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Galaxy S6 turns itself off even when battery is charged, other issues

Good day everyone! Welcome to another post that covers some of the submitted issues for the #GalaxyS6. If you don’t find your own issue here, keep watching for more of the same in the coming weeks.

Galaxy S6 turns itself off even when battery is charged
How to recover photos from wet Galaxy S6 that is stuck in boot loop
Galaxy S6 won’t charge when it’s on
Galaxy S6 screen not responding and speaker making crackling sound
Galaxy S6 Custom binary blocked by FRP Lock error

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

Problem #1: Galaxy S6 turns itself off even when battery is charged

I’m inquiring about my husband’s phone. He got it brand new from Verizon six and a half months ago and it has been having charging problems; like he’ll unplug it after it has fully charged and the charge drops rather quickly, even if he has hardly used it. and lately it has started turning itself off with 8% battery remaining; even 5%. I’ve read that this model has a lot of problems but I also think it’s the battery but we haven’t had the money to buy a new battery.

so I’ve been researching and trying various things. like I’ve wiped the cache partition and trying to make sure apps are manually closed. and now I’m stuck cause I don’t know what else to try or if maybe I was trying the wrong things.

The other problem is that his Gmail won’t automatically update and sync is not working for some reason that I’m unaware of. Plus I’ve gone through the settings for it, and this problem is how I even came across wiping the cache partition. Any help is greatly appreciated. — Jenn

Solution: Hi Jenn. The first thing that you want to try in fixing the battery or charging problem is battery calibration. It’s needed to ensure that the device displays the true state of charge of the battery. We think that the battery has lost its reference as far as telling the system what its true state of charge is. That may be the reason why the phone turns off even though it’s still showing 8% on the battery level meter. To calibrate the battery, simply follow the steps below:

Charge the phone until the battery level reaches 100%.
Drain the battery to 0% by playing some games and doing resource demanding tasks.
Charge the battery up to 100% again.
Drain the battery to 0% one more time.

If battery calibration won’t change anything, you can also do a more drastic solution by wiping the phone clean via factory reset. This will be the last thing that you can do on your end. Again, our aim here is to check if the issue is being caused by a software glitch. To do it, just do the steps below:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.
Keep the three buttons pressed and when ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.
Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.
The notice ‘Installing system update’ will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.
Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ and press the Power key to select it.
When the process is complete, use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.
The reboot may take a little longer to complete but don’t worry and wait for the device to become active.

Find a way to have the phone replaced if the issues remains after a factory reset.

Problem #2: How to recover photos from wet Galaxy S6 that is stuck in boot loop

Phone got wet and would not show anything. Took 10 days in bag of rice but finally came back on and worked. Battery died, tried plugging in to charge since Fast Wireless pad won’t work (due to phone, not pad) and am stuck in loop showing Boot screen with Reboot System now Reboot to Bootloader, etc. Choose Reboot system now, goes to Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ then Installing system update blue screen with Android guy clockwise spin thing then he rolls sideways with big yellow triangle with exclamation point inside and back to Reboot system now screen.

I would like to get some pictures and video off there from vacation when it got wet so am trying to avoid Wipe data/factory reset. I HAVE DONE the wipe cache partition with same result of loop. — Rob

Solution: Hi Rob. To access photos and other files in a storage device, you first need to ensure that the operating system works normally. That means that if you are stuck in a boot loop, there’s no other way to reach the boot sequence wherein the operating system takes over. Needless to say, you’ll be unable to access the storage device and move files from it. We always keep it a point to say in our posts that if basic software troubleshooting won’t fix issues following water- or liquid-damage, the next best thing to do is factory reset and eventually repair/replacement. This applies to your case as well.

Try booting your phone in safe mode to see if it turns on that way. If you’re lucky and the phone boots in safe mode, you will be able to recover your photos. Otherwise, those files are good as gone. To boot in safe mode, follow the steps below:

Turn off the phone completely.
Press and hold the Power key.
Once ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
The phone will restart but keep the Volume Down button pressed.
Once the phone has finished restarting, ‘Safe mode’ will be display in the lower-left corner of the screen.
You may now release the Volume Down button.

Problem #3: Galaxy S6 won’t charge when it’s on

Just recently my phone wouldn’t charge. i plugged my phone in and left it over night. i knew it wasn’t charging at all with 35 % left during the middle of the night. the phone managed to turn off by itself and start charging only when its off. Doesn’t seem to charge anymore when it’s on. i have a feeling it’s to do with the actual port itself where you plug in the cable.

the same thing happened to my old Samsung s4 and now that won’t charge at all. i got a feeling when plugging the cable in it seems little loose not sturdy. apparently speaking to another person it’s a common thing with Samsung. but any help to fix this and not buying new phones cause I’m done with new phones. Haven’t had this phone for a year probably only 6 months if lucky. — Daniel

Solutions: Hi Daniel. Our blog only deals with software issues that can be fixed by basic software troubleshooting. Although many charging-related problems are caused by software bugs, which means that they fixable at a user’s level by doing software solutions, yours may be different. If you think that your S6 has a bad charging port, the best thing that you can do is to have that component or phone replaced. We don’t provide hardware diagnostics and troubleshooting. Obviously, hardware problems cannot be fixed software solutions. If you want to do a hardware solution yourself, do it at your own risk.

As we said, many charging problems are results of software problems. If you haven’t tried anything at your end yet, we suggest that you do the troubleshooting that we recommend in this post. For starters, wiping the cache partition is a good thing to do.

For minor firmware-related issues brought by apps and firmware updates, wiping the cache partition often does the trick. It’s because this procedure will literally delete all cached files in the cache partition, which will force the system to create new ones during the next boot up.

This procedure is also very helpful in fixing issues like random reboots, boot loop, stuck during boot up and random freezes after updates. Here’s how you wipe the cache partition on your S6:

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

You can also try restarting your phone in safe mode while charging to see if there’s any difference. Finally, a factory reset would be a good last step. If these procedures won’t work, you can assume that the issue is hardware in nature and the only way out is either repair or replacement.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 screen not responding and speaker making crackling sound

Ok so today (20160607) I was on the way home from the gym and tried restarting my phone. It was playing music at the time and it did some weird flashing stuff on the screen then wouldn’t bring up the menu to restart it yet kept playing music. I stopped the music and looked in the drop down menu hoping to find a way to turn it off and maybe hit the back camera flashlight or something. but all i know is the screen went dark but the two lights in front next to the home button were lit and the flash light was on. I couldn’t get the screen to come on to stop it or reset the phone. it all flickered out soon after and then I plugged it in and the front key lights came on, the flashlight started flickering again and the red notification light next to the ear speaker started flashing. all the while the main bottom speaker was making crackling noises and the back of the phone to the left of the camera started heating up.

I then unplugged it and let it sit for a bit then tried again and the same thing happened. I then unplugged it and let it sit there. I don’t know f if its water damage as I was careful with it while at the gym.

If there is a way to at least get my files off of the thing I’d appreciate it. It has everything important I need to do my job as a US Marine. — Mitchell

Solution: Hi Mitchell. The things you mentioned like the bottom speaker making crackling sound, flashlight turning on by itself, and LED flashing, and unresponsive screen are classic symptoms of hardware malfunction. That they are present all at the same time is a strong indication that the phone may have been exposed to elements or may have been dropped. Whatever the true cause is, the only thing that you can try right now is connect the phone to a computer and hope that it can still talk to it. If a computer no longer detects the phone, the files you’re trying to recover are gone.

If possible, try bringing the phone to a Samsung repair shop to see if there’s something that they can do.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 Custom binary blocked by FRP Lock error

I bought 2 Galaxy S6 devices, unlocked by the store I bought them from. 3 days ago my wife’s phone rebooted and came up with the following error:

KERNEL IS NOT SEANDROID ENFORCING

Custom binary blocked by FRP Lock.

I tried doing the smart switch restore, but the app doesn’t like my model/SN combination. I got ODIN and a Lollipop 5.11.1 firmware for my model, flashed it using the ODIN flash procedure, that was successful. Once my phone power cycled it is now stuck on the SAMSUNG logo startup screen and will not boot any further, the error messages have gone away.

I can get it into recovery and download mode, but not sure what else to do to fix this bootup problem. Maybe the bootloader is toast? — Ben

Solution: Hi Ben. If your phone still responds to hardware button combinations to allow you to boot to recovery or download mode, we suggest that you try wiping the cache partition and/or wiping the phone via factory reset first. If that won’t change anything, try flashing another compatible stock firmware. This second procedure is your only hope in making the phone boot normally again. If that fails though, make sure that you flash the original stock firmware before asking for a replacement from the store.

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Best quick-charging Android smartphones money can buy

Charging your phone every single night after returning from work, school or a stroll around town in order to be able to start again the next morning without losing track of your Facebook friends, favorite Twitter feeds or Pinterests might well be the most annoying modern-day chore.

It’s not only boring as heck, but you have to actually remember to do it, not to mention keeping all sorts of cables on hand and hugging walls for hours on end. Of course, some devices last longer than others, and you can always use power banks on the go whenever you need a quick, no-plug-in-necessary pick-me-up.

And let’s not forget about wireless charging, which is slowly taking off, although it’s not exactly wireless if the dock must be physically connected to an energy supply for the whole thing to function.

Finally, while it doesn’t solve the underlying problem, i.e. the constant demand for more juice, fast-charging technology at least reduces the time wasted waiting. Like many mobile inventions, this is bound to become truly useful down the line, when you’ll be able to fill up the tank in mere minutes.

But there are already numerous Android phones endowed with Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 capabilities or similar functionality, and we give you today the cream of that crop:

LG G4 – starting at $371 on Amazon

Will the G5 make this old-timer look its age at last in a little over a week, with a vastly refined design, considerably beefier processor under the hood, more RAM, a better camera, and smoother UI? You can bet the farm, the house, everything you own on that.

It’ll even invigorate its battery 38 percent faster than the G4, courtesy of Snapdragon 820’s Quick Charge 3.0 support. At the same time, it’ll probably cost twice as much, and you have to wonder if it’s worth the premium. After all, last year’s leather-clad bad boy can still lift its cell capacity from 0 to 60 percent in half an hour. And mind you, we’re talking a relatively large 3,000 mAh battery.

HTC One A9 – $386 and up

If you ever wondered how an Android-running iPhone from a legit OEM might look, this somewhat disappointing upper mid-ranger is your guy. It’s slightly overpriced, we won’t argue otherwise, but it’s compatible with both Quick Charge 2.0 and 3.0 standards. The bad news? You need to pay extra for one of those super-fast charger accessories.

The worse news? The A9 packs a tiny 2,150 mAh battery, so no matter how quickly you can liven it up, it’ll still leave you hanging when you might need it most. Say, during a business meeting. So yeah, better not risk it and instead buy the…

ZTE Axon Pro – $400

A costlier ZTE recommended over an affordable HTC? What exactly is the Axon Pro’s secret? Well, it’s got several strong suits, all made public and marketed quite aggressively on US shores of late. Number one, a beautiful 5.5-inch Quad HD display. 2, a somewhat gimmicky but proficient 13 + 2 MP dual rear-facing camera. 3, more RAM than you could ever need on a mobile device (4 gigs). 4, a respectable 3,000 mAh battery. Last but not least, standard fast-charging times: 30 minutes to go from 0 to 60. In a nutshell, plenty of bang for 400 bucks.

Nexus 6P – $450 through Google Store

This stock Android Marshmallow-based phablet is sure an odd duck. For one thing, it comes with a reversible USB Type-C port that isn’t however capable of 3.1 data transmission and charging speeds. Granted, a slew of other phones released in the latter stages of 2015 half-heartedly adopted the new USB technology like that, but only the N6P also lacks Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 support.

Fret not, as it’s gifted with a proprietary equivalent nonetheless, though Google and Huawei refuse to make any pompous claims regarding stamina-inducing times. Even if it takes, say, an hour to reach 50 percent volume, this is a must-buy for Android purists, what with a 3,450 mAh battery, Snapdragon 810 SoC, 3GB RAM, and 5.7-inch 2K screen on deck.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 – $588 and up

Since Sammy was basically forced to fit a homebrewed processor inside its latest wave of high-enders, their rapid charging technology is different from Qualcomm’s too, promising a full tank in a measly 120 minutes, even wirelessly beefed up.

A full 3,000 mAh tank, that is, rated at up to 22 hours of continuous 3G talk time. Add an S Pen into the equation, all-time record low price, and we see no reason why you should hold off for the Galaxy S7. Well, aside from microSD storage expansion maybe.

Motorola Droid Turbo 2 – $624 full retail price at Verizon

As the name suggests, this turbo-charging beast uses its own personal implementation of standard QC technology, squeezing no less than 13 hours of average usage from a massive 3,760 mAh battery after only 15 minutes spent hugging a wall. Such a shame the “shatterproof” 5.4-incher isn’t available on America’s number two, three or four operators. Guess that’s one of the reasons Big Red preserves its market domination.

