Galaxy S8 screen discoloration issue, flickering screen issue, other issues

One of the things that attracts people to smartphones is the screen. This is especially true in today’s high-end market of Samsung devices namely the Galaxy S and Notes model. Those huge screens are simply to hard to ignore. Which is why the Samsung #GalaxyS8, despite the unfortunate fate of its predecessor which was plagued by battery woes, is still selling like hotcakes. Sadly, the attractiveness of S8 display does little to nothing to protect itself from damage. Below are two sample cases that show how an S8 screen can fail and how to fix them. We also throw in one case of unusual mobile data consumption problem so hopefully you’ll find this post helpful.

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: Galaxy S8 screen discoloration issue, flickering screen issue

I bought my Galaxy S8 4 months ago. I had it dropped on the 3rd day i bought it. But somehow, it was still working fine, not until now. At times the screen is 3/4 white and some part is yellow green. But it is responsive. It happens especially when i use camera or even when im not using it and just lock it, the white screen shows again and sometimes it is flickering. What should i do? — Miles22fernz

Solution: Hi Miles22fernz. Any discoloration of the screen is almost always due to bad hardware. Taken together with the fact that your phone was dropped before, we are almost certain that your phone’s screen must be physically broken. To confirm that, try to boot the phone to either Recovery Mode or Download Mode. Any of these modes does not require Android to run so it’s a good way to see if the issue is caused by Android operating system glitch or not. If the screen continues to display unnatural colors, you’re heading to Samsung service center or to an independent repair shop.

Below are the steps on how to boot your S8 to different 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 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:

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.

Problem 2: Galaxy S8+ only half of the screen is working

I have a Galaxy S8+ that I bought in June. It has functioned perfectly until about 5 minutes ago when half the screen showed green lines, then blanked. I unplugged from charger and turned phone off. Have tried to restart and the right half had a green tint but half was completely screwy.

Tried to do a soft reset but that has not worked. Now half screen is perfect other half blank. Have never had phone in or around water. Have not dropped phone recently. Completely random occurrence. running Facebook Messenger and phone programs only. Don’t know Android version. — Samantha Karp Hauser

Solution: Hi Samantha. First of all, we want to make it clear that we don’t provide hardware solutions in this blog. Software troubleshooting is all we do and if you’re lucky, our solutions solutions may also help fix your problems. If all software troubleshooting have been exhausted, then you can assume that your phone must have a hardware issue. We understand you explicitly stated that your phone was never exposed to water nor dropped. These two are the most common reasons for hardware failure so we always emphasize in our posts that if the phone suffered any of them, repair or replacement are the only ways to go. However, a component can still fail even when the phone has always been taken care of due to other reasons. So, it’s not far fetched if you’ll still end up with sending the phone in after doing all our suggestions below.

Secondly, software troubleshooting in your case is limited to a few steps. First, you want to see if the erratic screen behavior is being caused by an app by restarting the phone to safe mode. While in this mode, all third party apps and services will be blocked. So, if the screen works normally, you can bet one of your apps is causing the screen disruption. Here are the steps on how to restart your device to safe mode:

Turn the device off.
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.
Uninstall apps that are causing a problem.

If the screen remains problematic even when you’ve booted the device to safe mode, you should then follow our suggestion for Miles22fernz above on how boot the device to Recovery Mode and/or Odin Mode. if the phone actually works fine when it’s on any of these modes, there must be an operating system glitch behind the trouble. To fix it, you must do a factory reset. Here’s how:

Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until Yes — delete all user data is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Have the phone repaired

All of these procedures are the only possible solutions that you can try. If not one of them helps at all, contact Samsung for repair. If there’s no nearby Samsung Service Center in your area, bring it to a good repair shop. Be advised though allowing a third party technician take the phone apart will void the warranty, which means that Samsung will no longer repair or replace the device if ever you’ll approach them at a later time.

Problem 3: Galaxy S8+ consumes large mobile data bandwidth

Received a replacement S8+ from my insurance company after cracking my screen. Possible it is a refurbished phone. replacement phone is using double the amount of data each month. Haven’t changed my habits, do not watch videos or listen to music. Bixby did have an update and is the only addition. Have many apps on restricted data usage. Android operating system used 4.5GB of data in 25 days. Something is wrong. — Susan

Solution: Hi Susan. In all replacement scenarios that we know of, provided phones are often refurbished so it’s very likely that you also received a reconditioned phone. Having a pre-owned phone won’t explain high data usage though. Mobile data is measured by your carrier so if you think your monthly usage is not right, ask them for an accurate breakdown. This will allow you to compare the mobile data computation in your phone. Keep in mind that you received a refurbished phone recently, which means that you had to redownload all your apps. Those apps, together with Android operating system. also had to update themselves. This would explain the high mobile data usage.

To prevent going over the limit for mobile data in your device, make sure to configure Google Play Store app to only download updates via wifi. Here’s how: