T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Problems, Errors, Glitches, Solutions and Troubleshooting

T-Mobile-Galaxy-S5-Problems

Hello guys! Welcome to the first part of our T-Mobile Galaxy S5 problems troubleshooting series. We’ve already received hundreds of emails from S5 users and the problems I cited in this post are just some of the many issues that we are going to address in the future. We found it necessary to publish carrier-specific support articles because we have readers who explicitly mentioned their providers. This is our way of providing more personalized support.

T-Mobile, of course, is a big company with better tech support department and we’re not trying to compete with them. We are simply helping our readers who contacted us about their problems. If you are an S5 user and currently having issues with the phone, I suggest you visit our Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed more than 200 issues.

You may also contact us at [email protected] but provide all necessary details so we can easily and accurately assess your concerns. For those who want to be helped via social networks, post your concerns (and please like or follow) on our Facebook wall or Google+ page.

Click on a link below to go to a specific issue:

  1. Freezes Most of the Time
  2. Screen Flickers
  3. Managing Data Usage
  4. Slows Down Occasionally
  5. Stuck on Samsung Logo
  6. Reboots While Playing Real Boxing
  7. Can’t Connect to WiFi
  8. Gallery Crashes
  9. Settings Has Stopped
  10. Screen Won’t Turn On

T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Freezes Most of the Time

Problem: Hello droid guy. I hope you are doing well. I gotta say, I was deeply impressed by my Samsung Galaxy S5’s performance when it was a few months old. It was fast, smooth and no problems whatsoever. I think it was last month when I noticed its performance somehow slowed down, although not noticeable at first. As the days passed, the phone became slower and slower and just this week it started freezing then work again, and then freeze again. I can’t think of a cause why this problem happens.

I mean, the phone has been taken care of properly. No drops, no liquids and absolutely not abused. I am very disappointed that it became like this. I really need your help guys to make this phone run smoother again. By the way, I called T-Mobile and they don’t know how to fix this. They, however, advised me to reset the phone, which I’m considering, but if you guys know something to fix the problem, please let me know. — Bud

Troubleshooting: Hey Bud. So, the slow down in performance was gradual, a sign that it’s not about the hardware. If it were, however, the performance would drop from like 100% to 10% or lower in a day. For this kind of problem, the first to be suspected of causing the problem are the third-party apps.

When an app crashes and creates conflicts with the system’s core processes, the phone will slow down, although the gravity depends on how serious the conflicts are. The best way to know if a third-party app is causing the problem is to boot the phone in safe mode.

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Press and hold the Power key.
  3. When ‘Samsung Galaxy S5’ 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.

In safe mode, observe the phone closely to know if the phone still freezes. If it performs normally without freezing, then a third-party app is causing the problem. In this state, all third-parties are temporarily disabled so the problem would be fixed temporarily as well. To have a permanent fix, you need to find the app that’s causing the freezing and uninstall it.

However, if the phone is still freezing even in safe mode, then it could be a firmware issue or one of the pre-installed apps is crashing. There no better option than to backup all your data and reset the device:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  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.

T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Screen Flickers

Problem: For some reason, the screen on my Galaxy S5 randomly flickers and I can see an apparent cause why this is happening. Started about 4 days ago and I waited this long to observe how often it happens and it’s becoming frequent. The first day, the screen flickered less than five times, then on the second it was 7. During the 3rd and 4th day, the screen flickers almost every hour and it happens regardless of what I’m doing in my phone. For example, yesterday it flickered why I was typing a text messages. Today, it flickered while I’m browsing the web. Haven’t called T-Mobile yet as I’m still in the process of “researching” through Google what the cause of this problem. I stumbled upon your website and so I’m here. Do you know what’s wrong with my phone? — Willy

Troubleshooting: It’s kind of hard for us to tell what the problem really is, Willy. But there are only two things that could happen here; it’s either caused by a software glitch or an issue with the hardware. Further testing is necessary to pinpoint what the culprit is. In order to isolate the problem, I suggest you boot your phone in safe mode an use it for a day in that state. You will still connect to the internet, check your email using the stock email app, send/receive text message and receive/make calls. Aside from these things, there’s a text on the lower-left corner of the screen that says Safe mode. Nevertheless, it’s a necessary step to know if it’s a software or hardware issue.

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Press and hold the Power key.
  3. When ‘Samsung Galaxy S5’ 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.

If this was caused by a third-party app, then the screen won’t flicker in safe mode and if it’s the case, then you need to find the app that’s causing this and either disable or uninstall it. However, if the screen still flickers even if all third parties are temporarily disabled, there’s a chance it’s a firmware glitch. It’s time you backed up your data and perform factory reset. If the problem persisted after that, it’s safe to assume now that it’s a hardware issue and further testing will be necessary. Of course, you need a tech to figure out the problem for you. It’s possible it’s a display issue but we wouldn’t know the extent of the problem.

