Samsung Galaxy S2 Problems, Errors and How To Fix Them [Part 11]

Welcome to our 11^th part in a series of articles concerning the Samsung Galaxy S2. We’ve been receiving lots of emails from our readers regarding this particular model which is why this series has stretched this far. While we all know that this is already a discontinued product having been released last 2011 there are still a lot of people using this device.

For those experiencing any concerns with their unit feel free to check out our previous 10 posts regarding this model.

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10]

If you need further assistance we might be able to help you with that. Send us an email at [email protected] regarding your Galaxy S2 concerns. If you own any other Android device and are having some issues with it you can also email us about it. Due to the huge volume of emails we receive on a daily basis we may not immediately provide a feedback but rest assured that we do read all emails that we get and answer them.

You may also reach us at our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S2 Home, Back Keys Not Working

Problem: My Samsung S2 bottom row of function buttons (Application, Home, back, and search buttons) will not light up or operate at all. How do I fix or even can I?

Solution: If this is just a software issue then you can easily fix this on your end however if it is already a hardware issue then you might want to have your device checked at an authorized service center. What you need to do first is to do a soft reset on your device. Turn it off, take out its battery for a minute, return the battery, then turn on the phone. Most of the time issues such as this gets resolved by a soft reset.

If the soft reset does not work then you might want to do a factory reset on your device. This will however delete your data so make sure that you make a backup of it first.

• Turn your phone off.
• With the phone off, press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key. You’ll see the Android recovery screen.
• Scroll to Wipe Data/Factory Reset using the Volume Up or Down keys. Select with the power key.
• Scroll down to Yes, Delete User Data and select it.
• Back on the first screen, scroll down to Wipe Cache Partition and select it.
• Your factory reset is now complete.
• Go to Reboot System Now to restart the phone.

If after the factory reset you are still facing the same issue then this could already be caused by a faulty hardware. In this case you will have to let a technician check your device.

Galaxy S2 “Package Access Helper” Drains Battery

Problem: Hi, My mobile battery used to last for at least 15-18 hours a day. Two days ago, I noticed that it hardly lasted for even 3 hours. I checked up on what was causing it and I found out ‘Package Access Helper’ taking up 69% of my battery drain. This is the first time I’m seeing Package Access Helper on my battery drain list. It took forever to install or uninstall an app and a really long time to recharge my phone(4-6 hours). Also, my phone started heating up like crazy. I restarted my phone and the consumption came down to 42% and app install/uninstall started working but not for long and it still kept heating up with longer recharge time. I had to restart my phone often. I finally settled for a factory reset and everything seemed to be normal. After about an hour Package Access Helper showed on my battery drain list and now taking up 26% and starting to cause the same problems. Is there any way to get rid of this from draining my battery unnecessarily and stop these problems? And I don’t want to root my phone. Thanks in advance.

Solution: Package Access Helper is the service which helps in installing and uninstalling of apps. Several Android device owners have had problems with this. Here’s what you need to do to fix this. If your Galaxy S2 has any updates download them and apply them immediately. Next access the Google Play Store and update all of your installed applications. Most of the time this should fix the problem. If the Package Access Helper is still using up much of your battery life then clear the cache of all your installed apps.

• From the home screen, tap Applications.
• Scroll to and tap Settings.
• Scroll to and tap Applications.
• Tap the All tab.
• Scroll to and tap the preferred application.
• Tap Clear cache.

Try also to uninstall any apps that you have installed recently. Finally, pull out your battery, wait for at least 2 minutes, return the batter, and then turn on your phone.

Galaxy S2 Does Not Charge Properly

Problem: Dear Sir/Madam, I am facing problem with my mobile ,from the past a week . when i fix the phone for charging its not getting charged properly . it automatically takes the power On/Off.i have tried to rebot the system then to the same problem is there. how do i fix this problem …please help me !!!Thanks &regards.

Solution: Have you tried using a new battery and a new charger when charging your S2? Most of the time charging problems are caused by a faulty battery and charger.

Galaxy S2 Stuck On Boot Logo

Problem: Hello,Im faced the problem with my samsung s2 which it cant be on.I cant powered on my phone,the process stuck at samsung logo. Can you solve this. Can you give the price for the repair.

Solution: Is your device rooted and are you using a custom ROM? If so then you may want to reflash the custom ROM that you are using. If your device is using the stock ROM and is still not rooted then you may want to pull out the battery first then place it back in after two minutes then boot your device. Most of the time your phone will boot normally. If not then see if you can access the Recovery mode.

• Turn off the device
• Then simply press and hold the Volume up button, the Home button and the Power button at the same time
• Keep holding the buttons until you have reached the recovery mode.

Once inside Recovery mode exit from it then reboot your device. There’s a big possibility that it will now boot normally.

If you can’t access Recover mode then you might want to bring your device to a technician for checking.

Galaxy S2 Cannot Change Lock Screen Wallpaper

Problem: I can’t get my lock screen wallpaper changed. I’ve tried changing it separately & with the home screen wallpaper to no avail. Any clues?

