What to do about your Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) that keeps showing “moisture detected” error [Troubleshooting guide]

The Samsung Galaxy A5 has the IP-68 rating which means that it’s dust and water-resistant. The rating however doesn’t mean that you’re phone is waterproof; water can still find its way into your phone and destroy it. In fact, we’ve already received a lot of complaints that are related to this kind of issue that’s why we will be tackling this problem again.

We will try to do something that might fix the problem or get rid of the “moisture detected” error. Based on experience though, there were cases wherein this error shows up even if the phone hasn’t got in contact with any sort of liquid. We’ve also encountered cases wherein the error showed up due to firmware issues. If you own a phone like this and are currently bugged by this kind of error, continue reading below 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 Galaxy A5 with “moisture detected” error

More often when the error “moisture detected” shows, it means that your phone got splashed with or dipped in water. The error might be annoying but it’s actually good news for you; the problem is minor when this shows. Complex liquid damages often result to phones that won’t turn on or charge. When this error shows, however, there’s still a chance you can fix it on your own and with that being said, here’s what I suggest you do…

Step 1: Reboot your phone to see if the error still shows up

The moment this error shows up, don’t do anything yet except reboot your phone to see if the error would still show up. There are times when glitches trigger errors to pop out but it doesn’t mean there’s a problem with the hardware. A reboot is easy to do and is effective but there’s a more effective way of reboot and that’s the forced restart.

If could have been better if your phone has a removable battery but it doesn’t so all you gotta do now is do the combination that would simulate battery disconnect: press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys together for 10 seconds and your device would reboot normally.

Once the phone becomes active, continue using your phone like you always do to see if the error shows up and if it does, then move on to the next step.

Step 2: Check USB port for some dirt or debris

Look into the USB port of your phone to find something that might be messing up with the circuit. If you can find something in there, try to get rid of it as that might be the reason why your phone is showing this error. If one or more pins are connected in the port, issues like this may occur. It may even prevent your phone from charging normally.

Also try to check if the port has some water residue or wet. You can try cleaning it up with a Q-tip that’s dipped in alcohol to thoroughly clean it. If you have a can of compressed air, a blast may also clean the port and may even fix the problem.

However, after making sure the port is clean and if there’s no sign of liquid damage, you have no other choice but to do the next step.

Step 3: Reset your phone and bring the phone to the shop

In this step, we will try to rule out the possibility that this problem is due to a firmware issue. A reset can potentially fix issues that have something to do with the firmware or if the problem started without apparent reason. Aside from that, it will delete all your personal information and it’s necessary to protect your privacy. But make sure you make a backup of your important files and data as they will be deleted, also don’t forget to disable the Factory Reset Protection so that you won’t be locked out of your device after the reset.

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.

How to 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 you like, you can also reset your phone from the Settings menu, here’s how…

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.

If the problem still happens after the reset, then it’s time to bring your phone to the shop as the problem might be with the hardware.

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