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Best refurbished Android smartphones available today

Not everyone can afford the newest, hottest, speediest gadgets on offer today. Especially when manufacturers put so much pressure on the everyday consumer to upgrade yearly, sometimes even more than once within 12 months.

Brand	Name	Price
Motorola	Motorola MOTO X 2nd GEN XT1096 16GB Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone - Black (Certified Refurbished)	Check Price on Amazon
Huawei	HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 16GB Factory Unlocked GSM 4G LTE Quad-Core Android Smartphone w/ 13MP Camera	Check Price on Amazon
Motorola	Motorola Moto G (XT1028) - Android Smartphone - Verizon No-Contract (Certified Refurbished)	Check Price on Amazon
Samsung	Samsung Note 2 I317 16GB Unlocked GSM 4G LTE Quad-Core Smartphone w/ 8MP Camera	Check Price on Amazon
Motorola	Motorola Droid Turbo - 32GB Android Smartphone	Check Price on Amazon

* Links in this table contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through the link and make a purchase. Thank you for your support. For more details, please visit our Privacy policy page.

Updated May 2017 – FYI info below may be outdated… table above was updated May 2017

We say it’s okay to own yesteryear’s Android flagships, and going refurbished is often a wise choice if you can’t or won’t spend north of $600, $700, even $800 on the “next big thing.” No, on-contract phones aren’t an option, and if you feel this inherent reluctance towards pre-owned gear, that’s because you don’t know their full story.

What does refurbished mean?

First of all, it doesn’t mean broken, damaged, defective or cosmetically impaired. A refurb product should show limited or no wear, and while it’s been in the hands of at least another proprietor before you, you can rest assured they didn’t meddle with its internals, dropped it, or harmed it in any significant way.

If something like that did happen, it’s actually the best possible news, as the OEM then probably replaced components affected by the injuries. In a nutshell, we’re talking devices that look, feel and function “like-new” here, returned to the seller for one of a number of reasons, and professionally restored to fully working, mint condition.

Most retailers also offer warranties and advantageous return terms, so if you’re not getting what’s advertised, there’s nothing to lose, only to gain. One final note. Just because someone “tested” a phone, and decided to ask their money back, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong with the gizmo. Maybe the buyer had unrealistic expectations. Maybe he ordered it by mistake, realized too late, and thought he’d play with it for a while anyway.

It’s possible the merchant and/or courier mishandled the refurbished item as well, which brings you a nice discount at minimal risks.

Best place to buy used phones

Lesson number one – don’t conduct business on eBay unless you absolutely have to, or the deals are too attractive, and you trust the seller. Brick and mortar stores will rarely seem a good idea, considering their limited inventory in such cases.

Ergo, the best places to buy used cell phones are generally online. And the best sites to buy used phones are chiefly Amazon and Best Buy. Currently, the official Best Buy refurbished phones roster merely includes ten Android models, the most compelling of which you’ll find a $265 HTC One M8 and $330 Samsung Galaxy S5 to be.

A $329 Samsung Galaxy Note 3, $249 Galaxy S4 and $90 Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD are other semi-appealing Best Buy used phones up for grabs at the time of this writing.

Best refurbished smartphones on Amazon

Ah, the Mecca of all things mobile, all things cheap, all things electronics. And of course, the home of the best refurbished cell phones stateside. Look for the portal’s “certified refurbished” section first and foremost, choose the “cell phones” category, and make sure you’re always covered by a standard 90-day warranty.

One of the best refurbished phones you should probably think about scoring this holiday season, for yourself or a loved one, is the $230 second-gen Motorola Moto X. The 5.2 incher works on Verizon, plus competing GSM carriers, and in brand new, untouched form, it costs 300 bucks.

What do you reckon a rehabilitated Sony Xperia Z3v with 32 GB internal storage space and unlocked GSM support is worth? If you guessed $340, you are correct, and the prize is, well, a $340 Full HD, water-resistant and Snapdragon 801-packing Z3v.

Don’t mind spending a little extra on one of the world’s best phablets, and the second best S Pen-capable product to this day? Then the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 can be yours, in exchange for $430, in black or white, accompanied by your typical 3-month quality guarantee, with a beautiful 5.7-inch Quad HD display in tow, octa-core Exynos 5433 SoC, 3 GB RAM, 32 GB ROM, 3,220 mAh battery, 16 MP rear camera, Android 5.0 software goodies, fingerprint sensor, and faux leather backplate.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, a certified refurbished no-contract Verizon Moto G is only $40, an LG Lucid 3 goes for $95, the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 costs $210, and an oldie but goldie Samsung Galaxy Note 2 still commands a pre-owned price of $250.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t also mention the Verizon unlocked Motorola Droid Turbo, at least in passing, with the 2014 battery powerhouse once sold for over $500 off-contract, and now available at just $310 in refurb condition, coated in snazzy blue, orange and purple, and ready to keep the lights on for two whole days between charges, despite sporting a super-sharp 5.2-inch 1,440p Super AMOLED panel.

Now that’s what we like to call a must-buy! Quite possibly the best refurbished phone money can buy before, during and after the Thanksgiving – Black Friday – Cyber Monday 2015 festivities.

Brand	Name	Price
Motorola	Motorola MOTO X 2nd GEN XT1096 16GB Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone - Black (Certified Refurbished)	Check Price on Amazon
Huawei	HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 16GB Factory Unlocked GSM 4G LTE Quad-Core Android Smartphone w/ 13MP Camera	Check Price on Amazon
Motorola	Motorola Moto G (XT1028) - Android Smartphone - Verizon No-Contract (Certified Refurbished)	Check Price on Amazon
Samsung	Samsung Note 2 I317 16GB Unlocked GSM 4G LTE Quad-Core Smartphone w/ 8MP Camera	Check Price on Amazon
Motorola	Motorola Droid Turbo - 32GB Android Smartphone	Check Price on Amazon

Best Android smartphones with a removable battery and microSD slot

Times are changing, tides are shifting, trends are passing and drifting and priorities are rearranging. The thing is the way device manufacturers set their priorities straight doesn’t always align with the wishes of the overwhelming majority of mobile consumers.

Take smartphone battery capacity. Literally everyone who’s ever owned a half-decent Android with web access, a semi-sharp display and the ability to run games and various juice-consuming apps knows autonomy is a pain.

Yet except for Motorola and maybe Lenovo, OEMs refuse to do the right and simple thing and increase cell size at the risk of also beefing up bulk. Recently, a separate but just as disturbing market direction has begun to dictate to gadget producers user-removable batteries and microSD card slots are out of style.

Taking a page from Apple’s ill-advised book, Samsung outed the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge with sealed pacemakers and no external storage expansion possibility. Meanwhile, the HTC One M9 and Sony Xperia Z3 let you slip in a microSD card for extra hoarding room, but block entry to the old juicers.

Needless to stress why some find microSD support and replaceable cells greatly convenient, so without further ado, here are a few of the remaining Mohicans to offer both features:

LG G3 – starting at $369 factory unlocked; $0.01 with AT&T, Verizon and Sprint contracts

Up to 128 GB microSD capabilities; 3,000 mAh battery

Not only can you see, touch and substitute the out-the-box cell in need (and for a really small price), but this also delivers plenty of energy, sufficient in fact to comfortably last you through the typical work day. Then again, what’s not to like about the G3?

It’s almost as speedy as its successor, it’s over 75 percent screen with ultra-narrow bezels, a multitasking champion, runs on Lollipop sans a glitch and sports top-of-the-line Quad HD display resolution. Plus, it’s roughly twice as cheap as a Galaxy S6 and, presumably, a G4.

LG G3 S – $205 and up unlocked

Up to 64 GB microSD expansion; 2,540 mAh battery

Not digging the gargantuan footprint of the 5.5-inch G3 or perhaps feel $370 is too much to pay for a slab of silicon, no matter how cool of a discount Amazon pitches? The “diminutive” G3 S might be the answer to all your prayers, albeit it’s not as small or affordable as you’d probably expect.

It’s 5 inches in diagonal, 137.7 mm in height, nearly 70 mm wide and it’s just $165 cheaper than the “full-sized” G3 with lower resolution, less processing power, an inferior RAM count, camera sensor, everything. Not to mention it barely accommodates 8 gigs of internal data, limiting your microSD inflation as well.

Samsung Galaxy S5 – $390 factory unlocked; $0.01 with AT&T pacts, $1 at Verizon, $30 for Sprint

Up to 128 GB microSD; 2,800 mAh battery

Last year’s “next big thing” is by no means better than LG’s 2014 spearhead, yet it’s still slightly steeper. What’s up with that, Sammy, Amazon and especially Sprint? Granted, you do get water resistance and fingerprint recognition here, only at the end of the day, the FHD Samsung is clearly no match for the QHD LG.

Not in ppi, RAM muscle, build quality or overall design style. Perhaps in cell endurance, thanks to Galaxy S5’s more frugal screen.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – $547 factory unlocked; $230 on-contract at Verizon, $300 and up with Sprint

128 GB microSD; 3,220 mAh battery

Look, we get it, the 5.7-inch Super AMOLED 2K phablet is a powerhouse, with Snapdragon 805 inside, 3 GB RAM, 32 GB native storage space, up to 20-hour 3G continuous battery life, fast charging technology, heart rate monitoring, fingerprint authentication and S Pen support.

It’s handsome as well, with its premium metallic frame, soft-textured back cover and 8.5 mm wasp waist. But $300 with a 24-month carrier obligation?!? That sounds extreme. Even $230 is preposterous. For crying out loud, the newer, better-looking, more robust albeit smaller Galaxy S6 starts at $200.

Samsung Galaxy S4 – $291 factory unlocked; $0.01 with Verizon or Sprint pacts

64 GB microSD; 2,600 mAh battery

It may feel hard to argue with a sub-$300 SIM-free valuation of a Lollipop-ready device packing quad-core Snapdragon 600 or octa Exynos 5 punch, plus 2 GB RAM. Yet if the LG G2 can go for $220 in a 32 GB configuration, so should the 16 GB GS4 model Amazon shamelessly charges almost three Benjamins for.

True, G2’s battery is bolted down. Otherwise though, the 2013 high-enders are matched in screen res and camera performance, and the G2 likely prevails as far as autonomy and processing speed are concerned.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 – $310 factory unlocked; $100 with AT&T contracts

64 GB microSD; 2,800 mAh battery

Bet you forgot all about this unusually timid mid-end 6 incher. So did AT&T, we presume, or else they’d lack the gumption of asking 100 clams for such an unimpressive phablet on-contract.

It’s really not worth it, since the battery is teeny-tiny, the display 720p, the cameras mediocre and, given the nonexistent marketing, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Mega 2 were stuck on KitKat for a long, long time.

HTC Desire 510 – $65 with Sprint prepaid plans; $66 at Boost Mobile; $70 on Virgin Mobile

128 GB microSD; 2,100 mAh battery

Before you even think it, we had to include an ultra-low-cost no-contract trooper in our roundup of the rare removable battery/storage expansion birds. We just had to. And yes, we agree the Desire 510 looks pretty chintzy and its specs are, well, a full-on crapfest.

