How to fix a Galaxy J5 unresponsive touchscreen

The touchscreen serves two functions: to display images and to allow access to the operating system user interface. Both of these things are important so the loss of one or both can be very frustrating for a user. In this post, we give possible solutions to a Galaxy J5 owner with an unresponsive touchscreen. We hope this post will help.

Problem: How to fix a Galaxy J5 unresponsive touchscreen

hi I have an unresponsive j5 touch screen. gone in to safe mode, nothing, still unresponsive. when I try to do a hard reset, I get a message saying WARNING a custom os can cause critical problems in phone and installed application. if you want to download custom os, press volume up key…. so I did that, wait 9 hours, then phone died. so charged phone, tried again but clicked volume down still nothing. can’t get to factory reset. any advice would be amazing.

Solution: Touchscreens may sometimes stop responding due a software error, app problem, or hardware malfunction. The most common reason for touchscreen issues though is when a device is physically impacted or accidentally dropped. If your Galaxy J5 was dropped, hit by an object, or exposed to elements (water, too much heat, or too much cold), consider having it checked by a technician. Stop wasting your time looking for a software solution as there’s no software tweaks that you can do to fix a physically broken component.

On the other hand, if your J5 was working normally and was not physically damaged in any way, it’s possible that the reason for the problem is software-related. That means that there’s a chance you can fix it on your end. Follow our suggestions below to know what you can do in this situation.

Unplug the battery

While you can definitely restart the system via the Power menu, pulling out the battery is a better way to restart, especially for a case like this. Make sure to let the phone lay still for about 10 seconds after removing the battery to allow the system to fully refresh. After, insert the battery and see how the touchscreen works.

To remove the battery of your J5:

Press and hold the Power button until the “Phone options” screen appears.
From the Phone options screen, tap Power off.
Tap OK.
With the display facing away, locate the notch in the cover located on the upper-left edge then gently pull the cover off.
Locate the notch in the lower right corner of the battery then lift the battery out.

If you can’t turn off the phone using the steps above, simply take out the cover and remove the battery.

Master reset via Recovery Mode

If nothing happens after disconnecting and reinserting the battery, the next good step is to perform a master reset, also known as factory reset. This is done by booting the phone to Recovery Mode by pressing a hardware button combination. We are assuming of course that the phone is not totally dead (No Power issue). If its LED light is still working, or if it continues to make sound notifications or vibrates when you try to restart it, then it’s not dead. You can then proceed to master reset. If your J5 is totally unresponsive, proceed with repair.

To master reset your Galaxy J5:

Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green 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.

Charge thru a computer

If your J5 won’t boot to Recovery Mode at all, or if master reset won’t fix the problem, try charging the phone via a computer. Some users in the past were able to fix screen problems by switching to slower charging thru a PC. This is a hit-and-miss option but it’s worth giving a try.

Have the screen repaired or replaced

If all else fails, you can assume that there’s a hardware issue at hand. Contact Samsung so they can repair or replace the screen.