Galaxy Xcover 5 will not boot into Android and just loops at the Samsung Logo after power button is pressed for ~5secs

[wclifton968]

I have a Samsung Galaxy XCover 5, and I have been having terrible battery problems for ~3 weeks now, where the battery life has been sporadic where sometimes I can get ~5hrs of runtime with it's current battery and other times it does not even last 5 mins while plugged in to my desktop computer at the USB-A 3.0 port on the front or into a generic 20w USB-C charger and it went from ~60% charge down to 3% charge in the short span of 2 mins while plugged into my computer. But now as of 22/October/2023 I cannot seem to turn on the device and have it load past the 2 images displayed in the boot process, the first image being Samsung Logo and the other image being the Samsung secured by knox Logo and so it just appears to be stuck in a boot loop even when I keep the device plugged in or not or whether I hold down the Volume ↑ or Volume ↓ keys in combination with & without holding down the power button which on previous Android phones I have owned has loaded up the bootloader where you can usually undertake a factory reset of the phone.

At no point have I put the device in or near a heat of >45℃ / 113℉

Spoiler

except for a couple of times aboard the London Underground Northern Line and once accidentally leaving the device on a car windshield for ~2mins on a sunny day but this would have been months ago and I doubt temperatures exceeded more than 30℃

Since I started getting these weired battery problems, I did a very basic websearch (not looking on eBay as I would prefer 100% genuine parts but I may have to resort to looking there) for "spare parts" as I am not sure what model number my phone's battery is as some of the markings have worn off on one side but on the other side it says "Manufacturer: Ningde Amperex Technology Limited". I have also just noticed that it mentions "Model/[some foreign script]/[some foreign script, probably Chinese or Japanese]/EB-BG525BBE" but I am not sure that buying a new battery of this "model" will fix the boot issue on my device.

I did also visit Samsung's "flagship" UK retail location on Oxford Street, Central London to see if I could get any support as I could not find any support information on the consumer samsung website but since I have the "Samsung Galaxy XCover 5 'Enterprise Edition'", the store employee that I spoke to (in order to book an appointment or see if I could buy a new battery from the store) said that [paraphrase] "Sorry but we do not provide in-store support for customers with a business phone but since your phone has a removable battery, I suggest you look online for a new battery" which I have obviously not yet found (I guess I have not looked hard enough).

I may also note that my device has a broken back cover but since this phone is not a Microsoft Lumia 950/XL (which has a wireless charger on the back cover), it should not at all have any effect on normal operations of the device.

[JAMES4578]

Hi @wclifton968  Have you tried forcing a fresh restart?   Hold the volume Down and Power Buttons down simultaneously for around 20  seconds or until the phone  restarts.   Are you able to enter Safe Mode at all https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/how-to-start-my-galaxy-device-in-safe-mode/  if by any chance ok there  would pinpoint an issue with a 3rd party app.

There is a guide to replacing the Battery in this vodaphone article https://deviceguides.vodafone.co.uk/samsung/galaxy-xcover-5/getting-started/change-battery/ 

However I agree that this may well not be the issue, as  you have a Business phone you may find suitable support on this link https://www.samsung.com/uk/business/support/service-solutions/ 

[wclifton968]

Thank you for the help @JAMES4578 , however I have tried holding down the power & volume down buttons simultaneously for ~20secs and it did not do anything other than what it was previously doing if I just held down the power button for a few secs, which is cycle through displaying either the "Samsung Logo" or the "Samsung secured with Knox" logo. Thanks for sending me a link to Samsung Business Support though since I had only ever found it in the Samsung Shop application on Android before my device started boot looping.

I will have to see if I can open an official support ticket since this may or may not be a battery issue, for the boot looping problem that is, since I cannot even enter safe mode and/or the boot loader.

[JAMES4578]

All right,obviously it is problematic. Hopefully you are able to raise support ticket,is there another Device you could use?

[wclifton968]

Sorry, this thread was probably just a waste of time; I managed to buy a new battery online (which I should have done in the first place) and the device seemed to work fine once the new battery arrived.

Spoiler

I ended up not contacting Samsung Support but I did go to a Vodafone store (which is convenientely the network I am on [Actually it's their MVNO] and the guy in the store said to just buy a new battery (which they don't sell) which seemed to fix it but if I get this boot looping problem again and is not a battery problem then I will contact Samsung Support.

Thank you for your kind help though.