[Galaxy Note II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] The X-Planer:
Note II stuck at Samsung Logo, MUST Recover Data, Please Help

Hello All,

I have a GS Note II, currently stuck on the "Samsung Galaxy Note II" logo.

I have important data on the internal memory that I simply MUST recover, so I really *really* need XDA members to come through and help me solve this problem.

I was going to post this in the General Q&A since the problem appears (via various pathways) on several Samsung devices (GS3, GS4, GS Note II, GS Tab), and *not* just limited to the Note II, as a search for "Galaxy stuck on Samsung" on the forums here will demonstrate.

However, after reading the recent posts by cryptonmarcus, I thought I'd try here first.

Background:

I am very well versed with Windows / Desktop computers, and computing in general -- but, am very much ignorant of most hardcore things wrt Android. So, I should be able to follow (well-written) instructions, but, don't know what to do by myself.

My device has Never been rooted, or anything of the sort. It has only ever had OTA updates, from Verizon. I believe the last version was 4.4.2, or something similar (going off of my organic human memory, hard to be 100% accurate).

I had been using a 64 GB microSD from Samsung. Thankfully, I have been able to back up all the data from there.

However, there were some things stored on internal memory -- Text Messages, Calendar entries, pictures, and very important Scientific notes on a note taking app -- that are not backed up to any cloud, or SD Card.

Getting the phone usable is secondary to me, I MUST recover that data first and foremost.

I found and called a professional data recovery service, they quoted me a price of $700; and, they are not sure what form the data would come in. (i.e., text messages might be in PDF form, not in a form that I can important to a new Android phone, other things might be files and folders, or just a dump). And I don't know if the note taking app database would come through.

If I could get the device to power up and stay on and connect to a computer even just 1 time, though, then, I could get all my data off of it.

For about a year now, the device has been operating slowly -- high CPU usage -- which seems to not be uncommon; I traced some of it having my Photos stored on the SD Card, which the Gallery app would then do something with that led to high CPU usage / slowdowns.

Due to the Stock battery not holding as good a charge as when I bought it, I bought an Anker 3.8V 3100 mAh battery off of Amazon about a year ago, and have been using that ever since.

For the past 6 months or so, every now and then (maybe every 2 weeks or so), the phone would suddenly reboot; when it booted back up, I would notice that the battery log showed a sharp drop (not always large in magnitude, but, still, a sharp drop). So, I suspected maybe a "battery not able to deliver consistent power sometimes" type of issue.

In the past 1-2 weeks, the phone seemed to be rebooting more frequently.

Then in the last week before this happened, it suddenly would reboot, but, hang at the Samsung logo; I had to remove the battery to power it off, then re-insert battery and power on. It seemed to stay at the Samsung logo longer then usual, but would eventually get through the Verizon splash screen and boot up properly.

All of my data was intact during all this.

I had been intending to upgrade for several months, as my 2-year contract expired in late April. So just 2 weeks back, I got a new Samsung Galaxy S6 (great phone, fantastic camera, btw). Different number (temporarily), different carrier.

My intention was to transfer all the data last week, during the holidays.

Unfortunately, just the day before I was going to do so, I plugged in both phones to charge, and a little while later looked at them to check something and noticed that my Note II was stuck at the logo screen. So, I pulled the battery again, etc., but this time, it wouldn't get past the logo screen (probably let it try for 15-20+ minutes). I tried a couple more times, then pulled the battery and left it out all night.

In the morning, same problem. Ever since, I cannot get the phone to boot up.

Given the important data I have on it, and the fact that I was so close to transferring, you might understand some of the emotional impact.

I removed the SD card to protect it, and backed it up. I did a little research online, and as a result of what I found I then tried going into Recovery mode, and wiped the cache partition.

No success (still gets stuck at logo screen).

One note: when it goes into Recovery mode, it displays the android graphic with the rotating symbol on it's chest; but then shortly after displays the android on the ground, with a red caution graphic over it's chest. I'm uncertain what this represents.

There was not much more for me to do at this point, other than to repeat the battery pull -- which I have done. No change.

One thing I noted was that there were several "E: failed to mount ..." type error messages when the broken-android-on-the-floor graphic was displayed, as it was getting to the recovery screen.

Examples:

-------------------------------------

E: failed to mount /efs (No such file or directory)

E: failed to mount /system (No such file or directory)

# MANUAL MODE#

--Applying Multi-CSC...

E: failed to mount /system (No such file or directory)

can't mount '/system' (No such file or directory)

E: failed to mount /cache (No such file or directory)

can't mount '/cache' (No such file or directory)

E: failed to mount /cache (No such file or directory)

E: Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_recovery

[etc. -- it goes on with several such errors...]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Second note: If the phone is powered off, battery in, and then I plug it in -- I get the usual empty battery icon -- HOWEVER, it doesn't then change to a green-level-in-battery icon, and show charging status; it has a circular arrow on the empty battery, and just freezes there.

So, I'm not sure what that means, but, it would suggest I don't have the capability to charge the battery through the phone either. (I have an external universal charger I used for a previous phone battery, need to dig it up, hope it can work. Thankfully right now, battery seems to have some charge; but I have no clue as to how much.)

