How to recover files if your Galaxy S7 won’t turn back on, other issues

Hello and welcome to our new #GalaxyS7 article. Our post for today discusses 8 more S7-related issues and solutions. Don’t forget to let us know of your issue if you can’t find anything helpful in this post.

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.

Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:

Problem 1: VR headset mouse cursor not working properly

I recently bought a VR headset and remote, but when i try to use the remote the mouse cursor drifts to the bottom right of my screen. I’ve went through all the settings and didn’t see anything for a mouse. I’ve done a reset on my phone and tried restarting it neither worked. Please tell me how i can fix this mouse drift issue i am unable to figure it out and i didn’t see anything about it on the forums. — Josh

Solution: Hi Josh. We don’t know what VR device and remote you have so we can’t give any specific instruction on what you need to do. We suggest that you try checking the manual of said devices, or contact their makers.

Problem 2: Unable to install Samsung Secure Folder app on Galaxy S7 edge

I recently updated my Samsung S7 edge G935W8 to Nougat 7.0 I purchased this phone from Best Buy April 2015 with Rogers carrier originally but paid the carrier to have it unlocked and now use it with Bell carrier. After doing the newest update, I went to download the secure folder app out of the Galaxy app store. But when I went through the set up wizard for the secure folder it popped up a message saying ” Secure folder cannot be set up as unauthorized software was installed on this device.” I had no idea what this message meant so I spoke to a few friends and Googled it to learn this often indicates my device was rooted. I did not root this phone (didn’t even know how or why it would be rooted) so I looked up how to see if your device is in fact rooted which showed me a few websites and apps. Each one I tried confirmed to me my device was NOT rooted. So are these apps/websites wrong? Can I get my phone into a mode to have it realize it isn’t rooted? I’ve tried factory resetting it both through smart switch and through recovery mode but they didn’t work. — Steve

Solution: Hi Steve. In a lot of cases, yes, the message you are receiving usually indicates that a phone may be rooted or running non-official software. In some cases, it can also be an indicator that Samsung does not detect the software as official even though it is. This usually happens if a carrier modifies the software, making it lose the original configuration that Samsung system recognizes. If the issue continues after a factory reset and without any apps or updates installed, there’s really nothing much that you can do, unless you want to revert the firmware version the one it came with originally.

Problem 3: Galaxy S7 keeps freezing, screen becomes unresponsive, reboots randomly

Hi, my S7 stays with unresponsive screen, freezes, lags and reboots without apparent reason. Sometimes, I can force the reboot with the [power + volume down], but the most of the times it stays unresponsive until the battery is empty (sometimes with the LED indicator turned on or blinking in green and blue). Then I have to charge and use it until it freezes again. I already did the master reset. It works for a week then it started to freeze again. I appreciate your help. Thank You. — Iván

Solution: Hi Iván. If your phone works fine after a factory reset, the main cause of your problems may be one of the apps you installed afterwards, or a hardware issue that can develop over time. One such hardware issue is a malfunctioning flash or memory. If it’s not an app problem, you should consider phone replacement as repair won’t fix it.

To see if it’s an app problem, you can either boot the phone to safe mode, or do another round of factory reset and see to it that only good apps are re-installed. Booting to safe mode prevents third party apps and services from running so if the issues won’t occur, you can bet there’s a bad app causing it. To start your S7 to safe mode, follow these steps:

1. Turn your Galaxy S7 off.
2. Press and hold the Power button.
3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.

Problem 4: Galaxy S7 phone calls keep dropping, battery drains fast, fingerprint reader not working after Nougat update

I updated my phone last night. it is a unlocked USA version. The software update is listed as G935UUEU4BQE2/G935U0YM4BQE2/G935UUEU4BQE2. It says text messages are not being sent but they are being received by people. I’m dropping a lot of phone calls, my fingerprint reader is not working at all, and my battery is draining quickly. I cleared the system cache but I am holding off on doing a full system. Is there any known version issues I am running an Android Nougat 7.0 not 7.1. I’m using Straight Talk wireless on Verizon towers. — Steve

