If the tablet is running Windows, try control+alt+one of the arrow keys.  Play with the arrow keys until you get the display the right way up. You should then be able to find the keys required to shut down gracefully.

Some people with twisted senses of humour do this as a 'joke' on colleagues who are rash enough to leave their computers unattended. Our cat does it just to show his independence!

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly.

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 25/10/2022 15:49:26

Harry, I too have a Samsung Android tablet. It regularly updates itself, downloads the data when connected to wifi and not doing anything else and then installs the update. Looking at the other part of the message on the screen it would seem that it has crashed during an update. The download could have been corrupted (it should check that) or it has just missed a beat if the cable was pulled at the wrong moment.

The long press on the Volume down and power button at the same time should (in theory) induce a factory reset mode. There are other combinations of button presses that do similar depends slightly on which model. It is possible to reload the factory software but it requires extra software and a lot of patience

John

Following Frances' lead suggests the image is corrupt and needs to be replaced. (Jargon alert – the 'image' is a copy of the phone's operating system, not a photograph.)

Ordinary users rarely need to worry about the operating system unless it goes wrong as it has here, cause unknown.

Attempting to start, the phone has detected the image is corrupt and is attempting to download and install a new one from a PC. What's required on the PC is:

1. A bunch of files provided containing a clean operating system. These are provided by Samsung and have to match the phone. A quick search found developer images but not user images, but my Google-fu is weak. Once found these are copied to the PC.
2. A program called Odin, available here. This detects an Android phone connected to the PC with a USB cable and allows a new image to be burnt on the phone. The screenshot shows the phone has found an image error, has entered recovery mode, and is waiting for Odin.

I've fixed equivalent Windows and Linux OS corruptions, but not Android (or Apple). The process can be fiddly and using hard to drive tools. I've no idea if Odin is wonderfully easy to use or a complicated pig stuffed with unexplained options and weird abbreviations! Odin available for download is said to be proprietary Samsung software that's been pinched – slightly worrying!

Unless I fancied an adventure, I'd give it to an expert to fix. Harry might try Samsung's service website to find one, or these people who come to the door and claim to be cheaper.

Dave

I got called out one night because some idiot changed the language to Chinese on a very large IBM printer then couldn't change it back because no one could read Mandarin!

John + Dave
The solution mentioned in the message seemed to imply that there was a mechanism to get a menu prompt one option of which was to fix the boot system without actually having any thing to download – but I too have never had to fix an Android system though having just bought a Samsung 2nd hand model I might well be required to do so – there are many small repair shops that might well be able to do a no fix no pay repair

I'm in the same position – with me Android is all theory. I'm tempted to buy one and experiment. There seems to be enough technical information on the web, but I don't like recommending stuff unless I've tried it. Educational to see Journeyman's remark that Odin isn't the most user friendly program because it's definitely true messing with the boot stage and flashing can brick a computer.

Sakura might be right in suggesting buying a new tablet, but I'd check out the cost of repair first. I suspect this is a easy fix for an expert and it might be cheap. The chance of keeping whatever data is on the tablet and not having to understand upgrades may be an advantage.

If you get into Odin territory with your Samsung Frances I'd be interested in how it goes,

Dave.

At least try the factory reset option. Typically holding down a pair of buttons. Google factory resset + the specific model of tablet as it varies from model to model.