LG V10 – $620 and up

50 percent in 40 minutes? That’s not so impressive. It’s definitely not record-breaking or trend-setting, but overall, the V10 is. Because it’s also military-approved for shock resistance, including contact with hard surfaces, equipped with a secondary notification display that can be both an energy and life saver, plus two front-facing cameras for… double the selfies?

Clearly, you’re dealing with a one-of-a-kind product, and even if it’s not a rapid-charging champion, it gets that job done too in addition to a bunch of other strenuous jobs.

BlackBerry Priv – $698

Would this particular writer ever consider buying the Priv? No chance. Not at $700, and possibly, not at a penny over $600 either. But that’s because I’m personally not obsessed with security, and my physical QWERTY keyboard love affair ended half a decade ago.

If you’re into those sorts of things though, you know how hard it is to find them elsewhere, especially combined with open-source Android, Google apps, a beautiful curved Quad HD AMOLED panel, and large 3,410 mAh battery capable of providing 60 percent juice after 30 minutes “wasted” hooked up to a power supply.

Galaxy S6 constantly shuts down and won’t stay on, other issues

One of the common problems usually submitted to us is that the Galaxy S6 won’t stay on or having boot- or power-related problems. Once again, we publish a post that entertains these #GalaxyS6 issues. Below are the specific topics discussed in this material:

Galaxy S6 constantly shuts down and won’t stay on
Galaxy S6 stuck in download mode after rooting
Google Chrome app in Galaxy S6 does not go back automatically to Google search page
Galaxy S6 “intelligenceservice2 has stopped” error after it got wet | Pre-installed apps on Galaxy S6 keep crashing after water exposure
Galaxy S8 Plus Edge won’t turn back on

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: Galaxy S6 won’t stay on and constantly shuts down

Hi. I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy S6 from India. I have been using it for over 10 days now. A couple of days ago, the phone suddenly turned off and wouldn’t turn back on. I connected the charger, and it had a charge of 34% and was charging further, but it wouldn’t turn back on.

I tried the next morning, it turned on, worked for 15mins or so and then turned back off. I tried restarting numerous times, and with all possible combinations: power, power-volume down, power-volume down-home, power-volume up, power-volume up-home, power-volume up-volume down-home. Nothing happened most of the time. Sometimes, some screen would come up and then go right back off. Sometimes I was left with a black screen and a blinking blue light. At times, the power-volume up-home combination shows a fallen android guy connected to a warning sign (exclamation mark within a yellow triangle).

It does get charged however, but doesn’t get detected on the computer. I noticed that something comes up for a short while if I try after a gap of 2-3 hours, i.e. the longer the time gap between attempts, the longer the screen stays on.

I used this to wipe the cache and perform a hard reset, both of which were successful (i.e. the phone didn’t turn off during the process), but it still didn’t solve the issue.

This morning, I tried again after about 8 hours of inactivity, and the phone stayed on for about 12 minutes. I also noticed that it turned abnormally warm during that period. The battery is on full charge, and it doesn’t get drained abnormally.

The Samsung service centre guys here in Manchester say that they do not have expertise in the relevant software for the phones manufactured in India.

Please help! — Lipsa

Solution: Hi Lipsa. Knowing that the phone does not show classic symptoms of battery malfunction effectively eliminates the possible involvement of battery failure in this case. That leaves us with three potential causes:

one of the hardware buttons is defective (usually the Power key),
a software glitch may have developed or one of the apps is problematic, and
an unknown hardware failure (probably a motherboard issue or one of the components)

The first and third involves some hardware troubleshooting and requires opening the phone to check it physically. We don’t recommend that you do these things yourselves as you may complicate problems further. You have to let a professional do the job to avoid damaging the hardware.

What’s left to do at your level is to check if software is to blame. You can start by booting your phone in safe mode. This will help you determine if the failure to boot normally or the system shutdown is initiated by an app you’ve installed. To restart your S6 in safe mode, kindly follow these steps:

Press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys for 20 to 30 seconds.
Once you see the Samsung logo, release the Power key immediately but continue pressing the Volume Down key.
Your phone should continue booting up and you will be prompted to unlock your phone as usual.
You will know if the phone successfully booted in safe mode if the text “Safe mode” is displayed at the lower-left corner of the screen.
To go back to normal mode, just restart the phone.

The other procedure that you can do is boot the device in recovery mode so a factory reset can be done. Here’s how:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Press the Volume Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

Now, after doing any of these procedures, you must observe the phone for at least 24 hours (if it stays on that long) so you’ll know the difference. We are aware that you’re having trouble booting the phone to other modes so if you can’t do it, you can safely assume that either the first and third causes is to blame. Call or go back to Samsung so you can file for repair or replacement request.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 stuck in download mode after rooting

Hey! After quite a bit of persuasion from my friend, i decided to go ahead and root my Galaxy S6 [SM-G920T] but ever since i did (using CF Autoroot), I’ve been stuck on the booting page where it says Samsung Galaxy S6 and powered by Android. however the only thing different from the traditional booting screen is that there are small red letters in the top left which read, “RECOVERY IS NOT SEANDROID ENFORCING”.

At this point, there are only two things that i can do with my phone: Either i press Volume Down + Power + Home and manage to get to the download screen, or i can make it run out of battery and when i charge it back up, it returns to the booting screen.

I can’t access other screens such as the recovery menu. I don’t want to lose all the personal data which is on my phone so how would i go about reverting my phone back to normal and still have everything one it?

Many thanks. — Paul

Solution: Hi Paul. Although a lot of Android users modify the official software on their device in the form of rooting, not everyone enjoys a risk-free experience. Modifying Android has inherent risks due to a lot of factors that can come into play during the procedure. If you’re using a defective USB cable while changing critical files in the OS and some files are not copied properly to the device, it can potentially create a complication. The same can be said if the saving process is accidentally interrupted for some reason. There are other variables that can lead to boot loop and similar issues. That’s why we don’t usually recommend rooting and flashing.

Well, since you’ve already committed to doing it, and you’re left without much leeway in this case, the only thing that you can do is to flash a stock firmware. This will allow you to boot back normally (and personally swear not to root again, hopefully). We trust you can find your way on how to do it, given the fact that you’ve even already rooted the phone, albeit unsuccessfully. Flashing a new firmware to your S6 will wipe the storage device so forget about file recovery, your files are good as gone now.

Problem #3: Google Chrome app in Galaxy S6 does not go back automatically to Google search page

Hi there! 🙂

Please accept my apologies in advance as I am completely new to the modern day smart phone technology after switching over from an old school flip phone that I’ve had for many years.

When I click on the Google Chrome icon on my Samsung Galaxy S6 cell phone to search on the internet, the screen unfortunately it takes me back to the site (i.e. Ebay, Amazon, IMDB, etc.) that I was just on last. This keeps happening even though I’ve clicked out of the opened search window or pushed the CLOSE ALL tab on the lower left corner of my actual phone. The only way that I can possibly get to a new Google Chrome search engine page is to keep clicking the back arrow on the bottom right corner of my actual phone. It has to go all the way back out of the program before allowing me to do any other searches.

Recently, I’ve called Samsung and spoke to one tech person on the phone and I also spoke to another tech person via the online chat support. They both had me try restarting it in various modes, clearing caches, and clearing data without any luck. Neither tech was able to help me fix the problem and said that I will need to reset everything back to the original factory settings for it to work correctly. I’m very reluctant in doing this as I have several hundred photos (which I have been able save to my desktop) and numerous videos of family events (which I can’t save to my desktop due to having an older computer by choice with basic Windows XP).

I’m extremely frustrated at this point and I honestly just feel like throwing my phone away. If you could please possibly take the time to help me out with any suggestions, I would be so very grateful.

Thanks for all of your time and consideration in doing this for me. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Sincerely. — Dick

Solution: Hi Dick. We don’t think you need to do the drastic step of factory reset to fix this issue. If you’re running the updated version of Google Chrome app, there’s actually an option under its Settings menu that allows you to enable Home Page. The default home page is set to Google Search page (unless you changed it before). Enabling home page will give you the “home” icon at the top which you can simply tap to immediately go back to Google search page.

You can access Google Chrome settings menu by tapping on the three-dot icon at the top right section.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 “intelligenceservice2 has stopped” error after it got wet | Pre-installed apps on Galaxy S6 keep crashing after water exposure

My daughter decided it would be a good idea to drop my phone in my drink and my phone has suffered water damage.

I did turn it on straight away and saw the screen had an error. I decided to turn the phone off and attempt to dry it out. 3 days since the phone switches on, however I am having issues with my pre-installed apps.

I have completed a factory reset and also wiped the cache partition numerous times however nothing seems to be fixing the issue of my apps constantly either stopping or saying it has stopped when I haven’t even opened up the app, such as Samsung Health. I also keep getting an error stating “intelligenceservice2 has stopped”.

I am now at a loss as to how to progress as i think the phone has completely dried out and i don’t appear to be having any hardware issues, just software.

Any help would be massively appreciated. — Peter

Solution: Hi Peter. First of all, we don’t want to give you the impression that everything is fine after exposing your S6 in water. Most of the cases wherein an electronic device saw water don’t end well. The curious thing about your situation is the fact that there seems to be only software problems after the incident.

The rule of thumb in dealing with a water-damaged electronic device is to see if software solutions can fix issues. If they don’t, then it can assumed that the software symptoms are being caused by a defective hardware. In your situation, the most effective software solution is factory reset. That it does not work in your case is an indication that the problem is never due to a software glitch in the first place. There is no other “advanced” techniques or troubleshooting that you can do on your level to resolve the issues. It’s likely that a water-damaged hardware component may be sending false signal to the circuit, creating a chain of commands that overwhelm the system, resulting to the errors that keep on popping up.

Call Samsung and see if you can have the phone repaired, or better still replaced.

Problem #5: Galaxy S8 Plus Edge won’t turn back on

I own a Samsung Galaxy S6 Plus Edge and I’ve only had it for a few months. Lately when it’s charging it says that it’s charging slowly and I should use the original charger. I’ve only ever used the original charger with this phone but unplugging and plugging again usually solves that issue.

Last night my phone was at 4% so I charged it and went to bed. When I woke up it was completely dead. The LED light wasn’t red or green and nothing was on the screen.

So I tried to play around with it a little and plugged it back into the wall and the icon with the lightning bolt showed up but it still wasn’t charging. I went through a couple of your suggestions from what I could find off of Google but nothing has worked.

I plugged it into my laptop and the lightning bolt showed up again but still no charging light. I don’t think it’s my charging cable as I’m charging my dead Galaxy S4 and the LED light on that is showing up and it’s charging fine.

Lots of your suggestions included resetting the phone but I can’t really “turn it off” or “reset” as it won’t even turn on!

Please let me know if there’s any other information I can give you. I hope you will be able to help me out with my problem. — Natasha

Solution: Hi Natasha. As discussed above, if you can’t boot your phone in any other mode like safe mode, recovery mode, or Odin mode, then the problem is most probably a failing hardware. It can be the device’s battery no longer holding a charge, or some other components. If leaving it charged for at least an hour won’t power it on, nothing will. Call Samsung or the relevant party so it can be physically checked and repaired if needed.

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MMS on Galaxy S6 creates separate conversation thread, other issues

Welcome to another post about #GalaxyS6! Our post today covers 6 issues shared by our community members. Don’t forget to also visit our S6 troubleshooting page for our previously published articles.

MMS on Galaxy S6 creates separate conversation thread
Galaxy S6 does not power on
Galaxy S6 lags and loses battery power fast
Galaxy S6 won’t factory reset under Settings
Galaxy S6 is not recognized by computers
Replacement Galaxy S6 has fast charging feature not working and battery drain issue

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: MMS on Galaxy S6 creates separate conversation thread

I have a Verizon phone but my carrier is AT&T. Regular SMS text messages, phone calls etc., work. However, when I receive a picture (MMS message) my phone creates a separate text thread for that person as if we are in a group. It will not come through the regular text thread that already exists. For example, I’m sending regular texts to John, John then sends me a picture. I have to go to my conversation list and click on a whole new thread my phone created, and it is now a group conversation message with “Me, John”. If I text back in this new thread in the group, it sends me a separate message just to me as well, but not to the original text messages John and I had while just texting. It is like the messages do not recognize my number as being my phone and sends them to me twice.

All APN options are correct and mobile data is on etc. I’m not using a 3rd party messaging app. I am using the Samsung message program within the phone, which is set as the default messaging service. — Greg

Solution: Hi Greg. Did the issue start to appear after installing an update for Android or your messaging app? If yes, make sure to delete the phone’s cache partition first, then wipe the cache and data of the app involved. Below are the steps that you must do:

How to wipe the cache partition of Galaxy S6 Edge

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power, Volume Up and Home buttons simultaneously.
When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue to press and hold the Volume Up and Home buttons.
Now, when Android recovery screen appears, highlight the wipe cache partition option using Volume Down button.
To confirm the selection, press the Power button.
Wait for a while until wiping the cache partition is finished.
Now, “Reboot System now” will appear on the screen. To highlight the option use the Volume Up/Down key.
Press the power button to confirm it, and your device will automatically reboot.

