Samsung Galaxy S3 Problems, Errors, Glitches and Ways to Fix Them [Part 54]

Hey guys! This is the 54th installment of our Samsung Galaxy S3 problems troubleshooting series and judging from the number of emails that were left unanswered; I think we can publish 50 parts more even if we stop receiving emails from S3 owners now. We literally receive hundreds of emails daily and we read each one of them.

Click on a link below to jump to a specific problem:

Galaxy S3 Shuts Down Even With Enough Battery
Galaxy S3 Won’t Boot Up, Can’t Recover Photos
Calls Go Straight To Voicemail on Galaxy S3
Having Trouble Shutting Off and Rebooting Galaxy S3
Galaxy S3 Can’t Establish Secure Connection Error
Galaxy S3 Booted Up in Safe Mode
Galaxy S3 Doesn’t Display the Usual Mobile Data Icon
Galaxy S3 Won’t Turn On Completely
Can Receive Pictures But Can’t Send on Galaxy S3
Galaxy S3 Drains the Battery Quicker
Galaxy S3 System UIDs Inconsistent Error
Galaxy S3 Can’t Get Detected and Recognized by Computer
Galaxy S3 Screen Flickers, Freezes and Get Stuck During Boot Up
Galaxy S3 Can’t Send Picture Messages After Update

Galaxy S3 Shuts Down Even With Enough Battery

Problem: Recently I have been having what appears to be a very frustrating battery problem. I charge the phone fully and after a couple minutes it goes off and I have to put it back on the charger to get it back on. When it comes on the battery is sometimes at over 60%. Today with a full battery I tried taking some pictures. After the second snap the phone goes off. I put it back on the charger and it was almost 90%. I have ordered a new battery but is this the real problem? I don’t take my phone out with me any more because even the receipt of a WhatsApp message shuts it down. Will an upgrade of the OS helps?

Even without using, the battery goes real fast but it dies mostly with an activity. Really frustrated. — Pat

Troubleshooting: Hi Pat. Based on your description, it sounds like the battery is really the problem here. You know, it’s one of the few components that will deteriorate first, although, there is a possibility of a firmware issue, too.

Since you’ve already ordered a new battery, wait for it and see if the problem still occurs. If so, I would suggest you perform master reset but before doing so, make sure you make a backup of you important data and follow these steps:

Turn the phone off completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home, and Power
When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue holding the other two until Android System Recovery screen appears.
Use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power button to select it.
When finished, use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power button to select it.
Still use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘delete all user data’ and press the Power button to select the option.
Once the master reset is finished, highlight ‘reboot system now’ and hit the Power button one more time.

Galaxy S3 Won’t Boot Up, Can’t Recover Photos

Problem: Hello, my S3 won’t turn on and if possible I would really appreciate some help. All I’m looking to do is to recover my pictures stored on the phone (whether or not the phone is fixable is not really an issue for me). Phone: Samsung GALAXY SIII GT-19300

Info:

I can’t seem to turn on the Safe Mode though I may be doing it wrong? (Power button, when I see the logo let go of the power button and hold the volume down button?)
I can turn on Recovery Mode and I tried wiping the cache partition and then rebooting but it’s still stuck at the white logo screen
I can turn on the Download Mode (ODIN?), is there anything I can download to recover my photos?
The phone’s USB port (the one that connects the phone to a computer?) is very difficult to connect; I gave up on charging through a charger via outlet and just bought a charger to charge batteries and switch them out now.

I would greatly appreciate any help or advice in recovering my photos. Thanks in advance! — Henry

Troubleshooting: If the phone can’t boot up to the Home screen, there’s no way you can access the phone’s internal storage. I understand you already tried booting the S3 in safe mode but to no avail. But the only thing we can do is troubleshoot it and bring it back to life without doing factory reset. I outlined a simple troubleshooting guide for you to follow:

While the phone is on or stuck in the logo, remove the back cover and pull the battery out.
Without the battery in place, press and hold the power key for 1 minute.
Replace the battery and secure it with the back cover.
Attempt to turn the phone on.
Once you see the logo, keep tapping the Menu key (left of the Home key).
If successful, you’ll see the Safe mode text at the lower-left corner.

If this method wasn’t successful, try the other method to boot the phone in safe mode again. At the end of the day when the phone still refuses to come back on, you may need help from a technician to recover your photos.

