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Galaxy S7 screen flickers if brightness is set to low, other issues

S7

Welcome to another #GalaxyS7 article that covers 5 problems submitted by some members of our community. Two problems mentioned here today shows the possibility of a Galaxy S7 screen to flicker uncontrolably when there’s no obvious history of physical abuse. We hope that our suggestion for each case will help not only the senders of these issues, but also those who may be suffering from the same or similar problems.

  1. Galaxy S7 keeps flickering after Android update
  2. Galaxy S7 screen flickers if brightness is set to low
  3. Galaxy S7 can’t receive text message from one contact
  4. Galaxy S7 won’t power on
  5. Galaxy S7 cannot send a text message using carrier-provided SIM 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.

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 S7 keeps flickering after Android update

Hello. I am contacting you about my issue. I’ll try to write a very descriptive explanation.

Yesterday night, the S7 Edge notified me to update and so I did, but i left it in my bed to update while I helped my grandmother with something in the kitchen for around 3 minutes. When I came back to my room to see how the phone was, when I touched it, it was uncomfortably hot that it surprised me. But the worst part was when i pressed the power button to find my shock of seeing the screen all distorted and glitching. I could barely see the screen and when I tried to open the home screen, the glitching got stronger to the point that it froze and turned itself off. But then, the phone automatically turns itself on, with the opening screen looking alright, but the samsung, t-mobile and again, the main screen flickering and glitching and distorting.

I read your articles and tried all kind of options from this issue that you present in your website, but unfortunately, no luck. I have a few pictures if that would help, too. I don’t want to lose my photos and media. Is there a way that you can help me, please?

I’ll appreciate your reply. —  Wilmarie

Solution: Hi Wilmarie. Transferring files from an Android device, in particular from a Galaxy S7, requires one important step — to ensure that USB PC connection feature is set to MTP instead of PTP. If you can’t enable MTP due to constant screen flickering, there’s no way to move your files from your S7 to a PC to back them up.

There are many third party recovery services online that you can try but we can’t say for certain which one works effectively as we haven’t tried any of them. We caution you that you be careful though in using them as many don’t have good reputation. Some can even lead to credit card fraud problems or steal your personal information.

We don’t know what specific solutions you followed from our website so if nothing seems to work, call Samsung and let them handle the situation for you.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 screen flickers if brightness is set to low

The screen heavily flickers at low brightness. The top of the screen is dimmed and the bottom half of the screen flashes white constantly.

I also noticed that my phone is warm for the first time since I got it (around a month ago). However, this could be due to me using a higher brightness.

Worth mentioning that this happened overnight when the phone was charging (it woke me up flickering) and the phone hasn’t been dropped recently.

EDIT: it’s worth mentioning that I have tried a forced reboot, restarting in safe mode and deleting the system cache.

I did check when my last software update was and it wasn’t recent. — Martyn

Solution: Hi Martyn. Samsung Galaxy devices are equipped with ambient light sensor to allow the device to adjust screen brightness on-the-fly depending on the changes of outside light. This means that if the sensor detects low light conditions, the screen will automatically respond by lowering its brightness without any user input. If you use the phone in a well-lit area, the screen also becomes brighter so you’ll be able to read and see the screen comfortably. This feature is governed by the operating system so there’s always a chance of it failing to work as intended. The first thing that you want to do is to check if auto brightness is enabled. If it is, try to turn it off and see if it brings the screen back to its normal state. Simply pull down the notification menu by swiping from top to bottom on the screen and making sure that auto brightness box is not checked.

If toggling auto brightness on and off won’t work, make sure that you do a master reset to ensure that any glitch that may have developed is eliminated. To do that, just follow these steps:

Step 1: Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

Step 2: Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.

NOTE: It doesn’t matter how long you press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, it won’t affect the phone but by the time you press and hold the Power key, that’s when the phone starts to respond.

Step 3: When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.

Step 4: When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.

NOTE: The “Installing system update” message may show on the screen for several seconds before displaying the Android system recovery menu. This is just the first phase of the entire process.

Step 5: Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’

Step 6: Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.

Step 7: Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.

Step 8: Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.

Step 9: The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Don’t forget, master reset will wipe everything off your phone so make sure that you create a backup of your personal data before you proceed.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 can’t receive text message from one contact

Texting is working fine, except with one person. She never receives my texts and I never receive her texts, although on both phones, it says that they’ve been sent and received. The phone numbers are correct on both phones; we can make calls to each other – just cannot text. She has a Jitterbug phone. Never had this issue before I switched from my Windows phone to the Galaxy S7 with Android. I am using the carrier’s text messaging app, but there is also a Samsung texting app on my phone. I’ve read through your various trouble-shooting info, but haven’t found a solution. Thank you in advance for your help. — Melissa

Solution: Hi Melissa. If third party solutions like what we provide or those you find online don’t work, that should tell you that it’s time to contact both of your carriers to help you. There’s no point contacting us again if you already followed our suggestions and they don’t work.

Text messaging problems are, first of all, issues that should be fixed by carriers. It’s their responsibility to resolve them, or to give you further directions on what to do.

Frankly, there’s no way for us to know exactly where the problem lies. It may be on your network, or your friend’s own network. It can be an issue with her Message Center or yours. It can also be a device problem from either or you.

Also, if you really want us to be more helpful next time, make sure that you give us as many details as possible like the particular troubleshooting steps you’ve done (or the link of the post you followed), changes you’ve done to your phone prior to noticing the problem, to mention a few. That would give us more information to start with. With the problem description you provide, there’s really nothing much that tells us where the point of failure lies. You will be better served if you call your carrier for this one.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 won’t power on

About 5 months ago i cracked my screen and display. I replaced that manually, that was fine. Then i while ago i fell over and landed on my side, on the pocket with my phone in it, it cracked the screen and broke the loud speaker, i was lucky.

Today i did the exact same thing and my phone has not turned on since, it does not vibrate, and no logo appears. It was at 70% before i fell so it is not low battery and i put another battery in at 60% and got the same results. I tried holding the power button then putting the battery in, holding volume up + power + home, holding power button + home + volume up and putting the battery in and all had no results, nothing happened at all. I don’t think it is the display as it normally vibrates when it turns on and off and has not done that (unless vibrator is broken lol).

I have another S7 and may be able to attempt a diagnosis if necessary.

Is there any way i could get the data back (using other phone if necessary) or try to fix it. I will not take it to a repair shop as it will cost too much and want to replace it with a new phone at the end of the year. — Mika

Solution: Hi Mika. You’ve admitted yourself that the phone has seen its share of physical problems after so there’s no telling where the problem is coming from. If it doesn’t power on right now, you can safely assume that some components may have been damaged after you fell, or after you performed your own replacement. It will require us or any other technician to physically check the motherboard and run a series of tests to try to identify the point of failure. Since you’ve done the parts replacement, we think you can manage to do the checks yourself. Our blog does not provide hardware troubleshooting and diagnostics though so you have to find others who do.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 cannot send a text message using carrier-provided SIM card

Hello. I have a very unique problem with my phone. The phone does not receive calls and text. However, I can make a call, but not send a text anytime. Once I make a call, everything starts working fine for a few minutes; calls and text start coming, but after this period of a few minutes, phone stops receiving calls and text.

I first did a factory reset but it didn’t work. Then I got a brand new SIM and used it, the phone started to behave and working perfectly fine. So the conclusion thus far is that I had a problem with the sim I was using earlier, but wait — I got a brand new replacement sim from my operator and inserted it in my phone, the problem came back. I inserted this new replacement sim in another phone I had and it working fine with that phone. But it does not work in my S7. The same phone is working fine with another sim without the issue.

So the final conclusion is that my S7 has a problem with my number and not the sim because it’s working fine with other sim. What is your take?

Regards. — Waseem

Solution: Hi Waseem. Our take is the same as yours and you should let your carrier help you fix it. For some reason, your phone seems to be having an issue ONLY when their SIM card is inserted. It’s possible that a glitch develops when an operator-provided SIM card is detected by the firmware, or that there’s an existing bug that only surfaces if you’re using a particular SIM card. Whatever it is, your carrier’s help is the best option you have at this time.

Of course, you can still try doing the basic software troubleshooting that we provide like booting the phone in safe mode, or doing the more drastic master reset (see steps above). If you haven’t tried booting in safe mode before, please follow these steps:

  • Turn off the phone.
  • Press and hold the Power key.
  • As soon as you can see the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE’ on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
  • Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.
  • You may release it when you can see ‘Safe mode’ in the bottom left corner of the screen.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S6 apps won’t connect to internet after Marshmallow update, more issues

S6 Android 6

The items below shows more ways Android Marshmallow update messes up some of #GalaxyS6 devices. Don’t forget to also check out previously published Galaxy S6 posts about other problems in this page.

  1. Email problem on Galaxy S6 after Marshmallow update
  2. Galaxy S6 email app can’t receive emails already downloaded to PC
  3. Galaxy S5 having trouble sending text messages and making calls to one Android device
  4. Galaxy S6 apps won’t connect to internet after Marshmallow update
  5. Marshmallow update results to data loss on Galaxy S6
  6. Facebook and other apps not working properly after updating Galaxy S6 Edge to Android 6.0

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: Email problem on Galaxy S6 after Marshmallow update

This is really frustrating and I have read many of the threads here. In fact, I did a cache delete and restore factory defaults; and, I am in the process of reloading, etc., apps.

My issue is with e-mail. Prior to the new software update that was pushed to my phone, email was very efficient. I would receive email on my phone and my computer (a POP3 account) if the computer were on. On the phone I would indicate never delete email from server.

So, when I turned on my computer, it would download all my emails, and delete them from the server.  My phone would then only display emails that had reached the server and not yet been downloaded on its next sync. 

In short, my phone only had on it the messages that arrived on the server when my computer was not on. 

Now, on each sync, the phone is retaining any messages it has downloaded. Messages removed from the server are retained on the phone.  And, they require that I manually delete them.

What is going on and how do I fix it? — John

Solution: Hi John. If you’re using the stock email app, the most that you can do at this time (after a factory reset) is to configure the email account on the app again and wait for updates that may fix the sync issue you’re experiencing. Android Marshmallow is a developing operating system and some bugs may yet to be ironed out by Google, Samsung, and app developers.

If the only change you’ve done prior to experiencing the problem is update to Marshmallow, the real cause is most likely beyond your control right now.

If you’re using a third party email app, make sure to contact the developer to see if there’s something that they can do about it. Not all apps are ready for Marshmallow so it’s good practice to let third party developers that their product is encountering bugs with the new OS.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 email app can’t receive emails already downloaded to PC

I HAVE AN E-MAIL ACCOUNT ON GMAIL, SET UP AS POP3, WHICH I SYNC WITH MY DESKTOP PC WITH OUTLOOK 2007. I HAVE SETUP OUTLOOK TO NOT DELETE MAIL ON GMAIL SERVER, SO I CAN SYNC IT FROM OTHER DEVICES. I HAVE A DUPLICATED SETUP IN MY NOTEBOOK, WORKS FINE, BOTH THE DESKTOP AND THE NOTEBOOK READ MAIL AND IT IS ALSO KEPT ON THE SERVER (2000 MAILS NOW). I HAD A BLACKBERRY 9790 PHONE, WHICH WAS SETUP THE SAME AND ALSO READ MAIL FROM GMAIL. I DELETED MAIL IN MY BB MANUALLY, NOT INTERFERING WITH GMAIL ACCOUNT. INDEPENDENT OF ORDER, ANY DEVICE I CONNECTED TO THE GMAIL ACCOUNT WOULD READ ALL E-MAIL RECEIVED SINCE ITS OWN LAST SYNC.

MY PHONE CARRIER (CLARO) STOPPED SUPPORTING BB, SO I HAD TO SWITCH TO SAMSUNG GALAXY S6.

I SETUP THE E-MAIL AS POP3 (NOT IMAP). I WANT MY MAILS TO REMAIN IN THE SERVER AND THE PHONE. IT DID NOT WORK AS SUPPOSED. 

  1. A) THE S6 WILL NOT DOWNLOAD MAIL THAT WAS ALREADY BEEN DOWNLOADED BY MY PC OUTLOOK. (DOWNLOAD INTERVAL FOR MY DESKTOP IS 1 MIN – 24 H – 365 DAYS – NEVER SHUT IT UP) ALTHOUGH THE MAIL IS STILL IN THE GMAIL ACCOUNT.
  2. B) WHEN I SHUT DOWN THE PC OUTLOOK, THEN S6 WILL DOWNLOAD MAIL, BUT WHEN I RESTART PC OUTLOOK THEN IT WILL NOT DOWNLOAD MAIL THAT HAS BEEN ALREADY DOWNLOADED BY S6, ALTHOUGH IT IS STILL IN GMAIL SERVER.
  3. C) DOWNLOADED MAIL TO S6, WHICH I CAN READ, MYSTERIOUSLY DISSAPEARS AFTER A WHILE, ALTHOUGH VERY FEW (MAYBE 2 MAILS). IT DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE MAIL APP TRASHCAN.
  4. D) THE DOWNLOAD INTERVAL IN S6 IS SET TO 15 MIN AND THE AMOUNT OF MAIL TO ALL AND IT IS A POP3 AND IT IS SET UP NO TO DELETE SERVER MAIL.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY HELP? — Rodolfo

Solution: Hi Rodolfo. Apparently, Samsung’s email app handles email sync differently compared to other devices. If you want multiple devices (with your S6 in mind) to read emails, simply reconfigure your email account to use IMAP instead of POP3. The essential difference between POP3 and IMAP is how they handle download of emails. Basically, POP3 allows a single device to download an email from server, making that email unavailable for other devices. IMAP, on the other hand, keeps a copy of email on the server and makes a copy of that email accessible to other devices. Although some email providers have slightly modified how POP3 accounts work, the basic principle of how the two protocols work remain.

POP was the practical choice decades ago when storage space and internet bandwidth was limited for computers and devices. Since POP3 downloads an email to a certain device only while deleting the original from the server (although this doesn’t apply to your Gmail because Google won’t delete your email unless you do it manually using their webmail service), it’s more preferable for security conscious folks who want to ensure that no other device has a copy of their mail. This is the reason why your Samsung S6 is unable to download emails from the server that were already previously forwarded to your computer. POP3, while not technically obsolete, is not really recommended for people who wants to check their emails on at least two devices. You must use IMAP to setup your account on your S6 to fix the issue.

Now, most email apps nowadays no longer keeps a copy of email on the phone to conserve precious space. Your S6 email app will only keep a few emails at one time. If you want to check previously downloaded apps, simply re-sync or update the folder to access old emails.

Problem #3: Galaxy S5 having trouble sending text messages and making calls to one Android device

I have had issues communicating with one Android in particular. Mine says that the messages send but the person on the other end does not receive them, but all at once randomly a few days later. Calls do not go through and neither do any other forms of communication which causes a lot of issues. I have tried everything on my end including deleting old messages, getting a third party app (which failed also), rebooting it, gone on and off Wi-Fi, played around with the message settings, and a few different things that will just not work.

The person on the other end has tried all of the same things to fix it, yet their family using the same network can send and receive messages just fine. Sometimes I’ll get random messages they sent weeks ago, also. I really do not know how to fix it.

I’d appreciate if you could get back to me as soon as possible, thank you!! — Sydney

Solution: Hi Sydney. You and your friend must talk to your respective wireless carriers so they can check if there are any issues preventing smooth communication between your numbers. Either the issue is on your carrier’s end, or on your friend’s.

We don’t think that there’s a problem on your phone as you said your messages would be sent to your friend’s number a few days later eventually. There’s high chance that there exists an issue with his or her message center, which means that fixing it obviously beyond your control.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 apps won’t connect to internet after Marshmallow update

Ever since i update to Android Marshmallow, my apps don’t connect to internet even when i am connected to wifi or LTE. the three main apps are Facebook, Viber and email.

Many times when i open my Facebook and try to refresh it says cannot connect to internet if i do it few times and close the app and clear the ram maybe then it refreshes.

Viber has many problems when i am on call. i can’t do any other work on it otherwise it disconnects, can’t go to homepage or open chrome or any pictures.  It also does not connect to internet. i have to close it and open it again and then it connect but if i go somewhere and then return then it says it can’t connect to internet. I have to open the app freshly every time to use it.

Email just doesn’t refresh. I have to refresh 20 times to get my new emails to show. I also stop receiving notification for new emails. i have to open my email and keep refreshing for 5 to 10 minutes for it to show new mails.

All these problems work on wi-fi and LTE. i have tried everything, reinstalled all apps and everything but still same problems.

If you have solutions then please tell me , and sorry for my English. It’s not very good as i am still learning English. — Hamid

Solution: Hi Hamid. The new Android Marshmallow is far from perfect. Weeks after wireless carriers started releasing it for their Galaxy S6 devices, so many users have reported all sorts of problems with it. To be fair, the problems cannot be completely attributed to the new operating system alone. There are cases that apps can also be blamed. In your case, although you specifically mention some apps, the cause of the problems may be the OS itself or a combination of both apps and Android.

The first task that you must do is to clear the cache partition to ensure that the system cache is updated. Corrupt or incompatible cache can lead to stability and performance problems so wiping the cache partition is a good first step. 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.

Clearing the cache partition is perfectly safe to do as it won’t delete any of your personal data like photos, videos, contacts, etc. However, if nothing changes and the issues remain, you have to perform a more drastic solution of wiping the phone completely. This can be done by performing a master reset. Please refer to the steps below on how to do it.

Problem #5: Marshmallow update results to data loss on Galaxy S6

My OS upgraded to Marshmallow about ten days ago. Consequently all my apps that had saved data for the past 10 months lost all data. I had a Smarts Switch backup, but it was 7 months old so not much use. Marshmallow ‘supposedly’ updated all my apps, but I suspect it did not. Many had to be reinstalled & I’m still working on that. Is there a utility that will check my OS to find any errors?

BTW, I had a few utility apps that altered my OS behavior, so when the upgrade rebooted, it kept flashing a “app has stopped running” error message that reappeared every time I tapped OK making it too tedious to try to disable any previously installed utilities.  I did manage a full Smart Switch backup after the upgrade, so when I restored from Smarts Switch, I did not include the utilities such as:

All-In-One Toolbox set to keep apps from launching @ startup, SD Maid, etc. After restoring all my apps (165) Marshmallow worked fine, but all app data was still gone. I suspect Marshmallow reassigns directories?

I’m too chicken to root the phone – having been into computers since TRS-DOS (’80) & hanging in there with my hacker mentality friends through about 17 personal computer progressions, I’m now an old woman with a brain jammed full of obsolete info. Help?

