How to fix Galaxy S8 screen that turns black when charging, screen won’t turn on

Hello Android fans! Today’s #GalaxyS8 troubleshooting page answers two issues — black screen issue when charging, and screen malfunction due to hardware damage. We hope you’ll find our this article helpful.

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.

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.

Problem 1: Galaxy S8 cracked screen won’t turn on, unable to enter passcode

My screen is cracked and now half of the screen is white and it won’t go away. i have one more attempt to type my password before it does a factory reset. i can’t see the number to type my passcode because half of the screen is white and covering the numbers. — Kaitlyn Owens

Solution: Hi Kaitlyn. Any discoloration or unnatural visible lines in the screen is a sure sign of a screen problem. The fact that the screen is cracked is more than enough reason to send your phone to Samsung or to an independent service center. Since you did not provide a complete history of your phone, we assume that it must be physically impacted after you accidentally dropped it. Because a visible crack is most of the times accompanied by a performance malfunction, it almost always means that the phone is sent in for repair. If you’re lucky and the damage is isolated to the screen only, replacing this specific part may be a relatively easy fix. We strongly suggest that you let Samsung assess the damage so they can tell you if the phone can still be fixed.

As far as software troubleshooting is concerned, the only thing that you can try is to see if the screen will work fine when the phone is rebooted to Download Mode or Recovery Mode. Both of these modes run a different set of codes separate from the operating system. If the issue is associated with Android (which we doubt), the screen should work normally in either of these modes. (The crack should still be there obviously.)

How to boot your Galaxy S8 to Download Mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Turn off the Galaxy S8.
3. Press and then hold the Bixby and Volume Down keys, then press and hold the Power key.
4. Download Mode will appear right away so as soon as it does, you can release all the buttons.
5. If you can boot the phone in download mode but not in other modes, that means that your only way out may be to flash a stock or custom firmware.
6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

How to boot your Galaxy S8 to Recovery Mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Turn off the Galaxy S8
3. Press and then hold the Bixby and Volume Up keys, then press and hold the Power key.
4. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Bixby and Volume Up keys.
5. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Your case can’t obviously be fixed by tweaking the settings or by performing a factory reset so there’s nothing much that you can do. Depending on the policy of the device warranty, Samsung  may or may not cover repair costs for free. Be sure to ask them for an estimate of the repair fee.

Problem 2: How to fix Galaxy S8 screen that turns black when charging

Owning a Samsung S8 for a month now. My issue, when turned off or charging, the screen is black. But later the screen will turn into a waving multicolor. I will push the on button and it goes back to black or will turn on. When viewing the screen, it does not turn multicolor, only when off or charging. — Joe Garcia

Solution: Hi Joe. There’s no reason why a new Galaxy S8’s screen will turn to black while charging unless it has a software bug that affects its charging function. A third party app can also affect some operating system functions so there’s a possibility that one of your apps may be to blame. To troubleshoot the issue, follow the sequence of steps below.

Clear the cache partition

A lot of minor bugs can develop if your phone’s system cache is corrupted or outdated. Android uses a system cache to load apps quickly and sometimes, this app can get corrupted for whatever reason. To see if the issue lies on the system cache, consider wiping the cache partition, where this cache is located. Here’s how:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
4. Press the Volume down key to highlight wipe cache partition.
5. Press the Power key to select.
6. Press the Volume down key to highlight “yes” and press the Power key to select.
7. When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
8. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Reboot the phone to safe mode

Another good troubleshooting step that you can do is to observe how charging works when the phone is booted to safe mode. In this mode, all third party apps and services will be prevented from running. If your screen works as expected during charging while the device is on safe mode, that’s a clear sign that one of your apps is the reason.

To restart your Galaxy S8 to safe mode, kindly follow these steps:

1. Turn the device off.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
3. When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
8. Uninstall apps that are causing a problem.

Enable Stay awake feature

The fast charging feature of Galaxy S8 only kicks in when its screen is turned off. We noticed that even if the “Fast Charging” notification is showing, it still will take a few hours to fully charge the battery. This means that if you’re using your S8 while connected to its original fast charger, it’s not really fast charging at all. Be default, an S8 screen is set to turn off after a few seconds when charging to take advantage of fast charging feature. This may be the reason why you find it “odd” that the screen is black when you’re charging the device. If you don’t want this kind of setup, you can enable Stay awake feature to force the screen to turn on when charging. However, this will neutralize fast charging so you’ll have to contend with charging your phone for at least 2 hours before you’ll be able to unplug it. If you want to go ahead, here’s how to turn Stay awake on:

1. Go to Settings > About phone
2. Find Build number and tap it 7 times in quick succession
3. A notification will tell you when Developer options have been unlocked
4. Now, go back to Settings > Developer options
5. Turn on Stay awake (never sleep while charging)

Perform a factory reset

If the steps above won’t fix the issue at all, you can reset all software settings back to defaults with factory reset. Make sure that you back your important files up before you proceed.

There are two ways to factory reset your S8. We’ll provide both of them so you can decide how to proceed.

How to Factory Reset Galaxy S8 via Settings

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
3. Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
4. Tap Backup and restore.
5. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
6. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
7. Tap the back button to the Settings menu.
8. Tap General Management.
9. Tap Reset.
10. Tap Factory data reset.
11. Tap Reset device.
12. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
13. Tap Continue.
14. Tap Delete all.

How to Factory Reset Galaxy S8 via Recovery Mode

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. Turn off the device.
3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
6. Press Power button to select.
7. Press the Volume down key until Yes — delete all user data is highlighted.
8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
9. When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

 

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