Calls Go Straight To Voicemail on Galaxy S3

Problem: I have a problem with my galaxy s3. When I first got it, it worked perfectly. But after I set up my voicemail, I couldn’t receive phone calls anymore. I could make phone calls and send and receive texts, but I couldn’t get calls. It just goes straight to voicemail. I’ve tried turning off and on blocking mode: nothing. I would hate to do a factory reset and lose everything. Please, can you help? Thank you so much! — Hannah

Suggestion: Hey Hannah, issues like this can’t be fixed by changing a setting or two in your phone. You can setup voicemail and all in your phone but you don’t have access to whether a call gets routed to the voice inbox or not, but your provider does. So, please call them regarding this issue as they may be able to help you or answer more of your questions than we do.

Having Trouble Shutting Off and Rebooting Galaxy S3

Problem: Hi my name is Meghan, I bought a galaxy s3 back in march and I have been having trouble with it shutting off and then rebooting. Sometime it does not reboot though, also, recently I have been having problems with my phone getting black and white or sometimes even colored lines across the screen before it shuts off. Sometimes it would make a noise like static until I could get the battery out of it. Today it happened, I got it turned back on for a few minutes and then it shut back off, and I have not been able to get it back on. It’s been about 5 hours now. I’ve taken the battery out for about an hour, I’ve tested the battery with a volt reader and the battery is good. Out of ideas now. Could you help me in any way or do I need to send it out to get repaired? Thank you, Meghan.

Troubleshooting: Hi Meghan, I think the battery is fine. There could be something else that’s causing the problem, although I can’t pinpoint what it is, but I’m sure it’s not the firmware either. Honestly, after reading the first two sentences of your description, I thought it’s another Power key issue but the black and white or colored lines across the screen could be a sign of a more serious issue.

Meghan, I’m afraid you will have to send your phone for proper diagnosis and probably having this problem sorted out. As much as we want to help you, we can’t when it comes to hardware issues. We appreciate you reaching out to us.

Galaxy S3 Can’t Establish Secure Connection Error

Problem: The internet apps on my Galaxy S3 appear to be working fine EXCEPT I can’t log into Facebook. I keep getting a message that it cannot establish a secure connection. I just (after the problem started) set up Facebook account as an added account on the phone, but that didn’t help. I’ve deleted history, emptied cache. Still get same result when I try to get into Facebook. I can access my Facebook account without problem on our iMac, but I’ve been accustomed to using my phone for email, Facebook and a variety of other things. This problem just started three or four days ago, and it’s very frustrating. Can you help? Thanks. — Grace

Troubleshooting: Hey Grace. While the error message suggests something is wrong when trying to connect to Facebook servers, it’s not a connectivity issue. It’s the time and/or date. Change the time and date in your phone to reflect correct values and try again. That should fix this problem.

Galaxy S3 Booted Up in Safe Mode

Problem: Hi, my phone is great but it ran out of battery and when I turned it back on after charging it, all of my apps were gone. The app store says they are installed but I cant find them anywhere on my phone. Also, in the bottom left of the screen it has safe mode on it… it just came on not sure if that’s important. — Sally

Solution: It’s a minor issue, Sally. In fact, I think it’s not an issue at all. When the battery got depleted, there might have been some conflicts between apps and services, thus, the next time you boot it up, it booted straight to safe mode.

To get the phone out of safe mode, just reboot it normally and make sure your hand or fingers don’t touch the Menu key or press the Volume Down key. If the phone still boots in safe mode, then clear the cache partition. That should fix the problem:

Turn off the phone completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home, and Power
When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue holding the other two until Android System Recovery screen appears.
Use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power button to select it.
Highlight ‘reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.

Galaxy S3 Doesn’t Display the Usual Mobile Data Icon

Problem: Dear sir, after updating my phone with the system update (the latest update) I started not receiving the 4g lte/ 3g icon on the top of my screen where the wifi icon is located. I’m pretty sure that it is supposed to be there because it only happened after I updated my phone and when I noticed my internet would no longer work outside of wifi I searched the problem and one of the suggestions was to uninstall the update and when I tried it, it still would not show my 4g/3g icon. But it might also have to do with the fact that I force stopped a built in app called flipboard because i was trying to uninstall it from my phone, but after I updated my phone it was still there. Then an app appeared on my home screen it was called zone- libenterainment and when I began uninstalling the update it became mobile zone with the green android icon.