But it’s 65 lousy bucks, lets you add all the memory required to deposit half of Netflix’s library and, thanks to an FWVGA panel blessing in disguise, promises to last around 17 hours between charges.

How To Fix Samsung Galaxy S4 That Won’t Turn On [Troubleshooting Guide]

We receive hundreds of emails each day from Samsung Galaxy S4 owners and the most common problem is that the phone won’t turn on. There’s no easy way to determine what the cause really is nor is there an ultimate solution to fix it immediately. That is why for this specific issue, we provide troubleshooting guides depending on a situation or the user’s description of the problem.

If the phone refuses to turn back on, it is most likely an accessory or hardware issue. That’s why we always begin our troubleshooting in determining whether it’s a battery or charger issue. And then we proceed by trying to boot the phone in “other modes” such as Safe Mode and Recovery Mode just to know if the device can still power itself up. The following steps will guide on what to do to attempt to fix this problem.

Before we go any further, I just want to say, especially to those who have just tuned in, that we offer FREE online Android support. You can tell us your problem as long as it is Android-related. You may send the details to our Android Issues or post on our Facebook wall and Google+ page. We can’t guarantee to respond to your emails but rest assured we read every single one of them. So, there is a big chance we will include your concern in our future posts. I also suggest you visit our Samsung Galaxy S4 Troubleshooting page as we made an index of all problems we addressed in the past and I can tell you, we addressed more than 500 issues already.

Now, back to our troubleshooting, please follow these steps.

Step 1: Perform Soft Reset On Galaxy S4

When you hit the power button and the phone doesn’t respond, take the back cover off and pull the battery out. Press and hold the button for 1 minute to drain off electricity that is stored in capacitors and other electronic components inside. Now place the battery back in and attempt to turn Galaxy S4 on.

This is a very effective troubleshooting procedure. If your phone just turned off for no apparent reason and refused to turn back on, try this. We’ve a lot of received emails saying thanks for having them informed about this procedure.

Don’t worry, all your data, files, apps and contacts will remain untouched when you do this.

Step 2: Let Galaxy S4 Charge For 10 Minutes

In case the phone didn’t turn on after you did the sort reset procedure or it didn’t respond when you hit the power button, there is a chance the battery is all drained out and there’s no power left to fire up even the screen. Plug the connector in to the phone and the charger to the wall socket. I would assume that you’re using the original Samsung charger for the device. If not, then at least, you’re using a charger that works.

The phone should display the usual charging icon or the LED notification glows red. If not, just leave the phone be for, at least, ten minutes. There are times when the battery is all depleted that the charging icon or the LED will respond after a few minutes.

After, at least, ten minutes of charging, touch the phone to know if it heated up during the process. If so, we are now looking at a possible battery or USB charging port issue and I suggest you immediately bring the phone to a tech because it’s dangerous to continue charging the phone that heats up like crazy when plugged in.

Of course, if the phone didn’t heat up or it did minimally, hit the power button to see if the phone would boot up. If it won’t respond, try several times then proceed to the next procedure.

Step 3: Boot Galaxy S4 In Safe Mode

You may have already known that booting the device in safe mode will temporarily disable all third-party apps. That’s not we’re trying to accomplish here. Instead, we simply want to know if the phone could successfully boot up in “other” modes. This will rule out the possibility that it is a battery and/or hardware issue. Here’s how you boot S4 in safe mode:

To boot the Galaxy S4 to safe mode, follow this:

Press and hold the Power button.
Once the Samsung Galaxy S4 logo appears on the screen (assuming the phone responds to Power key press), release the Power button.
As soon as you release the Power button, press and hold the Volume Down key.
Continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone has completed the reboot process.
If you can read ‘Safe Mode‘ at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down key. Otherwise, repeat the process until you can boot the phone to Safe Mode.

If the phone would boot up successfully in safe mode, there is a big chance the problem can be fixed. Start by restarting the phone to see if it would boot up normally.

In case the phone couldn’t boot up in safe mode or stuck on boot logo when you restarted it, proceed to the next procedure.

Step 4: Boot Galaxy S4 In Recovery Mode

This is one of those “other” modes you can try to see if the phone can boot into. If it can, then there are two things you can try. The first one is wiping the cache partition, which deletes all data inside the cache folder, and the second is full factory reset.

To boot in recovery and wipe cache partition, follow these steps:

Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
Release the Power button when the phone vibrates but continue holding on to the Volume Up and Home buttons.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the Home and Volume Up buttons.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power button to select the option.
The phone will automatically restart once cache data are wiped out.

If the phone booted in recovery mode successfully but refused to restart after wiping the cache partition, then try to perform factory reset by following these steps:

Turn the phone off completely. (Remove the battery and place it back in)
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
Release the Power button when the phone vibrates but continue holding on to the Volume Up and Home buttons.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the Home and Volume Up buttons.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Press the Power button to select it.
Using the Volume Down button again, highlight ‘delete all user data.’
Press the Power key to select it.
Once the reset is complete, choose ‘Reboot system now.’
Press the Power button to restart the phone.

Of course, the two procedures above can only be followed if the phone booted in recovery mode successfully. However, if it refused to get into recovery, then we are now looking at a probably hardware issue. Time to do what the final step suggests.

Final Step: Let The Technician Check The Phone

You must understand that the first three steps are ways to determine whether the phone can still boot up in other modes successfully. And since it can’t, there’s nothing else left for you to do but seek help from someone who knows your phone inside and out.

The technician will try using a different battery to rule out the possibility that it’s a battery issue. After doing so and the phone still refused to come on, that’s the time he will check on the hardware.

If you’re under contract with your provider, you might want to call them first to know if they can provide a replacement unit.

I hope this simple troubleshooting guide can help you, somehow.

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

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

How to fix Samsung Galaxy S4 that keeps turning off on its own & other power related problems

We have received several emails from Samsung Galaxy S4 (#Samsung #GalaxyS4) owners whose phones are now randomly rebooting. This problem may be caused by a failing battery, crashing apps or a firmware issue and I will tackle all these in this post.

There are three problems I will cite in this post and each of them represent each possible cause I mentioned above. The first describes the S4 to turn off on its own and when it comes back on, the battery percentage shows it has drained so much over such very short period of time.

The second problem suggests that it’s really the firmware that’s causing the issue since it started happening after an update. It does make sense, actually, because updates often cause corruption in some of the caches and/or data, which will result to performance-related problems including random reboots.

Lastly, the third problem is a bit complicated as it is triggered by several apps that are possibly crashing simultaneously. I’ve seen this problem many times already and I know some apps may greatly affect the performance of the phone to the point that it would freeze, shut down or reboot randomly.

Galaxy S4 reboots, battery percentage drops
Galaxy S4 randomly reboots after firmware update
Galaxy S4 shows errors, freezes and then reboots

Before we go any further though, if you have other problems with your phone, make sure to visit the troubleshooting page we’ve setup for the Samsung Galaxy S4 as it contains hundreds of solutions to the problems we already addressed in the past. We may have addressed your concern already so try to find issues related to yours and follow the suggestions we provided. If they won’t work for you, then feel free to contact us by filling up our Android Issues Questionnaire.

Galaxy S4 reboots, battery percentage drops

Problem: My Samsung Galaxy S4 keeps turning off on its own all the time, it could be on 100% and turns off. When it did turn back on the phone would no longer be on 100%, it could be in the 60’s sometimes less, sometimes more. When the phone turns off, it goes to the start up screen then goes blank again. This process repeats over and over. To make it go back to normal I would have to plug it into a charger and it would turn on but now when I plug the charger in the same thing happens when the start up screen shows. Why is this happening?

When I go on camera to take a photo if the real camera is on it works, but when I switch to front camera the screen either shows what the last thing the back camera was facing or when I go off camera and back on and the front facing camera is on it will just be a black screen.

My phone is still in the guarantee, should I get a new phone or replace the battery. if replace the battery will this solve the camera problem?

Troubleshooting: Most often, service providers and retailers allow only a 15-day grace period to replace your phone with a new unit. Beyond that, the warranty means that you’ll only get a free service for as long as the damage is warrantable. So, the option of getting a new phone is out of the question if your unit is more than 15 days, which I believe it is.

Now, about your problem, it’s obviously the battery. I am not sure how many times the phone turns off or reboots on its own everyday but if it happens twice or three times already, the firmware may have something to do with it. In this case, the first thing you should do is to try the soft reset (battery pull).

Remove the back cover and pull the battery out.
Press and hold the Power key for 30 seconds.
Replace the battery and then the back cover.
Turn the phone on.
Now observe closely if the phone would still turn off or reboot.

However, if the problem occurs many times a day, say 5 times or more, it surely is a battery issue. Since you couldn’t get a new phone, buying a new battery is your best bet to fix this problem.

Galaxy S4 randomly reboots after firmware update

Problem: Hi, I updated by Samsung Galaxy S4 recently and since then it keeps shutting down on its own and restart. There are instances when the phone freezes for several seconds to a minute (I think), then it will reboot. It happens several times a day and I am sure prior to the update this problem didn’t happen. I am at loss here because I’m not really that technical and I need my phone for a job. I still have more than six months left in my contract before I can upgrade so, basically, I need to get the most of this phone. I need your expertise on this. Thank you! Any help will surely be appreciated.

Troubleshooting: As I said earlier, corrupt caches and data in the system may greatly affect the performance of the phone. In fact, many users experienced reboots and auto shut down after firmware updates especially major ones. But since we really don’t know for sure if only the caches were affected, we need to perform a general troubleshooting procedure and it should start with the wiping of the cache partition.

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key
When the phone vibrates, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power key to select. The phone will automatically restart after the cache is wiped.

After the procedure, closely observe your Galaxy S4 to know if the problem was fixed. If not, then you have no other option but to perform a master reset. But before you do that, make sure to back up all important data and files saved in the phone’s internal storage as they will all be deleted.

Switch your phone off.
Hold down the Power, Volume Up and Home buttons at the same time for about 10 seconds. Release them when the Android logo appears on the screen. This will bring up the unlock/reset menu.
To navigate through this menu, use the volume up/down buttons to scroll up and down and the power button to confirm selections.
Scroll down and select Wipe Data/Factory Reset.
Scroll down and select Yes – Delete All User Data.
When prompted, scroll to and select Reboot System Now. The phone will then reboot to its factory settings.

The reset will fix the problem for sure, otherwise, you need someone who knows how to manually flash a firmware and have it reinstalled on your phone.

Galaxy S4 shows errors, freezes and then reboots

Problem: I have a Galaxy S4 that’s more than two years old already and as of late, it started to show a bunch of errors relating to some apps that stopped working. Then, the phone will freeze and hang sometimes. But most of the time when those errors pop up, the phone will reboot. The most annoying thing is that the problem could happen even if I’m on a call. It happened several times already that my callers thought I dropped the calls, which I didn’t. How can I fix this problem without going for a trip to a technician or paying for anybody’s services? Thank you!

