Random restarts and shutdowns are often due to firmware-related issues but there were cases we’ve encountered wherein such problems are due to hardware concerns. Some of our readers have contacted us because their Samsung Galaxy A7 started to randomly reboot and/or shutdown.
It’s not the first time that we encountered this problem but we’ll tackle this again for the benefits of our readers who contacted us seeking for assistance. Now, for this guide, we will try to consider every possible scenario that may have led to this issue and then we’ll rule each possibility out until we can fix the problem.
Before we move on to our troubleshooting, if you are looking for a solution to a different issue, make sure you drop by our Galaxy A7 troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed some of the most common problems reported by our readers. Find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If you still need our help after that, then feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.
Troubleshooting Galaxy A7 that randomly restarts and/or shuts down
As much as I want to be more detailed in this troubleshooting guide and give you all possible procedures, I won’t because I know a reset an fix this problem. So, instead, I will let you do a couple of things that might help and if they don’t work, then reset your phone. That being said, here’s what you should do about this problem:
Run phone in Safe mode and observe
You need to observe your phone to know if it still reboots and shuts down even in safe mode. In this environment, all third-party apps are disabled so if the problem doesn’t occur, it means one or a few of them is causing the problem. Follow these steps and continue your observation:
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
- When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
Assuming the device doesn’t randomly reboot and power off in this mode and you’ve recently installed some apps, try to uninstall them one by one because that might be the cause of the problem. This is how you uninstall an app from your A7:
- From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > Apps.
- Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display preinstalled apps.
- Tap the desired application.
- Tap Uninstall.
- Tap Uninstall again to confirm.
However, if the problem still occurs even in this environment, try the next step.
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Reboot phone in Recovery mode and wipe cache partition
This will delete all system caches (temporary files created by the system to make your phone run smoothly) and actually replace them with new ones the moment the phone boots up after the process. For minor firmware issue, this is a very effective procedure and this might be the one that could help you. Don’t worry, none of your files will be deleted so it’s safe for your phone and data:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds, then ‘No command’ before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe cache partition”.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key to highlight “yes” and press the Power key to select.
- When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
Once the phone becomes active and ready for use, try to reset all settings so the phone will run again on its original configuration. Still, none of your files and data will be deleted, only your preferences for every app or feature:
- From a Home screen, swipe up or down from the center of the display to access the apps screen.
- Navigate: Settings Settings icon > Backup and reset.
- From the Reset section, tap Reset settings.
- Review the info then tap RESET SETTINGS.
- If presented, enter the current PIN, password, or pattern.
- To confirm, review the info then tap RESET SETTINGS.
After these procedures and the phone is still restarting and shutting down on its own, then it’s time to resort to a reset.
Backup your files and data and reset your phone
As I said earlier, a reset will be able to fix it for as long as this problem is not due to physical and liquid damage, or firmware modification such as rooting. But before you actually reset your phone, make sure to make a backup of your important files and data as they will be deleted during the process. After the backup, follow these steps to disable Factory Reset Protection:
- From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
- Tap Accounts.
- Tap Google.
- Tap on your Google ID email address if multiple accounts are setup. If you have multiple accounts setup, you will need to repeat these steps for each account.
- Tap 3 dot icon.
- Tap Remove account.
- Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.
Once everything is set and ready, follow these steps to reset your Galaxy A7:
- 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.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds, then ‘No command’ before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
- Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
- When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
I hope that this troubleshooting guide can help you one way or another. If you have other concerns, feel free to contact us.
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Mine still restarts after the factory reset. It’s driving me nuts. Verizon won’t give me a free replacement either, so I’m stuck with the phone from hell.