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Galaxy S7 touchscreen not working properly, other issues

The first three issues in this post addresses questions about the #GalaxyS7 screen. One of these reported issues, S7 touchscreen not working properly, is discussed here briefly. Keep in mind that our blog does not provide hardware troubleshooting or diagnostics so if you find the solutions rather direct or not helpful at all, that’s mainly due to one reason — the reason for the issue is hardware in nature. As a rule, we always suggest that users allow professionals handle any hardware issue but if you think you can fix your own issue yourself, look for other online guides that might help you.

S7

Below are the specific topics discussed in this material:

  1. Galaxy S7 screen is black and unresponsive
  2. Galaxy S7 touchscreen not working properly
  3. Galaxy S7 screen flickers if brightness is not set to maximum
  4. Galaxy S7 can’t reply to automated SMS
  5. Galaxy S7 won’t read SD card | Galaxy S7 overheating issue

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

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

Problem #1: Galaxy S7 screen is black and unresponsive

It seems my screen isn’t working…like i turn on the phone and i don’t get a boot animation or anything, just a black screen. nothing ever shows up.

Also the touch screen was working when i first restarted the phone because i heard the phone unlock with the water drop sound on the lock screen but since i restored the phone in Odin (with the black screen) even when i boot into recovery and download mode it’s still a black screen.

I have never dropped my phone nor has it ever been water damaged. So i have no idea why this happened…i was using the camera app and the screen just went black on me. so anyone got an idea what’s wrong or how to fix it?? — Wenganga

Solution: Hi Wenganga. A black screen caused by an operating system glitch or an app bug is one thing and black screen issue due to a hardware malfunction is quite another. The most effective way to know if you have a hardware problem or a software one is by doing a simple restart. If the screen remains black during the initial boot up, that’s an indication of hardware defect. The initial screen that shows your carrier’s logo or Samsung logo works independently from the operating system and is run by the bootloader. Thus, if you are not seeing either the carrier splash screen or the Samsung logo screen (while the bootloader loads) that’s an indication of hardware problem. This is the same reason why nothing shows up and the screen remains black if you boot your phone in download mode or recovery mode. To fix this problem, you must bring it to Samsung or a reputable third party repair shop so your device can be checked and fixed.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 touchscreen not working properly

Just 2 days ago my phone started glitching when I’d try to text. The bottom of my keyboard is unresponsive and even when I am trying to text only, the key board is over sensitive it erases too much or a adds too many words by itself. The keyboard has a glitch not just in texting but texting on Google, basically at any time I use the keyboard.

I tried to hard reset. Reboot delete cache. I even pressed *#0*# and that led me to the touch screen with the x axis to manually touch. once I got to the bottom of the axis it doesn’t let me fill in the bottom part, which makes sense because I’m having most trouble on my key board toward the bottom. For instance thru text i have to press the emoji section 3 times before it opens and press each emoji 3 or 4 times before it allows me to place it in text.  Please help me I’ve tried everything.  I’ve never dropped the phone and the phone is 2 weeks old. — Kristina

Solution: Hi Kristina. The result of the service menu test that you did (by pressing *#0*#) is evidence that a portion of the touchscreen is defective. This means that the lower portion of the screen has lost its ability to detect input like your touch. This problem can be caused by a faulty touchscreen itself, or some components of the screen assembly. Unfortunately, there is no amount of software troubleshooting that you can do on your end to fix this. You must call Samsung or your carrier so you can have the phone replaced.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 screen flickers if brightness is not set to maximum

So i have this device for like 2 months. I bought it from Romania, and got the Exynos processor version though the reseller who says it is with Snapdragon actually. First of all, i first encountered some a very uncomfortably overheating which made the aluminum edges to be hard to keep in hand. I ignored this problem at first, though i was pretty frustrated that my friend with another S7 Edge didn’t encounter any overheating problems.

The real problem is that 2 or 3 days ago my screen started flickering when the brightness was any lower than the maximum. Flickering gets worse once with the less brightness. Just after a day, my screen only appears green and i can do nothing on my device. I just want to know if there is something to do with the device, which i hope won’t happen since the retailer will give all my money back.

I will never buy any Samsung again after this pretty amazing experience with their best model by far. — Vlad

Solution: Hi Vlad. The first thing that you want to do is check if the issue is due to a third party app. You can do that by restarting the phone in safe mode. Here’s how:

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

Safe mode prevents third party apps from running so if one of them is the culprit, the screen should work normally. If the problem remains though, the next thing that you can want to do is factory reset. To do that, follow these steps:

  • Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  • Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
  • When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
  • Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
  • Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
  • Press the Volume Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
  • After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

Factory reset restores all settings and built-in apps to their original factory state. If the screen issue is caused by a glitch that developed after some time, it should be eliminated by this process. However, if the problem remains after a factory reset, an unknown hardware issue should be causing the screen to behave erratically. Contact Samsung or the retailer to get a replacement unit.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 can’t reply to automated SMS

I get automated text messages from our laundry service asking if we want them to stop by and pick up laundry that day. Reply Y if yes. Whenever I reply with Y, the message fails. I have the same issue with a local bakery that texts us coupon codes and asks for a reply to claim them. Same issue as the message fails when I try to reply. I have to think it has something to do with these types of automated messages. I do recall the first time I tried to respond to one and a message bubble popped up and I accidentally tapped my preference to probably be “Do not allow messages to be sent to automatic texts” or something like that.  Once I tapped it, it said that it would remember the preference. So how do I reset that preference so that I can respond to these text messages? — Brian

Solution: Hi Brian. If you were able to send a reply to automated SMS previously on this device, the best thing that you can do is to restore the default settings of your Messaging app to default. There are two ways to do that. One is by clearing the data of the said app. Here’s how:

  • Go to Settings.
  • Proceed to Applications.
  • Select Application Manager or Applications.
  • Tap the All tab.
  • Look for the app in question and tap it.
  • Tap Storage.
  • From there, you will see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons.
  • Tap Clear Data.

Tapping the Clear Data button is the virtual equivalent of re-installing the app. Doing so deletes your text messages.

If deleting the app’s data won’t fix the issue, the next best thing to do is by doing a factory reset.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 won’t read SD card | Galaxy S7 overheating issue

Hi! Not sure if this is a software or hardware problem yet.

My notifications popped up last week saying my SD card was damaged and may need to try reformatting it. I couldn’t do it for a few days, due to dealing with personal issues that kept me extremely busy. But on Friday I noticed the CPU was overheating, so I decided to see if a factory reset would solve that problem. Well, it didn’t. And the SD card message popped up again, so I, reluctantly, reformatted the card.

Then my husband and I went on a trip over Memorial Day weekend. While we were away, the SD card fouled up again after I had been using the GPS on my device for our trip, causing it to get really hot. I immediately stopped the GPS and put my device into sleep mode till it cooled. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t remove the card till we got home, since you have to have the silly tool to do that, which I keep in the box my device came in…). Anyway, I think the SD card error appeared during the overheating, this time. It seems that was what alerted me to the overheating this time.