Troubleshooting: Now let’s go to some more complicated issues. The fact that there are errors that keep popping up is evident some apps have conflicts with the firmware. The users didn’t mention if the problem started after an update because if it did, then following the procedures above will fix this issue.

However, for the mind that wants to know more, one way to know if it’s just the apps that’s causing the random reboots or the firmware is to boot the phone in safe mode.

Turn the device off completely.
Press and hold the Power button.
Once the Samsung Galaxy S4 logo appears on the screen, release the Power button.
As soon as you release the Power button, press and hold the Volume Down key.
Continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone has completed the reboot process.
If you can read ‘Safe Mode‘ at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down key. Otherwise, repeat the process until you can boot the phone to Safe Mode.

If the errors still show and the phone still reboots, it means the problem is with the firmware and the master reset (step-by-step instructions above) can fix it. However, should the phone works normally in safe mode, it means only some of the third-party apps are crashing and causing the reboots. One way to know which one is to go through each error and get the name of every app mentioned. And then, you can go ahead and uninstall them. If there are plenty of them and you’re not really into uninstalling each problematic one by one, then backup your data and follow the instructions on how to master reset your phone. That will do it.

I hope this post can help you one way or the other. Thanks for reading and we wish you all the best.

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How To Fix Samsung Galaxy S4 That Keeps Rebooting or Stuck in Boot Loop

If you recently updated your Galaxy S4 to Android 5 Lollipop and it keeps rebooting randomly or stuck in boot loop, this is the article you should read: How to fix Samsung Galaxy S4 that is stuck in boot loop after lollipop update.

A Samsung Galaxy S4 that is stuck in boot loop or keeps shutting down and restarting over and over again could either have corrupt data in its memory or has problems with its hardware. The former can easily be fixed while the latter would require help from a repairman…and a lot of patience.

The thing about boot loop problems is that they are so annoying and frustrating. Every time your phone boots you fear it might not come on and you’re afraid to turn it off for the same reason. But as far as the software and corrupt data are concerned, we can do something for them.

Here is an email from one of our readers who recently experienced this problem:

Dear Harold,
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 that yesterday suddenly switched itself off (battery power of over 70%) it then constantly tried to start itself, shut itself down again, in a never ending loop. I took out the battery and then it worked for a short time and the it all started again. Do you have any suggestions on what is causing this to occur? I have installed no new apps.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Kind regards
Sofia

To add to the conversation, here’s a comment from one of our readers via the mailbag. Shane wrote:

Just to add further debate to your article, after contacting Samsung Support Australia, and having read several forums concerning the issue, I was able to confirm the problem primarily arises to due to a swollen battery. Samsung have confirmed an issue relating to certain batches of the stock battery, and to date have replaced tens of thousands of batteries for customers using a Galaxy S4.

Troubleshooting Guide

Basically, we don’t know what the problem really is that is why the first thing we should do is to determine what caused the Samsung Galaxy S4 to be stuck in boot loop. But then again, we have already narrowed it down so we will have to set our focus on the software side.

Step 1: Boot to Safe Mode

Booting the Samsung Galaxy S4 to safe mode will disable all third-party applications the owner installed on the phone leaving only the apps and services necessary for the phone to function well.

If you were able to boot to safe mode and the phone didn’t restart, there is a possibility that a third party app is causing the boot loop. However, to confirm this, you need to let the device run in safe mode for at least an hour and observe closely its functions or if it would reboot all by itself.

To boot the Galaxy S4 to safe mode, follow this:
Turn the device off completely.
Press and hold the Power button.
Once the Samsung Galaxy S4 logo appears on the screen, release the Power button.
As soon as you release the Power button, press and hold the Volume Down key.
Continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone has completed the reboot process.
If you can read ‘Safe Mode‘ at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down key. Otherwise, repeat the process until you can boot the phone to Safe Mode.

If you were able to boot into Safe Mode and haven’t experienced the problem while in it, proceed to step 2. However, if the device still reboots even when in Safe Mode or if it fails to enter safe mode even if you did the steps right, proceed to steps 3 and 4 directly.

Step 2: Disable Third Party Application

If you were able to boot the phone to Safe Mode and the problem didn’t happen again, there is a big possibility that a third-party app has gone rogue and is causing all the troubles. But the first thing you should do is to determine which app it is. There is no easy way to do it but recall which app you downloaded and installed recently. However, if you cannot recall which one, you need to disable every third-party app you have one-by-one starting with the ones you often use.

Disabling an app won’t delete your data, you’re simply preventing it from running on your system but it is as good as uninstalling it. The difference is you can enable it back and retain all your data and settings.

To disable an app on a Samsung Galaxy S4, follow this:

Go back to the Home screen, then tap the Menu key.
Tap Settings, then More tab.
Tap Application Manager.
Swipe to right once to choose All tab. (Other tabs are Downloaded and Running.)
Scroll up or down to look for the app you suspected of causing the boot loop.
Tap the Disable button.

If you were able to find the app that’s causing the boot loop, don’t uninstall it just yet but instead clear its cache and data and see if that solves the problem. If it doesn’t, then uninstall it.

In case the problem is not with the third-party apps, start looking into stock Samsung and Google apps. But to make things easier for you in this case, proceed to steps 3 and 4.

Step 3: Wipe Cache Partition

After you’ve installed and uninstalled a lot of apps on your phone, lots of cached data may have already been stored in the cache partition and there is always a possibility of corruption. Once that happens, the phone may start acting weird and the only way to solve it is to wipe cache partition.

While this step may not have been so familiar as compared to the one that follows, it is very helpful in resolving Android problems that couldn’t be solved by simply doing the hard reset, although it’s not as hassling as the latter because personal data will be kept intact and the owner won’t have to set the phone up again.

Wiping cache partition will delete data stored by apps but don’t get me wrong, a new set of data will be cached once you start using an app. So, basically, you do this to replace the data cached on your phone. And to do this, follow the steps below:

Turn the phone off completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
Release the Power button when the phone vibrates but continue holding on to the Volume Up and Home buttons.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the Home and Volume Up buttons.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power button to select the option.
The phone will automatically restart once cache data are wiped out.

If this step can’t resolve the problem, proceed to the last step.

Step 4: Master / Hard Reset

This is the last resort simply because it will require more effort to do. What I mean is that you will need to backup all data you don’t want to lose along the process. Factory reset or hard reset will delete your personal settings, app data, contacts, messages, etc. In short, it will bring your phone back to its default settings. Here’s how you do a master reset using hardware keys:

Turn the phone off completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
Release the Power button when the phone vibrates but continue holding on to the Volume Up and Home buttons.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the Home and Volume Up buttons.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Press the Power button to select it.
Using the Volume Down button again, highlight ‘delete all user data.’
Press the Power key to select it.
Once the reset is complete, choose ‘Reboot system now.’
Press the Power button to restart the phone.

If you find these steps a little complicated for you to follow, please seek guidance from those who know or from a technician. You can also bring the phone where you bought it and have the store’s technical support help you.

My colleague here at The Droid Guy also wrote an article about this problem before: Samsung Galaxy S4 Stuck in Boot Loop.

Tell us your problems

The solutions we provided here are based on reports and testimonies from owners who have encountered these problems. I also ask my XDA developer friends regarding some of the problems. Now if you have other problems or questions with your smartphone that you want answered, don’t hesitate to send us email at [email protected]

We don’t guarantee a reply to all emails because we receive hundreds of them daily, but rest assured your email messages will be read by me. But I urge you to provide as much details as possible so I could easily find references and compare your problems with reports from other owners. If your problem is as common as others, there could already be solutions that exist and I would surely point you to them. Screenshots often help so attach one if you can.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Turns On But Screen Is Black Issue & Other Related Problems

One of the things that most people love about #Samsung #Galaxy devices is its use of a Super AMOLED display. The Galaxy #S4 for example uses this kind of display which makes images on the screen appear vibrant and lifelike. It also allows the device to save more battery life compared to regular LCD screens due to the efficient way it uses power. Despite these advantages some screen related issues can still occur. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the Galaxy S4 turns on but screen is black issue & other related problems. This issue is characterised by the phone still receiving notifications and even calls but nothing can be see on the screen.

If you own a Samsung Galaxy S4 or any other Android device for that matter then feel free to contact us using this form. We will be more than happy to assist you with any concern that you may have with your device. This is a free service we are offering with no strings attached. We however ask that when you do contact us try to be as detailed as possible so that an accurate assessment can be made and the correct solution can be given.

If you would like to browse the previous parts in this series then check out this link.

You may also reach us at our Facebook and Google+ social media accounts.

S4 Turns On But Screen Is Black

Problem: Hi, My Samsung Galaxy S4 was thrown down. The screen didn’t actually crack but part of it is like a spider web so it sort of cracked I guess? The problem is the screen is black. All notifications seem to work, the phone rings on calls, messages etc. but it is just black. I cannot see anything on the phone which effectively renders it useless. I would really appreciate if you can help me with this. Thanks so much for your help!

Solution: It appears that the problem is caused by a damaged display probably caused by the impact of the drop. When this happens you won’t see anything on the screen but your phone will still be getting notifications.

Here’s what you will want to do. Try to check first if the problem is caused by a software issue by starting your phone in recovery mode. It’s best if you connect the phone to its wall charger when doing this. If you can acces the recovery mode and can see the options on the screen then I suggest you do a factory reset. Take note that this will delete all data stored in the device ( this includes contacts, photos, text messages, music, etc.) so make sure you have a backup of the phone data.

If you are unable to access the recovery mode then I suggest you bring your phone to an authorized service center as you may need to have the display replaced.

S4 Screen Black And Broken After Drop

Problem: Hi there, I had a small problem with my cellphone , it fell and apparently break the screen, it’s all black but the touch it’s still working, I can’t see anything and the screen looks a bit broken. Thanks for your help

Solution: The phone display is most likely damaged already due to the phone falling. The best way to proceed in this case is to backup your phone data first. Since the touch is still working then you can try using Kies. Connect your phone using a USB cord to a computer with Kies running then do the backup. One step that you should do after this is to restore your phone to its original factory condition. If this fails to resolve the issue then I suggest you bring your phone to an authorized service center and have it checked. The display of your phone may need to be replaced.

S4 Green Color Display After Phone Dropped

Problem: My friend dropped her device on the ground, and then when she tried turning it on a green colour appeared on the screen and she also tried a series of methods to fix this issue. Such as taking the battery out, and holding three buttons continuously the power button, volume down and home and this also didn’t work. Can you please provide me with a fix that I could myself or a website which I can send the phone off to

Solution: Try connecting the phone using a USB cord to a computer with Kies running. Once connected backup the phone data then restore the phone software to its original condition. If after this process the green color still appears on the screen then this could already be a hardware related problem which require the display to be replaced. If this is the case then I suggest you bring the phone to an authorized service center and have it checked.

S4 Screen Is Blank

Problem: My daughter has a Samsung S4. The screen is blank. It vibrates when power button is turn on and a blue light flashes on top of phone, but no other buttons come on and the screen is blank. It has over heated twice in the last week. We have tried taking battery out and pressing power button for 1 minute and then for 2 minutes. This has not fixed the issue. We have also tried to to the reset on the phone, but cannot even get the reset menu to come up. Do you have any other suggestions?