Solution: Hi Steve. With millions of people using Galaxy devices running all sorts of Android versions, it’s not surprising to receive all kinds of issues following updates. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of possible points of failure in an Android system so anything can happen. Your issues are some of the common problems, even when updates are not installed so you should address them by doing software troubleshooting and solutions. We suggest that you try a factory reset and see what happens from there. Make sure to hold off installation of your apps until you have observed how SMS and other functions are working. This will allow you to check whether the issue remains or not. If the problems won’t occur, that’s an indication that either (A) a problematic app is responsible, or (B) the firmware version you installed is poorly coded. To fix a possible app issue, you can simply uninstall the offending app by doing trial-and-error. For the second possibility (poorly coded firmware), there’s not much that you can do about it. If you received updates by air (over-the-air update or OTA), you should let your carrier know so they can do something about it.

Below are the steps on how to factory reset your Galaxy S7:

1. Create a backup of your important files such as photos, videos, contacts etc. You can use Smart Switch for this task.
2. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
3. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
4. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
5. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
6. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
7. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
8. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
9. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
10. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Problem 5: Galaxy S7 won’t go past carrier logo screen

Hello. My name is Steve and i recently bought an unlocked Samsung S7 whilst travelling in New York (on the 10th June 2017). I have been assured that the phone will work with other networks but i have entered another different SIM and the phone cannot go past the Metro PCS screen. Basically it seems that the phone just cycles around. I tried removing the SIM and the Micro SD card as well but no luck. I have tried using the Smart Switch software but since the phone does not get to start up properly, the software does not even communicate with the phone. Can you help with some advise on what i could do? I have left the United States already and back in my country, Solomon Islands. — Steve

Solution: Hi Steve. A working smartphone will work normally, that is, load the operating system properly, with or without a SIM card or SD card. We can’t see your logic why you chose to tell us that the phone won’t load at all (can’t go past the Metro PCS screen) with a different SIM card. Did the phone work while you were still in the US? You should have told us if it did, or if you tried doing so after purchasing the device.

We assume that your S7 is not brand new when you bought it (otherwise this issue won’t happen) but if it is, you should have it replaced right away. If phone replacement is out of the question, try to see if you can fix it by doing a cache partition wipe and master  via Recovery mode. Here are the steps on how to boot to Recovery mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

If wiping the cache partition or master reset won’t fix your problem, you can also try to flash the bootloader and/or firmware. Be aware though that flashing is a risky procedure and can potentially brick your phone. Make sure to do more research on how to do it on your particular phone model before doing it.

For demonstration purposes, here are the sample steps on how to flash a bootloader. The exact steps may vary on your phone. Again, you should research beyond our website how to the exact steps on your phone to prevent problems.

1. Look for the correct firmware for your phone model and download it. Make sure that you select the right one. It should be the same exact firmware that ran previously on your device. We assume that you list down the firmware version somewhere. If you did not take note of it before, there’s a chance that you may pick the wrong one. As you may know now, using an incorrect firmware can cause complications so good luck with that.
2. Let’s now say that you have identified the correct firmware. You then want to download it to your computer. The firmware file should have a bunch of files in it like AP_, BL_, CSC_, etc.
3. Look for the file that starts with a label BL; this should be the corresponding bootloader file for this firmware. Once you’ve identified the bootloader file, copy it to your computer’s desktop or to any other folder that you can easily access.
4. Proceed with the rest of the flashing procedure using the Odin program.
5. In Odin, click on the BL tab and make sure to use the bootloader file you’ve identified earlier.
6. Now, make sure that the “Device Added” status and its “ID:COM box” has turned blue before hitting the START button. This will initiate the flashing of your phone’s bootloader.
7. Restart the phone once the procedure is finished.

