About a couple of days ago, Sprint rolled out another lollipop update for its Galaxy S5 to fix some bugs and issues encountered by its customers. So, if you are prompted to download the update, please take time to do so especially if you are currently bugged by an issue or two.
In this post, I addressed ten issues reported by our readers. While some of them can be fixed without the need of a new update, others are actually firmware-related. For those who emailed us, take time to browse this post to see if your concern was addressed and for our readers who may have just tuned in, you may send your questions to [email protected] but provide all necessary details about your phone and your problem. You may also post on our Facebook wall and/or Google+ page or follow us on Twitter (#RealTDG).
MUST VISIT: Samsung Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting
The following are the problems I addressed in this post:
- Sprint Galaxy S5 Shows “Unfortunately, Contacts has stopped” Error
- Sprint Galaxy S5 Can’t Connect To The Internet Via Wi-Fi
- Sprint Galaxy S5 Contacts, Battery, WiFi & Performance Issues
- Sprint Galaxy S5 Wi-Fi Turns On Automatically
- Sprint Galaxy S5 Lollipop Update Corrupted MicroSD Card
- Sprint Galaxy S5 Draining The Battery After Lollipop Update
- Ads Pop Up On Sprint Galaxy S5 After Lollipop Update
- Sprint Galaxy S5 Auto Answering Calls
- Apps Crashing After Lollipop Update on Sprint Galaxy S5
- Sprint Galaxy S5 Camera Won’t Focus
Sprint Galaxy S5 Shows “Unfortunately, Contacts has stopped” Error
Problem: Hi, last week I updated my Sprint Galaxy S5’s operating system and I don’t have a problem with my device. However, this week my S5’s contacts cannot be opened anymore. There’s a message always popping up on the screen saying “Unfortunately Contacts stopped working”. I already turned off and on the device but the message still keeps on showing on the screen. I’m a newbie in Android world and I’m hoping you can help me fix my issue. Thanks! — Ella
Problem 2: Hi. I have the Galaxy S5 and the new version of android and for some reason my contacts will stop working and my friends and family say that my phone goes straight to voicemail, and not recieve texts. How can I keep it from doing this again? Happy Connecting. Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S5. — Rick
Problem 3: Since I updated my galaxy s5 to lollipop, I’ve been getting an error message stating my contacts are no longer working. I’ve cleared the cached folders and the problem still persists. Please let me know what i can do to fix this.
Also, my bf and I both have s5 phones. He was trying to share music files to my phone and both phones had the nfc and s link activated but the files would but transfer. What were we missing to get the files shared between the two phones? Thank you, Traci.
Problem 4: I’m a Sprint S5 user. I’m having a contacts error pop up a couple of times a day with no actual errors. Any ideas on how to fix? Thanks for the info about corrupted pics. Those are the only problems I’ve had so far. Thanks in advance. — Dennis
Problem 5: After updating to lollipop, every time i get a call it switches into priority mode and silences all sound but media and ringer. Also about every hour I receive a notification saying “Unfortunately contacts have stopped working”. Please help! — Ryan
Troubleshooting: For this section alone, I addressed problems reported by five of our readers who emailed us. This problem is common, in fact, it also happens to Verizon and AT&T variant. There are actually three ways to address this problem:
- Clear the cache and data of the Contacts app.
- Disable Contacts sync while the phone is still optimizing some apps.
- Clear the cache and data of Google+, uninstall it and the download and install a fresh copy from Play Store.
These procedures were reportedly effective in fixing this problem but there’s no guarantee. So, if all else fails, master reset is your last resort.
Sprint Galaxy S5 Can’t Connect To The Internet Via Wi-Fi
Problem: Hello, in the last two days my phone will not load web pages, facebook, or ifunny while I am connected to my wifi. When I turn my wifi off, they load fine. Do you have any suggestions to why? — Shannon
Troubleshooting: Hello, Shannon. First of all, verify that your Wi-Fi network doesn’t a problem. Use other devices to connect to the internet through WiFi. If you can browse the web, load Facebook, download apps and whatnot, then at least, we know it’s not your network but your S5. In this case, try to “forget” your WiFi network in your phone and reboot it. After that, let it scan, detect and reconnect to your network to see if the problem was fixed. If it remained after that, verify that your phone can connect to the internet through other WiFi hotspots because if not, then there’s a possibility that it’s a hardware issue or a serious firmware problem. One way to determine which is which is to perform hard reset.