Solution: It’s possible that the battery of the phone is already weak. Try connecting the phone to its wall charger for at least 20 minutes before turning it on. It’s best if you use a different charging cord and wall charger when doing this to eliminate any charger related issues. If the problem remains then try getting a new battery and see if this resolves the issue.

If the above troubleshooting steps fail then you should have the phone checked at an authorized service center as this could already be a hardware related problem.

S4 Does Not Boot Up

Problem: when pressing the power button the phone vibrates and the samsung s4 logo comes on. Then the blue light comes on and the phone will not boot up. then the phone vibrates and repeats the previous process until i either switch it off or take the battery out. I have tried all the actions on your website to try and rectify the problem but nothing seems to work. The recovery screen comes up fine but after trying all the mentioned actions, the phone still will not boot beyond the samsung s4 screen. is it worth having the phone looked at or is it better to throw it in the bin?

Solution: It looks like the phone has been bricked. One last troubleshooting step that you should consider is to flash your phone. You will need the original firmware file of your device as well as a software called Odin installed in your computer. Instructions on how to perform this procedure can be found at several of the popular android forums online.

If flashing the phone doesn’t resolve the problem then this may already be caused by a hardware issue. If this is the case then you should consider having your phone checked at an authorized service center.

S4 Screen Is Black

Problem: Dropped phone off bed onto soft flooring while i was on a call. Screen changed colour as though there was a colour drain. Eventually got worse by the minute. Kept switching on and off then the screen went black. the phone still works as it rings but the screen is black.

Solution: The drop could have damaged the phone display. I suggest you backup your phone data first and do a factory reset using Kies. If the problem still remains then I suggest you have your phone checked at an authorized service center as its display may already be broken.

S4 Touchscreen Is Inaccurate

Problem: I’m having huge problems with my Samsung Galaxy S4 for the last few months! I bought my S4 second hand half a year back with Android 5.0.1 Lollipop and it worked great for the first couple of weeks. Then it started to make really strange problems with its touchscreen. When I unlock my phone the touchscreen is really inaccurate when I try to open an application it opens the one next ot it (right or left to it), when I open the keyboard to write a message and press a letter it presses a letter next to the one I pressed and whatever I do the screen is completely inaccurate. The only way to fix it was to just turn the screen off and then on back again, then it would work fine. The problem occurs everyday. When I leave the phone for more than 15-20 minutes without using it, when I unlock it the problem occurs. I tried rebooting the phone everyday and removing the battery for a few minutes but that didn’t help, still the phone kept making this problem like 5-10 times a day and it’s really frustrating. I need your help!

Solution: Try to check if an app you installed is causing this problem. To do this you need to start the phone in Safe Mode. In this mode only the pre-installed apps are allowed to run while apps you downloaded are disabled. If the issue does not occur in this mode then it is most likely caused by an app. Find out what app this is and uninstall it.

If the problem still occur even in Safe Mode then I suggest you backup your phone data then do a factory reset.

If the reset fails to resolve the issue then the problem is most likely caused by a damaged digitizer. If this is the case then I suggest you have your phone checked at an authorized service center.

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 device that is available in the market today. And don’t worry, we won’t charge you a single penny for your questions. Contact us using this form. We read every message we receive can’t guarantee a quick response. If we were able to help you, please help us spread the word by sharing our posts with your friends.

How to Fix Samsung Galaxy S4 Problems and Errors [Part 32]

Welcome to the 32^nd part in our series of troubleshooting articles dedicated to the Samsung Galaxy S4. In this part we will be dealing with some of the latest emails sent to us by our readers. Some of the issues which we will be trying to resolve today include not being able to receive emails, not being able to send text messages, and even the common issue of not being able to boot up properly.

If you own a Galaxy S4 or any other Android device for that matter feel free to send us an email at [email protected] regarding the issues you are facing with your device. We will do our best to help you with your concern. The best part of this all is that this is a free service we are offering to our readers. We do however ask that when you send us an email try to be as detailed as possible so that we can make an accurate assessment of the problem.

Aside from sending us an email you may also contact us through our Facebook and Google+ social network accounts.

S4 Not Receiving Email

Problem: I have an S4 galaxy phone. I have two email accts (gmail and hawaiiantel.net). Both were working fine but I suddenly lost all inbox emails on the hawaiiantel.net acct. In fact they all went to trash and now I cannot receive any emails on that acct. I was able to send out emails but cannot receive any. My husband and I share accts and his S3 galaxy phone is fine. The settings seem to be correct and my wifi signals are fine. Thanks for any assistance you can provide. P.S. I’m not very computer literate so please keep any explanations simple 🙂

Solution: First try to access your Hawaiiantel account from a browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer. If you can access your account check if your inbox messages are still available. If they are then the issue you are experiencing is isolated to your Galaxy S4. The inbox messages may have been accidentally deleted or the account itself may have been deleted then added back again which causes the messages to disappear.

To access your email from a browser using a PC

Go to hawaiiantel.net
Enter your Email Address
Enter your Password
Click LOG IN
Click My Inbox

One way to fix this problem is to delete the Hawaiiantel account from your S4 then add it again. Be sure to take note of the correct settings when you add the account paying attention to the incoming mail server setting as this is where you are having a problem.

S4 Data Retrieval

Problem: How do I pull data from my Galaxy S4 that has a cracked screen and will not allow me to input my passcode?

Solution: You can use the latest Kies software in doing this. Run Kies in your PC then connect your phone using a USB cable. To deal with your locked screen go to the findmymobile website of Samsung and login to your account (this is assuming that you have created an account previously). Once you are logged in you will see an option to unlock your screen remotely on the left side.

Another option is to use an MHL to HDMI cable and connect your S4 to an HDMI monitor. Use a USB Mouse/Keyboard to unlock your screen.

The last option to consider is to simply replace the cracked display. You will have to let an authorized service center do this.

S4 Not Reading SD Card

Problem: Hi! I really hope you can help me, I really don’t know what to do. My phone is now running ‘low’ on memory, and it seems to not reading the SD card. I tried it on another phone and on pc and it seemed to be working so it means it’s the phone that can’t read it. What can I do to fix it myself, without taking it to some technician?

Solution: Try inserting your SD in your PC and see if its contents can be read. If it can then save them in a folder in your PC. Now that you have a backup copy of the data try inserting the SD card in your phone and see if you can format it from there if not then insert it back in your PC and format it using the default settings. Once the format process has completed your phone should be able to read your SD card.

If your phone cannot read the SD card after it has been formatted then try checking the SD card contact points of your phone. There may be dirt present which you can clean by using a toothpick.

Try to check if there are broken contact points or if they are misaligned. If there are then you will have to bring your device to an authorized service center for repair.

S4 Connectivity Issues

Problem: Hi there I’ve been having 2 problems with my SGS4 GT-I9505 the first problem that has been going on for quite a while now is that I connect my device to my home WiFi but no matter how strong the connection it is like I am not connected to the Internet at all it won’t download anything or open any website it hasn’t loaded anything in ages because I would so long for it to load a page that I gave up on it. It basically never loads anything. It used to work just fine and was extremely quick but for some reason it doesn’t want to download/load anything. I have tried disconnecting, forgetting the wifi network and reconnecting and even restarting my device. And the problem doesn’t lie in the router as the rest of my family’s phones and tablets including my note 10.1 connect to the wifi just fine. The second problem happened recently since I cleared my RAM in the task manager I have been unable to open my recent apps screen every time I long press the home button it says “Unfortunately, the process com.android.systemui has stopped” and then I am taken to my lock screen. I have tried restarting the device but it still continues to have the problem. Thanks in advance

Solution: The quickest way to solve both problems in one step is to do a factory reset on your device. Just make sure to backup your data first before performing the procedure.

Turn the phone off completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
Release the Power button when the phone vibrates but continue holding on to the Volume Up and Home buttons.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the Home and Volume Up buttons.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Press the Power button to select it.
Using the Volume Down button again, highlight ‘delete all user data.’
Press the Power key to select it.
Once the reset is complete, choose ‘Reboot system now.’
Press the Power button to restart the phone.

Once the factory reset has completed try accessing your Wi-Fi connection again. Your phone should be able to connect and go online right now. The “Unfortunately, the process com.android.systemui has stopped” error message will also disappear by now.

S4 Slow Response After Update

Problem: Hi, I’ve been having problems with my S4 for about a week now. I just performed the requested update with hopes of resolving some of the problems. What’s been happening is that it has been unresponsive, either through the home button (I’ll push it and yet nothing happens, or the menu / back buttons will light, but still nothing on the screen). Even if I do get something on the screen, it won’t recognize any action on the keypad for my pin. Or, it will be significantly delayed. Since performing the update just now, it has become almost completely unresponsive. I did clear the cache (as per some of your instructions), but still no signs of life. Any advice?

Solution: Whenever issues pop up right after updating a device it is always a good idea to do a factory reset. These issues are most likely caused by data from the previous software version still existing in your device instead of being deleted. The best way to take this data out is to do a factory reset. Be sure to backup your data first before performing this procedure.

Turn the phone off completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
Release the Power button when the phone vibrates but continue holding on to the Volume Up and Home buttons.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the Home and Volume Up buttons.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Press the Power button to select it.
Using the Volume Down button again, highlight ‘delete all user data.’
Press the Power key to select it.
Once the reset is complete, choose ‘Reboot system now.’
Press the Power button to restart the phone.

Your phone should be responsive after performing this procedure.

S4 Does Not Start

Problem: Hello. I am having difficulty turning on my S4. Earlier today, it automatically brought up the shut down, restart, pop up as if I pressed the power button. It would disappear itself and pop up again multiple times and then turn off. I turned it back on and it acted normally. Now, it has completely shut off and can only load the samsung screen for approximately 3 seconds then automatically shut off. I have tried to press the power button + home button + volume rocker and it pulls up the screen to reboot or whatever but automatically turns itself off the same duration ~3 seconds. I don’t know what I can do as it doesn’t even light the led when I plug it to charge. Please help this college girl who needs her phone to survive. Thank you.

Solution: First let’s try to determine if this is a battery issue. Most of the time if the battery has a weak charge and if the charger isn’t charging it then the phone will usually not go past the boot screen. If you have an extra battery and another wall charger try using them on your device. Check if the LED will light up when you plug in the wall charger with the new battery.

Another reason why your phone is acting this way is because of some software issue. To resolve this you will need a PC running the latest Kies software which you can download from the Samsung website.

