As Samsung’s once top-of-line model drags on to 2017, some users may actually be pushing their units to their envelope. As such, we are expecting more #GalaxyNote4 issues this year. The most common issues for the Note 4 that we’ve documented so far includes boot- and battery-related problems. Don’t be surprised if you’ll encounter similar issues from time to time.

Below are the specific topics we discuss in this post today:

1. Galaxy Note 4 stuck in Samsung logo screen, boot loop
2. Causes of Galaxy Note 4 random restart issue
3. Galaxy Note 4 shuts down on its own when battery level reaches 30%
4. Verizon Galaxy Note 4 “No SIM found” error after inserting SIM card to jetpack MiFi
5. Galaxy Note 4 black home screen issue
6. Galaxy Note 4 S cover issue | Galaxy Note 4 voice call screen minimizes automatically

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

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Problem #1: Galaxy Note 4 stuck in Samsung logo screen, boot loop

I recently bought an unlocked Note 4. After some time my phone restarted. Then it got stuck in a restart loop that showed the Samsung logo and my carrier logo. I took out my battery and put it back in. I got to the home screen and in 10 seconds my phone screen suddenly died and I got the restart loop again. I wiped the cache. No fix. I haven’t done a master reset since that’s a last resort. I took out my SD card and this still didn’t fix it. The only way I stopped this was to connect my phone to a charger or keep my battery above 60%. If connected to a charger the battery could go under 60% but if not, I get a loop. However, the last time it got under 60% and the loop started, it didn’t even get to my carrier logo. It was just the Samsung logo over and over. Maybe this is a sign of the problem progressing? — Timothy

Solution: Hi Timothy. Lithium-ion batteries like the one on your Note 4, degrade in terms of performance and reliability over time. If the battery on your device is over a year old at this time, it may be nearing its end-of-life. It is but normal to notice that battery usage gets shorter and the need to charge  becomes more often. In this case, the best course of action for a user is to simply have the battery replaced.

However, there are times that battery issues occur not because the battery has been damaged or has severely depleted its capacity, but simply because the operating system has lost the ability to track remaining battery power. In other words, the system is no longer detecting the actual battery levels, thus battery percentage in the status bar is actually inaccurate. This can sometimes lead to the issue you’re describing here. Thus, the first task you want to do here is to recalibrate the battery so the operating system can read battery levels properly. Here is how it’s done:

1. Use the phone by playing games or doing tasks to hasten power discharge, until the phone turns itself off.
2. Turn the phone on again and let it turn itself off.
3. Charge the phone without turning it back on.
4. Wait until the battery says it fully charged to 100%
5. Unplug the charger and turn the phone on.
6. If the phone says it’s not 100% anymore, turn it off, plug the charger back in and wait until 100% charge is reached.
7. Unplug the charger the turn the phone on again.
8. Use the phone until you drain the battery down to 0.
9. Repeat the cycle once.

Remember, battery calibration can only do so much. If the issue remains after doing it, the next best thing to do is replace the battery itself. Doing so will allow you to check if the issue is on the battery, or on the phone. We highly think that the issue lies on the battery only but if a new replacement battery won’t help either, consider doing a master reset. Master reset in this context will have a two-fold effects — to eliminate possible software glitch, and restoring all software settings back to default. For reference, below are the steps on how to master reset your Note 4:

1. Create a back up of your irreplaceable files.
2. Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
3. Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
4. When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
5. When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Vol Up key.
6. Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
7. Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Vol Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
8. When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
9. The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.

Should a factory reset won’t change anything at all, you can assume that an unknown hardware issue is behind the trouble. Find a way to have the phone replaced.

Problem #2: Causes of Galaxy Note 4 random restart issue

Hi there. I have a Samsung Note 4 which has been working nice and smooth for almost 3 years now. A few weeks ago, out of nowhere and for no reason (new installations, any software/hardware modifications, physical impact, etc) my phone tends to freeze randomly. It could be playing music, or just sitting there by itself, and it just starts lagging and occasionally restarts itself. I’ve always used Avast for security, performance boost, clean up of junk and opening up memory by closing running apps for as long as I can remember. This problem happens even when no apps are open (1.58 GB of 2.71 GB RAM status). I’ve also tried using the phone with no SIM or SD cards. I’ve performed factory resets three times and as much as the phone functions perfectly half the time, on random occasions it just gets crippled and doesn’t allow me to do anything until it finds itself again (at times it just restarts). No one has a clue what this could be and that’s why I thought to give you guys a shot and see if you can come up with any solutions. Thank you for your time. Regards. — Sam

Solution: Hi Sam. Random restart issue is usually not the actual issue but rather just a sign of something that’s not working right. The causes of random reboot can range from insufficient RAM, a bad app, to a malfunctioning hardware. Identifying the true cause is often tricky and requires a number of troubleshooting steps. In order to narrow down possible causes, you must check a few of them yourself. Let’s discuss some of them here so you’ll know what to do.

