Galaxy S7 keeps freezing and turning itself on and off, other issues

S7 edge

Welcome to another post that provides answers to some #GalaxyS7 issues submitted by our readers. Don’t hesitate to consult our previously posted articles about Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge if you can’t find the solution you’re looking for here.

  1. Galaxy S7 keeps freezing and turning itself on and off
  2. Galaxy S7 suddenly stopped working and no longer turns on
  3. Galaxy S7 can’t send SMS/text message after updating to Marshmallow
  4. Cannot preview or buy a song in Galaxy S7 Google Music app
  5. Galaxy S7 has no audio or sound but audio works when Bluetooth headset is connected

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 S7 keeps freezing and turning itself on and off

Hi. I got a Samsung S7 and the very next day in the morning it froze. I got it exchanged immediately without trying anything. My second handset worked pretty well for about a month and a half. And suddenly one night it heated up and shut down, just like my first piece.  I tried a number of rebooting and hard resetting techniques. The mobile would switch on and switch off by itself in a couple of seconds. Until finally it stopped responding to anything I did. Even after I plugged it in for charging for almost an hour.

The screen wouldn’t turn on at all. I realized I had to give it in too and get a new handset. But I’m paranoid now and am planning to sell the new handset. And I have kind of completely sworn off Samsung now. And i didn’t have a lot of apps installed either. Just WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, Kik Candy Crush and Temple run 2. Unless you can tell me that there is a way I can fix this issue with my third handset in 2 months, I have no plans of keeping it and will maybe completely shift to an iPhone. Sorry about the huge description I just wanted to be completely clear. Hope you can help. Thanks! — Ishraq

Solution: Hi Ishraq. We are not Samsung to give you an assurance that a new S7 will not go bad after a few months. Doing so would be like telling you to pick a particular car brand because you’ll never be at risk while driving it. Keep in mind that as a user, you are partly responsible in maintaining your device. The only sure thing that we can tell you is that there are millions of other Galaxy S7 users who do not experience the same exact problem like you do after a couple of months. Either you are simply unlucky to have received two defective products in a row, or you are misusing your phone. While not impossible, it’s highly unlikely that a brandnew Samsung Galaxy S7 would have the same exact problem. We think that the problem is user initiated.

The best thing that you can do is to do a factory reset and observe your phone for a few days to know if firmware/software bugs have developed over time. During the observation period, make sure that you don’t install third party apps. Try to observe the phone for at least 3 days. If you don’t want to do this, go ahead and switch to iOS as we will not ask you to stay with Android.

For reference, these are steps on how to perform a factory reset, also known as master reset, on your Galaxy S7:

  • Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
  • Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  • When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 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 data / factory reset.’
  • Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  • Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  • Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  • The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 suddenly stopped working and no longer turns on

One day I went to the gym with my phone and wanted to listen to some music. I connected my phone to my Bluetooth wireless headphones. I started playing some music so I could workout. Then, I noticed that all of a sudden, the music stopped playing. I looked at my phone and noticed the red light on the top left corner of my phone is now lit up and even now, is still on. I found this strange because my phone was fully charged before I left for the gym. I decided to try and turn it back on by holding down the power button but the phone did not turn on. I decided to go home and charge the phone because I assumed that maybe for some reason it was just dead. My phone actually cannot charge nor will it turn on for me. Is there any solution to this problem? — Tiger

Solution: Hi Tiger. A red LED light indicates one of the following:

  • glows red when the device is connected to a charger and is charging.
  • blinks red when the device is connected to a charger but there is a problem with charging.
  • blinks red when the battery is low.

Your first task is to know if you can still turn the phone back on to a different boot mode other than normal mode. Actually, this may be the only thing that you can do at this point unless the phone can restart to, say, safe mode, or recovery mode. If the phone remains unresponsive even when it’s connected to a charger and no hardware button combinations can get it to turn back on, it’s probably suffering from a hardware failure.

To boot your phone in safe mode, here’s the steps that you can try:

  • Press and hold the Power key.
  • As soon as you can see the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE’ on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
  • Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.
  • You may release it when you can see ‘Safe mode’ in the bottom left corner of the screen.

If the device boots in safe mode, that’s an indication that a third party is the reason behind the trouble. However, if nothing changes and it remains unresponsive, try to see if you can boot it in recovery mode. Here’s how:

  • Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
  • Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  • When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 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.

Under recovery mode, you have a few options that you can try like wiping the cache partition and performing a factory reset.

Another boot mode that you can try is Odin or download mode. Enabling this mode is usually done if you want to manually modify your device’s firmware. If you haven’t tried it before, simply follow these steps:

  • Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
  • Press and then hold the Home and Volume Down keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  • When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 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.

