Lumia 1020 won't turn on (not able to soft/hard reset, NSRT does not detect the phone)

Hello folks, I'm quite desperate now.

Yesterday, I went running with my Lumia 1020 listening to music and using the Runtastic app.
Out of the blue, the music stopped - I looked at the phone - it was turned off. I tried powering on, but to no avail. I should also mention that upon leaving, the battery was fully charged and this happened after some 20 minutes.
When I came home, I immediately put the phone on the wall charger and expected it to power on after a while. I checked it after 3 hours and nothing, the phone was still stone-dead and what was even more worrying, completely cold - no heat-up from charging.
I tried a soft reset - no reaction. I tried to hard reset the phone via the hardware keys combo - nada.
I tried connecting it to my PC - the computer didn't even recognize ANY device was connected to it. Just to be sure, I tried Nokia Software Recovery Tool, but sure enough, it was not able to detect the phone.
The phone seems to be dead meat now, but when I put it on my desk wireless charging stand, the stand's indicator lights up, although the phone does nothing and stays that way.

Any ideas about how can I try and revive this one? Please note, that I already went through the usual motions and my main problem is that I cannot power the phone on into ANY state and although the battery should still be full, I'm not able to charge it and then turn on.
And one more thing - when I connect the phone to the wall charger (but not with the wireless charging stand), the Windows key lights up and stays that way for about 30 seconds, then goes out. The same happens when I press the power button while on charger.

Please, help!

Originally Posted by Branislav Grenus

Hello folks, I'm quite desperate now.

Yesterday, I went running with my Lumia 1020 listening to music and using the Runtastic app.
Out of the blue, the music stopped - I looked at the phone - it was turned off. I tried powering on, but to no avail. I should also mention that upon leaving, the battery was fully charged and this happened after some 20 minutes.
When I came home, I immediately put the phone on the wall charger and expected it to power on after a while. I checked it after 3 hours and nothing, the phone was still stone-dead and what was even more worrying, completely cold - no heat-up from charging.
I tried a soft reset - no reaction. I tried to hard reset the phone via the hardware keys combo - nada.
I tried connecting it to my PC - the computer didn't even recognize ANY device was connected to it. Just to be sure, I tried Nokia Software Recovery Tool, but sure enough, it was not able to detect the phone.
The phone seems to be dead meat now, but when I put it on my desk wireless charging stand, the stand's indicator lights up, although the phone does nothing and stays that way.

Any ideas about how can I try and revive this one? Please note, that I already went through the usual motions and my main problem is that I cannot power the phone on into ANY state and although the battery should still be full, I'm not able to charge it and then turn on.
And one more thing - when I connect the phone to the wall charger (but not with the wireless charging stand), the Windows key lights up and stays that way for about 30 seconds, then goes out. The same happens when I press the power button while on charger.

Please, help!

Did you try the "my phone can't/won't start" button in NSRT?

Originally Posted by David P2

Did you try the "my phone can't/won't start" button in NSRT?

Of course I did - I disconnected the phone as prompted and then reconnected it while the tool was waiting for connection. After a few minutes, the tool displays a prompt to try and hold down the volume down and power button, so it can detect the phone. But that doesn't do anything in my case - the phone doesn't even flinch, so NSRT won't detect it.

Originally Posted by Branislav Grenus

Of course I did - I disconnected the phone as prompted and then reconnected it while the tool was waiting for connection. After a few minutes, the tool displays a prompt to try and hold down the volume down and power button, so it can detect the phone. But that doesn't do anything in my case - the phone doesn't even flinch, so NSRT won't detect it.

Hmm. If you have access to a different cable that might be worth trying (if you haven't already of course).

Originally Posted by David P2

Hmm. If you have access to a different cable that might be worth trying (if you haven't already of course).

I tried 3 different ones, including the original cable that came with the phone. Same story.