If you could please give me a few suggestions on what to do to fix this problem it would be greatly appreciated an also if you could get back to me as soon as possible please and thank you. — Natalie

Troubleshooting: Natalie, thanks for providing details about your problem. But I was wondering if your phone was bought from your current provider because if not, I am almost certain the APN settings have been changed or was reset to default. That is the reason why you can no longer connect to the internet using mobile data. In fact, even if the phone was provided to you by your service provider, there is still a chance the APN was messed during the update. The best thing to do is call them and let the rep walk you through setting it back on your phone.

Galaxy S3 Won’t Turn On Completely

Problem: Hey Droid Guy, I really hope you can help me out here! I have a Samsung galaxy s3 that can’t be turned on completely.

Whenever I turn on the device (when it’s plugged in, since it doesn’t work without a power source for some reason), it vibrates, shows the Samsung logo, occasionally shows the Sprint screen, and then vibrates and turns off (goes back to the charging battery graphic). This happens whenever I press the power button, and it’s really frustrating.

I’ve tried to boot to safe mode, but the device still can’t turn on. When I unplug the power cord, I can’t do anything with the phone at all (won;t turn on, boot to anything, etc). It’s basically a useless paperweight.

I’m not sure if this is a battery problem, as I did borrow a friend’s battery and the same problem persists. I’ve read that this may be a power button issue, but I’m not sure. Could you please help me out? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. — Teresa

Troubleshooting: That would become of any smartphone that has no power–a useless paperweight. I think, based on your description, the problem is with the Power key, it’s either stuck or totally damaged. But since the phone still responds when you press it, then it must be stuck partially. To get it out of being stuck, repeatedly press and release it. More often this simple procedure can fix this problem. However, to avoid getting some data corrupted due to repeated turning on and off, remove the battery first so the phone won’t attempt to boot up during the process. In the event that you can’t fix it by pressing the Power button a lot of time, it’s time you brought it to a technician and have it fixed.

Can Receive Pictures But Can’t Send on Galaxy S3

Problem: I have been unable to send pictures from my Samsung Galaxy S3. I can receive pictures and movie with sound but I can not send a picture. I changed the Group messaging from checked to unchecked with no change in the result except the ability to send to multiple receivers. Last year I reinstalled the O/S because I could not receive messages but I want to avoid that at all costs because the two backups did not work well when recovering. My vendor is Virgin Mobile. — Ed

Troubleshooting: Hey Ed, please call your service provider and inquire about the status of your account. It could be an account-related issue. If it shows that you can use data with your phone, then it must be the APN (Access Point Name). Ask for the correct APN for your phone and let the representative guide you through setting it up.

Galaxy S3 Drains the Battery Quicker

Problem: I have a Galaxy S3 which indicates fully charged, but when turned on there appears to be a huge battery draw because the battery charge only last 2.5 hours even if the phone is just sitting on the desk! I’ve replace the battery with a brand new Samsung battery with the same issue. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks, Ken.

Related Problem: I have an issue with my galaxy s3. I have a sprint phone and this problem has been going on for a while. When using my phone my battery dies really fast for some odd reason ill be on it for about 1 minute and the battery will go down 2% the original percent. I have went to sprint multiple times and the same exact problem keeps happening! I got a new phone, but it still happens. I am getting frustrated! Is it the battery? I got a new one but it keeps happening! What do i do? Please help me.

Troubleshooting: Hey Ken. It sounds like there are a lot apps running in the background or your phone’s processor is always on hyper-drive. There is also a possibility that it’s a hardware issue. To find out more, I need you to boot the phone in safe mode and observe it closely.

Turn the phone off completely. If possible, remove the battery for a few seconds and place it back.
Turn the phone on normally.
As the phone boots up, keep tapping the Menu key (left of Home key).
If successful, the phone should be able to boot to the Home screen but it has a little chrome text on the lower left corner that says “Safe Mode.”

