Recovery mode on an Android smartphone is essential in several critical situations. Although technicians typically use this mode to fix various issues, regular users might occasionally need to access it—for example, to resolve an unresponsive device by wiping the cache partition. This guide is for Samsung phone users who cannot enter into Recovery mode.
This article will guide you on how to boot your Samsung smartphone into Recovery mode. If you’re seeing a [PDP] error message on your home screen when trying to access Recovery mode, this simple workaround will fix the issue and help you successfully enter Recovery mode on your Samsung device.
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What is Recovery Mode in Android Smartphones?
All Android smartphones have a Recovery mode, which you can access by booting your phone using a special hardware key combination, usually the Power + Volume Up buttons. However, there are variations based on the smartphone brand.
It is a special environment that helps users fix problems with their devices. If your device is freezing, crashing, or stuck in a boot loop, you can use recovery mode to perform a factory reset and restore it to its original settings. It is also used to remove the forgotten password lock, view system logs and delete cache partitions.
Reason to Unable to Access Recovery Mode on Samsung Phone: Showing [PDP] Error
When you try to restart your Samsung Galaxy phone in Recovery mode using the hardware keys, if the phone starts in normal mode and displays the [PDP] error message, you are not alone. The reason is that Samsung changed the method for accessing Recovery mode with Android 11 (One UI 3.0) and later versions.
Starting with Android 11 (One UI 3.0), all Samsung smartphones require a USB connection to access Recovery mode. If a user attempts to start the Samsung phone in Recovery mode without connecting it via a USB cable, the phone will not enter Recovery mode and will instead boot into normal mode, displaying the [PDP] error message on the home screen. Therefore, all users must connect a USB cable to their Samsung phone in order to access Recovery mode.
How to Boot Samsung Galaxy Phone into Recovery Mode Without PDP Error
1. First, switch off your Samsung Galaxy phone and connect it to your PC using USB cable.
[If you don’t have a PC, you can try to connect your Samsung phone to another Android phone using type-C cable]
2. Once you connect your phone to computer, the charging animation will display on its screen. Wait until the battery percentage starts showing on the screen.
3. Now press and hold Power + Volume Up buttons until the Samsung boot logo appears on the screen.
[If you have an older Samsung phone model with Bixby button, press the Bixby + Power + Volume Up buttons].
4. Now release the buttons and you’ll have access to the Recovery Mode without any error message.
You have now successfully boot your Samsung galaxy phone into Recovery mode. You can use Volume Up/Down buttons to navigate between options and Power button to select an option.