So I’m wondering if I got a bad SD card. It says it’s Samsung EVO microSD (128GB), but I ordered it from Amazon and it took a month to arrive (so, it came from China).

Unfortunately, I didn’t get insurance with my device…I guess because I never needed it before…

Anyway, I was just wondering if you’ve ever encountered a problem like this one on the Galaxy S7 or on other similar Android device.

Oh, and now my device won’t recognize whether an SD card is even in it. It has a message to “mount SD card,” but it is grayed out and un-“clickable” whether card is in or not. I performed soft reset. Nothing changed. (I didn’t notice this problem till I tried to remove SD card, assuming it was a bad one.)

Another thing I’m wondering if it may have started this issue is that, maybe 2 months ago, my charger and cord that came with my device slowed way down, and so I started using another charger instead. And then I started using a heavy duty Anker cable I had with the original charger that came with my device, thinking just the cable was bad. It charged fine when I was using the phone charger, but when I started using the Anker cable I had to immediately quit due to it feeling hot at micro USB port area, and I went back to phone charger, which seemed ok.

Anyhow, I’m hoping I haven’t fried, or partially fried, my device.

Please let me know if you think there is a solution to this (these) issue(s).

Thanks! — Gina

Solution: Hi Gina. When it comes to issues similar to yours, an average user has a very limited set of options in terms of troubleshooting. That’s because identification of the real cause is difficult to achieve in the first place.

For your first problem regarding the SD card, the only thing that you can do is to try another one so you can observe what happens next. If the second SD card suffers the same fate, that is, it gets corrupted like the first, you can assume that the device is somehow causing the SD card to malfunction. This can be due to a faulty hardware (probably connected to the overheating issue), or a software glitch. Because there’s a possibility that software error may be the cause, we recommend that you  do the basic software troubleshooting like clearing of the cache partition, booting in safe mode, or factory reset. If you’ve already done all the software solutions without getting any positive result, that’s the time that you want to consider having the phone checked.

For reference, here’s the steps on how to wipe the cache partition of a Galaxy S7:

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

For your second issue (overheating), this may also be due to software glitch or bad hardware. Sometimes, third party apps or services can run constantly in the background. This forces the processor and other components to run all the time. The more active the processor, the hotter the inside of your device becomes, resulting to perceived overheating. If you suspect that software is to blame, try to factory reset your S7 and observe it for 48 hours without any apps. This will give you enough time to see the difference.

If the phone continues to overheat even without the third party apps, you can bet hardware is to blame. Find a way to have the device checked or, better still, replaced.

 

Engage with us

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

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

Does dropping a Galaxy S7 Edge voids the Samsung warranty? other issues

Welcome to yet another #GalaxyS7 post. In this article, we cover 6 different problems that were submitted by some members of Android community. We hope this will be another reference for those looking for solutions to their own Galaxy S7 problems.

s7

These are the specific topics we are discussing today:

  1. Galaxy S7 Edge showing a black spot on the screen after an Android update
  2. Galaxy S7 Edge screen turns green and keeps on flickering
  3. Galaxy S7 Edge screen is cracked after a drop | Does dropping a Galaxy S7 Edge voids the Samsung warranty?
  4. Third party messaging apps on Galaxy S7 won’t split long SMS messages
  5. Galaxy S7 won’t connect to Wi-Fi | Galaxy S7 won’t play music when connected to Wi-Fi
  6. Galaxy S7 email app does not have search option per folder

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

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

Problem #1: Galaxy S7 Edge showing a black spot on the screen after an Android update

Hey, I have the new Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and there have been some issues since the latest software update (2 weeks or a bit more ago). First, there is a black spot on the right edge (a small black circle) it’s always there no matter what I do.

Second, when I unlock my phone, there is a small flickering on the display as if there should be a notification, but there is none. It shows up for a second and then disappears. It happens when I press the power button or the home button and only when the phone is locked. I really have no idea what to do and the service staff has also no idea what it could be. I believe its connected with the latest update. Any ideas on how to solve it? — Mery

Solution: Hi Mery. To troubleshoot the first issue, try booting the download mode. This will allow you to check if the black spot to the edge is a screen issue or software in nature since download mode is different from normal mode and runs in a different software environment. To do that, follow these steps:

  • Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  • Press and then hold the Home and Volume Down keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  • When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Down keys.
  • Wait until the Download mode screen appears.

Again, if the black spot shows in the same spot while download mode is on, then you have a hardware problem. Call Samsung for repair or replacement. If the black is absent though, that’s an indication that the new update is to blame. Do a factory reset to try to fix the problem. This may also fix the second issue. Here are the steps on how to do a factory reset:

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

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 Edge screen turns green and keeps on flickering

Hi. my S7 Edge is 37 days old and today i noticed the rest screen time had turned green. When i tried to use my phone it had started flickering slightly. Within 30 mins my phone was switching from a flickering screen to a black one. I’ve tried all the reboots including in safe mode except a factory reset. I have notice the top of my phone has been getting very hot whilst on charge even with fast charge off. I’ve also seen a all speckled purple screen during the reboot. Is the a problem samsung are aware of? Will they change the phone? I feel devastated. I’m in a two year contact with a phone days over being a month old and it’s not working. — Zara

Solution: Hi Zara. There’s really nothing much that we can do to help given the scarcity of information you provide here. The general rule of thumb when troubleshooting a smartphone though is this: if the current symptoms you’re experiencing comes after dropping the device from a height or exposing it to heat or moisture (water), then don’t waste your time doing any software troubleshooting. You must find a way to have the phone checked for possible hardware problem. You may even need to have the device replaced.

However, if you haven’t dropped the phone before, or if it didn’t see water or exposed to heat at all, then the most likely issue is software. Do a factory reset, observe the phone for 24 hours without apps, and check if there’s any difference. Keep in mind that Android operating system may encounter a conflict with incompatible or bad apps. Make sure that you don’t install any app during the observation to see if one of the currently installed apps is the culprit.

Doing a factory reset also forces the phone to revert all software settings to default. If the screen issue is caused by a firmware glitch, factory reset should delete it.

When it comes to unit replacement, some criteria must be met. As long you did not tamper with the hardware or software and no visible proof that you misused the phone (like dropped it or wet it in water), there’s high likelihood that Samsung will replace the device for free. Keep in mind though that even a small scratch may be considered misuse by an inspecting Samsung employee so the chance of having the device replaced depends on how it appears now.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 Edge screen is cracked after a drop | Does dropping a Galaxy S7 Edge voids the Samsung warranty?