By the way, is there any way to transfer widgets? My S4 had a nice animated weather widget (AccuWeather.) They dropped it on newer phones – I want it on my S6!! — Jlee

Solution: Hi Jlee. There may be apps that claims to run some OS “diagnostics” out there but we’re sure they can’t fix your problems. Post-update problems are usually caused by incompatible codes running against another resulting to stability/performance issues, or in your case, data loss. No app can fix a poorly written code so we suggest you don’t install any utility app that claims otherwise.

An operating system update does move things around and you can assume that your data loss can be attributed to this behavior. If you can no longer find the location of your data, then they’re more likely gone at this time.

For your widget question, the answer is no. If an app or widget is not designed to work with a certain Android device, there’s little to nothing that a user can do about that. You need to contact the developer and convince them somehow to make an app available for a device.

Problem #6: Facebook and other apps not working properly after updating Galaxy S6 Edge to Android 6.0

Hello. I have an S6 EDGE and after getting the automatic update to the 6.01 (Marshmallow) I have noticed that my Facebook app isn’t working properly. When I open it, it will open and will refresh if I do the swipe down to refresh it. When I go to click anything like a contact or a picture to load a person’s profile it will say “Can’t Connect Right Now” and to check my internet settings. My internet is working fine and all other internet connections are working. This happened after I did the update and I am unsure of how to fix this.

Also, my weather will take a long time to load as well and everything on it is up to date.

Also, my email notifications I am not receiving even though I have the notifications on.

These all happened after I updated to the 6.01.

Is there anyway I can fix this?

Or, can I go back to the older version that I was recently doing and how would I go that?

Thank you! — Rebecca

Solution: Hi Rebecca. There’s no way to revert your phone’s operating system to Lollipop at this time so the best that you can do is deal with the problems head on by doing some basic stuff. First off, you need to clear the system cache. Please refer to the steps above on how to do it. If that won’t work, make sure that you do a full master reset. Keep in mind that this procedure will delete everything off the phone’s internal storage so make sure you create a backup before proceeding. Once you’ve copied all your important files somewhere, follow these steps to factory reset your S6 Edge:

  • 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.

After the reset, try to install the apps in question first. Do not install any other before them so you can see the difference once you’re re-installed the rest later on.

Sometimes, outdated third party apps can also result to problems after a major OS update. Make sure all your apps are updated to work with Marshmallow. If you have some that are not compatible with the new OS, don’t install them. Developers will often indicate if their product is up-to-date if you visit their Google Play Store page.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

How to set up Galaxy S8+ screen lock, can’t send MMS, reboots randomly, other issues

We are now receiving a steady trickle of reported #GalaxyS8 and #GalaxyS8+ issues so here are some of the first ones that we address so far. Be sure to also visit our main Galaxy S8 troubleshooting page by following this link.

Below are the specific topics we discuss in this material:

  1. Cannot send SMS on Galaxy S8
  2. Galaxy S8 not detecting an SD card
  3. How to assign Contacts group ringtone in Galaxy S8
  4. Galaxy S8+ reboots randomly
  5. Galaxy S8+ can’t send MMS
  6. Galaxy S8+ People Edge screen call setup
  7. Galaxy S8+ screen won’t lock | How to set up Galaxy S8+ screen lock
  8. Verizon Galaxy S8+ takes 30 minutes to restart
  9. Galaxy S8 screen won’t respond | Galaxy S8 won’t turn 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.

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: Cannot send SMS on Galaxy S8

I have a Samsung Galaxy S8 phone with Consumer Cellular service (via) AT&T. My phone is not able to send text messages. I’ve tried settings recommended to no avail. My last phone an S6 had the same problem. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you! — Rena

Solution: Hi Rena. If you’re using the same SIM card or the same number on both your S6 and S8, it’s highly possible that the cause of the issue is account related. Instead of looking for ways to troubleshoot your device, we strongly suggest that you contact your carrier instead and let them handle the situation. Whether our assumption is correct or not, it’s their primary responsibility to help you fix this problem so contacting them is your first priority.

Problem #2: Galaxy S8 not detecting an SD card

My phone at first recognized my 128GB SD card. Now it doesn’t. It just stopped. Popping it out and back in doesn’t help. It’s like it’s not there at all and I can’t figure out how to get it to be recognized reliably. The card doesn’t show up in any place where the phone would show one, storage, my files etc. — Akaplan.nj

Solution: Hi Akaplan.nj. The first thing that you want to do is to check whether this is an SD card issue or not. Try to insert the SD card to another device and see if it’s detected. If it’s not, try to reformat it and insert it again. If the second device won’t detect it afterwards, get another SD card.

On the other hand, if a second device will detect the SD card and will work normally in it, there must be an issue with your phone. DO a factory reset and see if it detects the SD card. If it doesn’t detect it still, send it in for repair or replacement.

Below are the steps on how to factory reset your Galaxy S8:

  1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
  2. Turn off the device.
  3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Problem #3: How to assign Contacts group ringtone in Galaxy S8

On previous Galaxy S5, under Contacts and groups, under edit groups you could assign a ringtone AND a message tone to each group. On the S8, I only see a ringtone option.. Any suggestions or workarounds to assign a different message tone to each group? — Dave

Solution: Hi Dave. To assign a Contacts group ringtone, follow the following steps:

  1. Open the Contacts app.
  2. Tap More settings icon at the upper-right hand side (three-dot icon).
  3. Tap Groups.
  4. Tap the group you want to edit.
  5. Tap EDIT at the top.
  6. Tap Group ringtone to assign a ringtone.

NOTE: The steps above are applicable for Samsung Galaxy devices running Android Nougat (Android 7).

Problem #4: Galaxy S8+ reboots randomly

My Samsung Galaxy S8+ is randomly powering off and booting back up, and it will do it in the middle of talking on the phone, listening to music, or if I play a game. And I’ve to look up to see if there was a quick easy fix and I don’t see one. So if someone could get back with me to resolve this, I would appreciate it a lot. Thanks. —  James

Solution: Hi James. An issue like this can be caused by either a software glitch, an app bug, or bad hardware so your main task is to narrow down the possible causes first. To do that, you want to perform basic software troubleshooting.

First, you want to wipe the cache partition. This will ensure that the system cache is not corrupted. Here’s how:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  4. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.”
  5. Press Power button to select.
  6. Press the Volume down key to highlight “wipe cache partition.”
  7. Press the Power key to select.
  8. Press the Volume down key to highlight “yes” and press the Power key to select.
  9. When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

After wiping the cache partition, try to observe the phone again for at least 24 hours to see if the problem returns. If it does, your next step is to determine if a third party app is to blame. To do that, try booting the phone to safe mode and observe it for a day. Follow these steps:

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
  3. When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
  4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
  5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
  6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  7. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
  8. Observe the phone in safe mode for at least a full day.

Safe mode blocks third party apps and services so if the issue won’t occur during this time, that’s a confirmation of our hunch that a third party app is to blame. You must uninstall apps until the issue is eliminated.

Finally, if all else fail, do a factory reset. This is the last troubleshooting step that you can do. If the issue stays, send the phone for repair or replacement.

Problem #5: Galaxy S8+ can’t send MMS

I just received the new Galaxy S8+ on Wednesday and had everything from my S6 transferred over to the S8. I was able to send and receive text messages but was unable to send or receive images. Nothing I tried seemed to work. I contacted Verizon and they couldn’t figure it out either. I changed your app settings for APN to manual and entered 80 for port number. That didn’t solve the issue. However, I did change from legacy to system and it worked, sort of. I was able to receive MMS but I couldn’t send MMS. I finally gave up and went back to Go SMS which I hate, but they do offer GIF (people sent me little GIF in messages but they don’t play); try adding that feature soon. The APN settings for the phone itself cannot be changed or a new APN (Add) cannot be created. — Rickydeansd

Solution: Hi Rickydeansd. There are a number of possible causes for this issue but we recommend that you work with your carrier in solving it and not to rely on third party support teams like us. There’s only so much that we can do, especially that you did not provide any helpful information about your phone and account. Telling us you’re having a problem does not give us any clue at all.

If your phone was built for a different carrier and not for Verizon, there may be some software restriction causing the problem so you must do your own research by going to forums of your old carrier to see if others are experiencing the same issue. A lot of people discover answers this way so try to exhaust everything if your current carrier can’t help you at all. Keep in mind that Samsung only provides the hardware to these carriers. Software running on these devices are supplied by their respective carriers so each one can run a significantly different coded Android. For example, T-Mobile uses its own software for its Galaxy S8 so if you use this phone in Verizon network, you can always expect that some services may not work at all.

How to wipe messaging app’s cache and data on Galaxy S8 and S8+

Another possible reason why you are unable to send MMS is the huge number of messages in your messaging inbox or sent items. Try to wipe the messaging app’s cache and data before attempting to send another MMS and see how it works. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

Sometimes, MMS problems can arise if you are also experiencing mobile data connection problems. Make sure that you have a good internet connection (not wifi) when trying to send an MMS and see it works. If it continues to fail even if mobile data is working fine on your phone, take note of the error message or the behavior of the messaging app contact your carrier. Be sure to mention whatever error you may be getting to your carrier as that may help them identify the issue faster.

Also, make sure that you let them check if there are any account-related factors that may prevent you from sending MMS. They may not have configured or provisioned your account properly at this time.

Of course, troubleshooting with them implies that they check all device settings (network settings) in order for MMS to work. It’s their primary job in the first place to make sure that their services are working properly on their subscriber’s devices.

Problem #6: Galaxy S8+ People Edge screen call setup

On the Galaxy S8+ People Edge screen, when I set it up, I accidentally set the option to either call or message when I tap on a contact. This causes it to be a two tap process instead of just tap and call. I can’t figure out how to change it back so that when I tap on a person it just makes the call. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. I need to get rid of the message option to speed things up! — Marc

Solution: Hi Marc. We can’t find any option to revert your S8’s People Edge app to your previous configuration. We don’t think there is such an option even. In our own Galaxy S8, it’s always a two-tap process (first you have to tap the contact, then tap either the phone icon or message icon). If you are positive that yours had a more efficient method, we suggest that you wipe People Edge app’s cache and data. Here’s how:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Tap the more options icon on the top right (the three-dot icon).
  4. Tap Show system apps.
  5. Find People Edge and tap it.
  6. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  7. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

If wiping People Edge app’s data won’t help, do a factory reset.

Problem #7: Galaxy S8+ screen won’t lock | How to set up Galaxy S8+ screen lock

I have an issue with locking my Galaxy S8 plus. I’ve tried fingerprint, face recognition and PIN number and still someone can gain access to my phone. On the ‘always on’ screen, once I’ve locked out of my phone, there is the ‘home’ button present. If I double tap this my locked screen shows with an unlocked padlock showing. Underneath this it states ‘swipe screen to unlock’. I do this and it opens up my phone! I’ve asked a friend to do this for me and they gained access to my phone too! If I tap the ‘unlocked padlock’ the device becomes locked and I need to enter my pin, pattern or whatever security measure I’ve set up. This ONLY happens when I tap the ‘unlocked padlock’. If I don’t do this, and simply swipe the screen, I gain access to the phone. Is this a known problem? Or am I doing something wrong? Regards. — Neil

Solution: Hi Neil. We don’t think you set your phone’s screen lock properly so here’s how to do it.

  1. Open Settings app.
  2. Scroll down and find Lock screen and security.
  3. Tap Lock screen and security.
  4. Under Screen lock type, configure the lock type of your choosing.
  5. Once you’ve configured the lock type you want, go back to Lock screen and security menu and tap Secure lock settings.
  6. In here, you can either choose Lock automatically option or Lock instantly with power key option. We recommend that you pick Lock instantly with power key so you can manually lock the screen by pressing the power key anytime.

NOTE: If you previously enabled Smart Lock, that may be the reason why your screen did not lock at all. If you need to secure your phone more often, simply disable Smart Lock.

 Problem #8: Verizon Galaxy S8+ takes 30 minutes to restart

Hi there! So here’s my question/concern. I have a Samsung S8 plus (Verizon) and i recently restarted my phone (no reason, just wanted to restart it) and it took 30 minutes for it to boot up!!! I thought maybe it had something to do with encryption, but I’ve looked and none of my settings are set for that.

Tonight, I decided to restart it again, and as I’m typing this, it has been 25 minutes and still booting up. The first restart the screen was stuck on the basic screen with the wheel turning. This second time, it’s stuck on the Verizon splash page and the 4 dots are blinking in sequence.

The only thing I’m running on my phone that isn’t stock is Nova Launcher…but I have zero issues with the phone when it’s on and running.

My concern is if I’m out and about and my battery dies, or if by some chance my phone decides to restart and there is an emergency i’ll have to wait 30+ minutes before I can access my phone again!!

Once it comes back on, i will remove the SD card and try it again…just before i go to bed. I’ve searched the interwebs and haven’t come across anyone else with this issue.. Help please!!!!! — Brett

Solution: Hi Brett. It’s only been weeks since the Galaxy S8 and S8+ were released so we are not sure if other users are experiencing the same problem (which may suggest a Samsung issue), or if it’s only happening on select Verizon users (which in this case can mean a possible Verizon firmware problem) only. We suggest that you contact Verizon about it so they can keep an eye for this particular bug. We have an international Galaxy S8 and it doesn’t do this so there’s a chance that this is a Verizon bug.

If you have the time, consider wiping the phone by doing a factory reset and see how it works afterwards. If the problem persists, have it replaced with a new one.

Problem #9: Galaxy S8 screen won’t respond | Galaxy S8 won’t turn off

I cannot get the phone to respond and do anything. It turns on, but the swipe screen to open the phone will not respond. I have tried to open the phone in safe mode, but I cannot power off the phone at all. I was able to restart it using the down volume and power button but that’s it. I cannot turn off the device or get to the screen to clear the cache….HELP. — Laura

Solution: Hi Laura. Looks like you have no other choice here but a factory reset via Recovery mode. Try the steps below. If the phone’s screen remains unresponsive, contact Samsung or your carrier for repair or replacement.

  1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
  2. Turn off the device.
  3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S7 not receiving Nougat update, stuck in loading screen after failed flashing, other issues

Welcome to our #GalaxyS7 troubleshooting article for the day. In this post, we’re bringing you 10 more S7 issues and solutions. If you don’t find any working solution for your own S7 issue, be sure to also visit our main Galaxy S7 troubleshooting page.

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.

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.

Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:

Problem 1: Galaxy S7 edge keeps restarting when opening links in a browser or app

Hi. My problem still persists: my S7 edge restarts on its own. I’ve read all your troubleshooting techniques and tried it all (uninstalled all the apps, removed SD card, soft reset, and hard reset). None of it worked. And soo sadly, it even got worse. The restarts usually only happened very minimal but after I tried the steps you said now even just browsing the internet I get restarts! It’s become too frustrating now. Here I thought I found my answer, so sad it was the opposite.

Anyway, I’m writing to inform that I’m not just complaining but asking for at least one method that works. Please do help. Thanks.

Again, my issue is the restarts. I noticed my phone restarts when I press links in my browser. And even opening certain apps. I know I have 3 GB of RAM so it’s impossible it be filled too quick. P.S. if you will say that there might be background apps running, the answer is no, there are time that just after I turned on my phone, minutes later of just basic browsing, it restarts. Please help. Thanks, I’m trying to give as many details as possible. — Giovanni

Solution: Hi Giovanni. Random restart issue can be due to software or hardware problem.  If all the software troubleshooting did not fix the restart issue, bad hardware must be to blame. Do a factory reset and see if your phone restarts when there are no third party apps installed. Make sure not to install any app or updates while observing the phone. You want to see to it that the phone runs a clean firmware. If the same problem occurs, that’s proof that no software hack can fix the issue for you. You should stop looking for a software solution and instead just send the phone in for repair or replacement.

Problem 2: Galaxy S7 stuck in loading screen after failed flashing procedure

I made an attempt to change a new unlocked ATT S7 Edge from ATT to the unlocked firmware. The phone is a G935A and I attempted to install G935U firmware using instructions on XDA-forums. After using Odin to do the download, I got error No support SINGLE-/SKU Supported Api:3 Dm-verity verification failed……. Need to check drk first…. Error code: 02 Phone is stuck at this location and it returns here even if I do a power down or reboot. I am not certain what step to take next. Can I attempt another download and how do I get phone into the download menu again is it with the power, home and volume down button press? — P22

Solution: Hi P22. You’re not supposed to use a firmware designed to work for a particular hardware build in another phone model. Doing so would almost always lead to problems. If you’re following instructions from a certain website, you should reach out to the community that provide them for support. We’re not aware of the instructions you followed (you obviously did not provide the XDA forum link) so we can’t check for ourselves if it’s problematic or not.

In general, some flashing-related issues can be fixed by flashing the stock firmware on the device. If you can’t find a fix for your problem right now, make sure to flash the original firmware version that originally came with your device.

To prevent this issue from happening in the future, make sure to do some research first to ensure that what you’re doing will succeed. Flashing is basically changing core system files and if you mess up a step, or if you use an incompatible firmware, you can expect problems like this to happen.

Problem 3: Galaxy S7 stuck in Verizon logo screen, making humming sound

So, my first problem is that this morning, i woke up around 7 and i looked at my phone and it was on the Verizon loading screen, i guess you can call it. I never turned off my phone completely before i went to bed and i don’t know how long my phone has been on this screen before i woke up but when i did, my phone was really hot. It’s the screen that when you turn your phone back on and it says the “Galaxy S7,” then it shows the Verizon logo with a red background.

Normally after the Verizon logo shows up, i’m able to use my phone within seconds but now none of the buttons are working. The reset button isn’t working and it’s been doing this for 3 hours at least.

My second problem is that for a few months my phone has been making a strange noise. it sounds like when your zooming in on a camera. the first time it happened a few times and it wasn’t that loud and it would only happen when i would go on snap chat. However the past few weeks the noise is getting louder to where I’m able to hear it loud and clear over my music and it happens every time i go on any app. What does this noise mean and how am i able to stop it? — Charleigh

Solution: Hi Charleigh. To try and fix both issues, you only have one attempt at troubleshooting — master reset. Like factory reset, this will reset all software settings back to their defaults, thus, effectively deleting all bugs that may have developed after some time. If the cause of the problem is software-related, master reset should fix both problems. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Create a backup of your important files such as photos, videos, contacts etc. You can use Smart Switch for this task.
  2. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  3. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  5. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  6. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  7. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  8. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  9. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  10. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

If the problem remains even after resetting the device, have it repaired or replaced.