How to delete an app’s cache and data

Go to Settings.
Proceed to Applications.
Select Manage Applications.
Tap the All tab.
Choose the name of the app by tapping it.
From there, you will see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons.

If nothing changes after doing these procedures, or if you’ve already done them, the cause of the problem may be firmware-specific. That means that poor coding makes the current operating system work improperly resulting to this erratic behavior. Be sure to get the latest Android software update. You can also try to do a factory reset to see the difference.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 does not power on

At first it wouldn’t hold a charge. It is not hardware issue. I tried several different charging devices. I believe, the AT&T carrier representative did a hard/soft reset. Returned to factory settings. I don’t know if it completed a software update also. It said something about trying to use an alternative operating system as a selection/option.

I believe I’m at this point of the troubleshooting: Otherwise, I recommend you wipe the cache partition if there’s enough battery left, if not, then you need help from a tech.

I did not have enough battery life to complete the cache partition. The AT&T carrier rep advised I have it sit with the original charger for a few hours and if that does not work, I must warranty it.

After he did the factory reset for a short time after it was showing the charging lighting bolt consistently, but not gaining percentages. Now…. nothing. Please HELP! Pretty Pretty Please. — Stephanie

Solution: Hi Stephanie. The first thing that you can do is to see if your phone still responds to hardware button combinations. Before you do this, make sure that the phone has been charging for at least an hour. The first thing hardware button combination that you can try is to boot the phone in recovery mode. Here’s how it’s done:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.

If your phone can’t boot into recovery mode, try to go to download mode. Using the same steps above, simply press the Volume Down, Home and Power buttons at the same time for at least 10 seconds.

You can also boot in safe mode by doing these steps:

Press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys for 20 to 30 seconds.
Once you see the Samsung logo, release the Power key immediately but continue pressing the Volume Down key.
Your phone should continue booting up and you will be prompted to unlock your phone as usual.
You will know if the phone successfully booted in safe mode if the text “Safe mode” is displayed at the lower-left corner of the screen.

If your phone still fails to boot to any of these modes, you can assume that a hardware issue may be at play. Make sure that you have unit checked or replaced.

Problem #3: Galaxy S6 lags and loses battery power fast

I got my S6 like half a year now. And it is really terrible! it is totally slow when i open apps, going back to the home screen or doing anything else. Everything lags!

Another problem i have is that my power is going down very rapidly, so i had to buy a power bank and charge my phone like 2-3 times a day even though i am not using it that much.

Thirdly, it suddenly crashes sometimes. or my music just begins to play without pushing any button.

i tried a hard reset but it didn’t help. Furthermore i try to clear my cache as you have explained it in your article but that didn’t work. when i have reached the second white screen, the screen turned black with a small picture of a mobile phone and inside of it a red triangle with an exclamation mark in it. After like 2 minutes, my phone restarts and I’m coming back to my home screen.

Please help me! it is really awkward having my phone and i don’t have enough money to buy me a new one. — Katharina

Solution: Hi Katharina. There are two potential causes to the issues you mention here — either the phone is infected with a virus or malware, or there are many apps running actively and in the background at the same time. The best thing that you can do first is to do a factory reset. For serious firmware-related issues, the factory reset is often the ultimate fix. It’s because it will bring the phone back to its factory defaults by deleting all files, data, settings, apps, personal information, accounts, etc. Ensure to create a backup of your personal data first before doing the steps below:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Press the Volume Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

Now, doing a factory reset is, in itself won’t be an effective fix if you will not be careful what apps to install. After the factory reset, be sure not to install least used apps or those applications that may be the reason of the problems. Although it’s tricky to know what app is exactly the cause of the problem, in general, you must get rid of games and downloaders. Least known developers tend to monetize their products by resorting to dubious means which can include allowing viruses, adware, and even malicious software to piggyback on their app so they can get paid. Most developers intentionally publish their apps for monetary gain. If their product can’t get enough audience, they may switch to other suspect means of making money.

If you are fond of installing free apps, it’s time to review them. Stick to official apps if possible and avoid installing new ones if you are not sure where they come from.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 won’t factory reset under Settings

I’ve been able to factory rest my phone before through SETTINGS but now it annoyingly refuses to hard reset even though I’ve tried many times…all it does is restart the phone.

Also there is this message that I usually get this period which even usually terminates whatever I am doing with the phone: “measure not responding” or “Unfortunately Measure has stopped”. Actually there was a time something was happening which I did not understand and I uninstalled the program called measure thinking it was a Malware that just installed on its own trying to attack my phone and slowing it down. But now it appears that this program is a critical system app (well I don’t really know that for sure yet).

So please what is your diagnosis and help me get my phone back to it factory state. — Anderson

Solution: Hi Anderson. We’re not aware of a critical app for Samsung devices called Measure but it can be a carrier-specific app instead. This may be the reason why the error comes up everytime you do something. If you are not sure of this, be sure that you do a master reset. Simply follow the steps provided on how to do a factory reset above.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 is not recognized by computers

Hello. I have been having difficulty for the past two weeks attempting to get my phone and computer to cooperate and I was hoping you could help. Prior to two weeks ago I would plug my phone (using its original cable) into my computer and on my phone I would click something to the effect of to share content from my phone via media or camera to my computer. Once I completed that, I was free to interchange music pictures etc.

For the past two weeks when I plug my phone into my computer nothing happens other than my phone begins to charge. What I mean by nothing happens is there is no sounds from either my phone or computer upon plugging in (because I do believe there was a dig of some sorts prior to these two weeks) or unplugging, there is no appearing of any sort of icon on the bottom left icon widget bar on my computer or next to my local C Drive under the folder of MY PC. There is also no option on my phone for choosing which setting to connect to my computer with.

I have tried multiple times over the past two weeks to repeat my previous successful endeavors including restarting both pieces of technology, downloading the USB drivers for my computer and smart switch for my phone. I have tried plugging in another USB into my computer prior and post download of the USB driver and it still works. I have tried plugging in my phone to another computer (a Mac) and it shows USB installer options. I am unaware of how to proceed, if assistance is possible I would very much appreciate it.

Thank you. — Kathryn

Solution: Hi Kathryn. For an issue like this, make sure that you verify the obvious first. Try to connect the phone to your PC again then go over to your phone Settings menu. Once you’re in settings, go to Storage then tap on the more options menu icon at the upper right hand side (three-dot icon) to access USB computer connection option. Under normal circumstances, the Media device (MTP) should be shown. If nothing happens when you press the More menu icon, this means that your computer has a driver problem. Sometimes, a computer’s operating system may encounter USB-related errors especially if you use multiple USB devices (flash drives, keyboard, mouse, cameras, smartphones, etc.) all the time.

With your phone still connected to your PC via USB, navigate to your computer’s Device Manager under Control Panel. If your computer detects your phone but cannot read it properly, your device should be shown as one of the items. Make sure to right click on your device and click on “Update Driver Software”. Follow the rest of the instructions and let your computer look for available drivers online.

You can also try to use third party Windows applications like USBDeview to uninstall unnecessary USB devices. If you don’t want to install any app on your computer, simply go over the list in your Device Manager page and uninstall as many USB devices as possible. Make sure you don’t disconnect peripherals like a USB keyboard or mouse though.

Lastly, don’t forget the good old trick of enabling USB debugging option under Developer options.

Problem #6: Replacement Galaxy S6 has fast charging feature not working and battery drain issue

I saw your article on the Samsung S6 Edge having charging issues. I am now on my SECOND Samsung S6 because my first one wouldn’t not charge at all. I went to my Phone Service Carrier, and they sent me a new phone. My new phone is having the same issues as my first one. I received the fast charger in the box with my first phone, and I use this charger to charge my phone. My phone will not accept the fast charger function anymore. It will still charge but not “fast” (it will not be labeled as “Fast Charging.”). It will still say its “charging,” but I will leave my phone turned off, plugged in for hours waiting for it charge and it will charge about 5% an hour.

My battery drains at about the same rate as before I was having these charging issues, and I haven’t dropped/cracked/damaged my phone externally in anyway. Is there a simple way to fix this, do I just need a new charger, etc. I don’t want to have to spend money if I don’t have to. Thank you. — Gwen

Solution: Hi Gwen. Did you install the same set of apps after getting the replacement phone? If yes, that’s an indication that one of your apps must be causing this trouble. Do a factory reset and observe the phone for at least 24 hours. Make sure you don’t install any app during this period.

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Galaxy Note 4 overheating, freezing, and lagging due to battery issue, more battery charging problems

If there’s something that hardware makers of today’s smartphones must need to improve, it should be the battery. It’s no understatement to say that today’s Lithium-based batteries remain the greatest weakness of even the most powerful devices like the #Samsung #GalaxyNote4. Below are some of the common battery issues users encounter with their Note 4:

Galaxy Note 4 overheating, freezing, and lagging due to battery issue
Galaxy Note 4 won’t power on
Galaxy Note 4 fast charging issue
Bluetooth issue on Galaxy Note 4
Galaxy Note 4 showing multiple problems including battery drain
Galaxy Note 4 battery or hardware failure
Prevent battery drain issue on Galaxy Note 4 by not installing Facebook app
Galaxy Note 4 won’t power on after charging

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 4 overheating, freezing, and lagging due to battery issue

My Note 4 is constantly draining its battery really fast. Whether it’s charging or not, it randomly turns itself off and sometimes it won’t even turn on so I’ll have to constantly take the battery out and then put it back in again in order for it to turn on. My phone’s also constantly lagging and my phone freezes and I’ll have to wait a few minutes for it to turn back to normal. And my phone’s always overheating when it’s charging or when I have too many apps open (but I guess that’s normal). I’ve downloaded an app to make my background apps sleep and a battery doctor app, but nothing works. I’m considering buying another battery but I just wanted to be really sure that the problem is my battery. Please help. — Taylor

Solution: Hi Taylor. There’s high likelihood that the problem is only limited to the battery at this time so replacing it is important. The symptoms you mentioned like overheating, freezing, lagging are consistent with a bad battery issue (although they can also suggest a hardware problem sometimes). In some rare cases, a corrupt firmware can also show the said symptoms so while waiting for battery replacement, you can also try to do a factory reset and leave the phone clean without installing any third party app for at least 48 hours. This will give you enough time to observe how the phone behaves when the firmware is set to defaults and no third party apps to complicate things. For reference, here are the steps on how to do a factory reset on a Galaxy Note 4:

Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Volume Up key.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 won’t power on

So I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. My battery wasn’t working so well so I decided to purchase a new one. I put the new battery in and my phone powered right now with no issues. I let the phone sit overnight and when I tried to turn it on the next morning the blue corner light was blinking but the screen wouldn’t turn on. I pulled the battery out and tried all things mentioned on here to try to get it to turn on and nothing worked. I even plugged it in to charge and no red light or anything is on. — Kevin

Solution: Hi Kevin. A new battery does not die all of a sudden under normal circumstances. If you’ve only used the new battery for a few days or weeks, the problem may be on the phone itself. Have you tried using the old battery to see the difference? If the phone still won’t boot up using that, there must be a hardware failure that results to your phone being unable to boot. Try to restart the phone in recovery mode by following the steps provided for Taylor above. If you will still be unable to boot the phone that way, make sure that Samsung or a reliable third party technician can check the device for hardware faults.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 fast charging issue

I’ve accepted that the battery in my phone is terrible and it only last up to 6 hours that’s not a full day, it’s actually 1/4th of a day. Okay fine just charge it..the problem is- it takes 2 hours to charge the phone. Okay that’s kinda long to charge a phone that has a fast charger that can do the job in 30 min. So why when the fast charger breaks and I try to use a different charger it takes so long. I feel like they’re two extremes. (I do soft resets every wednesday.. it’s a ritual. I also clear out my apps hourly.) — Collin

Solution: Hi Collin. Fast charging requires that the phone and charger are both capable of doing so. Your Note 4 won’t fast charge if you are using a regular charger. For Samsung devices, it is recommended that you use the official Adaptive Fast Charger although other third party fast chargers can also do the job. The official Samsung fast charger provides a 2 Amp output compared to the standard one which usually gives a typical 1 Amp or 700mAH.

Problem #4: Bluetooth issue on Galaxy Note 4

Yesterday, 5.1.1 automatically downloaded and then has been installed. After Android 5.1.1 installation, Bluetooth doesn’t operate. A message appears on the screen “Bluetooth has stopped”. Pushing the “Ok” button restart again. Started in safe mode however the situation is the same. No chance to remove paired devices and re-assign again. When I’m lucky to switch off Bluetooth function, everything is normal so far.

What i observed:

Bluetooth switched on
Error message appears “Bt has stopped” however it works, the Bluetooth sign visible on the top of screen. Until Ok has not been pressed, Bluetooth works.
As soon as OK is touched, Bluetooth stops and automaticaly starts again.

Until the message is on the screen, there’s nothing else to do. Maybe not related to this issue but Security Manager Service regularly starts and stops.

If i look at the running apps, under Bluetooth several process starts and stops parallel with Bluetooth service.