I dropped my S7 edge and it’s gorilla glass cracked a bit on left edge but I was working perfectly. But after a month of it some green lines appeared on it while I was on a call and screen flickered with green color whenever I unlocked it. and after nearly an hour whole display showed disoriented colors but touch was working fine and whenever I turned it to full brightness with auto enabled it showed everything fine.  after some time everything turned to those disoriented colors and now only black and white screen flickers and nothing else shows up. I am sure it’s not software issue…so can you please tell me if it is because of drop or not (I guess no because it’s after a month) and can you tell if I can get it covered in warranty. Thanks. — Vinit

Solution: Hi Vinit. Hardware damage from a drop or water exposure may take some time to develop. The drop may have impacted some solder points initially and only now did the issues due to poor connection or shorting started to appear. A hit hard enough and in the right place can loosen internal components from the board but may not necessarily result to immediate malfunction. As time goes on, that loosely connected part can get damaged due to heat, or may in turn damage other components in turn. There’s no way of telling if an electronic device like a smartphone has been damaged after a drop unless a thorough hardware check is conducted. For average users, the only time they will know is when problems started to appear out of nowhere. In your case, the issue is rather obvious and the symptoms you describe are consistent with a bad screen. The issue may be limited to the LCD or the digitizer may also be involved. Whatever the true situation is, you must see to it that the phone’s hardware is examined properly.

If you did not drop the phone again or tried to modify the official software before the screen turned terribly bad, then the first drop may be the cause. The only way to fix your problem now is screen replacement. Since you did drop the phone and evidence is hard to ignore, Samsung will most likely charge you for the repair. Whether you intentionally dropped the phone or not, Samsung will consider it end-user misuse so you can’t expect them to repair this phone for free.

Problem #4: Third party messaging apps on Galaxy S7 won’t split long SMS messages

When using 3rd party party messaging apps, my phone will not split up long messages into separate texts messages (instead of sending as mms), unless I can specifically tell it to do so within the settings. If the app I’m using does not have the settings to specify how to send sms/MMS, and I attempt to send a message exceeding 160 characters, the message will fail. This is true for any app without these settings such as Hangouts, Facebook SMS and signal private messenger. I’ve already factory reset my device to no avail. — Danielle

Solution: Hi Danielle. Contact your wireless carrier and ask for direct assistance. The SMS functions of these mentioned third party apps still depends on your carrier’s network limitation. If you can’t find any settings within the apps themselves so they allow sending of more than 160 characters, then they are most likely set to the default 160-character limit employed by most carriers. There’s nothing in your phone or operating system that you can change to fix that.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 won’t connect to Wi-Fi | Galaxy S7 won’t play music when connected to Wi-Fi

OK, so first off I have the S7, bought it a few months ago. About a month ago programs were glitching so bad, eventhough everything was updated. I cleared my phone of all the photos and videos and cleared up any other storage that wasn’t necessary. It worked a bit more smoothly, but then it stopped connecting to our Wi-Fi. It’s not the Wi-Fi, as my husband’s phone, laptop and iPad all connect without any issues. My phone connects ONLY to the 5G option of Wi-Fi. Which simply doesn’t work that well…anytime I try to run Pandora, Spotify or Google Play, it will play maybe 3 songs and then just stop…no amount of loading will play the next song until I skip or change stations. Also within the past 3 weeks my keyboard won’t pop up when it’s supposed to, and sometimes it won’t go away….I’m going to try the soft reset as soon as I clear it of all the photos/videos again and see what happens…but please! I need help. It’s so frustrating that I can’t connect or enjoyable listen to music. — Noniijoy

Solution: Hi Nonijoy. First, try to observe if something will change if you boot the phone in safe mode. While in this mode, all third party apps will be disabled. If one of them is causing this problem, the issue should not happen. Refer to the steps above on how to boot in safe mode.

If nothing will change, try wiping the cache partition. Here’s how:

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

If this won’t work either, don’t hesitate to factory reset the device.

Problem #6: Galaxy S7 email app does not have search option per folder

I just upgraded from a S6 to a S7 and have set up my business email through exchange. When I search in my email, it searches all folders and I cannot find a way to specify within which folder I want to search. I was able to search specific folders on the S6. The reason this is an issue: I get upwards of 400 emails a day. I need to move said emails from my inbox to the appropriate subfolder. Instead of being able to search inbox for a keyword, it searches everything and I have to hunt and peck for the items in my inbox through a field of emails that I already moved. Is there a way to sort a specific folder (like inbox) instead of all folders? — Kathryn

Solution: Hi Kathryn. Features on stock apps can vary depending on the software version on your device. We checked our own Galaxy S7 here and we can search by folder so the difference may be caused by the specific firmware running on your phone. Try to see if the current email app can be updated to see if that will bring additional features. If the app is already updated at this time, contact your carrier and see if their developer team can do something about it. Otherwise, simply find another third party email app that will give you the setting you need.

 

Engage with us

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

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

Galaxy S6 cannot send text message after updating to Marshmallow, other issues

S6 Marshmallow update

As promised in previous #GalaxyS6 posts, here are more issues that some of our community members are experiencing. Feel free to visit other Galaxy S6 troubleshooting posts in this index page.

  1. Verizon Galaxy S6 won’t send or receive MMS on AT&T network
  2. Galaxy S6 cannot send text message after updating to Marshmallow
  3. Galaxy S6 stuck on loading screen during an update
  4. How to improve battery life on Galaxy S6 Edge Plus
  5. Galaxy S6 display won’t turn back on after charging port was replaced
  6. Galaxy S6 Home button stopped working

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

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

 

Problem #1: Verizon Galaxy S6 won’t send or receive MMS on AT&T network

I bought this Verizon “Factory Unlocked” Samsung S6, brought it to AT&T for them to set up the APN information, and everything works except sending and receiving pictures through text,  well multimedia text. AT&T stated I shouldn’t be having problems of. It was factory unlocked but kinda blew me off. I asked if all factory unlocked phones were unable to send multimedia text, I was told yes they can but they guess mine can’t was the answer I received.

I pray y’all can help me I hoping I wasn’t ripped off. The seller is refusing the return as of now because I brought it to AT&T (he called it a third party) to activate it.

Thanks for everything y’all do it helps so much. — Kayla

Solution: Hi Kayla. There are a number of reasons why MMS won’t work on a device ranging from incorrect phone settings, bad messaging app, or account- or network-related problem. Your first task is to find out what is causing the issue by doing some basic troubleshooting. Below are the things that you can do:

Ensure that your messaging app inbox has enough storage space left. Messaging apps have a limited number of messages that they can store. If your phone has reached the limit at this time, it won’t be able to send and receive text messages or MMS.

Try to delete as many messages as you can then try to send an MMS to your number.

Check the network connection. Most phones are configured to automatically detect and connect to a network. They are also set to optimize the connection “session” but this process does not usually go as planned every time. You need to manually select a network under Settings to see if the phone is simply not “optimizing” the current connection.

