What to do if the screen of your Samsung Galaxy J7 starts flickering [Troubleshooting Guide]

What makes the screen flickering issue a bit complex is the fact that both firmware and hardware problems may cause it. It happens not just to the Samsung Galaxy J7 but to devices as well and the most challenging part is to determine what caused it. Once you know the cause, it would be a lot easier to fix it assuming the problem isn’t really with the hardware.

In this post, I will tackle this issue with the J7 being the subject of our troubleshooting. We will try to take into consideration every possibility and rule out each of them until we can figure out what caused it. So, if you own this phone and are currently bugged by a similar concern, you may want to continue reading below as this article may be able to help you.

Below are two of the problems sent by our readers and are relevant to what we’re tackling here. Take time reading those problems so you would know how it occurs to others.

Before anything else though, if you have other issues with your device, then visit our Galaxy J7 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed several common problems with this phone. Odds are that there are already existing solutions to your problems so just take time finding issues that are similar with yours. If you can’t find one or if you need further assistance, feel free to contact us by completing our Android issues questionnaire. Please provide us with as much information as possible so that it would also be easier for us to troubleshoot the problem. Don’t worry as we offer this service for free, so all you have to do is give us sufficient information about the problem.

Samsung Galaxy J7 screen starts flickering without apparent reason or cause

Again, the most challenging part in this problem is to determine what caused the flickering so we need to consider the possibility that it’s just caused by an app, then we’ll go after the firmware. As to the hardware problem, there’s only so much we can do about it since that part has to be handled by a technician. Now, before we jump to our troubleshooting steps, try to read the following problem which was sent by our reader…

Problem: Hi guys. I have the J7 phone I purchased 3 months ago and while I haven’t really encountered serious problems with it, there were issues that kept repeating but I was able to fix them. Recently, however, another problem showed up and this time it’s a bit serious and I’m really worried since the screen keeps flickering. There are times when the phone just goes black but turns back on after a few seconds. There are also times when it flickers for a few seconds before it disappears. I am pretty much sure this problem isn’t caused by a physical or water damaged because my phone hasn’t been dropped nor got in contact with any form of liquid. That’s why I’m really worried because it might be a manufacturing problem. Can you help me with it? Thanks.

Troubleshooting: Now that you already have an idea how this issue occurs to other users, it’s time we address it but we’ll also have to consider the fact that you may have a lot of files and data that are stored in your phone. So, we’ll try to do the safe procedures before going to a more general troubleshooting that may affect your files. Here’s what you need to do…

Step 1: Observe your phone’s screen while in safe mode

We need to rule out the possibility that one of the apps you installed might be causing the problem. So, you have to reboot your phone in Safe mode, it is an Android environment which temporarily disables all third-party apps. If the problem is caused by one of the apps, then naturally, the screen flickering issue will be resolved in that mode. This is how to start your J7 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 that the flickering stops in this mode, then you need to find the app that might be causing the problem and then try to update, reset or even uninstall it just to know if the problem gets fixed. Here’s how you do those things in your phone…

How to update apps on your Galaxy J7

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.

How to clear app cache and data on Galaxy J7

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 J7

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.

However, if the screen still flickers while in safe mode, then you’ll have to go after the firmware.

Step 2: Try wiping the cache partition as the some caches may be corrupt

Temporary files created by the system known to as as “caches” play a really great role in making sure your phone’s performance is at its optimum level. When some of them get corrupted, things like screen flickering, app crashes, sluggishness, etc. may occur. In this step, I will walk you through in starting your phone up in Recovery mode and then wiping the cache partition.

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 screen still flickers after wiping the cache partition, then you’ll have to move on to the next step.

Step 3: Backup your files and data and then reset your Galaxy J7

This will rule out the possibility that this problem is due to a firmware problem. It is necessary you do this prior to bringing your phone to a shop and having a tech take a look at it. As long as the problem has something to do with the firmware, this procedure may fix it. However, all your files and data will be deleted that’s why you need to make a backup of things you don’t want to lose as you won’t be able to recover them after the reset. After the backup, it’s recommended you disable the Factory Reset Protection so you won’t be locked out of your device after the reset.

How to disable Factory Reset Protection on Galaxy J7

To turn off the device anti-theft, you will have to sign out of your Google ID on the device and elect to not sign in with a Google ID into any Google services. Once you sign in with a Google ID to any service and setup a PIN, password or fingerprint lock, you are automatically turning on anti-theft. To sign out of your Google ID, follow these steps:

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 Master reset your Samsung Galaxy J7

Assuming you’ve already backed up your files and data and disabled the FRP, follow these steps to reboot your phone in Recovery Mode and do the Master Reset.

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 the problem still occurs after the reset, then bring your phone to the shop and let the tech handle the problem for you as it might have something to do with the hardware.

Galaxy J7 screen started flickering after the forced firmware update

While our reader positively said that this problem started happening after an update, we still cannot say that it really was the update that messed up the phone. Try to read the problem below and then jump to the troubleshooting procedure…

Problem: Hello droid guy. I recently bought a new J7 phone as an upgrade from my J5. Anyways, I keep getting the screen flickering issue. You know, when the screen shows some kind of static and flickers on and off. There’s nothing significant that happened to it except the forced update but I’m not really sure if that’s what’s causing this problem. If you have any idea how to fix this, can you please help me.

Troubleshooting: Basically, this issue is the same as the one we tackled in the previous problem but the difference is that the problem may have started after an update. So, that’s one consideration we have to take and with that being said, here’s what I suggest you do:

Step 1: Start your phone up in Recovery mode and wipe cache partition

This is a very important procedure since there’s always a possibility that the recent update corrupted some of the caches the system uses. Wiping the cache partition will definitely delete all system caches but they’ll be replaced during the reboot after deleting them.

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.

Step 2: Backup files and reset your phone

I suggest you try to boot your phone in safe mode first before the reset just to know if the flickering gets fixed. If the situation’s still the same, then backup your files and data and then reset your device.

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 occurs after this, it’s time to bring your phone to the shop.

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