-gattservice

-BlueThoothPbapservice

-A2dpService

-BleAutoconnectService

-HeadSetservice

-HealthService

-BluetoothMapservice

Hope could help to fix this issue. Thanks. — Gabor

Solution: Hi Gabor. If booting in safe mode does not make any difference, that’s probably because the issue lies on the cache or on the firmware itself. What you can try to do first is to wipe the cache partition to ensure that the system cache is in good working order. Sometimes, a corrupted or outdated cache can cause some apps to fail or work normally. Here are the steps to do that:

Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Vol Up key.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power key to select it.
When the wiping of the cache partition is finished, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the power key.

Wiping the cache partition is an often effective solution for an issue such as yours but it won’t do anything to change the situation, makes sure to do a factory reset (steps provided above).

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 showing multiple problems including battery drain

Hi. Unfortunately I have been having various issues with my device, from battery draining fast going from 35% to dead without warning, charging various times per day, network signal very weak, Wi-Fi not very stable, photos not very easy to focus… I have tried all your advice on various articles such as hard reset, cleaning cache, phoned network to see if there was an issue with signal. Asked for a new sim card as mine was 5 years old.. complained to Samsung phone went to repair they charged “sub pba” but issues persist…Really don’t know what else to do.. Please advise. Thank you. — Sue

Solution: Hi Sue. There’s only so much that you can do on your end to fix issues on a device like a Note 4. The symptoms appear to be unconnected and may be the result of a general hardware failure. Our blog does not provide hardware troubleshooting and diagnostics so if you want to fix the issue yourself, you have to look for other online resources. However, we strongly suggest that you have the phone replaced if possible.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 4 battery or hardware failure

My phone is 14 months old and has been working fine until yesterday when it just shut down. To get it to turn back on I have to remove the battery and put it back in again as the device will not respond otherwise. I cleared the cache as I read on your site and also tried the factory reset without success. If I click my screen lock button the device will just go off and I have to remove the battery to start again. I’ve ordered another battery as it didn’t seem to be holding a charge but talking to you now I’m at 74% so I am uncertain whether it is the battery or a malfunction with the actual device itself. — Naomi

Solution: Hi Naomi. There’s no telling what the problem might be unless you narrow down the possible causes yourself. Since you have already performed a factory reset once, the issue may be hardware in nature. Start with replacing the battery. If nothing changes after doing so, that suggests that the phone itself is having some hardware failure.

Problem #7: Prevent battery drain issue on Galaxy Note 4 by not installing Facebook app

I was quite pleased initially with the power usage on my Note 4, however about a week after I activated it I noticed the power to drain much faster. That set me to thinking, what changed? For me, that’s when I added the Facebook app to my Note 4. So I removed Facebook, well disabled it anyway, and my power issues vanished. I still access Facebook, but I use other browsers, most notably the Ghostery browser. Love my Note 4. Works great with no Facebook app. Try it for yourself if your having power issues with the Note 4. — Michael

Solution: Hi Michael. Thanks for sharing this tip Michael. Almost all popular social networking and shopping apps are the leading causes of battery drain issue in smartphones regardless of operating system. This is because these apps need to constantly communicate with remote servers to update their content and update itself. This process can be power-consuming throughout the day if left unattended. Good to know that you are managing battery consumption on your device well.

Problem #8: Galaxy Note 4 won’t power on after charging

My Samsung Galaxy Note 4 was working perfectly. When I was about to go to sleep it was on charge and had about 80% showing. I decided to switch it off and leave it charging since I was going to have a busy day the following morning and wanted it at 100% charge. When I woke up and tried to switch it on the damn thing couldn’t turn on. I have tried soft reset, factory reset nothing. The screen is black and it makes no sound. Took it to a technician, but he was unable to make it to turn on. I am very surprised because it didn’t fall, get water etc but now it’s a brick. Please help. — Paul

Solution: Hi Paul. If a technician can’t turn the phone on, that suggests a hardware failure. Try using another battery to see if that will make a difference. If nothing changes, the motherboard may have been damaged during charging process. That means that your phone is as good as gone at this time.

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How to fix Galaxy S5 with weak or no signal, other issues

One of the issues in this post today is about a Galaxy S5 with weak or no signal, as reported by one of our readers. Network or connection problems of this type are usually hardware-related so there’s not much that an average user can do. Nevertheless, we still encourage you to continue reading so you’ll also see potential solutions that may work in your case.

These are the specific topics discussed in this post today:

Galaxy S5 battery not working
Galaxy S5 cannot boot past the Samsung logo screen
Galaxy S5 with weak or no signal
Galaxy S5 screen won’t turn back on
How to recover files from Galaxy S5 SD card

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: Galaxy S5 battery not working

My phone has all of the sudden decided not to charge. i have the speed charger that it’s supposed to have and it worked great i noticed that it drained very quickly that day and was acting odd. it went from 12% to 6% to 2% in a matter of minutes, but it was fine all day. Then when i plugged it in, the charging light didn’t come on. it wouldn’t charge. eventually it died. it stayed on 2% for 2 hours and then the charging symbol will pop up on the screen, stay for about 5 seconds, vibrate, then disappear. it will do this continually all night. then by mornings its charged to about 50%. the battery is draining a little faster than normal, but otherwise its fine. wasn’t dropped, no water damage it sat on the counter all day. it just started doing this out of the blue. I’ve tried other chargers and rebooting it. cleared the cache and i have no idea what to do next. It’s almost 2 years old. — Alexis

Solution: Hi Alexis. If you’re still the original battery at this time, it’s probably high time for you to replace it. A Lithium-based battery like the one on your S5 loses capacity after every charging cycle (the process of emptying and charging the battery). Technically, all types of batteries start to degrade the day they were manufactured. Loss of capacity is the function of charge cycle as well as age. The best Lithium-ion batteries can start showing significant capacity loss after a few hundred charging cycles. In most cases, a smartphone battery loses 80% of its capacity after 300-500 charging cycles. Assuming you empty and charge the battery everyday, the current capacity right now must be very degraded. The things you mention here like the erratic battery level, random reboot, and right now, inability of the phone to turn on, are some of the common symptoms of battery malfunction. Replacing the battery at this time should fix the issue easily.

Problem #2: Galaxy S5 cannot boot past the Samsung logo screen

Hi everybody! I had an unlocked Galaxy S5 of Sprint for over a year. Recently, it often auto reboot when using or screen off after waiting time. It will reboot and i encounter with 2 cases:

Stuck in boot screen “Samsung Galaxy S5 powered by Android” then turn off with a vibrate and turn on with a vibrate. And it keep repeating.

[IMG=””bootloop””]https://image.prntscr.com/image/459266ab838049c9a6cf24b1678b50d5.jpg[/IMG]

In this case i will remove battery and keep it alone over 2 minutes. then it boot successfully. The device sometimes becomes hot, sometimes cool but it still happen (no depend themal).

It also reboot but no screen on: i heard boot sound. when boot done, the touch screen still work (sound when i touch in lock screen). And i have true black phone.

I tried to boot in safe mode, reset factory, odin with android 5.0, 6.0 but nothing changed. I hope everybody help me. Thank a lot.

My device: S5 900P with stock lollipop 5.0 (OK4- newest lollipop). Knox 0x1″ — Minh

Solution: Hi Minh. You should know that our blog only provides software troubleshooting for Android devices. These software solutions often include factory reset as well as occasional recommendation to flash a different ROM via Odin for cases wherein the phone becomes totally unresponsive. You’ve apparently done them before contacting us so you can assume now that the problem is not software in nature. Either the screen assembly is not working properly, or there’s another hardware component that is failing. Whatever it is, your best option now is to have the phone repaired or replaced. Call Samsung or your carrier for resolution.

Problem #3: Galaxy S5 with weak or no signal

I have an AT&T sim card from Straight Talk. I had a Galaxy S4 and recently bought a refurbished S5 from Amazon.com. The phone seems to be working great expect that I will sometimes have no reception. I used the APN setting I used for my S4 (I had quite a time getting those to work originally with Straight Talk).

I was very happy with Straight Talk on my S4. I had at least 2 or 3 bars if not full service everywhere I went. Now I cannot get calls or texts most of the day, even in places my S4 had perfectly good reception. Today for example my phone was sitting on my desk, where the S4 would have been fine, and I couldn’t send texts. Then about an hour later it vibrates like crazy because it suddenly had 2 bars of service and was able to send my messages as well as get an hours worth of incoming texts. Then a few minutes later it was back to no service and I couldn’t sent a text. — David

Solution: Hi David. If you’ve installed a lot of third party apps, we recommend that you check if one of them is causing this problem. You can do that by booting your S5 in safe mode. Safe mode is one of the most useful troubleshooting trick for an Android phones. This is a different software environment wherein you can securely uninstall apps and observe how your phone behaves for some time. Safe Mode is usually recommended when an S5 encounters problems like freezing, random reboots, connection difficulties, of if one suspects that one of the apps is problematic. Third party apps installed on the phone will not load, thus, it is very helpful in narrowing down the source of the problem. If the phone behaves normally while in safe mode, or if texting works fine during the observation period, that’s a confirmation that one of the apps is responsible. Be sure to leave the phone in safe mode for at least 24 hours so you’ll know the difference. To enable Safe Mode, just follow the steps below:

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key.
When ‘Samsung Galaxy S5′ appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.

If nothing changes after observing the phone in safe mode, do a factory reset to ensure that there’s operating system-level glitch causing it.

Resetting an S5 to its factory settings is the fastest way to delete everything on the phone as well as a great troubleshooting step if you encounter an issue that may appear hard to resolve. It’s also a great way to get rid of annoying, rogue, or troublesome apps fast.

As a precaution, please ensure that the battery has been fully charged and you have created a back-up copy of your data before you proceed.

Power down the Galaxy S5.
Press and hold the Volume up button, the Home button, and the Power button together until you see the Android on screen.
Use Volume down to highlight the wipe data/factory reset option and press the Power button to select it.
Use Volume down again to highlight Yes – delete all user data and press Power to select it.
Use the Power button to select Reboot system now.
When the S5 restarts it should be completely wiped and ready to set up again.
Once the phone has been reset, observe it for another 24 hours. Be sure not to install any app during this period.

If you have the same situation after a factory reset, the problem must be hardware-related. If possible, have the phone replaced.

Problem #4: Galaxy S5 screen won’t turn back on

The night before this problem occurred, I was watching Netflix on my phone for at least two hours. after that I put my phone on the charger and went to sleep. The next day, my phone was dying and I kept having to take it off the charger without it being fully charged. Once I was able to settle down, I let my phone charge to 100%. After it was done charging I was texting on Snapchat. Then after that, probably 30 minutes later, I put my phone down to play with my little cousins . About an hour later I picked up my phone to text someone back and I pressed the home button to turn it on but it didn’t. So I hit the power key and it still didn’t turn on. It’s been almost 2 days and my phone still won’t turn on.

I’ve tried all the procedures and it just won’t turn on. When people call me they say it rings but it doesn’t come through my phone of course because it won’t turn on. the LED lights are not on, nothing is on! I don’t know what to do . — Raeen

Solution: Hi Raeen. If others can call your number and hear your ringtone fine, that’s an indication that phone is on but the screen remains black. We can’t fix a bad screen by doing software troubleshooting so make sure that you have the phone checked or repaired. Better still, simply ask for a replacement if that’s still an option at this time.

Problem #5: How to recover files from Galaxy S5 SD card

Recently, I saved all my photos to my micro SD card. Today, when I was in my Gallery app, the Gallery app kept freezing and the app would shut down. I restarted my phone, and when it turned back on. I got a message saying “Blank SD card: SD card is blank or has unsupported files.”

Now when I go to settings–>storage, there’s an option to mount my SD card, but when I click it, it only tells me the same “Blank SD card” message.

I wasn’t using all of the memory on the SD card and I have about 1GB of internal storage space left as well. I’m not sure what the issue would be and I really want my files back.

Am I able to recover files from my SD card somehow? — Tina

Solution: Hi Tina. The “Blank SD card” message seems to be a generic error that suggests the device may be corrupted or not working. The best thing that you can do in this case is to unmount the SD card and insert it to another device like another smartphone or SD card reader. If the second device won’t read the SD card either, you can bet the card is gone.

File recovery in this situation depends on the cause of the malfunction. You may or may not be able to recover your files depending on the condition of the memory. We don’t support file recovery as it requires advanced software so try your luck by contacting firms advertising their services in Google.

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Fixing Galaxy Note 4 power drain issue, other battery power problems

No Android user is spared from a power drain issue on their devices. The issue is, most of the time, not caused by poor hardware but rather software. The number and quality of apps running in a device can make or break any one’s experience with an Android device. Buggy updates can also be to blame from time to time. In fact, there are so many reasons why an Android device, like an#GalaxyNote4, leaks power faster than normal. Generally speaking, power-related problems are some of the most common complaints we receive from our community. We hope that this post can shed light on some of these problems.

Here are the specific topics discussed in this article today:

Galaxy Note 4 battery losing charge very quickly
Galaxy Note 4 stuck in boot screen
Third Galaxy Note 4 with same battery issue
Galaxy Note 4 random bootloop issue
Galaxy Note 4 randomly “dies” when not connected to a charger
Fixing Galaxy Note 4 power drain issue

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page.