Noone? Please. just about anything will do!

hey Branislav Grenus

ive had the exact same problem with my 1020 in similar conditions to you - phone totally dead after full charge, used it numerous times, put it in my pocket then nothing... tried multiple cables, wall charge / pc charge, pc wont recognise the device... this seems odd as we've both got 1020's and both have failed at almost the same time

im running 8.1, recently installed the new patch, but seemed to be running ok over the past few days... what are you running?

i have sent a message to nokia australia but i hope someone can resolve this cause it seems not an isolated incident if we both have the same problem

Hi Brendan,

I was running the 8.1 DP and recently installed the Update 1 for WP 8.1 - obviosly without Cyan.

I got the phone via Amazon.de last September, until now, it had been working quite well, apart from some random reboots.
I was using the phone while running for the past three weeks (Runtastic and music) and the only issued I've had was the touch screen got unresponsive several times, because I wore the phone hooked in my shorts display down. This actually happened in the same situation, but I doubt it is related.
I've been too busy ever since to do anything about it apart from posting this thread and still am, so any help would be gretly appreciated.

Give me a shout when you learn anything new!

Thanks for replying.

Hi Brendan,

I was running the 8.1 DP and recently installed the Update 1 for WP 8.1 - obviosly without Cyan.

I got the phone via Amazon.de last September, until now, it had been working quite well, apart from some random reboots.
I was using the phone while running for the past three weeks (Runtastic and music) and the only issued I've had was the touch screen got unresponsive several times, because I wore the phone hooked in my shorts display down. This actually happened in the same situation, but I doubt it is related.
I've been too busy ever since to do anything about it apart from posting this thread and still am, so any help would be gretly appreciated.

Give me a shout when you learn anything new!

Thanks for replying.

so it seems we are running the same OS and have got the same problem...

i havent seen any solutions online anywhere yet, waiting for nokia australia to get back to me - will post any findings here

cheers

I am having the same issues....was using Skype to talk to my husband in Sweden and the phone died.....plugged it up to charge and the windows light stays on for a few minutes then goes off....tried the recovery tool after a few hours and it doesn't detect the phone. Bought the phone in Sweden in December but using in the states while I am here taking care of my mother who is ill...I DEPEND on this phone for communication with both my husband and my son who is in the navy on deployment right now......if you have any other suggestions please share them and please let me know if you hear back from your source.

Thanks!

hi tonya (and branislav)

i tried to post this link earlier but i havent made enough posts to have link permission, so here's the pasted info i was sent from nokia australia for troubleshooting the 1020 - let me know if either of u have any luck::

Try these fixes if, for example, your phone randomly reboots, freezes or does not switch on, if an app crashes, if you have sound problems, or if the screen is blank:

1. Restart your phone.

Press and hold the Power and Volume Down keys simultaneously for 10-15 seconds. Release and the phone will restart. After this operation, you may need to set the date and time on the phone.
If the problem persists, reset and restore your phone as instructed below.

2. Reset and restore your phone.

Important:

This erases all personal content on your phone and restores the factory settings.
Before continue with the reset, make sure your phone’s battery level is above 50%. To check the remaining battery life, go to Settings > battery saver. If you are not able to check it, or the level is too low, charge your phone for at least 20 minutes.
Option 1: If your phone powers on and allows you access to your phone settings: Select Settings > About > Reset your phone.

Option 2: If your phone will not power on, follow the steps below:

Switch off your phone, and disconnect the charger.
Press and hold the volume down key, and connect the charger. If an exclamation mark (!) is shown on the screen, release the volume down key.
Then press the volume and power keys in the following order: volume up, volume down, power, and volume down.
Wait for your phone to reset, during the reset you will see gears rotating on the screen for up to 5 minutes, after which the screen goes blank for ~30 seconds and then your phone will restart.
Go through the initial phone setup. Make sure that you have the date and time set correctly on your phone (Settings > date+time).
Disconnect the charger.

the response i had with the above techniques is when i hold down power and volume down, the phone while it's connected via usb will light up the windows logo for a short period, then stop & disconnect from the computer... at least im getting a response from the phone now but nothing further than that unfortunately...

