How to fix Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus that’s not responding but has a blue light blinking (easy steps)

ByHarold Hisona June 21, 2018August 30, 2023 August 30, 2023

When a premium phone like the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus isn’t responding, it’s possible that it’s turned off or there’s not enough juice to power it up. But there are times when the screen is black and the device isn’t responding but the notification light keeps blinking and most of the time it’s a blue light, which leaves an impression that you have unread messages or notifications.

Aside from the common “black screen of death” issue that we have addressed several times in the past, this issue also hit some of our readers that own the S9 Plus and other flagships. Being unresponsive could be a sign of a screen problem but then there’s also a possibility that it’s just a minor issue with the firmware as such is the case with some of similar problems I’ve encountered before.

So, in this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy S9 Plus that has a black and unresponsive screen but with a blue light that keeps blinking. We will try to look into every possibility and rule them out one by one until we can determine what the problem is and formulate a solution that may fix it for good. If you’re one of the owners of this device and are currently having similar concerns, continue reading as this post may help you one way or another.

Now, before anything else, if you have other issues with your phone, make sure you drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already provided solutions to hundreds of problems reported by our readers. Odds are that we may have already provided a solution to the problem you currently have so try to find issues that are similar with yours on that page and feel free to use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work or if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy S9 Plus that won’t respond but has a blue blinking light

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Based on experience, this problem could be just a firmware issue and just last week, someone I know contacted me about his Samsung device that has similar symptoms: unresponsive screen and blinking light. Here’s what I suggest to him that fixed the problem and I believe it will fix your problem, too.

First solution: Forced Reboot

If you’re familiar with the battery pull that we often do to phones with removable batteries, well, the Forced Reboot is the equivalent of it but we do this to phones with non-removable batteries. What it does is refresh your phone’s memory by reloading all apps, services and core functions. For firmware or system crashes, this is the ultimate solution because even if your device is unresponsive, it may still be able to respond to this method because your phone is hard-wired to respond to this. Again, it simulates battery disconnect and once such method is done, your Galaxy S9 Plus may boot up successfully. To do this, press and hold the volume down and power keys simultaneously for 10 seconds or more.

If the phone stopped responding due to a firmware crash, then it should be booting up by now already as long as you did the combination correctly. If the phone is still not responding after the first attempt, try doing it a couple more times or you may try this instead:

Press and hold the volume down button first and don’t let it go.
Now, press and hold the power key while holding down the volume down button.
Keep both keys held down together for 10 seconds or more.

It is basically the same as the first procedure only that we’re making sure the power key is pressed and held after the volume down button because doing it otherwise won’t give you the result.

If your phone is still not responding even after doing the second procedure, then it’s possible that the battery got drained completely.

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Second solution: Charge your phone and try doing the Forced Reboot again

Having a drained battery is really not a problem because you can charge your phone anytime. However, there are times when the simple battery drain would result to a firmware crash. When this happens, you are already dealing with two problems and both often lead to an unresponsive device and if it’s a firmware crash, the screen may turn black but the phone continues to work so if you have unread messages, you should be seeing the blinking blue light. In this case, this is that you should do…

Plug the charger to a working wall outlet and make sure you’re using the original wired charger.
Using the original power / data cable, connect your device to its charger.
Regardless whether the charging signs are showing or not, allow the phone to be connected to its charger for 10 minutes.
After which, press and hold the Volume Down button and don’t release it.
Then, press and hold the Power key while holding down the Volume Down button.
Keep both keys held down together for 10 seconds or more to simulate battery disconnect.

If the issue occurred due to a drained battery and firmware crash, your Galaxy S9 Plus should already be booting up by now. But if it still not responding, then it’s time to bring it back to the shop so that a technician can check it for you.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide can help you fix the problem with your phone. If you have other concerns you want to share with us, feel free to contact us or leave a comment below.

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