To do this on a Galaxy S6, simply follow these steps:

  • From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  • Tap Settings.
  • Scroll to Connections,  then tap Mobile networks.
  • Tap Network operators.
  • Tap Search now.
  • When presented with a list of available networks, try to select one that is NOT your carrier and wait for the error message.
  • Once you’ve selected another network, your phone is no longer connected to your carrier and is fully logged off from it.
  • Try to connect to your carrier’s network again.

Make sure that you have the correct AT&T MMS configuration setup. We know that AT&T representatives have already setup the APN on your phone but there’s still a chance that they may have missed something. Kindly revisit the phone’s APN settings and see if they correspond with the table below.

Name: NXTGENPHONE

APN: NXTGENPHONE

Proxy: Not set        Proxy

Port: Not set        Port

Username: Not set

Password: Not set

Server:        Not set

MMSC: https://mmsc.mobile.att.net

MMS proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net

MMS port: 80

MCC: 310

MNC: 410

Authentication Type: None

APN type: default, mms, supl, hipri

APN protocol: IPv4

Bearer: Unspecified

Check if you have a compatible SIM card. Older SIM cards or those from other carriers may not automatically allow sending or receiving of MMS on AT&T network. If you purchased a new SIM card from AT&T when you brought your phone to them, you can skip this step.

To check if your current SIM card is compatible, please visit AT&T website.

Ask AT&T if your existing data plan is compatible. If you recycled an old SIM card and put it on your new S6, the current data plan may not allow MMS. AT&T needs to update the current device information on your account to let it to send and receive MMS. If you aren’t sure about this step, make sure that you contact AT&T.

Problem #2: Streaming apps (SoundCloud and Google Play Music) on Galaxy S6 not working properly after Marshmallow update | Galaxy S6 cannot send text message after updating to Marshmallow

  1. Data has been choppy, when using any streaming service like SoundCloud or Google Play Music, the song stops and buffers, but when you open the app and stop and start the song, it fixes immediately. I began to see this problem immediately after installing the Marshmallow update. The song keeps stopping within 30 seconds every time, but if the phone is open on the app, it streams normally. It stops when the phone is locked.
  2. Can’t send text messages, this wasn’t a problem until 5 days after I installed the update. Happened suddenly, sent texts the same morning, tried restarting and powering on and off, text messages are received, but cannot send. Tried using your previous guide of deleting network cache, and app cache, didn’t work. — Vineet

Solution: Hi Vineet. The new Marshmallow update, like its predecessor appears to be causing minor app issues at this time. This can be due to a number of reasons and unfortunately, there’s just no way to pinpoint exactly what might be wrong on a certain situation. A good way to start though, especially if there are multiple issues, is to perform a factory reset. If deleting the cache partition or app cache won’t make any difference, resorting to factory reset might prove effective. This is because many post-update issues are caused by firmware glitches.

Perform a factory reset

Major updates that involve replacing one version with another, like the transition from Lollipop to Marshmallow, are usually messy as old system files are not usually replaced correctly, permissions not set properly, among other things. Ensuring that your phone runs a clean firmware after a major update can be done by doing a factory reset.

Update apps

Factory reset can only do so much. Many users think that updating to another Android operating system automatically updates all their apps. The complete opposite is true. You need to ensure that your apps are up-to-date as well to minimize issues. We know that you’re dealing with official apps from reputed developers here but keep in mind that software issues may not necessarily be caused by a firmware. An app optimized to work with Lollipop may not work properly with Marshmallow, for example. In an ideal world, app developers are supposed to ensure that their products will work with the new operating system but we know that this does not always happen. Outdated apps can sometimes lead to conflicts. Make sure to contact the developers to see if their product is ready for Marshmallow.

Fixing cannot send SMS issue

If a handset appears to have difficulty sending a text message, when it was able to do so before, that’s probably because there’s a problem on the receiving end. Try sending a text to your own number to see if it goes through. If it’s successful, that means that either your friend is having trouble with his/her phone or carrier, or that your own carrier is unable to transmit your text message to another network.

If you are unable to send a text message to your own number though, make sure that you check that the device’s message center number is correct. If the message center number is not configured properly, your device will be unable to send SMS. To check, just follow the steps below:

  • Tap Messages.
  • Tap MORE.
  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap More settings.
  • Tap Text messages.
  • Tap Message Center and enter the correct number (make sure you call your carrier for the correct one).
  • Tap Set.

If changing the message center number won’t work, call your wireless carrier to ask for direct assistance.

Problem #3: Galaxy S6 stuck on loading screen during an update

Dear The DroidGuy. I’ve read a lot on your website about troubleshooting the S6 boot issues and tried them to fix my phone.

My current issue is that, I got the official update through the phone settings and downloaded the new OS. While it was installing (plugged into the charger) it rebooted to the Galaxy S6 Edge screen and got stuck there. Power button won’t do anything, and the phone is permanently stuck on that screen.

Pressing power and volume down do reset the phone but it goes back to the same screen. The only mode I could access is the install mode. I want to keep my data but not sure how or if it’s even possible at this stage.

Please guide me to a solution, appreciate your great work. Regards. — Faisal

Solution: Hi Faisal. Over-the-air (OTA) updates resulting to a situation like yours are few and far between but if they do happen, there’s no effective way to boot back the device to normal mode than by installing a new ROM manually. This means that you need to boot your S6 to Odin mode and install a new ROM (stock or custom) yourself. You can use Google to search for detailed instructions how to do it.

Alternatively, you can call Samsung to help you flash the new firmware on your S6.

Problem #4: How to improve battery life on Galaxy S6 Edge Plus

I bought my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus about a month and a half ago from a carrier called Tigo. I have used the phone quite a bit and I almost never let it run out of charge, though most of the time it does go quite low: 5%, 7% even two percent.

However, recently my phone has not been able to stand those percents, immediately shutting off or draining the battery down to the point where I run to find a charger as fast as possible. I know this may not seem that much of an issue, but I’m afraid that percentage will rise and soon enough it won’t stand 12%, or even 20%.

Is there anything at all I can do about this? Should I talk to my carrier to have the battery replaced or…something? Do help me, please. — Daniel

Solution: Hi Daniel. The rate of battery drain on your phone depends on a number of factors including the how many apps are running actively and/or in the background, the status of the battery itself (if it’s still working properly or not), screen brightness, etc. The exact reason varies in every case so figuring it out is yours to do alone. We can only give tips that usually work for most Android users. Below are the things that you can try:

Check what apps are sucking your battery dry. The number of apps and services running simultaneously is one of the common reasons for losing that precious battery life fast. Go under Settings>Battery to see a breakdown of the apps and services eating up battery power. From there, it’s up to you how you’re going to create a strategy to minimize the bleeding. For example, if Facebook app stands out as among the top power consumer in your device together with Screen, you may want to lower the screen brightness to the lowest comfortable level while browsing over Facebook most of the time.

If you want to force an app or apps to go on hibernation mode without fully disabling or uninstalling them, consider using third party apps like Greenify. Doing so helps your phone free up resources and improve battery life without removing anything you might need in the future.