Solution: Try going to Settings -> Display -> Screen Display under “Lock Screen” click “Wallpaper”

Galaxy S2 “No Service Error”

Problem: I’m really having a strange issue with my Samsung Galaxy S II. My samsung galaxy s2 is having this problem., its like it doesn’t realise the sim card is inserted. I didn’t do anything with regards dropping it or getting it wet, it worked, If i put it on, it says “No Service” .Now it says its on flight mode, whether the flight mode is on or not. If I try to access the “Mobile Network” settings it says “insert sim card to access network services”. I remember, i have done a software update on the phone three weeks ago, other than that, i have not done anything crazy with it. Phone worked fine since I bought it until yesterday… Everything else still does work fine (apart from battery seems a bit erratic now which it wasn’t before)… Very strange!!!

Solution: First you need to verify if the SIM card you are using does not have a problem. Try inserting it on another phone and see if the “No Service” error message appears. If it doesn’t then try using another SIM on your phone and see if it works fine.

If the new SIM can be detected by your S2 then the problem might just be in the way the SIM was inserted in your device, it could have been misaligned with the SIM holder. In this case just insert it properly. If the “No Service” error appears even on a new SIM then this means your phone cannot detect a SIM. The first thing to check is the SIM holder contact points. It could be dirty which may cause it to lose its contact with the SIM. You can fix this by turning off your device and taking out its battery. With a cotton dipped in alcohol gently wipe the SIM holder contacts until it is clean. Wait for the alcohol to dry out (around 5 minutes) then insert the SIM, place the battery, and turn on your device. Most of the time you will now have network coverage.

If the problem still occurs then there could be a problem with the hardware of the device itself. In this case it is best to bring it to an authorized service center for checking.

Galaxy S2 Wi-Fi Issues

Problem: I just purchased a samsung galaxy s2 last year in september. I did not encounter any problems until january this year Ive dropped my phone a lot of times and now my phone turns off automatically on a few occasions and now im encountering a few problems with wifi ; like it turns off automatically when i turn it on and ive reset my phone a few times ,now i reset my phone once again but when i turn my wifi on .. The saved networks dont show up. And sometimes this happens too : when wifi is turned on , it doesn’t turn on nor does it turn off it stays in between , now what do i do ? Do i replace my wifi antenna or is it a motherboard problem or something?

Solution: I’m assuming that when you say reset you have performed a factory reset on your device. Since you mentioned that you dropped your phone a couple of times it may have affected the circuitry inside. This may be causing the random shut downs and Wi-Fi issues. It’s really hard to tell what part to replace until your device is opened and checked. The best course of action right now is to bring our device to a technician who knows the inner workings of the S2 so that a thorough checkup could be done on its internal hardware.

Galaxy S2 Not Reading SD Card

Problem: My galaxy s2 isn’t reading ANY sd cards. I’ve tried a few different ones, but it’s not reading any of them. I’ve tried the same cards in a different phone and they work fine. Anyone had this happen? What did you do?

Solution: It’s good that you eliminated any SD card issues by trying them on a different phone. This means that the issue may be with the S2 itself. Turn off your device and take out its battery. Now try to check on the SD card holder contacts of your device and see if any there is any dirt present or if there are any indications of misalignment. If there is dirt present then clean it with a cotton dipped in alcohol. Wait for around 5 minutes before placing an SD card and turn on your device.

If it doesn’t work try going to settings > under device, in “storage” > sdcard. If it says unknown format then click on “format sd card”.

You may alsu try using an SD card with a lower capacity such as 4GB and see if it gets detected by your deivce.

Galaxy S2 “process.android.process.acrore has stopped unexpectedly”

Problem: Hi! I get this message whenever I try to add a new contact to my phone regardless of app used. I don’t know what this is and how to fix this. Do you have any suggestions?

Solution: This appears to be a bug that is affecting a couple of Android devices and is related to syncing of data. You might want to clear the cache and data of the Contacts app by going to Settings>Applications>Manage Applications and find Contacts and clear cache/data. You should also try to uninstall third-party messaging apps (Viber, Whatsapp, etc.) as they have been known to cause these problems on devices running in older Android versions.

If you are still getting the error message then you may want to clear the cache of your device.

• Turn off the phone.
• Hold the Volume Up and Volume Down keys.
• Press and hold the the Power key while continuing to hold both volume keys.
• Release the keys when the Samsung logo appears on the screen.
• Press the Volume Down key to scroll to delete all cache data.
• Press the Power key to select it.
• Wait for a few seconds and the phone clears information.
• Press the Power key to select reboot system now.

Galaxy S2 Poor Battery Life

Problem: So i have had my phone unplugged since 6:30 this morning, and I’ve already had to plug it in twice for like 45 minutes each and I’m still at 56%. My screen is the only thing using anything and it had used 59% with the brightness not even halfway up. I just don’t get that. Please help! Tired of charging my phone 5 times a day.

Solution: Have you tried replacing your battery with a new one? An old battery has the tendency of losing it charge capacity which usually results in the issue you are experiencing now.

Other steps that you can do to ensure a longer battery life are as follows

• Reduce screen brightness
• Use less widgets
• Switch between 2G/3G connectivity
• Disable GPS / Bluetooth
• Disable auto rotate / motion sensor
• Keep your background image simple
• Do a full cycle charge