Managing Data Usage On T-Mobile Galaxy S5

Question: Hi droid guys. I finally got my first smartphone through T-Mobile. It’s a Samsung Galaxy S5 and I’m still learning as much as I can. There are no problems whatsoever and the service is pretty good. I often browse to some websites where I read news and stuffs. From time to time I also watch videos on YouTube. So, my question is how do I monitor my data usage? It already happened to me before that I doubled my data usage and I don’t want it to happen again. I am old but I can follow a simple set of instructions. Thanks. — Jodie

Answer: Yes, Jodie, you can manage and monitor data usage on your Samsung Galaxy S5. Here I’ve outlined a simple guide for you to follow:

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Launch Settings and touch Data usage. From this screen, you can tell immediately how much data you’ve already used up for a specific period of time.
  3. To limit data usage, touch and drag the red anchor on the right side of the graph. Data is measured in megabytes (MB).
  4. If you want to disable mobile data when the limit is reached, tick the checkbox next to Limit mobile data usage.
  5. You can also set a warning so that you’ll be notified if data usage reached certain amount. Just touch and drag the orange anchor to desired amount of data.
  6. Tick the checkbox next to Alert me about data usage to be notified.

T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Slows Down Occasionally

Problem: I noticed that by the end of the day, my phone is not as smooth and fast as its performance in the morning. Sometimes it even freezes and lags that a reboot can’t fix it. I’m not really a tech person so I’m a bit worried when it comes to manipulating settings in my phone but I understand it could be because there are already a lot of apps running. So, how can I close those apps? I was told press the Home button won’t close them. All I wanted is to make my phone faster once it slows down. Can you help me, please? — Jean

Troubleshooting: Hi Jean, reboot often fixes the problem but in some cases, you would really have to close apps running in the background through the Task Manager. Just follow the steps below and you’ll be just fine:

  1. Go back to the Home screen and touch the Recent key (left of the Home key) to access the Recent Applications screen.
  2. You will be shown a list of apps that you recently used. Swipe each app left or right to close them or hit the Close all button below the screen.
  3. Look at the bottom-right of the screen to find Task manager.
  4. Touch the Task manager link.
  5. You are now seeing the Active applications screen with list of apps that are currently running.
  6. You may touch the End button next to the app you want to close, or you can simply tap the End all button at the bottom of the screen to force close all apps you see in that screen.
  7. To give the phone a fresh start, reboot it.

T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Stuck on Samsung Logo

Problem: There was an update that I duly downloaded and installed on my phone. The entire process went smooth and fast, thanks to my fast internet connection, but when it reached the point where the phone needs to reboot, it got stuck on the Samsung logo. Tried rebooting countless times already but it’s still stuck. I left it on that screen for more than 30 minutes but it didn’t progress. Honestly, I’m freaking out now as I don’t know how to fix this. If I had known it would be like this, I should have ignored the update. Help me, please. — Lilian

Troubleshooting: Hi Lilian. It could be some caches and data have been corrupted during the process. It often occurs especially during major updates. There are different ways to fix this but I will tell you a couple that I know will work. The first thing I want you to do is soft reset the phone. It’s a very simple procedure but very effective.

  1. First of all, boot up your phone.
  2. Once it got stuck on the logo, remove the back cover and pull the battery out.
  3. Without the battery, press and hold the power key for a minute.
  4. After that, place the battery back in and attempt to turn the phone on.

Soft reset is effective for minor hardware and software glitches but there’s no guarantee it could fix the problem. So, if the phone is still stuck on the logo after the soft reset, then it’s time to wipe the cache partition.

Majority of problems related to yours are caused by corrupt caches. Wiping the directory where those files are stored will force the phone to create new ones and it usually fixes the problem.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. Press the Power key to select.
  7. When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  8. Press the Power key to restart the device.

T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Reboots While Playing Real Boxing

Problem: I love Android games and one game I’m very attached to right is Real Boxing. On my Samsung Galaxy S5, the game plays well and the phone is pretty fast. However, there are instances when the phone reboots automatically abandoning the game. One time, the phone was really hot so I thought the phone may have shut itself down to avoid overheating. But then one day, just when I’m about to win the second match and the phone was still not hot, it rebooted. It happened again a few days ago so I know it’s not the temperature that’s causing the reboot. Can this problem be fixed? I don’t even know what’s causing the reboot. Help me. — Matt

Troubleshooting: Hey Matt! I, too, am a fan of Real Boxing and after months of playing, I have advanced in the ranking. Also, after countless wins, losses and number of gaming hours, I have experienced issues I haven’t encountered with other apps. The phone tends to become really hot while playing online matches. I experienced having to manually reboot the phone because the game froze and I also encountered the reboots several times already.

