Galaxy S8 screen glitch in cold weather, won’t turn on in cold temperature, other issues

Hello and welcome to this day’s #GalaxyS8 troubleshooting episode. We’ve already published quite a number of S8 articles since this amazing device was released so be sure to also check them if you can’t find any semblance to your own problem here. You can do that by browsing our blog for previously posted articles, or by simply using Google. Make sure to include the word Thedroidguy in your query so Google will give you results from our blog.

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.

Problem 1: Galaxy S8 Plus data recovery, JPG files are corrupted

Hello. I have just bought a Samsung S8+.  I used smart switch to move the contents of my Samsung S7 to my new phone. I have an SD card in my old phone and I had a number of photos saved there to free up more room on my phone. However, most of the photos from the memory card now have the “!” mark problem. I tried using a jpg repair program on a few of them but that cannot fix them and that program says they are too corrupted to repair … how did this happen? Can it be fixed or have I lost 100s of precious photos? I still have both my old and new phones and the memory card. — Denisekj11

Solution: Hi Denisekj11. There can be a number of possible reasons why your photos had become corrupted. The exclamation mark on a file is the usual indicator of a damaged file although some damaged file may lack the said sign from time to time. These are some of the common reasons why files in SD cards get corrupted:

  • broken SD card
  • bad cable or card reader
  • unknown issue with your phone

Why an SD card gets bad

Firstly, SD cards can get physically broken. If you noticed obvious signs of physical damage or wear and tear in the card itself, the data in it may be compromised now or later.

Beyond the physical level, file corruption can also occur if the firmware (the code that makes certain components work) of the card reader in your phone encounters an error it may be unable to handle. This usually happens if the SD card is suddenly taken out while the phone is reading it or saving on it. For example, if your phone suddenly dies due to lack of battery while it’s saving something to the card, or while an app is trying to use it, there’s a big chance that files in that card may get corrupted. There’s a reason why Samsung provides an option to Unmount an SD card before you physically removed it from the phone.

In some rare cases, a few SD cards may inherit manufacturing defects straight from the factory. Even top-of-the-line SD cards can have them, though they’re not that common compared to cheap cards. Unfortunately, there’s no way for an end-user to know if his/her new SD card is defect-free.

Another reason why an SD card may get corrupted is age. Although a typical SD card can last for years, aging can be a factor when it comes to SD card health considerations. If your SD card has been around, it may eventually succumb to accumulated failure. Flash memory has a limited number of read/write cycles. Any abnormal fluctuation in voltage during operating or incorrect atomic situation may lead to read/write failure. Again, there’s no way to predict when an SD card can get corrupted so there’s no exact science for this specific problem.

File repair software

“Repairing” a file is a tricky business and so far, we are not aware of any software that can do it with consistent acceptable success rate. If you think the files you want to recover are worth a few hundred dollars, you can go online and find some reputable companies that  do data recovery. Be aware though that data recovery is not guaranteed so even a professional may not be able to get anything.

Problem 2: Galaxy S8 screen glitch in cold weather, won’t turn on in cold temperature

My Galaxy S8 model number SM-G950U1 is having issues in cold weather. Whenever i leave my phone idle in any temperature below approximately 18 degrees celsius (64 fahrenheit) the display starts glitching and shows a static effect. The static effect makes the display all grey and i cannot see anything on the screen. it is still touch responsive at this time. if it’s left in the cold for long enough, it will turn black and not turn on when i hard press the home button area or when i press the power button. what i do then is bring it somewhere warm like indoors and hold the power and volume keys and it will restart but the display colours will be a bit off (everything works once restarted). I have to then restart it once more for the correct colours to appear. any help would be greatly appreciated. — Tejveer Dhatt

Solution: Hi Tejveer. There’s no official literature from Samsung regarding tolerance of the new Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus to cold temperature. However, we know for a fact that the Galaxy S and Note lines can pretty much work normally even  in below freezing weather. Frankly, 18 degrees Celsius is not that extreme so the capacitive touchscreen should work normally. If that doesn’t happen in your device, you should consider getting a replacement for a possible manufacturing defect.

Keep in mind though that a lithium-ion battery like the one in your phone may not work as expected if exposed to cold weather at a stretch. This is not a hardware problem but a technological limitation. A Lithium-ion battery work by ion movements between positive and negative electrodes. When exposed to cold weather or temperature, the movement of ions between electrodes may be hampered or stop altogether. According to Battery University, these are the general facts regarding Lithium-ion batteries when in exposed to weather extremes:

  • Below -40°C lithium-ion will cease to function
  • Below -20°C a percentage of discharge occurs with lithium-ion batteries
  • Above 0°C your lithium-ion battery will charge without issue
  • Above 45°C you should avoid charging a lithium-ion battery
  • Above 60°C lithium-ion will begin to discharge

Based on the chart above, your phone is supposed to still work normally. It’s possible though that the core temperature of the device or the battery itself spikes well below the observable ambient temperature causing erratic behavior. Even if the battery misreads the temperature, it can cause errors that might result to sudden shutdown. We’ve observed this situation in older devices with naturally older, weaker batteries. If your issue continues to occur everytime your phone is exposed to cold temperature, contact Samsung so they can replace the battery or the phone.

Problem 3: Galaxy S8 screen turns black, won’t turn on

Have a Samsung Galaxy S8 from T-mobile. SM-G930T. It was working fine but then all of a sudden the screen will not light up. I turned it off to reboot and it does reboot with the sounds and all except the screen never turns on/lights up. This phone is in pristine condition with no scratches or broken glass. Did the LCD connector come loose, should I open it up and try unplugging the wifi connection and plugging it back in? If that doesn’t work is there anything I can do? A hard reset requires you to time button releases when the logo comes on but I don’t even see the logo. Any suggestions? — Frank Nederhand

Solution: Hi Frank. There’s one sure thing about your case: you have a screen problem. In many cases, an issue like this is due to bad hardware but at times, it can be caused by a bad app or software glitch. To see if it’s due to bad content or software, you want to restart the phone to alternate boot modes. Here’s how:

Boot in Recovery mode

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Turn off the phone.
  3. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.

Boot in Download Mode

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Turn off the phone.
  3. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.

Any of these modes run independently of Android operating system. If the screen comes back on to any of these modes, that means that either there’s a bad app causing the trouble, or there’s an unknown operating system bug that prevents the screen from working normally.

If your screen works normally in Recovery mode, you can do wipe the phone (factory reset) to fix the issue. If it only turns on to Download mode, you can try to flash the software.

 


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