Problem 6: Galaxy S7 edge becomes unresponsive, overheats when charging

Hi there .. I got an Ss7 edge. The last few days, my phone start to freeze. The screen became blank and all buttons not responsive. I try all button combination like power + volume down, power + home + volume up or down and nothing is happen. It keeps black. But i feel my phone getting warmer. It will cool after the battery drain i guess (knowing by plug in charging and starts from zero again). When it freeze, all button not working, charging also not working.. please help me. This is really annoying.. i mean wait the battery to drain for a whole day and after charge who knows when it will freeze again ( mostly once a day ). This happen a month after i replace the screen. I don’t remember is there any update but the first time it happen is when i connected to wifi. Thats all… waiting for you suggestion Should i flash it back down to before update or …. well i don’t know anymore.. Thank you. — Primandayosepriadi

Solution: Hi Primandayosepriadi. Android troubleshooting is simple and your issue is not an exception to one particular rule — if no software solution can help, bad hardware must be to blame. That said, we suggest that you try factory reset and yes, if you did flash a non-official firmware to it, flash it back down to an older Android version. If those won’t work, have the phone repaired or replaced.

Problem 7: Galaxy S7 edge won’t charge, won’t turn on

I just read your article “How to fix your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that doesn’t charge via wired or wireless, heats up when charging [Troubleshooting Guide].” I had hope until I got to step 4. I can’t do anything from step 4 on as my battery is DEAD! However, I believe it to be a firmware issue as the battery had gone dead was remained in that condition for 4 days before I had the time to deal with it. But with a dead battery I cannot reboot, get into Recovery Mode or Safe Mode and it won’t charge by the Samsung Rapid Charger or the Samsung Wireless charger. I am desperate as I have so much on the phone (a lot saved but too much unsaved to lose). How can I get some energy into it? Just enough to get into Recovery Mode?? Thank you. — Rick

Solution: Hi Rick. If your phone does not show any indications of life (LED light lit, vibration during restart, sound or vibration when there incoming notifications), then the only thing that you can do is send it in. Sometimes, the phone can appear dead or not charging due to bad charging port so if you have a wireless charger, try wireless charging for at least 30 minutes. If the phone remains dead, have it repaired or replaced.

As far as data recovery is concerned, you can only do that if you can make your phone boot to normal or safe mode. If the phone is totally dead, you won’t be able to access its memory and transfer contents from it. There’s no software “magic” that you can do to fix bad hardware. It’s possible that the problem is isolated to the battery only so having it replaced by a technician first may solve the issue easily. If the problem is more serious and involves the motherboard, you can kiss those data goodbye.

To prevent losing irreplaceable data (photos, videos, documents, etc.) in the future, always make it a habit of creating a backup. We don’t know how many times we’ve emphasized this in almost all our articles but there’s a reason why this wisdom persists for decades now and that’s because digital storage devices and electronics are unreliable. If you won’t back your files up regularly, you only have yourself to blame.

Problem 8: How to recover files if your Galaxy S7 won’t turn back on

My phone got stuck while rebooting and was showing blue screen. I tried everything on your website and nothing worked then took the phone to the Samsung office. They performed something on it and now all i can see is the black screen with Galaxy S7 edge logo (same logo as you see when you restart the phone). From here I’m unable to start my phone or take it to the safe mode by pressing the keys as per your website. I want to recover my data from my phone before factory reset if required. Need your assistance. If you could help would be genius. — Talat1426

Solution: Hi Talat1426. As mentioned above, you can only access an S7’s memory or storage device if you can boot it to safe mode or normal mode. There’s no other way to moves files from and to the storage device in your phone’s current status. Even Samsung can’t do anything about it.

If you want to fix the issue though, consider doing a factory reset. That would, of course, wipe everything up but you may have a good working phone again.

Also, we don’t know what Samsung did to your phone but if they did try to flash it before, that is, installed a new copy of software, your files must already be gone by now so there’s no point holding off factory reset.

Some users were able to fix a similar issue by booting their phones to alternate modes. For reference, here are the steps on how to do that and the possible follow up troubleshooting that you can do for each:

Boot in Recovery mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
5. If you can boot the phone in download mode but not in other modes, that means that your only way out may be to flash a stock or custom firmware.
6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
2. Press and hold the Power button.
3. Once the Samsung Galaxy logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
6. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

 

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