Galaxy S6 screen is unresponsive, stays black, data recovery after accidental drop
More and more users of #GalaxyS6 are reporting power- and charging-related issues. While this is an expected situation provided millions of these once powerful devices are over a year old at this time, we’ve also noticed that a lot of S6 users tend to encounter black screen problems. The main symptom is obviously the screen remaining black while the phone appears powered on (and in some instances totally dead). In most cases, black screen issues result to repair but if you happen to experience it, we suggest that you try a number of troubleshooting steps first before sending the phone in.
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: Is data recovery possible on accidentally dropped Galaxy S6?
Hi! I really did it, and I really want to recover my photos. Contacts would be nice too, but I can obtain those again.
Background: was in Nepal, on a trek in the Annapurna Conservation Area for 25th wedding anniversary. We never travel, so it was a really big deal for us. Dropped my phone, S6 active, on stones. Was using phone as my camera.
Problem: Black screen, blue light. Immediately after the drop went to black screen, solid blue light, and started looping to turn on, over and over…black screen with the turn on tune, cannot turn off the phone, nor looping once you turn on the phone…holds a charge, responds with turn on music and keeps looping until battery runs down every time you turn it on. Had someone take a look at it. He tried replacing the ON switch, connecting a new screen, doing soft and hard resets to no avail.
Hope: There is a way to access the photo storage so I can download them to another device. Please let there be a way! — Suzanne
Solution: Hi Suzanne. In order to access your phone’s storage device/chip, the motherboard and display assembly must be working properly. These two basic requirements are the minimum that must be met first before you can attempt to recover some files. A non-working motherboard won’t obviously let the display work as expected so you can’t, in turn, navigate and give input to the operating system on what to do. Unless someone can fix the phone and bring it back to its normal working, those precious files may be good as gone.
If you think recovery of those digital memories are worth a few hundred dollars, consider looking for a company that specializes in advanced data recovery. Software used to extract data from broken gadgets are highly specialized and often proprietary so they are not usually commercially available for an average user. This makes data recovery an expensive undertaking since the process itself can only be done by highly trained technicians using special tools. And there’s no guarantee that such effort will even be successful at all. Data recovery is a and expensive and tricky business. If money is not an issue though, try to use Google to search for reputable companies that specializes in data recovery.
Problem 2: Galaxy S6 screen is unresponsive, stays black
Dear sirs. I have Galaxy S6, I don’t know current version, but I have updated to latest version recently. My email is a*********[email protected]. I used to charge my phone every night, then turn on ultra-power saving, and in the morning I turn ultra-power saving off to find my battery almost fully charged. However this time, when I tried to do the same, I found that my phone does not respond. Pushing (ultra-power saving) button does nothing. Furthermore when I swipe my screen to unlock my phone, the screen turns off. Then I pressed power button to restart or shut down, also nothing happened. Then I pressed power button for a long time, then the screen became black with no response.
I tried to call my phone from another phone, my phone rang with the correct assigned tune to this number. I tried to connect my phone to a PC, the PC did not detect it. However the phone emitted the tune that it is being charged. Any help will be appreciated Best regards. — Alaa Mostafa
Solution: Hi Alaa. If the phone rings or makes a sound when you call your number, that’s an indication that the problem is probably isolated to the screen only. Below are initial steps that you can do to troubleshoot it:
- Make sure that your screen isn’t cracked, chipped, or damaged.
- If you have a case or screen protector, take it off.
- If you’re wearing gloves, take them off.
- If you’ve put any stickers over the screen or sensors, peel them off.
- Make sure that your screen is clean.
Check for bad third party apps
If you’ve already tried all the stuff above, the next good step for you is to see if the problem is being caused by a poorly coded app. This is done by restarting your phone to safe mode. Here’s how:
- Turn the device off. If you can’t turn the phone off, or if there’s no way to know how, let the phone drain the battery first. Once the phone has shut itself down, charge it for 30 minutes before you continue with the steps below.
- Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
- When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
Safe mode blocks third party apps and services so if the screen comes back on, that’s a clear indication that one of your apps is problematic. To fix the issue, you must uninstall apps one by one and observe the phone after each uninstall to notice the difference. This is the only way for you to identify the offending app.
NOTE: To exit safe mode, simply restart the device.
Verify if phone screen works in alternate modes
If nothing changes after you’ve attempted to restart the device to safe mode, the next logical troubleshooting step is to see what happens when you try to boot the phone to either Recovery Mode or Download Mode. These modes run different set of codes that are independent of Android so booting to either of them is a good way to test if an Android glitch is causing the screen to stay black.
Below are the steps on how to do each of them:
Boot in Recovery mode:
- Turn off the phone. If it shows any light indicator, makes any sound notification, or vibrates and you can’t turn it off normally, allow the device to drain the power until it shuts off on its own. In order for this troubleshooting to be successful, it’s important that you turn the device off.
- Then, 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 logo 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.
- You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.
Boot in Download Mode:
- Turn off the phone. If it shows any light indicator, makes any sound notification, or vibrates and you can’t turn it off normally, allow the device to drain the power until it shuts off on its own. In order for this troubleshooting to be successful, it’s important that you turn the device off.
- Then, 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 logo 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.
If the screen remains black or unresponsive after attempting these boot modes, send it in for repair or replacement.
Problem 3: Water damaged Galaxy S6 black screen issue
I dropped my Samsung Galaxy S6 in the shower and it got moderately soaked. I picked it up right away and pat it dry then put it inside a bag of rice to “take away the moisture.” After about a day, I took it out and there was a flashing blue light LED at the top of the phone but my phone would not turn on after I would press the power button. I tried to do a hard reset, but the phone screen would still not turn on. Nothing I do seems to get my phone working again. I’ve dropped my phone 100 times (it’s never had a case) so I’m thinking the water, and not the actual fall itself, is what is causing my phone to malfunction. Help please! Is this something I can get fixed or do I need a new phone? — Daniel Zuniga
Solution: Hi Daniel. Your case may have different circumstances but the general issue appears similar to that of Alaa above so kindly refer to our suggestions for him/her. If you’re lucky enough, you may be able to fix it without resorting to repair or replacement.