Solved: Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool

Update 12-Nov-2023: Today in this guide, we will share a complete troubleshooting process if your Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool. The fact that Android allows us to flash custom ROMs on our devices is a great freedom for the users. It opens a wide gateway of possibilities for us to explore various things on our devices without any interruption. We can try out different customizations, change the appearance of our device, play with the system behavior, and a lot more stuff.

However, flashing a phone is not that simple, you need proper knowledge of what you are doing to prevent any harm. Thanks to the modern-day flashing tools, this process is now easier than ever. And SP Flash Tool being one of the most popular names is widely used by users. But lately, a lot of users have encountered issues where their phones won’t turn on after flashing with the SP Flash Tool. Are you experiencing the same? Well, it is really a scary situation.

Without enough knowledge materials on the internet, users are extremely tense about how they can fix the problem. The good thing is that you have come to the right place. In this article, we will look into the causes and fixes for your phone not turning on after flashing. So, if you haven’t had any positive signs until now, hold on for a bit more and stay till the end to come up with a working solution.

Why My Phone is Not Turning On After Flashing With SP Flash Tool?

The most common reason why you might come across an error or your phone does not turn on after flashing is because of an interruption. You need to make sure your device is left idle and connected to your PC throughout this process. If by any chance there is an interruption, things might get bad. However, as you are here, it means you already have a dead phone that does not turn on after flashing with the SP flash tool. Well, do not panic, here we have mentioned some ways that will help you revive your phone again.

Solved: Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool

Flashing with any flash tool be it the SP Flash tool works differently on different devices. While it goes smoothly on some devices, others might show errors. But in the worst-case scenario, it shows that flashing is completed, however, the phone does not turn on. Now that you know what might actually cause such an issue, here are some ways to revive your phone from the dead.

Method 1: Charge Phone Before Flashing

It’s not sacred knowledge that your smartphone needs to have a fully charged battery in order to boot up the firmware. Since the first boot after flashing a custom ROM or stick firmware needs at least 10-15 minutes of setup time, it’s better to charge the phone battery to at least 50 %.

In case you don’t have visibility on how much battery % is there in your device, it’s better to keep it on charging for 1 hour to be on the safe side. Once you have charged your smartphone, you can try to flash it with the SP flash tool.

Method 2: Keep Your Phone Connected

If you have a dead phone on your hand that does not turn on after flashing, leave it connected to the computer for a while. Now, it could take a few hours as well, so you have to be patient for some time and see if the phone automatically revives on its own. This is because, after the flashing process, devices are mostly left with minimum charge. Therefore, leaving them for some moment will charge the device and revive it.

Method 3: Download Correct Firmware

Oftentimes users download the firmware from shady websites which often may include non-compatible firmware images in the firmware package. This will not work and may also damage your phone to the point of hard brick or Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool mode.

So it is always a good idea to download the firmware or custom ROM from official sources. And always make sure to check the MD5 checksum of the downloaded file before flashing it with the SP Flash tool.

Method 4: Extract Firmware Correctly

Many Mediatek devices with OEMs including Oppo, Vivo, and Realme come in OPF file format which is not readily available to be used by the SP flash tool. So in order to make them compatible, you have to use any OPF extractor that can extract the required firmware files to flash on your device. However, many third-party OPF extractors are outdated and not compatible with the newest OPF files. Our recommendation is to use MABT (also known as MTK Auth Bypass Tool) to extract OPF files in the correct format.

Method 5: Check Compatible Firmware

Another major reason why your phone is not turning on after flashing is because of non-compatible firmware. The firmware versions might differ for different phones. Therefore, you need to keep checking whether the one you are choosing is the right firmware for your device or not. You can look for supported firmware using the IMEI number of your phone.

Flashing non-compatible firmware on your device can sometimes result in permanent damage to your phone. Flashing a non-compatible firmware (ROM) on your phone might replace the compatible kernel of your device as well. A kernel is what bridges the gap between the hardware components and the software. And in any case, if this kernel is replaced, your phone will end up dead or Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool. In that case, it might even cause permanent damage to your phone as well.