Go over your list of apps. If you are the type who installs apps without checking where they come from, or who doesn’t bother to check the reviews of other users, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll encounter problems on your phone. Keep in mind that not all apps are created equal. Some apps are built by experienced, well-funded developers while majority are not. It’s no wonder that millions of Android users experience all sorts of issues after installing apps. Poor quality apps can sometimes cause conflicts with others apps or with the operating system. Such conflicts can sometimes result to random reboot issue.

To minimize issues arising from poor quality apps, you need to remove known buggy apps and uninstall those you don’t regularly use. If you have apps that weren’t used for at least weeks, chances are you don’t need them. Make sure to uninstall such apps.

Also, try to stick to official apps as long as possible. Not only are such apps less buggy, but they may also be more secure.

If you suspect that one of your apps is causing a problem on your device, you can also boot the phone to safe mode. While in this mode, all third party apps and services are blocked. You can then observe how your phone behaves. If the issue won’t occur while safe mode is on, that’s proof that one of the third party apps is to blame. Safe mode won’t identify the problematic app though so you must invest some time in identifying it yourself. You can do that by removing all third party apps individually, making sure to observe the phone after every uninstallation. For reference, below are the steps on how to boot your phone to safe mode:

• Turn off the phone completely.
• Press and hold the Power key and the Volume Down key.
• When the phone starts to boot, release the Power key but continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone finished restarting.
• Safe mode will be display at the lower left corner; you may release the Volume Down key now.

Keep your phone cool. What many Android users don’t realize is the fact that their device has a built-in damage protection system from overheating. This mechanism, in the form of a restart, kicks in once the core temperature of the device reaches a certain level. If you are out on a sunny day and you’ve been using your phone extensively for hours, there’s a chance that the phone will turn itself off to prevent damaging the motherboard from too much heat.

Sometimes, overheating itself can be a sign of hardware defect or even a bad system update. As such, you must observe your phone thoroughly in order to know whether or not overheating is a symptom of something deeper, or if it’s a preventive system behavior.

Some of the problems that can manifest in overheating includes:

• Poorly coded apps
• Damaged battery
• Buggy system update/firmware

Battery may be to blame. As mentioned above, a battery issue itself can lead to random reboot. Over the years, the metal contacts  in the battery slot can get damaged, bent, or corroded, causing poor connection. Such situation can be overlooked, especially if you’re too focused on knowing what’s wrong with the software or other aspects of the phone. Make sure that you check that the metal contacts are clean and in place. Also, you want to ensure that the battery still fits snugly when you insert it. If the power source loses good connection to the metal contacts when moving or using the phone, it can lead to random reboot issue.

In most cases, especially for older phones (the ones that usually goes beyond the usual 2-year life cycle), depleted battery capacity is to blame. Thus, one of the important things you must consider in your situation is battery replacement. If you’ve already tried it before, simply skip this step.

Latest running firmware may be buggy. While it’s almost impossible to ascertain for an average Android user whether a system update is buggy or not, we hear reports of power-related issues due to bad firmware from to time. If your issue started right after installing an update from your carrier, then the latest system update may be to blame. Make sure that you let your carrier know about the issue so they can, in turn, forward the issue to the appropriate department. Before you contact your carrier though, you can also try factory reset to see if you fix the issue at your level.

Unknown hardware malfunction. If nothing else seems to work after considering all items above, the problem must be due to bad component. In this case, you must find a way to have the phone’s hardware examined, or the phone replaced.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 shuts down on its own when battery level reaches 30%

My Note 4 charges and discharges normally, I think. The problem with my phone is that the power level gets down into the 30-40% range and then the phone shuts off. I charge is back up to 100% and everything is normal until it gets back down into the 30-40% range and then shuts down again. I thought it was the battery so i replaced it with an OEM Samsung battery (same part number as the one that came with the phone), and it does the same exact thing. I’ve run battery cell tests on the battery (not sure how accurate those apps are) and they all report the battery is in perfect health. I have also cleared cache, and pulled the battery for 5 minutes  with the same result. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. — Del ahlin

Solution: Hi Del ahlin. Make sure that you calibrate the battery properly as we suggested above. If that won’t fix the issue at all, consider doing a factory reset, or flashing stock firmware (if you are using custom ROM at this time).