Originally Posted by Brendan Krotz

the response i had with the above techniques is when i hold down power and volume down, the phone while it's connected via usb will light up the windows logo for a short period, then stop & disconnect from the computer... at least im getting a response from the phone now but nothing further than that unfortunately...

Brendan, there is a known issue with WP where it goes into an infinite booting loop, just like you described. My girlfriend's 8X had the same problem and she had to return it. We tried lots of suggestions but nothing helped, luckily she was eligible for a replacement. As far as I know this issue has been addressed. I suggest you to visit the service centre and get it sorted.

Branislav and Tonya, I suggest you too the same if nothing on the web helps you. People at service centres might have seen issues like this, the issue can be resolved much faster.

Originally Posted by revanthpallagani

Brendan, there is a known issue with WP where it goes into an infinite booting loop, just like you described. My girlfriend's 8X had the same problem and she had to return it. We tried lots of suggestions but nothing helped, luckily she was eligible for a replacement. As far as I know this issue has been addressed. I suggest you to visit the service centre and get it sorted.

ok thanks for that revanthpallagani, will definitely give that a go as it seems there's no info online for a solution to this problem... will report back once i speak to someone

Happened to me, the dame way I read the error report Then I scrolled through all solutions, and started to charge the Lumina 1020 in different position accidently upside down. Must be connection problem, the phone started to charge, than started up. First thing on UI the low battery Icon, than later started up, and show the 4% battery low warning.
This Windows 8.1 phone was dead, blinking the windows sign and did not start, however accidently I charged up upside down, now I detected the Nokia contact to charger plug is faulty.

I just tried it now, unfortunately it didn't work. However, it does now consistently light up the home button for ~30 secs when I plug it in when before it would only happen occasionally and when I used a computer rather than a wall socket. Thanks for the suggestion.

Earlier this morning i had woken to find my 1020 phone totally dead and unresponsive :-( i just thought battery was drained overnight,but upon connecting charger nothing ,no flashing windows led ,wireless charger detected it but again no flashing windows led :-( fortunately just the standard hold power and volume down 15 secs fixed it for me...
.
Had me worried after already reading this thread and id already put my simcard in a backup Motorola pebble ;-)
.
I did drop my phone and crack screen corner last week but has worked perfectly since so doubt that caused damage,im just think its software related.

Im suffering from the same issue at the moment, was charging the phone, unplugged it, used it for a while and then screen goes off, i thought the screen just timed out. But when i got back to my phone, it wasnt turning on.. I tried all the resets except the hard reset... Cuz i have a few important docs that i havent synced or backed up anywhere. The windows logomlights up for about 30 secs when the charger is plugged in and when i do the soft reset instead of vibrating the logo blinks and then nothing..
I use my phone for almost all my photographic work and now im desperate for a solution.. All help is welcome :(

unfortunately it seems there is no solution out there as there's been no response on here or other sites...

i contacted Nokia Australia and they suggested taking it to a repair centre... this maybe the only option...

In the end I sent it to repair. Unfortunately they did flash it so all of my app data and files were lost. The only thing you can do now (as far as I could see) is either try NSRT or send it in for repair, sorry.

This restarted my phone thank you very much.

I hit the camera app, and the phone died. Nothing worked. I tried a variation of your idea. I held the volume and on/off button at the same time and plugged in the cord. It worked.....BUT, I can't retrieve texts or use some apps. I bought the 1020 the day it came out for the camera. I think I see the iPhone 6s in my future....

please help........ my nokia lumia 1020 I was listening to the music and When I wanted to go to the home page the phone frozed sooo I waited for a minote but it didn't responde so I tried to hard reset then the phone turned off but when I tried to turn it on it didn't responde ......now the phone is just a died meat ..............note: my phone is running wp 10 T.P and the charge is around 80%

Hello,

Dead Lumia 1020 here as well... Storage access was always quite slow but became terrible in the last few days. I had a few unexpected reboots, some strange setting changes or missing chunks of data, and today I look at my picture library which shows up empty! I tried to restart the phone and just after the Nokia logo I got a "DOS-style" error saying that no bootable sequence was found. I suppose the storage is dead. Fortunately the phone is still under warranty. Will send it for repair. Sad that I will have to reconfigure everything... (saving to OneDrive was failing already since 8 months so I could never backup the settings).

