How to fix your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that keeps shutting down and randomly restarts after an update [Troubleshooting Guide]

A #Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (#S7Edge) that keeps shutting down and randomly restarting on its own might have a problem in its firmware or it could be an issue with its hardware. We have already received similar issues before with previous Galaxy models and while there were some owners who haven’t fixed their devices, many reported back to us just to tell us that our troubleshooting guides worked for them.

There are two sections in this post and each section tackles a problem that might happen to you if you own a Galaxy S7 Edge or any Galaxy device for that matter. The first section is about a unit that keeps shutting down without apparent reason or cause, although the owner is positive it started after a firmware update. The same goes for the second section which tackles a problem involving an S7 Edge that randomly restarts. Both of these problems might be due to some corrupt caches or data but there’s also a chance that some apps are causing them.

Read on to understand more about these issues and to learn how to troubleshooting any of them. It’s better to be ready now and know what to do if they happen to you in the future. If, however, you have other issues, make sure you drop by our Galaxy S7 Edge troubleshooting page for we have already addressed a lot of issues since the device was released. Find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you need further assistance, then feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire. Just provide us with the information we need and we’ll do the rest.

Troubleshoot Galaxy S7 Edge that keeps shutting down on its own after an update

Problem: Hello. My Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is now starting to shut down on its own without apparent reason. This has started after an update, which I have downloaded and installed successfully. I haven’t noticed a pattern or a trigger that may lead to the issue but I’m positive it started after an update. I am not really well-acquainted with this phone as it has been given to me as a gift by my son; I just use it for texts and calls. I will be very grateful if you can help me fix this issue.

Troubleshooting: Hi! The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge can be one of the most advanced devices available in the market with impressive specifications and features that owners can enjoy a lot. Even how advanced this device is, it is not perfect and still prone to some problems and other software issues.

If a device randomly shuts off, it’s normal anymore. The problem could be because the data downloaded to update the software has corrupted or the download process was interrupted. There are other reasons as well aside from the software update. It could be that one of the third party apps is the culprit and we also can’t set aside the possibility of a hardware issue. To determine the problem or what caused it, we need to troubleshoot your device. Follow our troubleshooting steps below:

Step 1: Run the Device in Safe Mode

This step is not a solution to the issue but simply to identify if the culprit is caused by a third party or pre-installed app. In this mode, all third-party apps will be temporarily disabled. So, if the problem still occurs in this, you can rest assured that your they have nothing to do with it.

You can use the device normally while observing for about an hour or several hours to determine the cause, and you can text or you can call your friends while in this mode. If the device runs smoothly in this mode, then you need to find the app(s) that’s causing the problem. Begin your search from apps you recently installed. Once found, uninstall them. Here are the steps on how to boot your phone in safe mode:

1. Press and hold the Power key.
2. As soon as you can see the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge’ on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
3. Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.
4. You may release it when you can see ‘Safe mode’ in the bottom left corner of the screen.

While in this mode, observe your phone closely to know if the problem still occurs and after uninstalling suspected apps and the problem remained, proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Check Battery Life or Condition

You have to make sure that your device have enough energy left in it’s battery to power up the device. A lot of owners mistakenly blame all the problem to software updates and claim that the phone just died after an update without checking the battery level. Now, just to make sure that the problem is not the battery, try charging the device and see if the default charging logo will appear and leave the device to charge for 20-30 minutes before turning it back on. If the phone boots up, observe the device if it will randomly shut off even the battery is still full or at a high level. If so, then you have to bring it to the Samsung service center and have the tech take a look at it.

If you want, just before you bring the device to the tech, try calibrating the battery:

1. Completely drain the device’s residual power. Let the device drain out its charge until it powers off on its own. To make sure that it is completely drained, keep turning the device on and let it shut back down on its own. Repeat the process until the device can no longer power on. Hold the power button for at least five seconds to be absolutely sure that its battery is completely empty.
2. Charge the battery to 100% and keep charging for another 10 minutes. The reason for the extra charging time is because the battery readouts on many devices gets rounded up or down. So, at a 99.5% charge, the battery charge reading gets rounded up and reads as being 100% charged, even though it is not actually fully charged yet. Remember not to unplug the device from the power source throughout the process.
3. Use a battery calibration app. Install and run a reliable battery calibration app such as the one from NeMa, which can be downloaded via Google Play store. The operation of each app may vary so be sure to check and follow the instructions provided by its developer. Basically most battery calibration apps such as the one from NeMa deletes the battery file in the phone’s system and forces the device to create a new one to automatically recalibrate it.

Step 3: Clear the System Cache Partition

If the problem is not on the battery, then you can try deleting the old temporary files from the previous version of the software. There are tendencies that old files were not deleted during the download process. Old files will create conflicts with the new files and the device will not run normally and may have errors. You can try wiping the system cache files and data and delete the old temporary files. Below are the steps how to do it:

1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

After performing the steps above, try observing your device again and see if it will randomly shut off. If so, then proceed to the next step below.