I think the problem’s not with the phone but with the app itself. It could be a bug or something. In fact, if you read user reviews on Play Store, we’re not the only ones that encountered this issue, there are thousands more. With all those complaints, I’m sure the developer is now finding ways to prevent the problem and fix the bug if there’s any. I suggest that if there are updates available for the app in the future, download them as they’re supposed to bring about bug fixes. As of now, we really can’t do a thing about the problem because it’s not with your phone.

T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Can’t Connect to WiFi

Problem: Hi guys. I hope you can help me figure out what the problem with my phone is because I’m not as savvy as you when it comes to technology. In fact, I’m afraid of changing settings on my phone. The problem is, when I connect to my WiFi network, instead of showing “Connected” it would say “Saved” and I can’t connect to the internet. I was told to reboot my phone and I’ve done that countless times but the problem still persists. How can I fix this? Please help me. — Liz

Troubleshooting: Hey, Liz. I don’t think the phone is the problem, it’s your network. As you can see, the phone can detect the network just fine but it couldn’t connect. The best thing to do is to reboot your network equipment. Just turn them off for a minute and turn them back on after that. Once you’ve done that, follow these steps:

  1. In your phone, tap the Apps icon from the Home screen.
  2. Find and tap Settings.
  3. Under QUICK SETTINGS section, tap WiFi.
  4. Touch and hold your WiFi network.
  5. Tap Forget network.
  6. Reboot your phone.
  7. Now, try to connect again.

If the problem persists after all these, call your internet service provider and have them perform troubleshooting for your network devices. It would also be helpful if you have other devices you can try to connect to your network to check if it’s working properly.

Gallery Crashes on T-Mobile Galaxy S5

Problem: Hello. I’m so happy I found your website and thank you for providing free support for us users. I have a problem with my phone. It’s a Galaxy S5 that I bought from T-Mobile. When I open Gallery or take a picture using the camera, there is an error message saying “Unfortunately, Gallery has stopped.” So far, the only thing I did was to reboot the phone a hundred times already but it still keeps happening every time I access the gallery. Consequently, I cannot take pictures or view existing ones. Is there a fix to this problem? — Wilhelm

Troubleshooting: Hello Wilhelm. Honestly, we don’t know what’s causing the problem but more often clearing the cache and data of the Gallery app will fix it. Don’t worry, your pictures will not be deleted when you do so. Gallery doesn’t “store” your pictures or videos, it manages them. Please follow these steps:

  1. From any Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Scroll to ‘APPLICATIONS,’ then tap Application manager.
  4. Swipe right to the DOWNLOADED screen.
  5. Scroll to and tap Gallery.
  6. Tap Clear cache.
  7. Tap Clear data and then OK.

Settings Has Stopped on T-Mobile Galaxy S5

Problem: My problem is kinda weird as it started one day without apparent reason. Yes, it did. I was trying to send a text message one day when the phone suddenly rebooted. I thought it was just a minor glitch that happens from time to time. Two days passed and the phone suddenly turned off. I wait for it to come back on but it didn’t. So I hit the power key in hopes that it would turn back on. It didn’t. I recharged it and turned it on again. It didn’t. I removed the battery for 3 minutes, then turn the phone on. It did. But just when I was about to turn the WiFi on the error message “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped” came up and it keeps coming back almost every minute. It’s annoying and I can no longer use my phone. What do I do to fix this?

Troubleshooting: There could have been a system failure. Settings is a service that handles or allows you to change settings for almost everything in your phone. If it crashes, then there must be something really wrong with the firmware. The first thing to do is boot the phone in safe mode to see if the error still pops up.

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Press and hold the Power key.
  3. When ‘Samsung Galaxy S5’ 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.

If the error still occurs, then it’s almost certain it’s a firmware issue. If not, a third-party app may have just crashed and you can be able to back up all your data. But either way, it’s best that you perform full master reset to give the phone a fresh start.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  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.

T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Screen Won’t Turn On

Problem: I own a Galaxy S5 and my service provider is T-Mobile. Recently, I dropped my phone and it turned off. When I turned it on, it did and everything was fine but just after a few minutes, the screen started to flicker then turned off. I thought it was the phone that turned off but I can still here Facebook notifications when they come in. So, basically, it’s just the screen. I am afraid to turn the phone off because it might not turn on again so I got it plugged in to its charger. Can this be fixed?

Troubleshooting: Well, it sounds like it’s a hardware issue but we can never verify that if you refuse to reboot the phone. As of now, the phone is totally useless already and there’s nothing you could do that would make things worse than it already is. So, I suggest you pull the battery out, wait for 1 minute, then place it back in and turn the phone on. If the screen remained black after that, then it’s time you brought the phone to a technician and had it checked.

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1 thought on “T-Mobile Galaxy S5 Problems, Errors, Glitches, Solutions and Troubleshooting”

  1. I have a T-Mobile Samsung galaxy S5 and accidently removed the battery on a factory reset and now the phone freezes on T-mobile screen. I have tried a hard reset holding power key home and volumne up and wiped partition cache with no luck. Any ideas.

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