Problem 4: Replacement battery on Galaxy S7 won’t hold a charge

My S7 has gone through 2 new batteries within the last 2 months. The person was taken back immediately after it failed to hold a charge. The second one I still have it doesn’t hold a charge either. the first thing I was taking back immediately after failed to hold a charge. The second one I still have and doesn’t hold a charge either. I follow the instructions of the place right where I bought the battery and kept it on charge for at least 12 hours before using. they offered only two types of batteries and are willing to give me my money back. I don’t know what to do in order to get this phone to keep a charge. It is very difficult to remove the battery. Please assist. — Vtrjr

Solution: Hi Vtrjr. You clearly have a phone problem here so it’s pointless to keep on changing batteries. If a new replacement battery did not solve the problem, there must be some power management issue on your phone. It can be bad motherboard or one of the components like the power IC. Consider getting a new instead of simply replacing the battery.

Problem 5: Galaxy S7 edge won’t charge or turn back on

My Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has just recently started turning off. I will have it fully charged and then it will just die. I was able to use it for a while while it was plugged in, but as soon as I would unplug it it would die. Now it is at the point where it won’t turn on at all, not even while it is plugged in. It shows the charging symbol but it will never turn on or anything. I was recently able to turn it on for the first time in a while in safe mode while it was plugged in. But it stays at 0%. It won’t move. I’ve tried almost all the troubleshooting that I’ve read on your websites but nothing has worked so far. Got any ideas on what to do? Thanks! — Kelci

Solution: Hi Kelci. The only solutions we offer in our site are targeted for basic software issues only. If your phone does not turn back on, there’s hardly anything that you can do except to see if you can turn it back on to alternate modes. Unless you can do that, you can assume the issue is beyond your ability to fix and you must send it in.

Below are the steps that you can try to boot your phone to alternate modes:

Boot in Recovery mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
  4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
  5. 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.
  6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  6. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem 6: Galaxy S7 voice mail app not working all the time

For at least the last few months, I’ve had problems playing my voice mail messages. It will play a few words then stop. I hit the play icon again and it plays a few more words and stops again. This continues until I either give up or come to the end of the message. It doesn’t happen all the time, and doesn’t even always do that with the same message. I’ve called my provider at least twice about this issue, but they haven’t been able to fix it. — Marty

Solution: Hi Marty. This is either a problem on your carrier’s end or something in your device. If it’s an issue within the device, there’s a chance that it may be due to an app bug. To check, wipe the cache and data of the app and see how it works. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6 or 7.
  3. Once in there, look for the p in question and tap it.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

If wiping the cache and data of the app won’t help, do a factory reset. Refer to the steps provided above.

Problem 7: Galaxy S7 cannot reply to SMS short codes

I have an unlocked Samsung S7 & I am unable to reply to business text messages. For example, my doctor’s office sends me a text message to confirm my future appointment. in the message it will say to reply with a certain “word.” I will try to reply back and it will say FAILED with a red exclamation mark. I use the messaging app that came with the phone. — Sky.lexx2

Solution: Hi Sky.lexx2. Only a select few and older Samsung devices provides a user to either deny or allow permissions for premium SMS or SMS Short Code. The Galaxy S6, S7, and S8 should automatically be able to reply to SMS short codes, unless your carrier or the app you’re using is blocking it. Kindly work with your carrier to fix this issue. Like most SMS and MMS issues, this problem is best addressed by your network so you have to work closely with them, especially if your phone came from them. For those using phones that are not provided by their carriers, the option to received or reply to SMS short codes may not be available.

Problem 8: Galaxy S7 not showing notifications

I have a few apps such as Facebook, vivint sky, groupme, etc that when I get notifications, the notification will flash but will not remain in the notification area like my email and text message notifications.  I’ve only had the phone a few months but I don’t recall it doing that when I first got the phone. — Gwen

Solution: Hi Gwen. You may have inadvertently changed the notification settings of the apps in question. Below are the things that you should do to check:

  1. Open Settings app.
  2. Tap Notifications.
  3. Look for the app you want to turn notifications for and tap it. This will turn on notifications for this app.
  4. Tap ADVANCED at the upper right hand side.
  5. Select the app you want to set the notifications for.
  6. Select the setting you want. The explanation for each option should be easy to understand.

Problem 9: Galaxy S7 Bluetooth keeps turning off wifi

Bluetooth keeps coming on and shutting my Wi-Fi off. Sometimes it does it when it shuts off, it will come back on and this will happen. Sometimes it just does it while my phone is in idle. sometimes it does it while I’m using it. — Lisa

Solution: Hi Lisa. Wipe the cache partition first and see how it goes. Should the issue remain, do a factory reset. Refer to the steps above on how to do both procedures.

Problem 10: Galaxy S7 not receiving Nougat update

My Galaxy S7 still has not updated to Nougat. What should I do?         — Liam

Solution: Hi Liam. If your phone was provided by your carrier, which means that it was given to you as part of your subscription plan with them, make sure to contact them for answers. Carrier-provided phones usually receive updates via OTA (over-the-air), that is, by downloading them via your carrier’s network. If you haven’t received any Nougat update right now, there may be some issues that only your carrier can fix. Alternatively, you can install Smart Switch in your computer and you can connect your S7 to it via USB cable. If there’s an available update, Smart Switch should prompt you for it.

Now, if your phone is an unlocked version from a different carrier, you can’t hope to receive any Android update by air. You can’t install a firmware version from another  in a different device. For example, if you have an unlocked ATT S7 and you’re now using it in T-Mobile network, T-Mobile won’t send you an update because of incompatibility. Again, you can try to use Smart Switch to see if there’s any available update.

If you want to update the device by a different means, you can also try what’s called flashing. Flashing is an Android term similar to installation in Windows environment. If you want to manually update your device via flashing, look for a good guide online.

Keep in mind that flashing can potentially damage your phone’s software if not done properly. Using an incompatible firmware version can lead to problems so make sure you know what you’re doing before actually doing it.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy Note 4 mobile data won’t work after using Bluetooth, other issues

Hello everyone! If you’re reading this, you are most probably looking for answers to your own #GalaxyNote4 issue. We hope that the solutions we mention here can help Android community deal with Galaxy Note 4 power issues.

 

Below are the topics that we cover for you in this article today:

  1. Galaxy Note 4 screen turns black when not in use | Galaxy Note 4 overheating issue
  2. Galaxy Note 4 slow performance issue | Galaxy Note 4 reboots when playing video or loading photos
  3. Galaxy Note 4 stuck in Samsung logo screen
  4. Solutions to Galaxy Note 4 SMS problem
  5. Galaxy Note 4 mobile data won’t work after using Bluetooth
  6. Galaxy Note 4 camera error when switching from rear to front camera

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 Note 4 screen turns black when not in use | Galaxy Note 4 overheating issue

Hello sir. I have a Samsung Note 4 edge. My phone went black screen when i stop using it but when i am using the phone it works fine until i stop using it. i have to remove battery and put it again and press the power button. It goes into download mode (Odin mode) while charging. When i use it, it works fine but when i keep the phone it goes black. And my phone gets really hot while it is black screen. I did factory reset. I changed firmware. Still the same. Please help me. — Fawad

Solution: Hi Fawad. Factory reset and flashing (installing stock or custom firmware) are two of the most effective solutions for any software issue. If nothing positive happens after doing them, you can assume that the problem may be hardware related. The screen assembly may be malfunctioning or that other components are not working properly causing the screen to stay black and the phone to overheat. Taken together, these symptoms are not caused by any software glitch we know of so we recommend that you send the phone in so its hardware can be checked for errors.

Out of warranty repair is not free so sending your phone to Samsung will cost you something so be ready to shoulder the fee if needed.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 slow performance issue | Galaxy Note 4 reboots when playing video or loading photos

Have already executed these options a) a factory reset. b) removed the memory card. c) Have formatted the memory card. d) Have used another memory card. e) Have change the SIM card from service provided. f) Have uninstalled all apps.

Since the last 2 months, my phone performance has been a laggard. While selecting any icon, or during the process, it takes 3-5 seconds to activate the process. At times, the screen blanks out for 3-5 seconds with the top header visible.

At times, while watching a video or while selecting an image from picture library, it would suddenly blank out, with a sound of vibrate (twice) it would reboot the system (a typical process every time it reboots. It feels that it almost is out of memory to handle and reboots the system. Even now at times when I receive the call, the screen blanks out for 2-3 seconds and then comes on to select the option to talk. The problem still persist. I do not wish to sell it off because of this issue. Kindly guide. — Rajen

Solution: Hi Rajen. If factory reset and uninstallation of all third party apps did not fix the issue, the problem must be one of the following:

  • an operating system glitch
  • a defective battery
  • other unknown hardware malfunction

Flash a stock firmware. Whether your phone is rooted or not, running stock or custom firmware, we recommend that you flash a new stock ROM to it to see if that will help. If you haven’t heard of flashing before, your phone is probably running an official firmware so try to do some digging on how to flash (or install) an official firmware to it like an older version of Android. For example, if your phone is now running Android Marshmallow, try to manually flash older Android to it like Lollipop to see if it will help improve the phone’s general performance. The exact steps on how to flash a firmware is beyond the capability of this post so if you have no clue on what to do, make sure to do some basic research about the topic first. Flashing a firmware can potentially brick a phone so make sure to do the steps correctly.

Try using a new Samsung battery. Many users of older Galaxy flagship phones encounter performance problems due to erratic battery. If your phone is still using the original battery at this time, this part may be in dire need of replacement at this point. Lithium-ion batteries like the one in your phone can significantly lose capacity after using them day in and day out for over a year. Even if you take care of your device, the battery will simply degrade on its own after some time. We’ve seen a lot of cases wherein a bad battery indirectly causes a device to slow down, freeze, or slow down in terms of performance so it’s worth checking at this time. If you have another Note 4 or can borrow a different one from a friend, try using its battery on the first one and compare the performance. Otherwise, simply buy a new one to see if that will fix the issue or not.

Have the phone repaired or replaced. If the two suggestions won’t work in this case, there may a deeper cause to the problem that we don’t know of. A Galaxy Note 4 is consists of hundreds of different parts and they are all expected to work in a chain of activities. If there’s a break in this chain, the entire unit may stop working properly or at all. For example, if there’s a bad transistor in the phone’s processor, such bad component may cause an incorrect timing effect on other transistors, which can do down the entire chain manifesting as a freezing, lagging, or slow performance problem. The same is true for other parts. Sometimes, a technician may not be able to fully identify the cause of the problem at all so he/she may simply declare it as a motherboard issue, which means that the problem is not fixable. In this case, you’ll be advised to simply have the phone replaced.

We don’t know the full history of the device so we can’t even begin to tell you what may be wrong with the hardware. If possible, try to send the phone in to Samsung first so a certified technician can check the hardware. If that’s not possible, consider sending the phone to a third party service center.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 stuck in Samsung logo screen

Verizon stock version of Samsung Note 4 is stuck on logo screen. Happened out of the blue. Today changed from Verizon to T-Mobile in process. Bricked by Verizon?

It is 1 week to the day since dropping Verizon. Left with phone working on Wi-Fi this morning. By the time I returned home 1.5 hours later, I looked on phone to see start screen halt. Tried pulling battery & reinsert plus boot…still bricked on splash Samsung screen. Removed battery, and tried soft boot. Failed. Followed with battery out & drain process followed by cache wipe with SIM in & SIM out, dead &dead.

Attempted cache wipe & restart again, no change. Safe mode shows e: failed to mount /cache no file or directory. E: Can’t mount cache/recovery/last recovery E: Failed to mount /data E: Cannot mount /data/log/recovery log E: Failed to mount /system.

There is more but you get the picture. I am dejected…T-Mobile screwed up massively setting up 2 phones (mine & wife’s) & I never got my texts/contacts/data etc transferred between old & new phone. I have years of business info on the note 4 & desperately need it. — Csminion

Solution: Hi Csminion. As far as software troubleshooting is concerned, your only option at this time is to see if your phone will restart to other modes. If it does, that’s the only time that you can do a specific follow up troubleshooting. For example, if you can manage to boot the phone to recovery mode, you may be able to fix the problem by wiping the cache partition or by factory resetting it. If the phone remains stuck in Samsung logo screen and won’t get you nowhere, something must have damaged the bootloader causing the device to pause and unable to do the complete boot up process. In this case, like in the cases above, you should find a way to have the phone repaired or replaced.

For reference, below are the exact steps on how to restart a phone to a specific boot mode and how best to solve your issue afterwards:

Boot in Recovery mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
  4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
  5. 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.
  6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  6. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem #4: Solutions to Galaxy Note 4 SMS problem

I just signed up for T-Mobile prepaid Family Talk Plan. I know this is old news since the Note 4 is ancient, but if I can avoid buying a new phone right now, that would be great.

My data works, just not my text messaging service. I believe I do not have the right call center number but can not get your workaround to work on my phone. Can you help me out? I have no other way to find it via settings, or I am missing where it is located. To change the message center number of your phone go to the dialer and enter *#*#4636#*#*. If all goes well you should be brought to a hidden menu setting on your phone. Select phone then scroll all the way down to SMSC. Make sure to change this to the number T-Mobile is using which is +12063130004. You can also access this message center number from the messaging settings of your phone. — Kaydevmom

Solution: Hi Kaydevmom. One of the symptoms of an incorrect message center number issue is being unable to send SMS and MMS. If this is your problem or whatever your SMS problem is, we recommend that you contact your carrier first so they can walk you through the entire troubleshooting procedures for this issue. You also need to ensure that you have the correct Message center number from them and not from any unverified third party sources from the web.

Most SMS and MMS issues are caused by network problems so third party technicians like us are of not much help. Unless you tend to modify SMS and network settings all the time, SMS and MMS problems are mostly due to service interruptions that are beyond an average user to fix.

Some messaging apps may interfere with the default messaging apps in a phone sometimes so if you installed another messaging app, you can try to observe the phone to safe mode as well. Safe mode prevents third party and services so if you’ll be able to text normally, that’s proof that one of the apps is the culprit. To boot in safe mode, follow these steps:

  1. Press and hold the Power button.
  2. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  3. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  4. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  5. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

As far as changing of the message center number goes, here’s how it’s usually done:

  1. Open the Messages app.
  2. In the message list, press Menu.
  3. Tap Settings.
  4. Tap Message Center
  5. Enter the correct Message Center number.
  6. Press OK

In phones running Marshmallow and Nougat, there’s a slightly different way to do it. Below are the steps you have to take:

  1. Open the Messages app.
  2. Tap the Menu icon (three-dot icon on the top right side).
  3. Tap Settings.
  4. Tap More settings.
  5. Tap Text messages.
  6. Tap Message center number field to edit.
  7. Tap Set to confirm change.

If your problem continues after booting to safe mood, uninstalling apps, or with a new Message Center number, you can also try to wipe the messaging app’s cache and data. Here’s how:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 mobile data won’t work after using Bluetooth

My Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is able to access the internet using wifi and cell network. However after using Bluetooth, I cannot access the internet or email via cell network (Koodoo) but text works and voice calls work as well as accessing the internet using WiFi. I have tried removing the battery to reset, that did not work. I have also tried to turn off network access then back on and that does not work. I have checked the APN settings and all are correct. After hours or days it somehow gets reset and starts working again (until I use Bluetooth and the problems reoccurs).

When accessing the internet I get a “Cannot find proxy server error). I suspect that I have to reset something after using Bluetooth but I do not know what it is. — Grant

Solution: Hi Grant. Try doing a safe mode first to see if a third party app or service is interfering with the Bluetooth or mobile data functionalities of the phone. If you can’t replicate the issue while the phone is in safe mode, you can assume that one of the apps is problematic. Try to uninstall apps you installed recently or any app that may use Bluetooth or mobile data in order to work. If you can’t isolate the bad app, consider uninstalling all third party apps until the issue is eliminated.

However, if the problem remains even when the phone is in safe mode, we recommend that you do a factory reset if you think something has been misconfigured. Make sure to create a backup of important files before doing this type of reset.

To factory reset your Note 4, follow these steps:

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

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 4 camera error when switching from rear to front camera

Front camera server error when I open camera and when I switch from rear to front camera. I’ve reset my phone on airplane mode and it works shortly after that on occasion.

I also reset the cache partition and no luck. I even cleared the data and camera cache. I’m having a hard time figuring out the issue and it started only recently when I downloaded Snapchat. I uninstalled the app and nothing has changed. Hopefully you can help me, I’m looking forward to hearing from you thanks! — Astrid

Solution: Hi Astrid. Like Grant above, we suggest that you try observing the phone in safe mode first. If that won’t help, you can then proceed to doing a more drastic step of factory reset. This will help you determine if one of the cameras is defective, or if there’s just an operating system glitch causing the trouble. Make sure to test the cameras’ functionality right after a factory reset, when you haven’t installed any app or updates yet. If the problem continues, one of the cameras must not be working properly.

 

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How to fix Note 4 the keeps restarting on its own, keeps losing cellular service, other issues

Here’s another list of #GalaxyNote4 issues that were submitted to us for the past few days. With a lot of Note 4 cases still waiting to be published, you can expect that we will be publishing more of the same articles in the coming months. So, for those looking forward to seeing their issues addressed here, keep watching for more upcoming posts. You can also visit our main Note 4 troubleshooting page here.

Below are the topics we’re covering in this material today:

  1. Galaxy Note 4 wifi keeps disconnecting
  2. Galaxy Note 4 no audio when playing music or video via bluetooth
  3. Galaxy Note 4 slow performance, freezing, randomly rebooting issues
  4. How to fix Note 4 the keeps restarting on its own
  5. Galaxy Note 4 keeps cannot send calls or SMS | Galaxy Note 4 keeps losing cellular service
  6. Galaxy Note 4 bootloader is corrupted
  7. Unable to install system update for Galaxy Note 4

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 Note 4 wifi keeps disconnecting

I have a problem with my Note 4 Wi-Fi. It works fine after a hard reset, and sometimes, though not always after a soft reset. This only lasts until I let the phone go to sleep however, as the Wi-Fi will then turn itself off. I have tried hard resetting through the menu, through holding the volume, power, and home buttons simultaneously, and through initializing the device again through Samsung Smart Switch. I have also sent it to the vendor, who hard reset it, saw the Wi-Fi working immediately afterwards and sent it back claiming nothing was wrong.

The issue here is that after the Wi-Fi turns itself off, it is almost impossible to turn back on again. I hit the switch, and it turns gray for several minutes before turning back to the off position. Sometimes, it will turn on, but then it will claim the local network is out of range, or it will have trouble connecting to it. In the case that it does connect, then it frequently drops the connection.

In addition to the resets, I have also tried safe mode and clearing cache. Neither have worked.

Is this a software problem as suggested by one phone repair center, and if so, is there anything else I can do? Or is it a hardware problem as suggested by another, and should I be looking at a new Wi-Fi Antenna?

