Hello Android community! Here’s another list of issues and solutions for one of Samsung’s flagships, the #GalaxyS6. We hope that this post will become another good reference for those users looking for answers to their issues. Don’t forget to also visit out main Galaxy S6 troubleshooting page if you have the time.

For now, these are the specific topics in this material:

1. Galaxy S6 randomly crashes | Galaxy S6 won’t turn on
2. Galaxy S6 edge plus bought from Craigslist stuck in boot loop
3. Galaxy S6 has multiple issues after updating Android Marshmallow
4. Galaxy S6 edge keeps freezing and rebooting
5. Galaxy S6 screen not working properly after an accidental drop
6. Galaxy S6 NFC feature is greyed out

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.

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Problem #1: Galaxy S6 randomly crashes | Galaxy S6 won’t turn on

A few days ago my phone crashed and I had to reboot it, and it worked fine for a while until it started crashing again but on a more regular basis. I hadn’t installed any new updates or apps around the time, so there seems to be no obvious reason as to why this is happening. Usually my phone would turn right back on, so there was no issue. But now my phone goes onto the infamous black screen of death, and using the vol down+power button turns it back on, until it crashes an hour later. I’ve tried entering android recovery mode, and after the phone tries to install system update, it shows an image of the Android Guy ‘dead’ with and exclamation mark warning above its head. I suppose this means it hasn’t installed or there’s an issue with the firmware. After this I’m allowed to go back into android recovery mode where i’ve been able to reboot my phone and also wipe the cache partition, with no luck unfortunately. I’ve also tried Safe Mode, but it’s also crashed on Safe Mode, so I suppose the next option is to do a factory reset, but I’m trying to use it as an absolute last resort. I’d appreciate any help and advice, thank you. UPDATE: Whilst I was writing this, my phone crashed again, and this time I can’t get it off of the black screen/blue LED. — Sean

Solution: Hi Sean. When dealing with an issue like this, you must be open to the fact that hardware error may be the main reason too. A lot of Android problems don’t have obvious reasons and that’s why you have to all ALL available software troubleshooting first, which includes factory reset.  There’s no clear cut solution for every Android problem, much more for an issue you’re experiencing. Try to wipe the phone clean via factory reset and observe it for a day. Make sure that you don’t install anything during the observation period. Because factory reset will return all software settings to their known, working state, any software glitch that may be causing the problem should be eliminated. If your phone will continue to reboot randomly after a factory reset, the most likely cause is hardware malfunction.

The frequent crashes may be the result of an on-going overheating problem, which can also be due to a malfunctioning hardware component. Smartphones like the Galaxy S series can overheat quickly as motherboard design has poor ventilation. If one component is not working properly, it may produce abnormal heat levels inside that can fool the heat sensor, causing it to shut the system down. Most smartphones today are designed to shut down if it detects high temperature beyond its normal threshold. In this case, you must let the phone cool down for at least 2 hours before attempting to turn it back on. If the problem continue after you’ve left the phone powered off and unused, that’s another confirmation that you’re facing a hardware issue. To solve it, we suggest that you replace it. We discourage you against having an overheating phone repaired as often times it doesn’t provide a permanent solution. Most technicians, even those from Samsung, often only spends minutes checking a device. If the main cause of the problem cannot be identified, they may misdiagnose the issue and declare that there’s no problem in the unit.

If you can’t turn the phone back on at all at this point, even if you try booting it to other boot modes, that’s all the more reason to have it replaced. For reference, here are the steps on how to boot the phone to alternate boot modes:

Boot in Recovery mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
5. 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.
6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Press and hold the Power button.
3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
6. 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 (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 edge plus bought from Craigslist stuck in boot loop

Hello. I am contacting you out of complete frustration. I purchased an S6 edge plus (Verizon) from a guy on Craigslist (I know). upon purchasing the phone I was told it only needed a new battery. After charging the phone I realized the phone held a charge fine but when it got to the Samsung flash screen it would vibrate restart and do that over and over (bootloop). So I entered the recovery and have performed a factory reset and cache wipe endless times. While they show successful after reboot, same bootloop issue occurs. I am so frustrated because I paid $300.00 for the phone and cannot come up with any ideas at this point. I am in desperate need of help if possible. if I forgot to mention the phone does not bootloop in recovery or download mode and is running 6.0.1. Please please tell me what to do. I took it to a shop but they want to charge me $250.00 to fix it 🙁 —  Ari

Solution: Hi Ari. The only potential solution that you can try right now is flashing stock ROM to your phone. Hopefully, the cause of the problem only lies on the software, as software issues are relatively easier to fix than bad hardware (and we’re not even talking of a fix that you can do). Flashing is an Android term that means installing a ROM or operating system via download or Odin mode (steps provided above on how to boot to this mode). Most boot loop issues are fixed by this process so we are hoping that this will work in your case as well. Flashing requires modifying core files of your phone so you must make sure that you do it properly to avoid causing further problems. Keep in mind that flashing requires some things to be in place before it can be done such as the following:

• USB debugging enabled (If the phone’s USB debugging feature was not enabled before the phone got stuck in a bootloop, there’s no way flashing will work)
• recovery software is working
• root (necessary for some ROM)

Flashing procedures vary in some critical steps depending on a device so you must remember these general points before attempting it:

 

1. Know the phone model number. This is a critical information if you are trying to flash a device. Since you mentioned that it’s a Verizon device, it’s model number must be SM-G920V. If you aren’t sure, try to check back of the device to see if you can see the Verizon logo.
2. Get the correct firmware. Using the right firmware when flashing cannot be overemphasized enough. Installing a wrong firmware can brick a normally working phone so we can’t say for sure what happens to your device if this is not followed. A popular site to get a good firmware from is Sammobile.com. Keep in mind that this is a third party site and they don’t guarantee that the copy of their firmware is a working one. Based on our experience though, their firmware are all fine.
3. Use a good guide. We don’t provide flashing guides so you must use Google to search for one.

