Welcome to our first #GalaxyS5 post for the week. As usual, we bring you more S5-related issues that we’ve gathered for the past few weeks. We hope that this material will be an additional reference for Android users looking for solutions to their own S5 issues. Don’t forget to visit our main S5 troubleshooting page if you have the time.
In the meantime, below are the topics that have for you in this post:
- Galaxy S5 showing there’s a virus pop up | Galaxy S5 black screen issue
- Galaxy S5 “Not enough space in device storage. Delete some files and try again.” error | Galaxy S5 can’t download emails due to lack of storage space
- Verizon Galaxy S5 cannot send SMS when using T-Mobile SIM
- Galaxy S5 can’t make a call and send SMS after updating to Android 6.0.1
- US Cellular Galaxy S5 vibrates when turned on but screen remains black
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 S5 showing there’s a virus pop up | Galaxy S5 black screen issue
Last week, I was looking at Facebook on my Samsung Galaxy S5. A popup message appeared stating I had a virus. I immediately turned off the phone. The next morning, I turned on the phone and the screen remained completely blank. I followed an advice to reboot the phone by simultaneously pressing the power button, the home key and they volume up/down button. It did not work immediately, but later that day (Wednesday), I tried it again and it worked – the phone was back up and working. It continued to work the remainder of the day and into the evening. The next morning, it was completely blank again (Thursday). Pressing the three buttons to reboot had limited success. I would get various screens, sometime with reset options, sometimes with the Droid character with a gear turning in his stomach. I was unable to get it back up and running. Friday morning I took it to Verizon. Not surprisingly, they were unable to get it to “reboot.” I took it to a local repair shop, One Hour Device Repair in Issaquah, WA. That person did not have the requisite experience or equipment to complete a diagnosis. He sent me to their facility in a neighboring city, Redmond, WA, where they had more experienced technicians and better equipment. They took the back cover off, said my mother board appeared fine and strongly suspected I was experiencing a corrupted software partition. They said it wasn’t worth trying to repair. The phone is 14 months old so I’m not yet near the end of my 2 year contract with Verizon.
I took the phone home and we continued to attempt to bring it back to life, following advice on the internet. I believe I was able to get it back to the screen to allow a “factory reset.” It would not go beyond choosing which language I wanted for the initial set up. I’m o.k. with wiping the phone clean and starting over. Do you know if there is a place I can send the phone to do this? Or do you have any other device? Regrettably, I’m not very electronic savvy and have no idea what Android version the phone was last running, but had to choose a version to get this to go through, so don’t take the version answer seriously. I’m now using my old iPhone 4S while I research my options. Not thrilled about spending $500+ on a phone only to have it work for a year or so. — Pam
Solution: Hi Pam. An issue like yours can either be caused by software glitch/bug or hardware malfunction. Since you’ve already submitted the phone for a hardware checkup before and nothing was bad was found, the technician may be right to say that the issue lies on the software side. We don’t know the full history of your device so we can’t really say what’s preventing it from completing a factory reset process. Try going back to recovery mode first and attempt a cache partition wipe instead. Afterwards, try another factory reset.
To wipe the cache partition, follow these steps:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
- When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
- Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
- 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.
If both, cache partition wipe and factory reset, won’t fix the problem, the only solution left for you is to flash a stock firmware. This process is more complicated than factory reset and can potentially make the issue worse. There are many online guides on how to flash a firmware on a Galaxy S5 but you still need to know what you’re doing. Try to search Google for a good guide. If you can’t manage to do it yourself, simply bring the phone to a repair shop that can help you flash the firmware. Some carrier stores can also help you with this procedure so don’t hesitate to visit your local Verizon store.
Problem #2: Galaxy S5 “Not enough space in device storage. Delete some files and try again.” error | Galaxy S5 can’t download emails due to lack of storage space
I have a Samsung-SM-G360V version 5.1.1. I have had this phone about 1 1/2 years with good service until recently. Last summer I purchased a Samsung 64 EVO Plus card to add more storage to my phone. However, now I have not able to receive any more emails since Nov 28, 2016, getting the message “Not enough space in device storage. Delete some files and try again.” I have deleted all of the pictures off the phone and do not have any music loaded, except for the ring tone and notification tones. I only have one game (Solitaire) and just a few apps that I have added. Most of the apps on the list came pre-loaded on the phone and some will not allow me to delete them. I have tried to move some of the apps to the new SD card, but am not able to move most of them.