In general, if a phone can boot to any of these modes but not to normal mode, that’s an indicator that the problem is on the software level. However, if the situation won’t change a thing, you can safely assume that there’s a hardware failure. In some rare cases, bad Power or Volume buttons can cause the phone to remain stuck in a certain mode, or force it to never turn on at all. If you are going nowhere, asking for a replacement phone may be your only recourse.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 can’t send SMS/text message after updating to Marshmallow

Dear Droid Guy(s). My phone recently updated to marshmallow, and now I can’t send SMS text messages.  I can receive texts and make and receive calls.  I can send MMS text messages.

I’ve tried all the fixes listed in your article but they didn’t work. 

For some reason, I can’t see my message center number in the settings of my messaging app. I’m not using a third-party app, and, when click on “safe mode,” I can only choose whether to allow access to all links and whether to be alerted to potential threats.

I wiped the cache partition in recovery mode and did a factory reset of my phone, but neither of those fixed the problem.

My network is Credo Mobile and piggy backs off of Sprint – could this be part of the issue? I’ve contacted Credo, but wanted to contact you as well.

Thank you very much!  Your articles have helped me a lot in the past, and I really appreciate your help with this.

All the best. — Catherine

Solution: Hi Catherine. If the new firmware (Marshmallow) has blocked your access to Message Center, even after a factory reset, then the problem is with the operating system. Users are always given access to change the Message Center number in case an issue like yours happen. Make sure that you work with Sprint or Credo so they can notify their developer team to release a patch to address the issue. There’s nothing more than you can do on your end except this.

Problem #4: Cannot preview or buy a song in Galaxy S7 Google Music app

I tried to go into my Google Music to preview a song to purchase & a triangle w/red exclamation mark came up. I went into settings to see if I could figure out the problem & when I click on Google Play it comes up saying “unfortunately settings has stopped working” & takes me back to home screen.

I called Google and they had me clear cache, clear data, uninstall, reinstall & nothing helped. She told me to restore to an earlier version but it didn’t work. I was then told to go into setting>accounts>clik on google music & uninstall so it goes back to factory version, and she would give me 5 minutes & call me back. That was Saturday, I never heard back from her. It is still not working.

I have tried to reinstall Google music & reupdate my phone & it won’t let me do anything. It is still doing the same thing. Triangle/red exclamation, cannot preview or purchase any music & it’s back to factory version. I have just about had it with this phone.  Please help, apparently ALOT of people are having the same issues & Google isn’t helping. — Cheryl

Solution: Hi Cheryl. Google Music is just one of several Google services running on your phone. We recommend that you clear the cache and data, or uninstall the update for Google Services Framework app. This is a critical app for all Google services and if the issue lies on it, making sure that it’s working back to normal is priority. If wiping the cache and data of this app won’t change anything, we suggest that you go ahead and do a factory reset instead. Doing so will not only address a potential issue with Google Services  Framework app but also Google Music.

Keep in mind that the issue may remain even after a factory reset if it’s caused by a third party app or an unofficial modification of the firmware. Be sure to bring everything back to stock first and observe how Google Music behaves to know the difference.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 has no audio or sound but audio works when Bluetooth headset is connected

Hello! I have problems with my Galaxy. 🙁 I have no sound on the phone and even when if I plug in my headset I don’t get any sound in it. But I found a temporary fix to it. When I connect a bluetooth headset to my phone I get sound. And the phone crasches often and on any video (Facebook, twitter, youtube ect) it is in slowmotion/lagging without the bluetooth headset. And when I connect to the bluetooth headset when a video is on the video goes to normal speed and I have sound on my bluetooth headset.

I have tried to clear all cache and I have wiped my phone. It didn’t work. Also many of the apps is crashing or being very slow. And sometimes when a app crash I can’t go to homescreen. After that the whole phone restarts. And sometimes it is not even restarting it is stuck when it it restarting.

I have tried to just leave it there to restart but it took over 2 hours so I hold in the power button for 4-7 secound and I restarted it manually. I don’t get any alarm sound and when someone is calling me I don’t hear a sound for that.

I would be really happy if you have a fix for this but if not I will live with it. — Rick

Solution: Hi Rick. There may be a third party app that’s causing a conflict with other apps or the firmware. Try to boot your phone in safe mode first (steps provided above), then see if the issue continues. If the phone appears normal while in safe mode, you can assume that one of your apps is to blame.

Otherwise, follow our suggestion for Cheryl above for resolution.

If the issue remains after you’ve factory reset the phone, the issue may be on your phone’s hardware, particularly the speaker. Have the phone replaced by calling Samsung or your carrier.

 


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