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 4 battery losing charge very quickly

Okay, so I can be using my Note 4 and the charge will be fine, but once it drops below 50-30%, the shown percent either won’t change for a while or will move very slowly. Then all at once it will drop to around 10-20% and then 5, to dead within a few seconds. No particular apps or anything cause this kind of battery issue. Then it will turn back on at 0 or 1 percent. Sometimes however, it will just die at the 20% mark and not drop fast.

Another issue is seen when using the app SnapChat. The phone can have 50 or more percent but, if trying to send a simple picture on the app, it will immediately shut off and say 0% when plugged in. The SnapChat range really depends on the percentage. Some days it will last until 20%, while others it dies at 65 or 70 percent. — Cody

Solution: Hi Cody. Your first task is to narrow the possible causes why the battery acts this way. An issue like this can sometimes be caused by a software bug. The phone’s physical battery is simply a dumb cell that stores and discharges power. Charging process and power consumption is managed by your phone’s operating system, which can sometimes become corrupted. It is therefore logical to narrow down the causes by doing software troubleshooting first.

Battery calibration is a good way to start here. Battery Stats, an Android operating system feature that tracks battery capacity can sometimes be mistaken. It may at times give the false reading causing the phone to automatically shut the system off. To rectify this, calibrating the battery must be done. Here’s how it’s done:

Use the phone by playing games or doing tasks to hasten power discharge, until the phone turns itself off.
Charge the phone without turning it back on.
Wait until the battery says it is fully charged to 100%.
Wait for an hour before unplugging the phone from the charger.
Use the phone until battery reaches 0% percent. The phone should turn off by itself.
Recharge the phone to 100%, wait for an hour before unplugging it again.
The battery should now be recalibrated. Observe how phone works.

If there’s something wrong with how the phone’s operating system manages power usage, battery calibration should fix it.

If nothing changes though, there’s a big change that you have an issue with the battery itself. Keep in mind that battery loses capacity over time. If you have been using the phone for over a year now and you charge it at least once a day, there’s high likelihood that the battery has simply lost a significant amount of capacity. Try using another battery to see a difference.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 stuck in boot screen

Phone stuck on Boot screen. “Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000”. Cannot access the startup menu (Volume up, Home, Power). Phone just cycles off and on to the same boot screen. Tried battery out and hold power key for 1 minute. Can access download screen “Warning – A custom OS can cause etc” and then select “Continue” using the volume up key. Gives screen showing:

“ODIN Mode

Product Name: GT-N7000

Custom Binary Download: No

Current Binary: Samsung Official

then the android green logo followed by..

Downloading….

Do not turn off target”

However, unable to make a successful connection via the USB to Kies 2.6 on the laptop.

Prior to locking up the phone had shown low memory warnings and had also locked up a few times but always recovered. Failed to start after overnight charging. No new software recently installed.

Micro USB card removed.

Can’t seem to access anything else apart from the download screen.

The phone is in mint condition so I’m reluctant to just can it.

Any ideas? — Mark

Solution: Hi Mark. You are left with little to nothing in terms of troubleshooting or solution in this case. Accessing Odin mode is useless unless the phone talks to a computer properly. As it is, you cannot even flash a new or stock ROM to your device so you can boot it back normally. Since recovery mode access is out of the question here, the only thing that you can do is to seek help from Samsung for more advanced troubleshooting or unit replacement. If this phone is part of your mobile plan, call your wireless carrier for information how to have it replaced.

Problem #3: Third Galaxy Note 4 with same battery issue

Battery won’t charge beyond about 75%. This is the third new Note 4. All 3 have had the same problems. The newest one had they problem from the beginning. I’ve tried 2 factory chargers, 2 generic chargers, multiple outlets, factory resets including formatting the SD card, tried 2 batteries, Ice discharged residual electrical energy from the unit, had multiple Sprint technicians clean and examine the devices and check the batteries. I’ve spoken with Samsung customer support and a Samsung sales rep. The Samsung guys and the Sprint technicians agree that this is a software issue and not related to any physical problems on an individual phone. Neither Sprint nor Samsung will accept responsibility and Sprint is only willing to keep replacing the unit without addressing the problem, moving the problem up the chain of command or providing an upgraded unit. The 2nd unit had the problem immediately and I exchanged it within 1.5 months, after extensive testing. The 3rd unit is only a couple days old. I’m seeking advice and assistance, either with holding Sprint and Samsung accountable or fixing the problem.

Thank you. — David

Solution: Hi David. If this has been the third unit with the same exact problem, a third party app may be to blame. If you installed the same set of apps on all phones, one of them must be behind this trouble. Try doing a factory reset and observe the phone for a couple of days without installing any third party application. This is the best way to confirm our hunch.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 4 random bootloop issue

Every time I press the power button on my phone, it shuts down and then gets caught in boot loop for a little bit: it starts up again and says “Samsung Galaxy Note 4” and then will shut down and restart again until it finally starts up all the way. It has happened in the past every now and then but has been occurring more and more recently until yesterday when I couldn’t press the power button once without my phone quitting. I have resorted to pressing the home button to turn the screen on and waiting until the screen times out so I don’t have to press the power button to turn the screen off. What should I do? Thanks in advance for your fast reply! — Benjamin

Solution: Hi Benjamin. This may be an operating system issue. Make sure to back up your personal data (photos, videos, contacts, etc) and perform a factory reset. For reference, please see steps below on how to do a factory reset:

Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Volume Up key.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 randomly “dies” when not connected to a charger

Hi, my phone is experiencing some major battery issues. In the morning when I wake up for class, I unplug my phone at 100% and go on to my day. The battery drain is normal, but when I open certain apps when it’s not plugged into the charger that phone “dies”. The reason I put “dies” in quotes is because if I wait around 40 minutes to an hour I can turn it back on, it having the same battery as when it “died”. I honestly do not know why it does this, I have a screenshot of the power consumption and it shows a massive dip down to 0% then back up to around 50ish. I deleted many apps I no longer use and emptied a lot of space on my phone, and that seemed like it helped, but it didn’t. When it gets lower that 80% is when it starts to randomly “die”. I have attempted to turn on both of the power saving modes that the phone has pre programed and both dont do anything. — Noah

Solution: Hi Noah. Please see our suggestions for Cody above. Make sure that you do a factory reset before attempting to replace the battery itself.

Problem #6: Fixing Galaxy Note 4 power drain issue

My Note 4 was working fine earlier today. Unfortunately my phone has now crashed. It was performing perfectly fine until my phone was down to fifteen percent. after that when I plugged it in I noticed two things:

My phone was still dropping power even though recognizing that it was plugged in and charging.
the other problem I noticed was that the screen brightness I could no longer manually adjust. It is now completely dead and plugged in registering that it is plugged in and charging. It is unresponsive except for the blinking LED light letting me know its charging.

When I also press the power it lets me know it’s charging at 0%, it has been this way for roughly 2 hours several different charging cords, wall ports as well as computer ports still no response. While the phone was still functioning i put the phone into safe mode where i was able adjust screen brightness where as before i could not. Unfortunately before i could uninstall the new app (word Crush) my phone died and has been unresponsive except for the above mentioned. — Paige

Solution: Hi Paige. Please follow all the software troubleshooting and solutions mentioned in this post like calibrating the battery, doing a factory reset, or replacing the battery. Any of these three should help you fix the problem.

We noticed that your battery is also draining power even when it’s charging. That can due to a hardware malfunction and has nothing to do with software. Sometimes, a bad charging USB port can cause unnecessary power loss even when charging. If nothing of the three solutions mentioned won’t fix it, have the microUSB port replaced. Better still, consider having the phone itself replaced.

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Galaxy Note 5 battery percentage changes randomly, other power charging issues

Do you have any power problems with your new #GalaxyNote5? This post shows you that you are not alone. Below are some similar problems that other users have encountered with their brand new phone:

Galaxy Note 5 only boots in Odin/Download mode
Galaxy Note 5 battery percentage changes randomly
Solution for Galaxy Note 5 not charging
Galaxy Note 5 won’t power on
Galaxy Note 5 notification settings

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 5 only boots in Odin/Download mode

22/01/2015 – Phone restarted itself unknowingly, booted back into Android eventually, reset again then booted back in, slowly.

23/01/2015 – Must of turned itself off overnight, phone was not on charge, only headphones in. This morning it won’t boot past the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 point.

Phone does overheat at times, unsure if this is a problem as it still powers on, I believe it is a software problem. I have tried Hard Reset. Cannot access recovery mode, the Updating System droid comes on the screen for 5-7 seconds then disappears then goes through the loop with the Samsung Note 5 1st screen and no further. I tried to access this to wipe the cache.

It does enter download mode, but if I connect it to PC/Laptop nothing comes up.

When I plug the charger in and hard reset, it comes up with just the lightning bolt, no dots to show its charging. Occasionally the bottom buttons flash and then resets again and stays on the charging screen but nothing happening.

I did a force reboot the first time it froze as I stated above and it worked now it doesn’t even come to the colorful Samsung screen to boot.

Note : It is an international version of the phone, I bought online. I tried looking for the firmware, but I can’t even find the phone in USB mode in ODIN.

Download mode is the only option that comes up without resetting on itself. But I cant do anything with that.

Totally baffled to why it is doing this all of a sudden. — Chris

Solution: Hi Chris. Looks like the situation leaves you little to do to fix this issue. If the phone boots in download mode but the PC can’t detect it, that means you cannot even attempt to flash a new firmware to try to boot normally again. A situation like this usually happens after a failed software modification. At this stage, there’s nothing more that we can tell you in terms of solution except for a request for replacement. We doubt if even Samsung can fix the issue themselves given how the phone behaves when hooked up to a computer. The best that they can do is to also issue you a replacement. Depending on the phone’s warranty status, the replacement may be free or not.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 5 battery percentage changes randomly

The battery percentage shows random amounts. I can have 80% battery and then suddenly it will go to 2% battery shut off if I immediately restart it it will show 49% battery without being charged. Sometimes it will charge to 100% other times it will not and stop anywhere between 50% and 80% and goes no further no mater how long left on charge. I sometimes get errors that the phone is not charging because the battery is overheated. The percentages I’ve given are just an example I can find no rhyme or reason to the percentages displayed just before writing this the phone shut down because of a dead battery. I immediately turned it back on and now I have 38% battery without charging, it has even gone from 80% and charging to shutting off while plugged in. This problem just started within the last 3 weeks before then it functioned perfectly.

I have tried the soft reset. I’ve done a factory reset and not installed any apps and still have the same problem.

The phone has become almost unusable because of this, when I’m using it all applications run perfectly until it randomly shuts off or reboots.

The charging problem happens no matter whether I charge it using Samsung wall charger, PC USB, or third party charger.

Any ideas you might have as to the cause of this would be appreciated. Thank you. — Tony

Solution: Hi Tony. The phone’s battery must not be working properly causing the incorrect reading most of the time. An issue like this can be caused by either a bad operating system or a malfunctioning hardware. Since you have already tried doing the factory reset, the next best thing that you can do now is to ensure that the phone is checked by Samsung so they can determine if the battery needs to be changed, or if there’s another component that triggers the problem.

Problem #3: Solution for Galaxy Note 5 not charging

This is more of a solution. Not sure if you are still updating your old posts, but if you do. I have managed to fix a rather annoying problem with a very easy solution.

So as many people have to face the fact, the Galaxy Note 5 sometime will become dead and not turn on as to what ever reason.

Yes, I have read your post on how to troubleshoot this sort of a problem, but unfortunately none of those tips worked. Yes, the phone would no longer turn on nor charge (if using a main wall socket). But, when all hope was nearly gone, I decided to simply plug it into my laptop, via a USB. And kabam, it actually began to charge and then turn on out of the blue.

And no, I have not managed to find this advice anywhere on the web (so far in my 5 minutes research today). Well anyways, if you are going to update your Galaxy Note 5 troubleshooting guide. Add this tip, as it actually did help me out a lot. Thanks for reading, hope to hear from you..maybe. — Taut

Solution: Hi Taut. We are glad that you also managed to fix your own issue by doing what you did. Troubleshooting an Android device that doesn’t boot up normally, or even charge can sometimes become tricky, especially if one does not know the full history of such device. Our troubleshooting tips are most of the time working within the given history of our readers so they may not cover the entire spectrum of possible causes. Anyway, we appreciate the effort, time, and of course, the solution for this common problem. Don’t forget to get back to us if you’ll encounter other issues in the future.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 5 won’t power on

I bought a brand new unlocked Note 5 off eBay. It worked great for about 3 weeks. Then I started noticing the sound would go out and it would just make a pop sound instead of notes and music when tapping buttons, screen, etc…, or no sound at all when trying to watch videos like on Facebook. It was intermittent. I formatted and wiped the cache last night to see if some app was causing the issue. Then just this morning I had the phone in my hand and was about to send a text when the phone, with absolutely no warning, just shut off. It will not boot back up. No LEDs light up. The battery is fully charged. I tried your suggestions but it is completely dead. The phone has not been dropped or has any damage whatsoever. It is a new OEM phone. I do not know what my next step should be. Can you help? Note 5 sucks.