When I try a hard reset I get a the gears screen then a sad face. After that it shuts down. So far no PC recognizes it. It says "One of the USB devices connected to this computer has malfunctioned and windows doesn't recognize it." Neither the Windows Phone Recovery Tool, nor the Nokia Software Updater are able to connect. Is there any hope after exhausting all these options?

Hi Guys, I've been reading the above posts and looks like I've landed myself in a similar sort of situation.It's really disappointing how the issue happened before a year and is still happening and Windows has not come with a proper solution.

Well, I suppose in some cases a phone is just fried. Like mine was last May. Totally dead except for a message in tiny letter stating no boot device found. Had the motherboard replaced (under warranty) and to my surprise got a 64GB version back, my original one was 32. Is that a nice solution or what?

Originally Posted by Harry Notermans

Well, I suppose in some cases a phone is just fried. Like mine was last May. Totally dead except for a message in tiny letter stating no boot device found. Had the motherboard replaced (under warranty) and to my surprise got a 64GB version back, my original one was 32. Is that a nice solution or what?

Now that is a treat! :cool:

At any rate, same happened to my L1020 and only having the board replaced in a service center resolved the issue.

It just happened to me this morning. my fully charged lumia 1020 cant start. got in in my car and drove to work. upone reaaching the office its dead. cant charge, cant start cant do anything ....i mean its so strange

same thing happened to my wife's 1020.

main board replaced under warranty...............

It all about being able to restart the phone. Since the battons are not working the only solution is to remove the battery. You can do this by following some good youtube videos or taking it to a trained personnel. Ask them to take out and return the battery and that’s all you need. It’s an easy fix. Good luck!

this just happened to me the other night. had to wiggle the phone to get it charging which it stayed on charge yesterday but when i tried charging it again last night it wouldn't hold up for anything. it's completely dead now after it wont charge on idle and battery kept draining when on screen. tried different chargers...different outlets...different methods of restarting the phone. i ordered a new micro usb port to replace so hopefully this will be the fix that i need. really hope it's not a battery issue as well. this is really upsetting considering i cant upgrade until next month.

Hey,
I'm wondering if you found a solution?
My phone just did the same thing this morning. I pulled it off of the wall charger and not even 10mins later it turned of and is now a fancy paperweight.

I know
It's so ridiculous. I haven't even had my phone for 2 years and it has been nothing but issues. It consistently glitches, deletes things, turns itself off and all sorts of ridiculous things. I'm still paying it off and now its shut itself down and has become completely unresponsive.
I thought I hated apple phones. I definitely haven't had a reason to like this phone.

In the end I sent it back to Nokia, got it back after a day or two and had no problems since.

thnx for these details buddy !!

it worked for my device in a very perfect way....

this xmas will be the 3d time i've had my 1020 returned & replaced. each time they have either replaced the motherboard or the entire phone... last time they managed to install WP8.1 on it and it was stable for a while... until i start to update the apps & slowly update the OS, that's when it seems the 1020 has issues...

this 3rd time round there is a range of issues::

- once phone key locks, the unlock key is unresponsive. initially by plugging the phone into a portable battery or power would wake it up, but that eventually stopped working & the only way to wake up the phone was to do a software reset...
- recently when i get a call and the phone is unresponsive, i have to just miss the call / text, restart the phone then check missed call / text
- the phone has stopped charging from a portable battery charger (phone constantly running out during the day if i dont get to a power point)
- the phone's notifications are either laggy or dont wont, therefore i cant use phone alarm to wake up anymore, calendar alerts etc dont work anymore...
- before sending my phone back i wanted to backup all my pictures & videos but they wouldnt upload to one drive via wifi, or very slowly, took over 2 months to backup cause large files took a long time...
- connecting phone to computer doenst work anymore, phone doesnt respond, not recognised as a device, nothing... just like it's not connected, so i cant even run the nokia repair took to reset the phone...

