Here’s another list of #GalaxyNote4 issues that were submitted to us for the past few days. With a lot of Note 4 cases still waiting to be published, you can expect that we will be publishing more of the same articles in the coming months. So, for those looking forward to seeing their issues addressed here, keep watching for more upcoming posts. You can also visit our main Note 4 troubleshooting page here.

Below are the topics we’re covering in this material today:

1. Galaxy Note 4 wifi keeps disconnecting
2. Galaxy Note 4 no audio when playing music or video via bluetooth
3. Galaxy Note 4 slow performance, freezing, randomly rebooting issues
4. How to fix Note 4 the keeps restarting on its own
5. Galaxy Note 4 keeps cannot send calls or SMS | Galaxy Note 4 keeps losing cellular service
6. Galaxy Note 4 bootloader is corrupted
7. Unable to install system update for Galaxy Note 4

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.

---

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 4 wifi keeps disconnecting

I have a problem with my Note 4 Wi-Fi. It works fine after a hard reset, and sometimes, though not always after a soft reset. This only lasts until I let the phone go to sleep however, as the Wi-Fi will then turn itself off. I have tried hard resetting through the menu, through holding the volume, power, and home buttons simultaneously, and through initializing the device again through Samsung Smart Switch. I have also sent it to the vendor, who hard reset it, saw the Wi-Fi working immediately afterwards and sent it back claiming nothing was wrong.

The issue here is that after the Wi-Fi turns itself off, it is almost impossible to turn back on again. I hit the switch, and it turns gray for several minutes before turning back to the off position. Sometimes, it will turn on, but then it will claim the local network is out of range, or it will have trouble connecting to it. In the case that it does connect, then it frequently drops the connection.

In addition to the resets, I have also tried safe mode and clearing cache. Neither have worked.

Is this a software problem as suggested by one phone repair center, and if so, is there anything else I can do? Or is it a hardware problem as suggested by another, and should I be looking at a new Wi-Fi Antenna?

I have an international Note 4 (Model SM-N910C) that I am using on Ting, which uses the T-Mobile network. Since November, my Wi-Fi has not worked properly. After a long time turned off, or after a factory reset, the Wi-Fi will function mostly normal, but as soon as the phone goes to sleep, it will turn off. When I try to turn the Wi-Fi back on again, it will grey out the switch for several minutes before settling in the off position. In the case that I do finally get the Wi-Fi to turn on, it will have trouble connecting, either claiming that the network is out of range, or just saved, but not actually doing anything to connect. After telling it to connect several times, it will finally connect, but then randomly disconnect and reconnect for as long as I am using it provided I don’t let it sleep again, in which case it will turn off and the whole problem starts over. I have done hard resets, both through the Android menu and through the boot menu access by pressing home/power/volume up. I have also flashed the software again through Samsung Smart Switch. Despite all of this, the problem persists. Do you have any idea what could be causing this? Thank you Regards.  — Michael

Solution: Hi Michael. The problem is most probably a bad wifi antenna more than a software one. As far as software troubleshooting is concerned, you’ve already all the things anyone can do in this case. That factory reset did not fix the issue is a strong indication the problem is beyond an average user to fix, if it’s fixable at all. Wifi functionality uses a special chip in order to work. This chip has its own firmware that’s independent of the operating system. The factory reset that you did addressed possible operating system issue but not the possible problem with the wifi chip or its firmware. Unfortunately, there’s no way to check the true status of the wifi chip firmware so even a good technician is only limited to replacing this particular chip, if an available replacement component can be purchased.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 no audio when playing music or video via bluetooth

A few days ago, while I was driving and listening to a video, my device abruptly stopped playing media audio through bluetooth connections. Call audio still works, but videos and music will simply run silently. This problem occurs on both my bluetooth devices, each made by a different manufacturer, so I know it’s a problem with my phone. Both devices are set up to play media audio and both have worked fine previously. I have tried unpairing and repairing as well as resetting my phone. I would appreciate any advice you could offer. P.s. I am not actually certain what android os I am running, but I’m reasonably certain it’s the latest one since I update whenever it is offered. — A.anderson.785

Solution: Hi A.anderson.785. Sometimes, a corrupted system cache can cause other apps or functionalities to work erratically. To make sure that the system cache is up-to-date all the time, you must regularly clear the cache partition. Wiping the cache partition is an important maintenance procedure so it can be performed whether you’re experiencing an issue or not. 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 Volume 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.