I have checked the “Trash” file, noting that there are 4,102 items there but the phone will not allow me to see them or delete them. There are NO items in the Drafts, Outbox, Sent or Spam folders. I have tried turning off the phone, taking out the battery, cleaning out folders. Nothing has worked so far. I would greatly appreciate your help. It would save me hours of waiting at the Verizon store for their help. — Stephanie
Solution: Hi Stephanie. Your first task is to identify if the lack of space problem is due to your phone’s storage device, or if it’s the need to free some virtual storage space in your email account. It’s possible that the error is accurate and that email app can no longer download incoming emails because the phone’s internal storage space is depleted. To check if that’s the case, do the following steps:
- Open the Settings app.
- Go to Storage and tap it.
- Under Device memory section, check how much available space is left. To prevent performance issues of apps, there should be at least 500MB of space left. The more available space, the better. Keep in mind that “Device memory” refers to the primary storage device and not the SD card.
Once you’ve ascertained that there’s enough device memory left but the issue still persists, your next troubleshooting step is to ensure that your email account virtual memory (the space allocated by your email service provider to hold your messages) is not exceeded. For most popular email services like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc., the allocated space is often big enough that you won’t need to actually worry about consuming it for several years. If you are the type who receives a lot of marketing emails, spam, or simply messages from all over, you need to regularly clean your account folders. To do that, you need to log in to your email account its webmail version. For example, if you’re using Gmail, you can simply open your email on your computer and login to https://mail.google.com/. Once you’ve logged in to your webmail, check all folders, especially the Trash and Spam folders and clear them out.
Problem #3: Verizon Galaxy S5 cannot send SMS when using T-Mobile SIM
I recently purchased a phone from a third party supplier, this phone is a Samsung S5. The phone is a Verizon phone but I am on T-Mobile and using a T-Mobile SIM card. When I try to do SMS messages I have to download any messages I receive which takes a while and when I try to send messages I get an error message unable to send.
I have cleared the cache for the messaging app, I have done a factory reset, I have done a cache clear from reboot. I have added/updated the APN settings. A single text works, calling works and web browsing works. I have moved the SIM to another phone and I am able to group text/send pictures on that phone. I just can’t do group or picture messages on this new (to me) Samsung Galaxy S5.
Name: T-Mobile US LTE
APN: fast.t-mobile.com
Proxy: <Not set>
Port: <Not set>
Username: <Not set>
Password: <Not set>
Server: <Not set>
MMSC: https://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc
Multimedia message proxy: <Not set>
Multimedia message port:
<Not set>
MCC: 310
MNC: 260
Authentication type: None
APN type: default, mms, supl
APN protocol: IPv6
APN roaming protocol: IPv4
Turn APN on/off: APN turned on
Bearer: Unspecified
Mobile virtual network operator type: None
Mobile virtual network operator value: <Not set> — Spencer
Solution: Hi Spencer. If your phone is unable to send SMS make sure that the phone is using the correct Message Center number. Your can get this number from T-Mobile technical support team. There are some forums that provide the message center number but we can’t verify if they’re a true Verizon message center number. A wrong message center number is one of the common reasons why a device can’t send out SMS. If putting in a new one won’t help you, make sure to ask T-Mobile for more assistance as the cause may be account-related.
Problem #4: Galaxy S5 can’t make a call and send SMS after updating to Android 6.0.1
Hello, I have Galaxy S5 SM-G900F. My phone have worked until recent Marshmallow from 6.0.0 to 6.0.1 update. After I update i cannot call, send SMS. Everything else works accept for mobile connection.
I have tried:
- Turn of phone, remove sim and battery, hold power + home button 2 minutes without battery
- IMEI not null and not filled with zeros. Numbers match IMEI on a back of a phone.
- SIM card works in another older Samsung device.
- When i enter SIM PIN code first time it resets and only after second time SIM unlocks (only in G900F).
- Mobile networks -> Network operators->select automatically gives Unable to connect. Try again later.
- Mobile networks -> Access Point Names gives me Unable to view the access point name settings. Access is restricted for the current user profile.
