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Galaxy S5 Problems

Fix Samsung Galaxy S5 “Unfortunately, Facebook has stopped” error & other Facebook problems

While Facebook for Android app is one of the most popular apps in the Play Store and has its own support group, it’s not free of problems. In fact, we received a lot of emails from our readers reporting/complaining about the issues they encountered and one of them is the error message “Unfortunately, Facebook has stopped.”

Galaxy-S5-Facebook-Problems

I will walk you through in dealing with that error message and how to get rid of it. Then I will tackle on other Facebook-related problems with your Galaxy S5. There’ve been reports that FB issues were more rampant after the Android 5 Lollipop update. Many experienced having the app crashed on its own, while others have issues viewing stories on their timeline. So, read on, as this post maybe helpful enough for you.

If, however, you have other issues with your Galaxy S5, visit our Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting page to find related issues. Try the solutions we provided and if they didn’t work for you, then email us at [email protected] and we will help you find appropriate solutions for your problem. This is a free service we offer so you won’t be charged. However, we ask you to provide all necessary information about the problem and your phone. Include the model as well as the version of Android it’s running on.

  1. “Unfortunately, Facebook has stopped” error shows when opening the app
  2. Facebook app just closes/crashes shortly after opening it
  3. Facebook app says “connection lost”

“Unfortunately, Facebook has stopped” error shows when opening the app

Problem: Hello, I own a Samsung Galaxy S5, which I bought a few weeks before the S6 was released, and I recently received an update for its operating system, I believe. While everything works, there’s one app that ceased to function normally–Facebook. Every time I open it, it says, “Unfortunately, Facebook has stopped.” I often use this app to interact with my friends but since the update, I wasn’t able to use it for said reason. While I might be savvy in using my phone, I really am not the techy type, so I don’t know how to deal this problem in the first place. That’s why I need your help. Can you guide me how to troubleshoot this problem?

Troubleshooting: Facebook for Android is a third-party app and I mean your phone can function normally without it. If you cannot use your phone because of the error message that keeps popping up, then uninstall the app. Harsh as it may sound (especially for Facebook support), it’s actually one effective step to know if it’s really the Facebook app that crashes on its own or if there’s another app that triggers it. After you uninstalled it and there’s still error that pops up (not necessarily the same because FB has already been uninstalled), then it’s clear now that the app was just one of the apps that crash and it didn’t actually cause the problem. Here’s how you uninstall an app on an S5:

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

However, if you gotten rid of the error message after you uninstalled it, then it was primarily a Facebook problem. Other technicians may suggest you update the app but I tell you, clearing the cache and the data, then uninstalling it is more effective than that. After which, just download a fresh copy of the app from the Play Store, after all, it’s free and won’t take a couple of minutes to download.

By doing so, you could get rid of the possible corrupt cache and/or data, uninstalled the obsolete version and downloaded the most recent one. If the app still won’t work after that, then you really don’t have much of a choice but to either perform factory reset and install the app again or get used to not having Facebook on your phone. It’s all up to you.

Facebook app just closes/crashes shortly after opening it

Problem: There was an update for Facebook that I allowed and it went smooth and easy. I rebooted my phone a couple of times as I uninstalled a few apps. When the phone was ready, I tried to open Facebook and it did open only to close after a few seconds. I tried accessing the recent apps screen and I can see Facebook being one of the most recent apps used. It means it opened successfully. So, I tried opening it one more time and nothing. Tried and tried until I got tired and convinced myself there’s a problem. Now, I don’t know what problem really is, so I really need your advice on this. Is this a problem with the phone or the app? Help me. — Jacqueline

Troubleshooting: If this problem happened immediately after you updated the Facebook app, then it is clear the new update isn’t compatible or has conflicts with your system. Now, try to see if there is an available firmware update for your phone. If there is none, then you will have to troubleshoot the app. If you contacted Facebook support, all the blame would be on your phone and the same is true if you contacted Samsung for it. So, it’s better you deal with this problem without their help.

I suggest you follow the same troubleshooting procedure I cited in the previous problem: clear the cache and data of the Facebook app, then uninstall it. After that, download the app from the Play Store to make sure you have the most recent version of the app and install it. If the same thing happens, then the issue couldn’t be resolved with basic troubleshooting. It needs intervention from either Facebook or Samsung; either the former will release a patch to fix its app or the latter will roll out an update for its device.

Facebook app says “connection lost”

Problem: First of all, thank you for all the help you could provide. I have a problem with my Galaxy S5, when I open Facebook it says it can’t connect and that I should retry but I am connected to my Wi-Fi network at home. This issue, however, happens intermittently and it’s very annoying. I don’t know how to fix this because sometimes it occurs but then it starts working again and then it occurs again. I can’t figure out what’s wrong with it. Can you guys help me with it, please?

Related Problem: Facebook is way off on my phone. The pictures come in slowly, and if I choose to comment, I get a white page with a turning circle on it for over a minute. I also get gray boxes and no pictures after the first few on the feed. Everything moves VERY slowly.

As for the losing connection, it happens all the time. I never can finish my turn on Trivia Crack because I lose connection. It says, “There is a problem with your internet connection.” Then the screen freezes. It happens on FB too. I also have difficulty watching videos. They won’t work many of the times. I have spoken several times with both Cox Cable and AT&T, and nobody seems to know what connection I’m talking about. We have WiFi, and that connection looks strong.

When I saw your email address, I was so happy! I am soooo frustrated. I cleared google out, and updated my phone. There are no open windows that I know about. I clear them constantly. My phone is a Galaxy s5, and I’ve had it for a year. If you need anymore info, just let me know. Thank you way in advance. — Judi

Troubleshooting: Both of these problems are caused by an intermittent internet connectivity. As what the first issue said, the problem occurs but then it gets fixed. Primarily, it’s necessary to check whether your network equipment, i.e. your router or modem, are working fine because if they’re not, then you should call your internet service provider and get them fixed or replaced to have a more stable internet connection.

Now, if you’re sure it’s not your equipment or network that has issues, then it must be a feature that’s on your phone and I can’t think of anything that results to this problem but the Smart Network Switch feature. It might be a great feature but there have been a lot of reports that it actually interferes with the phone’s capability to connect to the internet normally. It seemed like the phone has become very sensitive that a slight change in the signal strength will immediately result to auto network switch and during the transition, connectivity is lost. So, disable this feature to see if it makes a difference:

  1. Tap Apps
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Wi-Fi.
  4. Untick the checkbox next to Smart network switch.

This is more of a connection problem than just Facebook. So, after you’ve disabled the smart network switch and the problem persists, backup your data and perform full hard reset.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to send them at [email protected] We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails everyday and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

How To Fix Samsung Galaxy S5 Charging Problems [Troubleshooting Guides]

We’ve received a lot of emails from our readers seeking help as their Galaxy S5 won’t charge or has issues charging. A charging problem is as bad as no power at all. What would you do if your phone’s battery is completely drained?

Galaxy-S5-Charging-Problems

Sure, you can buy a new battery to power it up but do you want to buy a new one every day? The other option is to buy an external battery charger but then it’s also too much of a hassle to open that back cover and replace the battery every time it’s drained.

Majority of the problems we received related to charging issues were minor; some were caused by apps, others by a glitch in the firmware, and a few were purely hardware-related problems.

I cited five different charging issues in this post. All these were sent by our readers. If you have a problem charging your Galaxy S5. If the issues below does not fit your experience, feel free to drop us a note on our questionnaire form and help will try to help you out.

  1. Galaxy S5 charges very slowly
  2. Galaxy S5 charges slow and heats up
  3. Galaxy S5 won’t charge at all
  4. Galaxy S5 won’t charge in car
  5. Galaxy S5 won’t charge after being submerged in water

Galaxy S5 charges very slowly

Problem: My Galaxy S5 is more than a year old already but it still gets the job done. Performance-wise, I really can’t complain about it. As of late, however, I noticed my phone is charging very slow. Like when I leave it plugged in overnight, the battery percentage is around 70% when I wake up in the morning. Before, the battery would be fully charged in the morning. I really don’t understand why it’s doing this now especially that I’ve taken care of it. I am not really into fixing electronic problems but if you can shed light to this problem and guide me how to fix it, that would be great. Thank you. — Kal

Troubleshooting: Hey Kal. It sounds like it’s actually just an app or a group of apps that’s causing this problem especially that you mentioned it started just recently. My question is, have you installed an app prior to this problem? If so, disabling it or uninstalling may fix the slow charging issue. However, if you didn’t install an app, then it’s difficult to know which one actually causes the trouble. So, I suggest, you boot the phone in safe mode to temporarily disable all third-party apps.

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

With the Galaxy S5 running in barebones, try plugging it in and see if it charges normally this time. If so, then our suspicion that it’s a third-party app that’s causing the problem is confirmed. You just have to find the app and uninstall it. However, if the problem persists even when in safe mode, you have no other choice but to backup all your data and perform factory reset.

Galaxy S5 charges slow and heats up

Problem: Hello Harold. I have been reading some of your posts on troubleshooting and you explained well how some of the problems I encountered happened. One of the issues I experienced, however, I can’t find any information in your site. My Galaxy S5 is now charging very slowly and not only that, it heats up really bad to the point that I fear it might explode. I would greatly appreciate your effort if you help me fix the problem as it will give me peace of mind.

By the way, if I may add, some of my pictures disappeared almost the same time as when the slow charging and heating up occurred. It just perplexed my mind, you know. Thank you for taking time reading this email. Sincerely, Anne.

Troubleshooting: Hi Anne. Based on the description you provided, it seems to me that the cause of this problem is a corrupt or damaged microSD card.

There are different factors that may lead to the slow charging and the heating up of your phone but when you mentioned that some of your pictures disappeared by the time those two issues started, there’s nothing else I can think of.

When the microSD card becomes corrupted or damaged, naturally, the phone won’t be able to detect or read from it. But since it has been mounted, the device will try to read it over and over again until the service that handles the function will use too much resources including the battery. Consequently, the phone will heat up as the CPU is on hyper drive trying to access a storage device that doesn’t function the way it should.

The quick battery draining issue and the heating up of the phone will be fixed by simply removing the microSD card from the phone. However, the pictures that were lost may not be recovered depending on the condition of the card.

So, unmount the microSD card from your phone, use a card reader and let your laptop or computer read from it. If the computer immediately prompts you to reformat it, then there’s nothing you can do about the data inside. However, if the computer can read from the SD card, then backup everything in it while you still can.

Of course, buying a new microSD card is your best bet.

Galaxy S5 won’t charge at all

Problem: Hi team. I am hoping you guys can help me fix the problem with my Galaxy S5. Its battery got depleted so fast yesterday but when I tried plugging it in to charge, it didn’t charge at all. Being just a user, I really don’t know what to do next to fix this problem. In fact, I haven’t done anything with the phone yet. I tried to search online for solutions and I found your site and the email to contact you, so here I am awaiting your response. Can you guide me what to do to fix the problem? — Mariko

Troubleshooting: Hello Mariko! Since you haven’t done any troubleshooting procedure yet, there’s one thing I want you to do first–soft reset. Don’t worry, this procedure will not delete any of the data in your phone.

  1. While the phone is on, open the back cover and pull the battery out.
  2. Without its battery, press and hold the Power key for a minute.
  3. Now place the battery back in and the back cover.
  4. Try to charge the phone.

If the phone charges, then problem solved, otherwise, troubleshoot further. Now, let’s talk about other possibilities here:

  1. Damaged charger or cable.
  2. Busted battery.
  3. Phone hardware problem.

If possible, try using a different charger and if the problem persists, then the issue is narrowed down to just the battery or the phone. It is up to you if you will buy or borrow a new battery but I tell you, there’s no guarantee it’s a battery issue. So, I suggest you let a technician take a look at your phone. It’s up to the tech to try a different battery or troubleshoot the hardware immediately.

Galaxy S5 won’t charge in car

Problem: Hi droid guy. The new Galaxy S5 I have doesn’t want to charge in my car but it charges fine using the original charger. I bought a new car charger thinking the older one is defective but the new charger won’t work either. It’s not really a big problem as I can charge my phone through the wall outlet but it would be helpful if I can charge my phone in my car. Help me, please. — James

Troubleshooting: Hey James. Basing on your description, I think the problem is with the cable. The phone doesn’t have any charging issues as it charges fine using the original charger and the new car charger you bought is, of course, not defective considering the fact it’s tested before being released from a retail store.

If you were using the same cable, then that’s where the problem lies. Otherwise, the issue is with the car or the port where you plug the car charger in.

Galaxy S5 won’t charge after being submerged in water

Problem: I accidentally dropped my Galaxy S5 in the sink filled with water one day but I immediately picked it up. It was turned off when I inspected it and I was suspecting water found its way into the device. I tried to dry it off for a few minutes, wiped it off with a dry cloth and then turned it on. It did turn on and it functioned the way it should. On that same day, the battery got drained so I plugged it in but it wouldn’t charge. Whatever I do, it won’t charge.

Another thing I noticed is that the battery actually drained so fast. When I turned it on after it fell in the water, the battery was 87% but it got drained completely after two hours with minimal use. So, I’m a bit worried now. How can a water-proof phone gets damaged by water? What can I do to fix this? — Sheng

Troubleshooting: Hello Sheng! The Galaxy S5 is “water-resistant,” not “waterproof.” Meaning, water can still find it’s way into the device especially if the rubber that seals the charging port is loose and the cover is not properly snapped.

So, based on your description, I, too, think water entered the device and somehow messed with the components and the circuit. That might be the reason why the battery drained faster than before.

The thing with water damage is that we really cannot assess properly the extent of the damage but there’s one component that can easily be damaged–the charging IC. And that seems to be the problem here.

There’s nothing you can do about this problem but to let the technician take a look at your device. One more thing, water damage isn’t covered by warranty so, you cannot request a replacement unit and you’ll have to pay for the service.

Having problems with your phone that’s not charging?