I have an international Note 4 (Model SM-N910C) that I am using on Ting, which uses the T-Mobile network. Since November, my Wi-Fi has not worked properly. After a long time turned off, or after a factory reset, the Wi-Fi will function mostly normal, but as soon as the phone goes to sleep, it will turn off. When I try to turn the Wi-Fi back on again, it will grey out the switch for several minutes before settling in the off position. In the case that I do finally get the Wi-Fi to turn on, it will have trouble connecting, either claiming that the network is out of range, or just saved, but not actually doing anything to connect. After telling it to connect several times, it will finally connect, but then randomly disconnect and reconnect for as long as I am using it provided I don’t let it sleep again, in which case it will turn off and the whole problem starts over. I have done hard resets, both through the Android menu and through the boot menu access by pressing home/power/volume up. I have also flashed the software again through Samsung Smart Switch. Despite all of this, the problem persists. Do you have any idea what could be causing this? Thank you Regards.  — Michael

Solution: Hi Michael. The problem is most probably a bad wifi antenna more than a software one. As far as software troubleshooting is concerned, you’ve already all the things anyone can do in this case. That factory reset did not fix the issue is a strong indication the problem is beyond an average user to fix, if it’s fixable at all. Wifi functionality uses a special chip in order to work. This chip has its own firmware that’s independent of the operating system. The factory reset that you did addressed possible operating system issue but not the possible problem with the wifi chip or its firmware. Unfortunately, there’s no way to check the true status of the wifi chip firmware so even a good technician is only limited to replacing this particular chip, if an available replacement component can be purchased.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 no audio when playing music or video via bluetooth

A few days ago, while I was driving and listening to a video, my device abruptly stopped playing media audio through bluetooth connections. Call audio still works, but videos and music will simply run silently. This problem occurs on both my bluetooth devices, each made by a different manufacturer, so I know it’s a problem with my phone. Both devices are set up to play media audio and both have worked fine previously. I have tried unpairing and repairing as well as resetting my phone. I would appreciate any advice you could offer. P.s. I am not actually certain what android os I am running, but I’m reasonably certain it’s the latest one since I update whenever it is offered. — A.anderson.785

Solution: Hi A.anderson.785. Sometimes, a corrupted system cache can cause other apps or functionalities to work erratically. To make sure that the system cache is up-to-date all the time, you must regularly clear the cache partition. Wiping the cache partition is an important maintenance procedure so it can be performed whether you’re experiencing an issue or not. Here’s how to do it:

  • 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 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.

Boot to safe mode

If refreshing the system cache won’t help, try to check if an installed third party app is interrupting the bluetooth functionality. You can do that by restarting the phone in safe mode and observing the phone. If bluetooth functionality will work normally in safe mode, that’s a sign that one of the third party apps is to blame. To boot your phone to safe mode, 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.

Install updates

We also highly recommend that you install any app or system updates that you have hold off. Try checking the settings of the Google Play Store app and make sure that you set it to auto-update all the time. Otherwise, simply install app updates manually more often.

The same should be true when it comes to system updates. Make sure that you install whatever system updates there is. Updates are released for a reason and sometimes they contain fixes to known bugs.

Wipe the phone clean via factory reset

If all else fails, don’t hesitate to reset all software settings to their defaults by doing a factory reset. This procedure will delete all user data such as photos, videos, contacts, etc., so make sure that you create a backup before doing it.

Below are the steps on how to factory reset your 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 #3: Galaxy Note 4 slow performance, freezing, randomly rebooting issues

My Note 4 started freezing 4 days ago. First it was like a lag then progressed to freezing, then freezing and restarting. The phone has popped up with errors saying various apps won’t load. System apps, apps that came on the phone. I have tried soft reboot, hard reboot, and even a factory reset. Now the phone won’t reboot at all. I now get a totally black screen with a menu on it such as reboot, loading something from my SD card, to name a couple of them. I have no idea what happened. I have not deleted anything off my phone except apps I have downloaded to my phone. —  Nicole

Solution: Hi Nicole. Try to restart the phone to different boot modes and see if you can do a follow up troubleshooting for each one. Below are the exact steps on how to do each one:

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 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.’
  • 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 S7 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.

Boot in safe mode:

  • Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  • Press and hold the Power button.
  • Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  • Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  • Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  • The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

NOTE: If your phone continues to reboot randomly or fail to boot normally at all after doing all the steps above, you should consider sending it in for repair or replacement.

Problem #4: How to fix Note 4 the keeps restarting on its own

My phone keeps rebooting randomly out of nowhere when I’m not using my phone. This problem started happening a lot after the update to the latest Android version. It’s driving me crazy having to constantly re-inputting my password after it finish rebooting. Can anyone please find out what is causing my phone to just randomly reboot without letting me know why it needs to be reboot?  Or what is causing it to reboot while it’s just sitting there with no apps running in the background. I’ve always check and kill any apps that is running in the background to keep my phone battery from draining. — Ben_jamin1084

Solution: Hi Ben_jamin1084. Random reboot issue can be due to either software or hardware issues so you must try to narrow down possible causes first. The general direction should be to start with software troubleshooting. If nothing changes after you’ve exhausted all software troubleshooting, you can assume that bad hardware must be to blame.

There’s no special set of software troubleshooting for this issue but you can try the ones we suggest for A.anderson.785 above. Basically, what you want to do includes:

  • wiping the cache partition
  • observing in safe mode
  • installing app and system updates, and
  • factory reset

If these software procedures won’t help, try recalibrating the battery by doing the following steps:

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.

If nothing improves still, get a new battery to see if the old one is causing the trouble.

Finally, if a new battery won’t change the situation at all, have the phone repaired or replaced.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 keeps cannot send calls or SMS | Galaxy Note 4 keeps losing cellular service

Hi. I have Galaxy Note 4, using Optus network in Australia. I have no idea what Android Version it is (I have never heard of Lollipop, KitKat, Jellybean, etc – sounds like stuff to give you diabetes). I can receive calls & SMS & data but I can’t send calls or SMS. When I try it shows “Not Registered on Network”.

Also says “No Service” BUT it shows 3 to 4 bars of reception. It has been like this for a week however it is intermittent. Sometimes I can get “Service” but only for a very short time & when this happens all works OK. I have turned the Flight Mode on & off & it seems to wake it up for a very short time but then shows “No Service” & “Not Registered on Network” again.

The service provider & Optus both say there is nothing wrong at their end. Could I have a virus? Do viruses cause this sort of problem? If so, how can I fix it? Please say you can help as I am going “round the twist” !!! Thanks, Kevin. — Kevin

Solution: Hi Kevin. Both issues must be related or triggered by the same cause so our suggestion for you is to try the basic software troubleshooting above — wiping the cache partition, wiping the cache partition, observing in safe mode, installing app and system updates, and factory reset. All of these procedures are aimed at fixing problems on your phone so if they won’t work, the cause must be coming from the side of your wireless carrier. Make sure that you talk to them for a solution.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 4 bootloader is corrupted

Hello. My Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has a screen saying “Device memory damaged. The data partition has been corrupted. You need to reset your device to factory defaults. This will erase all your data. (reset device button).”

I have tried soft reset, clicking the reset device button (which does nothing… literally nothing happens), and doing a factory reset (volume up + home + power) but the Android logo never pops up. It simply cycles through the Samsung screen, then the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 screen. I’m not 100% sure whether my Android version is Marshmallow or Lollipop. Any advice and tips would be really appreciated. Regards. — Brian

Solution: Hi Brian. It’s not normal for a functioning Note 4 to be unable to boot to Recovery mode (volume up + home + power). Losing this ability means that the phone’s bootloader may have been corrupted for some reason, causing the phone to be unable to boot beyond the Samsung logo screen. A corrupted bootloader, unfortunately, means that the issue is beyond an average user’s ability to fix as it entails a bad motherboard. If the phone is still within the warranty period, send it in so it can be repaired or replaced.

Problem #7: Unable to install system update for Galaxy Note 4

I originally purchased my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 from T-Mobile in 2014. I eventually switched to MetroPCS in an effort to save some money. I have been unable to update my software from the 4.4.4 version. For the longest time, it would say up-to-date. Then, the other day I got excited when it said update available so I clicked to do the update, and it seemed to go through all the steps only to still have the same version and patch level as before I attempted the update! The following is all the device information: Model Number: SGH-M919 Android Version: 4.4.4 Android security patch level: 2015-11-01 Security Software version: MDF v1.0 Release 3, VPN v1.4 Release 2, ASKS v1.2_161011.

Please help if you can. I really do not want to have to buy a new phone.

It’s also been starting to do wonky things like text messages lagging (I’ve tried many of your fixes with no change). Prior to this, I had a G2 for 4 years with NO problems! Thank you. — Luba

Solution: Hi Luba. You can’t expect to download and install an OTA (over-the-air) update if you are no longer using the network of the original wireless carrier the phone is built for. If you really want to install the latest update for this model, you must do so manually via Odin mode. Flashing, the other term for installing, can be a tricky procedure for a beginner and requires some advance research so make sure to use Google to find a good guide how to do it. Make sure that you also flash the correct firmware. Not doing so can brick the phone.  Keep in mind that flashing modifies core system files, and if not done correctly, may result to making your device an expensive paperweight.

For your text message issue, try wiping the cache and data of the messaging app by doing the following steps:

  • Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  • Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  • Once in there, click on an application.
  • You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  • You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

If this won’t, consider wiping the cache partition or do a factory reset.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S7 cannot access wifi, internet or Gmail after an update, other issues

Hello everyone! We present to you 8 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:

  1. Galaxy S7 edge not receiving text notifications
  2. Galaxy S7 black screen issue, won’t turn on
  3. Galaxy S7 Nougat update notification keeps showing up
  4. Galaxy S7 cannot access wifi, internet or Gmail after an update
  5. Galaxy S7 sending and receiving of SMS is intermittent
  6. Galaxy S7 left screen is not responding
  7. Galaxy S7 overheating, freezing, and randomly rebooting
  8. Galaxy S7 cannot send SMS reply to one contact

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 S7 edge not receiving text notifications

Hello. I have the Galaxy S7 edge and I stopped receiving text notifications months ago. It would vibrate, but that is it. Now with this new update nothing happens. I have missed extremely important text messages from work and family that needed to get ahold of me, but knew not to call because my baby was probably sleeping.

I also have no idea what Android version I have. I just picked one on the drop down list.–Amanda

Solution: Hi Amanda. The Android version on your phone is probably Marshmallow or Nougat so the way to customize notifications should be similar. The good thing with Marshmallow and Nougat is the fact that a user can refine what notifications from which app is received by the phone. If you haven’t tried tweaking the phone’s notification settings, here’s how to do it:

  • Open the Settings app.
  • Tap Notifications.
  • Make sure that you enable notifications for the messaging app you’re using.

Now, in the Notifications section you’ll see a list of all apps that can provide notification. If you want to simply flat out receive all types of notifications from all apps, simply turn the All apps button to the ON position. This will allow the phone to receive all notifications.

In Android Nougat, scrolling down to the bottom of Notifications section gives you three more options that to allow you to customize your phone notifications. If you want to do that, select NOTIFICATION REMINDER. Once you’ve selected it, make sure to set it to ON.

If, for some reason, notifications will still fail to work in your phone, make sure that you wipe the cache partition to refresh the system cache. Sometimes, a system cache gets corrupted after an update so keeping it up-to-date is important. A corrupted system cache can sometimes lead to all sorts of issues so it must be kept in good state all the time. Here’s how to do that:

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

If your problem remains after wiping the cache partition, do a factory reset. This will force the phone to return all software settings to their defaults. If you unintentionally changed some settings that affected the notification, or if an app caused this problem, factory reset should fix it.

To factory reset your S7, follow these steps:

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

NOTE: Factory reset will wipe everything in your phone’s internal storage device so make sure to create a backup before doing it.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 black screen issue, won’t turn on

Hi there. Well, I woke up this morning head over to my phone finding the screen black and the green light on as to show its charged. So i unplug the charger… aaaaaaand… no change. Green light still persistently on, screen still black as night and NO force /safe mode/ recovery mode/ restart method worked… next step is i grab a hammer.. and see if just going to town on it makes me feel any better… BUT…. thought id give this mail thing a try first… any ideas.. or was my hammer one a sound one..? — Riaan

Solution: Hi Riaan. If the phone is totally dead and does not respond to any hardware button combinations to boot it to alternate modes, you have no other choice but send it in. The hardware must be checked first to know which component has failed. In a situation like this, there’s a chance that the battery may be to blame. If you’re lucky, a new replacement battery can easily fix the problem. If battery is not to blame, that can mean that there’s a serious motherboard issue that may require an expensive repair. We suggest that you send the phone to a Samsung service center as they usually offer a replacement unit for most motherboard-related problems.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 Nougat update notification keeps showing up

I have a Samsung S7 with T-Mobile running Marshmallow. Nougat is now available, and every 5 minutes a screen comes up asking me to download it. I don’t want to, as I like Marshmallow, and I I understand that many people have 10-20% shorter battery life work Nougat. I only get 6-6 1/2 hours as it is, so I don’t want to take a chance.

Is there any way to get the T Mobile update screen to stop popping up? (I had an S5, and I installed Lollipop by hitting that screen by mistake. My phone was awful for a year until Marshmallow was available.) Thank you! — Dana

Solution: Hi Dana. In international Galaxy S7 devices, there’s an option for users to allow them to manually let the phone check for software updates. If a user opts to use Download updates manually feature, this will prevent the phone from checking for updates and showing notifications about it. This feature is found under Settings>Software update but we are not sure if this available in T-Mobile devices. Carriers often set their devices to automatically download and install system updates. If you can’t find it in your phone, T-Mobile must have removed it.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 cannot access wifi, internet or Gmail after an update

After Samsung updates I can no longer access Wi-Fi/internet, G-mail. Screen freezes frequently when I enter a phone number to make a phone call. Then when I try to power off sometimes that will not work. Then, finally, it will power off and after reboot, then I can make the phone call. I am able to text. However, frequently the text is delayed in sending. Again, I have to power off and reboot and then, most of the time, it will resend the text. Same thing, happened two years ago, a few months ago before my contract was up. There is “SOMETHING” very odd with the Samsung updates. The cell phone should be not rendered nearly useless after updates! So very frustrating and annoying. I have never dropped the cell phone and it has never been in water!! Sincerely. — Arlene

Solution: Hi Arlene. The first thing that you want to do in this case is to wipe the messaging app’s cache and data. Hopefully, this troubleshooting step will address the bug that may be causing the text messaging issue. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

Wipe the cache partition

Deleting an app’s cache and data can usually fix app-specific issues following an update. However, if the problem continues after doing it, you should broaden the troubleshooting to include the system cache as well. If you haven’t done it yet, make sure that you also wipe the cache partition. Refer to the steps above on how to do it.

Install app updates

Keep in mind that installing system updates does not necessarily mean apps are automatically updated too. Make sure that all your apps are compatible with the operating system and updated. Installing incompatible apps can cause instability and performance issues. It’s your responsibility to ensure that you only add compatible apps in the system.

Wipe the phone via factory reset

If all the above steps won’t help at all, make sure that you turn the phone as clean slate. Once you’ve factory reset the phone, observe it for a full 24 hours without installing any apps or updates. Doing this will help you find out if the issue is software- or hardware-related. So how would you know that it’s a hardware issue? Simple. If the problem returns during the observation period, that means that something other than a software problem is to blame.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 sending and receiving of SMS is intermittent

Hi. My issue is that my ability to send and receive calls and texts is intermittent. Sometimes it works normally, sometimes not at all. My job depends on my employer calling me in each day if needed. Some days it works, others I get a notification of a voicemail message received hours after the call was made, and never get any notification of a call. I have sent texts to friends that say they are sent but do not get to their phone, and I have not received plenty of texts.

Additionally, when my wife texts me from her iPhone, it often delivers two copies of the same text. A while ago I dropped the phone and the GPS hasn’t worked without wifi since. Calling however hasn’t been a problem until the last few months. I’m mentioning it in case the two are related. The GPS is not intermittent, it simply doesn’t work at all. I haven’t dropped the phone in any considerable way since. Thanks for your help! — Alex

Solution: Hi Alex.  There’s a chance that the problem lies on the phone itself but to know that for sure can be challenging, especially if it’s due to hardware malfunction. If you haven’t done any troubleshooting yet, we suggest that you try all the ones we suggest for Arlene above. If you noticed, the troubleshooting steps are all geared towards narrowing down possible software issues. If you can’t fix your issues after doing all of them, you can assume that there’s either a hardware malfunction or a network issue (causing delayed notifications and erratic SMS behavior).

There’s obviously nothing that we can do about a hardware problem so if you think that’s the case, you must have the phone repaired or replaced.

To see if it’s a network-related issue, try to insert your SIM card in another phone and observe how SMS works. If the same problem occurs, contact your carrier and ask them for direct assistance.

Problem #6: Galaxy S7 left screen is not responding

Hi! My Samsung Galaxy S7 has a screen problem which is the left part of the screen is not responding properly. Sometimes when I swipe or go to some apps, it works fine. But sometimes, for example, when I swipe, the left part of the screen does not change. For example, when I go to the camera app from the home screen, the right part of the screen shows the camera but the left part still shows the home screen. But even if I can only see the home screen at the left part, I can still click through the left part, touch the settings menu which is on the left. It’s only the display that lags but the function is still working. Another example is type the password from screen off. The left part does not light up but I can touch the letters Q,W,E,A,S,D,Z,X which are all in the left part of the screen even though the screen is just black. I hope you read this message and you will respond so I can send some pictures about it. Thanks. — Genrev

Solution: Hi Genrev. Try to factory reset your phone first so you will know if this is an issue caused by a software glitch or not. If the screen continues to behave the same right after a factory reset, that’s a sign that something is not right with the screen assembly, or even the graphics chip of the phone. If your phone is still within warranty, make sure that you send it to Samsung so its hardware can be examined. There’s a chance that the problem may be isolated on the screen assembly only so a screen replacement may do the job. If it’s anything else, you may be looking at a possible motherboard replacement or phone replacement.

Problem #7: Galaxy S7 overheating, freezing, and randomly rebooting

Hi. i got a new phone that starts overheating after three weeks that I was using it. I went to the store where i bought it from and they just offer me to send it to a service that is fixing everything from microwaves to dishwashers. I didn’t do it. but now after one month I can’t even use this phone. I can’t even put my PIN because the screen get frozen. it is switching off and on, restarting, freezing every two minutes literally. Phone even burned my face as got over heated while I was just talking. I can’t get no help from Samsung as they don’t see any issues and i am very disappointed trying to fix the phone by my own. I can’t use a phone as it is not reacting. I can restart it but after a minute it is dead again. Please can you give me any suggestions. i tried safe mode and everything but nothing is working. — Kate

Solution: Hi Kate. Taken together, the symptoms you’re describing here can only mean a hardware problem. When overheating, freezing, and slow performance issues are presence all at once, it can only mean a bad hardware. Whether you like it or not, you have no choice but to return the phone to the store so it can be repaired or replaced.