 

Remember, if flashing won’t resolve the boot loop problem, the cause of the problem is most probably bad hardware, or, as the previous owner said, bad battery. In this case, you have no choice but to have the hardware checked by a professional.

Problem #3: Galaxy S6 has multiple issues after updating Android Marshmallow

Problems began after the latest update (Marshmallow (version 6.0.1). The phone would constantly think you were plugging and unplugging the charger or headphones. The battery would show charged and then you could watch it drain and watch it charge back up without it being plugged in. Buttons would be pushed without you pushing them.

As the days went by and this new update was on my phone, it continued to crash. It eventually stopped charging. I did a factory reset and it began charging again. After a short period of time it stopped charging again and I did another factory reset. I did this two more times and did a complete factory reset from the black screen the guy pulled up at the AT&T store that wiped out everything. My phone began to charge normally for a short period of time, it didn’t matter if it was plugged in or laying on a wireless station as it is not the port. The new software has literally damaged the phones “brain” portion of knowing how to charge. I have to turn my phone off for it to charge. Even then it doesn’t register that it is charging, but it does. My battery drains quicker and I’m living not using my phone unless I have to know I will have to turn it off to charge it. This is the worst update ever… after being a Galaxy person since the very first phone I think I may convert to an Apple user this has been such an awful experience. A phone that can’t remember how to charge isn’t a phone at all!!

After calling Samsung I finally got them to admit they knew there was a problem but it didn’t offer me any answers as to when they would be releasing an update to fix it. I have cleaned my cache, rebooted, factory reset many times, tried safe mode, recovery mode… I’m out of ideas here. — Desperate

Solution: Hi Desperate. While some major system updates result to glitches due to complications that developers did not anticipate, there can also be problems that result from incompatible apps. The latter is the one that you should be concerned of as the first situation, coding issue due to developer’s fault, is beyond your ability to fix.

Keep in mind that updating the operating system does not automatically mean apps are updated as well. There’s a need to update apps when a new operating system version is installed to avoid bugs. While it sounds simple enough, many users are quick to blame new system updates as the cause of problems when it’s incompatibility that’s causing it in the first place. This is especially important if you don’t set Google Play Store to update apps automatically, or if you get apps from third party sources outside of Google Play Store. To know if an app (either first party or third party) is incompatible, do another round of factory reset and observe the phone for a couple of days without installing anything. If the same charging problem occurs even when there are no new installations, that’s an operating system problem that only later OS system patches can fix (this is very rare though). Such problem must be reported to the relevant party like your carrier or Samsung so they can then work with their developer team for a solution.

If the opposite happens though and your phone appears to charge normally and other issues don’t appear, make sure that you identify the problematic app and remove it.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 edge keeps freezing and rebooting

Hi guys. I own a Samsung S6 Edge, SM-G925F. I bought it in March 2016 and have been using it smoothly until last November when out of nowhere it started freezing and rebooting. At first i thought it was because of some kind of application i installed so i uninstalled every app but that did not fix the problem. Below are the steps i already did but unfortunately, none of this fixed the issue:

• soft reset
• master reset
• boot in safe mode
• new firmware upgrade

After all the try I’m still having the same issue that i even stopped using the device. I am so disappointed with Samsung because i have been taking good care this phone still looks new but unable to operate. I used all preview Galaxy release S2, S3, S4, S5 and never experienced such bugs. I’m considering of never to use Samsung ever. Please advise me anything that can still be done in order to recover the phone. Thanks for reading it. — Abreu

Solution: Hi Abreu. As mentioned above, if all software troubleshooting have failed, the cause of the problem must be faulty hardware.  You should have the phone repaired or replaced.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 screen not working properly after an accidental drop

My phone for some reason broke. I don’t know how. I understand that I dropped it and that is probably how it got broken. It didn’t have this huge crack across the screen. It only had small crack in the right corner. The phone slipped out from under my arm while I was walking down concrete stairs. From then on, the phone had glitches. Sometimes the screen flashes (in dim lighted screen) (usually green) the home screen and apps but not the whole thing. Sometimes it is green with the app/ home screen. Sometimes it is white, sometimes it’s just one of the colors, sometimes it is all. It also sometimes doesn’t show anything. It still makes clear sounds and shows the buttons on the bottom. What do I do. — Mary

Solution: Hi Mary. If the screen issue started after you dropped the device, shock must have damaged the screen permanently. Crack on the screen doesn’t matter. The best course of action that you can do now is to have the phone’s hardware be checked by a professional. There’s no software hack that you can do on your level to fix this type of issue.

Problem #6: Galaxy S6 NFC feature is greyed out

NFC greyed out in ON position. Will not turn off nor is actually turned on. Apps that use NFC are saying it needs to be turned on. Gone through all troubleshooting, i.e., soft resets to messing around with all data settings as found on your guide and other guides. In download mode / power + vol up + home button the system tries to upgrade before showing a dead android and yellow warning sign. It then proceeds to go into the download mode after a couple of seconds. Thanks for any help i can provide screen shots if needed. Note this is a refurbished device that was given to me by my Telco company. — Nathan

Solution: Hi Nathan. Try to do a factory reset first to see if your Telco company’s software intentionally locked this feature off or not. Make sure to create a back up of your files before doing this procedure. Here are the steps:

1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
3. When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
4. Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
5. Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
6. Press the Volume Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
7. After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

If the NFC option remains greyed out after a factory reset, the current software may be blocking it for some reason. Talk to your telco company on how to turn it back on.

 

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