We can help you troubleshoot. We already published troubleshooting guides for the following devices:

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to send them at [email protected] We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails everyday and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

Phone Not Charging Troubleshooting

Phones
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Samsung Galaxy S6 not charging
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge not charging
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ not charging
Samsung Galaxy S5 not charging
Samsung Galaxy S4 not charging
Samsung Note 5 not charging
Samsung Note 4 not charging
Samsung Note 3 not charging
Samsung Galaxy J7 not charging
Samsung Galaxy J3 not charging
Google Pixel not charging
Google Pixel XL not charging
HTC 10 not charging
LG V20 not charging
LG G5 not charging
Motorola Moto G4 not charging
Nexus 6P not charging
Nexus 5 not charging
Huawei P9 not charging
Xiaomi Mi5 not charging

How to fix Samsung Galaxy S5 that won’t turn on [Troubleshooting Guide]

Without power, your Samsung Galaxy S5 will become an expensive paperweight on your table. We received a lot of emails from S5 owners seeking assistance because their device won’t turn on or won’t respond when they press the Power key. The thing about this issue is that there is no easy way to determine what caused it, so there’s no ultimate solution. That is the reason why we decided to put up this post to help you troubleshoot if your Galaxy S5 refuses to turn on.

Galaxy-S5-Stuck-Logo-Problem

Based on reports ad emails we received, if it’s not a battery problem, it is more likely to be a hardware issue. This troubleshooting guide will begin with determining if the battery still functions the way it should and then it will progress to more complicated procedures. But the real focus here is how to bring the phone back to life.

Read on to find out the ways to fix issues related to this, after you tried all procedures and the you still have issues, feel free to contact us at [email protected] and we will help you fix them. However, we need you to provide us all necessary details so that can give you more accurate solutions and troubleshooting guides. You may also post your concerns on our Facebook and Google+ pages. For any other issues, please visit our Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting page as we listed all problems we addressed since its release last year.

Step 1: Attempt to charge your Galaxy S5

At this stage, let’s assume that the battery is drained and there’s no power left to power up the phone. So, plug it in and leave the phone to charge for, at least, 10 minutes. While waiting for the time to elapse, make sure the phone displays the usual charging icon or check the LED indicator to see if it’s lit. If the phone isn’t showing signs that it’s charging, just leave it plugged for a few minutes. There are times when the battery is totally depleted and it will take several minutes to light up components inside.

Assuming the phone is showing signs that it’s charging, try to hit the Power key to see if it would turn on. If it didn’t, proceed to the next step; do the same thing if the phone didn’t show charging signs.

Step 2: Pull the battery out of your Galaxy S5

There are times when the hardware glitches and you need to refresh it. Removing the battery for a few seconds will drain electricity stored in the capacitors.

While many think this procedure is absurd, it has actually been proven so many times to work. So, I suggest you follow the steps below to further troubleshoot your problem. After all, what is there to lose, right?

  1. Remove the back panel of the phone.
  2. Pull the battery out.
  3. While the battery is out, press and hold the Power key for a minute. That should be enough to drain stored electricity in some components.
  4. Place the battery back in.
  5. Attempt to turn the phone on.

If the first two procedures failed to bring the phone back to life, it’s time dig deeper into the problem. At least, we now know that basic troubleshooting procedures won’t work.

Step 3: Try to boot your Galaxy S5 in Safe Mode

As I said earlier, the main purpose of this troubleshooting guide is to find out if the phone is still capable of turning on. Booting the phone in safe mode will temporarily disable all third-party apps and this procedure will rule out the possibility that it may be just an app that’s preventing the phone from powering on.

Here’s how you boot Galaxy S5 in safe mode:

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

Step 4: Attempt to boot your Galaxy S5 in Recovery Mode

The Android System Recovery or popularly known as Recovery Mode is the barebone of the Android system. If your phone is still capable of powering itself up, it should be able to boot in this mode considering the Android GUI will not be loaded during boot up. In case you can reach this stage, there is a great chance you can bring the phone back to life.

Here’s how you boot your Galaxy S5 in Recovery Mode:

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

If the phone can boot successfully, proceed with wiping the cache partition or even master reset.

Final Step: Have your Galaxy S5 checked by a technician

Actually, there’s one step I didn’t included here and that’s to try a different battery because there’s no guarantee that it’s a battery issue. You may end up wasting money buying a new one (especially if there’s no one you can borrow from) and still won’t work.

If you’re under contract, you may want to call your provider to see if they can offer you some help. More often, your provider’s technicians will not charge you for consultation so if it was the battery that has a problem, it could easily be determined as they could try to put on a different one without you paying for it.

I hope this troubleshooting guide can somehow help you. Thanks for reading!

Having problems with your phone that won’t turn on?

We can help you troubleshoot. We already published troubleshooting guides for the following devices:

 

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to send them at [email protected] We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails everyday and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

 

 

How to fix “Unfortunately, Touchwiz Home has stopped” error on Galaxy S5

There are two variations to this problem. The first is characterized by the error “Unfortunately, Touchwiz has stopped” and the other by “Unfortunately, Touchwiz Home has stopped.”

This post will explain the differences between those two error messages. Yes, they seem similar but they’re not.

Galaxy-S5-Touchwiz-Stopped

So you could understand better, try to read the problems reported by our readers below. You surely will have a clearer idea how these problems occur, what cause them and finally, how to fix them.

After reading this post and your problem wasn’t resolved, then contact us at our Android Issues Questionnaire and we will look into your concern. However, we are asking you to provide as much details as possible. The more information you provide, the more accurate our troubleshooting guides and solutions are.

MUST VISIT: Samsung Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting 

Now, here are the problems addressed in this post:

  1. Touchwiz crashes while moving icons to folders
  2. Galaxy S5 freezes then Touchwiz error pops up
  3. Widgets lost, Touchwiz Home error pops up
  4. “Use Touchwiz Home as Home” prompt keeps popping up
  5. “Complete action using Touchwiz” prompt won’t go away
  6. Touchwiz Home crashes when uninstalling apps

 =====================

Touchwiz crashes while moving icons to folders

Problem: So I updated my Galaxy S5 to lollipop a few days back and so far, so good! One comment I can make about the update is that it messed my app categories. Prior to the update, I organized my apps according to their functions and placed them in folders. After the update, all apps were scattered and I have to re-organize them. So, I created folders like I did prior to the update but when I tried to move an app, an error pops up saying “Unfortunately, Touchwiz has stopped.” As a result, I haven’t organized my apps the way I want because of this. I don’t know why this is happening and I don’t have a single clue how to fix this. Can you help me, please? — Phil

Troubleshooting: Hi Phil! Apparently, the recent update messed up the Touchwiz service. Touchwiz is actually Samsung’s proprietary touch interface used in many of its high-end devices. It is embedded in the firmware itself and serves as the default interface.

With lollipop comes the new version of Touchwiz. During the update process, all caches and data used by the previous version should have been deleted but it seems like you have to do it yourself this time.

There are three things you can do to address this problem. The first is app-specific while the other two are general troubleshooting procedures.

Clear Touchwiz’s Cache & Data

Since the error specifically mentions Touchwiz being the service that crashes, the following procedure may just fix the problem for you.

  1. From any Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Scroll to ‘APPLICATIONS,’ then tap Application manager.
  4. Swipe right to the ALL screen.
  5. Find and tap Touchwiz.
  6. Tap Clear cache.
  7. Tap Clear data, then OK. [NOTE: All your Home screens will be deleted.]

Once you’ve successfully cleared Touchwiz’s cache and data, try to move app icons to a folder again and see if the error still pops up. If so, then proceed with wiping the cache partition.

How Wipe Galaxy S5’s Cache Partition

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

If the second procedure didn’t fix the problem, you have no other option but to perform master reset but don’t forget to backup all your data because they will be deleted.

How to Master Reset Galaxy S5

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Galaxy S5 freezes then Touchwiz error pops up

Problem: Hi guys. After the update, my Samsung Galaxy S5 became really, really slow that it was impossible for me to use apps or even send a text. I rebooted countless times then the performance improved but there are still random lags and freezes. I really don’t have a clue what was happening at first but then an error message popped up after it froze; “Unfortunately, Touchwiz has stopped.”

Is there a fix to this problem? I need your opinion regarding this issue. Thank you! — Tamara

Troubleshooting: Hi Tamara! It’s good to know you were able to address the performance issues with your phone. But you know what, I think the Touchwiz error is somehow caused by some apps you installed in your phone.

The lagging and freezing that occurred immediately after the update was caused by apps; they need to be optimized to work well with the new firmware, Lollipop. Reboot will trigger the optimization process and that’s the reason why the device regained its performance after you rebooted it many times.

Let’s try to see if third-party apps have something to do with this problem. Try booting your phone in safe mode but following the procedure below:

How to Boot Galaxy S5 in Safe Mode

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

Once the phone booted in safe mode, observe closely if the error still pops up. If so, then proceed with master reset, otherwise, just clear the cache and data of the Touchwiz service and update apps that need to be updated.

Widgets lost, Touchwiz Home error pops up

Problem: Hi, I’ve looked through your posts trying to find this problem, but haven’t seen it. It’s a minor issue, but pretty annoying. After updating to lollipop, I lost some of the widgets on my home screens. When I go to restore them, I get to the step where I can touch and hold the specific widget to put on the screen. Then it stops and a message comes up saying “Unfortunately, the TouchWiz home has stopped.” I tried restarting the phone and clearing the cache under the application manager but that hasn’t helped. Any advice? Thank you! — Liz

Troubleshooting: Hi Liz! This problem is often caused by corrupt data and caches and since the error message pops up whenever you add widgets to the Home screen, it is an issue with Touchwiz Home service. It can easily be fixed by following this procedure:

Clear Cache & Data of Touchwiz Home

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

“Use Touchwiz Home as Home” prompt keeps popping up

Problem: Hi, my new Samsung S5 has just had an update and ever since when I press the home key I get asked “Use Touchwiz Home as Home – Just once or Always. When I press Always it gives me a popup box which says Clear Defaults – go to App Settings – Default Settings/Applications – Clear – but when I go to Default Applications (which is set at Android System) and select Touchwiz Home button a message appears which says Press the home key to apply new default home screen but when I press the home key the original popup appears asking “Use Touchwiz Home as Home – just once or always”!

I am so frustrated! No matter how I try to select Touchwiz as Home Button it doesn’t work. It was fine up until today until the update happened. I’ve tried switching off and on, everything suggested online, nothing!

Please help. Thanks. — Rhonda

Troubleshooting: Hi Rhonda! This is what we’re going to do for this problem. Please try to follow the steps I outlined for you below:

  1. Boot your Galaxy S5 to safe mode
  2. Clear the cache and data of the Touchwiz Home service. Remember that this will reset your Home screens and will delete all widgets you may have set.
  3. Now go to App Settings > Default Applications > select Touchwiz Home > and apply.
  4. If you have other launchers installed, uninstall them as they often cause conflicts with Samsung’s Touchwiz interface.
  5. If all else fails, backup your data and perform master reset.

“Complete action using Touchwiz” prompt won’t go away

Problem: Hi droid guy! I hope you can help me with my problem because I’m actually freaking out right now. Every time I press the Home button on my device, there’s this error message that keeps coming out; “Complete action using Touchwiz.” Then, there are two options, Touchwiz Easy and Touchwiz Home. Whatever I choose, the error will still pop up every single time I hit the Home key. Why is this so? Do you guys know how to fix this? Oh, by the way, my phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5 and I think this problem started after I updated it to lollipop. — Roycie

Related Problem: Hello! I had a problem with my Samsung Galaxy s5 and no matter where I searched the internet, I couldn’t find a solution.

My phone has a problem where whenever I hit the home key, a message pops up asking whether I want to ‘always’ go to the Touchwiz home screen or ‘just once’, or if I’d rather use the Touchwiz Easy Home Screen. After clicking ‘always’, a message comes up that tells me to clear my default applications in the settings menu. I’ve done this tons of times, selected the Touchwiz home screen to be my default home screen, and still whenever I click my home button it still makes me go through the same process. All I want to do is go to the home screen when I click the button! Why is this not fixing the problem when I follow the instructions to clear and set my defaults?

I’ve even tried turning my phone on and off again and repeating the process as well as ‘wiping the cache partition’ with the reboot. Still nothing. I would be so grateful if you could please help me. Thank you! — Allie

Troubleshooting: Hey Roycie! Actually, this problem has become one of the most common issues with Galaxy devices that received an update to lollipop. It turned out to be just a glitch with the Touchwiz service. To address this problem, you just have to clear the cache and data of the service that handles the launchers.

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

Touchwiz Home crashes when uninstalling apps

Problem: Hello Harold. Thank you for this great service you guys are doing. It’s good to get some instructions from experts. I have a very, very annoying problem with my Galaxy S5 that I would like you guys to look at. I get an error that says “Unfortunately, Touchwiz Home has stopped” every time I install an app. I can download/install apps from Play Store, can check my email, can play games, and can make phone calls and the error won’t come out. It just happens when I uninstall an app. It’s not really a serious problem but it’s very annoying especially that I have about 5 apps I don’t want to use anymore as they eat so much of my phone memory. Help! — Sally

Troubleshooting: Just like most of the issues I addressed in this post, yours is also just a minor glitch and you can fix that by following this:

  1. From any Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Scroll to Personalization section.
  4. Touch Easy Mode.
  5. Now choose Standard Mode.

That’s it!

TouchWiz Home Issues For Other Devices

Galaxy Note 2 Touchwiz Home
Galaxy Note 3 Touchwiz Home
Galaxy Note 4 Touchwiz Home
Galaxy Note 5 Touchwiz Home
Galaxy S3 Touchwiz Home
Galaxy S4 Touchwiz Home
Galaxy S5 Touchwiz Home
Galaxy S6 / S6 Edge / S6 Edge+ Touchwiz Home

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to send us your questions on our Android Issues Questionnaire. We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

How to Fix Samsung Galaxy S5 that is Running Very Slow or Sluggish

“I’m having a problem with my Samsung Galaxy S5, which started after receiving the Lollipop update. Since then, I noticed my phone is running very slow and sometimes it tends to freeze or becomes unresponsive when I tried to run or use certain applications on it. What should I do to get it fixed?”

Performance issues including sluggish display or slow to respond, freezing, and unresponsive screen are among the common problems encountered by many users of the Galaxy S5 device following the Lollipop update. In fact, we’ve got several emails from S5 owners from different carriers, complaining about the same issue on their device.

Galaxy-S5-very-slow

While we could say in this case that the update has caused such problem to occur on the device, there are also some other factors that may have triggered it and we have to consider them as well. Among the most common culprits include unstable applications, low internal memory, and multiple apps or widgets simultaneously running.

MUST VISIT: Samsung Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting

To address this concern, I have provided a list of recommended workarounds, troubleshooting methods, and potential solutions to the most common complaints or scenarios tied to slow performance problem with the Galaxy S5 device, including those that manifest after the Lollipop update. Read on and see which of these workarounds are applicable to an existing issue with your phone.

