Is It The Blue Screen of Death

wife came in with her samsung tablet and asked can you sort this normally I can but not this time ! The tablet cannot be turned off no matter what keys you press nothing happens, I let it go flat but upon restarting it's still there any suggestions ( mine is a lump hammer )

H

If the tablet is running Windows, try control+alt+one of the arrow keys.  Play with the arrow keys until you get the display the right way up. You should then be able to find the keys required to shut down gracefully.

Some people with twisted senses of humour do this as a 'joke' on colleagues who are rash enough to leave their computers unattended. Our cat does it just to show his independence!

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly.

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 25/10/2022 15:49:26

Not quite dead this error is typically encountered when trying to flash a non stock ROM onto a device. Unless you are into DIY custom ROMs I doubt there is a simple fix. You could try just pressing Volume Down and Power button, until the tablet restarts this could take several seconds of holding definitely more than 7 seconds.

If that doesn't nudge it back to life it's to the Samsung shop I'm afraid.

John

Edited By Journeyman on 25/10/2022 16:01:04

Swarf, Mostly it's android

Jon can get it to restart holding the power button down but just restarts into the same screen. The Wife tells me she turned the tablet on and it came on as the photo

H

Harry, I too have a Samsung Android tablet. It regularly updates itself, downloads the data when connected to wifi and not doing anything else and then installs the update. Looking at the other part of the message on the screen it would seem that it has crashed during an update. The download could have been corrupted (it should check that) or it has just missed a beat if the cable was pulled at the wrong moment.

The long press on the Volume down and power button at the same time should (in theory) induce a factory reset mode. There are other combinations of button presses that do similar depends slightly on which model. It is possible to reload the factory software but it requires extra software and a lot of patience

John

Thanks John will give that a try later it only ever connect to wifi and just been on charge.

H

Following Frances' lead suggests the image is corrupt and needs to be replaced. (Jargon alert - the 'image' is a copy of the phone's operating system, not a photograph.)

Ordinary users rarely need to worry about the operating system unless it goes wrong as it has here, cause unknown.

Attempting to start, the phone has detected the image is corrupt and is attempting to download and install a new one from a PC. What's required on the PC is:

1. A bunch of files provided containing a clean operating system. These are provided by Samsung and have to match the phone. A quick search found developer images but not user images, but my Google-fu is weak. Once found these are copied to the PC.
2. A program called Odin, available here. This detects an Android phone connected to the PC with a USB cable and allows a new image to be burnt on the phone. The screenshot shows the phone has found an image error, has entered recovery mode, and is waiting for Odin.

I've fixed equivalent Windows and Linux OS corruptions, but not Android (or Apple). The process can be fiddly and using hard to drive tools. I've no idea if Odin is wonderfully easy to use or a complicated pig stuffed with unexplained options and weird abbreviations! Odin available for download is said to be proprietary Samsung software that's been pinched - slightly worrying!

Unless I fancied an adventure, I'd give it to an expert to fix. Harry might try Samsung's service website to find one, or these people who come to the door and claim to be cheaper.

Dave

Odin is not the most user friendly of programs. Not recommended unless you know what you are doing. It is quite possible and relatively easy to 'brick' the tablet without trying, assuming it is not already in this state. You are playing with things not usually encountered by tablet or phone users. This is deep into nerd land. I have done it to install custom ROMs on phones but would not recommend it to a basic user.

John

I got called out one night because some idiot changed the language to Chinese on a very large IBM printer then couldn't change it back because no one could read Mandarin!

Without wishing to decry any of the suggestions above I would suggest the route to least aggravation is to buy a new tablet. Then relieve your frustration by disassembling the old one with a hammer. I do confess to hating anything containing a computer chip!

Thanks everyone but thinking Sakura solution is the one for me

H

I'm in the same position - with me Android is all theory. I'm tempted to buy one and experiment. There seems to be enough technical information on the web, but I don't like recommending stuff unless I've tried it. Educational to see Journeyman's remark that Odin isn't the most user friendly program because it's definitely true messing with the boot stage and flashing can brick a computer.

Sakura might be right in suggesting buying a new tablet, but I'd check out the cost of repair first. I suspect this is a easy fix for an expert and it might be cheap. The chance of keeping whatever data is on the tablet and not having to understand upgrades may be an advantage.

If you get into Odin territory with your Samsung Frances I'd be interested in how it goes,

Dave.

Good for you. Enjoy!

At least try the factory reset option. Typically holding down a pair of buttons. Google factory resset + the specific model of tablet as it varies from model to model.

Detailed instructions on doing a factory reset can be found here *** Samsung Factory Reset ***

John

John/Robert

Have tried all the 'holding down key options' nothing will change the blue screen even tried plugging it into my laptop but thanks for your replies

H

What a concept: BSOD and you have to buy a new device. And the bricking occurs while having an update forced on you at that!

Gotta hand it to Google!

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 26/10/2022 19:22:25