Sincerely. — Greg

Solution: Hi Greg. Make sure that you leave the phone charged for at least 30 minutes first. Afterwards, try booting the phone in another mode — recovery, download, or safe mode. We recommend that you try recovery first so you can attempt a factory reset. For easy reference, we’ll provide the easy steps how these procedures are done.

How to perform a factory reset on a Galaxy Note 5

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.
Keep the three buttons pressed and when ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.
Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.
The notice ‘Installing system update’ will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.
Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ and press the Power key to select it.
When the process is complete, use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.
The reboot may take a little longer to complete but don’t worry and wait for the device to become active.

How to boot a Galaxy Note 5 in Download Mode

Turn off your phone by pressing once on power button and by selecting “power off”, or by pressing and holding the power key for a few moments.
Then, press and hold the Power, Volume Down and Home buttons for a few moments.
Keep pressing these keys until the download mode is being displayed.
You can now connect your smartphone with your computer and use Odin for resuming the update operation you have to complete.

How to boot a Galaxy Note 5 in Safe Mode

Turn off the phone completely.
Press and hold the Power key.
Once ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
The phone will restart but keep the Vol Down button pressed.
Once the phone has finished restarting, ‘Safe mode’ will be display in the lower-left corner of the screen.
You may now release the Volume Down button.

If your Note 5 won’t boot in any of these modes, the next best thing you must do is to have it checked by Samsung for warranty repair or replacement.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 5 notification settings

I have problem with Notification settings (And also Do not disturb function). I would like to be able to see the email body when it shows on lock screen and also pop up when I receive email. Not sure if I will need particular app/ theme to be able to do this? Currently it only shows up how many emails i received and in which email account i received, not sender or subject.

I used to use iPhone 5 and i would like to know if there is a setting which I can make to have it similar to iPhone.

– reject calls when i turn it on (Right now it only turns call to silence and no vibration)

– Hide all notification on both lock screen and pop up while I’m using the phone.

I have tried set the email notification in Do not disturb to hide notification, but it turned out that it also hidden when the DND mode is off too.

Please let me know if there are ways to fix this.

Thank you and looking forward to hear from you 🙂 — Ninjah

Solution: Hi Ninjah. In general, Android operating system differs in a lot of ways from iOS environment including how notifications are handled and implemented. Right now, and assuming you have Android Lollipop running, the email app notification scheme works exactly as you have described it here. If you want to change how your lock screen shows incoming emails, go to Settings>Sound and Notification menu. Make sure not to nominate your email app as Sensitive to force the phone to display email notifications on the lock screen.

We’re not exactly sure what you meant by “reject calls when i turn it on (Right now it only turns call to silence and no vibration)” but if you need more details on how to manage calls, try this guide first.

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Galaxy S7 unable to move videos and music to SD card, other issues

Hello everybody! Welcome to another #GalaxyS7 post that addresses five different problems some users have encountered at this time. We are looking forward to hearing from you again in our coming posts.

How to calibrate a Galaxy S7 edge battery
Galaxy S7 lags when playing graphics heavy apps
Galaxy S7 stuck in download screen after unsuccessful installation
Unable to sign in to Google accounts in Galaxy S7 after Marshmallow update
Galaxy S7 unable to move videos and music to SD card

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: How to calibrate a Galaxy S7 edge battery

Hi guys. I have been enjoying my S7 edge for some time now. The first 4-5 days everything was fine. Then suddenly I found my phone switched off. I switched it back on without any problems. Battery level indicating still last known percentage ex. 76%. After another 3 days it happened again and again randomly. Being a person that checks his phone quite a lot it wasn’t such a problem.

After some time the phone turned itself off at 87% battery level and when I turned it back on battery level was critically low 5%.

I connected the charger and after a few seconds of charging battery level came back to 87 %.

If you provide me an email I can send you some print screen pictures with battery usage from the phone menu. When the phone turns off there is always a small gap in the battery chart.

I already did a factory reset, wiped out cache.

Can you suggest some solutions beside replacement?

Thank you for your help. — Max

Solution: Hi Max. It appears the battery badly needs a calibration. What’s happening now is that the battery meter does not accurately show the true charge level for some reason. Some of the common causes why a Lithium-based battery acts this way includes physical battery malfunction, installation of a new firmware, a poorly-coded third party app, or operating system bugs. Sometimes, leaving a phone charged for a long time can also result to this kind of problem. To recalibrate the battery, follow the steps below:

Charge the phone until the battery level reaches 100%.
Drain the battery to 0% by playing some games and doing resource demanding tasks.
Charge the battery up to 100% again.
Drain the battery to 0% one more time.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 lags when playing graphics heavy apps

While playing NFS No-Limits, and not only, after few minutes of gameplay the graphics lags a lot, making the game almost impossible to play. It’s like the phone’s performance is too weak for it. There are no graphic settings in the game. It auto-adjusts automatically according to the device’s capabilities. But anyways, the device is high-end, so that shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve been reading on forums that this issue is common to multiple s7/s7 edge users, but no solutions found.

Please help. I have no idea what may cause the extreme low fps that occurs in gameplay. I’ve also read that this issue also comes with other games with high graphics requirements. — Ionut

Solution: Hi Ionut. This kind of problem is better answered by the developer of the app rather than us. Keep in mind that not all apps can perform similarly on many different Android devices in the market today. It’s simply impossible for even well-funded developer teams to test their product on all Android phones. We know the Galaxy S7 edge is high end but that does not necessarily mean that the app is optimized for it at this time.

If the app is performing poorly in this device, letting the developer know is the first logical step that you can do as a user. Bear in mind that there are a number of things to consider when dealing with a performance issue.

For starters, the firmware. Developers must make sure that the app must work flawlessly with an operating system version. The fact that there are simply too many firmware versions even for the same Galaxy S7 model can sometimes be a factor. An app that’s not designed to work with the new firmware update can sometimes lead to problems.

Another potential reason for the problem can be conflict with other apps. Try doing a factory reset, install this game only, and observe how it works. Doing so will give you an idea whether or not there’s a limitation in terms of hardware causing the problem, or if a firmware or other apps is to blame. To factory reset your phone, just follow these steps:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 stuck in download screen after unsuccessful installation

I was trying to connect my phone to my laptop (MacBook Pro) to transfer some photos from my phone for safe keeping. For some reason, when it would connect in iPhoto, it kept saying there were no photos…which is not correct. I keep getting messages on my laptop saying there are software updates available for my phone, and I figured it might help with the phone/laptop connection for the photos.

So I plugged my phone in and began the update. It was going well, reached 75%, and then my cord somehow came unplugged and my computer started giving me a message saying my phone needs to be repaired. So I went to the Software Repair Assistant and tried to click “repair” but the button is gray and unclickable… my phone is frozen on a blue “downloading” screen that says “Do not turn off target.” so I’m afraid to turn my phone off and then on again. I’ve already had my media and contacts wiped from this phone once before by accident, and could not recover anything because my Cloud does not work. Can you help? — Virginia

Solution: Hi Virginia. One of the most effective ways to corrupt a storage media, whether it’s on a smartphone, computer, or SD card, is to interrupt a device when it’s trying to save or install something. If your phone is stuck in a download screen, there can only be two possibilities currently happening — either its truly downloading something, or that the storage device has been corrupted, which also resulted to corrupting the operating system.

The first thing that you want to do in this case is to give the phone time to do what it’s supposed to do. Let it stand for a few hours and wait.

If nothing changes after a few hours, turn the computer and smartphone off before disconnecting them from each other. After that, try to turn the phone on again.

If the phone remains stuck in download screen, that’s a confirmation that the operating system may have been corrupted. Boot it in recovery mode and try to wipe the cache partition. Here’s how:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

If wiping the cache partition won’t allow the phone to boot back normally, do a factory reset to reformat the storage device. Doing so will wipe everything from the phone but it’s your only way out.

Problem #4: Unable to sign in to Google accounts in Galaxy S7 after Marshmallow update

After the Marshmallow update I happened to change the password on my 2nd Google account. When I tried to update that password on the phone, it refused to accept the Google 2-step code from the Google Authenticator. I thought I could remove and re-add the account, as I’ve done many times before, so I removed it. Now it won’t let me add it back.

I go to Accounts, Add an account. Google has a blue dot, I guess because my primary account on the phone is Google. I select Google because I want to add a second (and third) Google account.

It briefly says “Checking Info…” and then the top of the screen reads “Confirm password” and in the middle it says “Enter the current password”. It never shows the screen asking if I want to add an existing or new account, nor does it ask for the username. Entering the password of my primary account doesn’t work.

I’ve tried many times for the past several days, and then finally did a hard reset on my phone, and wiped the cache partition, but it’s no good. I can only use one Google account which isn’t good enough.

If you have any suggestions, I’ll be happy to try them, or if you need more info I can provide it. Thank you for being here. — Eliz

Solution: Hi Eliz. Try wiping the cache and data of Google Services Framework first. This will force the device to ask you again to enter your Google account credentials when trying to use one of Google services. To do that, just follow the following steps:

Go to Settings.
Proceed to Applications.
Select Manage Applications.
Tap the All tab.
Look for Google Services Framework app and tap it.
Tap Storage.
From there, you will see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons.

Once you’ve deleted the app’s data, go back to the main menu and tried to sign back in to your accounts. If nothing changes you have no other choice but to do a factory reset.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 unable to move videos and music to SD card

I have had NONSTOP issues with SD cards. Ever since the s3 came out, I was enticed by the offer of adding more memory to the phone via SD card, which was less expensive than buying an iphone with tons of memory.

Anyways, it has NEVER worked the way I thought it would. Issues have been card unmounted, format the card (but it never really does), can’t add anything to the SD card and always losing all my photos, music, videos after the card unexpectedly dismounts. Mainly I have given up on this and will, more than likely quitting the Android. I will have to downgrade my life to an iphone because I won’t have to worry about unmounting cards.

Anyways, my daughter has an s5, me and my son have S7s and we are unable to add anything such as movies I have downloaded onto the SD card. It just simply won’t let us.

So what is the point of having spent all that extra money for a card you can’t use? What do I do? Samsung has no clue! Been calling them with all of these problems for years and STILL NO solutions. Constant run around. Is there anything I can do?

I tried to download the move apps to SD card but I need to move music and movies, not apps. Also the app you recommended to download for this gl to sd(root) and it said something about not having the permission to do this or something, after I installed the app. I doubt it was the one I needed anyways, as, like I said, I need to move the movies and music to the SD card. Sooooo, what should I do? Thanks for your help. — Wendy

Solution: Hi Wendy. SD cards is one of the common items we encounter in our digital world but it doesn’t mean you can simply use it without giving it a certain degree of care. Just like any electronic device, an SD card must be used properly to minimize risks of malfunction. It works fine if taken care of but can easily fail if used improperly. And speaking of malfunction, the problems you’ve enumerated above are exactly what happens if you fail to provide the necessary protection it needs.

First of all, an SD card can be physically broken. Exposure to elements and temperature extremes as well as liquid- or water-damage can significantly shorten its life. Although SD cards today are robust by design, the fact that it’s an electronic device does not make it totally immune to physical abuse. Carelessly unplugging an SD card may damage it physically, or the metal contacts in the phone’s SD card slot. Either way, the obvious result usually takes the form of a device not reading the card. Some Android devices requires that you push the card inside first before it can be safely removed. Not doing so will usually result to a broken SD card or a bent metal contacts in the card slot.

Another reason why an SD card stops working is file corruption. This is where data loss happens. The firmware on your phone’s card reader may fail to read the SD for some reason, causing a glitch and eventually corrupting the card. This usually happens if you interrupt the device while it’s trying to save or write on the SD card. Sometimes, even a simple process of deleting old files can cause file corruption for some reason.

Other causes include manufacturing defects, accumulated failure (if your SD card has been around), and end-of-life. Theoretically, even cheap SD cards today can handle a few million read and write cycles, often translating to several years, before eventually dying out. However, other factors can significantly shorten the overall life expectancy of a card that, for many users like you, is a sign of unreliability. When using an SD card, you must be open to the idea that it can suddenly succumb to failure. If you keep getting a notification that the SD card has been unmounted, that can be a sign of an impending failure. In order to prevent losing important digital data, make it a habit to always keep a backup to another storage device.

“…we are unable to add anything such as movies I have downloaded onto the SD card. It just simply won’t let us.” This issue must be caused by using an unformatted SD card. Make sure that you format your SD card using your phone first before you attempt to store files to it. Also, make sure that you’re moving the files to a folder (like the DCIM) so you can easily trace it once you start looking for it in your phone. This may be the reason why the transfer never takes place.

If this is not the case and your phone gives an error message during the transfer attempt, contact us again so we can help you further.

