How to fix a water-damaged Galaxy Note5 that won’t boot up

For those wondering how to fix their Galaxy Note5 (#GalaxyNote5), welcome to another troubleshooting article for this device. This post covers four more Note5 issues reported to us for the past few days. Most of the issues here are common problems so we hope a lot of you will 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.

Problem #1: Galaxy Note5 keeps losing cellular signal

I have an att note 5. I am using it with a cricket sim. Everything works at it should except one big issue. It loses signal constantly. Repeatedly. It’s not losing sim contact. Just a big circle with the bar through it appears. And it almost always comes right back. It happens while at home. While driving. Everywhere. Location doesn’t seem to have an effect on it I have soft reset and factory data reset. Used my wife’s att sim card. Same thing. Any ideas? I checked the access point and every setting seems to be what it should. Also in the browser the words sometimes are a jumbled up.

Solution: There may be an issue with either (a) the phone’s modem firmware or (b) with its antenna (hardware). This type of issue can’t easily be diagnosed and in fact, there’s no direct way to check which of the two is happening. As far troubleshooting on your level is concerned, the only thing that might work is to install  a carrier update. This may help if the reason for the issue is firmware-related. A patch for a modem firmware may rectify any inefficient coding bug.

If there’s no available carrier or system update, or if the phone is running the latest Android version already, then you can assume that the problem must lie on the hardware. If still under Samsung warranty, try to let them know about the problem so they can advise you on what to do. The least that can happen may be repair.

If your Note5 is part of your carrier contract, talk to your network operator so they can check on the issue as well.

Problem #2:  How to fix a water-damaged Galaxy Note5 that won’t boot up

Hi. I hope you can help. I have bought on contract a Samsung Note5 for my granddaughter. it is under contract until April next year. She is careful and keeps the phone clean and looks after it. About 3 weeks ago it just stopped charging. I sent it off to Tesco mobile whom the contract is with Today. I received a call saying the warranty is invalid as it is water damaged. I don’t really understand how this can be as my granddaughter is careful and could not think of how this may have happened.

Also if the phone is badly corroded or water damaged how come it works fine once the battery is charged. Tesco’s tell me that They will replace it for a charge and as it is still under contract. I don’t feel I have an option. They say that the replacement warranty will only last as long as the contract April 2019. Is this right as it is a new phone. Can you advise me if what they are saying is possible even though it has not been in water. Thank you.

Solution: If you are positive that the phone has never seen water before, you can check the Liquid Damage Indicator or LDI. You can do that by removing the SIM card tray on top of the device. In its default state (not exposed to water or liquid), the LDI will show a white field with pink or red X marks.  If this indicator comes in contact with water or liquid, the entire white field will be entirely covered with red or pink smudge. If your Note5’s LDI has been activated, then the phone must had been exposed to water and your granddaughter did not tell you about it.

Liquid or water damage is considered customer misuse, hence voiding the warranty. So, if your carrier or Samsung declares that your Note5 has been wet, you’re out of luck. If you want to continue using the same Note5, you can go ahead and pay for repair.

Problem #3: What to do if your Note5 won’t boot up after an accidental drop

Hey there. Before I address my problem, I should let you know that I have dropped my phone in the toilet and picked it up 1/2 seconds after and dried it with a blow dryer around a month ago.

My problem started when my phone was plugged in while I dropped it roughly two feet sliding against my table straight down on the top side of my phone. When I picked it up and tried turning it on, the screen did not turn on, so I naturally thought that it shut down. After holding the power button a few times to start my phone up, nothing happened. All that was shown was the cell battery charging image of lightning in it. Eventually, it showed the %3 of battery while the phone was plugged in after about 15 minutes of charging, so I tried holding down the volume down and power button again. It booted up and worked. I let it charge until around 80% power. I then unplug it and do what I do on my phone. After hopping on my bed and plugging it back in, I decided to unplug the phone, but then it shut off again. I then proceeded to do what I did to fix it, but nothing worked.If I unplug the power from the phone, it’s unresponsive no matter what I do, showing a black screen. After doing more research and trying to hold down the volume up, home, and power button to clear the “something” cache, it just endlessly reboots, showing “SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE5 POWERED BY ANDROID” for 1 second between 3 second intervals. If I unplug it though, nothing shows. Before the endless reboot occurred, I had charged it overnight, so it should have full power when I started trying to fix it the next day (date this message was written). As of now, the endless reboot is still continuing. I really don’t want to go to a phone repair store, as the price around my area is very high. Thanks in advance for your efforts.

Solution: Hardware damage can manifest in all sorts of ways. In most cases, dropping a Galaxy device will not always result to problems at all. Yours may be different though. It’s possible that the accidental drop must have damaged the circuit board or disconnected the battery. This kind of issue can not be fixed by tweaking the software or doing some software troubleshooting. A technician needs to check the hardware physically in order to know if there obvious signs of damage. If the board appears intact, a more thorough check may be done. For this one, the least that should be done is a physical check. Unless you are a trained technician, this is not something that an average Android user can do. Whether you like it or not, you need help from a professional to know whether or not the device can still be saved.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note5 text emojis are converted to question marks, texts are duplicated

Within the last month it is sending or receiving duplicate texts randomly. Also if I restart the phone I will get a text notification from a text I had already received weeks ago. Also when I recently used emoji’s in text, when I sent the text the emoji’s turned into to “question marks” and then a second message sent on it’s own with the emjoi’s in tact??? Very odd behavior. I am using the message app that came with the phone but yet I read about people saying they use a third party app and not the default one? I always thought I was using the default app? Confused on that? Any ideas???

Solution: Default app or stock app refers to the app that comes with the Operating System when you first unboxed your device. For some carrier-branded devices, default text messaging apps can vary. Some carriers may remove the Samsung Messages app altogether and replace it with their own text messaging app. Their messaging app then becomes your stock or default text messaging app. For devices designed for users that don’t want to tie them up with the carrier contract (global or international models), the stock text messaging app should be the Samsung Messages app. So, stock or default apps in devices, even if they’re of the same model, may vary a lot.

If you have a text messaging issue, it’s always a wise idea to start troubleshooting the app first. To do that in your case, we suggest that you try to reset the text messaging app to its defaults first. This is done by deleting the app’s data.

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
4. Select Show system apps.
5. Find and tap your app.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear Data button.
8. Restart your S9 and check for the problem.

Deleting the data of your text messaging app will erase your conversations. If you don’t want to lose some of them, we suggest that you back them up ahead of time.

Another way to troubleshoot your problem is to try using a different app. If you are currently having an issue with Samsung Messages app, you can install another messaging app from the Play Store. We suggest that you try Google’s own Android Messages app and see how your messages work.

If the problem remains after trying the two suggestions, you can also try to clear your device’s network settings. This can sometimes help in fixing network-related problems. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap General management.
3. Tap Reset.
4. Tap Reset Network settings.
5. Tap RESET SETTINGS button to confirm.
6. Restart your Note5 and check for the problem.

Should the same problem return, contact your network operator and report the trouble.

 

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