Also, this further suggests to me some sort of firmware corruption, that it can't engage the battery charging algorithms -- though, can almost get started.

I read a few things online about Odin, and re-flashing stock firmware -- but, not wanting to chance making a mistake and losing my data on my first outing, I went to a local Best Buy to have the Samsung rep there do it (who previously had informed me he could reflash the firmware, my data would be intact, and I'd be good to go).

It turned out he needed to call his tech support specialist, so, he might not have been that well-versed with it. But, he eventually obtained 2 firmware versions, one that would be non-destructive, one that would be destructive (so he told me). And then, following the instructions of his specialist on the phone, he tried to flash the non-destructive version via Odin -- twice -- but it failed both times.

I did not see the screen, nor am I that familiar with Odin, so can't give the particulars as to how it failed.

At that point, he said that's basically all he could do. I could send it in to Samsung, but they would do a factory reset. (lose my data.)

This did let me know that the phone can also enter "Download" mode, since he apparently did that.

So, it can enter Recovery, Download, shows a frozen battery icon when powered off and plugged in, but, can't get past Samsung logo, and, apparently failed to update via Odin (attempted by someone else).

Clearly I can't do a Factory Data Reset, or such, because the data is what I'm trying to preserve and get at.

The data recovery specialist route is expensive, and also, doesn't guarantee getting my data in the best possible format.

The best result would be if I can get the phone to live again, even if just for a while, to use my internal backup apps to save all my data, transfer to a PC, which then I can migrate to my new phone.

I genuinely believe my data is still intact, just not accessible, because of the slow manner in which this failure finally occurred. The 4 days prior when it would boot and hang, but a battery pull would make it work again, is a strong reason why I believe this -- this despite the various "mount" errors now.

Most of the threads here that deal with such an issue have to do with users who were trying to root their phones, or flash a custom ROM, etc. None of that is true in my case, I was just using it, plain and simple.

One of the threads I came across here, for a Note II with such a stuck-on-logo problem, has had *several* people mention that using a different battery made it work again. They, and I, are perplexed why a battery issue would lead to such a problem, but if that were it, it would be great (simple fix). Last night, I dug up my stock Samsung battery, not knowing what level of charge it would hold at this point, and tried it -- hoping for this simple, miraculous fix!!! -- but across the board, including the empty battery icon frozen screen when phone powered off and then plugged in -- everything had the same result. Still sticks on logo. (I have only let it sit about 1-2 minutes at the logo before pulling the battery since the very first time; have been worried about excessive battery drain, with no current way to charge.)

Maybe if it were fully charged, or if it were a new/different battery, this would work; can't say, don't have access to such yet.

A few things I have been interested in trying are to try the Recovery option "apply update from external storage"; or, via Odin myself.

I obtained some stock ROM, I believe 4.4.2, but, am very concerned about flashing any firmware since the BB / Samsung guy said there were non-destructive and destructive ones, and, I don't know how to tell which is which.

One of the reasons for my post here.

My fear is great, simply because Failure Is Not An Option here!

Thus, I need the community's expertise -- in identifying ROM's that are non-destructive, and, which methods are non-destructive. And, hypotheses as to what might be the root cause, given the various errors & behavior I have described.

One thing I noticed however was that when trying to "apply update from cache", or last night from "external storage", it only brought up a "../" path -- and selecting it did nothing. Meaning, I have never done this before so don't know what it should do, but, the directory structure of my SD Card did not appear. I don't know if it only shows something if it detects a valid firmware file, or, if this indicates it simply can't access storage.

I have also heard some snippet about it being possible to JTAG new firmware onto the device...? Clearly if one finds the right person / resource. If easier methods fail, I would appreciate being pointed to some (trustworthy) entity that could do so.

When I connect the phone to a PC, it "bongs", but, doesn't show up as an entry in Windows Explorer.

Last night, via Recovery I selected the "apply update from ADB" (am really unfamiliar with all of this, so was just cautiously experimenting), and it gave me some message at the bottom about "send commands from PC" (not verbatim) -- seemed to be working. When I connected it to my PC, it now installed device drivers for "SCH-I605" -- but, still would not show up in Windows Explorer.

So, there seem to be hopeful tidbits here, but, I'm too unfamiliar with the platform, and what's out there in terms of non-destructive options, to progress further without help.

So, please help. I appreciate you taking the time to read the details of my problem here.

This data is quite important to me, and unfortunate life circumstances prevented me from backing it up earlier. The $700 professional data recovery route is something I would like to reserve as a last option since it's so expensive, but they already warned me to not do anything to the device, because they often get something that is just 1 or 2 steps away from data recovery and is in an "if only xyz hadn't happened before we got it..." -- meaning, I'm balancing taking a risk with Odin/SD-card/ADB reflash attempts, and, making sure none of my existing data gets destroyed in case they don't work and I still need to send it in.

But, I have some faith that the expertise of the members on this forum can help ensure the risk is minimized, hopefully to zero.

So, I'm still willing to try, especially if people have first-hand (accurate) knowledge of non-destructive methods to resuscitate a phone in such a condition.

Thank you for your time and help.