The situation when a smartphone stops responding to touch and refuses to turn on is familiar to many owners of modern technology, this can happen after a failed update, a fall, or simply because of a software failure. It is important to understand that the phrase "how to start the phone" can mean two different things: a standard power on or a forced start of the system when getting stuck.
In most cases, the device can be brought back to life without going to the service center if you act consistently and carefully. Hardware buttons in Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones perform functions that go far beyond just turning on the screen. In this article, we will discuss all possible launch scenarios, from regular on-boarding to using engineering modes.
Before we get to the tricky side of the game, we should rule out the trivial battery problems. If the battery is completely discharged, it may take 15 to 30 minutes on an adaptive charger before it gives signs of life. Prolonged exposure to the device in deep discharge (more than a month) may require a high-power “push” charge, which is best entrusted to specialists.
Standard device activation
For a regular start of a Xiaomi smartphone, a short press on the power button is usually enough. However, in modern models, especially in the Mi and Redmi Note series, the logic of the buttons may differ. If the device is switched off programmatically, a single press activates the lock screen or language selection menu. In some cases, you need to hold the button for 2-3 seconds.
If the phone is turned off because of a critically low charge, an animation of the battery may appear on the screen, at which point the system is not yet booting, there is a storage of energy, and trying to start the MIUI operating system at this point will only lead to the discharge indicator reappearing.
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If the phone doesn’t respond to the power button, connect the original cable to your computer (not the charger) and see if there’s a vibration or a USB connection sound, which will help you see if the motherboard is still alive.
There's a nuance to the alarm function, and if it's activated in the settings, the phone can start itself at a given time, even from a completely off state, which is a standard behavior that is not a sign of malfunction.
In the rare cases where the touch layer doesn't work, you can start the phone through a PC connection, but that will require you to pre-set the debugging over USB, which is disabled by default, so the basic method remains physical, using the Power key.
Forced restart (Hard Reset buttons)
When Android freezes and doesn't respond to touch, and the screen is black, you have to force it to restart, which is data-safe and often helps you get out of the black screen, and you have to hold the power button and hold it for a long time.
Depending on the Xiaomi, Redmi or Poco model, the key combination can vary. The standard procedure is as follows:
- 🔘 Press the power button and hold it. 10-15 seconds before the logo appears.
- 🔘 If it doesn’t help, try the Loudness Down combination. + Food (hold on) 15-20 seconds).
- 🔘 For some models with a non-removable battery, effectively long (up to 30 seconds) holding the Volume Up button + Nutrition.
☑️ Checklist of forced start
It's important to keep the buttons on right after you vibrate. Wait for the Mi or Redmi logo to appear. If you release the buttons too early, the phone can go back to deep sleep or freeze. Hardware reset doesn't delete your photos or contacts, it just cuts off the processes that caused the freeze.
⚠️ Warning: If the phone freezes on the logo again after a forced restart or reboots cyclically, the problem may be damage to system files or memory.
Launch in Recovery Mode
Recovery mode is a special diagnostic interface built into the phone's memory regardless of the main operating system, which allows you to reset your data (Wipe Data), clear the cache or restart the device, and you can get into this mode even if Android does not boot.
To enter Recovery Mode on most Xiaomi smartphones, the following sequence is used:
- Turn off the device completely (if possible) or perform a forced restart.
- Once the screen goes out, press the Volume Up and Power buttons at the same time.
- Hold both buttons until the Mi logo appears, then release the power button while continuing to hold Volume Up.
In some cases, the Recovery menu doesn't appear immediately, but instead displays an image of a phone with a cable. This is Fastboot mode. If you see a rabbit in headphones or an android with a cable, just hold the power button for about 10 seconds until the phone turns off and try to log in to Recovery again.
What to do if you recover in Chinese?
In the Recovery menu, you can navigate with volume buttons and choose with a power button (or touch if the touchscreen is running in this mode). Here you can find the option Reboot for normal start or Wipe Data for a full reset. Be careful: resetting data will remove all information from internal memory.
Fastboot mode and its use
Fastboot is a debugging protocol that allows you to interact with your phone at a low level, bypassing the operating system. This is the mode most often used to flash Xiaomi devices through your computer, and the mode symbol is the image of a rabbit in headphones fixing an Android robot.
To start the phone in Fastboot mode:
- 🔧 Turn off the smartphone completely.
- 🔧 Press the Volume Down button and, without letting it go, plug it in. USB-computer-wire.
- 🔧 The screen should light up and you will see the inscription. FASTBOOT orange.
While in this mode, you can connect your phone to your PC and use the Mi Flash Tool to restore the system. exiting Fastboot mode is done by simply pressing the Power button long (about 15-20 seconds) until the device vibrates and restarts.
| Regime. | Keyboard combination | Appointment | On-screen indicator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery | Volume Up + Nutrition | Reset, clear cache | Menu with 6-8 points |
| Fastboot | Volume Down + Cable | Flashing through PC | Hare with headphones |
| Safe Mode | When loading (rarely) | Diagnostics of applications | The inscription "Safe Mode" |
| EDL | Two buttons + cable | Deep recovery | Black screen (power) |
⚠️ Attention: Accidental logging into Fastboot mode often scares users who think the phone is broken.Just pressing the power button (15 seconds) for a long time will return the device to normal without losing data.
Problems with cyclic reboot (Bootloop)
A condition where a Xiaomi phone constantly displays a logo, goes out and shows the logo again, called Bootloop, can be caused by a conflict of recently installed apps, a damaged system partition, or a failed update, and in this mode, it is impossible to start the phone in normal mode.
The first step is to try to enter Recovery. + Power) and select Wipe Data, which will delete all user data, but often allows the system to start again. If the problem persists after the data reset, the firmware itself is likely damaged.
There is also a soft bootloop caused by overflowing memory, where if the internal storage is packed, the system doesn't have enough space for temporary files at launch, and sometimes it helps to connect to the charger for several hours without trying to turn on, so the system can clean the cache itself.
If software methods fail and the phone goes into a cyclical reboot even after flashing, it can be a hardware malfunction. Often, eMMC/UFS memory or display plume fails in Redmi and Poco smartphones, which closes the circuit and causes a reboot.
Emergency Charging Mode (EDL)
The deepest level of access to the device is Emergency Download (EDL) mode, in which the phone is virtually a “brick” controlled only by a Qualcomm processor. The screen remains black, but the device is defined by the computer as a Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008.
Different methods are used to enter this mode on different Xiaomi models:
- ⚡ Disassembly of the phone and closing test points on the board (requires skill).
- ⚡ Special button combination when connecting the cable (for example, Volume Up) + Down. + Nutrition).
- ⚡ Team through ADB: adb reboot edl (if debugging works).
EDL is used to recover brick-and-mortar devices when neither Recovery nor Fastboot is running. However, this mode often requires an authorized Xiaomi account (Mi Account with rights), making this method unavailable to ordinary users without accessing the service.
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EDL mode is the last hope of software recovery, but 90% of the time it requires a paid authorization or an engineering account.
⚠️ Attention: Trying to flash the phone in mode EDL Incorrect firmware (e.g. from another model) can cause permanent damage to the bootloader. Make sure the device model (codename) matches the firmware on 100%.