It was sealed and brand new (described as an unwanted upgrade).

It had been working fine until 3 weeks ago when it failed to come on after charging it overnight. I did see a dim red LED flash once when I tried to turn it on. I contacted/returned it to Samsung UK and after having it for two weeks, they sent it back saying that it would not power on due to not being a European Model ??
Their web site Service/Tracking data said that it had been fixed/returned !!

I called them up and complained and they said that the letter was misleading as well as the web site tracking information. The said the phone was an International Model and they could not service it. They advised me to contact Samsung U.S. as the IMEI implied it was for that market.

I contacted Samsung U.S. and they advised that it was not for their marked and told me to call Samsung Canada. Therefore, I called Samsung Canada and they told me it was not supported by them

Does any one have any other ideas ? I was thinking of just buying another Logic board but feel that I should try my best to get it fixed by Samsung first as this seems to be a known issue with their Hardware.

 

[davidhaigh]

Hi Hemel. That's a very interesting story, comparable with mine (above).

I bought mine from e_cell (Ebay) who appeared to be a big, reputable UK supplier. In fact I bought two Note 2s from them, after having the first for several months. Samsung UK wouldn't repair mine either (though they gave a different reason/excuse).

To recap, an independent repairer assured me that my phone was from the UAE and after obtaining firmware from there, they fixed it. They assured me that they made no electronic or mechanical repairs, only software. It has since been working well.

You have been more thorough than I in your efforts with Samsung, but I suspect that you won't get any help from them.

I now wonder how we know for sure whether the product we're buying is a grey import or definitely supported by the manufacturer in the country of purchase.

And I believe this is a software issue. Some critical firmware files are being corrupted during power up or down. That's my opinion anyway. Oh, though I don't work on phones, I've been a firmware engineer for 25 years. And yes, I did try re-flashing the phone myself before I paid a repairer!

 

[Hemel]

Hi Hemel. That's a very interesting story, comparable with mine (above).

I bought mine from e_cell (Ebay) who appeared to be a big, reputable UK supplier. In fact I bought two Note 2s from them, after having the first for several months. Samsung UK wouldn't repair mine either (though they gave a different reason/excuse).

To recap, an independent repairer assured me that my phone was from the UAE and after obtaining firmware from there, they fixed it. They assured me that they made no electronic or mechanical repairs, only software. It has since been working well.

You have been more thorough than I in your efforts with Samsung, but I suspect that you won't get any help from them.

I now wonder how we know for sure whether the product we're buying is a grey import or definitely supported by the manufacturer in the country of purchase.

And I believe this is a software issue. Some critical firmware files are being corrupted during power up or down. That's my opinion anyway. Oh, though I don't work on phones, I've been a firmware engineer for 25 years. And yes, I did try re-flashing the phone myself before I paid a repairer!

Hi David, thanks for the information. Can you tell me who repaired your phone as I think my complaints to Samsung are falling on Deaf ears and I don't mind paying for a repair :-/

 

[davidhaigh]

Hi David, thanks for the information. Can you tell me who repaired your phone as I think my complaints to Samsung are falling on Deaf ears and I don't mind paying for a repair :-/

Hi Hemel

It was Monkey Mobile who repaired my phone. They are local to me in Leics. UK but they do have a website.

It did take them a very long time (3 weeks?) but they got there in the end.

It's definitely worth giving the repairer of your choice all the information you've supplied here.

Good luck.

 

[dukenukems]

Got my t-mobile note 2 in today and checked it with emmc and says it;'s fine with manufacture date of november/12.

 

[PolkSDA]

Same thing happened to me. Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100 purchased November 1, 2012 from Newegg.com, died overnight October 23. Went through all the normal debugging steps, no dice.

I guess it was the cosmos prodding me to upgrade to the 3...

 

[davidhaigh]

Same thing happened to me. Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100 purchased November 1, 2012 from Newegg.com, died overnight October 23. Went through all the normal debugging steps, no dice.

I guess it was the cosmos prodding me to upgrade to the 3...

Yeah, or maybe Samsung including Russian roulette software? Interesting how it takes about as long for these phones to self destruct as it does for Samsung to release the next model. How cynical of me.

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Some of the early model note ii units have the same bad memory chip problems as some of the early samsung galaxy s3's.

Welcome to the world of sudden death.

 

[kem52]

I had the exact same problem, and this solution worked. Are you kidding me, soooooo simple!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Then the other question is WHY did this work?

Hope this helps. Woke up one morning to a dead phone. Ended up taking the battery out, the sim card and the memory card. Then per suggestion on another forum, put JUST the battery in. Plugged into wall charger and within 2 minutes had animated charging battery. Let it charge for couple hours. Shut it down and reinstalled the sim card and memory card. Plugged it back in and it fully charged and has been fine since. Good luck.

