Today, we give you five more issues taken from emails sent by some members of our community. This article though allocates a big chunk of troubleshooting instructions on how to address a common, yet, misunderstood issue — random reboot. We hope that the solutions provided in this post today will help the users who sent us their emails as well as those looking for ways to fix their own #GalaxyNote4 woes. If you want to look for previously published articles about Galaxy Note 4, please visit this page.

1. Galaxy Note 4 camera won’t record video to new SD card
2. How to fix a Galaxy Note 4 that keeps on rebooting randomly
3. Galaxy Note 4 stuck in Download mode
4. Galaxy Note 4 keeps dropping cellular network connection
5. Galaxy Note 4 file recovery after screen was replaced

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.

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Problem #1: Galaxy Note 4 camera won’t record video to new SD card

I may have just figured out my problem. I’ll tell you what it is and what I think and can you please comment with your thoughts.

I have a new Galaxy Note 4. I installed a 128GB SD card. I used to have a Galaxy S3 with a 64GB SD card. I took the old 64GB card and copied it to a PC. I then copied all of the old data to the new 128GB SD card. I then installed the 128GB card in to my new Note 4. Everything was ok.  I took pictures and they were saved in the SD card. But then I took a video and it did not save the video properly. When I went to play it, it shows me a strange opening picture and said File not found. I tested taking videos when saving to the device memory and they worked ok. So I replaced my 128GB SD with a new 16GB SD card. Videos worked ok.

I put the 128 back in. I looked at the files in the DCIM -> CAMERA folder and saw that the video I took was named temp_video. Why wasn’t it saving my videos properly?

Finally I came up with a possible cause. That CAMERA folder has over 3400 files in it for a total of over 25GB of data. So I renamed the folder to CAMERA-2016-03-16 and created a new CAMERA folder. I took some pictures and a video and I think it worked. Was the problem too many files and/or too much data in the folder? What do you think? What are your thoughts? — Eli

Solution: Hi Eli. We tried to replicate your situation in our lab Note 4 and everything works fine so your issue may be a rare bug. Also, we are not aware of any limitation to the number of files or amount of data a Note 4 camera folder can hold. That was probably just a glitch specific to your device. You can however try to replicate the situation again by filling in the current camera folder you’re using with approximately the same amount of data to confirm our hunch. If the issue occurs again, kindly contact us so we can update this post and educate Android community about the issue.

Problem #2: How to fix a Galaxy Note 4 that keeps on rebooting randomly

The Note 4 started behaving weird about two months ago. It would reboot multiple times without reaching the home screen, only reached the Samsung logo. I have noticed that that issue appears only when the phone is in good use, multiple apps opened, chats etc. I was thinking that it is the battery, because the phone is about a year old and I ordered new original Samsung one. After replacing the battery the issue persisted. I was really pissed off because Note 4 is power house and always worked very well. With time things got worse, rebooting became spontaneous and was really getting on my nerves, because I could not take photos, chat and use maps.

I have restored factory settings with a hope that it may help but unfortunately it did not. My data was backed up and I had 64GB memory card so I did not lose much. I have brought today my phone to repair shop with a hope that for 140 Euro they will solve this puzzle. I’m really losing hope with Samsung and Android. — Pavel

Solution: Hi Pavel. Random reboot issue is one of the common problems we encounter everyday. The causes for the issue are varied and requires a user to check many things to narrow down the real reason. Below are the specific things that you can do:

Know if the phone is overheating. Android phones are designed to shut down automatically once its core system reaches a certain heat threshold. This mechanism is meant to prevent damaging internal components and the phone in general. Overheating per se is not an issue but may also be a symptom of a hardware malfunction. For example, if a processor or battery is damaged, it can produce abnormal heat level that may manifest in overheating. Running simultaneous apps and services at the same time can also lead to overheating, especially if the phone is left in that state for a long time. If you notice that the phone gets uncomfortably hot before, then you can assume that overheating may be the cause for the random reboot issue.

Know if the issue happens after installing an app. Not all apps are created equal. In fact, majority of Android apps are poorly coded, or in the least, not totally optimized to work with the firmware of each Android device. If you recently installed an app prior to noticing the problem, try to remove or uninstall it and observe the phone.