Sprint Galaxy S5 Contacts, Battery, WiFi & Performance Issues
Problems: Hi, I am contacted in regard to the recent update. My phone hasn’t worked good since. I get error messages all day. Contacts unfortunately stopped, battery life is awful, running slowly, wifi disconnect. I hope there’s a new update to fix these issues very soon because I didn’t spend $600 on this phone for this to happen nor switch from an iphone for it as well. — Katie
Troubleshooting: Hi Katie! Apparently, the recent update messed up your phone and that’s actually a lot of problems for a premium smartphone like the S5. You can go all day clearing caches and data of the Contacts app and related services, finding which apps are draining the battery faster and causing the slow performance, or keep toggling the WiFi slider on and off in hopes that it will stay connected without guaranteed solution. That’s a waste of time. So I just you jump immediately to the ultimate solution–factory reset!
Sprint Galaxy S5 Wi-Fi Turns On Automatically
Problem: Hello, I have the Sprint galaxy s5 and even though I have the wifi turned off it still turns back on by itself. I have everything turned off in settings. It started doing this once I updated to kit kat version 4.4.4 and now it still does this with 5.0 lollipop. Also, when I turn my screen off and I look at my phone later on the phone turns my data off, then after having the phone on for a few seconds my data turns back on. Why is this happening? My phone worked fine until kit kat version 4.4.4. If you have any insight that would be great! — Austin
Troubleshooting: Hey Austin! There is this service embedded in your phone’s firmware called Connections Optimizer and it’s responsible why the Wi-Fi automatically turns on. Just follow these steps and you’ll be fine:
- Go to Settings.
- Touch Mobile networks.
- Touch Connections optimizer.
- Uncheck Auto select best network.
- Or, turn off Connections optimizer itself.
Sprint Galaxy S5 Lollipop Update Corrupted MicroSD Card
Problem: Hi, my sprint Galaxy S5 (SM-G900P) just updated to Android 5.0 and during it there were some errors. The SD card was reading fine before the update but now will not read. I reformatted it on my computer and still nothing. I used my old galaxy S3 and reformatted using that and still nothing.
I also took another memory card and tried that and it doesn’t read. It just keeps saying “Preparing SD card, Checking for errors.”
Do you know what I can do to fix this? The phone will not let me format the card while it’s inserted because it will not read it. Thank you, John.
Related Question: Hello. My phone keeps telling me that I don’t have a SD card but I do. How can I fix this? Best, Carrie.
Troubleshooting: Hey, John. It sure is not the first time I heard of a microSD card being corrupted or damaged after an update. I also encountered a problem wherein the phone could no longer read any of the microSD card mounted on it. So, yes, these things happen and in your case, the recent update might just be the culprit. Based on your description, though, it seems like the problem isn’t with the card but with the phone, specifically the firmware.
Try to boot the phone in safe mode to temporarily disable all third-party apps and service and then let it read your microSD card once again to see if it can. If not, I suggest you reset the phone to factory defaults. If the phone can’t read the card after the reset, you better bring the phone to Sprint store and have their techs re-flash or reinstall the firmware. That will take care of the problem, although it would be a hassle on your end.
Sprint Galaxy S5 Draining The Battery After Lollipop Update
Problem: I upgraded to lollipop 4 days ago, Sprint, Samsung Galaxy s5. Right away my phone was performing slow and began to overheat. This would also drain the battery very quickly. It was hell. Finally removed the SD card and it solved the problem, but I’m not sure if it’s an issue with the card itself or an app that was on the card. Obviously I want access to my card. Any help is greatly appreciated. — Thanasi
Troubleshooting: Hello Thanasi. One of the reason why the phone overheats is when it keeps on trying to access the microSD card but can’t read from it. That is why, the problem was fixed when you removed the microSD card. I believe your microSD card has been corrupted during the update but please do check on that because it’s been so common. There were even cases wherein microSD cards were damaged due to a firmware update but let’s just hope for the best.
