How to fix your Samsung Galaxy S7 that’s not responding or keeps lagging after the Android 7 Nougat update [Troubleshooting Guide & Potential Solutions]

• Read and understand why a high-end device like the #Samsung Galaxy S7 (#GalaxyS7) becomes unresponsive after the Android 7 #Nougat update. Also, learn how to troubleshoot your device and know the procedures you can use when this problem happens to you.
• Know what to do if your phone keeps shortly after updating its firmware. Read on to know if this has something to do with your apps or the new firmware itself.

There are a lot of factors we need to consider to know why your Samsung Galaxy S7 suddenly froze and became unresponsive. However, in this post, we will tackle this problem while looking into the possibility that the recent Android 7 Nougat update is the culprit. We have received several emails from our readers complaining about the same thing and news about Samsung stopping the update after it was shortly rolled out suggest that there might be something wrong with the firmware itself.

If you are one of the owners of the Galaxy S7 and are currently experiencing similar issue, continue reading below to learn more about the problem and how to troubleshoot your device. There are problems that can easily be fixed with basic troubleshooting and there are those that need to be done by the technician. Your job, as the owner, is to see if you can still do something about it or not anymore. For minor issues, doing some troubleshooting may save you from spending hours waiting for the tech to finish “fixing” your device.

• How to troubleshoot Galaxy S7 that won’t respond anymore after the Nougat update
• How to troubleshoot your Galaxy S7 that keeps lagging after the Nougat update

However, before we jump right into our troubleshooting, if you have other issues with your device, make sure you drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed a lot of problems reported by our readers before. Find ones that are similar with yours and use the solutions and troubleshooting guides we suggested. If they don’t work for you, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy S7 that won’t respond anymore after the Nougat update

As I said earlier, Samsung halted the roll out of the Nougat update for its S7 and S7 Edge devices for some reason. While there owners who have successfully updated their devices without experiencing a single issue, some of our readers contacted us shortly after updating their devices and this is one of the most common complaints. While it might be a real issue with the firmware, it’s worth it to perform some troubleshooting. With that being said, here’s what I suggest you do in a bid to fix it:

Step 1: Try to see if this is just a system crash issue

Well, of course, the first thing I want you to do is try to reboot your phone the usual way. It might or might not reboot but just try it.

If the phone refused to reboot or won’t respond no matter what you do, then try to press and hold the Volume Down button and the Power keys together for 15 seconds. Assuming it’s just a system crash and that there’s enough battery to power up the hardware, the phone should reboot normally. If it didn’t, then try the next step.

Step 2: Verify if your third-party apps have something to do with it

Since your phone just got updated, there’s always a possibility that some of the apps are no longer compatible, in which case, they may crash and affect the phone’s overall performance. When it happens, the system itself may also crash. So, it’s time that you tried booting up your phone in safe mode to find out if it’s still capable of doing so when all third-party apps are temporarily disabled. Here’s how you do it:

1. Press and hold the Power button.
2. When Samsung Galaxy Logo appears on the screen, release the Power button and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
3. Continue to hold the Volume Down key until the device finishes its rebooting.
4. Now, if “Safe Mode” appears on the bottom left corner of the screen then, you can release the Volume Down key.

The moment the phone booted up in this mode, the problem has already been solved but then again, you have to find the apps that are causing the problem and get rid of them or just update them.

Step 3: Try booting up your device into the Recovery Mode and wipe the cache partition

If your phone failed to boot up in safe mode, then we might be facing a firmware issue. The next thing you have to do is find out if it’s still capable of booting up in recovery mode because if so, then you can simply try wiping the cache partition to delete all system caches that may have been corrupted during or after the firmware update. This is how you delete the system cache:

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 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 wiping the cache partition. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

If you’ve successfully wiped off the cache partition but the phone still becomes unresponsive after some time, then the next step might help.

Step 4: Try to do the Master Reset to bring the phone back to its factory default settings

We know the phone has just updated its firmware and then this problem started. It actually points to the firmware being the problem but we don’t know the extent of the issue. Therefore, it is imperative you reset the device to bring it back to factory defaults or a configuration that might work. Don’t worry because the new firmware will remain in your phone. I’m not sure if you can still backup your files and data but if you can, then please do.

1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key. NOTE: It doesn’t matter how long you press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, it won’t affect the phone but by the time you press and hold the Power key, that’s when the phone starts to respond.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 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. NOTE: The “Installing system update” message may show on the screen for several seconds before displaying the Android system recovery menu. This is just the first phase of the entire process.
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 the problem still occurs even after the reset, then it’s time you brought it back to the store and the tech take care of it. The problem will surely be resolved by flashing the previous firmware but if you do it yourself, the warranty may become void so let the authorized technician handle it.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy S7 that keeps lagging after the Nougat update

Between these two problems, this one is not as serious as the first one, although we really cannot be sure because the firmware itself is seems problematic that prompted Samsung to halt the roll out. It might be just an app problem, however, to be sure, we have to troubleshoot the device and this is what I suggest you do:

1. Take note of the apps you were using when your phone started to lag – if the lags occur when you were using specific apps, then it’s just an app-related issue. Backup your data with those apps and then clear their cache and data. That should reset them but if the problem still occurs after that, try to see if there are updates available for those apps and download them.
2. Try booting your phone in safe mode and observe if the lags still occur – this will disable all third-party apps so you can closely observe if the phone is still lagging while in this state. Assuming the phone works well while in safe mode, then it confirms that the problem is caused by third-party apps. You simply have to find and uninstall them to solve this problem, otherwise, it might be a firmware problem.
3. Boot up in Recovery Mode and delete the system cache – this rules out the possibility that the lagging is caused by some corrupt caches. These files will be replaced once the phone booted up after the procedure. Follow the steps above.
4. Backup your data and reset your phone – if all else fails, you have to reset your device to make sure it’s not just because of some corrupt data that may have been caused by the recent update. Follow the steps above to reset your device but make sure you backup all your files and data as they’ll be deleted.

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