Step 4: Hard Reset the Device

This method is the last resort if above steps failed to resolve the problem. Before performing the process though, we highly recommend to backup your important data and files to your SD card or external storage device as it will delete all data stored in the device and restore it back to the default manufacturer settings just like the first time you got it. Here’s how you do it:

1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

If ever you are in doubt to perform the steps you can simply disregard it.

Step 5: Bring the device to a specialist

A trip to your local Samsung service center if the steps above did not resolve the problem. There might be some issue in your device hardware and only the specialist can help you. Bring the necessary documentation like your device warranty if it’s active.

Fix a Galaxy S7 Edge that randomly restarts after a firmware update

Problem: My new S7 Edge seemed to have updated its operating system recently. So far, it’s performance is the same and I haven’t noticed any problems except for one–it now randomly restarts on its own. When I say randomly, I mean the phone may reboot a few times a day at random times no matter what I do. For the last three days, it has already rebooted about six times and three of those I have been using different apps. I don’t quite understand why this is happening so please help me. Thanks.

Troubleshooting: There are possibilities that we need to consider to know why this issue occurs on your phone. Figure out what the closest possible cause that makes the phone restarts randomly is. That should be the first priority so that you can formulated a solution or a procedure that might work and fix the problem for good.

As you indicated on your message, you did an update on your phone and there is a possibility that some of the caches got corrupted or some apps may acted out and created a conflict within the system. Below are the steps you can do to troubleshoot this problem:

Step 1: Perform a Forced Reboot procedure on your Phone

Since the Galaxy S7 Edge doesn’t have a removable battery, you cannot do the usual battery pull procedure but you can simulate it by pressing a combination of buttons; this is what we call Forced Restart. Through forced reboot any minor firmware and hardware issues may be fixed. To perform this procedure, just press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys together for 10 seconds. Given that the device has enough battery left to power its hardware components and provided it is just a minor firmware or hardware issue, the device will reboot normally. However, after the procedure and your phone is still randomly restarting then proceed to the next procedure.

Step 2: Run your Galaxy S7 Edge in Safe Mode

Third-party apps might also be the reason that your phone has this kind of problem. So, what we need to do is rule out this possibility. All downloaded apps will be temporarily disabled when you boot your phone in safe mode. So, if the problem is caused by one or the apps you installed, either through manual installation or from the Play Store, the device should no longer restart randomly.

While in this mode observe closely if your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge still restarts randomly without a reason. If so, then there is a chance that the firmware of your phone has an issue and you can jump to the next procedure for further troubleshooting. To boot it on Safe mode, follow the procedure that you can see above.  

Step 3: Wipe cache partition of the device

There is always a possibility that the caches created by the previous firmware got corrupted during the update process. Once the new firmware uses them, there might be conflicts and in this case the phone may suffer from performance issues like this random reboots. Therefore, it is always the rule of thumb to clear the cache partition to delete all the system caches created by the previous firmware. Once finished, the device will create new caches that are compatible with the new system. Don’t worry though as none of your data and files will be deleted. Just follow the 3rd step in the troubleshooting guide in the problem above to wipe the cache partition.

Step 5: Master reset your phone

As far as ruling out the possibility of a firmware issue is concerned, this is the last procedure you need to do. With this, your device will be brought back to its factory default settings. Most of firmware issues will be fixed by this procedure but there’s no guarantee. But the thing is you need to do this because this is also the first thing the technician would do if you bring the phone to shop. But aside from that, this procedure will also wipe your personal information off your phone. It’s necessary to protect your privacy. You may try to reset your phone through the Settings menu or follow the procedure in the first problem above.

Related issues & questions

Question: My phone’s screen is totally black as if it’s turned off but when someone calls or texts me, it sounds off indicating it’s actually powered on. What is the problem with it? Can I fix it on my own? How?

Answer: The display is handled by core services. There’s a chance that one of those services crashed that’s why the screen stays black or turned off even if all other components are powered on. More often than not, this can be fixed by doing the forced reboot procedure–just press and hold the Volume Down button and the Power keys together for 10 seconds and the phone should reboot normally. If it doesn’t fix the problem, follow the troubleshooting procedure in the first issue.

Question: My S7 Edge just turned off and I don’t know why it happened. When I try to turn in on, it doesn’t respond. Can this be fixed or do I need to bring it back to the store?

Answer: For your convenience, I suggest you let the technician handle it for you. However, if you want to troubleshoot a bit, then try the forced reboot procedure or follow the same course of troubleshooting in the first problem.

Question: The phone got dropped from waist high but I don’t see a crack, just a couple of scratches. The screen won’t turn on. Is the device already damaged?

Answer: Well, that’s possible. I won’t recommend anything except bring the phone to the store and let the technician do the tests to know if the hardware got damaged due to the impact of the drop.

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