Galaxy J3 cannot make outgoing calls, making crashing noise during calls, other issues

Hello Android community! Welcome to another #GalaxyJ3 troubleshooting article. Today we bring you 4 J3 issues and their respective solutions so keep reading.

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:

Problem 1: Galaxy J3 cannot make outgoing calls

Hi! Lately, I noticed something about my Samsung J3 (2016). I am unable to make any calls. The message that I’m getting is “Your call cannot be connected. Please check your settings.” I’m on a prepaid subscription and I rarely top up my account and I rarely make calls. But I was able to do one before. I am also able to receive calls, send and receive text messages. I’m not on airplane mode. No numbers are blocked. Phone is updated. Tried dialling in safe mode. Restart phone. Soft reset. And I still get the same thing. Please advise. Thank you. — Alex

Solution: Hi Alex. Identifying the cause of a calling problem is tricky and may require help from your carrier. Below are the troubleshooting steps that you can try. Most of them are device troubleshooting steps.

Undo any changes you made

If you were able to recently (like a day or a few days ago) make a call, the problem might be caused by something you changed. Did you do anything different like reconfiguring SIM card or phone settings? If you did play around with some settings, make sure to undo whatever changes you made and see if that helps.

For example, if you enabled or disabled options in the Phone app, it may be a good idea to change them back to the way they were.

Restart the phone

Sometimes, a simple restart can do wonders especially if you’re having some network trouble. To fully restart the device, turn it off first, then remove the battery. After 10 seconds, reseat the battery and turn the phone on again.

Ensure that you have enough credits to make a call

Prepaid subscribers are usually unable to make outbound calls if they don’t have enough balance. Try to check if that’s the reason why you’re unable to make a call.

Ensure that call barring and/or Fixed Dialing is not enabled

If you’re positive that your account has enough balance, the next best thing to do is to ensure that both call barring and Fixed dialing features are not enabled on the device or in your account. If you are not sure how to check them, contact your carrier for assistance.

Know your dialing procedure

You did not indicate whether you’re having trouble contacting local or international number.  If you’re trying to contact a number outside of your country, or if you’re trying to call a landline, be sure that you know what the dialing procedure is. Contact your carrier for assistance.

Insert your SIM card to another device

If you are in a GSM network, try to see if it’s a SIM card or account issue by inserting the SIM card to another compatible device. Be sure to check if both inbound and outbound calling works.

If you are still unable to make an outgoing call, talk to your carrier about it.

If you’ll be able to make both incoming and outgoing calls normally in a second device, that means that there’s a problem with your J3. To fix it, try to wipe the cache and data of the Phone app first. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6 or 7.
3. Once in there, look for the application and tap it.
4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
5. You should now clearly see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons for the application.

Alternatively, you can just wipe the entire phone to ensure that you return all software settings back to their defaults. The following are the steps that you must do to factory reset your phone:

1. Power off your Galaxy J3. Press and hold the Power key, tap Power off and then touch POWER OFF to confirm.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up button and then press and hold the Home key. While holding both, press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Android logo appears on the screen, release all three keys. It may take a minute before the Android recovery screen appears.
4. While on Android recovery screen, use the Volume Down key to highlight options, in this case, highlight the option ‘wipe data/factory reset.’
5. Press the Power key to choose the highlighted option.
6. Press  the Volume Down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ option is highlighted.
7. Press the Power key to confirm the reset.
8. Once the reset is complete, press the Power key to choose ‘Reboot system now.’
9. The phone will restart a little longer than usual and the reset is finished.

Remember, factory reset will erase everything including photos, videos, contacts, etc. Be sure to back everything first before performing it. We suggest that you use Smart Switch to back your files up.

Problem 2: Galaxy J3 making crashing noise during calls

I bought my first Samsung Galaxy J3 in In May of this year. My problem has been that when I call someone they may hear a crashing kind of noise on their end and they can’t hear me, or more often I can hear them speaking but they can’t hear me. I have been given two replacement J3 phones but the same problem exists. Now they plan to send me another replacement phone. Each time it is another J3. I don’t know why this replacement will be any better. While I was on the phone today with customer service twice my voice could not be heard and the representative had to call back. Can you help me? Thank you. — Dee Hobrle

Solution: Hi Dee. If the problem persists in at least 2 phones, that can mean there’s either an issue with the app you’re using to call, or there’s a network problem in your area. Before accepting the third replacement, be sure to factory reset the phone that you have and see how voice calling works when only pre-installed apps are in the system. In other words, after you factory reset the device, you don’t want to re-install your apps right away. You have to check first how calling works and whether or not that will fix the problem.

If voice calling works fine when there are no third party apps installed, that’s a clear indicator that one of the downloaded apps is problematic.

If the problem remains after a factory reset though, consider inserting your SIM card to another phone and see how voice calling works. If there’s no problem, that means that the issue only lies in your phone. However, if the issue still persists in the second phone, that can be a network issue, which you must report to your carrier. In this case, a phone replacement won’t fix any problem at all.

Also, before you send your current phone to be replaced, be sure to write its serial number down. Once you receive the replacement phone from your carrier, be sure to check if they did send you a different phone. Some service centers may label the process as replacement when in fact, they simply did a repair or not at all.

Problem 3: Galaxy J3 cellular signal disappears when mobile data is on

Hi. I recently bought a 2nd hand Samsung J3. I didn’t notice that there is a problem with the Mobile data connection. Whenever I tried to enable the mobile data my mobile network/signal will suddenly lost. It will say No service but whenever I turn off the mobile data and search for manual network my signal is fine. Sometimes if I tried doing the Manual network search I can get the mobile data sign or icon but it’s only giving me the E sign not even 3G, H+ or 4G. I tried doing the safe mode, factory reset and updated my apn but I’m still having the same issue. — Lamamonmark9

Solution: Hi Lamamonmark9. It’s not normal for a Galaxy J3 to lose cellular signal when mobile data is enabled. If a factory reset did not make a difference at all, that can mean there may be a problem with the phone’s radio. Try to see if there’s any pending system update for the device as some of them may have fixes for the phone modem problems from time to time. If there’s no available update at this time, you can either just take what you have, or try to see if you can replace it.

Problem 4: Galaxy J3 Angry Birds Friends won’t load, keeps saying “internet timeout ERROR 7. Cannot connect to internet.”

I just bought this Samsung Galaxy J3 phone 4 days ago brand new. Software is updated and phone works great, except my Angry Birds Friends game. I connected to Facebook to continue my game progress and no problems for two three days with game. Now for no reason at all it says “internet timeout ERROR 7” “Cannot connect to internet.” My other 2 games work just fine. There are no problems with my internet on this phone. Software is updated. I did a soft reset, yet problems with Angry Birds Friends continues. I uninstalled and re-installed said game twice from Play Store, but to no avail. Any help you can give me, will be greatly appereciated! — Greekmaria1961

Solution: Hi Greekmaria1961. Angry Birds Friends app is a third party app so any technical issues like the one you’re experiencing can only be accomodated by its developer. Support team like us can only suggest generic steps such as wiping the app’s cache and data or app reinstallation. Kindly contact Rovio Entertainment Ltd. by sending them an email.

When describing your problem to them, kindly provide as many details as possible including the exact error message/s you’re getting. This will help the developer identify the problem easily.

 

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