Method 6: Disclude Cache & UserData Images

When you flash firmware files via the SP flash tool, there are multiple files that you can check before the flashing process. During this process, there are multiple files that also contain cache and user data.

These files are essentially not needed and might be the reason behind the Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool issue. So make sure to exclude the cache, dalvik cache, and user data images before you start the flashing process.

Method 7: Disclude Verified Boot Images

When you flash firmware files via the SP flash tool, there are multiple files that you can check before the flashing process. During this process, there are multiple files that also contain server and CDT engineering. These files are there to verify the firmware files before boot. But only the OEM service center representatives have the tools necessary to verify any firmware, and until then the phone will not boot.

This might be the reason behind the Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool issue. So you may skip these files as your smartphone can boot up easily without any third-party verification.

Method 8: Flash With Bootloader Unlocked

If you are flashing a custom ROM or a custom script, then it’s important that you unlock the bootloader first. Bootloader is a special program in the boot memory that can disallow the flashing process to protect the device’s internal storage from unauthorized use. However, in order to flash any custom ROM or script, you have to unlock this bootloader first and then carry on the further flashing process.

Method 9: Flash With Correct Scatter File

Scatter File is a special instruction file that tells the SP flash tool to flash certain firmware files to specific address locations. However, if the scatter file is corrupted or incorrect, then the flashing process may go wrong and cause your device to hard brick. An incorrect or corrupted scatter file could be the reason behind the Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool.

Method 10: Flash With Correct IMG Files

Oftentimes the bootloader you will be using will have unclear instructions on what IMG files need to be flashed in the EMMC memory. This is a very common case and users who don’t have much flashing experience end up soft bricking their phone or the Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool.

Before starting the flashing process, please make sure all the firmware image files are carefully loaded in the tool with respective to their correct names. For eg – Bootv1 should have the filename boot1.img and Bootv2 should have the film name as boot2.img respectively.

Method 11: Edit Scatter File Before Flashing

As we discussed above, oftentimes the scatter file itself is corrupted and not ready to be flashed. The scatter file contains all the addresses and important files to be flashed as the firmware file. If you see any anomaly on the SP flash tool window while loading the scatter file, you have to edit it manually. The anomaly may be –

• The number of image files inside the firmware folder is less than the image files loaded in the SP flash tool window.
• Incorrect files are loaded against each firmware image listing.
• Blank entries against multiple firmware image listings.

In order to fix this, you have to open the scatter file in Notepad++ and make the necessary changes. You need to make sure all the entries are correct with the firmware image file name, the file version, and the EMMC address against it.

Method 12: Format All & Download

Oftentimes the existing file structure of your smartphone might hold the bootloader file to load and may cause your device to get stuck in boot loop mode or Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool. To fix this, you may take the help of “Formal All & Download” mode present in the SP flash tool. This mode will clear the internal EMMC memory on your device and will flash the firmware files from scratch.

Method 13: Shot Flashing Pins

In case the above methods are of no help to you, then you might have taken advantage of shorting the flashing pins (also known as Test points) on your device’s main motherboard. All MediaTek smartphones come with flashing pins on the main motherboard which helps professional repair services to connect to device COM ports and fix any firmware-related issues. The placement of these flashing pins may vary from device model to model, and you may check them in your respective device XDA wiki.

Method 14: Check Hardware

In case none of the above methods help you, then the issue might be in your device hardware itself. There are many instances where you will be able to send or flash the firmware files to your phone, but due to hardware issues in your boot IC or main IC, your phone will not start or go back into download mode. The only way to fix this is to get professional help and get the hardware fault fixed.

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of this guide for fixing Phone Not Turning on After Flashing With SP Flash Tool issue. While flashing custom ROM on your device, you are basically paying with the system on your phone. These things are extremely sensitive, therefore, even a single wrong step can result in permanent damage. However, if your phone is not turning on after flashing, it doesn’t mean permanent damage.

Sometimes it occurs in the form of an error. Although there are not a variety of ways, you can still manage to revive your device with the ones mentioned above. So, let us know if that was helpful. In case, you are still not able to turn on your device, let us know your issue in more detail and we will try to come up with a fix accordingly.