Lastly, if you have issues with your phone, feel free to contact us at [email protected] and we will do our best to look into your concern. Just provide us with necessary information so we will know where to begin our research or troubleshooting.

  1. Galaxy S5 seems Slower after Lollipop Update
  2. Galaxy S5 Display is Sluggish or Very Slow to Respond
  3. Galaxy S5 is Lagging after Downloading and Installing an Application
  4. Galaxy S5 is Slow, Freezing and Crashing while using Facebook or other Apps
  5. Galaxy S5 is Very Slow when Browsing the Internet

=====================

Galaxy S5 seems Slower after Lollipop Update

Problem: I have installed the Lollipop update on my Galaxy S5 late last month. It was an official update from Samsung Kies. At first it seemed to perform better and faster but after a couple of weeks I noticed my phone is getting sluggish. Do you think the internal memory being almost full could be the reason for this or does that not really affect it? Just so you know I have almost 3GB free at the moment and still have a large space on the memory card. I tried to transfer some files from my phone to the external memory (SD card) however the phone doesn’t allow me to transfer many of the files, especially those I assume system files. I have rebooted my phone for several times already, done a clean master check and clean but to no avail. Do you have any idea why the phone may have become slower and what can I do to make it perform better? Please I need your help. — Amie

Troubleshooting: Hi, Amie! Slow performance is among the many issues that have plagued several users of the Galaxy S5 following the update to Lollipop. I’m wondering if you have already tried wiping cache on the device. If you haven’t yet done it, I strongly suggest you do it now. Some users who had encountered the same problem as yours after upgrading to Lollipop said wiping the cache partition on their phone has worked wonders for them. If it won’t do any good for you, then try to manage memory storage to ensure it’s not causing you this trouble. Once you are near capacity, your phone may start to become slow or freeze more often. I therefore recommend checking your phone’s memory storage in device settings in this case. If you see you’re already near memory storage capacity, delete large files or apps you no longer use including videos, pictures, and games. If you think deleting files is undesirable, then you might consider alternatives like moving files to cloud-based storage services on the Internet, transfer files to a computer, or procure larger SD card to allocate more files and save phone space. If all else failed, then that’s when you should consider performing a master reset. If you need help in doing any of these methods, please check out the troubleshooting assistance I’ve created below this page.

Galaxy S5 Display is Sluggish or Very Slow to Respond

Problem: Hi guys. I’ve got a Galaxy S5 for several months already and I haven’t had encountered any major issues until late of last month. It’s been almost weeks now since I noticed my Galaxy S5 display is becoming sluggish or very slow to respond. Every time I would try to open or run an application, it would take more than a few seconds for my phone to respond, or even worst, would not respond at all. As far as I remember, I haven’t changed any settings on my phone and I have no idea what went wrong. It’s too frustrating because it’s hindering me from using many of my favorite apps especially when I badly needed to. I used to love this phone but over the past few days, my experience has become terrible. I hope you could offer me with any tips or potential fixes. Thanks in advance. — Andrei

Troubleshooting: Hi Andrei. Based on what you’ve said, I couldn’t really point out what exactly is causing you this problem. Nevertheless, I have managed to gather some helpful workarounds recommended by other S5 owners who have quite similar performance issue as yours. So, you might as well consider trying these methods on your end.

Try to close apps (force stop) running in the background. Remember that too many applications running in the background can cause the device to respond slowly. To ensure this is not triggering your problem, please check your phone applications menu and see what’s running and what you probably don’t need. If you need help on how to close running apps on the Galaxy S5, you may refer to the troubleshooting procedures I’ve created below this page. I also recommend performing a soft reset or reboot your phone after you force closed all apps running in the background. It often helps resolve several issues including slow, freezing, and unresponsive device.

Galaxy S5 is Lagging after Downloading and Installing an Application

Problem: Hi, droid guy. Just wondering if you can help me out with my S5 problem. I recently installed K9Mail as alternative to the built-in email client on my Galaxy S5 and now my phone is constantly lagging. It’s weird because I’ve had previously downloaded and installed a number of apps from the Play Store for several times already and never had any problem. It’s only this time when my phone is acting different. I’ve tried clearing out the cache but unfortunately it is still lagging terribly. Any suggestions please? — Lorraine

Troubleshooting: Hi there, Lorraine. Sometimes apps could impact device performance. Did the issue start after installing a new application? If so, then try to remove or uninstall the most recent app you’ve added as it could be causing the problem. I also suggest deleting those applications you are not using. The more apps sitting in the apps drawer, the more they plot ways to make your phone slow by using resources including CPU cycles for background services. They will also take up memory blocks and fragments your phone storage. All these could directly affect performance of your device.

Galaxy S5 is Slow, Freezing and Crashing while using Facebook or other Apps

Problem: Hello droid guy! Please, I need help with my Galaxy S5. The problem is on my phone that is becoming very laggy and occasionally freezes up while using certain apps on it. The phone interface, as well as messaging app also feels very laggy at times where I would have to wait for it to respond. I also noticed when I’ll be on Facebook or another app, my phone freezes and then the display goes black for about a minute. I’m sure it’s not the battery because it still happens even when the phone is completely charged. How do I fix this? Any ideas and help would be much appreciated. Thanks! — Ashley

Troubleshooting: Hi Ashley. Based on the details you’ve provided, I suspect it’s a software issue. Have you tried updating your device software to the latest version available yet? If not, then you may consider updating it first. Generally, software updates are rolled out to fix any existing issues on the device. In case you’re already running the latest Android version on your S5 and still have these problems, try to boot into Safe Mode to determine if a third-party app is causing conflict or not. If the problem does not occur while in Safe mode, then it denotes a third-party app is most likely the culprit. Try to disable or uninstall apps you’ve recently installed prior to this problem. Otherwise, you may consider contacting the app’s developer to ask for bug fixes for your device. Also, if you haven’t restarted your device in more than a day or so, please do so now. Sometimes, the app may crash because of a memory glitch in your device and restarting it may well solve the problem. As for the Facebook app, try to clear Facebook cache to free up some space and improve performance. I’ve created a simple guide on how to clear apps data and clear apps cache on Galaxy S5 below this page for your reference, in case you need it.

Galaxy S5 is Very Slow when Browsing the Internet

Problem: My Samsung Galaxy S5 works just fine but recently had noticed it’s performing very slow, especially when browsing the Internet. Also, my default Internet and Chrome browsers have started to have some random tabs crash when I am surfing the web. On rare occasion I’ll get a message saying, “This app has stopped working” or something like that. The same message will also prompt on some of the Internet-based apps like Maps and YouTube so far. If you have any suggestions, that would be wonderful. Thanks! — Vince

Troubleshooting: Hi Vince. Did the problem start after downloading and installing any third-party app on your device? If so, try booting into Safe Mode to prevent third-party apps from starting up. If the problem stops, then something you installed might have caused the instability. I also suggest clearing the Internet and Chrome browser cache and cookies. Be sure to clear the application cache and not the application data. Clearing the app cache doesn’t remove your personal settings or information but clearing the application data does. Lagging issues on browser apps are usually due to large amount of app cache or data stored on your phone. Also check your phone’s memory storage and make sure it’s not nearly full. An app could become unstable if there is no enough memory on your device for it to function well. If you’re already near the storage capacity, try uninstalling any unused of very infrequently used apps or delete some media files to free up space on the internal memory.

=====================

Troubleshooting Procedures

The following are troubleshooting procedures I used in this post.

How to close apps running in the background

  1. Press the Recent Apps key from any screen.
  2. Scroll to and tap the desired app to open.
  3. To close an app, swipe right or left over the app or simply tap the X icon.
  4. To close all running applications at once, tap Close All.
  5. Tap the Active Applications Icon to view active applications.

How to soft reset Galaxy S5

Method 1: Hold the Power/Lock key down until the phone powers off or until you see the power off options on the screen. Tap Power Off to turn the phone off, wait for about 20 seconds, and then hold the Power/Lock key again until the phone turns back on.

Method 2: If your phone is unresponsive to touches and you cannot power it off using the first method, then you can just remove the battery, wait for about 10 seconds then re-insert the battery, and finally, power it back on.

How to boot Galaxy S5 in Safe Mode

  1. Power off the phone.
  2. Press and hold the Power
  3. When the Samsung splash screen appears, release the Power button and immediately press and hold the Volume down
  4. Keep pressing the Volume down button until the phone reboots completely.

Hint: You should see a Safe Mode label in the lower-left corner of the screen once you’ve successfully rebooted in safe mode.

  • Once in safe mode, all third-party apps are temporarily disabled so it would be easier for you to isolate the problem. Test your phone in this mode and see if the problem is gone.

Uninstall Third-Party Apps on Galaxy S5

  1. Tap Apps from the Home screen.
  2. Tap Settings
  3. Go to Applications.
  4. Tap Application Manager.
  5. Swipe to the Downloaded screen.
  6. Select the app you want to remove or uninstall.
  7. Tap Uninstall.
  8. Tap OK to confirm.

Important Note: Some pre-installed apps cannot be uninstalled from the phone. In this case, you can just disable them if really needed. To re-enable pre-loaded apps, go to Settings, tap Application manager, swipe to the Turned Off tab, tap the desired app and finally, tap Enable.

As for downloaded apps, you can always re-install them through the Google Play Store if you decide you needed them after all. Just be sure these are not bad apps though.

How wipe the Cache Partition on Galaxy S5

  1. Turn your phone OFF.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up, Home, and Power buttons at the same time.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but keep holding the Volume Up and Home.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen prompts, release the remaining buttons.
  5. Scroll to and highlight Wipe Cache Partition using the Volume Down
  6. Select the option by pressing the Power
  7. Wait until the cache partition has been wiped completely. When it’s done, you’ll see Reboot System Now is highlighted.
  8. To reboot your device, press the Power

How to Factory Reset Galaxy S5

Performing a hard or master reset on your device will restore it to factory defaults, thus you will lose all your personal data stored on the internal memory including photos, contents, custom ringtones, contacts, and downloaded apps. Contents stored on the SD card and SIM card will not be affected though. Be sure to back up your data before you start performing a master reset so you can just restore them afterwards.

  1. Tap the Apps icon from the Home screen.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Backup and reset under User and Backup.
  4. Clear the check boxes next to Automatic restore and Back up my data, as you desire.
  5. Tap Factory Data Reset.
  6. Tap Reset device.
  7. If prompted, enter your password or PIN and tap Continue. (Only applicable if you’ve enabled a screen lock).
  8. To confirm, tap Delete All.

How to Hard Reset Galaxy S5

This is an alternative method of resetting if you’re unable to perform a hard reset using the settings menu.

  1. Power off your phone.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up, Home, and Power buttons simultaneously.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but keep pressing the Home and Volume Up
  4. When the Android System Recovery displays, release the remaining buttons.
  5. Highlight Wipe data/factory reset by pressing the Volume Down
  6. Select the option by pressing the Power
  7. Scroll to Yes–delete all user data using the Volume Down
  8. To confirm the hard reset, press the Power
  9. Wait until the device has been reset completely or when the Reboot system now option is highlighted.
  10. To reboot your device, press the Power After that, your Galaxy S5 has been reset to its factory default settings.

How to delete browser cache and cookies

  1. Tap on Apps from the Home
  2. Tap Internet or Chrome to open the browser.
  3. Tap the Menu icon (three-vertical-dots figure) located on the upper-right corner of the browser screen.
  4. Tap to select Settings from the Menu options.
  5. Under Settings, scroll to Advanced options and tap on Privacy.
  6. Scroll to and tap on the option to Delete personal data under Privacy.
  7. Tap to check the boxes next to Cache and Cookies and site data.
  8. Make sure both boxes have check marks, and then tap on Done to begin clearing of cache and cookies on your phone.

Connect with us

We’ll be happy to hear and address your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to send them at [email protected]. We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Problems After Android 5.0 Lollipop Update and How To Fix Them [Part 28]

Samsung-Galaxy-S5-Problems-28

For the past 3 days, we’ve been receiving a lot of emails from Samsung Galaxy S5 owners especially who recently updated their phones to Android 5.0 Lollipop. Among the most common are issues about the WiFi that keeps disconnecting / reconnecting and faster battery drain. While these problems seem unrelated, they actually are and they can be fixed by a simple procedure, which I also included in this post.

This post is a continuation of our popular running series that deals with problems, errors and glitches of Galaxy S5. We’ve already addressed more than 300 problems/questions, so if you have issues with your phone, feel free to visit our Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting page and try the solutions or troubleshooting procedures we provided to our readers. If you can find your issue from the list or if the solutions didn’t work for you, contact us at [email protected] and provide all necessary details including the behavior of the phone and what troubleshooting steps you did. You may also post on our Facebook wall and/or Google+ page and we’ll be happy to get back to you as soon as we can.

O2 Galaxy S5 Keeps Disconnecting From WiFi After Update

Problem: Hi there, I am in the UK on O2 network. Random problems started last Friday Feb. 6th – my phone kept connecting and disconnecting with WiFi causing high data usage, when data usage should have been zero as I was at home, where I have an excellent Wifi set up. Whatever this issue was, it meant my phone wouldn’t charge properly as long as I had internet connection, taking 12 hours to charge from dead to a mere 63% and battery was draining too fast when not connected to charger.   I had to either switch phone off or put it in Airplane mode to successfully charge.

Yesterday, Feb 11th my phone tried to install updated Software – it took 3 attempts at downloading and installing, then kept freezing……Once I managed to force a restart my phone is showing it now has Android version 5 (Lollipop?) but the colours of various applications have changed and cannot be altered. One example is the message screen now has a bright orange band at the top of message list. Why???? It’s too bright and off putting. Any ideas? Kind regards, Linda.

Troubleshooting: Hi Linda. The disconnecting / reconnecting to mobile data is due to a feature called Smart Network Switch. As the name implies, the phone will automatically switch between networks (i.e. WiFi and mobile data) if it detects one is absent or has low signal. This problem plagued users who recently updated their phones so I’m a bit surprised you were experiencing this prior to the update. But anyway, the solution to the problem is as follows:

  1. From the Home screen, tap Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap WiFi.
  4. Untick the checkbox next to Smart network switch.

As to the new appearances of some icons in your phone due to Lollipop update, we really can’t do anything about it since that’s how Samsung designed them.