Finally, make sure that the file format of videos and music you’re trying to move are supported by your phone. As of this writing, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge only supports the following:

Video format

MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM

Audio format

MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA

If the file format you’re trying to store to an SD card is not included in the list, that may be the reason why you can’t see them.

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Galaxy S7 disconnects Wi-Fi when screen is off, other issues

We present to you 5 more #GalaxyS7 issues that we’ve encountered during the past few days. As usual, these issues are taken from questions we receive from our readers all over the world.

Below are the specific topics discussed in this material today:

Galaxy S7 won’t boot in recovery mode| Unable to install stock ROM on Galaxy S7 Edge
Computer can’t recognize a water damaged Galaxy S7
Galaxy S7 shuts down on its own even with high battery charge
Galaxy S7 screen is unresponsive and hardware buttons not working
Galaxy S7 disconnects Wi-Fi when screen is off

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: Galaxy S7 won’t boot in recovery mode| Unable to install stock ROM on Galaxy S7 Edge

First off, I should say that I recently got this phone and it is the Duos version. Anyways, I’m having a problem with my Galaxy S7 Edge. The problem first occurred when I pressed and held the power button. the power off menu comes up and I saw more than 3 usual options. But I clicked the option that said “Recovery” and it shut down and booted until the Samsung logo/boot screen and then shuts down by itself. I cannot access the recovery or anything else other than the download mode. If I try to connect with Odin, my S7 Edge will not be detected, which means I can’t flash any stock ROMs or anything. If you please help me with my problem that would be amazing! Thanks guys! — Naman

Solution: Hi Naman. Why would you want to access Recovery mode if you are intent on flashing something? Manual installation of a new ROM requires that you boot the S7 in download mode, not in recovery mode. If your computer’s Odin program can’t detect that the S7 is already in download mode when you connect it via USB, something must be wrong with it. There’s no software fix for phone that doesn’t show in Odin. That it won’t also boot in recovery mode is another evidence that your device does not work properly. Call Samsung and have your S7 replaced.

Problem #2: Computer can’t recognize a water damaged Galaxy S7

Alright. Phone has been water damaged, sipping water from a water bottle on a table where the phone laid out. It got two problems.

1.Phantom touches on menu(multitasking button) button pretty much nonstop.

Only able to being charged from computer even though it can’t be found and is unrecognized. Nothing happens through wall charges.

My plan was getting rid of the multitasking capacitive button. From researching the google it could be done by rooting the telephone and change something with a program so that button wouldn’t be used and unresponsive.

Problem is, its unrecognized through computer so I can’t root it. And the cause of this, I suppose is something similar to why it can’t be charged through the wall and only with the USB cable contacted to a computer.

So I could survive with this phone if I just got it recognizable so I could root it and deactivate the multitasking button so I could skip the spam. Regards. — Robert

Solution: Hi Robert. Your plan won’t work. Fixing a hardware problem with software solutions never works. The main hindrance is obviously the bad USB port on the phone. It’s very likely that water may have found its way into the USB port assembly and shorted some parts of it, causing the issue you’re having right now. Unless the USB port is repaired or replaced, there’s no hope for your plan. The best course of action for you is to have the phone repaired first so it will be cleaned and dried properly first. Only then will you know if further repair or replacement is worth doing. We don’t know the extent of the hardware damage on your phone right now, but water exposure almost always result to more problems in the future.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 shuts down on its own even with high battery charge

Ever since I first bought this phone, about every 1-2 weeks the phone would turn off regardless of the battery level without any feedback. When connected to a charger during this time, the phone would show that the phone needed to be charged. then it would show that there is some random amount of charge in the phone (typically around 80%). and when I tried to be turned back on in any mode the phone would display that it needed to be charged.

Typically if I left my phone alone for an hour or two, regardless of charging it or not, I would be able to turn the phone back on. This didn’t bother me too much but move forward a few months and the frequency of this problem has increased and the response time has gotten up to entire days. Should I just replace the phone or could this be fixed somehow? Thanks. — Benjamin

Solution: Hi Benjamin. An issue like this can sometimes be caused by a software bug. The phone’s physical battery is simply a dumb cell that stores and discharges power. Charging process and power consumption is managed by your phone’s operating system, which can sometimes be affected if related system files become corrupted. To rectify this, calibrating the battery must be done. Here’s how it’s done:

Use the phone by playing games or doing tasks to hasten power discharge, until the phone turns itself off.
Turn the phone on again and let it turn itself off.
Charge the phone without turning it back on.
Wait until the battery says it fully charged to 100%
Unplug the charger and turn the phone on.
If the phone says it’s not 100% anymore, turn it off, plug the charger back in and wait until 100% charge is reached.
Unplug the charger the turn the phone on again.
Use the phone until you drain the battery down to 0.
Repeat the cycle once.

Should the issue remains after you have calibrated the battery, don’t hesitate to do a factory reset as this may be an operating system issue. Make sure to back up your personal data (photos, videos, contacts, etc) and perform a factory reset. For reference, please see steps below on how to do a factory reset:

Turn off the Galaxy S7 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Volume Up key.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 screen is unresponsive and hardware buttons not working

Hello. My name is Natalie and I have a phone that is not working. It is a Galaxy S7. Yesterday there were multimedia messages sent and after that the phone will not turn back on. While the phone was plugged in it would cycle through the Galaxy start-up screen, vibrate, then turn off. It would do that over and over.

I tried turning it on to Safe mode, and it would get stuck during the start up of that on the colored “Samsung”. I am not familiar with droids, so I have taken advantage of google, but cannot seem to find anything.

Today, I started the phone. It turned on as normal, but the screen says it is roaming and at the bottom says, “currently unable to download. Please try again later.” The phone does not respond to touch nor any buttons. The screen does not time out either.

The phone was bought at a US Cellular store, but was refurbished. I think that is all of the information I have.

One more thing. I have pictures on the phone I would like to keep them if possible. SO If I HAVE to factory restore is there a way to transfer what is not on my microchip to another form of storage? Thank you for your time!! — Natalie

Solution: Hi Natalie. The answer to your question about photos stored in the phone is no. if the phone turns on but does not respond to any touch commands on the screen, there’s no way for you to select the file transfer mode (MTP) if you connect it to a computer via USB. That means that your photos right now are good as gone.

The best thing that you can do right now is to boot the phone in recovery mode and attempt a factory reset. If the phone remains unresponsive to hardware button combinations, you’re out of luck. Call your carrier or Samsung so it can be repaired or replaced.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 disconnects Wi-Fi when screen is off

About 90% of the time when I lock my phone, even though it is connected to the wifi at the time, when I unlock it it takes a minute or two to reconnect to the wifi. Meaning I don’t get my notifications and emails unless I unlock my phone and let it connect it to the wifi once more. This never used to happen, and has only started in the last few weeks. In my phone settings it is set to receive notifications even with it is asleep or locked. I’ve tried restarting my phone, but I still have the same issue. I’ve forgotten my wifi network, and reentered the password but I still have the same issue.

I hope this makes sense! Any idea on what’s going on? — Tiffany

Solution: Hi Tiffany. If this issue started happening after updating to Marshmallow, you’re not alone. Google is aware of this issue and it’s been submitted for review since last year. We are not aware though if this has been addressed already, if it’s still considered work in progress.

You can do the same set of software troubleshooting like wiping the cache partition and performing a factory reset.

To wipe the cache partition, follow these steps:

Turn off the phone.
Once the phone has completely shut down, press and hold Volume, Home, and Power buttons at the same time.
Wait until the Samsung logo appears before releasing the Power button.
Once the Android logo shows up, release the two other buttons.
Wait for the Recovery menu to appear (may take up to a minute).
Go to wipe cache partition option using the Volume buttons, then press Power button to confirm.
Wait for the device to wipe the cache partition
Once the cache has been deleted, Reboot system now option will then be highlighted.
Press Power button again to confirm the reboot.

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Galaxy S6 has several problems after cold weather exposure, other issues

For those who emailed us about their #GalaxyS6 problems, kindly check this post as this may include your shared issue. More posts of similar nature will be published in the coming days to address other Galaxy S6 series issue so keep watching. If you want to check previously published issues, don’t forget to visit this page.

Galaxy S6 Power Sharing app warning keeps popping up
Galaxy S6 has several problems after cold weather exposure
Unable to unlock a Telus Galaxy S6 Edge
Galaxy S6 keyboard issue
Galaxy S6 Edge overheating and won’t boot up properly
Galaxy S6 keeps getting a pop-up that blackens the screen
Galaxy S6 random reboot and call-related issue

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: Galaxy S6 Power Sharing app warning keeps popping up

Recently i have been getting these pop ups with a power sharing cable connected warning on them. It says i have connected a power sharing cable when there is clearly no cable in the phone and it has been draining that battery like crazy. It won’t charge and i have already tried putting it into safe mode and following the instructions on your page multiple times.

Even in safe mode it shows the pop up and continues to drain battery i went to the app store and all Samsung Galaxy S6 come with the power sharing app installed with no uninstall button. I have also done a factory reset of the device twice without fail both times have not fixed my problem. Any help would be nice thanks. — Cam

Solution: Hi Cam. If booting in safe mode and factory reset led you nowhere, try to disable the Power Sharing app itself. Here’s how:

Go to Settings.
Proceed to Applications.
Select Manage Applications.
Tap the All tab.
Look for Power Sharing app and tap it.
From App info page, look for Disable/Uninstall update button.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 has several problems after cold weather exposure

Recently had my phone exposed to cold weather for about 2 hours. When i arrived inside and started using my phone i immediately started getting “power sharing” notifications claiming that a cable was just plugged in. I would get this notification several times a minute and i never once had this happen prior to the cold weather.

Also, starting at the same time, i experienced heavy lag in typing, browsing, streaming and everything else.

It has trouble charging, but does eventually recognize a cable but no longer does fast charging. I’m still using the same stock charger i got with the device. It used to fast charge no problem.

All this happened simultaneously with no prior issue in about 3 months I’ve owned the phone. — Oliver

Solution: Hi Oliver. Just like heat exposure, leaving any electronic device in cold weather can result to all sorts of problems. The battery can be hit especially hard if left in cold environment for extended periods and so are other components. The microUSB port on your phone may have collected enough amount of moisture that may have shorted out another connector.

While cold temperature exposure cannot cause a software problem directly, the resulting hardware malfunction can mess up with the operating system if they create a series of errors. For example, if the microUSB port is no longer working properly due to short circuit somewhere, the operating system may actually be affected because it will keep on receiving hardware errors that it may not be able to handle. The errors may occur over and over again, overwhelming the operating system and creating a bottleneck somewhere. This repeated processing of errors all happen in the background and can be resource-hungry task for the processor. This in turn can cause battery drain as well as slow performance issues. We think this is what’s happening to your phone right now.

Try having the phone checked by Samsung so they can decide whether or not to repair the phone, or simply replace it for you.

Problem #3: Unable to unlock a Telus Galaxy S6 Edge

Hi there. Hi. I’m from Mauritius. I got a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge locked to Telus (Canada). The IMEI : 358758060172153. The thing is that Telus themselves already gave the unlocking code that is “28684249”.

I insert this but it’s not working at all. I contacted several unlocking firms to get them paid to get it done but them said that it will be the same unlocking code “28684249” that they will provide.

Everytime I try, it said “Not Registered on Network”… what is it?

When I’m following the steps given, i still can’t access these options, please help.

I still can’t access these options when pressing *#197328640#

[1] UMTS > > [8] Phone Control > [6] NETWORK LOCK

when pressing *#197328640#, i got these..

I get these 7 options:

[1]Basic Info,

[2]AS Information,

[3] Nas info…

I did that as well, “Key Input Q- then Key Input 0000” still don’t work to get the 8 options.

Please help… — Fawaz

Solution: Hi Fawaz. Depending on whether the phone uses CDMA or GSM, unlocking your phone may require a specialized software and set of instructions that we can’t provide. The first thing that you must do is to contact Telus for direct support with what software to use, or how to access options you are unable to go to right now. If your phone uses CDMA network while in Telus, you must need to connect the phone to a computer via a cable so that you can tweak some network information.

For GSM unlocking, the process is simpler. You only have to obtain an unlock code from either Telus or a third party company and enter the said code once the phone asks for it.

Now, the unlocking process is only limited to allowing your phone to connect to a certain network. You also have to make sure that your phone’s hardware is compatible with the wireless carrier you use in Mauritius. For more information about compatibility, make sure that you contact your local wireless carrier.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 keyboard issue

I used to use Swift Keyboard and now I use Google Keyboard but they both have the same issue of becoming unresponsive. The keyboard will remain stuck on the screen (will not disappear/minimize) when you press the “back” key. The only way I could remove it was by restarting the phone.

The phone’s functionality was not interrupted i.e. I can still open Apps or press the menu screen button, use the “Back” key to exit from an App, turn the phone screen off/on but the keyboard will not disappear.

Have you heard of this problem with the keyboard function before? It does not happen all the time and I do not type fast so this is not the cause. — James

Solution: Hi James. This issue may be isolated to the said apps or not. Try to delete the Swift Keyboard or Google Keyboard apps cache and data. Here’s how:

Go to Settings.
Proceed to Applications.
Select Manage Applications.
Tap the All tab.
Look for the app involved and tap it.
From App info page, tap the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons.