Problem #8: Galaxy S7 cannot send SMS reply to one contact

Just got a new phone, was texting fine. Now one contact (that I’ve noticed) can send me messages, but when I try to reply, it puts my message into a new conversation screen, and will not send the message. It also says the contact number for my friend is not a regular 10 digit number, but tacks on an entire number to her number, giving a 20 digit number. I tried deleting her completely as a contact and re-adding her. It worked for a while and then went back to giving her a 20 digit number. — Dpowerade

Solution: Hi Dpowerade. This may be an app issue so try to wipe the cache and data of the apps involved such as the messaging app and Contacts app.

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

NOTE: Wiping an app’s data is the virtual equivalent of uninstalling the app, effectively deleting your messages and contacts. Make sure that you back important conversations before doing it. If you have a computer, you can easily save both messages and contacts using Samsung Smart Switch app.

If the problem returns after deleting the apps’ cache and data, consider doing a factory reset.

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and tap Settings and then touch Backup and reset.
  3. Tap Factory data reset and touch Reset device.
  4. If you have screen lock feature turned on, enter your password or PIN.
  5. Touch Continue.
  6. Tap Delete all to confirm your action.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S4 “AP currently not in use Internet connection slow” error, other issues

 

S4 Wi-Fi

With millions of people still using the relatively “old” #GalaxyS4, we continue to receive many requests for assistance. Below are some of the issues and their corresponding solutions:

  1. Galaxy S4 “A USB device has exceeded the power limits of its hub port” error
  2. Galaxy S4 voice option when texting not working properly
  3. Galaxy S4 “AP currently not in use. Internet connection slow” error
  4. Galaxy S4 won’t turn on
  5. Verizon Galaxy S4 can’t send text message
  6. Rooted Galaxy S4 dialer app not working

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 S4 “A USB device has exceeded the power limits of its hub port” error

Yesterday I noticed that my car charger was not charging my phone. Tried to charge it using different wall units – no luck. It only says “Please connect your charger” without realizing it has one plugged in. Basically what happened is: the phone died, I got replacement battery that still had little charge, it is not working either.

I tried USB cable and laptop – started to get message “A USB device has exceeded the power limits of its hub port”. I tried to reset it — no luck. Once when connected to the laptop, the phone got hot. That does not happen again, I keep trying different chargers. Please, help.

I blew the air into the charge port to get rid of any debris or dust. The port visually looks not damaged. Any suggestion? Please, I don’t want to get that phone replaced yet.

Thanks! — Inga

Solution: Hi Inga. There must another failing power component that’s failing. Power issues can be caused by other factors which are not limited to the battery or USB charging port. An S4’s power management scheme is handled by other components and one of them must have stopped working. That a replacement battery did nothing to change the situation is a clear sign of that. Difficult it may be, we believe that the only remaining option for you right now is to seek a way to have the phone replaced, or at least checked and repaired.

Problem #2: Galaxy S4 voice option when texting not working properly

Hello. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 running Android 5.0.1.  I tend to use the voice option when texting and am having difficulty finding out what happened to the edit function.

Until recently, I would touch a word and a list of alternatives would pop up.  For instance, if the word was “mat” a list of: Matt, map, at, and so on, would pop up upon touching the word. I could then select the correct word and keep talking without missing a beat. This function all but disappeared about two weeks ago. Now, touching the word does nothing and holding the word only allows for copy, paste, etcetera.

I cannot find anything online that addresses this issue.  I’m starting to think my wife is correct and I have truly lost my mind.  I have never had a smart phone or used text before I got this phone so I know there was once a way to perform this edit.

Please help!

Thank you in advance!!! — RC

Solution: Hi RC. A bad update may be behind the problem. What you can do to try is to wipe the cache partition first to see if that will make a difference. Here’s how it’s done:

  • Turn off the Galaxy S4 completely.
  • Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
  • When the S4 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 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.

Should refreshing the system cache won’t help, make sure that you also delete the messaging app’s cache and data. For example, if you are using the stock Messages app when texting, you have to go into its App Info page to do the job. Simply follow these steps:

  • Go to Settings.
  • Proceed to Applications.
  • Select Manage Applications.
  • Tap the All tab.
  • Choose the name of the app that has been going rogue.
  • From there, you will see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons.

Tapping the Clear Data button is the virtual equivalent of app re-installation and will result in the deletion of your text messages. Make sure to back up important conversation threads before doing it.

Problem #3: Galaxy S4 “AP currently not in use. Internet connection slow” error

Dear Sir, Greetings!

Whenever I am connecting to my Home wireless router (Asus RTN66U) from my Samsung Galaxy S4, I obtain the following message under Smartphone Network switch Window “AP currently not in use. Internet connection slow,” sometimes pop-up message “Failed to obtain IP address” and sometimes WI-FI Network status showing “Saves”. My same S4 connecting normally to other Wi-FI routers without any issue and also my other smartphone  connecting smoothly to the same home router without any issues. I have rested my router but nothing get corrected same error messages. I have tried many checks in my S4 also, but all in vain.

Note: Please see the attached  “error screen” which displayed in my S4. Thanks. — NASRELDIN

Solution: Hi Nasreldin. The error “AP currently not in use. Internet connection slow” can sometimes pop up if your phone’s Wi-Fi configuration is set to avoid perceived slow networks. To fix this, simply do the following:

  • Go to Settings
  • Tap Wi-Fi
  • Click on more settings (three-dot icon)
  • Tap Advanced.
  • Uncheck Avoid poor connections option.

If the issue remains though, try modifying Wi-Fi settings by using a static IP instead of DHCP. Here’s how:

  • Go to Settings
  • Tap Wi-fi.
  • Select your Wi-Fi network, then tap Forget.
  • Select your Wi-Fi network again. Click the 2 check boxes, put in your password and scroll down to where the option is either DHCP or Static.
  • Select Static and enter your computer’s IP address. If you don’t know how to check your computer’s IP address, simply use Google for instructions.
  • Tap OK.
  • Your phone should be able to connect to your network without problems now.

Problem #4: Galaxy S4 won’t turn on

So i have has my Galaxy S4 for awhile but never came by a problem i could never fix or find solution. But this time i’m not so lucky. So i was on my Galaxy S4, went to charge it when battery was low but not dead. when i went to go check on it, it was just a black screen. A few times when i took the battery came out, it vibrate, Samsung Galaxy S4 words come up then cut to black screen.

I’ve tried to do a factory reset by (holding power button + volume up and down + home) but didn’t work. It didn’t even go to option screen where got make your choices in small blue text. I tried taking out the battery, nothing. i tried holding the power off with no battery in it for a minute, wait 10 min then put the battery back in and only response i got were same results as before ( vibrate, Samsung Galaxy S4 words come up then cut back to black screen). i have no idea what to do at this point. i really don’t want buy new phone but i don’t want spend a ton to get fixes ether. i hope you guys can help. thanks again. — Alex

Solution: Hi Alex. Usually, there’s little to nothing that an average user can do to fix an Android phone not booting up normally. The most likely reason for the problem is hardware failure. It can be anything at this point although one of the most common hardware failures that we know is a bad power button. We don’t do hardware troubleshooting though. If you’re looking forward to getting advice or tips how to diagnose and fix a hardware issue, please use Google to search for instructions. We highly recommend that you let a professional check the hardware status of your phone though. Either you try to fix the issue yourself or let a technician handle it for you. Either way, you still end up investing something to have your phone fixed.

Problem #5: Verizon Galaxy S4 can’t send text message

Hi. I have a Verizon Samsung S4 (since fall 2014) but have been using a German SIM card while living in Germany. I have never been able to send text messages here (worked fine with the Verizon SIM card in the US), but have always been able to receive them. I have no issues making or receiving calls. Internet (wifi and mobile) work just fine. I used this same German SIM card on an iPhone with no problems whatsoever. I read online that it may be a problem with where my messages are being routed through (i.e. Message Center). Verizon has absolutely no clue when speaking to an “expert” in the “technical department.” I am unable to find the Message Center on my phone (option is not available in the Settings Menu for the Messaging application. I tried rooting with “Kingo ROOT” and accessing behind the scenes with “Advanced Signal Status” and found the input box for “SMSC:” but every time I close the program, the number I input (for my current network/cellular provider) disappears and I still cannot text.

Please help! — Amy

Solution: Hi Amy. Verizon is notorious for locking things down even though the device has already been carrier unlocked. Your problem is in fact common and can only be remedied by changing the network type you’re on. The exact network type depends on the area where’re you’re at. Some users have reported that they can send text message if they switch to 2G or 3G but not when LTE is selected.

Problem #6: Rooted Galaxy S4 dialer app not working

I have sprint Galaxy S4 that was flashed to Boost Mobile. After having the phone flashed i decided to root it. I used King Root 4.4.8 and it rooted without a problem. I started deleting system apps i wouldn’t use which was fine up until i got to the dialer stock app. I just didn’t like it, so i used ROM Toolbox Pro to go to the system phone dialer app, and it had an option to convert system to user app. I already had a third party dialer app installed that i liked. So i hit the button to convert the system app to user app and i wait for it to do its thing and it shows option to now convert user app to system. So then i figure i should be able to convert the third party app to a system app and it gives the option. So i do it thinking that, if i now have a better dialer app that i can now uninstall the one system app that i just converted to a user app. This was not the case.

As i go to use my converted third party app it didn’t dial out. It was as if i didn’t have service. So I go to use the original dialer app, and when i hit the call button i get a message that said “Unfortunately contacts has stopped”.

So the phone wasn’t getting any service and my signal indicator had an X over it. I thought what can be done can be undone. I went back into Rom Toolbox Pro to look for the system app that i converted to a user app, and i couldn’t find it. In its place i found two separate files one was phone utilities, and the other just said phone. No green phone icon like it originally had. The icon for phone was the one i chose first to convert back, but when i go to the advanced option to hit covert to system app it somehow deleted the app or file. It didnt show in the apps list at all. I didnt even bother with the other phone utilities for fear it would do the same.

I’ve tried all the little phone codes from the dialer app, the third party one, but i still get the same error message. I ended up taking the phone to a Samsung retailer to be flashed back to factory settings and the retailer brought up a screen that showed my phones system said custom even though the root app had been uninstalled. His galaxy phones system showed official. The Wi-Fi still works. If i go to Settings, mobile network it says unfortunately com.android.phone has stopped. I don’t wanna give my phone up. What can be done. — Michael

Solution: Hi Michael. It looks like you only have one solution left to do — flash the original firmware. We are not sure if what you mean by Samsung

Retailer flashing back to factory settings is factory reset procedure or flashing the stock firmware. If it’s the former, make sure that you flash the stock, original firmware to your phone to bring back the default settings. If this won’t work either, then that means that either the current firmware has already been saved permanently on the phone’s memory, or the firmware modifications have messed up the system. Either case, it means that you simply can’t use the phone normally like before.

 

 

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

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.

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S6 fingerprint sensor not working, cannot send SMS or make any calls, other issues

Hi Android users! Welcome to yet another #GalaxyS6 post. In this post, we bring you 6 more different issues that were submitted to us during the last few days. As usual, we will be providing you the ways to deal with these issues so if you don’t find your own solution in this post, try to visit our previously published S6 articles in this link.

Below are the specific topics we’re discussing for you today:

  1. Galaxy S6 edge won’t boot back up
  2. Galaxy S6 Mozilla Firefox browser pauses video when screen is locked
  3. Galaxy S6 fingerprint sensor not working
  4. Cannot recover files from Galaxy S6 that won’t turn on
  5. Galaxy S6 cannot send SMS or make any calls
  6. Galaxy S6 apps keep crashing | Galaxy S6 keeps rebooting on its own

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 edge won’t boot back up

Hello. So my mom has a Galaxy S6 edge and out of the blue it turned off and won’t come back on. The Samsung screen comes up once in a blue moon but it just goes back to being off. Also, one of the little lights stays on. it is the light in the top left of the phone. Is there any way we can get the phone back on without deleting all her info? Or is there any way to get her contact off the phone then fix the problem? Please get back to me asap. We have been to 2 Sprint stores and a phone tech and they could not help. Thank you. PS: I don’t know the android version. — Clifton

Solution: Hi Clifton. If your phone is unresponsive or it you can’t get it back to turn on, there’s no way to recover contacts or files from it. You must try to check if you can restart it to other modes. Once the phone restarts to another mode, that’s the only time that you can attempt a troubleshooting. But even then, there’s no guarantee that your phone will boot up normally again. Finally, if the phone still becomes unresponsive and continues not to boot to alternate modes, you should send it in. If possible, try to bring the phone to a Samsung service center. Otherwise, you can have it checked by an independent service center.

For reference, here are the steps on how boot the phone to different alternate modes and their respective troubleshooting steps:

Boot in Recovery mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
  4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
  5. 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.
  6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  6. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 Mozilla Firefox browser pauses video when screen is locked

I used to be able to watch streaming video on my Android using Mozilla browser. I would turn the screen off so I could put it in my pocket without causing mayhem. But, now when I either downsize my browser or turn my screen off the video pauses until I turn screen on or maximize my browser window. Why did it just start after years of working? Thank you for the help. — Corey

Solution: Hi Corey. There can be a number of reasons why this problem occurs but one of the common factors may be due a bug in one of the apps involved. If you recently installed an update, it’s also possible that that update may have changed some settings that results to this situation right now. Your troubleshooting should vary depending on what changed on your phone prior to noticing the problem. While update can cause a problem sometimes, lack of it may also be troublesome. So what exactly do you need to do you might ask. Well, let’s see. Below are some of the things that you can try in this case:

  1. Wipe the cache partition. This troubleshooting step is meant to delete the current system cache and replace it with a new one. As you use your phone overtime and download all kinds of stuff, the cache partition can get cluttered resulting to the corruption of the system cache. When this happens, there’s a chance that some apps or phone’s functionalities may become erratic. To ensure that your phone continues to use a good system cache, you must clear the cache partition. Here’s how to do that:
    • 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.
  2. Delete the cache and data of apps involved. The next good thing to do, if wiping the cache partition won’t work, is to deal with the problematic apps directly by deleting their cache and data. Because you’re having an issue with Mozilla Firefox, try to do this procedure on this app first. To wipe the cache and data of an app, follow these steps:
    • Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
    • Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
    • Once in there, click on an application.
    • You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
    • You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.
  3. Uninstall, then reinstall. If both types of cache (system and app) have been dealt with but there seems to be no positive result, try to uninstall the app and re-install it to see a difference.
  4. Install available updates. You also want to ensure that your apps are all updated. By default, Google Play Store app is supposed to notify you if there are available updates for your apps. If you changed this default setting to manual, make sure that you regularly check if there are available updates for  your apps.
  5. Factory reset. Should nothing change following all the procedures above, do not hesitate to do a factory reset. Sometimes, an operating system glitch can manifest in and affect other apps. To check if there’s an operating system issue that causes your browser to malfunction, perform a factory reset. Keep in mind that factory reset will wipe everything from the phone’s internal storage device so create a backup of your important files before you proceed.
    • From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
    • Find and tap the Settings icon.
    • Under the ‘Personal’ section, find and tap Backup and reset.
    • Tap Factory data reset.
    • Touch Reset device to proceed with the reset.
    • Depending on the security lock you used, enter the PIN or password.
    • Tap Continue.
    • Touch Delete all to confirm your action.
  6. Contact the developer of the app. If all else fails, contact the developer of the app and let them know of the trouble.

 

 

 

 

 

Problem #3: Galaxy S6 fingerprint sensor not working

I bought my Samsung Galaxy S6 last August 2016. It’s been working fine until now. Whenever I try to use my fingerprint to unlock the device it says “Attention. An error has occurred with the fingerprint sensor. If this message repeatedly comes up, restart the device.” I restarted the device and it still doesn’t work. So now I have no password for the phone. I cleared the cache and it still didn’t work. Please help. — Anisha

Solution: Hi Anisha. This error message can indicate two things:

  1. that there’s a software issue preventing the fingerprint sensor from working properly, or
  2. that the hardware itself (sensor) is defective and needs to be replaced.

If your phone does not allow you unlock the screen at this point, you have no other choice but to try a factory reset. This procedure will, of course, delete your user data but it’s the only way to return the phone’s software to their defaults. Once the software has been reverted, you should be able to use the phone again.

To factory reset your phone in this situation, you must first boot to recovery mode. Here’s how to do it:

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

If factory reset won’t work, that means that there’s an unknown hardware issue. You should have the phone repaired or replaced.

Problem #4: Cannot recover files from Galaxy S6 that won’t turn on

Hi. Before hand thanks for being the person who has the knowledge to do this.

Okay so it was all fine until one second started acting up not working right. I can’t use Smart Switch to back up my life on this phone because USB file share is turned off and the screen wont work good enough to back up. It saddens me to know the phone may be gone but even worse my last year or longer. How can i back it up or turn on USB file transfer? Again thank you so much appreciate you taking time to read a 16 year olds problem. —        Branson

Solution: Hi Branson. Unfortunately, there’s nothing much that you can do in this case to back up your files or turn on file transfer. You must have a working touchscreen to do that. Try to bring the phone to your local service center and let them check if the issue is on the screen only. If that’s the case, replacement of the screen assembly should fix the issue. But, if the problem lies somewhere else, repair may involve motherboard replacement, which means that you will lose your files.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 cannot send SMS or make any calls

I have a Samsung Galaxy S6. When I am at my home (FYI: I have Wi-Fi at my home through Xfinity/Comcast) all my texts which I send, fail and also any calls I make are ended and never connect. This does not happen when I go into another town. Customer service at Metro PCS does not care about helping me. I have been calling them for 3 weeks and they said a ticket has been opened on my account but they don’t tell me if they have solved the problem or what the problem is! I need to be able to text and to answer a text if it is sent to me especially since we are going to have some bad weather on the East Coast this week. HELP!!!!! — Rosebaloga

Solution: Hi Rosebaloga. We don’t think a third party help group like us can help you in this case. The most that we can do is to tell you to do some basic troubleshooting to see if the problem lies on your phone. These troubleshooting steps involves wiping the cache partition, installation of updates, booting in safe mode, and factory reset. As you may have noticed, all of these troubleshooting steps are mentioned above. If they fail to fix the problem, that means that the issue is not phone related but rather on the service of your wireless carrier. That said, you must work with them to fix the problem.

Problem #6: Galaxy S6 apps keep crashing | Galaxy S6 keeps rebooting on its own

Hi. I use a Samsung Galaxy S6 and I’ve tried possible ways to fix these problems with my phone with no luck. They started around the middle of last week and It has gotten worse.

