We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
IT HAPPENS TO the best of us. You could be using your phone or tablet normally and then one day, it refuses to turn on.
Before you start thinking it’s gone faulty and you begin cursing Apple, Samsung or whoever made your phone, you should check a few things first before you send it back for repair.
Charge it for a few minutes
A reason that’s sometimes overlooked just because of how obvious it is, your phone or tablet could be out of juice and unable to boot up.
Plug it in and wait 15 – 20 minutes before trying to turn it on again. If nothing happens, make sure the cable you’re using to charge it isn’t faulty before you try anything else.
Use hard reset
So the battery is fine but there’s still no response. If that’s the case, it could be because your phone is frozen. You will have to perform a hard reset which resets your device back to the way it was when you first got it.
If you have an Android device, there are two methods you can use. If it has a removable battery, you can take it out, wait a few seconds, put it back in and try powering it up again. If it doesn’t, then hold down the power button for a few seconds. The length of time needed will vary but be prepared to hold it down for 40 seconds in the worst cases.
On iPhone/iPad, you need to hold down the power and home buttons for the same length of time. Keep them pressed until you see the recovery mode screen.
Restore it via your computer (iPhone/iPad)
Practically all chargers now are USB cables and in certain cases, your iPhone/iPad may show a connect to iTunes screen. This could be down to your device being corrupt or damaged, requiring you to restore its operating system.
To do this, connect it to a computer with iTunes, and it will take you through the steps to restore it. If you have data saved on iCloud, you can recover your data after you’ve restored it.
Perform factory reset in safe mode (Android)
All Android phones have a safe mode which you can access when turning your phone on. How you access it differs from phone to phone – holding down the volume button when the manufacturer logo appears is one way – but it stops third-party apps from running, helping you identify the problem.
If you can’t find the source or it’s a problem with the operating system itself, you can find the factory reset option in settings, which will restore your device to its original state.
If none of the above work…
Then it’s likely you have a hardware problem. If you have warranty, then you can send it out to the manufacturer so they can fix it. If that isn’t possible, then you will need to pay for the repair itself.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What you do as a guy is panic….. The search history,screen shots from snapchats, whatsapp messages and endless filthy chats from tinder may all be exposed leaving it in for repair ?.
Best smash it up, burn it and put it in a bag of rocks and throw it into the deepest part of the ocean you can find asap. Say you got robbed and claim your phone insurance…..
Ha
Bash phone with hammer, buy new phone and repeat
panic
Talk dirty to it
“All android phones have a safe mode you can access when turning the phone on” Em how do you access it if the phone won’t turn on in the first place
I see hopping it off a wall isn’t mentioned which is usually my preferred course of action.
Use a landline or write a letter
Does anybody have Twitter’s postal address?
Best thing to do if your phone wont turn on… is simply leave it turned off.
What can you do with an iPhone 4 when it goes dead, and it takes 30 minutes to charge up to 5%. Perhaps Apple want me to buy a new one?????
Treat it to a new battery, you can do it yourself for about €10.
Throw it off the wall!
I’d probably do a soft reset before a hard rest. Doing a hard reset is like the final step you do before sending it for repair. Besides soft reset usually does the trick
Put it in rice
Yep, i heard about that, apparently little Chinese elves come in the middle of the night and fix it for free.. ;-)
You know people are going to get offended by that even though as a tech I’d consider that a Compliment.
It’s true, I’ve seen it happen
Do they Pearse ? Ah great bunch of lads …..
I usually rub up against it.
Turn it off and turn it back on again. Simples.
You work for Eircom support don’t you!….
I give it to my daughter as a present
show her seductive pictures
Just get a new one
If only I knew this about six months ago before I tuck the phone apart.
Put it for sale on the Echo free ads and buy a new one.
it’s F@CKED
so my old i phone is still charging but turn on. what next
wont
You need to clarify your banner, turn on or power up. How can you enter safe mode if it doesn’t power up.. etc
go and talk to a human..
This is obviously for the Galaxy S6 cause loads are going back not turning on. Just press and hold all four buttons. Simples!
Your mobile hard reset solution is very informative. I benefited from this post. So I saved your website in my browser. thanks and good like.
First thug you should do and same with all electronics is take out the battery and press and hold power for about 30 seconds discharging any electrical build up… works at least 90% of the time
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say