Galaxy S5 Active Cannot Send/Recieve MMS

Problem: Hi, I saw your email on the Internet and I could really use your help. My samsung s5 active has been having problems since I did the most recent update. First I noticed I can not send or receive any picture messages and when I do it says my mobile data is turned off. I then went to turn it back on when I found that it was already on. Messing around mote trying to figure it out I found that my Internet does not work at all unless I an connected to wifi. I am with att and I’m not over my data usage nor do I think they mind charging if I did go over. Can you please tell me how to fix this. Thank you, Jessica.

Troubleshooting: Hi Jessica. If mobile data is already turned on yet the phone still couldn’t connect to the network, then the problem must be in the APN setting. This is just a bunch of letters and numbers that you will enter in your phone so it could successfully connect to the network. There are several information on AT&T’s APN online but to make sure you got the correct one, call AT&T tech support and ask for it. Then ask the rep to walk you through setting it up in your phone.

Galaxy S5 Won’t Boot Up, Flashes the Screen and Vibrates

Problem: Hello, my Galaxy S5 I have had since mid August and it turned itself off since I got it and now will not turn on. It flashed the screen upon holding down the power button vibrated at the same time, but yet didn’t complete it’s start to boot. It did this last night. My Wifi was turning itself off and on ad would not stay on. I do not know what to do with it at the moment and need it as I cannot afford to buy another one. Thank you, Ms. Berard.

Troubleshooting: Hi, Ms. Berard! I think the problem is just a stuck power key, although, there’s also a chance the switch has been damaged. To address that, remove the battery and then press the Power button many times. If it were stuck, doing so will fix it. If not, then you really have to let a tech check on it.

Once the first problem was fixed, this is what you’re going to do in order to have a stable WiFi connection:

  1. From the Home screen, tap Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap WiFi.
  4. Untick the checkbox next to Smart network switch.

Apps Won’t Install on Galaxy S5

Problem: Hi. It’s been a week now and I still haven’t installed any app yet on my phone. I don’t know what happened but all of a sudden all the apps just said “installing” but its not moving. My phone is Galaxy S5 and I am from Philippines. Thank you. Best regards, Maricar.

Troubleshooting: Hi Maricar. I feel sorry for you having to experience this hassle on a brand new phone. It’s a week old phone, I think your provider would consider replacing it with a brand new unit. A new phone should not act that way. If you felt like troubleshooting the problem, though, try this:

  1. From any Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Scroll to ‘APPLICATIONS,’ then tap Application manager.
  4. Swipe right to the DOWNLOADED screen.
  5. Scroll to and tap Download manager.
  6. Tap Clear cache button.
  7. Tap Clear data button, then OK.
  8. Reboot the phone.
  9. Try to download an app.

If the problem remained, I suggest you factory reset it. Yes, I know it’s new but that’s the good thing about new phones, they don’t contain that many data yet.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

After the reset and the problem still exists, bring it back to your provider and have it replaced.

Galaxy S5 Heated Up and Won’t Power On After

Problem: Hi, thanks for the site. Four days ago, I charged my S5 and completely forgot about it. An hour later, I felt the upper part of it was very hot. It’s completely dead. I suspected that my battery could have been overcharged. I took it out and tried on another S5, it worked just fine. I just want my phone to start up again. Please help. — Veronica

Troubleshooting: Hi Veronica! First off, there’s no such thing as “overcharging” in today’s smartphones; they’ll automatically stop charging once the charging IC detects the battery already had enough current to fill its cells. You tested the battery on another phone and it worked, right? So, swipe aside the thought that your battery may have been overcharged and damaged.

But honestly, I don’t know what caused the problem but let’s try to take the safest route in our troubleshooting. The first this I want you to do is soft reset it

  1. Remove the battery.
  2. Press and hold the Power key for a minute.
  3. Place the battery back in.
  4. Attempt to turn the phone on.

Most of the time this procedure will fix any minor firmware and hardware glitches. If, however, it failed, then focus on finding out if the phone can still manage to power up in other modes. Try to boot it up in safe mode first:

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

If safe mode boot up was successful, then the hardware is safe. Just try booting normally and that should do it, otherwise, try booting it in recovery mode:

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

If all these procedures failed to power up the phone, then bring it to a technician and have it checked.

Galaxy S5 Screen Burning Out

Problem: Hey, I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and lately when I have my brightness really low (ultimately trying to save battery life) the screen has been acting as if the light is about to completely burn out. Tonight my phone got to 5% and automatically dimmed but this time it looked like it was going crazy the screen started to get bright and dark like a light bulb before it blows, luckily when I plug it in or turn up the brightness it stops acting like its broke, but why is it doing this is it a defect in this particular galaxy or is my phone just dumb? — Trynady

Troubleshooting: It’s not the first time I heard of this problem. In fact, I already encountered two issues wherein the light sensor was damaged. So, if this problem can’t be fixed by simple troubleshooting, you really have to send the phone in for repair. The first troubleshooting procedure you need to follow is this:

  1. Swipe your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom to open the Notification Panel.
  2. The display brightness bar is shown below the Quick Panel shortcuts.
  3. Touch Auto to turn off Automatic brightness. (Please note that Automatic brightness allows the phone to automatically adjust brightness based on the remaining battery charge.)

If this procedure didn’t fix the problem, I suggest you backup your data and perform full hard reset to rule out the possibility that it’s just a firmware issue:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Galaxy S5 Gallery Never Worked Since

Problem: Hello, I have learned a lot on your website, and I really appreciate your sharing what you know and all the time and effort that has been put into it. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anything regarding the problem I have had since I got my new S5 at Christmas. Since I got the phone, the Gallery app refuses to open. I just get a black screen, and it is hard to go back to ‘home.’ I have searched the internet, and stopped at my local AT&T store, but the best advice I have gotten is to take it to the AT&T tech guys in town, which would be quite a trip for me. I am hoping that you can offer some advice and save me a trip into downtown Houston. — Dawn

Troubleshooting: The problem, while it may be minor, is rare. Honestly, I never encountered a problem wherein the Gallery won’t run since day 1. The first thing I want you to follow, Dawn, is to clear the cache and data of the Gallery app:

  1. From any Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Scroll to ‘APPLICATIONS,’ then tap Application manager.
  4. Swipe right to the DOWNLOADED screen.
  5. Scroll to and tap Gallery.
  6. Tap Clear cache button.
  7. Tap Clear data button, then OK.
  8. Reboot the phone.
  9. Try to download an app.

If you already have photos in your phone, don’t worry they’ll remain intact if you did this procedure. In case the problem remained after you cleared both the cache and the data, boot the phone in safe mode and open the Gallery from there:

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

Lastly, if the problem persisted even in safe mode, hard reset the phone to give it a fresh start and to see if the problem could be fixed by doing so. Otherwise, it’s a firmware issue and you really need to have your provider’s tech check on it.

Text Message Won’t Pop Up After Lollipop Update

Problem: I upgraded my phone yesterday and now I’m unable to get my text message windows to pop up while in other apps. Now I have to go into the text app itself. Before upgrade I could receive my text messages in the pop up window regardless if I had my phone on silent or vibrate. Now I can only receive them in the pop up window if my phone is on ring or vibrate. I went into the Text app notification settings and checked the pop up window box but nothing is working. I hope you can help. Best Regards, Amanda.

Troubleshooting: Hi Amanda, please clear the cache and data of the messaging app to see if that makes a difference. There have been a lot of reports about this problem shortly after an update and that simple troubleshooting procedure fixed many.

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

If, however, the problem remained, factory reset the phone but don’t forget to backup all your data first.

Email Photos Won’t Show After Update

Problem: I have a Galaxy S5 with Verizon, I just did the update yesterday. There’s been a few things I’ve learned to tweak with to figure it out but one I can’t seem to manage is the email content. This is in the email app, not the Gmail app. If its text, it’s shown. If it’s something from, for example, Coldstone or Togos, with an ad or coupon, nothing shows up. There is no picture, nothing. I’ve tried looking for a setting to show html content, like it had been before the update, but no such luck. Suggestions?

Also, when I turn the ringer off, Inc vibrate, it now turns my alarm off. So I have to go into the ringer settings (shortcut still, yes) to change it to priority interruptions only every time. That’s annoying, that’s the way that works now tho right?

Looking forward to hearing back in regards to being able to view my email content. I want my coupons back 😉 Thanks! — Dawn

Solution: Hi Dawn. So, you have a couple of problems after the update, huh? Don’t worry, they can be fixed. Now, about your email problem, just try to scroll down to the very bottom of the email message that has attachments. The blue refresh icon will appear and after that, you can now download the attachment.

About the other issue, I guess that’s how the S5 with Lollipop works now but there’s a workaround.

  1. Open the Notification bar on the lock screen.
  2. Tap on the top right icon to go to icon page.
  3. Tap on the pencil icon to edit buttons.
  4. Drag ‘always interrupt’ button to the top section.
  5. This time, when you open the notification bar, you can tap on the always interrupt button.
  6. It will show priority only and the sound icon will show Sound (priority).
  7. Now, go to Settings > Sound and notification > Interruptions.
  8. Choose the options you want to occur when pressing the Always interrupt button.
  9. It will tell you that “Alarms are always considered priority interruptions.”

Can’t Access Emails on Galaxy S5

Problem: Hi. Just got a Samsung Galaxy S5..vodafone.network…hubby is using my 4 …i am unable to get any emails through…keeps saying…network error check connections….i have compared all settings in hubbys phone…all are the same..and we have the one email account on both the phones…i did get some through…but not all…even have the 2 phones side by side…hubbys has strong signal…my new one…network error….have you any tips..before i have to take time off work..to take phone back i to vodafone store…..lucky i can still access emails on hubbys phone..same network..many thanks. — Tracey

Troubleshooting: Hi Tracey, I have a feeling that mobile data hasn’t been enabled in your phone. Please follow these steps to enable it:

  1. From the home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Scroll to and tap More networks.
  4. Tap Mobile networks.
  5. Tap Mobile data.
  6. Tap OK if prompted.

Just in case mobile data has already been enabled and this problem still occurs, then the APN in your phone may not have been set properly. Call tech support and ask for the correct APN settings and have the rep walk you through setting them up in your phone.

Engage with us

Feel free to send us your questions, suggestions and problems you’ve encountered while using your Android phone. We support every Android that is available in the market today. And don’t worry, we won’t charge you a single penny for your emails. Email us via [email protected] any time. We read every email but can’t guarantee a response. Lastly, if we were able to help you, please help us spread the word by sharing our posts with your friends or visit our Troubleshooting Page. Thanks.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Problems, Glitches, Questions, Errors and Solutions

Hello guys. Welcome to the pilot episode of our Samsung Galaxy S5 Problems series. Just like the previous models, we will be supporting this device and provide appropriate solutions and troubleshooting steps to every reported problem, error, glitch, bug and whatnot.

Samsung-Galaxy-S5-Problems-Part-1

As usual, we have a dedicated inbox for concerns and problems so feel free to email us at [email protected] and rest assured we will look into them, research on them and provide you with all necessary things you can use to fix them. We are serious and dedicated about helping our readers so we also setup Facebook and Google+ pages where you can post your concerns and communicate with us.

Lastly, we created an index of all problems we addressed. I suggest you visit our Samsung Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting page to find out if we already addressed your concerns.

Click any of the links below to jump to the problem…

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Charging Issues

Charging problems are common not only to Galaxy S5 but to other Android devices. In fact, if you did a quick search on Google, you’ll find out there were already a lot of users who were complaining about these issues. We did receive emails from our readers complaining about two things: either their device is charging slowly or they don’t charge at all.

Galaxy S5 Charges Very Slow

Problem: Hi guys. I found your email address via Drippler, I’m a frequent reader. Just a couple of weeks ago I upgraded from Galaxy S3 to Galaxy S5. The first week of use was really smooth but then I noticed as of late that my phone cannot fully charge even if left plugged in overnight. For example, before I sleep at night I plug my phone to charge as I usually drain my battery because I keep my mobile data on all the time. When I wake up in the morning the battery shows it’s just around 75% or so. But before that, the battery could fully charge in the morning. What’s the problem with my phone? Is there a fix or something? Thanks. — Josh

Troubleshooting: Hey Josh. To be able to know the root cause of this problem, you need to observe it closely. Logically, the first suspect is the charger. If it wasn’t the charger, then it could be the battery, then the charging port, and so on. That said, I prepared a simple troubleshooting guide for you.

  1. While the phone is on, remove the back cover and pull the battery out.
  2. Press and hold the power button for a minute.
  3. Replace the battery and the back cover.
  4. Turn the phone on and plug the charger in.
  5. Let the phone charge overnight and find out in the morning if the problem was fixed.
  6. If the problem remained, boot the S5 in safe mode and charge it overnight while in that state.

In Safe Mode, all third-party apps are temporarily disabled so if the phone still charges slowly in that state, then there must be a problem with the charger or one of the phone’s components. Now, if the device drains its battery quicker than before, the battery might the culprit.

Normally, I would recommend using a different charger or battery to rule out these possibilities but in your case, it’s a new phone and you may still be able to have it replaced with a new unit without any issues. So, you better take it to your provider and have it checked by the its technician.

Galaxy S5 Won’t Charge At All

Problem: Hello. My S5 is barely a month old but I was saddened by it because it just refuses to charge whatever I do. I honestly don’t know what happened to it. It just stopped charging a couple of days ago and I was lucky I still have 25% battery left so I continued to use it with Power Saving Mode on and all connectivity functions off. Today, there’s barely 10% battery left so I decided to email you guys to know what you have to say about this and if you can offer magic tricks to fix this. Thanks guys. I’m hoping you could provide solution as soon as possible. — Joyce

Troubleshooting: Hi Joyce. Just like the previous problem, this may be caused by either the charger itself of one of the components of the phone but it is more complicated. Since the phone refuses to charge, I assume you don’t have enough battery to power it up so there’s nothing we can do firmware-side. The best thing you can do is to try a different charger unit and if that doesn’t work, try a different battery. But I suggest you bring the phone in to the store where you bought it so the tech itself can conduct tests.

My point is, it’s barely a month old so your provider or the retailer that sold it may replace it if found it is beyond repair. Also, you need to be present during testing to make sure you personal information remain safe. And in case you have data you don’t want to lose, tell the tech not to do factory reset. After all, firmware has nothing to do with it.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Water Damage Issues

Samsung’s newest flagship has an IP67 rating; meaning, it is water- and dust-resistant. But did you know there are a lot of S5 owners who complained having their device damaged by water? Here’s a couple of messages we received from our readers who were seeking assistance how to address water damage.