Turn off automatic sync for social networking apps. Another reason for your issue may be an unusually high number of apps that update themselves in the background. Online games, social networking apps, shopping apps, and email apps are among the most notorious reasons for fast battery drain issue across many types of smartphones. If you can’t live without mobile data or Wi-Fi on your handset most of the time, make sure that the sync settings of your apps that require to update their contents regularly are set to off or manual.

Consider dimming the screen. As mentioned above, screen brightness can quickly drain any smartphone’s battery. Samsung’s AMOLED screen is beautiful to behold but is power hungry. If you’re used to using the phone’s screen in full brightness, we say that you sacrifice a little comfort if only to save battery power.

Turn off unnecessary services. The Galaxy S6 is equipped with many services that makes our digital world a bit more comfortable at a cost of battery life. Make sure that you customize options and features that will help conserve battery power. Among the things that you can try are the following:

  • Discontinue use of Live wallpapers.
  • Turn off the Bluetooth® feature.
  • Turn off Wi-Fi®.
  • Turn off the GPS service.
  • Turn off the Smart features.
  • Decrease the backlight time (timeout settings).
  • Decrease the brightness of the display, or use Automatic brightness.
  • Turn off haptic feedback.

If the “percentage” continues to rise after doing our battery life improvement tips, there may be some hardware error behind the trouble. If your phone is still covered by a warranty, kindly call Samsung for repair or replacement.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 display won’t turn back on after charging port was replaced

Hi. Ok this is my phone story. It’s been like a couple months that when I charge my phone on the power, I sometimes need to Giggle the cable at the charger port on my phone. Sometimes I wouldn’t need to, but with time, it became frequent till the day I’d ALWAYS need to do that.

Then it came to the point that my phone couldn’t charge again. i tried different cable, for sure the problem came from my phone. There was nothing wrong at all anywhere else then the charging thing, screen worked fine etc.

I took it to a phone repair place to fix it, they tried to change the port, and battery, since then screen wouldn’t work anymore!!! We picked it up without it being fixed unfortunately and when I plugged it on power, it would charge just fine, no need to giggle the cable in the entry port, now it’s just the screen. I see the red light showing its charging, when i try to turn on the phone, i can tell it does respond cause of the vibrator BUT no display at all.

Thanks for your help. — Hinata

Solution: Hi Hinata. If the screen issue happened after the repair session, your best option is to bring the phone back to the repair shop to have it fixed. Unless you want to replace the screen yourself, there’s just nothing that we can tell you that will fix it. No software troubleshooting can repair a broken display.

Problem #6: Galaxy S6 Home button stopped working, notification bar not showing, unable to install or uninstall apps after Android update

Hello. I have a Galaxy S6. I was prompted to update my system. Once the update was complete a lot of things stopped working. I no longer have access to the notification bar, the home button stopped functioning, the background went completely black, I cannot install or uninstall apps, and am also receiving the error messages “System UI has stopped working” and “Package Access Helper” has stopped working.

I also have a cracked screen and applied for the insurance replacement, which I received, but I have to return the old one. This wouldn’t be an issue, however I need to get the data off of the old phone that I have had for 2 years.

I don’t have a lot of tech experience, but I am really good at following instruction, as long as it is detailed. I know that it might be a little more work for you all to help me, but I  would be eternity grateful. I have read a lot of articles trying to find and solution and I think I found one. I think that if I could install the app Helium that I could backup my app data and transfer to my new phone. One: Would this work? Two: How do I get the app to install with the system UI & package access helper error? Can you guys please help? Thank you. — Lisa

Solution: Hi Lisa. We’re sorry to hear about this issue but if your device no longer allows app installation at this time, your only choices to get it back to working order is by doing either a master reset or by flashing a stock or custom ROM. Both of these procedures involve wiping the internal phone storage.

If you have a computer, try to connect your device to it via USB and see if it detects it. If you’re lucky, you may still be able to move your phone data to your computer before doing a factory reset or ROM installation.

 

 

Engage with us

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

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

Galaxy Note 4 not downloading all emails from the server, other issues

Note 4 email

Welcome to another #GalaxyNote4 post! Below are 5 different problems submitted by some members of our community. If you want to look for more Note 4 troubleshooting, kindly visit this page.

  1. Galaxy Note 4 freezes and reboots randomly
  2. Galaxy Note 4 no longer turns on after an update
  3. Galaxy Note 4 does not light up the screen when SMS or notifications arrive
  4. Galaxy Note 4 not downloading all emails from the server
  5. Galaxy Note 4 screen flashes | Note 4 loses signal and keeps freezing

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

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

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 4 freezes and reboots randomly

Hello. I am Ti’Ara Carter. I recently switch my Note 4 from T-Mobile to AT&T. Before switching to AT&T, I had problems with my battery life, however my main issue is I cannot get my phone to operate correctly with the AT&T service. I did get the Note 4 unlocked and the AT&T service works fine with the phone. However the phone continuously freezes and reboots several times throughout the day. I’ve been forced to purchase another phone, to ensure I have a phone that is working, but I’d like to use my note 4. I’ve moved from 32GB phone to a 4 GB phone and I am about to lose it!

Also might I add, I’ve taken my phone to Samsung directly and they informed me that there is nothing they can do with the phone because the binary has been tampered with. Their explanation was that AT&T uses a completely different model for Note 4 and it appears that an update through AT&T on this phone is trying to process but can’t because the phone isn’t compatible… Sounds like bologna to me but I’d love to get my note 4 up and running again. Also, even after removing the AT&T SIM card from the phone, I still have battery issues and phone will not stay booted an entire day.

Can you help? — Ti’Ara

Solution: Hi Ti’Ara. Knowing what the real cause of freezing and random reboot problem is difficult because we don’t know the complete history of your phone. However, you can do the general rule in phone troubleshooting by isolating the potential cause via trial-and-error. You basically just need to do software troubleshooting first like observing how your device behaves when it’s in safe mode and/or after you wipe the cache partition and perform a factory reset. Should software troubleshooting fails, you can assume that a hardware issue is to blame.

Boot in safe mode

If you install plenty of third party apps, try to restart the phone in safe mode. While this mode is enabled, all third party apps and services associated with them will be prevented from running so if one of them is the culprit, the issue will not occur. Here are the steps how to boot your Note 4 in safe mode:

  • Turn off the phone completely.
  • Press and hold the Power key and the Volume Down key.
  • When the phone starts to boot, release the Power key but continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone finished restarting.
  • Safe mode will be display at the lower left corner; you may release the Volume Down key now.

Wipe the cache partition

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

Wiping the cache partition is one way to get the phone out of Safe Mode or from being stuck on the logo during boot up. This procedure will all files stored in the cache partition, and how it’s done on the Note 4:

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

If these procedures won’t make any difference at all, don’t hesitate to completely wipe the phone clean via factory reset. Nobody wants to do a master reset but sometimes, it’s the only effective way to fix a software problem. Please refer to the steps below on how to do it on your device.