 

[sunny7369]

Guys... Hi.

From Bangalore - INDIA

Mine is a 13 month old Note II and just 3 days back went dead tried all options.. removed the battery and replaced it back. Removed the SIM and SD card and tried... no luck. Tried Hard RESEt... NO LUCK.. Finally had to walk into the Samsung authorised service center. Just a few hours back heard from the service center - Motherboard to dead... need to be replaced. Costs me 8K. Thought I should junk this phone... but.. it is too good a phone to do so. I hvnt used it rough or dropped it even once.. but the guy at the service center tells me NOTE II has had this problem and it has not be reolved without a replacement of the motherboard.

Any other suggestions... pls help.

 

[davidhaigh]

Sunny,

Well, personally, I wouldn't assume that any Samsung representative will provide you with much help or even give you accurate information about the real cause of the problem. I'm sure some are helpful but I know that some are not. I don't necessarily blame them. Fault finding can be very time consuming whereas it's an easy, quick, guaranteed fix for Samsung to replace the motherboard and that might be why Samsung are suggesting it to you.

It might be the motherboard that is at fault. But I know a few people who have had "dead" Note 2s that were revived by specialists changing software only - no hardware was at fault. Some Note 2s "die" due to software file corruption even if they have had no upgrades and have never been rooted.

My personal experience is that an independent phone repair specialist succeeded by re-flashing ALL the critical Android, etc. files. It took them some time to find all the files but they did it and from what they tell me and what little they charged me, I know they made no hardware modifications or replacements. This was after Samsung said they needed to replace the motherboard. Mine was still in warranty but Samsung accused me of dropping it!!

As Bangalore is one of the software capitals of the world, surely it might be worth finding an independent phone repair specialist to see if they can help. Someone there might be able to help you better than Samsung can.

Good luck.

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Like I said, bad memory chips on some

 

[Blade3520]

This may be totally wrong, but I had the same problem within the first month and called the service provider, AT&T. Got a tech who said to just take out the battery for 10 sec. and reinstall and reboot. She also said I had to do this about once a week! The phone dies about every 7-10 days and I do this and it turns on again. Very strange. Hope this helps some of you.

 

[woginzl]

Keep in mind, no matter what device you purchase, there will always be a handful that have issues, it is the nature of the beast. If you check this forum and many others, you will see there are more happy campers then unhappy ones when it comes to Samsung. Being an HTC owner for many years and finally deciding to test out Samsung, I am pleasantly impressed. I will also tell you I have had a small share of issues with HTC, and I am sure along the line I will most likely have some with Samsung, these are electronics and they are bound to have their share of issues. With that being said, I am sorry about your issues, and hope you don't allow this experience be the corner stone of your image on Samsung or the Note II

I would have to say that Galaxy Note 2 is not a good phone, mine died just out of warranty and I am not impressed, the reliability of Smartphones is very very poor.

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Got mine on tmobile release day.
I am a mean power user.
Still going strong!!

Best phone I ever owned.

 

[woginzl]

good for you

 

[xTye]

I would have to say that Galaxy Note 2 is not a good phone, mine died just out of warranty and I am not impressed, the reliability of Smartphones is very very poor.

Just because YOU had a bad experience doesn't make it a bad phone.

I've had mine for a while now. I love it. Runs like a champ and I've had no issues. The only main problems we've had with them is my girlfriends screen randomly stopped lighting up while maintaining touch functionality.

Otherwise...great device.

 

[woginzl]

I think the Chinese copy phones are as good and a far far better price

 

[mnesc]

HI, I experiencedthe same on my galaxy note 2 phone..2 days ago a window popped saying it was ready for upgrade...was not sure what upgrade it was but i clicked yes...after a couple of hours...it had a black screen with just red light indicator..i turned it off and on and was still able to use the phone but after a while it goes back to a black screen..I did the same for the whole day until last night i charged it and the android logo was the only sign with the words dowloading...'do not turn off'...i left it charged all day today until this evening,since there was no changes..i turned it off...now it's totally DEAD!!!batteries seems to be fine...i tried all possible solutions i've read on internet..nothing works...plugged cable on computer..no signs of life at all!! Is there any way i would still be able to recover everything i have on this phone??? (files on SNote, pics, documents etc...)

 

[woginzl]

Samsung are feeding us crap at inflated prices

 

[woginzl]

bought myself a Huawei Y360....cheap as chips but does exactly what I want it to do, and up ya nose Samsung

 

[qrzaidi]

Dear Friends,

I have a problem with Samsung Galaxy Note 2 GT-7100, its rebooting and not starting properly unless connect with a Laptop or PC, Battery looks fine, not draining and after removing from Laptop it go normal and at any time reboots suddenly and keeps doing it unless re-connect to laptop or remove the battery. Can any body help me please. Thanks