Since last week, I’ve been getting error messages such (Unfortunately, Facebook has stopped) when i try to use any app for every app on my phone including the default applications. I started by doing a soft reset but after rebooting the problem persisted. By Sunday afternoon, when the phone was charging It shut down and rebooted itself but it was stuck on “SAMSUNG” with blinking light continuously. I tried again multiple times then it finally came on but i continued to receive error messages continuously which include: “the android.process.media has stopped” and a ton of other messages for all apps and processes such as Contacts, Google Play services, Google, Messages, Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, Camera, Calendar, Gallery, Google photos, … etc and every other app I had so I uninstalled some apps and wiped the partition cache but I continued receiving the error messages.

On Monday I reset the phone twice (and lost all my data) because it was not responding after the first reset. After the second reset while I was trying to reinstall some apps, I got the messages: “Google play has stopped” and also the same message for Instagram Facebook and Messenger then I cleared the cache and deleted all data from settings. But i still got messages for Google Play, Chrome and Google services then I restarted the phone and wiped cache partition again numerous times. Every app still continued to crash, so I restarted in safe mode and Messages and Google Play stopped working. I tried to restart the phone again, but it is stuck on the “SAMSUNG” with blinking light again.

Also, when it shut down on by itself on Sunday, and i was able to restart it, my wall paper changed to a bright blue background but the apps were there. (I don’t know if this is normal). These problems have been so frustrating and I did not install any new apps before this problems started so I don’t think it is a virus. Is this a software problem or do I  need to change my phone?

Also, I hope my descriptions were clear enough. Thank you very much for taking time to read this and help me. I would really appreciate any help you can offer. I’m looking forward to your response. Regards. — Rita

Solution: Hi Rita. Android troubleshooting is simple. If nothing changes after you’ve exhausted all software troubleshooting, that’s a sign that there’s a hardware issue somewhere. If this has been a software issue, the first factory reset would have fixed the glitch. As mentioned above, factory reset should return the software environment back to its known, working state. Factory reset deletes all customizations, updates, and third party apps from the system, effectively turning your phone into a clean slate. If a software glitch developed before, factory reset should eliminate it. That the problem remains even after a factory reset is proof enough that this is not a software problem at all.

So, yes, you need to have a new phone if you want to spare yourself the same trouble.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S7 edge can’t connect to the internet via wifi, can’t download MMS when selecting “view all”

Welcome to another episode of #GalaxyS7 troubleshooting. In this post, we bring you 12 more S7 issues we’ve received and their corresponding solutions.

Below are the specific topics we’re covering for you:

  1. Galaxy S7 freezes and reboots every minute
  2. Galaxy S7 puts SMS reply above messages
  3. Galaxy S7 won’t turn back on after installing McAfee Antivirus
  4. Emails on Galaxy S7 are deleted when messages are read in PC
  5. Galaxy S7 screen keeps flashing white and green
  6. Galaxy S7 receives call but forwards it to answering machine
  7. Galaxy S7 keeps showing “fail to deliver” error when sending SMS
  8. Search box in Galaxy S7 messaging app is invisible
  9. Galaxy S7 can’t download MMS when selecting “view all”
  10. Galaxy S7 edge cannot send SMS
  11. Galaxy S7 “VZ Messages PIN: 411233” keeps showing up
  12. Galaxy S7 edge can’t connect to the internet via wifi

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 S7 freezes and reboots every minute

In normal operation the phone works for 50 seconds after boot. Then it freezes and 23 seconds later it reboots. Same in “Safe Mode.” In recovery mode it just freezes 11 seconds after the menu is available.  However I was able to perform an update from Android 6.01 to Android 7. (I thought it would be an issue with the OS). The update took about 30 minutes and it rebooted every one to two minutes during this update. The phone is rooted, but still with stock bootloader. — Michi

Solution: Hi Michi. An issue like this can be caused by incompatible firmware or app so our only suggestion for this case is to bring everything back to stock.  This means removing root access and flashing stock firmware. If that won’t work, the random reboot issue may be caused by an unknown hardware glitch. In this case, you should send the phone in for repair or replacement.

Random reboot or boot loop issues are some of the reasons why modifying official software is discouraged. We assume that only advanced users dare root and flash their devices so you should be able to find good support system in case you’ll encounter problems when using unofficial software. Try to contact the developer of the unofficial apps and software you’re using to see if they can help you fix your phone. There are hundreds of custom firmware for the Galaxy Note 5 so the issue may be specific to the software you’ve installed. Diagnosing a specific firmware issue is beyond our scope of support so you should seek assistance from the developer of the software you’re using.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 puts SMS reply above messages

My phone did a update and afterwards when I text someone it puts their reply in a group above the messages I send. I’ve never had a issue for over a year until this update and now if I want to read a text message I have to scroll to the top of the beginning of my first message to read their reply even if it’s 15 messages into a convo. It groups these messages from the other party above my messages and no one seems to be able to help. Any advise? — Jenyoung52

Solution: Hi Jenyoung52. Firstly, you want to do is to ensure that you deal with a possible app-level bug by doing a number of troubleshooting. This is done by installing any pending update for ALL your apps. If you’ve already did that, you then want to delete the cache and data of the messaging app. Here’s how to do that:

  1. If you have important conversation threads to keep, make sure to create a backup of them via Samsung Smart Switch.
  2. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  3. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  4. Once in there, click on an application.
  5. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  6. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

If nothing will change after clearing the messaging app’s cache and data, you must do a factory reset, to eliminate possible software-level glitch. Here’s how:

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

If the issue returns after a factory reset, it’s possible that poor firmware coding is to blame. Consider using a different messaging app as a workaround.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 won’t turn back on after installing McAfee Antivirus

My device was suffering regularly from the software freeze but was recovering using the soft re-set. I had installed McAfee Anti Virus software which seems to have been a mistake. Eventually I got a warning from McAfee saying it had locked the phone and to contact the owner (me) and then the phone switched off never to come back on again. I’ve tried the software re-set and the ‘safe mode’ boot up but nothing comes up. It’s just a brick. My network provider won’t fix it because the screen is smashed. Any help would be great. — Sean

Solution: Hi Sean. The only available option for you in this one is to see if you can turn the phone back to alternate modes so you can do follow up troubleshooting. If your phone remains unresponsive or dead, repair or replacement must be done. We know you may not be able to get your phone fixed via your carrier so you must try third party service center or Samsung.

For reference, here are the steps on how to boot your phone to alternate modes:

Boot in Recovery mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
  4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
  5. 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.
  6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  6. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem #4: Emails on Galaxy S7 are deleted when messages are read in PC

Hi. I have installed diverse email applications on my Android phone and use them for my work email. But the point that makes me dissatisfied is that the new emails that arrived on my mobile phone are erased as soon as I read them on PC. So, I can not see old emails at all. I have changed all settings on the phone in order to find a solution. however, I could not accomplish. Kindly ask for your review. — Q_konul

Solution: Hi Q_konul. There are two ways or protocols how a device handles incoming emails — POP and IMAP. POP allows only one device to keep a copy of a message, while IMAP lets all devices to download and store it. Try to revisit how you configured your email in your PC and change it to IMAP if it’s currently using POP. If changing to IMAP won’t fix the issue, contact your email service provider for direct assistance.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 screen keeps flashing white and green

Basically, on the right hand side off my screen I have a patch of dead pixels (roughly 2mm-4mm wide). I don’t know if this is the cause but hopefully you will help. The main problem is the bottom half of my screen (roughly the size of the keyboard) every now and again it flashes white and green. I tried just resetting my phone (on and off) that did the trick for now. But it still happens every so often it also happens in the start up screen. — Connor

Solution: Hi Connor. If your phone was previously dropped or got wet, stop wasting your time looking for software fix. You must instead send the phone to Samsung or other service centers so the hardware can be checked.

If the issue happened out of the blue and the phone was never physically damaged, it may be caused by a software glitch. Do a factory reset and see how it goes from there. Factory reset will wipe everything off the phone’s internal storage device so make sure to create a backup before doing it.

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and tap Settings and then touch Backup and reset.
  3. Tap Factory data reset and touch Reset device.
  4. If you have screen lock feature turned on, enter your password or PIN.
  5. Touch Continue.
  6. Tap Delete all to confirm your action.

Problem #6: Galaxy S7 receives call but forwards it to answering machine

When receiving a call it goes straight to answer machine or says the person is unavailable. It also does not log the call either. This happens at various times throughout the day. Sometimes a call is connected and sometimes not. I have had a replacement SIM card and the problem was ok for about a month then it came back. I am not sure if it was after an update. — Beverley

Solution: Hi Beverley. If the problem occurs after you installed an Android update, there are two software troubleshooting steps that you must do — wipe the cache partition and factory reset. If these won’t help, your problem must be account- or network-related. Contact your carrier and ask for direct assistance. There’s no other support team that can help you for this one apart from them.

Problem #7: Galaxy S7 keeps showing “fail to deliver” error when sending SMS

I have a Samsung Galaxy S7. Frequently when I send SMS messages it bounces back telling me the message failed to be delivered, and yet the recipient will respond to my message, so clearly they’ve received it. If I resend the message, it will “fail to deliver” several times, until it actually “sends.” however, this results in the recipient receiving my message several times in duplicates.        — Kelsey.rae.russell

Solution: Hi Kelsey.rae.russell. It may be a messaging app issue so your first step is to ensure that you deal with a possible app-level bug. This is done by wiping the cache and data of the messaging app you’re using. If you haven’t done it before, just follow these steps:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

Should the problem remains, try using a different messaging app. You can install one for free by going to Google Play Store. Once installed, make the new messaging app as default messaging app and observe how your SMS works. If this workaround won’t work either and the problem continues, there must be a service issue causing it. In this case, you should contact your carrier and report the trouble.

Problem #8: Search box in Galaxy S7 messaging app is invisible

I have a Samsung Galaxy S7. On top of the messaging app, there’s supposed to be a search bar, above the conversations. Now that bar is invisible and I don’t know if I accidently press something that removed it but I want it back. if I click the area it was in, the search bar shows itself but it has disappeared and only when I click that area does it pop back up. Please help? — Shajuana

Solution: Hi Shajuana. We don’t know if this is a bug or a feature for your specific firmware version but we can’t seem to replicate the issue in our own Galaxy S7 stock messaging app. The search box remains and there’s no option anywhere to make it invisible in our phones. If you recently installed an update, this can be a modification introduced by your carrier. To see if that’s the case, try to delete the app’s cache and data and see if that will change anything.

Problem #9: Galaxy S7 can’t download MMS when selecting “view all”

https://thedroidguy.com/2017/03/fix-samsung-galaxy-s7-charging-texting-issues-occurred-nougat-update-1071366. I am having this issue as well. I tried all your steps and also did a factory reset and am having no luck. It works when receiving messages from most people, but the person I am having an issue receiving messages from has an iPhone with Verizon service. You can see part of the text in the screen, but when you select View all, it is blank. The message is technically an MMS, but only contains text. It also states in the message details that the size is “0kb.” —  Cyrus

Solution: Hi Cyrus. This problem has already been reported several times in this blog, with one example here. If factory reset did not fix the issue on your end, you must let your carrier know about it so they can gather additional information to create a fix.

Problem #10: Galaxy S7 edge cannot send SMS

Brand spanking new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge:  it wouldn’t send text messages. everything else seemed fine. i spent hours with Samsung chat support doing things, clearing things, changing things, downloading, uploading. i checked your info but it all seemed like i would be risking killing my brand new phone. i tried using Google’s Hangouts text app. works fine. So i still don’t know if the problem is hardware or software but i can send texts again. — Alesiaks

Solution: Hi Alesiaks. We need more information that what you’re telling us here in order to identify the cause of the problem. You should have included more details such as error messages and other pertinent information so we can know where to start. That said, we recommend that you talk to your carrier instead to fix this problem as this issue may be account- or network-related. They can also give you the correct network configuration that should be on your phone. Don’t contact Samsung for this problem as they cannot give you the necessary network information that should be entered in the system.

Problem #11: Galaxy S7 “VZ Messages PIN: 411233” keeps showing up

This phone was purchased in December. The first day I had it, I received messages “VZ Messages PIN: 411233. This was happening 5-6 times a day. That stopped, now I continue to get message sounds as if I have a message, but no new message, phone calls, texts, e-mails, etc. This happens throughout the day and night, every minute. Each episode lasts for a couple hours, then stops. This phone has overheated, I’ve changed the screen twice and the screen is again cracked. I am losing my mind with this vocal phone!! — Deb

Solution: Hi Deb. Android troubleshooting is simple and the general rule is to try software troubleshooting first. If no software solution can fix the problem, you can assume bad hardware is to blame. If you’ve already tried to factory reset the phone and nothing changed, it’s time that you consider repair or replacement.

We are not familiar with the error message “VZ Messages PIN: 411233.” it may be coming from your carrier or from a specific app. We don’t have the full history of your phone and the status of its hardware so it’s impossible for us know what is causing the problem.

Problem #12: Galaxy S7 edge can’t connect to the internet via wifi

Hello. I have problem with my Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. I can connect with my wifi but no internet connection. All other devices at my home is good connected and have internet connection.

Recently I just updated with the newest update this evening, but it was connected with my office wifi. Please help me to resolve this. I tried all method such as reboot cache, reboot master and reset factory as well, and also reset to my router too. Thanks and Regards. — Bobby

Solution: Hi Bobby. The first thing that you want to try is to fully disconnect your device from your home wifi by selecting “forget” or “forget network.” Once you’ve done that, manually enter the correct security key and try again.

If your S7 can connect to the wifi network but remains disconnected from the internet, you should check your router settings by accessing the graphical user interface (GUI) and making sure that your device is not blocked from accessing the web. Exact steps on how to access a router’s GUI vary so make sure to contact the manufacturer or your carrier on how to do it. You should also ask help from them to help you check how to remove filters or blocks that can prevent a device from connecting to the internet via your gateway (router).

If you are not the administrator of your home wifi, talk to the person in charge and make sure that your phone is permitted to connect to the internet.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S7 Phone app not working, “unfortunately, phone has stopped” error, other issues

Good day everyone! Welcome to another post that answers questions submitted by some #GalaxyS7 users. There are 8 more issues covered here today. We hope this article will help not just the users mentioned in this post but the rest our ever-growing Android community as well.

For now, here are the topics we’re covering in this one:

  1. Galaxy S7 won’t turn off
  2. Galaxy S7 Phone app not working, “unfortunately, phone has stopped” error
  3. Galaxy S7 sends MMS fine but receiver gets it under a different phone number
  4. Galaxy S7 Home button does not unlock the screen | Galaxy S7 gets “failed” error message when sending SMS
  5. Galaxy S7 won’t charge
  6. Galaxy S7 touchscreen is unresponsive
  7. Galaxy S7 won’t charge due to moisture in charging port
  8. Galaxy S7 Google app keeps crashing | Cannot transfer apps from Galaxy S7 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.

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 S7 won’t turn off

All your troubleshooting steps always start with turning off the Android. The problem is just that it’s stuck on recovery booting. I can’t turn it off. I can’t do anything. It does not react to any type of solution you have suggested so what do you do in that case when it’s on the black screen of death and booting error “recovery booting” in small blue letters at the top left corner slowly blinking on and off? Nothing will turn it on or off. I can’t put it into safe mode. I can’t do anything. It’s stuck on that particular setting, no logo. I’ve never even seen that come back on this. it’s a black screen with tiny blue letter saying recovery booting with three periods behind it in the top left corner and it will not turn off. —        Jlwood1980

Solution: Hi Jlwood1980. There are two ways to turn an unresponsive Galaxy S7 off. The first one is called soft reset. It’s the equivalent of a “battery pull” on a device with a detachable battery. Before you do a soft reset, make sure that your phone has at least 5% battery left. Your phone may not boot back up if you do a soft reset when there’s not enough battery left. Below are the steps on how to simulate a battery pull or soft reset on your Galaxy S7:

  1. Press and hold the Power (located on the right edge) and Volume down buttons (located on the left edge) for 12 seconds.
  2. Use the Volume down button to scroll to the Power Down option.
  3. Press the Home key to select.

Note: The device powers down completely. It is recommended that the device be powered up in Safe Mode.

The second way to turn the phone off, in case the first one is unsuccessful, is by letting the battery drain power. If your phone fails to turn back on after it turns off, make sure to charge it immediately to avoid draining all the remaining power in the battery. Once battery percentage reaches 0%, there still a small trickle of power left in the battery itself to allow the circuits to respond once the charger is connected. Allowing too much time to pass before recharging the battery may fully drain the remaining power in the battery, which may effectively put the battery out of order. This is often the reason why a fully drained battery results to phones failing to boot. If the battery does appear to have exhausted its remaining power and the phone no longer boots up, you must send the phone in so it can be repaired or replaced.

Once you start turning off the phone normally again, make sure to try booting the phone to alternate modes so you can do follow up troubleshooting. Here are the steps:

Boot in Recovery mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
  4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
  5. 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.
  6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  6. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 Phone app not working, “unfortunately, phone has stopped” error

The phone just started popping up with the error message, “Processcom.android.phone has stopped working,” when a text message was trying to be sent but it doesn’t do it every time.

Also sometimes when someone tries to call, the error message, “unfortunately, phone has stopped,” will appear and not allow the call to be answered and the phone freezes. It seems that the phone has been having several issues since it did an update to the kernel version. The icons changed with permission. After turning the phone back on the icons were changed and the keyboard layout was changed as well.

Was having problems with screen overlay but I think that it was fixed by turning it off but think other apps may be turned off that might need to be on. — Elizabeth

Solution: Hi Elizabeth. The first thing that you want to do is to delete the cache and data of the problematic app, in this case the Phone app. Both errors — “Processcom.android.phone has stopped working” and “Unfortunately, phone has stopped” — are indicating that this app has encountered a problem so deleting its cache and data may help. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

If clearing the cache and data won’t work, be sure to reset all software settings to their defaults by performing a factory reset. This procedure will wipe the phone’s internal storage so you must create a backup of your files before doing it.

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

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 sends MMS fine but receiver gets it under a different phone number

I have the Galaxy S7 and not for very long. so I discovered while texting my GF that when I sent an MMS to her, her phone received it under a phone number that is different from mine. All the normal messages I send to her show up under the proper phone number. No one else seems to have an answer for this and I have tried everything in the settings for texts and MMS and made sure anything network related is on. — Bhazelman32

Solution: Hi Bhazelman32. Did you troubleshoot your girlfriend’s phone too? If there’s no problem when you send a message, the problem must be on the receiving end. Make sure that your girlfriend’s contacts are in order. She must not save your number twice in her contacts list. She can also try to wipe the cache and data of her messaging app just in case there’s a bug that got stuck somewhere.