Ads Pop Up On Sprint Galaxy S5 After Lollipop Update
Problem: Hello, since updating my phone to lollipop, when I wake my phone a little black and white droid guy shows up and an ad come on the phone full screen usually for a game like clash of clans. This is very annoying. How do I make it go away and stop doing this? I have already tried the “wipe cache partition” to no avail. Thanks, Rob.
Troubleshooting: Ads are often attached to apps, so one way to stop this is to find the app in which the ads that keep popping up are attached to and then uninstall it. You may go to the Application Manager and swipe to the left to display contents of the “Running” tab. Try to disable suspected apps first until you can find the culprit; that’s the time you can uninstall it.
Sprint Galaxy S5 Auto Answering Calls
Problem: Hi, I have a White Samsung S5, Sprint carrier. I was wondering why my phone every so often answers calls by itself. I have disabled voice answer, direct calls, waving hand over device. Anything that has to do with a gesture. Usually my phone is flat down somewhere and someone calls me and some how it will answer by itself, without it being touched or anything. I have factory reset my phone thinking it would not do that issue again, but still same problem. Any suggestions that you can recommend me or is there a multifunction happening with my phone?
Troubleshooting: Many were actually complaining having the same problem as yours and while some said factory reset worked for them, others say doing so is just a temporary remedy and not a permanent fix as the problem returned shortly after the reset. It’s the problem with the phone and Sprint is willing to compromise just for the sake of its customers, so contact your service provider. There’s nothing we can do about that. And by the way, this issue has already been happening even before Kitkat and Lollipop so it’s not because of the recent update.
Apps Crashing After Lollipop Update on Sprint Galaxy S5
Problem: I have this annoying issue on my Sprint Galaxy S5 after I updated my device’s operating system 4 days ago. I noticed this certain issue the other day when some of my apps won’t open even when I already rebooted my phone several times. Until now I can’t fix the issue. Please help! – Tyler
Troubleshooting: Hi. Most often, only apps that were saved or moved in the microSD card are affected by this problem, it’s because the recent update may have corrupted the card so it can’t be read by the phone. The best thing to do is to remove the SD card from the device and let your computer or laptop read it. If you’re prompted straight up that the card needs to be reformatted, then it’s either the data were corrupted or the card is totally damaged. That said, there’s no way for us to recover your data and the only way to know if you can still use it or not is to reformat it using FAT32 format. If the phone can’t read from it after that, it’s time you bought a new SD card.
Sprint Galaxy S5 Camera Won’t Focus
Problem: Hello guys, just this week I updated my Sprint Galaxy S5’s software and I can say that the performance of my device is amazing. However, yesterday morning when I tried taking a picture my camera won’t focus and I don’t know what caused the issue. I rebooted the device several times but the issue was not fixed. I also turned off the device for two hours but when I turn it on the issue still happening. I’m hoping you can help me with my issue. Thank you in advance! – Jen
Troubleshooting: If the problem is just the focus and the phone can still snap pictures, then just clean the lens with a dry, soft cloth. Obscured lens will cause this problem. You may also try to clear both the cache and data of the Camera. Based on your description, I think the problem isn’t serious at all.
Full Master Reset
This procedure will delete all data saved in your phone’s internal storage and may corrupt your microSD card. So, prior to the reset, make a backup of your important data and physically unmount your microSD card.
- 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 several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
- Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
- When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
Summing it up
There you go! While we specifically mentioned Sprint in this post, it doesn’t mean the troubleshooting procedures or solutions we presented here won’t work with other variant of Galaxy S5. They will as long as the problem is not Sprint-specific. If you have questions, problems or suggestions, feel free to email us at [email protected]. And that concludes the 3rd part of our Sprint Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting series.