Hello Android community. We bring you another #GalaxyNote5 post that covers 6 other issues reported to us by some readers over the past few days. If you want to visit our main Galaxy Note 5 troubleshooting page, kindly follow this link.

Below are the specific topics we’re discussing for you today:

Galaxy Note 5 sensors need calibration
Galaxy Note 5 keeps losing mobile network connection
Galaxy Note 5 apps takes a long time to send messages | Galaxy Note 5 slow internet connection issue
Galaxy Note 5 cannot use keys during calls
Galaxy Note 5 can’t install system update
Galaxy Note 5 keeps showing overheating error screen

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, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

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 sensors need calibration

My wife and I both have the Note 5. Overall we are extremely pleased and have had relatively few issues. The one that my phone does have has to do with calibration. I like using mapping apps and star charts. The problem is with device orientation. I can do all of the recommended calibration actions and this does not fix the issue. A factory reset for other problems did not make any difference. GPS charting will update the path I am on, but the direction arrow will be facing a different vector. It will not rapidly change during a session, but will drift over time. When using star charts I can be facing the North Star but the chart will display random chart information. I have tried using the *#0*# but it does nothing. This is noticeable when using VR Gear. If I watch an episode or movie I will have to adjust the screen position. Any other ideas on how to calibrate or at least stabilize this drift? — Wade

Solution: Hi Wade. Apps designed to work with VR Gear and similar gadgets usually use a combination of different sensors to work properly. These sensors include the GPS, gyroscope, magnetic sensor (compass), and sometimes the accelerometer. They are built-in components and can only be calibrated by going under your phone’s service menu. For example, if you think the phone’s compass needs recalibrating, you must pull up the service menu first and run a magnetic sensor test first. Here’s how:

Open on the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 the Phone app.
On the keypad, dial the following code: “*#0*#” without the quotes.
Wait for the service menu to load.
Tap on “sensor” to see different sensor values of your Note 5.
At the bottom you will see the entry “Magnetic Sensor.” If you see a “0” in the circle and the text “Need for Calibration”, then you need to calibrate the compass. Otherwise, you can either leave it or tap the self-test button. You’ll see PASS after the test if the compass is good.

As a user, you are limited to doing a self-test of this sensor. If the test says PASS, that’s an indicator that the compass is working fine. If it doesn’t, you either have to simply accept it, or you can have the phone replaced. Forget about “other” troubleshooting steps for the sensors. There’s nothing an end-user can do about that. These built-in sensors are calibrated at the factory by a computer so the only solution for you, if you think your Note 5’s compass is acting out, is by getting another phone.

Of course, there’s also the app factor. There’s no such thing as perfect app so there’s a chance that the experience you’re having is app-related. Try to contact the developer of the app you’re having troubles with so they can look into it. Developers of paid apps strive to improve their products all the time and one way to do that is by getting feedback from users. If you think it’s worth the time and effort, talk to the app developers so the issue will be examined.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 5 keeps losing mobile network connection

I got this Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (SM-N920W8) from Canada. It is a used piece and I have bought this from my friend. It had Bell as carrier but I already got it unlocked from Canada. The problem I am facing is that my SIM card is not detected for much time of the day. Sometimes network is there but otherwise it shows “Emergency Calls only.” Then I have to check and search for mobile network again. Also, I got it checked from Samsung. They said that phone was fine. I tried putting the paper filling but the situation has not changed. Also I went to Vodafone store. I tried changing Sims. After changing I used a SIM for some more minutes than usual and after that the network was lost. If you have any solution then please tell me. — Dweet

Solution: Hi Dweet. If Samsung is positive that the phone is working fine, then the problem must lie in your carrier’s network. An issue like this can be caused by a number of factors so you must try to rule one thing at a time. Such factors can include:

a software glitch
a problematic third party app
a bad SIM card
damaged SIM card slot
corrupted/outdated baseband version
unknown hard problem
wireless carrier issue

If you haven’t done it yet, we suggest that you try to factory reset the phone before contacting the technical support of your wireless carrier. Factory reset should take care of any operating system or third party app issues. Make sure that you observe the phone for a few hours after a factory reset so you’ll know if the problem remains. If it does, continue the troubleshooting with your wireless carrier. To factory reset your phone, follow these steps:

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.

REMEMBER: factory reset will erase all user data such as photos, videos, contacts, etc. Make sure that you create a back up before doing it.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 5 apps takes a long time to send messages | Galaxy Note 5 slow internet connection issue

I have a Samsung Note 5 and the problem i am facing is having trouble accessing Internet as usual. All apps are having hard time connecting and i thought the problem was my carrier but i have tried different 3 carriers and still the same problem. The connection on my other devices is fine. For example when i send a message on Whatsapp, it might take even 30 minutes for it to be sent and i hardly receive messages from Whatsapp. The same with Instagram app. My feeds are taking more than 5 minutes to update. I think the problem is associated with the Marshmallow update. — 26cbcb

Solution: Hi 26cbcb. If the issue started after you installed an update of Marshmallow, below are the steps that you can do.

Wipe the cache partition. The cache partition is a part in your phone’s storage that stores the system cache as well as other files associated with all your downloads. Sometimes, some of the files in this location becomes duplicated, corrupted, or outdated, resulting to all sorts of problems. Problems usually arise after installing a system update so the first thing that you want to do is to clear the cache partition. Here’s how it’s done:

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.

