Welcome to our focused troubleshooting series dedicated to resolving the Samsung #GalaxyS4 that does not receive calls & other related issues. In this latest installment of the series we will be resolving several call issues that our readers have sent us. We will provide the best troubleshooting steps that needs to be done per issue on the #Samsung device which hopefully will lead to a resolution.
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S4 Does Not Receive Calls
Problem: My phone is not receiving calls. It goes straight to voicemail. I could make calls. I tried turning off the call forwarding/ call diverting but it doesn’t let me. It says there’s an error and it “can’t deactivate call diverting when busy. Unsupported by operator.” But where it says call forwarding it says off. I also noticed that I don’t have the voice call option. When I click call forwarding it goes straight to it and it says off but where it says forward when busy, unanswered and unreachable there is my voicemail number and it won’t let me disable it. Please help.
Solution: In this situation what you need to do first is to check if the problem is caused by an app that you installed in your phone. To check if this is the case you should start your phone in Safe Mode.
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key.
- When ‘Samsung Galaxy S4′ appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
Have someone call you while your phone is in this mode. If the problem does not occur anymore then it’s most likely caused by an app. Find out what app this is and uninstall it. Try to start checking the recent apps you installed prior to the issue occurring.
If however the issue persists then I suggest you backup your phone data and do a factory reset.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
- When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
- Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘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.
S4 Freezes When Making Or Receiving Calls
Problem: Multiple issues, freezing while making or answering calls, camera fails to start apps crashing alarm freezes at set time to go off. Bluetooth not working. Only had this update for a week, have tried clearing the cache in app manager and in boot up menu. Please help.
Solution: It looks like the update may have caused some issues to occur on your device. In most cases like this the culprit is old data from the old software version that has not been removed completely from the device during the update process. This is now causing some conflicts with the new software update. To resolve this you need to do a factory reset. Make sure that you backup your phone data first before proceeding.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
- When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
- Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘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.
S4 No Sound During Calls
Problem: After using my phone for a while it stops allowing me to hear phone calls. I will answer a call I cannot hear them and they cannot hear me. I have a Bluetooth streamer that I use with my hearing aids, if I turn that on everything works fine. I took the phone in and they put a new Sim card in the phone and it worked for a day. I took it back and the guy removed the battery and it worked. He told me that I needed to do that at least once a week. The first guy actually told me that I should get a new phone. This is the second phone that I received under this contract. Now it is out of warranty. I like the phone and this problem just started 3 weeks ago otherwise it has always worked sense I got it.
Solution: It looks like the issue gets resolved whenever the phone is restarted. If this is the case then the issue may be software related.
The firt thing you should do is isolate any third party app that may be causing this issue. To do this you need to start you phone in Safe Mode.
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key.
- When ‘Samsung Galaxy S4’ appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
Try making a call in this mode. If the issue does not occur then it is most likely caused by an app installed in your phone. Find out what app this is and uninstall it.
If the problem persists even in Safe Mode then you need to wipe the cache partition of your device.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key
- When the phone vibrates, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
- When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
- Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
- Press the Power key to select.
- After the cache wipe is complete, press the Power key to select reboot system now.
- Press the Power key to select. The phone will automatically restart after the cache is wiped.
If the problem doesn’t get fixed then you need to back up your phone data and do a factory reset.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
- When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
- Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘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.
S4 Echo Heard During Calls
Problem: Ever since I received the phone new in box as a replacement for my earlier faulty phone, anyone who I call or who calls me, complains about being able to hear themselves as an echo, and a very loud echo at that. The only work around I have is that when I put the call onto speaker phone the echo goes away. This is however impractical in daily life. Please note the phone is a galaxy s4 active. Kind regards
Solution: Most of those who experienced this same issue attribute it to the case of the phone. If it is improperly attached such that it is blocking the path of the second microphone then an echo may be heard. Try taking out the cover of your phone then have someone call you. Check if the echo still exists. If it doesn’t then the cover may be causing the problem. See to it that you properly install the cover or if you are using a phone case make sure to take this out.
Another troubleshooting step you can do is to disable the noise reduction feature of your phone as there are instances when this causes the issue.
- Go to Setting
- Go to My Device tab
- Open “Call”
- Under the “Ringtone and sound settings”, disable “Noise Reduction”
If the problem still persists try to check if it occurs in a specific location. If it does then this may be a network related issue. You should also check if the issue occurs when another SIM is inserted in your phone.
Finally, to check if the phone software is causing this issue you should back up your phone data and do a factory reset.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
- When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
- Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘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.
If the above troubleshooting steps fails to resolve the issue then this may already be a hardware related problem. You should bring your phone to an authorized service center and have it checked.
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