Boot to safe mode

If refreshing the system cache won’t help, try to check if an installed third party app is interrupting the bluetooth functionality. You can do that by restarting the phone in safe mode and observing the phone. If bluetooth functionality will work normally in safe mode, that’s a sign that one of the third party apps is to blame. To boot your phone to safe mode, follow these steps:

• 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 updates

We also highly recommend that you install any app or system updates that you have hold off. Try checking the settings of the Google Play Store app and make sure that you set it to auto-update all the time. Otherwise, simply install app updates manually more often.

The same should be true when it comes to system updates. Make sure that you install whatever system updates there is. Updates are released for a reason and sometimes they contain fixes to known bugs.

Wipe the phone clean via factory reset

If all else fails, don’t hesitate to reset all software settings to their defaults by doing a factory reset. This procedure will delete all user data such as photos, videos, contacts, etc., so make sure that you create a backup before doing it.

Below 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

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 slow performance, freezing, randomly rebooting issues

My Note 4 started freezing 4 days ago. First it was like a lag then progressed to freezing, then freezing and restarting. The phone has popped up with errors saying various apps won’t load. System apps, apps that came on the phone. I have tried soft reboot, hard reboot, and even a factory reset. Now the phone won’t reboot at all. I now get a totally black screen with a menu on it such as reboot, loading something from my SD card, to name a couple of them. I have no idea what happened. I have not deleted anything off my phone except apps I have downloaded to my phone. —  Nicole

Solution: Hi Nicole. Try to restart the phone to different boot modes and see if you can do a follow up troubleshooting for each one. Below are the exact steps on how to do each one:

Boot in Recovery mode:

• Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
• Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
• When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
• When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
• Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
• You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

• Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
• Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
• When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
• Wait until the Download screen appears.
• 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.
• Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

• Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
• Press and hold the Power button.
• Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
• Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
• Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
• The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

NOTE: If your phone continues to reboot randomly or fail to boot normally at all after doing all the steps above, you should consider sending it in for repair or replacement.

Problem #4: How to fix Note 4 the keeps restarting on its own

My phone keeps rebooting randomly out of nowhere when I’m not using my phone. This problem started happening a lot after the update to the latest Android version. It’s driving me crazy having to constantly re-inputting my password after it finish rebooting. Can anyone please find out what is causing my phone to just randomly reboot without letting me know why it needs to be reboot?  Or what is causing it to reboot while it’s just sitting there with no apps running in the background. I’ve always check and kill any apps that is running in the background to keep my phone battery from draining. — Ben_jamin1084

Solution: Hi Ben_jamin1084. Random reboot issue can be due to either software or hardware issues so you must try to narrow down possible causes first. The general direction should be to start with software troubleshooting. If nothing changes after you’ve exhausted all software troubleshooting, you can assume that bad hardware must be to blame.

There’s no special set of software troubleshooting for this issue but you can try the ones we suggest for A.anderson.785 above. Basically, what you want to do includes:

• wiping the cache partition
• observing in safe mode
• installing app and system updates, and
• factory reset

If these software procedures won’t help, try recalibrating the battery by doing the following steps:

Use the phone by playing games or doing tasks to hasten power discharge, until the phone turns itself off.

• Turn the phone on again and let it turn itself off.
• Charge the phone without turning it back on.
• Wait until the battery says it fully charged to 100%
• Unplug the charger and turn the phone on.
• If the phone says it’s not 100% anymore, turn it off, plug the charger back in and wait until 100% charge is reached.
• Unplug the charger the turn the phone on again.
• Use the phone until you drain the battery down to 0.
• Repeat the cycle once.

If nothing improves still, get a new battery to see if the old one is causing the trouble.