Observe the phone in safe mode. Once you’ve refreshed the system cache but the issue remains, the next good thing that you must do is verify if the slow connection issue you’re having is due to bad third party apps. This is done by booting the phone to safe mode first, and observing it for some time. While safe mode is enabled, all third party apps and services will be blocked so if the issue won’t occur, that’s proof that an app may be to blame. Here are the steps on how to boot your Note 5 to safe mode:

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 Volume 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.

Wipe the phone clean via factory reset. Another recommended troubleshooting step for this issue is factory reset. Doing so will force the phone to return all software settings to their known, working state. If a glitch developed after installing the latest system update, factory reset should eliminate it. Like in safe mode, you want to observe the phone for a few hours to see if the phone can now use internet normally. During the observation period, try to avoid installing anything except the apps you’re having problems with (Whatsapp and Instagram) so you’ll notice if there’s any difference.

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.

NOTE: If the problem continues even right after a factory reset, the cause of the issue must either be hardware in nature or a bad coding in the operating system version you installed. To fix the issue, you should talk to your carrier about it so they can replace the phone, or advise you on how to deal with the firmware you’ve installed.

Install all pending system and app updates. This step must be done if the issue won’t occur right after a factory reset. If the issue won’t return after a factory reset, that’s an indication that the glitch may have been introduced by an incompatible app. Make sure that you only re-install apps that are 100% compatible.

Basically, what you want to do is to identify which of your apps may be problematic. To do that, you must perform the following:

Install an app.
Check if it’s updated or not (install an update if it’s available).
Observe the phone for a few hours.
Do the same steps for the rest of your apps.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 5 cannot use keys during calls

I am having issues with being on a call and NOT being able to use any keys to go to any prompts. What can I do to fix this? I followed the steps that were on the website, but I cannot find the “Phone Application.” This is getting upsetting as I am not able to do much on my phone with this issue. My phone is a Note 5. Also my phone is a Verizon, but on ATT plan.

From the home screen, tap the Apps icon. Tap Settings. On the More tab, tap Application manager. Tap the All tab. Scroll to and tap the Phone application. Tap Clear cache. The application cache is now cleared. — Tera

Solution: Hi Tera. The “phone application” being referred to here is the native Samsung app you’re using when you make a call. It should be labelled “Phone” under Application Manager. If you can’t find it for some reason, try using a different phone app. There are many similar apps that you can get for free in Google Play Store. If that won’t help fix the issue either, perform a factory reset (steps provided above) to fix your main issue.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 5 can’t install system update

Hi. I downloaded the updates for my Note 5 yesterday, some 700MB of them. When prompted, I hit the install button and for a while the green figure appeared showing that the installation was taking place. Then the Android sign started flashing and continued to do so for several hours. So I Googled this problem and found a blog that suggested I reset the factory default settings by pressing & holding the volume, home and power keys together until prompted to re-set the phone. I tried this and got to another screen that said that I was going to customise the OS and asked if I wanted to do that. I said yes, and got another green Android sign saying that it was downloading something and warning me not to turn off the data(?). Well that message stayed all night. I am now back to the initial flashing Android sign & I cannot access or use my phone. I thought that it would be safe to install updates. What do I do now? — Creswell

Solution: Hi Creswell. We think you pressed the incorrect volume rocker by booting the phone to download mode instead of booting to recovery (so you can do a factory reset). The correct steps on how to factory reset a phone via recovery mode are detailed above. If your phone remains stuck in download mode, do a soft reset by following these steps:

Press and hold the Power and Volume down buttons for 12 seconds.
Use the Volume down button to scroll to the Power Down option.
Press the Home key to select. The device powers down completely.

Once the phone boots back normally, try to install the update again.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 5 keeps showing overheating error screen

Hey guys, here is what I can tell ya. After looking to find solutions to my problem. I realized that I was experiencing the, “Sorry messages has stopped” Where that app crashes when I try to receive a picture through text and the app is open. That part might be a smoke screen to the real issue I am dealing with. I left my phone on my bed overnight and it died. When I went to charge it, the normal charge battery symbol with the lightning bolt inside. After a few seconds, the screen turns off, few more seconds, it gives the same screen. Trying to load the app. I tried holding down the home button and the lock screen button when it was trying this. I got a message saying that the phone was overheating and try to unplug the charger and replug it in. The phone was not hot on the outside. Maybe ive blown a capacitor or something else inside. When trying to get it to work and pressing the home key and the lock key I got to a interesting screen where it said there is possible a OS crash and if I want to boot it in a (cant remember this important word) OS to press the volume down button now. It was like a user OS or a different OS. The screen was all blue or maybe it was green. I did a system reset by holding volume down and home key. then plugged it in. it was charging at this point. When i went to turn it on, it gave me the battery symbol with a thermometer in it. saying its overheating i assume. Hopefully you’ve seen something like this before. Thanks I’m guessing its Nougat, might be Marshmallow. But I’ve updated whenever it asks. but usually i wait a week or two of it telling me to update before I do. — Connor

Solution: Hi Connor. We don’t know the full history of your phone to say for certain if the issue is due to a software glitch or bad hardware. Try to do the basic software troubleshooting steps first such as wiping the cache partition, observing in safe mode, and factory reset. If they won’t help fix the problem, especially the overheating screen you’re getting, the most likely cause must be hardware malfunction. Have the phone’s hardware checked by Samsung or a professional so you will know if it can be repaired or not. If the phone is still covered by a replacement warranty, we highly suggest that you have it replaced instead.

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Galaxy Note 5 keeps losing mobile network connection, can’t install system update, other issues