Now, if all these software troubleshooting won’t fix the issues, it’s safe to say that there’s a hardware error on your device. It can be the battery or any other component in the logic board. If Samsung can’t pinpoint the exact source of the problem, that’s probably because they don’t want to check deeper. Some hardware problems are better resolved by simply replacing the unit instead of going through a tedious diagnostic process.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 no longer turns on after an update

Hello! I came across some troubleshooting advice of yours and decided to reach out regarding my current situation. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Edge that has been inoperable since attempting a software update. I have since taken it in to a Samsung technician to have the firmware flashed. They did a factory reset and deleted whatever software on the phone. After that, they were unable to get the screen to come on to do the flash. Upon arriving home, with a bit of hope in my heart, I plugged my phone into a wall charger and attempted to turn it on. By luck, the indicator light came on and I was able to get the phone to power up. It immediately indicated a drained battery and to charge the device, turning back on. I have since been unable to turn it back on nor is the red indicator light lighting up.

I am currently downloading the Odin to my computer and realize I should not be continuing to mess with the device but I am trying to take advantage of whatever changes I experience. Please advise me on what you think might be beneficial for me to try.

Thank you. — Audrene`t

Solution: Hi Audrene`t. If Samsung technicians can’t turn the phone back on themselves, we doubt if there’s anything that you can do on your end to fix the issue. You either have to consider testing a new battery (as the current one may have depleted its power completely and has lost the ability to hold a charge), or getting the unit replaced.

The most that you can do on your end is to see if you can force the phone to boot in other modes (safe mode, recovery mode, download/Odin mode).

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 does not light up the screen when SMS or notifications arrive

Good morning DroidGuy! I’m hoping you may be able to help me with a problem I am having with my smartphone.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. This is the second one I’ve had and I love it! I didn’t have this problem with my first one. I am having problems with my notifications. If I have it set for the LED lights up it works. However, on my first phone the screen would light up and let me know when I had a text or other notifications. This one will not light up for notifications. I have went through every setting I can possibly imagine! Nothing works! I’ve read so much trying to fix it and I’ve read a lot of people saying different apps need downloaded, such as, SMS Wake-up and Lock Screen Notifications. I didn’t have to have an app on my first Note 4.

What am I doing wrong? Or what am I not doing that I need to be doing? Please help me fix this?! I’m ready to pull my hair out trying to fix this! I really don’t want to install an app. Especially knowing it worked fine on my first S3! However, if there is no other solution I suppose I will have no choice if I want this feature. And if that is my only option, which free app, that is very simple to use would be your highest recommendation? 

PLEASE help me! Thank you in advance. Have a wonderful day and God Bless you!

Desperate for your help. — Tammy

Solution: Hi Tammy. Are you positive that both Note 4s are running the same version of Android? Keep in mind that each Android version has a slightly different approach towards notifications. For example, Lollipop provides more options to customize notifications for every app compared to the previous versions. Because you did not indicate the version of Android on your device, we can’t give you a specific instruction. In general though, notification settings should be under Settings.

Keep in mind that some carriers may also release their own updates to slightly modify notification settings or remove certain features for a particular device. If you’ve checked all settings related to notifications, then most probably your device does not have the ability to give you what you want.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 4 not downloading all emails from the server

Hello. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and I (seemingly successfully) added 6 email accounts for work (each for a different client that we manage).

The issue that I am having is that I am seeing a message on the screen in the Email view that says “You may have emails that have not yet been retrieved from the server”. This is indeed true, as I am receiving emails on my laptop to these accounts that are just not coming to the phone.

The funny thing is that when I send emails from the addresses on the phone, they send, and are received on my laptop and phone (for example when I send a test email to my Gmail account). However, when I respond from Gmail on the laptop, the email only comes to the work addresses on the laptop, and not to the phone. But, when I respond to the same test email from Gmail on the phone, it indeed goes to the phone’s work emails, and to the laptop.

So the send/receive settings seem OK… but the phone just won’t retrieve from the server. So I am missing out on emails when I am away from the laptop.

Can you advise what the issue may be and how to resolve? Any assistance you can offer is appreciated.  Thank you.

PS> I am located in Jamaica, WI. — Dionne

Solution: Hi Dionne. If you want to view emails on more than one device, make sure that use IMAP server type when setting them up as opposed to POP3. Basically, selecting IMAP tells the server to forward a copy of your emails to your devices like the Note 4 and laptop. POP3, on the other hand, is convenient if you only want to check and download emails on one device.

Make sure that all devices trying to access your emails are set to use IMAP during the configuration for the system to work. For example, if you use POP3 on your laptop while IMAP on your Note 4, the email server may get confused and may not be able to forward a copy of emails to both of them. If you access your emails on your laptop first, there’s a chance that the server will push all emails to it and may no longer do the same for the Note 4.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 screen flashes | Note 4 loses signal and keeps freezing

Hi there. I have had my Note 4 for a couple of years and i won’t trade it for the world but lately it’s giving me severe headaches and suddenly i am a really an angry girl. Here’s why: my phone suddenly flashes you know like when you are trying to take a picture with your phone of something on a TV…that stripes it makes and flashing. Then my signal bar is gone, replaced with a circle with a stripe through, you know,  so it doesn’t have any signal.

But that’s not the worst that happens. After it loses signal, it freezes… like completely!! The first few times i did a soft reboot and the problem is fixed but now nothing wants to work. I did check for updates but there is nothing. There are no apps that i have recently downloaded and i run virus scans every evening at 10. The only way i fix it now is if I leave my phone off for a few hours then switch it back on…

Please help me…i am afraid if this keeps on happening I’m going to jail for throwing someone with a Note 4… Lol. Please and thank you. — Ann

Solution: Hi Ann. Issues like these may be caused by a bad app or a firmware glitch. Try to boot the phone in safe mode (steps provided above) and observe the device for at least 24 hours. If your phone behaves normally and the issues won’t occur, start uninstalling third party apps until the issue is eliminated.

If nothing changes though, consider wiping the phone clean by doing a factory reset. Here’s how:

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

 

Engage with us

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

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

How to fix lag and slow performance issues on a Galaxy S5, other unrelated problems

s5

Hello everyone! Here are other #GalaxyS5 problems submitted by some users during the last few days. Don’t forget to also visit this page for more S5 troubleshooting tips and solutions.

  1. Galaxy S5 screen has yellow-green tint and unresponsive
  2. Galaxy S5 keeps saying it is on roaming mode
  3. How to fix lag and slow performance issues on a Galaxy S5
  4. Galaxy S5 won’t connect to home Wi-Fi
  5. Galaxy S5 won’t power on after charging
  6. Galaxy S5 camera won’t focus properly

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

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

Problem #1: Galaxy S5 screen has yellow-green tint and unresponsive

I woke up the other day and my phone was working fine.