so ive finally backed up all my files & am ready to send it back... if i do just get another 1020 sent out (was hoping for a 1520 or a more recent model since this will be the 4th attempt to repair) i will leave with OS software they installed / tested, i may update apps but leave it at WP8.1 but that's it.

will report back with what happens... i do like this phone, the camera is amazing, if only it was faster & more reliable... i do want the 950XL but not ready to pay $1000+ upfront, so will keep an eye out for a cheaper deal or 2nd hand...

overall i love windows phone and the overall experience, after all the problems ive had over the past year & half i still would prefer it than android or apple, cause i love the camera & 8.1 is a clean / easy to use OS

i HAD THE SAME PROBLEM !! how u fix it?

I just sent it in to Nokia for repair. Took 3 days allowing for 1 day delivery both ways. Didn't have any problems after that.

Hi I am having the same the same problem in 925... if this is a cause of Motherboard failure...

Had the exact same issue last week, after trying all those mentioned steps, efforts went sideways, sent it to the service only to hear "Should replace a motherboard (warranty for one month only)".
I was totally disappointed to leave my L1020 in cold, I'm hoping someone could share their experience after motherboard replacement. Lastly, I'm skeptical about further investing as I'm definitely out of warranty. Thanks for the info guys

Go to microsoft care centre they will reinstall the window for u or go with windows device recovery tool

This sounds like an urban myth but it actually worked on my 1020 which was fully charged, and had been unresponsive for a week, despite trying all of the resets that usually work.
If you're using the battery pack extender, remove it. Then wrap your phone in a plastic bag and place it in a deep freeze for an hour. Reconnect it to the charger and just leave it alone, mine resets after about an hour when it gets back to room temperature.
This fix was passed on to me by an auto electrician who says its an old trick used to reset some car stereos after the car battery has been replaced incorrectly. Worked for me (he claims 60% success rate; but sorry, no promises).
Nokia/Microsoft, it's frustrating that we have to mess around like this.

what does device manager show?

I do have the same problem,My phone's screen is stuck on Glance screen Showing 22:37 instead of being completely off and no matter what key combination i use to reset the phone stays as it is,it doesnt even vibrate!
And one more thing,When i see my 1020's stucked on glance screen(Showing 22:77,42 hours before i wrote this)
on a pitch dark environment,i can see a lot of dots on the screen.If you got the problem sorted out,Please help me!
Attachment 129242

I do have the same problem,My phone's screen is stuck on Glance screen Showing 22:37 and no matter what key combination i use to reset the phone stays as it is,it doesnt even vibrate!
And one more thing,When i see my 1020's stucked on glance screen(Showing 22:77,42 hours before i wrote this)
on a pitch dark environment,i can see a lot of dots on the screen.If you got the problem sorted out,Please help me!Attachment 129243

My Nokia 1020 has exactly the same problem as Brandon Krotz describes. I have been searching the Net for answers with no luck. Now I joined this forum with the hope for a solution. It doesn't look like I can find solution here either. I have tried soft and hard reset, have tried different usb cables, have tried to leave it on changing over night. .. nothing worked! Please help me. I have photos from recent holiday on the phone which I am desperately want to recover them.

Had the same problem today so I took the motherboard out and blasted it with an heat gun for 60secs, now the phone turns on, there was probably a break in the solder somewhere.

Originally Posted by JamesSmithuk

Had the same problem today so I took the motherboard out and blasted it with an heat gun for 60secs, now the phone turns on, there was probably a break in the solder somewhere.

How did you go about opening it up and reassembling. My 1020 has been so increasingly crippled by each successive Win 10 update that it is pretty unusable. Last weeks patches made it as slow as can be. Like most apps take many minutes to simply load after booting, and pressing the Lumia Camera shutter is good to take a pix 2 seconds later. "Look ma' no timer needed!" :)

I could force it back to Win 8/8.1 -- just for what's left of the good camera (I did get a 950XL). However, for this to be worth it, the battery should be replaced. Since this requires things to be taken apart, your input will be very much appreciated.