Alternatively, you can also boot your phone in safe mode and observe the phone for at least 24 hours. Restarting your Note 4 in safe mode will prevent third party apps and processes from loading. If the issue fails to occur while safe mode is enabled, that’s a confirmation that one of your apps is to blame. Here are the steps to boot your phone in 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.

Install a free antivirus app and scan your device. We’re not aware of a specific malware that’s designed to shut down an Android device at this time but hackers are creative. We can never be sure if one has already been created and is released in the wild. Be sure to scan your device using a reputable free antivirus app like the AVG Antivirus. Remember, there are many “free” antivirus out there but most of them may give your device more harm than good. Stick to known brands to avoid infecting your device with things you are trying to get rid of.

Install the latest Android update. We always recommend that you install the latest available Android update to patch potential weaknesses of older versions. You can try to perform a factory reset first to restore all operating system and app settings to defaults before an update. For easy reference, here are the steps on how to factory reset your Note 4:

• 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 Volume Up key.
• Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
• Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
• When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
• The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.

If none of the things mentioned above won’t help, you can assume that your phone has a defective hardware.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 stuck in Download mode

I tried doing a factory reset to the phone and it caused the “Downloading… do not turn off target” error with nothing on the upper left hand corner as seen in your examples. I tried doing all the different combinations of boot modes but recovery mode (volume up+home+power) caused it to restart and displayed the note 4 intro for a millisecond to go back to the same “downloading..” error screen. I tried Download mode (volume down+home+power) and that just showed an error message that “downloading a software… something..something..”

I am planning to go back to the store and get it fixed because they surely know the problem although I would still like to diagnose the problem and fix it myself. — Pavan

Solution: Hi Pavan. Have you tried restarting the phone after removing the battery? If you haven’t, make sure to try it first. Should nothing change after that, we doubt if there’s still anything that you can do on your end.

If you can’t get the phone to boot in any other mode right now using any hardware button combinations, your best option is to have it replaced. There’s just no other way to go past the boot sequence, which is where the phone is stuck right now.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 4 keeps dropping cellular network connection

Hello TDG. I have a couple of problems with my Note 4. The first and oldest problem is that I can’t connect to my network. I’m almost everywhere out of service area (where service should be). If I get a connection it’s just for a couple of seconds (maximum is 2 minutes). The SIM Card does work with other devices and other SIM Cards don’t work with mine.

The latest problems are power problems. If my battery is about 30% it drains (mostly) very fast. And at the same time it seems like the next issue is also related to these 30%: my Note starts restarting and restarting over and over again.

First it freezes for one or two seconds than the screen turns of (it looks a bit like those very old TVs) and then it’s in a rebooting loop.

I tried some of your troubleshooting, tested some “”#0626*#”” (something like that) codes in the dialer, to have service again.

I tried some factory resets and soon I will try a new battery. — Chase

Solution: Hi Chase. Looks like the first issue has something to do with your phone. Make sure that the SIM card fits snugly to the slot when you insert it. Putting some paper on top of the SIM card so the back cover of the phone will press it down may help. There are cases wherein the SIM card slot malfunction. Make sure to have the slot checked by repair shop to ensure that it’s not the problem.

The second problem may also be due to defective hardware or battery. It won’t hurt though if you can try the standard software solutions we provided above (like booting in safe mode, wiping the cache partition, or doing a factory reset). If nothing changes, we’d recommend that you simply have the phone replaced instead of having to go through a repair process.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 file recovery after screen was replaced

Good morning. Could you kindly advise, I have a Samsung S4 Mini and some guy dropped it and it cracked so because I needed it fixed immediately the guy replaced the screen but I am assuming he replaced the screen with a fake or not so proper screen it worked for only three days but then it just went blank dark. The phone when I charge it it goes on but the screen is dead I think the LCD is messed up.

My question is if I perhaps take it to someone to fix it will my pictures and other stuff still be on the phone or not?

Please also note that I have not used this phone for 2 years so it has been messed up for 2 years. Kind regards. — Faith

Solution: Hi Faith. If the guy only replaced the screen and left the software untouched, your files should still be in the phone’s internal storage device at this time. If you can have the screen replaced and power the phone back on, you should still be able to recover your data without any problems.

 

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If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

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