I plugged it in to charge (factory charger), then quickly grabbed my phone to head out the door. Only to realize it didn’t charge? As the phone was still black.

Later on I could hear my notifications, yet the screen was still black.

Removed the battery, and I had screen visibility again. HOWEVER my screen had a slight yellow-green tint to it and it was dimmer than usual, AND my screen is COMPLETELY unresponsive.

The screen dimmed and yellowed even more, to the point it is barely visible.

The power button does not turn off the phone, only removal of the battery.

I tried a soft reset as described on the site (removal of battery, hold the power button down for one minute, then replacing battery), and the brightness returned a little, yet the screen was still unresponsive and had an odd tint to it.

I tried to start the Android System Recovery mode to wipe Cache Partition and Reboot yet the screen was almost black and very hard to see, however after removing the battery and replacing several times I finally got some brightness again, followed the steps to wipe cache and reboot and still have response when I touch the screen.

And was greeted by the same text, Whatsapp and Gmail notifications as Ive seen for the past 2 days. Along with an “Unable to Download” error message (although I wonder if that is because I removed both SIM card and SD card for the above?)

I can use my S Voice and soft keys, volume buttons and that is it.

Im completely at a loss!

Help! — Aleashia

Solution: Hi Aleashia. Was your phone dropped or got wet before the screen problem occurred? If any of these two happened, there’s high likelihood that the screen assembly got damaged. There is no software issue that we’re aware of that can cause the problem you described here that’s why the troubleshooting that you’ve tried did not change anything. Sometimes, exposure to direct sunlight for an extended period of time or any heat source can also cause damage to hardware components. To resolve the problem, you need to call Samsung for repair or have the device diagnosed and repaired by a qualified technician.

If your S5 is still covered by a manufacturer warranty, we highly recommend that you call Samsung first. Otherwise, any third party technician can take a look at it and possibly repair whatever the trouble is.

Problem #2: Galaxy S5 keeps saying it is on roaming mode

My mobile data suddenly stopped working. My S5 was working all the time then I bought a new phone, S5 Neo, and tested the SIM to S5 Neo. Mobile data was working on the new phone. I set up the new phone and chose Australia settings although I’m in UK because I will be sending the phone to Australia.

When I put back the SIMto my old S5, my mobile data won’t work anymore and it’s giving me error “Data Roaming. You have lost connectivity…”

It seems my phone S5 is now thinking that I’m on roaming and not in UK when I’m in fact in UK.  I only get this error when I’m outside UK where my network is based and it requires me to tick the roaming field.

I checked everything, APN etc, and they are all correct. I called customer service and their advice is to reset the phone to factory default. I don’t want to do that so if you can assist that will be greatly appreciated.

You can reply on my facebook page. I already liked your page also:)

Thanks. — Bing

Solution: Hi Bing. If you inserted your SIM card (in the new phone) while setting it up, the situation may have sent a request to your wireless carrier that you are not in the UK because the phone’s system is saying Australia. The first thing that you need to do is to ensure that such request is cancelled. Call your carrier again and check if their system shows that your account is not on roaming status. Doing so will prevent potential overcharges as well as fix the problem easily. This will also prevent you from doing a factory reset.

Problem #3: How to fix lag and slow performance issues on a Galaxy S5

No new apps, and I run a pretty clean phone- no games, minimal media, never multiple things running at once. Recently, my phone has been running super slowly — the keyboard is lagging when I type anything (especially in text messages), there are delays between screens, and everything is just sluggish.

I’ve wiped the cache partition, deleted non-essential apps, and cleared out photos and downloads. I don’t keep music or videos on my phone, everything is in the cloud. I was using Swiftkey, but got rid of it- I thought that might be the problem, but the native keyboard is just as slow. I’m not sure what else I can do, save a hard reset, which I’m reluctant to do because of some voicemails I don’t want to lose. I’m open to any advice you can give.  Thank you so much. — Jenn

Solution: Hi Jenn. Slow/unstable performance can be an indication of a software or hardware problem. To know which of these two is the problem, you must first try doing software troubleshooting. If the issue remains after doing all you can do in terms of software troubleshooting, you can assume that a hardware malfunction is to blame.

It’s good to know that you’ve tried wiping the cache partition but another troubleshooting step that you can try is to restart the phone in safe mode. If a third party app is creating a conflict with other apps or the operating system, booting your S5 in safe mode is a good option.

Also known as diagnostic mode, safe mode prevents third party apps and services from running. If the issue fails to occur while safe mode is enabled, that’s a clue that one of your apps is the culprit. If you haven’t tried doing it in the past, simply follow these steps:

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

If you continue to suffer lag while texting even when Safe mode is on, the next logical troubleshooting step is doing a master reset. Here’s how:

  • Power down the Galaxy S5.
  • Press and hold the Volume up button, the Home button, and the Power button together until you see the Android on screen.
  • Use Volume down to highlight the wipe data/factory reset option and press the Power button to select it.
  • Use Volume down again to highlight Yes – delete all user data and press Power to select it.
  • Use the Power button to select Reboot system now.
  • When the S5 restarts it should be completely wiped and ready to set up again.

Once you’ve fully reset the phone, try to replicate the problem again. Make sure you don’t install any app before testing how texting works. If the phone continues to show lag and/or slow performance issues, you can assume that a hardware error is causing them. A repair may or may not fix the issue depending on what component is not working properly.

Problem #4: Galaxy S5 won’t connect to home Wi-Fi

Hello. I have been having wi-fi connection issues with my S4 since the beginning of time, but not until recently after upgrading my internet modem has it been unbearable. 

So my modem has a secured wi-fi (otherwise my HOME) and an open xfinity hotspot. The connection strength is equal on both, but for some reason my phone prefers the open xfinity to the Home wifi. Problem is that the open xfinity doesn’t seem to work correctly on my phone — web pages wont load and connection timeouts. I’ve tried to “forget” this open wi-fi but it keeps connecting. How can I set my phone to be locked on my HOME wi-fi? Thanks for the help. — Kirby

Solution: Hi Kirby. First of all, make sure that you delete the phone’s system cache. Temporary information and logs needed by the system to load apps are stored in the cache partition. Making sure that the cache partition is up-to-date may fix the issue easily. Here’ how:

  • Turn the phone off.
  • Press and hold the following buttons together: Power, Volume Up and Home.
  • Release the buttons once the Android system recovery menu appears.
  • Use the Volume buttons to navigate to Wipe Cache Partition option.
  • Press the Power button to confirm selection.
  • Select Reboot System Now option after deleting the cache. Wait for the phone to reboot.

After wiping the cache, try to observe how your phone behaves when trying to connect to Wi-Fi again. If the same thing happens, consider doing a factory reset.

Problem #5: Galaxy S5 won’t power on after charging

Hi. My phone died from drained power. So I put my phone on charge until it was 100% and when I turned my phone back on, a funny screen popped up saying something like “Android software update 11/12” and then my screen just went black.

