READ THIS IF YOUR SAMSUNG GALAXY M30S KEEPS RANDOMLY FREEZING AND RESTARTING AUTOMATICALLY

[MatthewI632]

STOP CREATING NEW THREADS ABOUT SAMSUNG GALAXY M30S KEEPS RANDOMLY FREEZING AND RESTARTING AUTOMATICALLY, READ THIS INSTEAD!

Please read this post from beginning to the end, so you understand deeply.

Why do I created this thread?

Because I've seen many people creating new threads about their Samsung Galaxy M30s devices keeps randomly freezing and restarting automatically. I also see more and more people gets affected with these issues. Instead of making new threads complaining about the same issue, why not create a single thread to cover all of future issues? Also we can easily communicate between victims (yes, victims, later you'll know why) about latest updates, causes, solutions, or even perhaps to found something very interesting about these issues.

What are the symptoms of the issue?

- Device keeps randomly freezing and restarting automatically.

- Device sometimes become stuck while booting (bootloop) or keeps restarting while trying to boot.

- Device sometimes won't boot for a few minutes to a few hours and feels warm.

What are the causes of the issue?

Mainly because you updated your device Android (Software Update) with an unstable internet connection, or you paused while the update is being downloaded. This caused incomplete binary files, which affects the stability of the OS. Also most Samsung Exynos 9611 has a bug which may leads to automatic restart if the OS was installed with incomplete binary files. This leads to frequent automatic restart in Exynos 9611 devices, especially Galaxy M30s. As of now, there's no exact known cause of the issue, whether it's hardware or software, but my guess it's a hardware issue. This means the incomplete update might permanently damage the bootloader of the hardware of your device, which is the eMMC/UFS chip in the motherboard. Damaged bootloader cannot be fixed by software updates. But to be sure if your device bootloader is damaged, follow the solutions provided below.

Unfortunately, Samsung does not care much about these issues, so more people are starting to experience these issues. Because of these, we can assume that we are victims of automatic restart issues. For further information, please read this thread: https://r2.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-M/ALL-SAMSUNG-GALAXY-M30S-DEVICES-MUST-BE-RECALLED-ASAP/t...

How do I know the cause?

I read various threads about these issues in my country (Yes, my country isn't India, but I'm active here because India is the most active country so far, so I want to share and help others), and some people mentioned the cause is as above. Also I'm a victim of the issue, and I've visited both Samsung Service Center and local repair shops. Samsung Service Center told it's motherboard issue, and local repair shops told it's eMMC issue, because flashing doesn't fix the issue. I might create a new thread to share my complete experience with my device.

Which devices are affected with the issue?

As mentioned above, all Samsung Exynos 9611 devices are affected with these issues, mainly Galaxy M30s. There is currently no reports about automatic restart issues with Qualcomm Snapdragon devices.

Which updates are affected with the issue?

All software updates released to Samsung Galaxy M30s devices are affected. These issues has been happening since early 2020, even as early as late 2019. However, based on my observations, these issues are increasingly more common after Android 11 update has been released.

How to solve the issue?

First, try booting your device to Safe Mode and see if your device keeps restarting automatically. If so, try doing factory reset. Please backup any important files, as it will reset all of the data stored in the device. If that doesn't work, your device might need re-flashing. Visit the nearest Samsung Service Center to re-flash your device. Please note that they will charge you a bit if that fixed the issue. They should not charge you if that doesn't fixed the issue. If all the steps mentioned before did not worked, your device bootloader most likely is permanently damaged and need motherboard replacement or eMMC/UFS repair, which costs... A LOT!

Another good idea is to try downgrading back to Android 10 with the same binary version using Samsung Odin. But using the wrong software, firmware and configuration may result in unusable device. This might fix automatic restart issues, but please follow this method only if you are sure and with caution!

Also, if you cannot afford for motherboard repair, you can visit a local repair shop. It is much cheaper there, because they only replace the eMMC/UFS chip. For more information, please see the What can you do if you don't want to pay for motherboard repair, assuming your device motherboard is damaged? section below.

You can try enabling Power Saving mode and prevent using memory intensive apps, like Camera, Google Maps, etc. This might reduce the frequency of automatic restarts. But the issue can't be 100% fixed just by doing these. Also you can also help by reporting the issue to the Samsung Members app. Just ignore any automated replies, unless it's a reply from Samsung employee or CEO. Some people said Samsung will release a software update to fix the issue in the near future, but it is uncertain. So, the best option is to replace your device's motherboard if you still have warranty.

What can you do if you don't want to pay for motherboard repair, assuming your device motherboard is damaged?

I understand you object to pay for the motherboard repair. Unfortunately, these issues cannot be fixed by software updates if the bootloader is already permanently damaged. Another thing you can do is to fix in a local repair shop, it is much cheaper there, because they only replace the eMMC/UFS chip. But actually this is Samsung's fault, so we as Samsung customers have the right to complain, boycott or even announce about these issues. They just need to admit that it is their fault. So, we as victims can and need to work together to complain Samsung about these issues, so they recall all defective devices.

Can software updates fix the issue, assuming your device's bootloader has been permanently damaged?

Unfortunately NO. Because as of my knowledge, there's no way to re-flash the bootloader inside the eMMC/UFS chip as of now. So the only options are to either replace the motherboard in a Samsung Service Center or replace the eMMC/UFS chip in a local repair shop.

How to prevent the issue from happening?