Galaxy S5 Won’t Turn On After It Fell In The Pool

Problem: Hi droid guys. I purchased my Galaxy S5 in May and I don’t have a single complaint about its performance. However, I got drunk yesterday during a pool party and fell into the pool with my phone in my pocket. When I got out of the pool and check on it, it wouldn’t turn on. I am sure it wasn’t the battery since I fully charged it before I left home. I am just too scared to do any troubleshooting thinking I might damage it even more. Please guys, I need your advice. What should I do? — Cain

Galaxy S5 Has Water Inside, Screen Flickers

Problem: My Galaxy S5 fell in the sink while I was washing my hands. It was in my chest pocket and when I bowed to wash my hands it just went whoosh! The screen was on when it fell so there was power. I immediately took it out of the sink but when I hit the power/lock key, it wouldn’t turn on but the screen flickers from time to time. There is no crack or something, not even a scratch and considering it fell back first, I don’t think there is physical damage. Water may have damaged it but isn’t Galaxy S5 supposed to be waterproof? What should I do?

Suggestion: First of all, both of these problems are the same, basically. Water damage is a complicated issue because it can damage the phone permanently. But before anything else, I just want to say something about the phone’s IP67 rating. It means the phone is “water resistant” NOT “waterproof.” There is a big difference between these two. The rating would tell you the device can be submerged in water up to 1 meter deep for 30 minutes max. While there were owners who claimed to have submerged their devices up to several meters deep, that’s the risk you don’t want to take. Additionally, the phone cannot withstand water jets like water running from a faucet or with much stronger pressure. Lastly, you need to consider that there are entry points like the when the back cover and the USB/utility port cover weren’t properly locked in.

In case your phone has water damaged, here are the dos and don’ts:

  1. Do not turn on your phone immediately. Doing so may damage it permanently.
  2. Remove the back cover and pull the battery out. When the battery is short-circuited, it can be damaged, explode or cause damage to other components.
  3. Put the phone and the battery in a bowl of rice for at least a couple of days to help absorb water.
  4. After a couple of days, put the battery back in and attempt to turn the phone on.
  5. If the phone turns on, observe it closely to know if there is some changes in its performance and behavior.
  6. If the phone won’t turn or if there is a change in the phone’s behavior, turn it off and bring it to a technician.

Remember, water damage cannot be covered by warranty but do not attempt to break any warranty seals in it.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Internet Connectivity Issues

Internet is one of the best things that happened to mobile devices and while the technology evolved exponentially in the last 5 years, problems still occur. Connectivity problems are among the most common issues encountered by many Galaxy S5 owners. Here’s a couple of common problems sent to us by our readers:

Galaxy S5 Can’t Connect To Home WiFi

Problem: I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and just about three days ago, it refused to connect to my home Wi-Fi. I didn’t do anything that may have triggered the problem, it just happened so I’m really surprised and disappointed how a brand new phone like this could lose its connection without apparent reason. I am not a tech person guys so I’m not really good with troubleshooting it myself. I need your help on this and please advice me as if I’m a six-year old so I can follow. Thanks and more power to your site. — Jules

Troubleshooting: If the problem started just three days ago, then there is a big chance it’s just a minor issue. There’s no reason to worry about it as you can probably fix it by simple troubleshooting procedures:

  1. Begin your troubleshooting by rebooting your phone and your router.
  2. In your phone’s settings, “Forget” your home network and let the device detect it again.
  3. Now reconnect to your home network to see if you can.
  4. If still can’t, use a different device such as another mobile phone or a laptop to connect to your home network.
  5. In case your S5 is the only device that cannot connect, then the problem is with it.
  6. Try connecting it to a public network. If it still can’t, boot it in safe mode and try again.
  7. In case the problem persists, backup your data and perform factory reset via the recovery mode and if that doesn’t fix the problem, try to have it replaced or repaired.

Galaxy S5 Mobile Data Is Very Slow

Problem: Hey guys. I don’t see any Galaxy S5 troubleshooting in your site just yet but I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you about my problem. I use mobile data as I don’t have WiFi at home. With it I stream YouTube videos and do Facebook and some browsing. The first two weeks of the month, my connection is really good but come third and fourth week and it’s very slow that I can’t even stream videos anymore. What’s the problem with it? I subscribed for an unlimited data plan and this is what I get. Does it have something to do with the phone’s performance? Help me please.

Answer: I’m not sure how many months you’ve noticed this pattern but if it happens every billing cycle, you might wanna call your service provider. It is obvious the company is putting a cap on your data usage. Yes, you may have subscribed for an unlimited data plan but your provider can throttle down your connection if you’ve already used up data beyond the cap.

You said you keep on streaming videos, that may be the reason why your connection is throttled down. You know, during my tenure as a tech support for one of the wireless providers in the U.S., I keep getting calls about slow browsing. It is difficult to explain to the customer that his internet connection has been throttled down especially if he subscribed for the unlimited plan. But let’s face it, that’s the reality. Again, you need to contact your service provider to inquire about it because there’s not troubleshooting for this kind of thing.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Touchscreen Issues

What makes a touch screen possible is the digitizer; it’s an overlay glass on top of the display. If touchscreen malfunctions, it must be the first one that should be suspected, although you’ll have to rule out other possibilities first. Now, here are two problems related to this issue sent to us by our readers.

Galaxy S5 Touchscreen Becomes Unresponsive Randomly

Problem: Hello Droid guy, I have a problem with my new Galaxy S5. The phone has been with me for more than a month now and there are instances that the screen becomes unresponsive. I have no idea what causes it and I haven’t noticed a pattern or something. If it happens it happens randomly and I can’t operate the phone with touch. There are times when the phone regains its functions back but most of the time I would have to pull the battery out and boot the phone up again. Do you know how to fix this problem or what caused it?

Solution: Observation is the key to knowing the cause of the problem. I don’t know how frequent it happens and when did it start but if the phone wasn’t like this out of the box, then there is a big chance a third-party app is causing it, or at least, that’s our primary suspect. So, you need to rule that possibility out and you can do that by booting in safe mode.

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

While in safe mode, observe to know if the touchscreen problem still persists. If so, it might be a hardware issue. You need to have the phone checked by a professional so it can be diagnosed properly. However, before you actually hand over your phone to others, it would be wise to backup your data and perform factory reset. It’s not just about not losing important data and protecting your privacy but also ruling out the possibility that it’s a firmware issue. If the problem persists after that, then have the phone checked or replaced.

Galaxy S5 Freezes But Responds With Power Key

Problem: Hey guys. Nice site you have and very informative. I have a little problem of my own. But before anything else, it’s the new Galaxy S5. I don’t know how to describe it but out of the blue the phone just stops responding. I mean I can’t open apps, the settings won’t work but the phone will respond if I increase or decrease the volume or if I press the power key. So, the problem, if I’m not mistaken, is with the touchscreen. When this happens, I’ll just have to hold the power key until it vibrates and turns off and then turn it on again. It will work for hours without having issues and it will happen again. Can you suggest a solution for this, please. — Nate

Solution: Nate, there is also a chance that an app is causing this because if it were a firmware issue or a hardware problem, then the screen should stop responding as soon as the phone has booted up completely. But just as you said, you can still use it for hours before the phone acts up. You know what, try to observe the pattern and remember the app you’re using before the problem started. Or, if you want, you can also boot up in safe mode and observe the phone closely while in that state.

If the problem also happens in safe mode, then it might be the firmware or the hardware and either way, the next logical step is to perform factory reset (don’t forget to backup your data, of course).

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Of course, if factory reset couldn’t fix the issue, let the tech take care of the problem and have the phone replaced.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Booting Issues

There were owners who complained about being stuck in the Samsung logo or the screen of the Galaxy S5 stays black during boot up. Others said it happened right after the minor update while some said the phone just turned off and refused to boot up completely. I want to share with you two problems sent by our readers.

Galaxy S5 Went Dead And Won’t Boot Up

Problem: It saddens me to think that the phone gifted to me by my daughter went dead one day and won’t turn on anymore. I hope you can help me. Please forgive me if I can’t provide much details because I’m not really tech savvy. But I will tell how it happened, though. One day, I got this message that I need to install some kind of protection for my phone because I might be at risk. So, I click on the message and it brought me another message to confirm if I wanted to install it. It was installed then it asked me to reboot. The phone restarted fine and then a few minutes later, the phone went dead. I tried to turn it up but all I get is a black screen after the logo. I really don’t know how to fix this. Please help me. Thanks. — Michel

Solution: Basing on your description, Michel, it seems like the problem is caused by an app you recently installed. I hope you can remember that app because you just have to get rid of it and the issue will be fixed. The problem is, you cannot boot up normally. So, what you need to do is to boot the phone in safe mode, instead:

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

While in safe mode, you need to uninstall the app that’s causing the problem. Here’s how…

  1. From any Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Scroll to ‘APPLICATIONS,’ then tap Application manager.
  4. Swipe right to the DOWNLOADED screen.
  5. Tap the desired application
  6. Tap Uninstall.
  7. Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

I’m sure this will take care of the problem.

Galaxy S5 Stuck On Samsung Logo After An Update

Problem: Hi guys! I’m really happy I found your site. Please help me with my problem. My phone is an S5 and it received a minor update as of late. I was able to use it for a few days but I noticed it became slow until one day it just won’t boot up completely. The phone still powers on but it is stuck on the Samsung logo. I’m sure it’s not normal but I don’t have any idea how to go about it. I mean I know how to use the phone but when something fails, I can’t fix it. I don’t have the knowledge and expertise. But I know you guys know a solution or two or even an explanation. Help. — Lisa

Solution: Hi Lisa. I think the update may have corrupted some of the data in your phone preventing it from booting normally. For this kind of problem, wiping the cache partition usually works. Here’s how…

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

I hope this works for you.

Engage with us

Feel free to send us your questions, suggestions and problems you’ve encountered while using your Android phone. We support every Android that is available in the market today. And don’t worry, we won’t charge you a single penny for your emails. Email us via [email protected] any time. We read every email but can’t guarantee a response.

Fix Samsung Galaxy S5 “SD card blank…unsupported filesystem” error & other SD card related issues

I will look into a problem involving a Samsung Galaxy S5 (#Samsung #GalaxyS5) that pops up an error message saying “SD card blank or have some unsupported filesystem.” Obviously, this is a microSD card issue but the word “blank” could mean a couple of things; either corrupted (unreadable) or damaged.

Galaxy-S5-Damaged-SD-Card

Just because the error says it’s “blank” doesn’t mean it’s blank or doesn’t contain any file. Remember that blank SD card can still be read and opened by the phone without any errors. This here is obviously an error and when it pops up, it automatically means something is wrong.

There were also those who think the card is simply undetectable. Well, that’s not the case either because if that’s the case, the phone won’t return an error simply because it hasn’t detected anything that’s plugged into its microSD card slot.

Therefore, the error means the phone has detected a microSD card is mounted but it can no longer read it or can’t recognize the filesystem used to format it. That’s what we are going to address in this post with reference to a few problems sent by our readers.

Now, before we go any further, if you have other concerns with your phone, visit our troubleshooting page intended for the Samsung Galaxy S5 as we’ve listed hundreds of solutions to problems we already addressed in the past. Find problems related to yours and try the solutions we provided. If they won’t work for you, then contact us using our Android Issues Questionnaire. Make sure to add more details of the problem in the description field so we can accurately assess your problem.

SD card blank…unsupported filesystem

Problem: When I insert memory card it shows notification “checking for errors” after that it shows notification “sd card blank or have some unsupported filesystem” when I format the card it shows “sd card unsupported try new one” I tried different card but it shows same error.

Solution: Both of the SD cards have a format that couldn’t be read by the phone. You should format them using FAT32 file system and the easiest way to do that is by using a computer. All you need is a card reader that you can plug into your computer. Once plugged in, find the drive, right-click on it and choose Format. In the file system drop-down, choose FAT32.

You may try this procedure with one of your cards and see if the phone can detect or read it. If not, try the other one and if it bears the same result, then it’s the phone that has an issue, probably the firmware. Try to see if there’s an available update, if there’s none, find someone who knows how to re-flash the firmware.

The phone can detect that there’s a card mounted on it but the problem is it couldn’t read it. Therefore, it’s not a hardware issue but firmware.

SD card can’t be detected by Galaxy S5

Problem: Hi! I have been trying to move some apps to my sd card so that I have more space on my actual phone and my phone keeps telling me that I do not have an sd card in there. Meanwhile I have a 16GB Samsung SD card in there. Why is it saying that if there is one in there?

Troubleshooting: If the phone merely says that there’s no SD card mounted instead of returning an error or a prompt telling you it’s blank, then the answer to your question is simple: it couldn’t detect it. Possible reasons include improper mounting, there’s corrosion on the connectors, and damaged SD card.

To address this problem, try to physically remove the card from the phone and wipe its connectors with dry cloth and then mount it back on, this time though, make sure it’s properly mounted. If the phone still couldn’t detect it, then try my suggestion in the previous problem; let the computer read it as it will tell you there and then if it’s damaged or just needs reformatting.

If you’re prompted by your computer that you need to reformat the card, then do it but please note that all your data and files will be lost. If it says it couldn’t be reformatted, then it’s damaged. Time to buy a new card.

Related problem: It is not acknowledging my sd card at all… It only says mount sd card but it is mounted correctly.

Pictures aren’t saved or viewable in Galaxy S5

Problem: I have installed and formatted an SD card but when I take pictures I cannot view them. They show up as little mountain icons. At first they showed up but now even the first couple pictures are not viewable.

Troubleshooting: First of all, make sure your microSD card can be read by your phone. Just try to open it using My Files app; if you can browse through, then it’s fine, otherwise, try reformatting it using FAT32 file system.

Second, make sure you set your camera to directly save snapped photos and recorded videos into the microSD card. I have a feeling that the device’s internal storage is almost full that there’s no room for new pictures and that the camera app is still set to save them there. Basically, those were the only two possibilities that I can see.

Cannot mount the SD card on Galaxy S5

Problem: I have tried adding a micro sd card. I have placed 2 different brand new cards in the slot, but when I try to move an app to the card, it says I don’t have a card. I have tapped the “mount sd card” and it tells me the card is safe to remove. What can I do to make it recognize the card?

Troubleshooting: First of all, make sure the card is not damaged. You may let your computer read it and try saving files to it just to make sure it’s writable and readable. If you’ve done that, try to mount the card to your phone and if the same error pops up, try to reformat it using FAT32 file system; it might just be a formatting issue.

