# My phone wouldn't turn on, so I took the battery out and put it back in. Now it works. WTF
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-phone-wouldnt-turn-on-so-i-took-the-battery-out-and-put-it-back-in-now-it-works-wtf/774460
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 11, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-phone-wouldnt-turn-on-so-i-took-the-battery-out-and-put-it-back-in-now-it-works-wtf/774460 "2016-12-11T19:12:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-phone-wouldnt-turn-on-so-i-took-the-battery-out-and-put-it-back-in-now-it-works-wtf/774460/1 "2016-12-11T19:12:40Z")
So I have a samsung galaxy J3, I’ve had for about 8 months. I plugged it in last night to charge it. When I went to use it today it was a blank screen and wouldn’t turn on.
When I plugged it into the PC, it would make a sound on the PC like it was connecting, but it didn’t show up as an option under file explorer.
I read online that taking the battery out, holding down the power button for a few seconds, then putting the battery back in would fix it. So I did that, and now it works and it shows 100% battery.
So what does that mean?
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### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-phone-wouldnt-turn-on-so-i-took-the-battery-out-and-put-it-back-in-now-it-works-wtf/774460/2 "2016-12-11T19:43:59Z")
Well, your phone is usually still technically in a standby state when it is switched off. A minimal set of software/hardware is still running to detect the button press that would turn the rest of the system on. Apparently while it was in this state, it had some sort of crash.
Removing the battery removes the power supply from the system, making the standby system finally truly shut off. Pressing the power button would make the standby system discharge any remaining capacitance, if the standby system was still running and capable of it.
It’s largely the same thing as pulling the power cord on a server, and pressing the power button, which is a recommended troubleshooting step when the firmware/bios is behaving strangely.
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### Author:  [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-phone-wouldnt-turn-on-so-i-took-the-battery-out-and-put-it-back-in-now-it-works-wtf/774460/3 "2016-12-11T22:14:56Z")
> [@scabpicker](#):
>
> Well, your phone is usually still technically in a standby state when it is switched off. A minimal set of software/hardware is still running to detect the button press that would turn the rest of the system on. Apparently while it was in this state, it had some sort of crash.
>
> Removing the battery removes the power supply from the system, making the standby system finally truly shut off. Pressing the power button would make the standby system discharge any remaining capacitance, if the standby system was still running and capable of it.
>
> It’s largely the same thing as pulling the power cord on a server, and pressing the power button, which is a recommended troubleshooting step when the firmware/bios is behaving strangely.
This! I take the battery out of my Samsung Galaxy 3 about once a month when I dismantle and clean it, change the screen film. I like that I can do a hard shut down like this, unlike another very popular phone whose battery cannot be removed. My phone always works better afterward (which is good b/c it’s over 3 years old now).
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### Author:  [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-phone-wouldnt-turn-on-so-i-took-the-battery-out-and-put-it-back-in-now-it-works-wtf/774460/4 "2016-12-12T18:08:57Z")
Complex software has many “bugs” and it is difficult to find every last one. So sometimes electronic gizmos will go into a “loop”.
That is like a car endlessly driving around by itself in circles. If you can turn it off, then you can get into the car, start it, and regain control.
Removing the battery in a cell phone or unplugging various electronic gizmos - waiting 10 seconds, then plugging back in - accomplishes the same thing. Called “rebooting”…
> **[Reboot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reboot_(computing))**
>
> In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physically turned off and back on again (causing an initial boot of the machine); or a warm reboot (or soft reboot) in which the system restarts while still powered up. The term restart (as a system command) is used to refer to a reboot when the operating sys...