Using Kies To Restore Firmware

Note: Your data will be deleted in the process so

Connect phone to the PC using a USB cable
Launch Kies.
Go to Tools and choose Firmware Upgrade and Initialization.
Enter the name of your phone.
Input the model name of your Galaxy S4 (in CAPS). It is found at the back of its casing.
Select OK.
Kies will now verify if your device is supported along with a warning message saying that all data from your device will be deleted during the process.
Click OK if you agree with it.
After the previous item, Kies will download and initialize the firmware update. Wait until it finishes.
Just hit Continue with every warning message until you reach the emergency recovery process.
Don’t forget to put a check on the confirmation message saying, “I have read all of the above information” once you have performed all the required information in the window.
Configure your desired information saving option, connect to Kies and switch your phone to Recovery Mode.
Hit the Start Upgrade button and wait until the process finishes. Do not interrupt the process.
After you see a confirmation message saying that everything is complete, hit the OK button to finish.

S4 Won’t Send Text Message

Problem: Hello! I am not a android user, but my grandmother has a S4. She Has Has it for a while and she knows how to work it completely fine. Today I texted her, she said she got it fine, but when she went to text me back she said it won’t send and it keeps giving her a “failed” error message. She tried many other times not just to me but also to her boss, same thing. She had fine signal and I can’t figure out what the problem is. If you could help me that would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Solution: Try doing a soft reboot first as this usually works when text messages fail to send.

Remove the Back cover by gently lifting up from the slot.
Remove the Battery by pulling upward from the slot.
Let the device stand for sixty seconds.
Align the metal contacts and slide the Battery into the Battery slot.
Replace the Back cover and press firmly into place.
Press the Power key to power the device on.

Next, the data of the Messaging app must be cleared

Go to Settings
Select Application Manager -> ALL (swipe to the right to select ALL)
Select Messaging.
Select Force Stop and Clear data.
Go back to ALL and select Google Services Framework.
Select Clear data.

The messages should be able to send this time.

If the messages do not send then this may be a network issue. Try to contact your network and inquire if there are any issues in the area.

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 device that is available in the market today. And don’t worry, we won’t charge you a single penny for your emails. Email us at [email protected]. We read every email but can’t guarantee a quick response. If we were able to help you, please help us spread the word by sharing our posts with your friends.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Call and SMS Blocking

Blocking spammers, pranksters and people that simply annoy you from your Samsung Galaxy S4 is easy. Just add them to your Auto Reject list to prevent them from calling you or include them to the Spam numbers of your SMS app. This article will show you the ways to do it.

1. How do you block calls in Galaxy S4?

If there are people that you want to bar from calling you like telemarketers, disgruntled ex, pranksters and due to some other reasons, all you have to do is enter their number in your blocklist. To do this, just perform the following steps:

a. Go to Settings.

b. Proceed to My Device.

c. Then, select Call followed by Call Rejection.

d. Tap the Auto Reject List.

e. Enter the phone number of the person that you want to block.

2. How do you block SMS in Galaxy S4?

Blocking people who keep on spamming you with text messages can be done in a few steps:

a. Open the Messaging app.

b. Tap and hold the spam message.

c. When prompted, select Add to Spam Numbers.

d. Tap OK to finish.

Another way to do this is through the Settings menu. You can perform this if you no longer have the message of the person that you want to block in your Messaging app. Here are the steps to do this:

a. Tap the Messaging app.

b. Press the Menu key.

c. Go to Settings.

d. Enable Spam Settings.

e. Open the Add to Spam Numbers option.

f. Tap the plus (+) sign.

e. Enter the number of the person that you want to block or open the Contacts icon to select the person that you want to block from your phonebook.

f. Save the changes that you did when you are done.

Email to Us Your Questions and Suggestions

I hope that the information provided here somehow helped. For more questions, write to us at [email protected]. Just be detailed as much as possible in your questions so we can effectively pinpoint your problem and help you find the right solution for it.

Users who have something to contribute on the subject can also share their views and suggestions via email or in the comment box below.

3 Samsung Galaxy S4 microSD Card Problems and How To Fix Them

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a microSD card slot that supports up to 64 gigabytes of data. That is more than enough to accommodate hundreds of multimedia files. The fact is, many owners use their phone as their external storage drives. But what if the microSD card suddenly fails?

We did received hundreds of emails related to the microSD card of the S4 and we were able to come up with three most common problems.

Mounting / Unmounting Problems

Here is a couple of email messages from our readers that explain well how these problems happen:

Mounting Issue

Hey, I just want to ask why my Galaxy S4 cannot mount the microSD card properly. Though I’m not really a techie person, I know how to properly insert the card into my phone. I’m pretty sure that the problem isn’t about how I inserted the card but how the device mounts it. My phone couldn’t just find it. Help me, please.

Unmounting Issue

I know that improper unmounting of the microSD card may eventually lead to corruption of data that is why I always take a few seconds to properly unmount the card from my phone. The problem is, the phone couldn’t unmount it. What’s the problem? Please help me fix the problem.

Possible Causes

Temporary phone problem.
The microSD card is not supported by the device.
Either the microSD card or the slot was damaged.
The card is corrupted or hasn’t been properly formatted.
An application is using the microSD card.

Solutions

Solution 1: To eliminate the possibility that it is just a temporary phone problem, we urge you to reboot or soft-reset the phone. Take the battery out for30 seconds then boot the phone normally, after which, try to see if the microSD card can be mounted / unmounted.

Solution 2: Check the specification of the microSD card and compare it with the specs that are support by the phone. Majority of the cards available in the market today are supported by the Galaxy S4 but there are brands that just won’t work with it.

Solution 3: Check the connector of the microSD card and make sure it’s not corroded, pushed in or missing. Then, check the microSD card slot to see if everything looks fine.

Solution 4: Perhaps, the card is corrupted or hasn’t been properly formatted. Let the computer read the card and backup as much data as possible then reformat it. See if the phone detects is now.

Solution 5: For instances that the phone refuses to unmount the microSD card, a third-party app may be causing the issue. A simple reboot may solve the problem or if you know which app is using it, you can force close the app to properly unmount the card.

Content Not Found

The following is the message from one of our readers experiencing this specific problem.

Hi TDG,

My Galaxy S4 phone can detect and mount the microSD card properly, however, I cannot seem to find the contents. Is there a way to fix this?

Possible Causes

Temporary phone problem.
Contents were inadvertently deleted.
The microSD card / slot was damaged.
Content is not supported by the phone.
Content is corrupted.
Content is protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Solutions

Solution 1: Soft-reset your phone before doing anything else. If the issue were temporary, this procedure will fix it.

Solution 2: Make sure that the contents you’re trying to access were saved in your microSD card. There are times when you inadvertently deleted contents but expect they’re still there.

Solution 3: Check to make sure your microSD card or the slot has not been damaged. Refer to the third solution in the first problem to know how to do this.

Solution 4: Make sure that the file you are trying to access has a file extension that is supported by the phone. Files that aren’t supported are often not visible.

Solution 5: Make sure the content you’re trying to access is not corrupted. Data that are corrupt may not be visible.

Solution 6: Digital Rights Management (DRM) restricted files may not be accessed using other apps. Make sure the content you’re trying to access is not DRM-restricted.

Unable To Format

Other owners complained not being able to format their microSD card using their phone. While the problem is not so common like the first two problems, it is easy to fix.

Possible Causes

Third-party app is using the problem.
The microSD card is not supported by the phone.
The microSD card has been write-protected.
The card was damaged.

Solutions

Solution 1: Reboot the phone to make sure the app that is currently using the microSD card would be stopped. More often than not, this problem is caused by an app that is accessing the data from the microSD card. If a reboot wouldn’t fix the problem, try booting the phone to Safe Mode.

Solution 2: Make sure that the microSD card you’re using is supported by the S4.

Solution 3: If the card was used in a previous device, it is possible that the card may be write protected. A write-protected card cannot be formatted. To remove the write protection, you will need to install the card in the original device and remove the write protection. If the original device is not available, you will need to use a different card in this device.

Solution 4: Make sure the microSD card hasn’t been damaged. Otherwise, buy a new one.

Tell us your phone problems

Fix Samsung Galaxy S4 “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped” error [Troubleshooting Guide]

The “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped” error is not exclusive to Samsung Galaxy S4. In fact, it can happen to any Android phone in the market as it involves the service that handles all settings (default or user-specified) in a phone. The thing about this error is that it can be caused by a third-party app, pre-installed app, firmware glitch, or a hardware that won’t function.

That said, you may encounter this error message after you installed a third-party app, updated a built-in app, updated the firmware to latest version or dropped your phone on the floor. In other words, you wouldn’t know when this problem happens or how it would occur. But one thing is for sure though, when it pops up, there are some serious issues with your phone.

In this post, I will walk you through troubleshooting your phone in case this error happens to you. The purpose of this troubleshooting is to know what triggered the error. Once you know the cause, you can do necessary procedures to try to fix the problem. However, there’s no guarantee you can fix it on your own. It may be necessary to have a technician check your device especially if the problem involves a hardware that’s not functioning like it should.

If, however, you have other issues with your phone, visit our Galaxy S4 Troubleshooting page as we’ve listed hundreds of problems we already addressed. Try the solutions we gave and if they didn’t work for you, email us at [email protected] and we will help find fixes to your problems. There’s one thing we ask though to help us figure out what your problem really is–information. The more information you provide about the problem, the more accurate our solutions are.

Settings crashed after installing apps on Galaxy S4
Settings stopped downloading Play Store updates
Settings stopped for no apparent reason at all
Settings crashed after a firmware update on Galaxy S4

Settings crashed after installing apps on Galaxy S4

Problem: Hi guys. I have an issue with my relatively old Galaxy S4. I did install some apps yesterday and I thought everything was fine. While I installed them yesterday, I only got time to test them today but when I opened two apps, there was this error message that popped up; “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped.” There are also times when I’m not using any app and this error will show up on the screen. It’s not just annoying, it also interrupts with what I’m doing because my phone will hang after that. Can you help me figure out a solution for this problem, please? — Angelina

Troubleshooting: Hi Angelina. If you’re certain that the error message started to pop up after you installed those apps, then it could be that one or two of them is causing the problem. There’s one way to find out if it’s the third-party apps that’s causing it–boot your phone in safe mode.

Turn the device off completely.
Press and hold the Power button.
Once the Samsung Galaxy S4 logo appears on the screen, release the Power button.
As soon as you release the Power button, press and hold the Volume Down key.
Continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone has completed the reboot process.
If you can read ‘Safe Mode‘ at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down key. Otherwise, repeat the process until you can boot the phone to Safe Mode.

Once the phone is in safe mode, all third-party apps will be temporarily disabled including those you recently installed. If one of them is causing the problem, the error message should not pop up in this state and if such is the case, uninstall the most recent apps you installed and try reinstalling one after another while being observant to know which one causes the Settings service to crash. However, if the error pops up in safe mode, there’s no other option but to backup your data (if possible) and reset your phone.

Settings stopped downloading Play Store updates

Problem: I was recently notified that there was an available update for some of my apps including the Play Store. I let the phone automatically download and installed the updates but after everything was updated, an error message showed up, “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped.” Not really sure what the cause was or which app is causing the problem but I’m sure the error started after the update. Can you help me out in fixing this problem or getting rid of the error message please?

Troubleshooting: It could have been easier if you included the name of apps you updated prior to this problem but I understand if you can’t provide it now because it’s difficult to trace which app was updated on that specific date. But based on reports of users who have also encountered this error in the past, it’s more often the Play Store updates that cause this issue. That said, it is logical enough to clear those updates off the app and see what happens.