Maybe you have any advises. — Evaldas
Solution: Hi Evaldas. Let’s hope this is not a bug from your carrier’s Marshmallow version. If that’s the case, your only option may be to flash the stock Android 6.0.
By the way, have you asked for assistance from your carrier already (assuming you did not modify the official firmware by rooting or flashing custom software of course)? Getting help from your carrier is a must in this case as there’s only so much that third party technicians like us can do.
Before you contact your carrier, you can try the three basic software troubleshooting first to see if there’s something that you can do on your level. These software troubleshooting steps include:
- wiping the cache partition
- booting in safe mode, and
- factory reset.
For reference, below are the steps on how to do each of these procedures:
Wiping the cache partition
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
- When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
- Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
- 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.
Booting in safe mode
- Press and hold the Power button.
- Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
- Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
- Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
- The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue is eliminated.
Restore all software settings to default
- Power down the Galaxy S5.
- Press and hold the Volume up button, the Home button, and the Power button together until you see the Android on screen.
- Use Volume down to highlight the wipe data/factory reset option and press the Power button to select it.
- Use Volume down again to highlight Yes – delete all user data and press Power to select it.
- Use the Power button to select Reboot system now.
- When the S5 restarts it should be completely wiped and ready to set up again.
IMPORTANT: if all these procedures won’t fix the problem, contact your carrier so they can help you. Consider flashing a stock firmware if all their suggestions won’t fail too.
Problem #5: US Cellular Galaxy S5 vibrates when turned on but screen remains black
Hi. This is for a Samsung Galaxy S5 from US Cellular. I briefly pressed the power key to turn my screen off and it wouldn’t go off. So then I longed pressed the power button several different times. The screen light finally turned off, but it may have been because the 1 minute setting had reached its course. Later on I press the home button to turn the screen back on and nothing happened. The power key isn’t working either. It’s as if the phone was powered down. But it didn’t vibrate like it’s always does during the power down process. Now the phone won’t do anything. I had a near fully charged battery. I took it out and back in numerous times and tried charging it. My backup battery didn’t work either. It’s like the phone just died. Can you help me? I read your earlier article saying to try and connecting the phone to a computer running Kies. What is that and where do I find or get it? Thank you in advance for any added help you may can give me.
P.S: I forgot to mention that when I place the battery back into the phone, it will briefly vibrate and then the Samsung logo will appear in white letters in a still photo for about 3 seconds and then disappear. Thank you. — D Blankenship
Solution: Hi D Blankenship. Kies is a free Samsung app that you can download on your computer so you can transfer files to and from your phone seamlessly. Kies has been replaced by a new app called Smart Switch. You can get Smart Switch from Samsung website.
Firstly, we assume that your phone’s software is official (not custom) and not rooted. We don’t support issues following a failed root or flashing process.
Secondly, we also assume that your phone was never accidentally dropped or exposed to liquid and extreme temperature before this problem occurred. If the device was dropped or wet before, don’t waste your time doing software troubleshooting as nothing will fix hardware problems but repair.
Provided that the two assumptions are correct, there’s still a chance that you will be able to fix the problem yourself. There may simply be a bug that developed after some time so doing different hardware button combinations may help. A black screen issue like the one you’re experiencing may be caused by a bad screen or by an unknown software glitch. Usually, if the problem is due to a bad screen only, the blue LED light should still work and will continue to indicate if there’s an incoming message or notification. Also, you should still be able to call your number and hear it ring. If these two signs are still happening, you must have the phone’s screen replaced. If your phone is totally unresponsive though and you can’t seem to boot it back up normally, you should try to see if you can turn it back on to other modes like safe mode, download mode, or recovery mode. Each of these modes offers different option to help you fix the problem so you must do additional research on how to proceed. However, if the screen remains black regardless of the hardware button combination, that’s a clear indicator that the problem may be on the motherboard level. In this case, you must have the phone repaired (highly unlikely to have positive result) or replaced.
Below are the different ways to boot the different to other modes:
Boot in Recovery mode:
- Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
- Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
- When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
- Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
- You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.
Boot in Download Mode:
- Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
- Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
- Wait until the Download screen appears.
- If you can boot the phone in download mode but not in other modes, that means that your only way out may be to flash a stock or custom firmware.
- Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.
Boot in safe mode (refer to the steps above)