Problem #4: Verizon Galaxy Note 4 “No SIM found” error after inserting SIM card to jetpack MiFi

Hello!  I’ll try not to bore you here but this is going to be a long terribly worded question.

I have had this phone for several years on the Verizon network, which honestly is probably my biggest problem. It’s hard to let it go because of being grandfathered into the unlimited data.

 About a year ago I acquired a Verizon MIFI jetpack. Being excited I went home and tested it out using the SIM from my Note. HAZA! We have connection without the apps and bloatware from my Note lagging the data.

 The first few times I used it there were no issues. But I’m guessing with Verizon slowly updating their systems they caused a problem for me. When reinstalling the SIM in my Note I receive a “No SIM found” error that will not go away.

 I took my device to the Verizon store and they tell me that their system is hanging up on switching devices and there is basically nothing I or they can do to fix this. The gentlemen helping me simply refreshed my device info a few times in his system and it did finally work on my Note. But I’ve run into the problem again.

 So my main concern I am trying to get a fix for is, is there any way I can seamlessly switch between devices without this problem? I have looked into SIM cloning however all the sources said that the information would copy to the new SIM but there would be no data connection.

Any information on this would be greatly appreciated! — Stephen

Solution: Hi Stephen. In GSM phones, a user can generally have a seamless transition when inserting the SIM card to another compatible device. In GSM networks, the SIM card is the only place where subscriber’s information are kept in order to use a network’s services. As long the SIM card is active and registered, there shouldn’t be any problems inserting it to another GSM device.

In CDMA networks like Verizon however, there are relatively minor issues such as the one you’re experiencing. As you can see, CDMA phones don’t actually need SIM cards to keep subscriber data. The information needed by the network to identify a device and a subscriber are buried deep in the phone itself. The SIM cards in CDMA phones are there to allow the device to use 4G LTE and nothing more. The problem you’re having right now is most probably due to how Verizon’s provisioning system is set up, which means that you have to continue working with them if you want to have a permanent fix. As such, there’s nothing much that we can do to help you in this regard.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 black home screen issue

Good day! I need help. My Note 4 has been acting up again. And now i just can’t fix it & it has been like this for more than 2 months now. Resetting it could probably fix it. But i still have files that i have yet to get. It has a black home screen but i can still see the notifications on top.

If i double press the home button, the “siri” like app comes on with the blue-colored screen. It works if i have internet, but i can’t connect to the wifi now. And if i try to open other apps, i return to a black screen with the notifications on top (same as 1st image)

I can also bring down the drop down/ pull down menu from the home screen. But if i tap on any of the menus or apps, i still go back to the black home screen. Please help me out. How do i fix this? Thank you! 🙂 — Timothei

Solution: Hi Timothei. Have you tried booting the phone to safe mode? If the issue is being caused by an app, restarting to safe mode may very well help you. Refer to the steps above on how to do it.

If the issue is due to an operating system glitch though, your only way out may be a factory reset. To backup your files, we suggest that you install Smart Switch to a computer and connect your phone to it via USB. If copying files via Smart Switch won’t work either, there’s really nothing that you can do.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 4 S cover issue | Galaxy Note 4 voice call screen minimizes automatically

I have a Galaxy Note 4 with the S cover. When I have an incoming call and open my S screen to answer it, the S box display remains over my enter your password screen. I can answer my calls but I can’t do any of the other options like put on speaker cause it just doesn’t show up. Then when I’m done with my call I can’t hang up unless the other person hangs up, the call will remain. Sometimes when I answer, the screen will completely minimize and I’m unable to end my call unless I unlock my phone first. When I go to my phone call settings to see if something might have been changed, it completely closes right away or minimizes.

I tried taking off my S cover. This time the normal screen appears where I can put on speaker but again it will randomly minimize almost immediately. 

I tried rebooting, and taking out my battery but nothing helps. The only thing is to try factory reset. As I have never done this or do back ups and I know it’s going to be painful for me I thought maybe I could ask you here cause I saw the email on Google. 

I thought it might be a virus but the scanner indicates it’s clean. It just started happening in the middle of the day. I didn’t drop it or spilled any liquid, I’m always careful.

Not sure what to do. Searches aren’t showing up with anything similar to my problem.

Sorry for such a long email. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. — Nez

Solution: Hi Nez. We think the most effective solution for your problem is only factory reset but you might as well try wiping the cache partition first, if only to see if that will help. Here’s how to do it:

• Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
• Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
• When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
• When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Vol Up key.
• Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power key to select it.
• When the wiping of the cache partition is finished, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the power key.

 

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