If all else fails, let here contact her carrier as it might be network related as well.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 Home button does not unlock the screen | Galaxy S7 gets “failed” error message when sending SMS

My phone is fairly new and I’m already experiencing issues. The first issue isn’t that big of a deal but it is annoying. When the phone is locked, the home button doesn’t always make the screen come on and allow me to unlock the phone. I can push it three of four times with nothing happening.

Next, i get a “failed” error message when i try to send a text message. This usually happens when connected to Wi-Fi but had also happened when not. Please help. Thanks! — S526492

Solution: Hi S526492. Your first issue may be a sign that the Home button of your phone is malfunctioning and not that sensitive already. To check, pull up the service and test the sensitivity of the said button. Here’s how:

  1. Open the Phone app.
  2. Dial “*#0*#” (without the quote).
  3. Tap the Sub key button.
  4. Tap the Home button and see if it responds right away. The screen color should change to blue the first time you tap on the Home button. Alternate between another button and Home button to test the Home button sensitivity multiple times. A normally working Home button should change the screen color every time you tap it. If it doesn’t, it’s time to send your phone in for repair or replacement.

Your second issue may be due to a phone problem or an on-going network issue. If the basic software troubleshooting like wiping the cache partition, deleting messaging app’s cache and data, observing in safe mode, and factory reset won’t work, contact your wireless carrier for assistance.

For reference, below are the exact steps of some of the software troubleshooting procedures  mentioned:

How to wipe the cache partition of Galaxy S7

Minor firmware and hardware glitches can be fixed by deleting the system cache. In fact, we technicians always recommend doing it before performing any of the reset procedures:

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

How to restart an S7 to safe mode

It is imperative you know this procedure as it is very important in troubleshooting third-party or downloaded apps. You can follow these steps if your phone frequently reboots and you can’t perform troubleshooting while in normal mode.

  1. Turn your Galaxy S7 off.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 won’t charge

Galaxy S7 wouldn’t charge. I did the cold boot. And it started charging again. That was yesterday. Today it wouldn’t charge again. Did cold boot. Started charging. Then on the way home today, wouldn’t charge. And still won’t after cold boot. Tried different charge cables and chargers as well. Cold boot is holding both volume buttons and power buttons. — Jdarmstrong1973

Solution: Hi Jdarmstrong1973. If you can still manage to power the phone back on, try to do the basic software troubleshooting procedures mentioned above such as wiping the cache partition, observing in safe mode, and factory reset. If not one of them will work, you can assume that bad hardware is causing the trouble. Have the phone repaired or replaced.

Before sending the phone in, try to do a closer inspection of the charging port. Sometimes, dust or a bent pin can cause erratic charging behavior. Cleaning the port or fixing a bent pin may help.

Problem #6: Galaxy S7 touchscreen is unresponsive

Hi Droid guys. So you have helped me get my phone out of black screen blue light of death but now it has crashed and has no LED lit up although it had the ‘back’ and multi screen icons white. Nothing I do gets the phone to respond. Any ideas so that I don’t have to wait for hours in the shop or have to have it sent away for repair ? I have recently updated it…bloody phone! — Debbie

Solution: Hi Debbie. You can try to either boot the phone to safe mode or recovery mode so you can do some follow through troubleshooting steps. If you can manage to boot it to safe mode but not in regular mode, that’s an indication that a third party app is the culprit. To fix the issue, you should uninstall apps until the issue is eliminated.

Under recovery mode, there are two procedures that you can do — wipe the cache partition and factory reset. Try to wipe the cache partition first and see if your phone will boot back normally. If it doesn’t do a factory reset.

Problem #7: Galaxy S7 won’t charge due to moisture in charging port

Last night, before i went to sleep i put my phone to charge and it detected moisture. So i cleaned it with a Q-tip stick and it started to charge again. So i went to sleep and when i woke up it wasn’t charging anymore and doesn’t want to. Do i file a claim for a new one or should i just get a wireless charger? — Lesleymolina411

Solution: Hi Lesleymolina411. The Galaxy S7 will not charge via cable if it detects moisture. Make sure that you dry the charging port thoroughly first before doing any other troubleshooting or sending it in. Try to use a hair dryer to blow out remaining moisture inside the port. Be careful not to put more than necessary heat to the charging port to avoid overheating the phone. If nothing changes after you do this, you can consider asking for phone replacement.

Problem #8: Galaxy S7 Google app keeps crashing | Cannot transfer apps from Galaxy S7 to SD card

Hi! I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 that I love. Recently, I had problems with the screen flashing, and received a brand new phone under warranty. I set up the new phone just like the old. It updated the Google Now app with the Google Assistant which I HATED, so I rolled back the Google update. I uninstalled the Google app and unchecked the auto-updates. This fixed it so I had Google Now with a long press of the home button. I accidentally pressed update to the Google app update while updating other apps, and it re-installed the Assistant app a second time. Again I uninstalled the Google app, made sure it wasn’t auto-updating, and tried to reinstall it. Now whenever I long press the home button to go to the Now cards or I use the Google search widget on my phone’s Home screen, it opens for a moment, then says the Google app has crashed. Unfortunately there’s no option to report the crash. I’ve tried restarting the phone, etc. but nothing helps.

I also noticed another strange thing, that I can no longer move the apps from the internal storage to the SD card through the Settings Application Manager. I don’t know if this is related to the Google app crashing, but I really would appreciate any help you can give. Thanks in advance!! — Danny

Solution: Hi Danny. First try to delete the cache and data of the Google Services Framework app. This app is responsible for supporting other Google apps and services. If it becomes corrupted for some reason, it usually leads to the problem you’re describing here. Wiping its cache and data should easily fix the issue.

Once you’ve cleared the cache and data of Google Services Framework, download the update for Google app again.

Not all apps can be moved to the SD card. Pre-installed and core apps (those needed to run the phone) don’t have option in them to be transferred to an SD card.

To transfer an app from the phone’s internal storage to an SD card, follow these steps:

  1. From the home screen, choose Apps.
  2. Choose Settings.
  3. Choose Applications.
  4. Choose Application manager.
  5. Choose the app you’d like to move.
  6. Choose Storage.
  7. Choose Change.
  8. Choose SD card.

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy Note 4 only boots up when connected to a charger, other issues

Welcome to another post about #GalaxyNote4 issues and solutions! In this article, we publish 6 more cases reported by some users during the past few days. We hope this will be a good source of solutions for other users as well.

Below are the specific topics discussed in this post:

  1. Galaxy Note 4 randomly rebooting by itself
  2. Galaxy Note 4 only boots up when connected to a charger
  3. Galaxy Note 4 shuts down by itself
  4. How to recover files if Note 4 won’t start
  5. Galaxy Note 4 keeps freezing and vibrating every 2 seconds
  6. Galaxy Note 4 won’t send SMS or make voice call when in 4G network

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 Note 4 randomly rebooting by itself

I’ve had my Note 4 for a little less than a year and a half. Just recently my phone has started to reboot out of nowhere. I’ve read in this site before to boot in safe mode and monitor, that didn’t work. I deleted recently installed apps to see if it may have been poor coding, that didn’t work. I went to my service provider and they performed a diagnostic. The provider’s conclusion was that I had too many anti-virus apps and they competed against each other. I decided to use lookout and deleted the other two, this still didn’t work. I did drop my phone in shallow water about 8-9 months ago but I can’t see how that would be the problem if it happened that long ago. I have a new battery since the original got damaged by the water I dropped it in. I’m not too sure what the problem could be at this point, any ideas?        — Sam

Solution: Hi Sam. The general rule in Android troubleshooting is by narrowing possible software causes first. If you’ve already tried all of relevant software troubleshooting but nothing happened, that’s the time that you can assume a possible hardware issue. To troubleshoot possible software problem, you should do the following:

  • wipe the cache partition
  • observe the phone in safe mode (can be skipped since you’ve already done it)
  • install all system and app updates
  • factory reset
  • flashing stock firmware (if device is rooted and running custom software)

In some rare cases, recalibrating the battery may help, but we don’t think it’s of any use in this case.

If you’ve already tried all troubleshooting steps above, you should consider sending the phone in so the hardware can be checked. Water damage can have both short- and long-term effects. In some cases, the damage is immediately apparent while in some others, corrosion can set in a gradual pace, causing little to no damage at once. Damaged motherboard or corroded metallic contacts can however manifest much later. For this reason, you should have a technician, either from Samsung or third party, to examine the hardware.

Random reboot issue due to a bad app or software can be determined by doing a factory reset and observing the phone for a couple of days without installing any app or update. If needed, try doing another round of factory reset so you can observe how the phone works. Again, if the issue persists during the observation period, have the phone repaired, or better still, replaced.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 only boots up when connected to a charger

My Note 4 is 1.8 years old. last month, it started rebooting when charge dropped to under 90%. I got another battery. It worked OK for a couple of days, then same thing. I couldn’t keep it on, and sometimes on reboot it would freeze on boot screen with some text that said, do not turn off device, but would stay there forever until the battery was removed. This battery was supposedly OEM, but I sent it back because it appeared to be a battery issue. Then I got another battery. Same problem. I took it to a repair shop and they let me put in an OEM battery and it only booted to the text screen and froze again. Now I think it is the phone. So I hooked up an old Galaxy phone to my service. I put the original battery in the Note 4 and took the battery in and out until it booted. I found through trial and error if I plugged it in after it started to boot, I could occasionally get it to boot fully and work normally. I did this and left it plugged in and it has worked flawlessly plugged in for a week now. I am just plain confused. Any help would be welcome. —  Carl

Solution: Hi Carl. Like what we told Sam above, the progression of troubleshooting should start from the software side. An issue like yours can be due to a software glitch or a bad hardware component so make sure you do all software troubleshooting first. Below are the exact steps on how to do each one of them.

How to wipe the cache partition

The cache partition is a directory where Android save files used for apps to run smoother and faster. If you’ve noticed, apps usually load slower during the first time you run it since installation. But the next time you open it, it would be faster and even smoother. Of course, not everybody can notice that.

Wiping the cache partition is one way to get the phone out of Safe Mode or from being stuck on the logo during boot up. This procedure will all files stored in the cache partition, and how it’s done on the 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 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.

Observe the phone while booted in safe mode

We’re not ruling out the possibility of a third party causing this problem so restarting your phone to safe mode is a must-do. While in safe mode, all third party services and apps won’t run, preventing interruptions while the phone is trying to boot up. Safe mode is not a solution in itself but just a way to determine if an app is problematic. If the phone works normally while it’s in this mode, you can bet one of the apps is causing the trouble. Here’s how to do it:

  • 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 Vol 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.

Install app and system updates

This is self-explanatory but in case you don’t know it, some updates can contain fixes to known bugs. If your phone is not set to automatically download and install updates, make sure that you manually allow it to.

Check if some apps are incompatible

It’s your responsibility to make sure that the apps installed on your phone are updated and compatible. If you recently installed an Android update, there’s a chance that an app may be causing instability problem due to incompatibility. Check the download page of all your apps in the Play Store so see if other users are reporting trouble  similar to yours. You can also try to contact the developer of a particular app if you aren’t sure their product is compatible with your phone’s operating system.

Perform a factory reset

A more drastic solution that you can try is factory reset. As its name suggests, factory reset will return all software settings to their defaults. This means that the operating system will be reverted to its known, working condition. After doing a factory reset, try to observe the phone for a day to see any difference. If nothing changes and the issue continues, the problem must be hardware in nature.

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

Flash stock firmware

For users who rooted their phone and installed custom firmware on it, flashing an official firmware can sometimes help. If your phone is rooted or running unofficial software, consider doing this step.

Have the phone repaired or replaced

If all else fails, send the phone to Samsung or to an independent service center. Our blog does not provide hardware troubleshooting and solutions. If you think you can handle hardware troubleshooting and has the tools to do it, find other websites that can give you guides how to do it.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 shuts down by itself

I will try to be as precise as possible, but sorry If I couldn’t, English is not my first language. I have a Samsung Note 4 and In the 29th of January my problem begun, and the cause was me not downloading the update. I postponed it for as long as possible until the system started glitching and my phone turned on and off multiple times. i didn’t know what was wrong. at first, the first few days my phone couldn’t be turned on at all, and afterwards when i would try to turn it on, it would automatically send me to a coding gibberish where the screen is black and there is a lot of commands such as reboot system reboot to bootlaader and many others. I tried to click on everything there to make it work, sometimes it would make my phone turn on with everything on my phone wiped as if it was new, but that wont last for long, it will again glitch and turn off and then on by itself and send me directly to the gibberish coding, i would really like to fix it but i don’t know how and since I’m in a small town where my college is, there is no place i can go so it can be fixed. I really need help. — Samya

Solution: Hi Samya. If you’re having a problem booting up your phone to regular mode, kindly refer to our suggestions above. There’s only so much that you can do when it comes to a boot up problem.

Also, in many cases, replacing the battery fix power-related problems. Don’t hesitate to try a new battery if all software troubleshooting fail.

Problem #4: How to recover files if Note 4 won’t start

Hi. Just this past Thursday (2 days ago) my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 restarted on me while using it. After restarting back up, my phone again restarted on its own about 10 minutes later. And after restarting again, I turned it off myself the proper way. After turning it on again, it wouldn’t boot up past the start screen. I pulled the battery out after that, and the same thing happened. Either if would just freeze or it would keep rebooting. Tried turning it on with it on the charger tried it with 2 new batteries and nothing will get my phone to turn on. It will occasionally turn on but will shutdown after at most a minute. I took it to the store to see if they could fix it but they said it was probably hardware related and not fixable so I had to buy a new phone (Galaxy S7).

So my question is if there is any way to get any of my pictures or anything else that was saved onto the internal memory of my Note 4? When it does turn on it doesn’t stay on long enough to move thing to my SD card or pull anything of onto a laptop. What can I do? There are things on my phone I really do need. Thanks. — Michael

Solution: Hi Michael. The possibility of recovering your files depends whether or not the phone boots up properly. If you can’t restart the phone to safe mode or normal mode, you’re in luck. If it remains stuck in its current state and won’t start to other boot modes, there’s no way to recover your files. Below are the steps on how to restart your phone to other modes.

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 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.’
  • 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 S7 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.

Boot in safe mode:

  • Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  • Press and hold the Power button.
  • Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  • Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  • Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  • The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 keeps freezing and vibrating every 2 seconds

Hello. I’ve reached my point with troubleshooting and would be grateful for any advice/suggestions. Here’s the Readers Digest version resurrected from a bad install and about 2 years in the desk drawer. Had it up and running after a fresh 4.4.2 install and root follow-up. Forward 2 weeks and began to experience random re-boots as well as splash screen (T-Mobile) freeze and intermittent 2 second vibration cycles. Today, after finally getting it back on-line, I installed a battery maintenance app due to battery age, etc. Preventative maintenance …HA! Battery stopped charging at some point thru the night as well as laptop not recognizing phone. Now I’ve got nada. Black screen, no response – vibration or otherwise. Pulled the battery, pealed the back and checked the power button, etc. Only thing I noticed was that the cellophane coating at the water damage indicator (inside back cover) appeared as if it may have sustained minimal heat damage (slight wrinkles in film). Otherwise, no visible damage. In advance, thank you for your time and any assistance you might be able to offer. — James

Solution: Hi James. We don’t know the full history of the device but since you mentioned that it’s rooted, we highly recommend that you bring all software settings back to defaults first. That means you need to unroot (and probably have to flash stock firmware if it’s running custom software) it first, perform a factory reset, then observe how the phone behaves. If the problem continues after you revert everything to stock, there must be an unknown hardware issue behind the trouble. Have the phone checked so you’ll know if it can be repaired.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 4 won’t send SMS or make voice call when in 4G network

Hello there Droid Guy. I know this is an old post, but I need some assistance. My Galaxy Note 4 is a prior Verizon phone that I’m now using on Straight Talk ATT. It is 100% working when using the ATT towers (H+) but when the towers switch to Verizon’s towers (4G) i cant send text messages or make outgoing phone calls. Incoming texts, phone calls, and data works normally all the time (non rooted). I have done factory resets, changed APN settings, soft resets, safe modes, the #**#* tricks (several different combos), manually tried all network modes (currently in global-ATT). All of which with no success. This is something i have been working on for a few months. When i am home and at work i have the H+, so the most important times i have a working phone. Any other times, i have to communicate via Facebook Messenger (less than ideal, but functional). That’s pretty much it. Any advice would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. This is a headache that I am tired of dealing with. Hope to hear from you soon and get this resolved. — Curtis

Solution: Hi Curtiss. As far as phone troubleshooting is concerned, you’ve already done all the basics so the only remaining step that you need to perform is to talk to your wireless carrier. There may be an issue with how your account is configured so it’s good if you can talk to them about this problem.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy S6 overheating and Back button not working, other issues

Here’s another list of #GalaxyS7 issues for today. Although the Galaxy S7 is an excellent hardware in almost all respects as compared with its current crop of rivals, the six topics below is another proof that it’s just as frustrating using it if it suffers from problems. We hope that our solutions in this post can help our community.

  1. Galaxy S6 cannot send SMS
  2. Galaxy S6 home screen has persistent Facebook and Messenger icon
  3. Galaxy S6 not receiving some SMS from O2 network
  4. Galaxy S6 edge plus sync issue fixed after installing an update
  5. Galaxy S6 overheating and Back button not working
  6. Galaxy S6 edge won’t charge and won’t turn 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.

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 cannot send SMS

I am traveling for work and have had message send errors since landing here. After landing my phone also took an update. Now let me preface this with prior to leaving for work I was having issues with sending messages on the LTE network. I downloaded an LTE switch and was not having issues on the 4G network. WCDMA only to be exact.

Since landing in Colorado it has been across the board. After combing your forums I have tried the following to no avail:

  • Factory reset my phone, this fixed it temporarily but not for long.
  • Thinking it may be a specific app I have tried starting my phone in safe mode. I’ve attempted to change the app, nothing.
  • I’ve tried changing the message center number. No go.

I’m banging my head against a wall over here. I am now able to make calls, but still no messaging capability. This was also affecting my data connection for a while as well but that seems to have been halted.

I also have turned off the enhanced LTE services. Tell me I’m not covering all my bases and you have an answer for me. Thanks for any help in advance. — Mike

Solution: Hi Mike. Services for voice calls and SMS are supposed to go hand-in-hand, which means that if you can do one, the other should work as well. Since that’s not happening in your case, there may be an issue with your phone, probably with the messaging in particular. That factory reset did fix the issue initially may be an indicator that a bug or setting may have changed something in the system afterwards. If you’re using a stock messaging app (Samsung’s Messages app), try to wipe it’s cache and data to see if that will make a difference. Here’s how:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

As you can see, the above steps are meant to address possible issue with a particular app only. Tapping on the Clear Data button is the virtual equivalent of uninstalling and re-installing the targeted app. This is an effective solution if the cause of the problem is on the said app itself. However, if the issue lies somewhere else, the steps above may not help at all. Remember, wiping the cache and data can be done on whatever messaging app you’re using so use it accordingly.

