What to do about your Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) that keeps freezing [Troubleshooting Guide]

Performance issues like freezing and lagging are among the most common problems Samsung Galaxy A5 owners experienced. In fact, we’ve already received quite a lot of messages in our inbox that need to be addressed. That’s the reason why we publish posts like this.

Based on our experience, freezing issues are often rooted to the firmware although we have already encountered problems with the same result and were caused by hardware problems. We really can’t be certain what the problem is that’s why it’s necessary to troubleshoot your phone so that we may have a clue what to do about it. If you own a phone like this and are currently bugged by a similar concern, continue reading as this post maybe able to help you.

But before we go to our proper troubleshooting, if you happen to find this page because you were looking for solutions to a different problem, then I suggest you visit our Galaxy A5 troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed the most commonly reported issues with this phone and you may find what you’re looking for in there. Feel free to use the solutions and workarounds we provided. If they don’t work for you or if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and then hit submit and we’ll do our best to help you.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy A5 that keeps freezing

The course of our troubleshooting would be to find out if this problem is caused by apps, the firmware or if the hardware has something to do with it. At this point, we don’t know what this is all about and why the phone is freezing so we need to troubleshoot. But before we actually jump to our steps, here’s one of the issues we received from our readers…

Problem: Hello. How you doing guys? Have encountered an issue wherein the phone is almost unusable because it keeps on freezing every few seconds? It still boots up normally but when I start using it, it lags then freezes. I have to wait for it to become active to be able to use it but after a few seconds, it freezes again. My phone is a Galaxy A5 and this is my first Android so I’m actually still learning its capabilities and all. Can you help?

Troubleshooting: It’s important we know the cause of the problem because only then we would be able to formulate a solution that might fix it for good. So, for the freezing issue in your Galaxy A5, here’s what I suggest you do:

Step 1: Observe your phone in Safe Mode

Running your phone in safe mode alone won’t fix the problem but it is still very important that you run it in this mode so that you have an idea if this problem is due to app issues or not. Assuming one or the third-party apps you installed is causing the problem, your phone should work normally without the freezes while in this mode as it temporarily disables all third-party elements. If, however, the freezes continue, then it’s a possible firmware problem. But before we go there, here’s how you boot your phone up in safe mode:

1. Turn the device off.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the screen with the device name.
3. When ‘SAMSUNG’ appears on the screen, release the Power key.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode’.

Assuming your phone works perfectly well while in this mode, then it’s clear one or some of the apps you installed is causing the problem. If you don’t have a clue as to which of the apps is causing the problem, then update those you need to be updated:

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Play Store.
3. Tap the Menu key and then tap My Apps. To keep your apps automatically updated, tap the Menu key, tap Settings, and then tap Auto-update apps to select the check box.
4. Choose one of the following options:
   • Tap Update [xx] to update all applications with updates available.
   • Tap an individual application and then tap Update to update a single application.

If, however, you are already suspecting some apps to be the one causing the problem, then you have to reset them one by one and clearing their caches and data don’t work, you have to uninstall them.

How clear apps cache and data on Galaxy A5

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Applications.
4. Tap Application manager.
5. Tap the desired application in the default list or tap MORE > Show system apps to display preinstalled apps.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
8. Tap Clear cache.

How to uninstall apps from your Galaxy A5

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Applications.
4. Tap Application manager.
5. Tap the desired application
6. Tap Uninstall.
7. Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

Step 2: Try deleting the system caches as some of them may be corrupt

There are times when system caches get corrupted and when this happens, performance related issues may occur like freezing and lagging. We need to rule this possibility out that’s why you need to reboot your phone in Recovery mode and then wipe the cache partition. This procedure will delete all system caches in your phone but don’t worry, those files will be replaced the moment your phone boots up after the procedure. Here’s how you do it:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. Press the Power key to select.
7. Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ and press the Power key to select.
8. When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

If the freezes continue after this procedure, you have no other option but to reset your phone.

Step 3: Backup all your files and data and then reset your phone

After the first two steps and the freezing continues, then it’s time to reset your phone. However, make sure you make a backup of your important files and data as they will be deleted. Also, be sure to disable the Factory Reset Protection before you actually reset your phone.

How to disable Galaxy A5 Factory Reset Protection

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Accounts.
4. Tap Google.
5. Tap your Google ID email address. If you have multiple accounts setup, you will need to repeat these steps for each account.
6. Tap More.
7. Tap Remove account.
8. Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.

Ways to Factory Reset your Galaxy A5

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
6. Press Power button to select.
7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

If it’s still possible, you can also reset your phone from the settings menu…

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Backup and reset.
4. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
5. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
6. Tap Factory data reset.
7. Tap Reset device.
8. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your PIN or password.
9. Tap Continue.
10. Tap Delete all.

Freezing issues are generally minor in nature and a reset can always fix them so I hope this troubleshooting guide can help you.

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