How to fix Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Black Screen of Death issue

Learn how to fix the Black Screen of Death issue on your Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus using the method some of our readers confirmed to have worked for them.
Learn how to troubleshoot your phone that has BSoD and won’t respond to the Forced Restart procedures.

The Black Screen of Death (BSoD) often occurs when your phone is experiencing firmware issues that may often result performance-related problems such as freezing, lagging and crashing of applications. In fact, the BSoD is often just a system crash and it may happen to Android smartphones premium and entry-level alike. Recently however, we’ve been contacted by a number of Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus owners who have been complaining about their phones not being able to turn on. Most of them stated that their device would no longer respond the Power key nor to the charger.

For some, the problem reportedly started after an update while others said it started out of the blue with no obvious reason. Fortunately though, this isn’t the first time we encountered this problem so we already know a thing or two that may help fix it. So, if you’re one of the owners of this device and are currently bugged by a similar issue, continue reading as this post may be able to help you.

Now, before we go to solution, if you are currently experiencing a different problem, try to visit our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most common issues owners encountered with their device. Find issues that are similar to yours and feel free to use our solutions or troubleshooting guides. If they don’t work, however, and if you need further assistance, contact us by completing our Android issues

Solution to Galaxy S8+ Black Screen of Death

This problem is pretty much easy to fix provided it didn’t occur due to physical and/or liquid damage. We have encountered similar issues a few weeks after this phone was released since then we started publishing troubleshooting guides. Many of our readers reported back to us confirming their problems were fixed and so we now know what works and what not. I will share with you the most effective solution to this problem.

When your phone turned off on its own without apparent reason or cause and refuses to turn back on, here’s what you should do about it:

Press and hold the Volume Down button and the Power key simultaneously for 10 seconds.

Assuming this is just a problem with the firmware and that your phone still has enough battery and without any issues with its hardware, it should boot up normally after doing this procedure. However, if your Galaxy S8+ still won’t turn on after doing this, then you should try doing the following:

Press and hold the Volume Down button first and don’t let go.
Press and hold the Power key while holding down the Volume Down button.
Keep both keys held down together for 10 seconds.

It basically has the same effect as the first one but the reason why you have to do this is to make sure you’re doing the procedure correctly. Bear in mind that pressing the Power key first will immediately trigger the phone and if you’re late in holding down the Volume Down key, you won’t be able to simulate the battery disconnect so Forced Restart isn’t initiated. It’s better to press and hold the Volume Down button before pressing the Power key. However, if this doesn’t fix the problem either, then try doing this…

Plug the charger to a working wall outlet.
Connect your phone to it using the original data / charging cable.
Regardless whether the phone responds to the charger or not, leave it connected to the charger for at least ten minutes.
Now try doing the Forced Restart procedure once again but this time while the device is connected to its charger.

If the still won’t respond to this, then the problem is more than just a system crash or glitch. You must troubleshoot it to see if it’s still capable of turning on without being opened. Continue reading below as I prepared a troubleshooting guide for you to follow.

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Troubleshooting Galaxy S8+ with Black Screen of Death

Even if your phone didn’t respond to the procedure above, there’s still a chance that we can fix this problem without bringing the phone to the service center. However, there’s no guarantee because everything depends on how serious the problem is or how it started. So, we need to do some procedures to troubleshoot it and see if we can make it turn on one way or another.

For owners who are not comfortable doing troubleshooting procedures, I suggest you bring your devices directly to the service center so that a Samsung technician can check it for you. But for you those who want to do some troubleshooting in a bid to fix the problem without much of a hassle, then continue reading as this guide may help you.

Check for signs of physical and liquid damage

Before doing anything to your phone, it’s best that you try to check for possible signs of physical and/or liquid damage. Here’s what you should do:

Check for scratches, dents and cracks. Any force that could damage the phone should leave a mark. If there are visible cracks on the screen, it doesn’t necessary mean the entire phone is damaged, it might be just a problem with the display panel and replacing it might bring your phone back to life but then again, you should bring the phone to the service center.
Look into the USB or charger port to see if there’s some kind of moisture in there. You may use a cotton swab to clear the area or insert a small piece of tissue paper to absorb the moist.
You also have to check the Liquid Damage Indicator (LDI) to know if liquid entered into the device and messed up the circuits. If the LDI is still white, then your phone is free from liquid damage but if it turned red or purple, then water has found its way into your phone.

If there are clear signs of physical and / or liquid damage, then you should bring your phone immediately to the service center so the technician can do something about it.

Try running your device in Safe mode

I’ve encountered a few times already wherein some third-party apps caused the system to crash and it’s very much possible in this scenario. But the good news is you can disable all third-party apps by running the device in Safe mode. Assuming that’s the case in your phone right now, it should be able to run into this mode so it’s really worth a try. Here’s how you run your device into this mode:

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.

If successful, the next thing you should do is look for apps that might be causing the problem and uninstall them one by one. Every time you uninstall an app, you need to try to reboot your phone in normal mode. But the thing is you can already consider this problem fixed because the phone actually turned on into safe mode. So, if you can find the app that’s causing all fuzz, then you can get this problem sorted out in no time.

Here’s how you uninstall an app from your phone:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
Tap the desired application.
Tap Uninstall.
Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

On the other hand, if the phone won’t respond when you try to start it up in Safe mode, then you have one more thing you can do about this problem

Attempt to boot your S8+ in Recovery mode

The Android system recovery is the fail-safe of almost all Android devices. Whenever there are errors in the firmware, users can boot into Recovery mode to regain control over their phones. So basically, even if your phone has some serious issues with the firmware for as long as the hardware is fine, it should be able to boot into this mode. That’s what you need to do right now and if successful, you can try wiping the cache partition first and if there’s still issues booting up, then you can do the Master reset.

How to boot in Recovery mode and wipe cache partition

Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby 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 before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe cache partition.”
Press the Power key 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.

How to boot in Recovery mode and do the Master reset

Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds 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.

If all else fails, then you should bring the phone to the service center so the technician can check it for you because at this point, we can almost be certain there really is an issue with the hardware.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide shed some light to your questions. If you ever need our help, feel free to contact us.

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