From any Home screen, tap the Menu key.
Tap Settings.
Tap the More tab.
Tap Application manager.
Swipe left or right to go to the All tab.
Scroll to and tap Google Play Store.
Tap Uninstall updates.

If the problem remained after you did that, then there’s no other option but to reset your phone.

Settings stopped for no apparent reason at all

Problem: Hi. For some reason, my Galaxy S4 is showing an error message that says Settings has stopped and I really can’t do anything about it. When it pops up I can’t use my phone because it hangs for a few seconds and then lags. There were even times when the phone automatically reboots after the error popped up. I hope you can help me because I don’t know what to do right now. Thanks. — Weng

Troubleshooting: Hello. It’s difficult to troubleshoot a problem when there’s not enough information available. But as far as troubleshooting is concerned, let’s take a safer route in isolating the problem. The first thing you need to do is boot your phone in safe mode and see if the error still pops up in that mode. If so, then it’s the firmware that might have an issue. However, if the error message disappeared in safe mode, one of your apps may have gone haywire and created a conflict in the system. Finding the actual app may take time but disabling apps starting from the most recent installation is the only way to know the culprit without going through the hassles of backing up your data.

But you should know that master reset often fixes issues like this either its triggered by just an app or it’s a problem with the firmware itself. It’s up to you to choose which procedure to take.

Switch your phone off.
Hold down the Power, Volume Up and Home buttons at the same time for about 10 seconds. Release them when the Android logo appears on the screen. This will bring up the unlock/reset menu.
To navigate through this menu, use the volume up/down buttons to scroll up and down and the power button to confirm selections.
Scroll down and select Wipe Data/Factory Reset.
Scroll down and select Yes – Delete All User Data.
When prompted, scroll to and select Reboot System Now. The phone will then reboot to its factory settings.

Settings crashed after a firmware update on Galaxy S4

Problem: There was an update recently, I think it was lollipop. After I downloaded it and rebooted my phone, an error keeps popping up that I can’t do anything. It says, “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped.” I curious to know what this error message means and why it keeps popping up. Frankly, it’s very annoying and if I’d known this will happen after the update, I never should have downloaded it in the first place. If you guys know how to fix this problem, please help me. Thanks.

Troubleshooting: It probably just because some data got corrupted during the update process. The Settings service’s data are all saved inside the data partition so if it started to happen after a firmware update, then only solution I can think of is a master reset. However, it is always recommended you wipe the cache partition first before doing the reset. So, follow these steps first:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key
When the phone vibrates, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power key to select. The phone will automatically restart after the cache is wiped.

After this procedure and the problem remained, perform master reset but don’t forget to backup all your important data first.

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How To Fix Boot Up/ Battery/ Power Problems on Samsung Galaxy S4 [Part 1]

One of the common issues plaguing Samsung Galaxy S4 owners is the inability of the device to turn itself on from time to time. This issue can be due to a few factors and can manifest itself in a few different ways. Below are some of them.

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

When describing the problem, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start.

TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Problem #1: Samsung Galaxy S4 won’t power on

Hi. My Galaxy S4 was working completely fine last night. I plugged it in the charger and woke up this morning and it will not turn on. I’ve tried multiple things to troubleshoot this issue, and have had no luck. I have tried taking the battery out and plugging it in, to my computer, and multiple wall outlets, using multiple chargers and cables. There are no vibrations or LED lights that come on. I have also tried the steps mentioned in: https://thedroidguy.com/2014/11/fix-samsung-galaxy-s4-wont-turn-troubleshooting-guide-99921 and still have no luck. The phone will not turn on nor give any signs that it is still working or charging. The phone has no water damaged, and was not dropped or damaged.

If you could please help me troubleshoot this issue, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you — Nicholas

Hello I am currently having problems with my S4. I purchased this phone approximately one year and 6 months ago. However about 5 months ago it started giving trouble and was only cutting off and when it came back on the battery was dead. I purchased a new battery and it worked fine for about a month then it started cutting off and when it came back on it was stuck on the Samsung logo this happened for about a week and worked fine for almost 2 months However this problem stated happening again last night and I think my power button is no longer working after continuously trying to put it on. I left it charging for about 3 hours last night and when I got up about 2:30 am it was on it worked fine all day and about after 8 tonight the problem happened again. I have no recently installed apps and I just left it charging hoping that when I get up in the morning it works again. Could you please assist me in explaining what I should do. Regards. — Natalia

Hey. I am a S4 user with my dead S4 now. It was working well until last night it just switch off and never want to boot up again. As i need to unplug and plug back the battery to have the boot up screen but it never successfully boot up. After showing the picture as i shown below it went blank and the screen went black. i tried holding volume down + power button + home button. it show up until “downloading do not turn off target” it will shut down itself. I have purchase a battery replacement and it still having the same problem. I’m getting curious is it my S4 Power IC or S4 Power Amplifier IC failed? Help me out guys! Thanks a lot! Kind Regards. — Marvin

Hi there! I am having a really big issue with my Galaxy S4. My phones model is SGH M919. Hope you can help me with it. Turns out that my phone is not booting up, it’s not charging, my computer doesn’t recognize the phone when plugged in through the USB cable. All my phone does is show the Samsung Galaxy S4 logo for about 2 seconds and then turns off. It only does that when the battery is taken out and put back again, making the phone turn on automatically without me touching the power button. The power button is not stuck; I had a technician look into it.

I’m also able to get the phone into download mode but only for 2 seconds as well.

This all started when I was travelling and I plugged my phone into a bus power outlet, my phone showed a message telling me that I was using the power transfer cable, which I was not using. I found it odd, moments before that I had spilled a little club soda on the top of the phone near the home button, so I unplugged the phone and turned it off. Right after I turned it off it prompted into download mode without being connected to a computer nor anything, I left it doing whatever the phone was doing for a while, then I got worried and turned off and took out the battery for a couple of hours. After this I turned my phone on and it was working just fine, until a week from that it started giving me trouble. On my phones last day alive I charged the battery up to 40%, then when my battery died, I plugged the phone in but it didn’t want to charge anymore and hasn’t turn on or charged ever since. This happened about 3 weeks ago.

Thanks in advance. If you need any more details or pictures I will gladly provide them.

One more important detail about the phone. When I plug it in to a charger it only loads the charging icon for a few seconds as well and it only does it after I take the battery out and put it back into the phone. — Paco

Solution: Hi Nicholas, Natalia, Marvin, and Paco. The link mentioned by Nicholas above is the complete list of possible solutions that a user can do on his/her end. If your phone fails to respond to the first three suggestions, that’s a clear indicator that it’s been hard bricked, which means that there’s nothing more than you can do because it’s a complete hardware failure.

This blog does not give advice for hardware-related problems because it demands a more advanced electronics skills from users. Kindly ask assistance from professionals to handle your problem instead of tackling them head on to prevent from further damaging the phone.

Problem #2: Samsung Galaxy S4 boot loop issues

I just saw on “Daily Drip” your article from 2 days ago about the S4 boot loop and wanted to give you my experience. (I also have a question to ask, FYI).

My Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720) was acting the exact same way as your article described, going into a boot loop when the battery was inserted, not making it past the Samsung logo. I was also told that the problem was likely software and the most recent OTA update from Sprint could be a culprit. That said, I had a technician boot the phone into recovery mode and even rolled back the OS to a previous version (using Odin). When I got the phone back, it worked well for about 3 hours then it went into another boot loop after hitting the power button.

I went through and replaced several parts, including the ribbon attached to the USB port and the cable connecting from the back of the power button. I also cleaned the phone using alcohol once we found that there was a good bit of corrosion that started due to water damage. After the cleaning, the phone worked for several days – I made sure I cleaned the power button extensively.

After a few days, and a couple uses of the power button, the boot loop began again so I resolved to only turn the phone on with the home button and let it go to sleep by itself (my habit had been to always lock it using the power button). I had absolutely no issues for the next several *weeks*.

My theory was confirmed so I ordered an S4 power button and had the technician solder it on for me. For the last 2 months, the phone’s been problem free.

I also talked to a more experience technician who told me that S4 power buttons fail frequently – something I wish I knew before I threw all the parts at it.

I hope this helps someone save the time that I spent diagnosing this issue. — Jake

Solution: Jake, thank you for sharing an effective solution for your problem. While we cannot quantify the cases no how often power button fails on an S4 at this time, we are glad that you were able to isolate the root of the problem yourself. We have decided to publish your story to help other users who may have similar experience. Keep up the good work!

For other users who may not have the exact issue as Jake above, you can try the steps provided in our own post on how to resolve a boot loop issue.

Problem #3: Samsung Galaxy S4 won’t turn on unless connected to a charger

Hello. From time to time my Galaxy S4 randomly turns off and does not turn back on with the power button, unless I plug it in. In all this cases the battery has enough charge. Once turned on, I can unplug it, and works 100% fine. But eventually it will happen again. Regards. — Javier

Solution: Hi Javier. An issue like this can be due to a faulty battery. Have you tried using another working battery before? If you haven’t, we recommend that you try it first. The main reason for this is that your phone’s battery may show 100% charged but cannot actually hold that charge any longer like it normally does. In other words, the battery may be leaking more juice faster than it did before.

While it is expected to drain when in use, your phone’s battery in this case may have been damaged for some reason resulting to it depleting its power quite quickly.

Problem #4: Samsung Galaxy S4 battery drain issue | How to extend the battery life of a Samsung Galaxy S4

Hi. Hoping you can help me with a battery drain issue. After a full charge, the battery will drain down to 80% within 90 minutes even though I don’t use the phone. I don’t have many apps running. If I barely use the phone, it will drain completely within 8 hours or less. Will a hard reset solve the issue? You’re assistance is greatly appreciated. — Rob

Solution: Hi Rob. A hard reset should be the last thing that you should do to try to resolve power issues. Please try our suggestions below first then do a factory reset if nothing seems to work.

Uninstall bloatware and unused apps. The first thing you must check is Settings>Battery to see if there are erroneous apps that may be draining your battery faster than expected. This will clearly be indicated on the Battery section screen. You can Force stop these apps if you think they are doing so without your knowledge.

You may want to check AVG’s list of notorious apps that drains a smartphone’s battery faster in this link.

Dim the screen. One of the biggest power hogs in your phone is the huge screen itself. It is normally considered acceptable if your phone consumes about 20% of your battery power so if it goes above that, you might consider lowering the screen’s brightness as well as minimizing other screen animations. You can lower the brightness as low as possible as long as you are comfortable with it.

We have written a short post on how to lower battery consumption on an S5 so you might want to consider checking it. The general principles on what to do are not only applicable to S5’s but to all Android smartphones so you might want to check out this link https://thedroidguy.com/2014/12/best-tips-extend-battery-life-samsung-galaxy-s5-100896.

