How to reset a frozen Samsung Galaxy S9 to make it respond again (easy fix)

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is one of the most powerful devices in the market today but it’s far from perfect. In fact, we have so many readers that are complaining about some issues with this device. Among the most common problems we received are about some units that reportedly stopped responding or got frozen for some reason. We have already been bombarded with messages from our readers ever since we started providing free support and this is one of those issues that keeps repeating.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Samsung Galaxy S9 that no longer responds and got frozen. In fact, I will share with you the solution we’ve been using to address similar issues in the past. So, if you’re one of the owners of this phone and are currently bugged by a similar problem, continue reading as this article may help you one way or another.

Before anything else though, if you have other issues with your device, then visit our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed several common problems with this phone. Odds are that there are already existing solutions to your problems so just take time finding issues that are similar with yours. If you can’t find one or if you need further assistance, feel free to contact us by completing our Android issues questionnaire. Please provide us with as much information as possible so that it would also be easier for us to troubleshoot the problem. Don’t worry as we offer this service for free, so all you have to do is give us sufficient information about the problem.

How to reset a frozen Galaxy S9

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While this problem may seem like a very serious hardware issue, more often than not, it’s actually just a minor problem with the firmware. As long as your phone hasn’t been dropped on a hard surface or got submerged in water for a long time prior to the occurrence of this problem, there’s always a chance you can fix it on your own without having to see a technician about it. With that being said, here’s what I suggest you do about a dead Galaxy S9…

First solution: Forced Reboot

It’s the first solution but it’s probably the only thing you have to do to fix this problem because most of the time, when a phone gets frozen and no longer responds, it’s a system crash. It’s like having a computer that got stuck on a certain screen and would no longer respond no matter how many times you click the mouse or pound the keyboard.

A system crash can easily be fixed by doing the Forced Restart but some of our readers have actually questioned: how can a non-responsive phone turn on by doing this method? The phone is hard-wired to respond to it as long as it’s done correctly. It simulates battery disconnect and the phone actually responds to it like when phones with removable batteries respond to battery pull. And going back to computer analogy, the Forced Restart is like pulling out the power cord and plugging it back in.

You can perform the Forced Restart by pressing and holding the Volume Down button and the Power key at the same time for 10 seconds or more. Your Galaxy S9 may reboot normally and if it actually does, that’s the end of this problem. However, there’s no guarantee that it would never occur again in the future but, at least, you already know what to do now.

However, if your phone still won’t respond to this procedure, try doing it a couple more times and if it still doesn’t respond, try doing this instead:

  1. Press and hold the Volume Down button and don’t release it.
  2. While holding it down, press and hold the Power key.
  3. Keep both keys held down for 10 seconds or more.

It’s basically the same as the first procedure only that we’re making sure you press and hold the Power key after the Volume key because doing it otherwise won’t give you similar result.

If your Galaxy S9 still has a black screen with blue light blinking after doing this, then move on to the next solution.

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Second solution: Charge your phone and try doing the forced restart again

After doing the first solution and your phone is still not responding, it’s possible that the battery has been drained. A battery drain is not really an issue but the thing is that if the hardware and firmware haven’t been properly shut down because you were using the phone when the battery ran out, it may result to a system crash and then you add the fact that the battery is empty. Naturally when your phone crashes, it won’t respond to normal reboot procedure so you really have to do the first solution but then if the battery is drained, the device still won’t respond. To address this, here’s what you should do:

  1. Plug the charger to a working wall outlet. It’s imperative you use the wired charger.
  2. Using the original power / data cable, connect your phone to its charger.
  3. Regardless whether the phone shows it’s charging or not, leave it connected to its charger for 10 minutes or more.
  4. Press and hold the volume down button and don’t release it.
  5. Then, press and hold the power key while holding down the volume button.
  6. Keep both keys held down for 10 seconds or more.

If the problem was due to a system crash, then any of the two solutions would work and you could make your phone respond again. However, if the problem continues after this, then you should try running the phone in Recovery Mode and if successful, you may try wiping the cache partition first and do the Master Reset. But you should know that if the phone boots up in recovery mode, you can already consider the problem fixed since the phone already started up.

I hope that the phone actually boots up in recovery mode so that you won’t have to go to the shop to have it checked. However, if it won’t, then you have no other choice.

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