Xiaomi is rebooting for a long time: reasons and solutions for all models

Hanging on the MI logo or endlessly rebooting is one of the most annoying problems for owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones. Did you click “Reboot” and the phone has been showing animations for 15 minutes or does not respond to buttons at all? This situation is familiar to many users, especially after a firmware update or an application installation failure. In 80% of cases, the problem can be solved independently without contacting the service center.

In this article, we will discuss all possible causes of a long reboot - from banal overheating to critical errors in the EFS section. You will learn how to distinguish a software failure from a hardware malfunction, which manipulations are safe for beginners and which require experience (and why you should not immediately reset the settings through Fastboot).

If your Xiaomi reboots for longer than 5 minutes, that's not the norm. Even on weak devices like the Redmi 5A or POCO C31, it shouldn't take more than 2-3 minutes to fully load the system, except for the first boot after a firmware reset or update (but there's a limit of 10 minutes), and then we'll go into detail what to do in each situation.

First Actions: Checking for Basic Causes

Before you start complex manipulations, eliminate obvious factors that can slow down the load.

• 🔋 Battery charge, if the charge level is lower 5%, The phone may be looped in the initialization phase of the battery. Connect the original cable and charger (at least) 10 Waht and wait 15-20 minutes before the charging indicator appears.
• 🔥 If the body is hot (especially in the processor area), let the device cool off when it is off. 30-40 Forced reboot in an overheated state often leads to failures.
• 📶 SIM card or memory card: Remove the tray with SIM and flash drive – sometimes damaged contacts or incompatible microSD (especially exFAT format) block downloading.
• 🔌 Cable and charging if the phone is connected to a faulty adapter or USB-PC port, this can cause conflicts when initializing the system.

If you're still not loading after this manipulation, move on to the next step, and especially if you see a "No Command" sign on the screen, or a robot with a red exclamation point, that's a sign of a recovery failure, and the next steps will be different.

2. Forced reset: how to do it right

Many users mistakenly think that just press the power button for 10 seconds and the phone will turn off. In fact, Xiaomi has three types of forced reboot, and their effectiveness depends on the state of the device:

1. Soft reset: Press Power + Volume Up for 10-15 seconds, suitable if the phone is responsive to buttons, but stuck on the logo.
2. Hard reset: Press down Power + Volume down for 20-30 seconds, works even when it is completely frozen, but can lead to loss of unsaved data.
3. Emergency shutdown: Press the power for 30+ seconds (before vibration or screen shutdown) if the first two methods fail.

Important: On some models (e.g. Xiaomi 12 Pro or POCO F4), button combinations may differ. If you have a device with a subscreen fingerprint scanner, try pinching Power + Volume + Home (if you have a physical button).

If the phone freezes on the logo again after a forced reboot, it indicates damage to system files or firmware conflict, in which case a deeper diagnosis will be required.

3. Safe Mode Booting: Diagnostics of Applications

Safe Mode allows you to boot a phone with third-party apps disabled, and if it's running normally, it's a problem with one of the programs installed.

1. Turn off your phone (forced if it doesn’t respond).
2. Press the Power button before the MI logo appears.
3. Once the logo appears, immediately press and hold the Volume Down until full load.
4. In the lower left corner of the screen should appear the inscription "Safe mode".

In this mode:

• 📱 Remove newly installed applications (especially those that required root rights or access to system settings).
• 🔄 Check for updates for system applications in Settings → The phone. → Update of the PO.
• 🛠️ Launch the built-in security utility → Optimization for cleaning the cache.

If the phone loads fast in safe mode and slows down in normal mode, it's likely one of the apps that is responsible.

• 🎮 Game launchers (Game Turbo, Xiaomi Game Center)
• 🔒 VPN-Customers, especially Super VPN, Turbo VPN)
• 📊 Memory Optimizers (Clean Master, DU Speed Booster)
• 🔍 Antiviruses from third-party developers

4.Cache cleanup and reset settings via Recovery

If Safe Mode doesn't work, the next step is to clear the cache or reset to factory settings via Recovery Mode.This won't delete your data (photos, contacts), but reset the app and system settings.

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press Power + Volume Up for 10-15 seconds until the Recovery menu appears (usually with a robot image and the words "No Command").
3. If the menu is in Chinese, select the language using volume buttons and confirm the power button.
4. Select the Wipe & Reset option → Wipe Cache (cleaning the cache).
5. Confirm the action and wait until the completion (usually 1-2 minutes).
6. Reboot the phone (Reboot) → Reboot to System).

If cleaning the cache didn’t help, try Wipe Data/Factory Reset.Caution: This will delete all installed apps, accounts and settings, but save files in memory (photos, videos, music).

💡

Remove the memory card before reset – sometimes Recovery formats it with the internal memory if it identifies it as part of the system partition.

On some models (POCO X3 Pro, Redmi Note 10 Pro) the Recovery menu may be missing or blocked, in which case you will need to unlock the bootloader via Fastboot.