Problem #5: Samsung Galaxy S4 won’t turn back on and saying No Command on screen

When I turned the phone on a black screen came up with what looks like a dead robot and it says NO COMMAND. I’ve taken the battery out and put back in and I still get the same screen. It doesnt look good. What can I do? — Jill

Solution: Hi Jill. Did you root your phone? If you did, try to revert it to its factory defaults to resolve this issue. Otherwise, please follow the solutions provided for Problem #1 above.

Problem #6: Samsung Galaxy S4 keeps on rebooting itself

For the last couple of weeks, my phone freezes or turns off and I have to pop out the battery to turn it on again. It also will reboot itself (without being touched) repeatedly for no apparent reason. It does this constantly. It also refuses to stay connected to ANY Wi-Fi. I’ve tried multiple Wi-Fi points. I got a replacement phone from Verizon (also S4) and it continues to do this. I’ve factory reset the phone. Completely cleared my SD card, and reformatted it. I’m using the phone with no SD card. And it’s still doing this. I’ve taken it to Verizon and of course they can’t duplicate any of the problems I’m having and then I feel like I’m going crazy. Help!

I also get the fun little messages (attached) that show up after it’s rebooted itself.

I’ve turned off the auto-update apps. I’ve done everything I can think of.

Do you have any other ideas? — Jessica

Hello DroidGuy. I hope you can help me! I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 that likes to randomly turn itself off. Most of the time this happens when the phone is jostled (no, I don’t mean dropped – I mean put down on a table from less than half an inch away for example). It doesn’t shut down, as far as I can tell. It just turns off abruptly. This happens at all battery levels though doesn’t seem to affect the battery life. It’s at the same percentage when I turn the phone back on. Nothing else seems to be wrong with the phone. It doesn’t happen all of the time either (which is why I said it ‘randomly’ happens… it’s possible that my “jostling” theory is just my way of explaining the problem away).

I have done soft resets (removing the battery as well as the SIM card) in hopes that the problem would remedy itself to no avail.

Please help! Thank you in advance. — Erin

Hello. Found your article about the Galaxy S4 online useful, but it doesn’t address the problem I am experiencing. I am definitely cashing on my insurance and getting a new one instead of trying to get this fixed. Essentially, the phone will die without warning while some application is being used. So, I’m playing a game or trying to get SnapChat taking, or checking a website when the phone just goes black, and turns itself off. Then it won’t come back to life unless you plug it into the power supply. I reset the whole phone, and later disabled most useless crapware after had this problem, but it doesn’t make much of a difference. If I’m listening to music, the phone will somehow work alright. Another issue is that if you’re making a video, and the power is drained, even if the file you were working on was 20 minutes long, it will not be recorded if the phone dies. I would have expected Samsung to have programmed these apps to sense the power draining in order to save the files before turning itself off. Most macs do that.

It works fine with the power supply, but as soon as that’s disconnected, it will quickly just vanish, especially if an application that seems to require some processing power is used. This never happened before, but it has now become quite annoying. I noticed that if ‘power saving’ is on, the black out will take longer to happen. With the ‘power saving’ off the phone will black out much more quickly. Thank you for your attention. — Rodrigo

Solution: Hi Jessica, Erin and Rodrigo. If a smartphone reboots itself without user interaction or when being used under normal conditions, that suggests that there’s either a software glitch or hardware problem causing it.

Kindly go over the solutions in this post and see which of them can resolve the issue: https://thedroidguy.com/2014/01/fix-samsung-galaxy-s4-keeps-rebooting-stuck-boot-loop-83102.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Phone Storage Does Not Have Enough Space Issue & Other Related Problems

One of the reasons why people get Android devices is because of the easy way to expand its available storage. A person can get a phone such as the #Samsung Galaxy #S4 with a base storage of 16GB but then can further increase this by simply adding a microSD card. The S4 can accommodate a microSD card of up to 64GB which is enough to store several videos, photos, and music. There are however instances when phone storage issues can occur on this phone. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the Galaxy S4 phone storage does not have enough space issue & other related problems. We have gathered several issues of this nature sent to us by our readers and have addressed them below.

If you would like to browse the previous parts in this series then check out this link.

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S4 Phone Storage Does Not Have Enough Space

Problem: Good afternoon saw your article – How To Fix Common Samsung Galaxy S4 Problems and Errors- online. It’s very informative. But I was not able to find solution to my problem. I am using a samsung galaxy s4 mini. I just bought it. The phone has internal storage of 32Gig and RAM of 1.5Gig. The issue am having with it is that whenever am trying to use camera or receive files it will say “The phone storage does not have enough space.” I was surprised and confused. When I checked the “storage” under “settings” it showed “Total internal storage: 32.00GB.” “Available 31.99GB.” So I don’t know why it is saying not enough space when I still have 31.99GB free in the internal storage. But, I discovered something when I checked under “My Files” it showed “Phone Storage” as “Total Space: 12.15MB” and “Available: 1.7MB.” This shows that truly “The phone storage does not have enough space.” My further check made me to realise that all of my few media are under “My Files” which is a folder inside “RAM”. My problem is that how can I move my files to the “Internal Storage” of 32GB, that is still 31.99GB free.

Solution: When your phone has insufficient storage space the first thing that you will want to do is to check if certain apps are using up some space by saving some data. Going to the application manager and checking the data storage of each app will give you an idea of how large of a space each app is using. If you have a lot of apps then this could take some time. If an app is using a lot of space you can clear its cache and data. You can also go to the storage setting of your phone then click on cached data. You will then be presented with an option to clear the cached data in which case you should select ok.

If the issue still persists then start your phone in recovery mode then clear its cache partition. Restart your phone then check if the problem still occurs. If it does then I suggest you backup your phone data then do a factory reset.

S4 microSD Card Keeps On Unmounting

Problem: for months have had no issue using the SD card for the default music player when suddenly it stopped registering the SD. Half the night i got repeated messages about it unmounting and then nothing. The card is NOT corrupt and reads find in several other devices and my computer. it is a SanDisk 64gb card. i repeatedly restarted the phone removed the card tried safe mode and even a system reset and it will not read any SD card i try.

Solution: If you have already performed a factory reset and also tried several microSD cards on your phone then this could already be a hardware related problem. Try blowing the microSD card slot first with a can of compressed air. This will clear out any dirt or debris which may be causing this problem. Insert the card then check if the issue still occurs. If it does then I suggest you have your phone checked at an authorized service center. The SIM card holder/memory tray slot assembly could be damaged and needs to be replaced.This component usually costs less than $10 over at Amazon.

S4 Storage Space Running Out

Problem: I have 2 icons on the top bar. One says phone memory full. The other says storage space running out. I have deleted a few apps and I have tried to delete text messages, but it is not allowing me to delete any text messages. And occasionally thing randomly pop up while I am trying to delete things say some along the lines of this application has stopped would you like to exit. And it would be related to whatever I am trying to delete. It basically looks like it is trying but then it is just like oh no I am going to close it down and not do what you asked.

Solution: It looks like the phone is running out of storage space and at the same time experiencing some software glitches. To quickly resolve this problem you need to backup your phone data first. I suggest you do this using Kies or Smart Switch. Once you have backed up your data immediately do a factory reset. After the reset check if the issues stil occur.

S4 Storage Space Running Low

Problem: So I have downloaded many things into my “downloads” app. You know, the one with the green arrow? And it has been taking up too much space. So I cleared all content from it because I no longer needed it. Thinking that all was going to be well, I waited for the “storage space running low” notification to disappear. And it didn’t do that. My phone still says I have 4g of content in my “downloads” file, yet I have deleted all of it. Please help guide me to a solution that will fix this problem.

Solution: You can check if any downloaded files are still present in your device by using a file manager app. These files are usually present in the downloads folder. If you see any files present then check what file it is first before deleting it.

So as not to delete any important file in your phone you can also start it in recovery mode then wipe its cache partition. This will delete the temporary data stored in your device which can get big in no time.

If you are still having issues with the storage space running low at this point then I suggest you backup your phone data then do a factory reset.

S4 Memory Full

Problem: Phone shows 10 gb used yet says memory full some functions will not work. I have hard reset phone several times. It works fine for a few hours then says memory full. When there is plenty of space. All pic and such on a 64gb sd card. Phone is a 16gb.

Solution: Try backing up your phone data then wipe the cache partition of your phone then follow this up with a factory reset from the recovery mode. Once this is done do not install anything in your phone yet. Observe first if the issue still occurs. If it doesn’t then reinstall your apps. Make sure to check how much space the app uses from the application manager. If you install several games in your phone then it’s very likely that you will run out of storage space.

S4 Storage Space Becoming Low

Problem: Hi, When I connect my Samsung S4 to the PC it shows “561 MB free of 9.22GB” in red. What can I do about it. I have very few pictures and no music on it. Is it important? Thanks

Solution: Although 561MB of storage space is still large ( you can still save a few hundred photos with this space) you can free up more space in your device by wiping its cache partition from the recovery mode. This will delete the temporary files stored in your phone.

If you have apps that you don’t really use you can uninstall this as well to free up more space.

S4 Can’t Access microSD Card

Problem: I have had this phone for a year with the same sd card that has worked fine. It starting showing this error and I can’t access the card now.

Solution: Take out the microSD card and have your computer read it. You should also try to insert another microSD card in your phone.

If your microSD card can’t be read by the computer then it could already be corrupt. Replace this with a new one.

If it can be read by the computer then the issue could be with the phone. Try wiping the cache partition of your phone from recovery mode then check if the microSD card can be read. If it can’t be read then proceed with backing up your phone data then do a factory reset.

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Fixing The Samsung Galaxy S4 Can’t Send Text Message Issue & Other Related Problems

Welcome to our focused troubleshooting series where we aim to resolve the #Samsung Galaxy #S4 can’t send text message issue and other related problems. As we all know, text messaging is a very important feature of a smartphone since it allows a person to easily communicate with others. While a person can also rely on the calling feature, what makes text messaging advantageous is that it can be done even when a person is in a noisy environment.

There are however instances when issues appear concerning the sending of text messages. This is what we will be troubleshooting in this latest troubleshooting installment.

If you would like to browse the previous parts in this series then check out this link.

Aside from sending us an email you may also reach us at our Facebook and Google+ social media accounts.

S4 Can’t Send Text Message

Problem: changed from Verizon to Walmart Family Plan. Phone is unlocked and has new sim. I can receive text messages but not send them. I also changed the APN settings to Walmart or Tmobile. Just tried a Factory reset and didn’t help. Any ideas?

Solution: The most likely reason why you can’t send a text message is that your phone is still using the message center number of Verizon. This is a number that is unique to every carrier and is where your text messages are sent to first before reaching its destination. The message center is responsible for routing your text message to the correct recipient and if the recipient is unavailable will store this message and send it when the recipient is available.

To change the message center number of your phone go to the dialer and enter *#*#4636#*#*. If all goes well you should be brought to a hidden menu setting on your phone. Select phone then scroll all the way down to SMSC. Make sure to change this to the number T-Mobile is using which is +12063130004. You can also access this message center number from the messaging settings of your phone.