You may also verify if other phones can read it or if your phone can read other cards. This will give you an idea what the problem really is. It’s just a common sense; if your phone can read other cards, then your microSD card might be the issue here and since you already formatted it to FAT32 to no avail, then it’s either damaged or not compatible with your phone at all.

Photos saved in SD card gone

Problem: After months of use one day my SD card gets an error. I didn’t touch the card prior, during, or after. I selected “cancel” so as not to lose my photos. When I got to T-Mobile a day later, all my SD card photos were gone. My phone also randomly restarts several times a day.

Troubleshooting: The SD card is probably damaged and the phone just couldn’t read it. I hope T-Mo’s techs didn’t reformat the card because if they did, there’s no hope for those photos to be recovered. Of course, you can try to un-mount the card and then remove it from your phone. Let the phone be without the card for a few minutes and then mount it back. Turn the phone on and see if it can detect it, if not, try letting your computer read it but make sure you don’t reformat it once the machine prompts you that it needs reformatting.

You may attempt to recover your photos by using this tool or any other tool available online.

Related problem: The device is running out of storage,with most of the storage being taken up by application. I got an SD card but when I move an application to the SD card it goes through the process of moving it, but deletes it instead.

Recover photos from internal storage after reset

Question: I did a Verizon system update this morning at 10:30 am. At 5pm, I realized all my photos that I had transferred from my iPhone in mid June were gone.2 years worth of photos. These were on internal memory. Is there any way to recover? Thx in advance.

Answer: The factory reset will delete all data and files saved in the phone’s internal storage, so the answer to the question is no, although there were some experts and security firms who claimed to have recovered data from the phone’s internal storage even after the reset using a special kind of tool that’s not available in the market for average users.

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to contact us by filling up this form. We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

How to Fix Samsung Galaxy S5 that Shuts Down / Turns Off Automatically

“Hi droid guy! My Samsung Galaxy S5 shuts down on its own and it happens randomly. It started after I downloaded lollipop update. How can I fix it?”

That’s just one of the typical emails we received from our readers after the Android 5 Lollipop update was rolled out. Many of those who encountered this problem and contacted us were Verizon customers but when we tried to dig deeper, the problem is not exclusive to one variant.

galaxy-s5-black-screen

In the U.S., some S5 owners from the Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile were also having this problem. For units that started shutting down after the update, it is apparent the firmware is to blame but that doesn’t mean you had a bad update. More often, caches and data get corrupted during and after a major update but it’s not limited to just the firmware.

MUST VISIT: Samsung Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting Page

There is also a possibility that a third-party gone rogue is causing the problem or it could be a hardware issue that’s just starting to manifest.

I will guide you on how to troubleshoot your Galaxy S5 that shuts down or turns off automatically. So, read on and see if your issue is the same as one of the problems I addressed in this post. If not, then feel free to contact us at [email protected] and rest assured we’ll look into it.

  1. Galaxy S5 shuts down randomly after lollipop update
  2. Galaxy S5 turns off while using an app
  3. Galaxy S5 turns off while charging
  4. Galaxy S5 shuts down while playing music
  5. Galaxy S5 heats up then shuts down
  6. Galaxy S5 started shutting down after soaked in water
  7. Galaxy S5 shuts down, turns on & vibrates 

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Galaxy S5 shuts down randomly after lollipop update

Problem: Hi! I actually downloaded the lollipop update for my Galaxy S5 about a couple of weeks ago but after that the phone started to turn off randomly. There are times when the screen just turns off without apparent reason while most of the times the phone would lag, then freeze and then shut down. I didn’t try to troubleshoot it thinking it might just go away somehow. It didn’t, so I’m asking if you could help me fix this problem as I really need this phone for my job. Thank you! — Jasmen

Related Problem: Hello guys. How can I fix my phone that constantly reboots? It’s a Galaxy S5 and the problem started after I upgraded it to the latest update. It didn’t have a single problem prior to the update so it seems lollipop has messed up my phone big time. Help! — Trillo

Troubleshooting: Hello Jasmen and Trillo. Based on both your descriptions, it seems like the cause of the problem are some corrupt caches or data. It was a major update so some dependencies may have been changed and some files used by Kitkat may not already be compatible with Lollipop.

The first thing I want you to try is wiping the cache partition and observe if the phone still randomly shuts down after that. If so, it’s time you backed up all your data and proceed with full hard reset.

Galaxy S5 turns off while using an app

Problem: Hi guys! Before anything else, I just want to say thank you for all your effort in helping us. Your website is one of the most helpful ones I found so far. I’ve actually spent a couple of hours now reading through your Galaxy S5 troubleshooting page but I haven’t found something related to my problem.

I update my Sprint Galaxy S5 4 days ago to lollipop. I think there were 2 updates and I downloaded both of them. As far as installation is concerned, everything went smoothly. However, yesterday, there were some errors that kept popping up saying an app has stopped or something like that. There’s no other option but to touch OK and I do that every time. But when I open the app, the phone screen turns off and I think the whole device shuts down because it won’t respond after that and I have to press the power button and it will restart. So now, I can’t use the app I’ve been using before the update. Do you know how to fix this? Thank you! — Jade

Troubleshooting: Hello Jade. It could have been better if you mentioned what app is causing this problem. But anyway, since you specifically mentioned that it’s an app that’s triggering the auto shut down with your Galaxy S5, then try the most basic of troubleshooting rogue apps–clearing the cache and data.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the app is a game, all your progress will be lost and everything will be reset back to original settings. You may have to login with your account again.

If clearing the cache and data couldn’t fix the problem and if the app is a third-party, uninstall it and download a fresh copy from the Play Store. Issues like this can often be fixed by reinstallation, however, if the problem persists after that, then the app needs to be updated to work well with lollipop. You have to contact the developer and report the issue.

Galaxy S5 turns off while charging

Problem: Good morning. I have a very weird problem with my Galaxy S5. Every time I plug it in to charge, it turns off all by itself. I really don’t know when it started but I did notice it just after the lollipop update. Not really a tech person so I’m hoping you could tell me how I could fix this or what I need to do to address this problem. Thank you! — Rob

Troubleshooting: Hey Rob! Yeah, the problem seems weird and to be honest, I never encountered this issue before. But let’s consider what you said that it started after the lollipop update. If it’s really the case then it’s more of a firmware issue than anything else. If it were my phone, I would immediately do the master reset to give it a fresh start with its new firmware and clear whatever it is that might be causing some conflicts.

If, however, the hard reset won’t work, I suggest you let the tech take a look at it. Perhaps the firmware needs to be reinstalled or there could be an issue with the charging port.

Galaxy S5 shuts down while playing music

Problem: Hello Harold. Your team is really doing great providing this free support for us noobs. I’m new to Android and Galaxy S5 is my first so I kind of trying to learn whatever it is the phone can offer. I have a problem, though. Every time I try to play a music file (regardless what it is), the phone will immediately turn off and won’t come back on until I press the power key. What’s the problem with it and how can I fix it? — Irish

Troubleshooting: Hey Irish! Tech is our passion and helping others makes us feel good, so here we are. Well, about your problem, I assuming that you’re using the stock Music app or the music player that comes native with the device. I encountered this problem before but it was caused by a faulty MP3 file. I was able to fix the problem by the deleting the music track. In your case, however, it seems it’s even related to tracks you’re playing but with the app itself.

For this kind of problem, clearing the cache and data of the Music app should come first since it’s most likely an app-specific problem. If that won’t fix the issue, then I suggest you do the factory reset.

Galaxy S5 heats up then shuts down

Problem: After I installed the latest lollipop upgrade, my phone keeps heating up. The heat isn’t normal but it’s not actually hot. When it heats up, the device will shut down on its own after a few minutes and it’s disrupting everything I’m doing with my phone. Do you know how to fix it? — Rodora

Troubleshooting: If the phone heats up and shuts down on its own, it means that the phone is overheating. Android will shut down the device automatically to prevent further damage to the hardware or components. I don’t really know how extensive user you are but if the phone overheats with average use, just reset it as there could be some rogue apps running in the background and causing the overheating. I also suggest you check the condition of the battery to see if there are lumps or bulges because if so, you need to buy a new battery.

Galaxy S5 started shutting down after soaked in water

Problem: We were at the pool party last week and my phone fell into the pool. In a matter of seconds I was able to get it out of the water but it was already turned off. I assume water got into it despite being waterproof. Now, the phone randomly shuts down on its own even though I totally dried it up before turning it back on. Can this be fixed? — Lisa

Troubleshooting: First of all, Lisa, the Galaxy S5 is just “water-resistant” and not “water-proof.” Meaning, liquid can still find its way into the phone and that seems to be the case with your device. The fact that it was turned off after it fell into the pool is evident water has gotten into it. It’s really difficult to tell if the problem can still be fixed permanently so I suggest you let a technician check on it.

Galaxy S5 shuts down, turns on & vibrates

Problem: My Galaxy S5 was dropped waist high and it fell on a cemented pavement. When I picked it up it was still on but after a few seconds, it turned off. I removed the battery for a minute then placed it back in and the phone turned itself on without me pressing the power key. After a few seconds the phone turned back off again and it’s vibrating every now and then. Is my phone damaged now? — Rose

Troubleshooting: Yeah, it could have been damaged by the drop but the symptoms you cited are actually signs that the power key is stuck…or maybe damaged. Try pressing it multiple times to see if the problem can be fixed, if not, then have it repaired. The power key may need replacement.

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Troubleshooting Procedures

The following are the troubleshooting procedures used in this post. One of these guides may fix your problem so feel free to try one after the other. Just bear in mind that both factory reset and master reset will delete all data saved in the phone’s internal storage.

Clearing App Cache & Data

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

How to Boot Galaxy S5 in Safe Mode

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

How Wipe Galaxy S5’s Cache Partition

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

How to Master Reset Galaxy S5

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to send them at [email protected] We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Problems After Lollipop Update & Ways To Fix Them [Part 48]

Samsung-Galaxy-S5-Lollipop-Update-Problems

As the roll out of Android 5 Lollipop update for the Samsung Galaxy S5 continues, so as our support. This is the 48th installment of our Samsung Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting series and I addressed newly discovered problems after the most recent update. In this post alone, I’ve dealt with a couple of microSD card issues that occurred after the most recent firmware upgrade. Learn how to fix them by reading the issues I cited below.

To our readers, we offer free Android support. Feel free to send us your problems through email or by posting on our social media network pages. You may email us at [email protected] or post on our Facebook wall or Google+ page. Make sure to include all necessary details like your phone model, Android version it runs, nature of the problem, behavior of the device, and when it started. Vague questions or emails lacking information may not be addressed. We are serious in providing this free service, so we ask you to do your part and make it easier for us to assess your concerns. We don’t mind how long your email is as long as it contains all information we need to accurately assess your concerns.

MicroSD Card Data Deleted After Lollipop Update

Problem: Hi, I was googling to find a way to fix my Samsung S5 problem and I landed on your page: Samsung Galaxy S5 Problems After Android 5.0 Lollipop Update and How To Fix Them [Part 30]. That being said, that’s where I got your email from. I have a little issue for which, i hope, you will be able to fix: I have a Samsung S5, SM-G900W8, for which I received a notification for a new system update. i tried to install it, no success because my phone memory was full. I said to myself, hell with it, lets transfer all pictures and videos on my micro SD card of 64GB to free 3GB worth of space and that’s what I did. After my phone being updated, I was amazed by the new look of the OS. later that night, I come home only to find out that all data on my SD Card has been erased, except the folders.

Please help me out to find a way to recover my pictures and videos! — NSK

Troubleshooting: First of all, I will assume that you have successfully transferred all data you wanted to transfer before update. More often, problems like this are brought about by major updates, albeit, not so common. There are two possibilities here: first, it could be that the microSD card has been totally corrupted during the update process or second, the new firmware has a bug or a glitch that may hinder the phone from reading external storage devices properly. I understand your main concern is your videos and photos, so let’s take the safest route in troubleshooting this issue. Before anything else, DO NOT reformat your microSD card even if you’re prompted by your phone; that’s one way to make sure you can’t recover your data. This is what I advise you to do:

  1. Reboot the phone. I understand if you already did this a hundred times but if you haven’t done it yet, please do.
  2. Let your computer read your microSD card. After the reboot and the phone still couldn’t read from it, unmount it, insert it to a card reader and let your laptop read it. If you are immediately prompted to reformat the card, then there’s a very slim chance you could recover your data. On the other hand, if the computer can read from the card, then use that opportunity to backup everything you don’t want to lose.
  3. Use FAT32 format in reformatting microSD card. Only do this if you have successfully made a backup of all your data.

Once you have successfully reformatted your microSD card and the phone still couldn’t read it, it’s possible the card has been damaged and only computers can read from it. There is, however, a chance that it’s a firmware glitch especially if the phone cannot read from microSD cards. If it were the case, then you have to perform full hard reset on your phone. Follow these steps:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Galaxy S5 VPN, Real Racing 3 Issues After Lollipop

Problem: Hi, I have just upgraded my Galaxy S5 couple of days ago (Model No: SM-G900H) and in the last couple of days, have found the following issues:

  1. When trying to enter into Settings -> VPN, the phone asks for the passcode over and over again (tried with pattern as well as pin). Thing to note is that it is able to detect a wrong passcode but when the correct one is entered, it just simply re-asks for it. How do you think this could be fixed?
  2. While playing Real Racing 3, sometimes my phone is not able to detect me tilting my phone to make a left / right turn in the game. Now, the game has not been updated since the lollipop upgrade so I am guessing it might be an issue with the phone failing to recognize the change in direction (It sorts itself out after a few seconds). If the issue is game related, clearing game data is also not an option as I would end up losing my progress. Do you think some kind of re-calibration might help? Can you provide steps for this?

Plz let me know if you need any more info regarding the phone or it’s setup.

Regards, Sumit.

Troubleshooting: I once experienced similar issues with VPN and the only thing I did was wipe the cache partition and it worked like a charm. Although, I don’t know exactly how bad the problem is in your phone, I still advise you to wipe off the cache partition to rule out the possibility that it’s just a corrupt cache issue.

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

If wiping the cache partition didn’t work, then you need to delete and re-setup your VPN.

