Galaxy A7 (2019) won’t ring when calls come through or no sound notifications for texts

The case we want to address below talks about weird behaviors on a Galaxy A7 (2018). The device reportedly won’t make any sound notifications when there’s a call or texts and popups show when trying to open an article from Facebook. We suspect this is caused by a malware or bad app. We include other troubleshooting steps to cover other non-malware factors as well below. If you have a similar situation, learn how to deal with it by following our recommendations.

Problem: Galaxy A7 (2018) won’t ring when calls come through and no sound notifications for texts

Often phone calls do not come through – the phone does not ring. sometimes the message icon is lit, but other times I don’t see any notice of message until I check for other messages. then again, sometimes there is no notice of a missed call but I hear from friends that they tried to call and it went right to VM – several times. and, I have had calls go blank when I am talking – they may start up again or it may disconnect. the receiving of calls is very unreliable. I don’t know if this is something that can be corrected, but when on facebook I get very annoying pop-ups when I am trying to read an article that I cannot get rid of – this does not happen when using facebook on my computer and I am wondering is T-Mobile is allowing some of this when other devices don’t. by the way – I know it is an android system, but not sure which – I just guessed. thanks for any suggestions.

Solution: The cause of the problems may be a virus or a poorly coded app. Facebook app or Messenger don’t allow popups so the phone is likely compromised, or you may have installed a bad app. Of course, other factors can come into play as well so we’ll show you a broad range of troubleshooting steps below.

Solution 1: Simulate a battery pull

Sometimes, this simple procedure can fix bugs that developed after the system has run for a long time. By manually forcing your Galaxy A7 (2018) to reboot, you’re basically simulating a battery pull, which, in older mobiles with removable battery packs, was an effective way to refresh the system. If you haven’t tried this one yet, here are the steps that you can do:

Press and hold the Power + Volume Down buttons for approximately 10 seconds or until the device power cycles. Allow several seconds for the Maintenance Boot Mode screen to appear.
From the Maintenance Boot Mode screen, select Normal Boot. You can use the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the lower left button (below the volume buttons) to select. Wait for up to 90 seconds for the reset to complete.

Solution 2: Refresh the cache partition

Updates or app installation may sometime mess up an important set of temporary files used by Android called system cache. All sorts of problems can happen when the system cache is corrupted. To ensure that the system cache is on top shape all the time, we recommend that you wipe the cache partition where it’s stored once every few months. It’s simple to do and won’t take a minute of your time.

To wipe the cache partition:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home 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 cache partition’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘yes’ is highlighted and press the Power button.
When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Solution 3: Check for bad third party apps

Third party applications are those that you downloaded after setting up the phone. Any app that was added and was not part of the original software package is considered third party, even if they come from Samsung or Google. With majority of apps in any given device third party, there’s always a chance that a poorly coded one may cause a problem. Of course, some apps also dedicate resources to build apps mainly to compromise a system, steal data, spy on a user’s browsing habits, hijack a system and force popups. To check if you’ve installed one of these type of apps, you can restart the device to safe mode and observe it. If the main problems are absent on safe mode (remember, you won’t be able to use third party apps), then that means our suspicion is on point. If the Facebook app was not part of the original software package, you won’t be able to test it out in this mode so you can only check how voice calling and text messaging works.

Here’s how to restart your Galaxy A7 (2018) to safe 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.

Remember, safe mode is not a solution but a tool that should help you check if there’s an app issue. If the problems mentioned here won’t exist on safe mode, it means that one of the apps is causing them. However, Safe Mode won’t identify the problem app. You’ll have to investigate further to know which of them is the culprit. You’ll need to do the following:

Boot to safe mode.
Check for the problem.
Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added. It’s important to delete apps one by one.
After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
If your Galaxy A7 (2018) still has the same problem, repeat steps 1-4.

Identifying a bad app often takes time and patience. There’s no shortcut for this so you’ll have to the steps above until the culprit is out of the system. After you’ve identified the cause, you can then reinstall the ones that are not problematic.

Solution 4: Wipe the phone (Factory reset)

Another way of fixing all these troubles all at once is by wiping the phone clean and returning all software settings to their defaults. Factory reset is often an effective way of fixing most software-related troubles. Be sure to back your personal data such as photos, videos, contacts, documents, etc. before wiping the phone.

Here’s how to factory reset your Galaxy A7 (2018):

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the device logo screen displays, release only 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 key 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.
Set the phone up.

NOTE: If the problems return after setting up the phone, that’s because you simply reinstalled the bad apps. Be sure to follow Solution 3 above on how to identify it.