Finally, if a new battery won’t change the situation at all, have the phone repaired or replaced.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 keeps cannot send calls or SMS | Galaxy Note 4 keeps losing cellular service

Hi. I have Galaxy Note 4, using Optus network in Australia. I have no idea what Android Version it is (I have never heard of Lollipop, KitKat, Jellybean, etc – sounds like stuff to give you diabetes). I can receive calls & SMS & data but I can’t send calls or SMS. When I try it shows “Not Registered on Network”.

Also says “No Service” BUT it shows 3 to 4 bars of reception. It has been like this for a week however it is intermittent. Sometimes I can get “Service” but only for a very short time & when this happens all works OK. I have turned the Flight Mode on & off & it seems to wake it up for a very short time but then shows “No Service” & “Not Registered on Network” again.

The service provider & Optus both say there is nothing wrong at their end. Could I have a virus? Do viruses cause this sort of problem? If so, how can I fix it? Please say you can help as I am going “round the twist” !!! Thanks, Kevin. — Kevin

Solution: Hi Kevin. Both issues must be related or triggered by the same cause so our suggestion for you is to try the basic software troubleshooting above — wiping the cache partition, wiping the cache partition, observing in safe mode, installing app and system updates, and factory reset. All of these procedures are aimed at fixing problems on your phone so if they won’t work, the cause must be coming from the side of your wireless carrier. Make sure that you talk to them for a solution.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 4 bootloader is corrupted

Hello. My Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has a screen saying “Device memory damaged. The data partition has been corrupted. You need to reset your device to factory defaults. This will erase all your data. (reset device button).”

I have tried soft reset, clicking the reset device button (which does nothing… literally nothing happens), and doing a factory reset (volume up + home + power) but the Android logo never pops up. It simply cycles through the Samsung screen, then the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 screen. I’m not 100% sure whether my Android version is Marshmallow or Lollipop. Any advice and tips would be really appreciated. Regards. — Brian

Solution: Hi Brian. It’s not normal for a functioning Note 4 to be unable to boot to Recovery mode (volume up + home + power). Losing this ability means that the phone’s bootloader may have been corrupted for some reason, causing the phone to be unable to boot beyond the Samsung logo screen. A corrupted bootloader, unfortunately, means that the issue is beyond an average user’s ability to fix as it entails a bad motherboard. If the phone is still within the warranty period, send it in so it can be repaired or replaced.

Problem #7: Unable to install system update for Galaxy Note 4

I originally purchased my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 from T-Mobile in 2014. I eventually switched to MetroPCS in an effort to save some money. I have been unable to update my software from the 4.4.4 version. For the longest time, it would say up-to-date. Then, the other day I got excited when it said update available so I clicked to do the update, and it seemed to go through all the steps only to still have the same version and patch level as before I attempted the update! The following is all the device information: Model Number: SGH-M919 Android Version: 4.4.4 Android security patch level: 2015-11-01 Security Software version: MDF v1.0 Release 3, VPN v1.4 Release 2, ASKS v1.2_161011.

Please help if you can. I really do not want to have to buy a new phone.

It’s also been starting to do wonky things like text messages lagging (I’ve tried many of your fixes with no change). Prior to this, I had a G2 for 4 years with NO problems! Thank you. — Luba

Solution: Hi Luba. You can’t expect to download and install an OTA (over-the-air) update if you are no longer using the network of the original wireless carrier the phone is built for. If you really want to install the latest update for this model, you must do so manually via Odin mode. Flashing, the other term for installing, can be a tricky procedure for a beginner and requires some advance research so make sure to use Google to find a good guide how to do it. Make sure that you also flash the correct firmware. Not doing so can brick the phone.  Keep in mind that flashing modifies core system files, and if not done correctly, may result to making your device an expensive paperweight.

For your text message issue, try wiping the cache and data of the messaging app by doing the following steps:

• Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
• Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
• Once in there, click on an application.
• You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
• You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

If this won’t, consider wiping the cache partition or do a factory reset.

 

---

Engage with us

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. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.