Galaxy Note 5 can’t be powered on after it sleeps on its own, other issues

Hello and welcome to the latest #GalaxyNote5 troubleshooting article. Today’s post addresses three Note 5 issues having difficulty turning on. We hope you’ll find our suggestions here helpful.

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.

Problem 1: Galaxy Note 5 can’t be powered on after it sleeps on its own

I have had my current Samsung Galaxy Note 5 for a little over 2 yrs. It has always been in a case, has never been in water or had the screen broken. For the past few months the screen has become unresponsive to finger touches and the S Pen when i wake it up after going to sleep on its own. I then have to press the power button to put it back to sleep, wait a few seconds, then start it back up with the power button. This doesn’t happen if i put it to sleep myself with the power button. — Jud

Solution: Hi Jud. Frankly, we need a whole lot more in terms of device history if we want to know the exact reason of the problem. Your problem is not really common and there’s not many users reporting it to us. This makes diagnosing your issue harder. Anyway, we would like to think it’s due to either an app or the software. To troubleshoot it, follow the issues below.

Clear your Galaxy Note 5 cache partition

It’s good to start fixing the issue by wiping the cache partition. This will force the phone to clear the current system cache, housed in the cache partition, and create a new one. A corrupted system cache can result to all sorts of problems so refreshing it regularly is a good maintenance tip. To wipe a cache partition, follow the steps below:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.
Keep the three buttons pressed and when ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.
Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.
The notice ‘Installing system update’ will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.
Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power key to select it.
When the process is complete, use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.
The reboot may take a little longer to complete but don’t worry and wait for the device to become active.

Install app and Android updates

Another good thing to do is to ensure that all the apps are running their latest version. Not only is that another important maintenance tip but it may also be a fix for the problem you’re having. Updates not only contains cosmetic and other under-the-hood changes but also patches for known bugs. Make sure that every app in your device is working and updated.

Just as having good and updated apps good for the system, running an updated operating system can also help. Be sure that your Note 5 is runs the latest available Android Nougat at this time.

Observe in safe mode

Sometimes, a poorly coded third party app can cause problems so it’s good if you can check this possibility. To do that, you need to observe the phone while it’s running on safe mode. If the issue won’t happen while your Note 5 is in safe mode, you can bet a bad app is to blame. To restart your Note 5 to safe mode, follow these steps:

Turn off the phone completely.
Press and hold the Power key.
Once ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
The phone will restart but keep the Vol Down button pressed.
Once the phone has finished restarting, ‘Safe mode’ will be display in the lower-left corner of the screen.
You may now release the Volume Down button.

Remember, safe mode won’t help you pinpoint the problematic app. If you think an app is causing the issues above, you need to uninstall third party apps individually and observe how the phone works after every uninstall.

Perform a factory reset

Lastly, if the issue is still around at this time, don’t hesitate to wipe the phone clean and bring all software settings back to their defaults. Here’s how:

Create a backup of your important files.
Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.
Keep the three buttons pressed and when ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.
Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.
The notice ‘Installing system update’ will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.
Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ and press the Power key to select it.
When the process is complete, use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.
The reboot may take a little longer to complete but don’t worry and wait for the device to become active.

Problem 2: Galaxy Note 5 screen is popped

Hi Thedroidguy! I’m using a Samsung Note 5. it’s already been 2 years since i bought it. I can say that i’m pretty careful when it comes to handling gadgets and all. My phone was doing great until i noticed something this morning. At the left-top-most corner of the screen it looked kinda weird. I thought a liquid was poured and sipped into the screen protector but when i looked at it closely, it wasn’t. The screen on that part seemed like popped or something? I can’t remember dropping my phone or putting it near something hot. What could be the cause of this? Does this mean that my phone will explode any time soon? — Gem

Solution: Hi Gem. We can’t really picture out how your screen looks like at this time but if there’s an obvious deformation or abnormal break at the surface, then that’s a clear indicator of bad hardware. Try to bring it to a Samsung service center and let a technician assess the device. If he/she will say it’s a physical issue, you’ll most likely have to let Samsung repair it.

Problem 3: Galaxy Note 5 completely unresponsive, no LED lights, sound, vibrations

My Note 5 started shutting off and restarting, except it would get stuck. It would say that its downloading update. Also, it would be on 8% die, I plug it up and it reads 3%. 3 days ago I woke up and it was hot from being on charge, the led light was red. I unplugged it, the let didn’t go off. The phone will not charge or turn on anymore. No vibration, lights, led, or sounds. Nothing. I love this phone! I’m thinking the worse, that it like fried the phone or burnt it. I have tried power, vol down, home. Ive tried factory resetting Jan 15th and that morning Jan 16th is when it got hot and crapped out on me. I have read and watched youtube videos and tried everything. I also plug it into my computer via usb and it says device not recognized. Please Help! Thank You. — Brenda

Solution: Hi Brenda. You’ve already tried all the basic troubleshooting steps a user must do in this case so the next course of action for you is to send it in. Let a professional check the hardware and see if the phone can still be fixed. Given the symptoms you mentioned, there’s high likelihood that the issue is motherboard related. This means that you’ll most likely have to spend on an expensive motherboard replacement.