How to fix Nexus 6P that slowed down and keeps restarting on its own [Troubleshooting Guide]

The #Huawei Nexus 6P (#Nexus6P) is among the best smartphones in the market today packing up really impressive hardware specs and the latest Android firmware. Owners expect a lot from it that’s why it’s so disappointing to see it struggling to open apps or perform common tasks.

Slowing down and random reboots are two of the most common performance-related problems reported by owners. In this post, I will tackle these two issues and will provide you with troubleshooting procedures that work.

Before we jump into our troubleshooting, make sure you visit our Nexus 6P troubleshooting page if you got a different issue with your phone. We list down every problem we answer in that page so try to find ones that are similar or related to yours. You can also contact us by completing our Android issues questionnaire and giving us more information about the problem.

Troubleshoot Nexus 6P that slowed down

There are several factors that may lead to the slowing down or random reboots of a smartphone. In Nexus 6P’s case and based on testimonies of users who encountered this problem, apps are a common cause and then corrupt files like caches and data. We will have to look into these things and eventually bring the phone back to its usual performance. That being said, here are the things you should do…

Step 1: Isolate the problem immediately

First, let’s assume that your apps have something to do with this problem so we need to know if the apps that cause it are pre-installed or third-party ones. We can only do that by booting your Nexus 6P in safe mode, which puts the device into diagnostic state wherein only basic apps and services are running. Here’s how you start your phone in safe mode:

1. Power down your Nexus 6P.
2. Press the Power button to turn it back on.
3. Once the Google logo appears on the screen, press and hold the Volume Down button.
4. Once the logo animation end, release the Volume Down button and your device will start in safe mode.
5. You will then see a box at the bottom of your screen that shows “Safe mode.”

After the phone has booted up in safe mode, continue using it and keenly observe its performance. It’s expected that it will perform better in this state than in normal mode so there should be a noticeable difference on the fluidity of its responses to your commands and pre-installed apps opens faster. If such is the case, then the problem can be in the downloaded apps. The thing is we really can’t pinpoint which one is causing the problem. Therefore, you need to disable or uninstall recently installed apps until you can find the one that’s causing the problem.

Step 2: Delete old system caches

If the phone is still performing poorly in safe mode, then it’s obvious that the problem is with your pre-installed apps or with the firmware itself. We really cannot go after pre-installed apps since we can only do so much to them, besides, they’re embedded in the firmware so it’s wiser to just go after the firmware than them. In this case, the next thing you have to do is clear the system cache especially if you recently updated your phone to a newer firmware. Here’s how…

1. Press and hold the Volume Down button first and then press and hold the Power key.
2. Once you see some information on the screen, release the buttons.
3. The Phone will boot into Bootloader Mode.
4. Using the Volume buttons, highlight Recovery Mode.
5. Press the Power key to confirm you want to boot into recovery mode.
6. An Android with exclamation mark will be displayed on the screen.
7. Press and hold the Power key and then press and hold Volume Up.
8. The recovery options will soon appear on the screen.
9. Highlight ‘wipe cache partition’ option using the volume keys.
10. Press the power key to confirm you want to wipe the cache partition.
11. Highlight ‘Yes’ option and then hit the power key again to select it.
12. Wait until the device finishes deleting the system cache and then highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the power key.

Wiping the cache partition always works that is if the problem is with corrupt system caches. But if the problem isn’t with the caches but with the data, then it’s a different story and we have a different procedure to take care of that.

Step 3: Give the phone fresh start

Wiping the cache partition sure is effective for firmware issues that occur after a firmware update but when it fails to fix a problem like this, then it’s safe to assume the issue isn’t with the cache but with the data. We cannot delete system data one by one so we really need to delete the in one go and there’s no better way to do that than the master reset but you need to backup your data and files before doing it.

1. Press and hold the Volume Down button first and then press and hold the Power key.
2. Once you see some information on the screen, release the buttons.
3. The Phone will boot into Bootloader Mode.
4. Using the Volume buttons, highlight Recovery Mode.
5. Press the Power key to confirm you want to boot into recovery mode.
6. An Android with exclamation mark will be displayed on the screen.
7. Press and hold the Power key and then press and hold Volume Up.
8. The recovery options will soon appear on the screen.
9. Highlight ‘wipe data/factory reset’ option using the volume keys.
10. Press the power key to confirm you want to reset the phone.
11. Highlight ‘Yes’ option and then hit the power key again to select it.
12. Wait until the device finishes the reset and then highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the power key.

Reset always fixes performance issues but it must always come as the last resort because of the hassle it causes when you backup your data, files, contacts, messages, etc. That’s the reason why we need to exhaust all possible solutions to the problem before resorting to a reset.

Slowing down is often a minor issue but random reboots may not. However, both of these problems can be fixed by the three procedures I cited here but when everything else fails, then you have to get the device checked by a technician.

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