How to fix a Galaxy S8 Plus with shattered screen and power issue

Hello and welcome to our latest troubleshooting episode for the day. We receive a lot of requests for help for the #GalaxyS8 everyday and below are some of them. This article will focus on giving you directions if you encounter problems with your S8 not turning on properly, or what to do when the screen is cracked and not working properly. In majority of these cases, the straight answer is to send the device to Samsung but there may be some exceptions.

Problem #1: How to fix a Galaxy S8 Plus with shattered screen and power issue

Essentially I dropped my phone (without its case) on the sidewalk. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, so it has that sleek screen. The left side of it was cracked. Mostly the upper left. It seems that from these cracks, a green line has spread horizontally across the screen. The line has changed in size and color multiple times. There also seems to be some kind of issue with turning on the phone now. The last time i turned the phone off, it took 10 minutes of pressing, and holding the power button as well as using the thumbprint system. However, all i could get was an extremely dark normal screen. (It was on,but there was almost no color.) I eventually got it to turn on normally, but now there is a keyboard thing that caused a word to type multiple times over. I’m sending this from my phone. Does this mean that the dreaded is true? Must I buy a new phone, or can it be fixed?

Solution: While some lucky few may walk without issues after accidentally dropping their phones, yours is definitely broken. The shock that resulted after that accidental drop must have damaged not only the screen assembly but also some parts of the motherboard, which is now causing the power problem. If you don’t want to invest in a new phone at this time, then you should at least let a professional take a look so a thorough examination is done. You can then get his or her opinion whether or not it’s wise to repair it. Keep in mind that replacing the screen assembly alone will already cost you about $200. If the motherboard is damaged, that should add probably another $200 or more, making the repair impractical. And just like any other electronic repair, there’s no guarantee that the phone will work normally afterwards. If you want to take that chance until you can replace the device with a new one, it’s your call.

Problem #2: What to do if Galaxy S8 won’t charge or turn on

Hi! This is actually my sister’s phone. She completely forgot about it when she bought a new phone and we just saw it. We tried to charge it, the LED light doesnt turn on. Tried switching cables and adapters and outlets but it still wont charge. Also, the reboots wont work. We also don’t know what is the verion of OS in the phone right now. Hope you can help. Thanks in advance ?

Solution: There’s only so much that you can do about this issue. If a Galaxy device won’t power on, it must be due to one of the following:

• charging accessories (cable or adapter) are not working
• battery is defective
• charging port is not working
• software bug prevents phone from booting up
• there’s unknown hardware malfunction

Since you’ve already tried the troubleshooting steps a user can do in this case, that leaves you with hardware malfunction. This must be the reason why your sister left the phone unused until now. We suggest that you bring the phone to your local Samsung store or an independent service center so they can check what’s wrong with it. There’s no software trick that you can do to power on a dead phone so stop wasting your time and let a professional handle the case.

Problem #3: Why Call screen and Contacts app on Galaxy S8 revert to portrait mode when used

Why is it my call screen and my contacts screen will not work in landscape mode? it stays in portrait mode. Everything else works in portrait mode that should including the contact and call settings screen. they both work in landscape so why doesn’t the call in the contacts screen switch over to landscape. I have the auto-rotate turned on but it just won’t rotate on to those two screens which are what I use the most when driving any ideas?it’s a brand new Galaxy S8 Plus.

Solution: This is NOT a bug. Some apps revert to their default portrait mode when used. This is by design so the only explanation that we can give you is that Samsung engineers must have done this on purpose. Contacts and Phone calling screen returns to portrait mode whenever you use them. This is true for both apps in other Samsung Galaxy devices as well. If you want to let Samsung know that you find this default behavior annoying, try to contact them and give them your feedback.

Problem #4: How to fix a Galaxy S8 screen that keeps flashing and won’t detect touches

For the past week phone is not always responding to screen touches. Tonight, after I made a phone call, the screen went nuts and was flashing other screens that I’ve never seen before.  It would not respond to screen touches and I couldn’t shut it off. It just kept flashing different screens. Eventually it stopped long enough to get is shut off. Power was down to 16% and it is now recharging.  Is my phone clinically dead? My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S8.

Solution: The phone’s motherboard is possibly fine but its screen assembly may be defective. We don’t have the full history of your device so we can’t tell what really is going on. The specific symptoms you mention may be product of a general hardware failure or a sign of individual parts failing. For instance, your phone not registering screen touches may be an indication that the digitizer is damaged, while the flashing screen may be a sign of a bad LCD or monitor. Or, both can be indications of failing motherboard. These problems are usually not caused by software-related issues but it won’t hurt if you try to restore all software information back to their defaults. To do that, follow the steps below:

1. Create a backup of your data.
2. Turn off the device.
3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
4. 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).
5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
6. Press Power button to select.
7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

If you are unable to factory reset your device, or if nothing positive comes out of it, then you want to go ahead with repair. We suggest that you bring the phone to your local Samsung Service Center first, or you can call them and set up an appointment.

 

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