If the issue continues after wiping the messaging app’s cache and data, the next troubleshooting step you want to do is to use another app. This will help you determine if the current messaging app is buggy or not. There are many paid and free messaging apps in the Play Store so try to use as many as possible.

If nothing changes still, contact your wireless carrier and ask them for direct support.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 home screen has persistent Facebook and Messenger icon

So I just recently got the Galaxy S6 and at the top of my screen you can faintly see what looks to be like Facebook. I can see a messenger icon and the bar that shows your feed and the search etc. And I can always see it like behind whatever app I’m on and even my home screen. It’s behind everything and I’ve tried to delete Facebook because I don’t even use it anyways and I’ve force stopped the app I’ve disabled the app and nothing so are has taken it off of my screen. The phone was bought off of another person that was selling hers so when I got it I did a factory reset on the phone and her phone number had already been taken off of the phone. So it should have been wiped clean and by all means the phone has been acting that way but I can’t understand why it looks like Facebook is always behind my screen. The phone was a gift for my birthday and I don’t want to seem ungrateful because I’m really happy I got it. But when it comes to stuff like this I feel like there’s got this one be a way to fix it and it’s driving me crazy to just always have it there and Would just really like this to be taken care of if there’s anyway I can. — Abbey

Solution: Hi Abbey. We don’t know what exactly you mean but we suggest that you check all settings that can change the appearance of the screen. These settings include:

  • wallpaper
  • themes
  • home screen, and even
  • lock screen and security.

Any of them can modify how the display look so make sure that you play with each one and change the setting that you don’t want accordingly.

Problem #3: Galaxy S6 not receiving some SMS from O2 network

Hi. For the last 3 months, i have been randomly not receiving text messages from the O2 network. Doesn’t seem to be any other network that there is an issue with. I can receive 2/10 or 4/10 or 0/10 etc., all sent on the same day. There seems to be no pattern to it. I have contacted 02 who have said there is not a problem with their network and they stated that if there was, then I wouldn’t receive any that were sent to me. I have contacted Vodafone who have stated the same. No one seems to have an answer. Also, notifications for Ebay, emails, other apps seem to sometimes come through and then sometimes don’t. HELP! — Corinne

Solution: Hi Corinne. Most of the time, an intermittent issue like this is caused by service interruptions or problems but that doesn’t mean you can’t troubleshoot the phone itself. There’s still a chance that a bug, setting, or interruption can be caused by factors that lie on the phone. The relevant basic phone troubleshooting  that you must do should include:

  • wiping the cache partition
  • booting to safe mode
  • wiping the messaging app’s cache and data, and
  • factory reset

Wipe the cache partition. This is a maintenance step that can be done whether or not you’re experiencing issues. This is to ensure that the phone’s system cache is updated all the time. A corrupted system cache can sometimes lead to erratic app behaviors. Wiping the cache partition may or may not lead to a solution. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S6 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Boot to safe mode. Booting to safe mode is not a solution in itself but rather a means to knowing if a third party application is causing the problem. There may be a third party app or another messaging app that prevents some messages from being received. That said, make sure that you observe how messaging on the phone works for at least a couple of days while safe mode is enabled. If the problem won’t occur while the phone is in safe mode, that’s clear indication of a third party app causing the problem. Here are the steps on how to boot to safe mode:

  • Turn your Galaxy S6 off.
  • Press and hold the Power button.
  • Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S6’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  • Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  • Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.

Delete messaging app’s cache and data. The problem may lie on the current messaging app. To fix it, you must consider deleting its cache and data. Keep in mind that tapping on Clear Data button will delete all your SMS and MMS. If you want to keep some important conversation threads, make sure that you back them up before proceeding. Here are the steps on how to delete an app’s cache and data:

  • Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  • Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  • Once in there, click on an application.
  • You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  • You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

Perform a factory reset. Wiping your phone clean via factory reset is a necessity in your case. You need to revert all software settings back to their known working state to see if a software bug is to blame. Like in safe mode, you must observe how messaging works after you do it. Do not install anything right after a factory reset. Wait for a full 24 or 48 hours before installing any update or app. This way, the phone’s software is clean and there’s no possible third party app or service that can interrupt the normal functions. If the issue remains during the observation stage, the cause of the problem can be due to a network issue or sender issue. If possible, try to call the contacts you’re not getting SMS from to confirm that they have indeed sent something to you.

As a reference, here are the steps on how to factory reset your S6. again, make sure to back your files up before you proceed.

  • Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6.
  • 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.

Insert your SIM to another phone. If you are in a GSM network, insert your SIM card to another phone and see if the problem continues. If it does, work with your carrier to solve the problem. We know you already contacted them but if the same issue also happens on a second phone, that’s proof that their system is not forwarding some SMS sent to your number. That’s a technical problem that only your carrier can fix.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 edge plus sync issue fixed after installing an update

Re: sharing of source of failure to sync Galaxy S6 edge plus. While this may be obvious to IT pros, it wasn’t to a long time user with no history of problems during 14 months of owning my S6 edge plus — make sure you’ve installed to most recent Android update. I postponed the installation for a day, as I’ve done in the past with no ramifications. Having forgot that I did so, my MS server email account wasn’t syncing, although it did allow me to send and receive with no problems. I just couldn’t flag messages, and, although I could manually mark item as read, it wouldn’t automatically do so after I did in fact read them. So, I happen upon your site, attempted to follow the first suggestion and was again reminded of the pending update. After installing the update, all features were restored and working without incident. Odd, this particular update only affected MS server accounts, as my Gmail & Yahoo email accounts had no problems and synced just fine. — Michelle

Solution: Hi Michelle. We’re glad to know that your issue was fixed by simply installing a system update. As we’ve been hammering in almost all our posts, updates are released for a reason. Sometimes, updates include patches that can fix known bugs, while others are there to improve things under the hood. In general, it’s always good to install them rather than not. To minimize bugs in the system, make sure that you only install apps from trusted or reputable developers. A lot of Android problems are caused by having incompatible and malicious apps in the system. Stick to official or mainstream apps because they tend to receive updates more often.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 overheating and Back button not working

Hi. I bought a Samsung Galaxy S6 via Amazon in June, 2016. Condition was: New. Now suddenly it got overheated and won’t work correctly anymore. Partly of the phone has been damaged, the return key doesn’t work. I sent an email for Amazon, but they told me to contact Samsung first. I did that and I did all the steps they told me to do, but it didn’t help. My phone still doesn’t work. It goes on but becomes very hot quickly. And the battery runs very quickly. I was a little bit angry and frustrated because I bought the phone for $429 and now after 8 months it is damaged.

Is there any way that you can help me? And if you cannot help me, can you send me a summary of our correspondence so they can work on another solution for me? Thank you in advance. With regards. — Esterline

Solution: Hi Esterline. Overheating and damaged button are hardware malfunction that cannot be fixed by a software hack. The phone needs repair, not some software troubleshooting. If you want to permanently fix the issue, you must either send the phone to Samsung, or have an independent service center check it. Repair requires a number of things including a trained technician to physically check the motherboard and other components, as well as necessary repair kits that only a service center can provide. It may sound unfair but repair is actually the effective way to solve your phone problem, unless of course you can have the phone replaced by Amazon.

Problem #6: Galaxy S6 edge won’t charge and won’t turn on

Hello. Last night, I was charging my Galaxy S6 Edge as I always do. The phone was charging just fine. However this morning I woke up to my phone being dead. I went to make sure the cord was still plugged in and it was, as was the charger. The charger was plugged into a surge protector, and I noticed the surge protector had been switched off. I’m not sure if a shirt or something had fallen on in, switching protector off, or if it was something else. Now whenever I plug my phone into a charger, the charge symbol will show up, but then it will disappear. It will not show it is charging. I have tried 3 cords, 1 not a fast charger, and 3 different outlets, none of which are a surge protector. My phone has installed 3 updates in the past month and a half, but i do not believe this is the source of the problem.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi! You’re my only hope! — Jonathan

Solution: Hi Jonathan. A lot of phones suffering from charging issues have defective or damaged charging ports. Try to use some form of magnification and inspect the charging port for dirt or bent pin. If you can see that a pin is out of place, or if there’s lint, it may be the reason why the phone won’t charge. If everything looks normal insider the port, you then need to check whether or not you can boot the phone to other modes. Only then can do some software troubleshooting. If the phone remains unresponsive and won’t boot at all, you must send it in so the hardware can be checked.

For reference, here are the steps on how to boot the phone to alternate modes:

Boot in Recovery mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. 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 S7 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.

Boot in safe mode:

  • Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  • Press and hold the Power button.
  • Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  • Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  • Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  • The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

 

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

How to fix power and boot up issues on Galaxy S6 devices, other issues

One of the most common issues we encounter in #GalaxyS6 devices has something to do with power and boot up. In this post, we bring you a few of similar problems in order to address this problem once and for all. Don’t forget to also visit our main Galaxy S6 troubleshooting page if you have the time.

These are topics we’re covering for you today:

  1. Galaxy S6 won’t boot to normal mode | Galaxy S6 stuck in Samsung logo screen
  2. Galaxy S6 cannot send SMS to one contact using Verizon Messages app
  3. Galaxy S6 froze then refused to turn back on afterwards
  4. Galaxy S6 edge won’t charge
  5. How to revert the Galaxy S6 Gmail app to its previous version?
  6. Verizon Galaxy S6 not working on AT&T network

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 won’t boot to normal mode | Galaxy S6 stuck in Samsung logo screen

My phone went completely dead last night while carrying it in my purse pocket. I had used it prior to putting it into my purse and when I took it out it was completely dead and would not turn on but I know that it had battery life. I tried to charge it with three different chargers so I know it was not the charger. I did get the phone to turn on with the volume up button and power button but it only shows the charging icon and a dark blue/light blue flashing light. It does not look like it is adding any charge. I pressed the volume down, power and home button and it shows the Galaxy S6 screen but that is all. It is stuck, any suggestions? I don’t really know what the Android Version is, I was guessing with Lollipop. — Deb

Solution: Hi Deb. There are a number of failures that can lead to an issue like this. Below are these possible causes:

  • dead battery
  • malfunctioning motherboard
  • broken power button
  • unknown software glitch

As you notice, the first three in the list are all hardware causes. If any of them is the main cause, the next best thing that you can do is to seek help from a professional. You may ask how do you determine if hardware is to blame. Well, it’s actually simple in this case. You just have to try to boot the phone to alternate modes by following the steps below. If the phone remains unresponsive, or if you can’t, for example boot to any particular mode to do a follow-up procedure, that’s proof that hardware is to blame. Here are the steps on how to boot your phone to different modes:

Boot in Recovery mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
  4. Wait until the Download screen appears.
  5. 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.
  6. Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

  1. Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
  6. The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 cannot send SMS to one contact using Verizon Messages app

After last system update, 1 out of my 100 contacts is not getting my texts, but I get his just fine. Mine say “sent” but not delivered, like the rest. When I go to text him, instead of the grey record microphone to the right of the “type message,” it’s blue. When I start to type, it turns into that send arrow & says “chat” instead of “SMS” like all the others. And it’s still blue, unlike the grey on the others. I tried rebooting my phone, uninstall/install, deleting the contact & reentering the contact, but it hasn’t helped. I did the text update & this did not help. I uninstalled the updates on the app & now my messages for this contact says “sent” not delivered, like the rest. I downloaded a different app & he got my message, which is great, but I really want to use the Verizon message instead. — Coldnosekennels

Solution: Hi Coldnosekennels. If you can send SMS fine to this contact using another app, that’s a clear sign that the Verizon messaging app is problematic. Make sure that you let Verizon know of the problem so they can let their app developer team about it. An issue like this may or may not have immediate solution so make sure that you let Verizon know about it.

Problem #3: Galaxy S6 froze then refused to turn back on afterwards

Good Morning. Last night my phone froze and restarted itself randomly about 6 times until it completely turned itself off. I tried charging it, tried the soft re-set, turning it on etc. and none of it has worked. I was wondering (more like hoping) that it’s a simple issue to fix and some other people I’ve tried asking for help (so called ‘gurus’ were no help at all). I’m quite worried, more so about all my files, photos etc (memories we’ll call them) and losing them. Because I’m not certain that I’ll be able to transfer all the files if the phone can’t be fixed. I hope you are well, and that you’ll be able to provide some light on this issue. Kind Regards. — Elizabeth

Solution: Hi Elizabeth. Your issue is similar to Deb’s above so kindly refer to our suggestions for her. Keep in mind that your main task here is to see if you can boot the phone back on to any alternate mode. Even if, for example, you will be able to turn it on to download mode, there’s no guarantee that you may be able to recover your files because you can only do that when the phone is either in normal mode or safe mode. The Nand chip, or the storage device in your phone requires power and a working operating system so a user can access its content. If the phone remains unresponsive, there’s no way you can get your files back.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 edge won’t charge

Hi and good morning. My issue on my Samsung Galaxy S6 edge is not charging even if i left it plug in for several hours. It is still not showing sign of charging. I check the charger and cable and there’s no problem in them. It started last night. seems perfectly working. i left it with a 30 percent battery life with wifi on and mobile data is off. And i woke up 5 hrs later and when I look at my s6 edge, it’s completely off no matter what combination of pressing the button i did. I search on the troubleshooting guide on the internet still no success to power it on while the charger is plug in to the wall. My S6 edge is running on official Android Marsmallow 6.0.1. And i take care of it very much. no scratch never been dropped. Hoping very much that you could find a solution for my device and very much appreciate it. Thank you. — Mikeyutuc

Solution: Hi Mikeyutuc. Sometimes, a pin inside the charging port can be bent due to misuse or wear-and-tear so make sure that you inspect it with some form of magnification. Try to look for signs of damage and see if there’s something that you can do to fix it yourself (such as straightening a bent pin). If everything looks normal inside or if you can’t inspect it thoroughly, try the suggestions we provide for Deb above. If you won’t still be able to power the phone back on, have the phone repaired or replaced.

Problem #5: How to revert the Galaxy S6 Gmail app to its previous version?

Recently my Samsung S6 had an update notification that I clicked to install. Usually I’m cautious about updates, because they cause problems. The standard updates were fine to this point. I presumed it was for the operating system. This particular update also FORCED updates for ALL my applications INCLUDING Gmail. Arggh!! I want to revert back to my old Gmail that I have had for the last 2 years. It worked just fine and I purposely did not update it when notified.

I had 3 updates including GMAIL that were pending and I chose NOT to update them, because the old versions worked just fine. I am most upset about the update to my Gmail though. However, I guess under settings I did not have the “do not auto update” selection active  for some reason. I remember having it before, but they must have changed that feature in previous updates because I looked at it after the fact and it was not set to NOT update.  So I got stuck with having my Gmail updated without wanting it to.

In this case  my Gmail was updated into this awful version with a bunch of colored icons that takes up too much real estate on my phone screen. It’s just terrible to use. Stuff is hidden and hard to find. I don’t like it AT ALL. I really really want my previous older version back. I called the Google App store support and we tried to uninstall the updates from the settings and application manager and then clear the cache and restart. It didn’t work. The new version was still there. We tried disabling and re-enabling the Gmail app. The new version persisted. I also called Samsung support. They said because it is a third party application from Google they can’t change back to the old Gmail. I am trying to get back my previous version of Gmail, in whatever way I can. So I thought to ask you if you had any ideas as to what to do. — Expotube

Solution: Hi Expotube. Android and apps evolve so as long as you keep your phone connected to the internet, there’s always a chance that it will receive unwanted updates.

As far as reverting apps to their factory state is concerned, the only way to do it is by disabling or clearing their data under application manager by doing the following steps:

  1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
  2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
  3. Once in there, click on an application.
  4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
  5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

If you don’t want to use the default version of the current Gmail app, you can try to manually flash the older version of the operating system. For example, if your phone is now running Android Marshmallow but you want the Gmail app version of the Android Lollipop OS, you can flash the older OS to your phone via Odin mode. Keep in mind that flashing, if not done correctly, can lead to problems. We don’t recommend that you do it on your phone but if you can’t live without the old Gmail app version, this is your only choice.

We don’t provide step-by-step guide in flashing any device so use Google to search for one.

Problem #6: Verizon Galaxy S6 not working on AT&T network

Hi. I was wondering if you guys/gals could help me. I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 (4G LTE), unlocked when received. I used it with Consumer Cellular (AT&T network) for a year with relatively few problems. It can no longer connect to the AT&T network. My friend had factory reset it before giving it to me. Toward the end of the year, the network would cut out every so often for a day or two at a time. As of January 3rd 2017, the network cut out completely. Confusingly, testing a friend’s Verizon SIM card in the phone got me full bars and I could call people. I’m wondering if the problem is that it is not updated to Marshmallow. AT&T said they phased out their 2G towers as of Jan 2017, but the phone should be able to go to 3G / 4G. I have always had it on global network mode. (The other 2 options are “LTE / CDMA” and “GSM / UMTS”. Neither gained access to AT&T network after January 2017).

I factory reset it a few days ago. Unsurprisingly, I still can’t access AT&T’s network, but my friend’s Verizon SIM still works, full bars. When I called Verizon, they said they can’t unlock it remotely and that phones have been known to spontaneously lock themselves. Is there any way to unlock the phone again? I’m leery of rooting it, that’s my last option. The phone is not reported as lost (bought from my friend) It has not been Rooted. Thank you for taking the time to read this! — Aleksandra

Solution: Hi Aleksandra. There are only two possible causes for this problem. Either (1) the phone’s software or network settings have been changed, or (2) there’s a problem with AT&T’s network services in your area.

The first one usually happens if a ported phone like the one you have, which is a Verizon phone, is updated, rooted, or flashed. In some cases, doing a master reset, a type of factory reset via recovery mode, can revert the original network settings of the phone, which in this case is Verizon’s. if you did an update, rooting procedure, flashing or master reset on the phone prior to noticing the problem, that may be the reason why the phone can no longer connect to AT&T network. To fix it, you must ask your friend again what changes were made on the phone before it was given to you. Verizon phones are notoriously difficult devices to configure so they can be used with other networks. If you did not do anything after you received it from your friend, ask him or her what else she tried other than factory reset that made it compatible with AT&T network.

Otherwise, talk to AT&T technical support and ask for direct assistance. There may be an on-going issue that affects users in your area.

 

 

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