While in safe mode, continue using the phone and observe closely how long it can drain its battery. If there’s a huge difference, then your apps may be the culprit. However, if the problem still persists even in safe mode, it’s a hardware issue and you need to have the phone checked. In case your phone’s screen keeps turning on without your intervention when in normal mode, then there are wakelocks in it. Install the Wakelock Detector app from the Play Store, it can help you get rid of those wakelocks that help drain the battery faster.

Galaxy S3 System UIDs Inconsistent Error

Problem: Hi! Good day!!! I forgot to charge my phone but when I turn on my phone, the application that I downloaded were missing. I already reboot the phone and I got an error about UID I don’t know what that means.

I also checked the applications and all the applications that I downloaded were still there but showing all 0 MB. What shall I do? Please help me. Thanks!!! — JB

Troubleshooting: It means that some files inside the data partition are corrupted and it’s causing conflicts with the phone’s normal operation. I don’t know what happened to your phone but draining the battery won’t result to this problem.

Assuming the problem just started without apparent reason, then it must be a glitch. For that, I want you to perform soft reset:

While the phone is on, pull the battery out.
Without the battery in place, press and hold the power key for 1 minute.
Replace the battery and secure it with the back cover.
Attempt to turn the phone on.

If the phone still shows the same error message, try the safe mode and restart the phone one more time. If still the same, there’s no other option but to perform hard reset to format the data partition.

Turn the phone off completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home, and Power
When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue holding the other two until Android System Recovery screen appears.
Use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power button to select it.
When finished, use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power button to select it.
Still use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘delete all user data’ and press the Power button to select the option.
Once the master reset is finished, highlight ‘reboot system now’ and hit the Power button one more time.

Galaxy S3 Can’t Get Detected and Recognized by Computer

Problem: I have been able to do this in the past in order to transfer photos and other files between my computer and my smartphone. But, after recent updates, when I connect my phone to my computer via USB, the computer doesn’t recognize the phone and I can’t transfer files. I remember there used to be a setting available to make the phone work as a media player or as a removable drive, but I don’t see that setting anymore. Any ideas? Thanks, Glen.

Troubleshooting: Hi Glen. Let’s make things easier for us, okay. The problem is with the drivers in your computer. I’m not sure if you already have Samsung Kies on it or not but if there is, then uninstall it. After that, log on to Samsung Kies page and download the appropriate version. You said the problem started after the recent update, so I assume your phone is running Android 4.3 or higher. Download Kies 3.0 instead of 2.6. after downloading and installing it, the computer must be able to detect and recognize your phone.

Galaxy S3 Screen Flickers, Freezes and Get Stuck During Boot Up

Problem: Hi, I’ve read your page on how to fix a Samsung S3 screen which flickers and dies and I’ve tried all the solutions but none of them work.

What happens is when I try to open large applications such as Playstore the screen will flicker, lose connectivity and then freeze, at which point I have to remove the battery and restart the phone. Usually during the restart process the phone will get stuck on the Samsung Logo. Please help. Thanks. — Raheez

Related Problem: I need help. My galaxy s3 keeps reading. Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped. I tried clearing my systems catch in apps under all. I believe I deleted the stock call app by accident when I rooted my phone under the file manager app called explorer. I reset my phone several times. Please help, I love my S3 and I’m currently out of options

Troubleshooting: Raheez, it is a firmware issue. I understand the hassle of resetting the phone but in your case, you have no other choice but to factory reset it. And I suggest you do it via recovery mode.

Turn the phone off completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home, and Power
When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue holding the other two until Android System Recovery screen appears.
Use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power button to select it.
When finished, use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power button to select it.
Still use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘delete all user data’ and press the Power button to select the option.
Once the master reset is finished, highlight ‘reboot system now’ and hit the Power button one more time.

Galaxy S3 Can’t Send Picture Messages After Update

Problem: Hello, I was on chat with Samsung yesterday for about an hour, and did not fix my problem.

Since the update, I can send Text Messages, but cannot send Pictures.

I checked my Wi-Fi, is it OK.

We cleared the cache and rebooted.

Next suggestion was to Factory Reset. Trying to avoid this.

Any advice? Thanks, Joe.

Solution: Don’t reset your phone over this, Joe. Instead turn on your mobile data as MMS messages are sent via mobile data networks. If it’s already on and you still can’t send a picture message, call your provider and specifically ask for the correct APN for your device, and perhaps, let the rep walk you through setting it up in your phone.