If you have replaced your device motherboard, or you haven't experienced these issues, I strongly recommend you to disable automatic software update download. Also always use very stable internet connection and never pause while downloading a software update, or better use Smart Switch to update the Android OS.

What if I have additional issues, or want to add something to this thread?

Feel free to leave a reply below! I will try my best to respond as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading! Hope this thread helps!

Best Regards,

MatthewI632

Last Updated: June 14th, 2021

NOTE: This thread might be updated regularly, so please check it out regularly! Be sure to give a like if you support this thread so it will show up in the Most Liked Posts section in the homepage, meaning more people will read this thread, or even better, Samsung employees might read it and forward these issues to the HQ.

[JioAirtel]

Already used 15 months

My purchase date from amazon 2nd march 2020.

[Nivedita7]

Same with my samsung m31 from the past one week. Service centre asking for around Rs. 8k for motherboard replacement.

[AYUSHvish]

But customer care saying that wait for the next update ur bug will be fixed

[Nivedita7]

Waiting for d same but not sure when will it arrive.

[AYUSHvish]

Exactly 💯 ...

[MatthewI632]

I think software updates won't fix the issue, but probably will only prevent these issues from happening in normal devices. The reason Samsung Galaxy M30s keeps restarting automatically even after a re-flash is because of permanently broken bootloader in the eMMC/UFS chip.

Here's a screenshot of a person replied to these kind of issue but in my country:

Translated: Did you update when internet connection is slow? If yes, it is possible that the update failed > effect is the bootloader is now permanently broken > got hit by UFS, as a result, it has been hit by hardware

[Nivedita7]

But like me many other too users owning a Samsung m series and a series phone are complaining with respect to the same issue from past one week. So if the software update won't be able to fix this issue then thousands of users who are suffering the same right now will have no option left.

[KrishnaFlyingSaucer]

Dear Matthew,

I understand you got this reply from an "Expert Level 5" user, but it doesn't make sense.

The updates must be first downloaded in full, verified using a checksum, and only then they are applied. The speed of Internet connection has no effect on the update process once the download is complete and doing it on-the-fly would be extremely risky even if your connection is perfectly stable.

The update process itself is executed in a recovery mode and the WiFi connection is not required for this part of the update process.

For the evidence of this you can read the Android OTA documentation:

https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/nonab#life-ota-update

Moreover, all stages of the secure boot are cryptographically verified in a chain every time before their execution (Boot ROM -> BL1 -> BL2 -> Kernel). So, if any code corruption happens, the next stage of the boot process won't even begin. This verification also serves as a protection against advanced malware that hides outside of the OS.

The last stage bootloader (BL2) is a part of the update and flashed onto the same chip as the rest of the system during the update. If the bootloader code gets corrupted the system won't boot up at all. Even then, it's still possible to reach the "download mode" to flash it again due to a bootloader for the earlier bootup stage (BL1) being more persistent. The "download mode" is used for completely reflashing the phone with the official update and also when users flash custom ROMs (customized Android OS flavors). Once the bootloader "hands over" the control to the main OS, it is not used anymore.

The boot process stages are the following:

Yesterday, I wrote in this thread about a bug that caused my phone to continuously reboot with pretty much the same behavior as you describe in your first post. I have managed to build my own custom kernel with the fix mentioned and flash it on my phone. Since then, there are no reboots at all. If you are out of options, I think it is worth trying a custom ROM with this fix included.

If you have an experienced friend, please ask them for help with flashing a custom ROM for your phone with the fix mentioned previously, to see if your problem gets solved.

You can find custom ROMs for M30s here:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/f/samsung-galaxy-m30s-roms-kernels-recoveries-o.9499/

For example (you can also pick any other):

"[ROM][11][ONEUI 3][STABLE] PRISH OS FOR M30s by neel0210" has a kernel with the needed bugfix and other tweaks.

Please backup all your data before doing this, because it's the best to completely re-flash the whole system without preserving any user data. It is also possible to preserve the data and only flash the boot loader, but that requires more expertise in building a ROM image and flashing - I've done it this way.

It took me weeks and dozens of hours of work to build up the knowledge to be able to fix my phone. If you are going to use a pre-built custom ROM it's not required to know all the details - just download the ROM and flash it to your device.

Good luck!

[mahesh_reddy]

Actually, no. I've been on an unlocked bl and was running the latest PRISH OS since about 6 months and I've got the issue the previous month. I believed it to be a random bug with the custom ROM and returned to stock and relocked the BL. The issue still persists. I've also tried a non ONEUI ROM (Lineage 18) and the issue still persisted. However, I haven't tried a custom kernel - so that's that.

Also, I don't think it is a software issue since I can't consistently replicate the issue. Like, once it freeze- restarted while I was using the camera. I then let the device lie for a time, turn it on again and open the camera and it worked fine. Sometimes it just dies on the lock screen itself when I turn the screen on.


UPDATE- I've just flashed the custom kernel with the patch you've mentioned. I still continue to have the random freeze restarts. The only thing which seems to help(drastically reduce the frequency of restarts) is downgrading to Android 10 and enabling medium power save/extreme power save. Also, I might be wrong about this I seem to have fewer random restarts when I'm in an air conditioned room (26ish degree celsius) vs when I'm outside (35 degrees+)

[mahesh_reddy]

This reasoning seems faulty. We can reflash the bootloader via odin and that doesn't solve the issue.

About EMMC replacement doing the job, that seems speculative too since there aren't any success stories for the same.