Now about the issue with Real Racing 3, more often, recalibration works. However, if the problem started immediately after the update, then wiping the cache partition may still be the most viable troubleshooting procedure to follow. I understand you don’t want to lose all your progress, so I advise to use Real Racing 3’s cloud backup feature. Clearing the data will delete all your progress as well as additional downloaded data. However, if you backed up your account in the cloud, you will still be able to retain your progress by logging into your account, although, you will have to re-download all additional data.

Lastly, if all these procedures failed, try to reset the phone to bring it back to its factory defaults. That way, the issue with the gyroscope.

Galaxy S5 4G and Phone Call Issues After Lollipop

Problem: Hi guys, been reading your blogs, cant seem to find my problem, so I got my s5 around 6 months back, never had issues on kitkat, got the lollipop 5, then updated to 5.1 I think 2 weeks back. The problem is that my 4g never works, I have to keep putting the phone on flight mode then turn off flight mode then 4g works, (or just turn on/off data).

The 4G symbol is not shown then as soon as I disable then enable flight mode, 3g/4g starts working.

Problem 2 is that whenever I’m on the phone, the line keeps getting cut off, happens to all numbers and in all areas (London). Most of the time the person on the other line cannot hear me or the line just cuts off. Hope you can help as I’m having a nightmare! Thanks, Amit.

Troubleshooting: Hi Amit. If the 4G issue gets resolved after you turn on and off the Airplane mode, then wiping the cache partition will permanently fix the problem. Once old cache files are cleared, the phone will create newer ones to be used by default services including the service that handles mobile data connectivity. Don’t worry, wiping the cache partition will not delete any of your data, that’s the best thing about the procedure.

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

About your second problem, I think it’s related to the capability of the phone to detect mobile data signal normally. Fix the first problem and you will fix the second.

Galaxy S5 Can’t Connect To Mobile Data After Lollipop

Problem: Hi, my Galaxy S5 cannot connect to data after the most recent update! It connects to Wi-Fi and can make and receive calls but not data! I’ve factory reset the phone, cleared the cache, I even went to Samsung experience store in best buy and had them re-flash the software and change the SIM but nothing helped. Hopefully you have done ideas!

Thanks, Toni.

Troubleshooting: Hi Toni, none of the things you mentioned maybe able to fix the problem especially if it concerns the APN settings. The APN is the most important set of data you need to enter into your phone so that it can connect to the mobile data network of your service provider. If the problem started immediately after the lollipop update, it could be that the APN may have been messed up or deleted. Call your service provider and ask for it. Don’t worry, it’s free. You may also ask the representative to walk you through setting it up in your phone.

Galaxy S5 Has Issues Staying Connected To WiFi After Lollipop

Problem: After updating my S5 I have had issues staying connected to my home WiFi. I will click on the network to connect and type in my password it will connect briefly and then automatically disconnects. It also doesn’t seem to remember this WiFi network. I have reviewed your forum and unable to locate something to help. I have tried to uncheck the smart connector but this does not resolve the issue.   I have also tried the phone in safe mode. When I do this the WiFi does connect and stay so then I uninstalled any recently downloaded apps. I then take the phone out of safe mode and the WiFi no longer works.

My service is with Sprint if that makes any difference. Also of note, when at location with WiFi with no password it connects and stays connected. Thanks for any help you may be able to provide. — Daniel

Troubleshooting: Hi Daniel. The first thing I want you to do is turn off mobile data completely and then observe if the phone still disconnects from your WiFi network. If it stayed connected, then it still automatically switches between networks. Wiping the cache partition will fix the problem. However, after you disabled the mobile data and the phone still disconnects from your WiFi network, then there’s a chance that the issue with your network itself considering you said the phone stays connected with other networks that have no passwords.

Try deleting your WiFi network in your phone, then reboot the device and then let it detect it one more time and try to connect. If the problem remained, reboot your network device, or use a channel that has low interference (via router settings), or use a different encryption method. If the problem still wasn’t fixed, perform full hard reset but don’t forget to backup all your data first.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Galaxy S5 Battery Drain Issue Caused By Zedge App

Description: We’ve already tackled a lot of emails about the fast battery draining issue with Samsung Galaxy S5 after the Android 5 lollipop update. One of our readers shared about his experience saying the problem was narrowed down to one popular app known as Zedge.

I, myself, personally use Zedge to manage my wallpapers and ringtones and it saddens me to know this. So, I tried uninstalling it from my phone and yes, there is an improvement in the battery life. I already tried contacting the developer and hopefully they can do something about it the soonest time possible.

Try to read the actual email sent by Alex below:

Solution: Been reading about the battery drain issue on drippler. I took your advice on wiping the cache and getting rid of frivolous apps. I’ve narrowed the issue down to one app. Zedge. I nixed zedge and issue stopped. I reinstalled zedge and the issue came back. Uninstaller it again and the battery drain issue has stopped. Thought I’d give that tidbit to you guys to post as I know a lot of people use zedge. — Alex

Unable To Turn On WiFi On Galaxy S5 After Lollipop

Problem: Hello, since updating my S5 with the latest update I have been receiving error messages regarding contacts has stopped working or firefox. The battery has also been draining faster and running hotter then usual. However the latest issue is the most frustrating I am unable to simply turn my wifi capability to on. It is actually automatically swith in to off every time I try to slide to on. I have preformed a reset and power down. The only thing I haven’t done is a factory reset. Please let me know if you are able to assist me in resolving this issue. Thank you, John.

Troubleshooting: Hey John. I am sorry to hear you’re currently experiencing a lot of issues after the lollipop update. I understand that the most annoying issue you have right now is regarding the capability of your phone to turn the WiFi on. More often, this problem is caused by corrupt data or cache or some third-party apps have gone rogue affecting the core functions of your phone. Taking the safest route in troubleshooting this issue, I suggest you boot your phone in safe mode first. Here’s how:

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

Once in safe mode, try turning the WiFi on and if it stayed on then just boot back in normal mode and the problem must have been fixed already. Otherwise, the next safe way to troubleshoot it is to wipe the cache partition so that the phone will be forced to create new caches for core functions and apps.

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

Lastly, if all these procedures failed, backup your data and perform full master reset to bring the phone back to its default settings and reformat the data partition. Don’t worry, the lollipop update will not be uninstalled.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Galaxy S5 Bluetooth Won’t Stay Synced With Car After Lollipop

Problem: I have recently updated my Samsung s5 as of yesterday afternoon. On my morning commute to work the phone just fine with my radio’s Bluetooth system. After the update on my ride home my phone will no longer stay synced with Bluetooth. I have to turn the vehicle off and resync my phone and then will only work for a few moments, drop the call, say no Bluetooth is available and stop working.

Please advise me on how to fix this as I am in outside sales and need to use my phone constantly while out driving. Thanks! — Chip

Troubleshooting: Bluetooth syncing problem with Galaxy S5 after the lollipop update is one of most common problems. There are a few procedures you can try to fix the problem and the first is deleting all Bluetooth pairing sessions in your phone and re-pair it with your car. If the problem persists, then refer to your car’s manual to reset Bluetooth or delete paired devices and then follow the typical pairing procedure. If the problem remained, you really have to perform factory reset on your phone but don’t forget to backup all your data.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Multiple Galaxy S5 Issues After Lollipop Update

Problems: Hi. Since the update, like so many others, my battery is draining faster and throughout the day, I get a notice saying Unfortunately, Contacts has Stopped… also my camera gets stuck when taking a picture, takes several seconds to show the picture taken and my pictures aren’t as clear as they used to be. I consistently lose my wifi and my phone switches from 4G to 3G to 1x throughout the day. Also facebook crashes regularly. I loved this phone until this update… everything about my phone is slower now. I am going to try to clear the cache per your earlier advice to others, but I am so very disappointed. — Gwen

Troubleshooting: Hi Gwen! That’s a lot of issues to deal with. If it were my phone, I would immediately perform master reset because it would be a waste of time troubleshooting problems I didn’t know what the cause is. Of course, it is obvious the recent lollipop update may have messed it up for you but then the root cause couldn’t be determined easily. So, I suggest you boot the phone in safe mode, backup all your data and perform hard reset. If the procedure couldn’t fix the issue, bring the phone to your service provider or to Samsung service center and have lollipop firmware re-flashed.

Booting in Safe Mode

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

Master Reset

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Cannot Move Files To MicroSD Card On Galaxy S5

Problem: Hi. I have a strange and incredibly frustrating problem. I bought a brand new SD Card from Best Buy for my S5. I properly installed it (It is listed on the “storage” screen, which means it is recognized by the phone).

I have been able to transfer applications onto the card, no problem

Now, the issue: nothing else will transfer: not pictures, not music, not documents. NOTHING.

I have viewed multiple “how to videos”, tutorials, etc and all have the same instructions. I have followed them perfectly.

When I do the final step of hitting the “move” button after selecting the items to move, and where to move them on the SD card, it simply returns to the “my files” screen. I look on the SD card, and nothing has been moved.

I have done this multiple times. Thinking it was a corrupted disk, I returned it and bought another. The same thing happened.

There is not an “error” notice. There is not any notification that the file has not been transferred (and nothing stating it has been transferred). It’s perplexing! HELP! — C. Drummond

Troubleshooting: If apps can be moved to the microSD card, then there’s with the storage device. Pictures and videos can be transferred to it either through the Gallery app or by using the stock file manager. Please try the other if one failed. Another option is to connect the phone to a computer and use the computer’s file manager to drag and drop files to the microSD card.

Also, while using the stock file manager, try to “Copy” the file to the microSD card instead of “moving” it. If copying is successful, then you can delete the original files from your phone’s internal storage. I think there’s no problem with either your phone or the microSD card but please do email us back if the problem persists and provide as much details as possible especially the method you use in “moving” files.

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Feel free to send us your questions, suggestions and problems you’ve encountered while using your Android phone. We support every Android that is available in the market today. And don’t worry, we won’t charge you a single penny for your emails. Email us via [email protected] any time. We read every email but can’t guarantee a response. Lastly, if we were able to help you, please help us spread the word by sharing our posts with your friends or visit our Troubleshooting Page. Thanks.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Messages not in chronological order and other SMS problems

The message counter shows there’s one unread SMS or text message. When you opened it, the message is buried down deep into the thread as if it was sent weeks ago. Have you encountered that problem?

Galaxy-S5-text-messages-problems

We actually received several emails from Galaxy S5 owners complaining about their text messages not in correct order. I, personally, have encountered this issue before and just like some of our readers, I thought it was some kind of a bug in the app or a glitch in the system. I’ve done a lot of reboots and even resorted to factory reset but the problem came back.

The thing is, it’s neither a bug nor a glitch and it could happen to anyone not just to Galaxy S5 owners. If you’re currently bugged by this problem, read on as I will guide you through fixing it. I will also address some of the SMS-related problems encountered by our readers.

If you have a different issue, visit our Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting page first and see if we already addressed it. Try the solutions we provided and if they didn’t work for you, email us at [email protected] and we will help you find a solution for it. Just give us all necessary details so we know where to start and how to troubleshoot the problem.

  1. Text messages come in out of order on Galaxy S5
  2. Can’t send SMS with smileys
  3. Can’t send/receive text messages on a Straight Talk Galaxy S5

Text messages come in out of order on Galaxy S5

Problem 1: Hi Droid guy, I hope you can help with my issues. I was having issues with the update not updating, so I went into the Verizon store and did the update to lollipop on my S5. Since then I’ve been having mad issues.

  1. My group messages are no longer in order, meaning if I send a group text instead of the text flowing like a conversation, as soon as I respond, any subsequent texts sent by others come on top of all of my messages, whereas mine continue to add on the end.
  2. My contacts constantly stop working.
  3. My battery life is almost non-existent.
  4. Everything moves extremely email, messaging, camera, photos, internet. You name it, it takes a while to open.

I cleared the cache thinking that would help, but of course it did not. I’m afraid to do the factory reset as I’m afraid of losing anything as I lost ringtones and parts of some of my apps as I did on Friday. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks much.

Problem 2: Help. I have had problems ever since the lollipop update. First I had error messages like crazy. That seemed to correct itself, but since then I receive my texts in groups of 5-30 at a time. They come in late and out of order. Most come in between 3 and 6 am. Is there anyway to fix this?

Problem 3: Hi. I’ve started having problems with my text messages on my Galaxy S5. When I reply to a text, my message will go before the one I just replied to. It’s like the time is off by about 45 seconds. This problem just started and I cannot figure out why. I have auto update of the time on my phone and it does this with everyone I text to on several different carriers. Any ideas on how to fix this so my messages will be in order again? Thanks so much! — Shawn

Troubleshooting: This problem has something to do with time and date in your device. If they don’t coincide with the time and date in your provider’s servers, this thing could happen. Try follow the simple procedure below to address this problem.

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Launch Settings.
  3. Under ‘System’ section, tap Date and Time.
  4. Make sure Automatic Date and Time, and Automatic time zone are checked.

If the messages that come in are still out of order after you did that, try clearing the cache and data of the Messages app and reboot your phone; that usually fixes it.

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

Can’t send SMS with smileys

Problem: Hi guys. I have a problem with my Galaxy S5. It’s not really that serious but very annoying. Me and my friends often exchange funny text messages in our circle. I just found out that there are some special smileys (I really don’t know what they’re called) I could attach to my messages. However, when I include even just one of them, the message will not be sent and I have to delete it from the message and resend. This time it goes through. What’s with that? Is there a problem with my phone? Can you help?

Troubleshooting: Those special smileys you’re talking about are called emojis. When included in a text message, it will automatically be converted into an MMS message. Thus, mobile data is needed to send it. There are two ways to address this problem; either you continue deleting those special characters or turn on mobile data for the sake of making more sense in your messages. But be warned though, there must be a reason why your service provider didn’t natively turn on mobile data in your phone. You might incur additional charges if you used it. Better yet, call your service provider and ask whether your plan includes mobile data or not.

Can’t send/receive text messages on a Straight Talk Galaxy S5

Problem: Hi. I have a one-year old Galaxy S5 and I get my service from Straight Talk. Everything was working fine a couple of days ago and all of the sudden I couldn’t send and receive text messages. I called the tech support but I never got a live representative, it was a machine that answered me. I tried searching for solutions online and I found your site. Please help me. I am old and don’t exactly know how to fix this problem. I just need to be able to text because it’s the only way I can communicate with my children more often. Thank you.

Troubleshooting: It’s difficult to tell what the problem is. For all we know, it might just an issue with your account. You forgot to mention the plan you paid for the last time you added minutes to your phone, perhaps you just need to buy a new card from Walmart and add the minutes to your account. My point is, it is more of an account related issue. So, it’s better you try calling Straight Talk’s tech support again and inquire about the status of your account. I understand it is often not convenient to wait on the line for several minutes and explain yourself to a representative but it’s necessary to get this problem resolved or, at least, have a hint what the problem really is.