5. Problems after firmware update: what to do

One of the most common reasons for a long reboot is a failed MIUI update, which can be due to:

• 📥 Interrupted download of the firmware file (for example, if Wi-Fi is disabled during the update).
• 🔧 Incompatibility of the firmware version with your model (especially relevant for Global and China builds).
• 🛠️ Errors in unpacking the file (update.zip).
• 🔋 Insufficient battery charge during the upgrade (less than 30%).

If the phone hangs on the logo after the update, try the following steps:

1. Recovery rollback: Boot in Recovery Mode (as described above).Select Apply update → Choose update package. Specify the path to the firmware file (if it is stored in internal memory in the folder) downloaded_rom).
2. Handheld firmware via Fastboot (for power users): Download the official firmware for your model from Xiaomi Firmware. Unpack the archive and launch the script flash_all.bat (for Windows or flash_all.sh (for macOS/Linux). Connect your phone in Fastboot mode (clip the power supply) + Turning down the volume).

Note: Fastboot erases all data, including files in internal memory. If you have important information, try retrieving it first through ADB in Recovery mode:

adb pull /sdcard/path to computer

If the phone still doesn’t boot after firmware, check the Bootloader and Anti-Rollback version. On some models (such as the Xiaomi Mi 9 or Redmi K20 Pro), installing the old firmware can block the device.

💡

Never install firmware if its version number is lower than the current one on your phone, which can lead to activation of anti-Rollback protection and complete locking of the device.

6. Hardware reasons: when you need help from the service

If all software methods have been tried, but the phone still doesn't boot or reboots cyclically, the problem may be in the hardware, and here are the main "symptoms" and their possible causes:

Attention: if you suspect a hardware malfunction, don’t try to disassemble the phone yourself! Modern Xiaomi smartphones (especially the 12/13 series or Mix) have fragile plumes and adhesive connections that are easy to damage without a special tool. Contact the service center with an official Xiaomi license - this will keep the warranty (if it is still valid).

One of the most insidious hardware defects is the degradation of memory chips (especially on budget models with eMMCs, such as the Redmi 7A or POCO C3), in which case the phone can work normally during the day, but after a reboot, it forgets some of the system files and hangs. It is diagnosed only with special software like ChipGenius or Flash ID.

7. Features for specific Xiaomi models

Some Xiaomi smartphones have unique boot-related illnesses, and here are the most common:

• 📱 Redmi Note 8/8 Pro, Redmi Note 9/9 Pro: Often suffer from failures in the section EFS post-update MIUI 13/14. Solution – Fastboot firmware with Pre-cleaning of the persist partition.
• 📱 POCO X3 NFC, POCO F3: They may be stuck on the logo because of a conflict with the Game Turbo module. ADB: adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.gameturbo
• 📱 Xiaomi Mi 10/Mi 10 Pro: Booting problems after screen replacement due to failure in the DDIC-Requires the display firmware via QFil.
• 📱 Redmi 4X/5A: It's a long load because of the wear and tear of the eMMC, so the solution is to replace the chip or switch to Custom. ROM (For example, LineageOS).

Models with a Mediatek processor (e.g. Redmi 9A, POCO C31) are characterized by preloader problems. If the phone does not respond to buttons and is not detected by the computer, you may need to "reanimate" via the SP Flash Tool using an authentication file.

For devices on Snapdragon (for example, Xiaomi 11T Pro, POCO F4 GT), there are more frequent failures in the modemst1/modemst2 section, which lead to an endless reboot, in which case the firmware through the QDLoader 9008 will help in emergency mode.

8 Prevention: How to avoid problems in the future

To minimize the risk of repeated failures, follow these guidelines:

• 🔄 Update the firmware only through official channels (Settings) → The phone. → Software updates: Avoid "custom" builds from unknown sources.
• 📴 Don’t interrupt the refresh or reboot process. Even if your phone seems to be getting stuck, wait at least 20 minutes.
• 🔋 Keep an eye on battery power. Do not update software or reset settings if the charge is below 30%.
• 🛡️ Use reliable sources to download applications. Many of them are pirated» APK contain code that conflicts with MIUI.
• 🔄 Clean the cache regularly through Settings → Memory. → Clean the cache (it is enough 1 time per month).
• 🔧 Do not change system fonts/themes through third-party launchers.This often leads to failures in the system. framework-res.apk.

If you often experiment with firmware or system modifications, install Custom Recovery (like TWRP) and backup through Nandroid Backup, which will allow you to restore the phone in 5-10 minutes even after a critical crash.

Note: On models with a locked bootloader, installing a TWRP can lead to locking the device.Be sure to unlock Bootloader using the official Mi Unlock Tool before doing so (requires a Mi Account binding and a wait of 7-15 days).

💡

Regular backups through Mi Cloud or Google Drive will save your data even if the system fails completely.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi's long reboot