If wiping the apps’ cache and data won’t help, make sure that you delete the system cache by doing the steps below:

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

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 Edge overheating and won’t boot up properly

When trying to charge my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, an icon appears that shows the power is 0% and a cord and charger needs to be plugged into the wall. However, it still appears when trying to charge it. When pressing the power button back on to restart it, won’t power up at all. Could it be the cord or the charger or the cell phone itself that may be affected?

I bought it 6 months ago. Can it now be defective? Brought it to a cell phone repair shop and they put in a new battery, and it still wouldn’t make a difference. It also said on the screen that the phone is over-heated. Do you think it now needs replacement? Please advise. Thank you for your help on this matter. Sincerely. — Larry

Solution: Hi Larry. If you’ve tried using another battery (which may have voided the replacement warranty already) on your S6 Edge without any positive result, the problem is most likely phone-related. That means that some other motherboard components may have been damaged or encountering errors at this time. If you still the option to have the phone replaced, now is a good time to do request for it.

Problem #6: Galaxy S6 keeps getting a pop-up that blackens the screen

All of these started 2 days ago and have gotten increasingly worse.

At any time during use my screen will go black (looks like ad or popup) that has a small x on the bottom right that switched to the bottom left side). It cannot be clicked off, I have to lock & then unlock my screen.
During calls, screen will go black and the call will suddenly switch to speakerphone.
The phone will not charge on a cable only on my touch pad, but that is even intermittent.
The phone when on lock screen will turn on and stay on.
I uninstalled Samsung Gear VR

It’s just buggy and do not know what to do. Any help is very much appreciated. — Russell

Solution: Hi Russell. Try wiping the phone clean via factory reset. This will fix possible firmware glitch, or malicious software that may had been introduced to your phone via third party apps or by clicking on infected links on your browser. For easy reference, here are the steps on how to perform a factory reset on your Galaxy S6:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Press the Volume Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

Problem #7: Galaxy S6 random reboot and call-related issue

When I call my fiance ONLY, I hear a touch tone beep in my Bluetooth. It only happens when I talk to him. He doesn’t hear the noise. I switched headsets.

It sounds like the old corded phones. When you push a number, you hear that beep. That is the noise. It is very loud and happens at least once a day. I don’t know what to do. Hopefully you can find anything that can be useful. Thanks for your time in advance.

Another issue. The phone likes to restart on its own. That has happened to both my fiance and I several times.

Thanks. — Nadia

Solution: Hi Nadia. If the touch tone beep only occurs when calling your fiance’s number, the problem may be on his end. Try using another number or another phone and call your fiance’s number to confirm this.

For the random restart issue on both of your phones, the first thing you must do is to isolate possible causes. Randomly restarting phone can be an indicator of either a software or hardware problem. To see if it’s a software issue, consider booting the phone in safe mode for several hours or a full day to determine if a third party application is the culprit. You can also try uninstalling third party applications until the issue is gone. Keep in mind that there is no surgical way to pinpoint the exact cause. You can try all the solutions provided in this post to see if the cause of the random restart is software in nature.

If nothing changes after you do all the stuff mentioned here, try using another battery. Sometimes, a bad battery manifests itself in random reboots.

If all else fails, have the phone checked by your local repair shop, or by Samsung for possible hardware errors.

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Early review praises the battery life of the Google Pixel

The #GooglePixel is yet to reach a lot of consumers, but some have already gotten a bite of the device. And according to a user on Reddit, Google’s new Pixel phone has shown a pretty impressive battery life so far. This is thanks to the battery optimization done by Google with Android 7.1 Nougat. While we can’t say if similar results can be seen on other Nougat based devices, this will certainly inspire confidence among other Android OEMs.

As per the screenshots posted by the Reddit user, the Pixel has in fact surpassed our expectations. Naturally, the screen and OS were the most battery consuming processes. There was about 40% of battery still left after of 13 and a half hours of usage, which goes to show that the Pixel phones are designed to last longer on a single charge. We’re yet to come across official reviews and statistics regarding the battery life, but this is certainly a good start.

Source: Reddit

Via: Phandroid

Galaxy Note 4 won’t read SD card after a failed files transfer, other issues

We said we would continue posting #GalaxyNote4 issues so here’s one of them. As usual, we include 6 cases reported to us by some #Note4 users over the past few days. For those who are yet to see their issues published, please continue to watch out for more of the same articles.

Below are the specific topics covered here today:

T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 sends MMS right away when text or photo is attached
Galaxy Note 4 won’t send text and photo together in one MMS message
Galaxy Note 4 won’t read SD card after a failed files transfer
Galaxy Note 4 refuses to turn on when battery level reaches 30%
Galaxy Note 4 stuck in safe mode
Galaxy Note 4 can’t send SMS

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

Problem #1: T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 sends MMS right away when text or photo is attached

When using stock message app if I attach a picture or type a text it automatically sends it. I’ve factory reset, went into recovery mode and wipe data, wipe cache, even put in Odin mode and re-downloaded the software again. My phone is T-Mobile Note 4 SM-N910T3 and this is the second Marshmallow upgrade. On the first Marshmallow upgrade I could go back to Lollipop but I found out on this one I can’t downgrade. I start to use YAATA SMS for messages and have no problems I also contacted T-Mobile and did all the solutions the tech gave me. — Bobby

Solution: Hi Bobby. This issue can only be resolved by your carrier as the cause is due to their firmware. If this problem only happens when using the native messaging app, make sure to report the issue to your carrier so they can release a software fix. In the meantime, try to continue using a third party messaging app until the issue has been resolved.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 won’t send text and photo together in one MMS message

Just wanted to let you know of a problem even though there’s nothing you can do but be aware. A HUGE Samsung download happened last Wed. 9/14. Since then my text messages sent with an attached photo (click on paperclip and choose take picture) transmit separately. That means the words and the photo no longer transmit as ONE seamless message — they are 2 separate messages. To make matters WORSE, the text words usually arrive FIRST WITH A 4 MINUTE LAG TIME FOR THE PHOTO. I tried this while having someone on the line and when I sent the text message the first thing they said is: “I didn’t get the photo!” F-O-U-R minutes later the photo arrived (even though it was time stamped the same as the text message.) WOW! What an awful system! We have gone BACKWARDS in ease of use. SHAME on SAMSUNG! — Joanie

Solution: Hi Joanie. As mentioned above, this is not a Samsung issue but on the coding of the firmware update that you install. We’ve observed a similar issue with AT&T and T-Mobile when they released a particular version of Lollipop before so we know that Samsung has nothing to do with it. If it’s a Samsung issue, all Note 4 users will be flooding our blog with similar reports. Just like what we tell Bobby above, try to use a third party messaging app temporarily until your carrier can release a patch.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 won’t read SD card after a failed files transfer

Hi. I am using a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 mobile phone. I ordered a new 128 GB micro SD Card since I was reaching the full capacity of internal storage. When I installed that card, it was detected by the phone automatically. I formatted the card and made the setting for encryption with a password. I transferred the photos, music and some other files using “My Files” app to the SD Card which was done successfully. When I started transferring Whatsapp media, after a while I came back and noticed that the process was stopped by itself, I thought the transfer is finished. Whereas I checked and found out that it’s not detecting SD card anymore.

I removed the card and reinserted but it won’t detect the SD card. I followed some of the instructions on this site i.e. removed the card and battery and held the power button for 1min and then started the phone again but it’s not detecting the SD Card. Don’t know what went wrong but I can’t see the SD card at all and the files I already transferred to it. It has Android Version 6.0.1 Please can you help. — Umesh

Solution: Hi Umesh. It’s impossible to know for sure what went wrong with the SD card so the best thing that you can do right now is to see if another device can still read it. We know you encrypted it before so there’s very little chance that you’ll get something positive when inserting it to another device though. If another device like a computer will still be able to read the card for some reason, then make sure that you create a backup of your files right away. In the event that the second device won’t detect and read your SD card as expected, then re-insert it to your Note 4 and reformat it. Doing so will wipe the SD card clean but it’s the only thing that you can do to make it usable again.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 4 refuses to turn on when battery level reaches 30%

Hi! I’ve been having issues with my Note 4. It turns off at 30-40 percent then when i turn it on, it’s completely zero percent. This is already after having it serviced at the Samsung service center and explained to them my battery issue AND after buying a new battery pack, thinking that maybe it was a battery issue (having had the same problem with the stock battery before having it “fixed” by Samsung service center).

Also, when i had it fixed at Samsung, they only did a factory reset since they said my phone had NO issue at all. They said my battery was working fine. But why is it doing the same thing again? I’d really appreciate any help i get. Thank you so much! 🙂 — Jasmine

Solution: Hi Jasmine. Since Samsung has already checked your phone before, you must start looking at other factors that can also alter power management behavior in a smartphone. You can begin your quest by checking if one or some of your apps is to blame. The simplest thing that you can try first is by booting your phone in safe mode. Booting Galaxy Note 4 in safe mode will temporarily disable all third-party or download apps leaving pre-installed ones and core services running. This procedure can help you determine which of your apps is causing a problem. To do that, follow these steps:

Turn off the phone completely.
Press and hold the Power key and the Volume Down key.
When the phone starts to boot, release the Power key but continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone finished restarting.
Safe mode will be display at the lower left corner; you may release the Volume Down key now.
Keep in mind that safe mode blocks third party apps and services. You need to observe your phone while in safe mode for at least a few days to see the difference. If the issue won’t occur, then that’s a clear sign that one of your apps is the reason.
You must uninstall third party apps until the issue is eliminated.

Should nothing change while the phone is in safe mode, don’t hesitate to perform a factory reset. Just like in safe mode, make sure that you observe the phone for a couple of days after a factory reset to see any difference. Also, ensure that you don’t re-install your apps or install anything new during this time. To factory reset your Note 4, follow these steps:

Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Volume Up key.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.

If the phone behaves exactly the same after a factory reset, find a way to have the phone replaced. There may be a hardware malfunction causing the phone to mismanage or misread battery content.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 stuck in safe mode

I’m finally getting rid of my Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Today I attempted (I think I was successful) to do the soft and hard reset of the phone since I wanted to clear up a few things (like the battery dying way too fast and the Touch Wiz thing and how it freezes all the time, etc.) Plus I needed to clear all of my personal data out of there.

Now I have a bigger problem though. My phone is stuck in safe mode PLUS it is stuck on a page titled EULA Diagnostic Tool page. It is trying to get my name etc. entered in that phone and a lot of other crap. I’ve done everything you’ve suggested. It still is stuck on that EULA page but I don’t see the safe mode on in icon. HELP!!! I need to get this phone in the mail as I sold it (for parts only…I said it couldn’t be depended on and sold it really cheap) and I have spoken with the lady who bought it and I told her the truth. I used this phone despite all of its annoying problems for over 2 years. I enjoyed the camera and the big screen and the graphics. I didn’t enjoy how people on the other end of the line never could hear me or how it dropped calls or froze. I am afraid it was in much better shape before I messed with it. HELP HELP Heeeellllllppppp! — Teri

Solution: Hi Teri. We don’t know what exactly you did on your phone so we can’t say for certain why your phone is now stuck in “safe mode.” normally, you can revert to normal mode by simply restarting the phone. If that’s not happening even after removing the battery from the unit, your only other options are to either boot the phone in Recovery mode or Download mode. Other than these, there’s no way to force the phone back to normal mode.

Boot in Recovery mode:

Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
Wait until the Download screen appears.
If you can boot the phone in download mode but not in other modes, that means that your only way out may be to flash a stock or custom firmware.
Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 4 can’t send SMS

Hello. So I transferred my SIM card from an HTC1 MAXX to the Galaxy Note 4. Successfully connected to the T-Mobile carrier telecom in Germany and was able to receive and call out, receive texts and return texts, download and use all apps. Shortly after I received a message saying we weren’t able to sync to Verizon’s integrated messaging service. I paid it no mind because I was using a texting application. But a day or so later I attempted to text with the phones default texting apps and it failed. I can receive texts, and calls and make calls out but I just can’t text out. I changed the phone to the Samsung messaging, still fails. Cleared cache and data on both default messaging programs still can’t text out. When I attempted to sync integrated messaging it obviously didn’t work since I’m in a T-mobile/telecom carrier. So how do I make it so that I may text using the actually phone messaging systems and not a secondary downloaded app? Thank you. — Anthony

Solution: Hi Anthony. The only thing that you can check on your end is to ensure that the phone uses the correct message service center. It is the main responsibility of a carrier’s message center to send customer’s SMS to the correct recipient. Some update or app may have changed it for some reason so you have to make sure you enter it manually. You can do that by doing the following:

Tap Messages.
Tap the menu icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap Text messages.
Tap Message center and enter the correct information.

If you don’t know the correct message center number of your carrier, make sure to give them a call.

Now, if changing the message center number won’t change anything, you have to work with your carrier so they can check their system as well as guide you on what to check on your phone (if there’s anything else).

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