Other possibilities may include your number being deactivated or there’s a problem with the service in your area. Still, you will have to call the hotline to know where the issue lies. If you don’t want to call them, however, they have an online community where live representatives will answer your questions.

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to send them at [email protected] We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

How to fix Samsung Galaxy S5 “Unfortunately, Phone has stopped” error

The “Unfortunately, Phone has stopped” is just one of the many error messages you’ll get if your #smartphone’s firmware has issues or some of your apps have conflicts. If you’re an owner of a #SamsungGalaxyS5 and recently upgraded to #AndroidLollipop, there’s a chance you’ll be getting this error message.

Galaxy-S5-Phone-Has-Stopped

Based on reports, this error message can be triggered by opening the Phone app. There hasn’t been any reports suggesting other apps to trigger it. Therefore, as early as now, we already know that it can be just another glitch in the phone app, although the other possibility will be on firmware-side considering the app is pre-installed.

Last week, I wrote an article addressing the error message “Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped,” it’s almost the same as the error we’re going to troubleshoot in this post only that com.android.phone is one of the services behind the Phone app; when a service crashes, it’s more serious than the typical app crashes.

Here’s an actual problem sent by our reader just to give you an idea how this error occurs…

“Hi droid guy. I just updated the software in my phone, a Galaxy S5, and I started getting an error message saying “Unfortunately, Phone has stopped.” Since there’s no other option, I keep pressing OK and after a few seconds, the error comes right back. Basically, I can no longer use my phone because of this error message. If I’d known this would happen, I should have skipped lollipop. What should I do? How can I get rid of this error message? Thanks!” — Leah

Before we go further into our troubleshooting, if you have other problems with your phone, visit the troubleshooting page we created for Samsung Galaxy S5 users as it contains hundreds of problems we already addressed since the release of the device. Find issues related to yours and try the existing solutions and troubleshooting procedures. If they won’t work for you, then feel free to contact us as we’re always willing to help you.

Potential Solution

There were a lot of Galaxy S5 owners who encountered this problem immediately after the most anticipated lollipop update and that’s a good thing because based on testimonies, this problem is minor and can easily be fixed even without resetting the phone to factory defaults.

Now, here’s on potential solution you could try to see if it will work for you. Many confirmed that this procedure can fix the problem for good and the good thing is it’s very easy to do.

  1. Reboot the phone first.
  2. After the reboot, tap the phone icon to launch the app.
  3. Once the error pops up, tap OK and immediately tap the Phone icon again.
  4. Repeat the process two or three times.

Now, if the problem wasn’t fixed by the simple procedure above, it’s time to troubleshoot it as it could be more serious that we thought.

Troubleshooting

App crashes are often very easy to fix and the solution I cited above has been proven effective by a lot of S5 owners who have encountered the error message. But since it has fixed yours, it’s time to do some troubleshooting and the first thing you need to do is isolate the problem by booting in safe mode.

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

Once the phone is in safe mode, open the phone app to see if the error pops up even when all third-party apps are temporarily disabled. If so, then it’s more of a firmware issue than anything else. In this case, you should try wiping the cache partition first. The procedure will wipe out all caches used by the previous system; it’s effective in this kind of problem.

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

After wiping the cache partition and the problem still occurs, clear the data of the phone app or dialer. It will reset the settings back to factory defaults.

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

After all these procedures and the error message remained or if it’s accompanied by other errors, you have no other option but to perform full master reset. It doesn’t just reset the phone to factory settings but it also reformats the data partition where system files are saved.

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

On the other hand, if the error message doesn’t pop up in safe mode, it means one of the downloaded apps is causing problem or conflict. Find the app and disable or uninstall it. More often, apps that uses the phone app can cause this error, so start your search for the culprit from there. However, if you can’t pinpoint which app is triggering the error, you better backup your data and perform the master reset as well.

I just hope this helps. Thanks for reading and I wish you all the best.

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We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to contact us by filling up this form. We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

 

How to fix Samsung Galaxy S5 “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” error

The “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” error message you may have encountered with your Galaxy S5 does not actually mean you lost your internet connection. In Samsung’s most recent devices, the term “Internet” is actually relating to its default browser. Majority of Android devices in the market today use “browser” to let their users know it’s the web browser but not Samsung. This is one of the reasons we have readers who seemed confused upon reading this error message.

Galaxy-S5-Internet-Stopped

So, in this post, we will be troubleshooting the browser and not about your internet connectivity. I will guide you through fixing the issue with your device’s default web browser to get rid of this annoying “Internet has stopped” error message. I will include the actual messages our readers sent us regarding this problem just to demonstrate to our readers how it happens.

If you are other concerns with your phone, however, I suggest you visit our Samsung Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting page as it contains hundreds of issues we addressed in the past. Try the solutions we provided and if they didn’t work for you, email us at [email protected] and we will help you fix them.

  1. “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” errors shows when opening the app
  2. “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” error pops up after an update
  3. “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” error shows after lollipop update
  4. “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” error when closing tabs

“Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” errors shows when opening the app

Problem: Hi! Whenever I tap the Internet to browse, I get this error “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped.” I don’t know when or how this problem started because I am not really a person who uses the web browser. After all, all I do with my phone is call, text, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But I remember the last time I used it, it was fine. Can you guys help me out how to fix this, please? — Michael

Troubleshooting: If the error pops up only when you open the app, then it’s safe to say that it’s just an app issue. So, the best thing to do about it is just to clear the cache and data of the Internet app.

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

When an app crashes, it is often the cache or the data that has a problem. Either their corrupt or the system used an obsolete file that created conflicts. Clearing them will force Android to created new ones that’s why the procedure I cited above is effective enough to address the problem.

“Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” error pops up after an update

Problem: Ok, so, first there was an update for my firmware that bumped the version to Android 5, I believe it was the lollipop update as they call it. Then there was this another notification that says I need to update some apps including Google Play Services, which I also downloaded. The first update, actually, went smooth and I never had any problem but the second one seemed to have messed up my phone because I am now getting the pop up window that says, “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped.” Not sure what to do with this so if you could help me, I would surely appreciate it. Thank you! — Fredo

Troubleshooting: Hello Fredo! Yeah, I think the second update messed up some of the data of some of your apps especially the Internet’s. I personally encountered a problem like this before wherein a pre-installed app started to crash after I downloaded an update for Google apps and services. Thinking it was just some corrupt files, I cleared both the cache and data of the app, it didn’t work so I tried this procedure:

  1. From any Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Scroll to ‘APPLICATIONS,’ then tap Application manager.
  4. Swipe right to the ALL screen.
  5. Scroll to and tap Google Play Services.
  6. Tap Uninstall updates.

I hope this helps, Fredo!

“Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” error shows after lollipop update

Problem: Good morning! I updated my Galaxy S5 phone to Android lollipop last night and I went to bed. This morning, when I woke up, there was an error that says, “Unfortunately, Internet hast stopped.” I thought my internet was messed up so after closing the error window, I tried Twitter and then Facebook and they’re working fine. I let it go thinking it was just a glitch but then the error popped up out of nowhere. Now I’m worried why this error keeps popping up. Help me please. — Sophie

Troubleshooting: Hello Sophie. The problem is clearly caused by the firmware, although it might still be related to some corrupt data or caches but in a larger scale. As you said, the error pops up out of the blue. It means the firmware is the one triggering it and not just other apps. But considering the fact that the error specifically mentioned the name of the app, try to clear the cache and data of the Internet first.

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

If the problem remained after the procedure above, then this will fix it.

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

“Unfortunately, Internet has stopped” error when closing tabs

Problem: My phone is a Galaxy S5, which I recently updated to lollipop. When I browse the web, I use the stock browser called Internet because I got used to it. I read a lot of stuff so I open more than five tabs while browsing to read some interesting articles online. By the time I finish reading and will close the tab (any tab), there’s an error message that pops up, “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped.” I am considering the fact that it may be because of the new update but why it has to do this? An update is supposed to fix problems not make fully working phones useless. Ah well, I can still use my phone but I like it better if this error message won’t pop up every time. Can you help me fix this? — Erin

Troubleshooting: We don’t know for sure if this is just another case of an app crashing but let’s begin our troubleshooting with that assumption. Try clearing the cache and data first and see if that fixes the problem.

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

If the issue remained after the procedure, then backup your data and do the master reset as it probably a problem with the firmware.

Full Master Reset

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to send them at [email protected] We support every Android device available and we are serious in what we do. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails everyday and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.

How to fix Samsung Galaxy S5 that’s not receiving texts & other SMS problems

We have received a lot of text messaging related issues from our readers and so we find it necessary to publish this post. The most common among those issues involves Samsung Galaxy S5 that can’t receive texts regardless whether there’s an attached image or not.

Samsung-Galaxy-S5-unable-to-receive-texts

It’s disappointing to see a Samsung Galaxy S5 that’s unable to receive text messages considering the fact that basic phones very seldom have this kind of problem. The phone is capable of transferring gigabytes of data in seconds but it can’t sent and/or receive 1KB worth of data sent over a cellular network.

This problem may be caused by a misconfiguration in the phone’s settings specifically in the Messages app, a hardware issue especially if the phone can’t get good signal, or a network and/or coverage problem. If you have this problem, you should troubleshoot the phone first and perhaps, seek assistance from your provider or a technician should the problem persists after troubleshooting.

If you have other problems, however, make sure you visit our Samsung Galaxy S5 Troubleshooting page as it contains hundreds of solutions to problems we already addressed in the past. Find a problem related or the same as yours and try the solutions, if they won’t work for you, then contact us as we are always willing to help. Just fill up this form here and hit submit. Please provide as much information as possible so we can provide accurate solutions.

Basic Troubleshooting

The very purpose of troubleshooting is to find out what the problem is and what causes it. It doesn’t guarantee a fix but information you could use to formulate a solution or better explain the issue to a technician. While we want to fix your problem, we don’t want to use desperate procedures that could potentially damage your phone. That said, here are the basic troubleshooting steps you can follow…

Step 1: Verify if your phone gets good signal 

You can do so by checking the signal bars in the status bar. If it indicates it’s not getting good coverage, try to reboot it and see if that could help. If not, then call your service provider and inquire if there’s currently an outage in your area especially if the phone was getting good signal hours before the problem happened. Unless the phone got wet or was dropped and got damaged, there’s no reason it couldn’t get service.

If the phone is getting good signal, then proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Try sending a text message or making a phone call 

If you can send a text message, then it’s a service or account issue. A phone that can send a text message should be able to receive one also.

In case your Galaxy S5 can’t send a text message, try making a phone call. This will also verify if your account is in good standing.

If you can send a text message and make a phone call but the phone gets good signal, then call your service provider as it is more likely an account-related issue.

Step 3: Increase the number of text message limit

Now, if your phone can send a text message but can’t receive one, then follow these steps…

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and tap Messages.
  3. Touch the Menu icon on the upper-right corner (3 dots).
  4. Tap Settings from the options.
  5. Tap Delete old messages.
  6. Now tap text message limit.
  7. Increase the number of messages to be received.
  8. Touch OK.

Alternatively, you can delete old threads and messages to make room for new ones.

Step 4: Hard Reset your phone (optional) 

After doing the previous steps and the problem remained and if your provider asked you to bring the phone in for checkup and/or repair, then it’s time you reset the phone back to its factory defaults and clear all your personal information. A hard reset is necessary and it might just fix the problem…

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Fixing other Galaxy S5 SMS problems

The following are some of the text messaging problems we’ve received from our readers. They can happen to you as they’re common so read on to learn how to deal with them just in case.

Unable to send text message

Question: Cannot send texts to text only numbers like “454545” – always fail, straight out of the box, so version, installed apps, etc. have no bearing on the issue. AT&T troubleshooting cannot identify issue.

Answer: First of all, check the Message Center number. If you don’t know the correct numbers or if the field is empty, call your service provider and ask for it. However, if the Message Center number is correct, try to open the Messages app > Menu icon > then choose Settings > change the Input mode to GSM Alphabet.

Can’t receive MMS messages

Question: Not receiving multi media/group messages. I will get one or two reply messages but mostly I get download balloons and nothing to download. Very annoying. Software is up to date.

Answer: Just make sure mobile data is enabled. Go to Settings > More networks > Mobile networks > tap Mobile data > OK. If it’s already enabled, check the APN settings, or you may call your service provider to inquire about the correct APN for your device as well as the status of you account.

Galaxy S5 keeps updating, can’t receive MMS after

Question: Phone Samsung galaxy 5s keeps updating itself. I don’t want it to, it just did it again and now I cannot send out a text message with a photo attached. The box goes gray and then I retry and it again and again. HELP.

Answer: If your phone isn’t rooted, there’s not much we can do about updates. They will come, you’ll be notified and it’s up to you if you install them or not but please note you will be bugged by the notification day in and day out. The best thing to do is let the phone update itself and make sure mobile data is on after that. Mobile data is necessary in sending and receiving MMS. If the mobile data is enabled but the problem persists, then call your provider and ask for the correct APN for your phone so that the next time it will happen, you will know how to enter the correct APN. This is where you can find the APN: go to Settings > More networks > Mobile networks > touch Access Point Names > touch the + sign > enter the APN.

Stop text messages from being forwarded to email

Question: My text messages also are appearing in my work email.

Answer: There’s a setting in your phone that will stop all this but it’s hidden. What’s happening is that your text messages are being synced with Exchange and I understand why a lot of people don’t want this. So, here’s how you disable it:

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and tap Settings.
  3. Touch Account settings, then choose your Exchange account.
  4. Scroll down to find More settings, then tap on it.
  5. Scroll down to find Sync text message and untick the checkbox next to it.

That’s pretty much it!

Messages stopped working

Question: After an update, my phone has gone crazy. When I open Messages I am greeted by an error saying it stopped working and then all other apps follow suit. I can’t use my phone with all this. Can you help me, please.

Answer: It’s actually more of a firmware issue than anything else. The best thing to do is wipe the cache partition first and if that won’t work, then proceed to hard reset. Please note that all your data will be erased and your phone reset to factory defaults.

Wipe Cache Partition

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

Hard Reset

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Having problems with your phone that’s not receiving texts? 

We can help you troubleshoot. We already published troubleshooting guides for the following devices:

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