S4 Text Message Sending Sometimes Does Not Work

Problem: I recently bought a Samsung galaxy 4S after having an LG android through tracfone. I activated the galaxy through tracfone with the BYOP program and seemed to be having problems with texting. Sometimes it does it right away, sometimes I have to try over and over to certain people. I also can’t get images sent to be by text, it requires a download and when I click it is shows it is downloading, but just keeps going thru the motions, with no result. I have never had a fancy smart phone like this, so I feel like a complete moron on how to find anything or know what to do. I never had a problem with any of this with my cheesy LG android. I just want to be able to do what I did before. I also can’t get online unless I am at home . I could get online anywhere with the cheesy phone. I wanted a nicer phone and just want it to work. Any help would be a appreciated. It does have all the AT and T programs on it, even though I hooked it up with tracfone.

Solution: The first thing you need to check in this case is if your phone is getting a good signal from your carrier. You mentioned that your phone will sometimes send a message quickly, probably because there is a good signal reception. There are also times when the message does not send at all, probably due to poor signal reception. Try to determine first if this issue occurs in one particular area or if it occurs in any area you may be at.

To resolve this issue sometimes a restart is what is needed. Turn your phone off then turn it back on again. This resets your phone connection to the network and helps in this case.

There are also cases when an app you download may be causing this problem. To check if this is the case you should start your phone in Safe Mode. Once in this mode only the pre-installed apps are allowed to run while the apps you downloaded are disabled. If the issue does not occur in this mode then chances are it is caused by a downloaded app. You need to find out what app this is and uninstall it.

Regarding your problem with not getting the pictures from text message you should first check if you have an active mobile data subscription and make sure your phone mobile switch is on. You should also make sure that your phone APN settings matches the one Tracfone is using.

S4 Text Message Will Not Send

Problem: I have just about the same problems like others have described. If my phone completely dies, my texts will not send unless I call someone, then have someone call me. Then they will start working again. Problem started as soon as my phone was unlocked from Verizon.

Solution: This issue may be caused by some form of corrupt data. Try clearing the cache and data of the messaging app and see if this resolves the problem. You should also follow this up by wiping the cache partition of your phone.

There are also instances when an app you downloaded can cause this type of problem. To check if this is the case you should start your phone in Safe Mode. In this mode only the pre-installed apps are allowed to run while the third party apps are disabled. If the issue does not occur in this mode then it’s most likely caused by a third party app. Do a trial and error method in determining what app is causing this issue and uninstall it.

As a final troubleshooting step if the above fails you should back up your phone data and do a factory reset.

S4 Sends I’m Driving Now Text Message

Problem: Hi, My phone was really slow and messages weren’t coming in till hours later so I did a factory reset on my Samsung s4. Now when I’m in a car, as a passenger or driver, my phone sends a message to the person I’m texting that’s says “I’m am driving now” whenever I look at a message or after I send a message. I can’t figure out how to turn this off. Any ideas?

Solution: If you are under the AT&T network then this is probably caused by the AT&T DriveMode app installed in your phone. What this app does is it detects if you are moving at 25 mph. It then sends out a reply to incoming text messages informing your friends that you are driving.

If you are on any other network then you can turn off driving mode by going to Settings>Voice Input and Output>Text-to-speech settings> Uncheck driving mode.

S4 Can’t Send Text Message At Work

Problem: After walking into work, the data plan automatically turns off and I cannot text or call. I can connect to wifi at work, but texting still is not working. Leaving work, the phone must be restarted to correctly work. This only happens at work. Previously the phone functioned at work.

Solution: Try to check if you are getting a data signal in your work area. If you don’t have any data signal then this may be the reason why you can’t text. Try changing the network mode of your phone and see which works best in your work area. The choices are LTE/GSM/WCDMA (auto connect), GSM/WCDMA (auto connect), GSM only or WCDMA only. I suggest you try out LTE/GSM/WCDMA (auto connect) first.

Regarding the issue where your phone needs to be rebooted first to work correctly once you leave your work area this may be caused by some form of corrupt data. Try wiping the cache partition of your phone and check if this resolves the problem.

S4 Not Sending Receiving MMS
Problem: I just bought a Galaxy S4, Model SM-S975L, used the BYOP activation through Tracfone/StraightTalk on the AT&T network. Everything seems to be fine except for sending and receiving MMS, which I see seems to be an all too common issue. I have double checked the APN settings that Straight Talk is giving me, as well as tried numerous variations I’ve found in different troubleshooting forums with none successful so far. The one given by ST is:

APN RESELLER
MMSC https://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS PROXY proxy.mobile.att.net
MMS PORT 80
MMS_APN RESELLER

Any suggestions? Thanks guys

Solution: You should first make sure that you have an active mobile data subscription and that your phone mobile data switch is on. Next, make sure our phone has the correct APN settings.

For Straight Talk under AT&T the settings are

Name: straight talk
APN: tfdata
MMSC: https://mms-tf.net
MMS proxy: mms3.tracfone.com
MMS port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 410

For Straight Talk under T-Mobile the settings are

Name: straight talk
APN: wap.tracfone
Port: 8080
MMSC: https://mms.tracfone.com
MMS Proxy: Leave blank
MMS Port: Leave blank

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Text Not Sending Troubleshooting

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Cannot Connect To Wi-Fi Issue & Other Related Problems

A smartphone is one of the best portable devices that you can bring with you to stay connected to the Internet. If you are in your favorite coffee shop you can take out your #Samsung Galaxy #S4 for example and connect to its Wi-Fi network. You can then check you emails or update your social networks once connected. There are however instances when your phone is not able to go online due to a connection problem. This is what we will tackle today as we deal with the Galaxy S4 cannot connect to Wi-Fi issue & other related problems.

If you would like to browse the previous parts in this series then check out this link.

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S4 Cannot Connect To Wi-Fi

Problem: I cannot connect to Wifi no matter where i am. even when i turn wifi on, it never actually turns on completely. i restarted my phone, and turned it off, took the battery out, and turned it back on. i still can’t get it to connect to wifi

Solution: Does the Wi-Fi icon turn green then grey? If it does then this could be a hardware issue. Try to backup your phone data first then do a factory reset. After the reset do not install anything on the device yet. You should check first if the Wi-Fi can be turned on. If it does not turn on then this is most likely a hardware problem. If this is the case then I suggest you have your phone checked at an authorized service center. Its either the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth IC or the Wi-Fi Bluetooth capacitor could be damaged.

S4 Wi-Fi & Bluetooth Does Not Turn On

Problem: My wifi will not enable, I try to turn it on, the phone thinks for a min then shows wifi as off. My blue tooth also does the same thing. I have factory reset the phone several times, tried safe mode, still same issue. Please help!!!!

Solution: Unfortunately this issue looks like a hardware problem already. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth of your phone is handled by a single IC and a single capacitor. Since you are having an issue with both features then it’s either the IC or the capacitor that is defective. I suggest you have your phone checked at an authorized service center to determine the exact cause of this problem.

S4 Auto Connect to Wi-Fi Option Missing

Problem: Hello there. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini GT-I9195 Android version 4.4.2. For some time I have the problem of losing WIFI password. I was happy to find a solution in your article about this: https://thedroidguy.com/2013/08/galaxy-s4-asks-for-wifi-password-every-time-wifi-turns-itself-off-automatically-70074. However, on my phone on the WIFI > Advanced screen the “auto connect” option simply does not appear. Any ideas?

Solution: Is your phone still running on its stock software? If it is then try to update your phone software to the latest version then check if the auto-connect option on the Wi-Fi settings appears.

You should also backup your phone data then do a factory reset. After the reset check for the auto-connect option.

S4 Won’t Open Wi-Fi Login Page

Problem: My s4 won’t open my works Wi-Fi log in page, it connects to the Wi-Fi but just won’t open the log in page or let me go to it manually. Only thing that has changed is i recently updated to 5.0.1 Every other Wi-Fi is fine just not with this portal.

Solution: Try forgetting the Wi-Fi connection then connect to it again. If the issue still persists then follow the troubleshooting steps listed below.

Wipe the cache partition of your phone from the recover mode. This will delete the temporary data stored in your phone which if corrupted can cause this problem.
Start your phone in Safe Mode then check if the issue occurs. Sometimes an app you downloaded can cause this problem. This is how you check if this is the case. If you are able to connect to your work Wi-Fi on this mode then the problem could be caused by an app. Find out what app this is and uninstall it.
Do a factory reset. This will bring your phone back to its original condition. Make sure to backup your phone data before performing this.

S4 Webpage Never Fully Loads

Problem: When I go to a web page it never fully loads (blue bar stops 90% across). Then an error window opens stating “Tab Crashed”, Reload page. I tap reload and same thing happens again.

Solution: It appears that this could be a browser related problem. Try clearing the cache and data of the browser you are using then check if the issue still occurs.

S4 Mobile Data Turns On Automatically

Problem: My daughter has an issue with the mobile data turning itself on, we’ve tried everything, could it be a virus ? Please help because it’s draining all her pre paid credit and costing us a fortune and thanks so much in advance

Solution: There’s a possibility that an app installed in the phone is causing this behavior. Try to start the phone in Safe Mode then observe if the issue occurs in this mode. If it doesn’t then it is most likely caused by an app. Find out what app this is and uninstall it.

If the issue still persists even in Safe Mode then I suggest you backup the phone data then do a factory reset.

S4 Not Connecting To 3G

Problem: After a factory reset done due to full internal memory, the 3g has stopped working! The icon is turning green but the mobile is not connecting and the mobile is not receiving the configuration message from the operator as well. Before the message was arriving immediately. The connection is configured well manually and the sim card is working in 3g with my old galaxy s3 mini. Thanks

Solution: Since you can connect to mobile data when the SIM card is transferred to another device then we can eliminate any account or network signal related problems that can cause this issue. The most probable cause behind this is that the APN settings of your phone does not match the one you network is using. I suggest you compare your phone APN settings to the one your network is using then make the necessary changes if needed.

S4 Wi-Fi Keeps On Asking For Password

Problem: My WiFi keeps on asking for a password again and again.I would like to attach some screenshots of the settings of the advanced WiFi settings.

Solution: Try forgetting the Wi-Fi connection then connect to it again. If this does not work then restart your phone and the router. Try connecting to the Wi-Fi network again the check if the issue still occurs. If it does then start your phone in recovery mode then wipe its cache partition. This deletes the temporary data stored in your phone that could be causing the problem. You should also try connecting the phone to a different Wi-Fi network to check if the problem is caused by the router you are trying to connect to.

If the above troubleshooting steps fail then I suggest you backup your phone data then do a factory reset.

S4 Can’t Access Wi-Fi

Problem: I have 2 of these phones. They are currently locked until I pay off the bill. I was told that I can still use these phones as wifi only. I plan to use them for music or podcast downloads. However…no matter what I do…I can’t access any wifi services. How can I use these phones? I can’t find anything on the internet that helps me. Thank you.

Solution: Make sure to turn on the Wi-Fi switch of the phone then let it scan for any available network. If you see your network in the list then connect to it. You may need to enter the network password. Once connected the phone should be able to go online.

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