Fix Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Edge Bootloader Exception Error

Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are two exceptionally cool devices by the Korean giant. While the Galaxy Note 7 put Samsung on the brink of falling apart, Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge saved the company’s fate. Samsung has been giving more importance to the device since the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco ended. Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge saw new colours, the devices also tasted the Nougat beta builds and are all set to get the official update any moment.

If you go up looking for some custom stuff to flash on your phone, you will find plenty of it. You can flash a TWRP recovery, root your S7/S7E and even install Xposed framework. These out of the way things need a little extra knowledge about the Android OS first and then the phone. Trying to go beyond the boundaries set by device manufacturers put you at a risk of killing your own phone. 1 single error that you are not aware of, and you are doomed. That’s how bad things can get at times. This is exactly what happened with my friend who was trying to root his S7 Edge. Upon trying to flash the SuperSU, his phone got stuck on the “Bootloader Exception” error followed by a messed up log as Exception: do_handler_sync: UNKOWN(esr: 0x2000000), and that was all he could see.

While trying to tackle this issue, we tried a number of solutions but none of the traditional methods like trying to clear cache, dalvik cache or even a factory reset couldn’t work. The reason was, none of the aforementioned options are accessible once the Bootloader Exception takes over. This simple doesn’t let your phone work. In literal terms, the bootloader of the phone got screwed and a phone will never boot without a right bootloader.

The moment you get to know that it’s basically nothing other then a bootloader issue, a solution lands in the mind of an Android power user. Simple trying to replace the bootloader of the phone worked out and we were able to get into the phone. You may also flash a stock firmware to get out of this situation, but a stock firmware will take an extra while to first get downloaded and then to flash as well. Let’s have a look on the fix to rescue you in case your phone has also fallen prey to this error.

How to fix Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Edge Bootloader Exception error

1. The very first thing is to get an appropriate bootloader for your phone. You must download the latest bootloader according to your devices’ firmware. In case you are unable to locate a separate bootloader file, you can skip the search and download the latest firmware for your phone. Make sure that it is the same firmware as the previous one running on your phone. i.e. If your phone was running on Android 6.0.1, you must download the latest Android 6.0.1 firmware file. The firmware file that you will download will be in the .tar or .md5.tar format.
2. Now extract the downloaded firmware file. You will get a handful of files starting with codes like AP_, BL_, CSC_, and so on.
3. Here in these files, the file starting with the name BL is your bootloader file. Copy this file to your computer’s desktop for easy access.
4. Now that you have copied the file, it’s time to download and extract Odin3 on your desktop PC. Also download and install Samsung USB drivers on your PC.
5. Open the Odin3.exe.
6. Put your phone in download mode. To do so, keep holding the Volume down + Home + Power key for a while on your phone. Your phone may resist at first, but it will eventually get into the download mode.
7. Connect your phone to your PC now.
8. In Odin, hit the BL tab and select the BL file that you copied on your desktop.
9. Now making sure that Odin has the Device Added status and its ID:COM box has turned blue, the BL file is all set, hit the START button.
10. It will quickly flash the Bootloader on your phone.
11. Once bootloader has been flashed, reboot your phone.

I hope the fix worked well for you. In case the fix given above doesn’t work, go ahead and flash a stock firmware. If you have any further queries, reach me out through the comment box below.