We don’t normally expect brand new devices like the Galaxy Note9 to fail to turn on but this is what exactly happened to one user. We include his problem description below to give context of the problem. If you are in a similar predicament with your own Note9, find out the things that you can try to fix it.
Problem: How to fix Galaxy Note9 won’t turn on issue
I recently purchased 2 galaxy note 9 phones and a few other items. One of my note 9’s just stopped working. It wont come on. The company assures customers that this product is the best. I totally disagree. I have been a loyal customer and I have been treated like a peasant. Sprint wants us to file a claim and pay $150. This phone comes with a lot of positive feedback and I don’t agree with any of it. I shouldn’t have to pay a claim for a defective phone. Your statements back this model phone up to perfection and that is exactly what I didn’t get. Perfection!
Solution: Ideally, a brand new top-tier device like the Note9 should work flawlessly. In reality though, a few may work poorly or not at all due to factory defects. There’s no perfect electronic gadget and we don’t claim that the Note9 is brimming with perfection. Product imperfections may not be a glaring weakness of Samsung devices but a few come with problems. This is the reason why there’s a standard one-year warranty for all Samsung electronics. If you think you received a lemon, you should use the product warranty to get the value for your money. We don’t know the condition of your Note9 at this time but normally, Samsung will replace it for free if a customer returns it within a specific time period. Assuming you did not scratch or physically damage the device, replacement requests of this type are not paid. You should talk to your local Samsung representative to know why they’re charging $150 for your request.
It’s unusually rare for a brand new Galaxy Note9 to fail to turn on. If you want to see if there’s a chance that you can fix the issue on your end, follow our suggestions below.
Perform a forced reboot
Your Galaxy Note9 may have encountered a software bug that it can’t deal properly. In such a case, a computer or smartphone may simply freeze or become unresponsive. To an average user, this may appear as if a device won’t turn on or has become unresponsive. In older devices with removable battery packs, unplugging the battery should be enough to restart the device. With the Note9, unplugging the battery is borderline impossible so Samsung has devised a way to simulate the effects of disconnecting the battery. Here’s how:
- Press and hold the Power + Volume Down buttons for approximately 10 seconds or until the device power cycles. Allow several seconds for the Maintenance Boot Mode screen to appear.
- From the Maintenance Boot Mode screen, select Normal Boot. You can use the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the lower left button (below the volume buttons) to select. Wait for up to 90 seconds for the reset to complete.
Verify if it’s a screen problem
In some other cases, a screen problem may be mistaken as No Power issue. If your phone still makes a sound when you call your number, or vibrates when you attempt to restart it, that means it’s not dead. Instead, there may be a problem with the screen. Screen problems usually occur after accidentally dropping a device or when it’s physically impacted. If none of these things happen but the screen refuses to turn on at all, you can try to boot the device to Recovery Mode to check if Android has encountered a screen error.
Recovery Mode is a separate software environment and is independent of Android. So, even if Android is problematic, you should still be able to boot to Recovery. In this mode, you can wipe the cache partition (to deal with a corrupted system cache) or wipe the phone (factory reset). Here’s how to boot your Note9 to Recovery:
- 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 Bixby 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).
If your phone is showing signs of life (makes sound notifications, vibrates, or rings during calls), but the screen stays black, then you have a screen malfunction. In this case, you want to send the phone for repair or replacement.
Charge using another set of cable and adapter
There may be an issue with the current set of charging cable and adapter. Try using another set of known working charging accessories to charge your Note9. make sure that you use an official Note9 cable and adapter to avoid incompatibility issues. It may have simply run out of juice and the charging cable and adapter are defective. Make sure to charge the device for at least 30 minutes. This should give the battery more than enough power to turn the device on.
Check the charging port
The goal of troubleshooting step is not to fix a physically broken charging port but rather to inspect. Your phone’s charging port is the only system exposed to dirt and other foreign objects. If there’s dirt or lint in the charging port, it may block the cable during charging, which may, in turn, cause the battery to lose power and unable to receive a charge. If possible, try to use a magnifying tool to inspect the port. If you think that it’s dirty or has foreign object in there, clean it up using a can of compressed air. Do not stick anything inside to avoid damaging the system.
You don’t need to overdo this troubleshooting step, especially since you have a new Note9.
Get Samsung support
If all the suggestions above fail to fix the problem and your Note9 remains off or unresponsive, you have no choice but to work with Samsung. Make sure to review your warranty details so you know if the $150 repair fee they’re asking is in the terms and conditions.