I literally tried everything from reading other people’s Issues and your solutions, even a factory reset that did not even want to work. So I have a screen of death and a phone of death.

The phone did not get any water damage or fell or any of that sort, it just stopped working.

Please help as soon as possible. I need my phone for work related issues and I can not afford to be offline. And since it is Sunday there won’t be an open place who can help me.

Kind regards. — Anél

Solution: Hi Anél. As much as we would like to help you, our support for this type of problem is very limited, especially that your phone won’t even power on. The most that you can do is to try booting it in other modes (like safe mode, recovery mode, download mode) so you’ll know if it’s still responsive. Otherwise, you have to have the battery or hardware checked.

Problem #6: Galaxy S5 camera won’t focus properly

My camera alternates between not being able to focus on things that are far away and not being able to focus on things that are close. Its one or the other. Only sometimes, for a short period will it focus on things from both distances. I have already tried clearing the camera data and cachr and that didn’t work. And I’ve put it in safe mode to see if it was from an app, but the problem still persisted. The only thing I haven’t done is reset the whole phone, which I haven’t done because I was hoping there is another option or way to fix it, as resetting it annoying. This problem had been on and off ever since I had this phone, for two months, and it’s very inconvenient. — Lizzy

Solution: Hi Lizzy. The Galaxy S5’s camera focusing mechanism is implemented by a combination of both hardware and software processes. Because there’s no pinpoint way to know exactly what may be wrong, the general rule of thumb is to do software troubleshooting first. If the issue won’t be fixed by basic software troubleshooting, then you can assume that the camera’s hardware is problematic. Be sure to wipe the cache partition, boot the phone in safe mode, and do a factory reset.

If you think the problem is hardware-related, contact Samsung or your carrier for a replacement.

Samsung did admit before that a very limited number of early S5s had camera problems although they had already addressed the issue. It’s still worth calling them though to see if there’s something that they can do about your unit in particular.

 

Engage with us

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

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

Galaxy Note 5 screen will slowly fade in and out during usage, other issues

We bring you today another post that covers some issues and solutions of #GalaxyNote5. If you don’t find a solution to your own #Note5 issue here, don’t forget to visit previously posted articles. We are yet to publish the rest of issues we received from our readers from the past few days so keep your eye out for more of the same articles.

note-5

Here are the specific topics we cover in this post today:

  1. Galaxy Note 5 screen will slowly fade in and out during usage
  2. Galaxy Note 5 won’t send SMS after Android 6.0.1 update
  3. Galaxy Note 5 keeps showing VR wizard popup after an update | Galaxy Note 5 fast charging not working after installing an update
  4. Galaxy Note 5 won’t connect to network | Galaxy Note 5 “not registered to network” error
  5. Galaxy Note 5 not receiving all text messages when using Chomps messaging app
  6. Galaxy Note 5 can’t connect to the internet when connected to new home Wi-Fi network

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

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

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 5 screen will slowly fade in and out during usage

I recently bought a 32G Note 5 from Sprint. My issue is that the screen will s-l-o-w-l-y fade-out to complete black while I’m using it (not sleeping) and then pop right back to full, normal brightness. Adversely, it will rarely pop right to complete blackness and then s-l-o-w-l-y fade-in to full, normal brightness. I can continue using the screen while it’s fading in or out. Trucking apps: TruckSmart, Flying J/Pilot, Loves, Comdata FleetAdvance. Games: Boom Beach, Clash of Clans. Shopping: Walmart, Sam’s, Amazon, Starbucks, Lowe’s, Best Buy. Phone Specs: S/W ver. N920PVPU2BPG1 H/W ver. N920P.04 Model# SM-N920P Security Patch 7-1-16 Baseband ver. N920PVPU2BPG1 Kerner ver. 3.10.61-8463602 Knox 2.6 Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can’t find anything online regarding this fading issue. Thank you for your time. — Dale

Solution: Hi Dale. We’re yet to encounter this issue from other users so this may be isolated to your device. We hope it’s not a sign of hardware malfunction because a resolution would certainly involve some level of repair or replacement. For now, we suggest that you treat the issue as a being caused by software. That said, the things that you want to do include the things below.

Check all screen-related settings. This should be the first obvious step that you want to do. Go under phone settings menu and check everything that’s associated with screen brightness and settings and change them back to default to see if they will change anything. Different firmware versions have different options on how to modify screen and screen brightness behavior so we can’t provide any specific route to check.

Wipe the cache partition. Making sure that the phone uses a fresh system cache may (or may not) help in fixing this issue. Normally, wiping the cache partition is suggested if one or some of your apps are behaving erratically but since we don’t know the true cause of the issue, doing it may be worthwhile. Here’s how it’s done:

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

Boot your Note 5 in safe mode. Doing this basic diagnostic step is important. This will help you check if one of your apps is the culprit. While safe mode is on, all third party apps will be disabled so if your issue won’t occur, you should start uninstalling apps until the issue is eliminated. Here’s how it’s done:

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

Restore all settings back to default. Finally, if all the steps above won’t work, don’t hesitate to start over from scratch. There may be some firmware glitch causing the issue so making sure that the operating system version is back to stock is a good idea. Refer to the steps below on how to perform a factory reset. Remember to create a backup of your personal data before you factory reset.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 5 won’t send SMS after Android 6.0.1 update

Can’t send SMS but I can receive SMS. I have used package disabler pro and debloater but my phone is NOT rooted, I wish it was. I have disabled Knox other then dlms which I thought I disabled and the problem started I think around the time I cleared data for all the sys apps that had the symbol or the name Knox in it. I think it was either then or when I accidentally let it die the first time after deleting the data, which I did multiple times but it only did the restart once before the incident started. I have a lot of info on the phone I just don’t know what to put. Example kernel, model, umm sdk, etc.

All I can say is it was working perfectly until I upgraded to 6.0.1. Once I did that my call volume disappeared and only useable in phone calls. That is until I got “smart volume control”. I would like to have it back without the app. Weird thing is, even with the app In my settings it still doesn’t exist. Only ringtone, media, notifications, and system. There used to be a call setting in there when I was on 5.1.1 . I hate that I upgraded because of it I also cant root my phone. And don’t know the % of safety to root with origin. Think that’s what it’s called.– Mena

Solution: Hi Mena. The only thing that we can suggest is factory reset. We don’t know what services or processes are no longer working at this time so it’s good to reset everything back to stock. Oh, and don’t forget to uninstall apps like Package Disabler as their functions are really not needed. Most of the time, they’re simply there to provide functions and features already being offered by your device.

Now for reference, below are the steps on how to factory reset your Note 5:

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

IMPORTANT: Once you’ve performed a factory reset, don’t re-install your apps right away.  Let the phone run for a few hours without apps so you can observe how the system works. During this time, make sure that you test if sending and receiving of SMS works. If the phone still doesn’t send, call your carrier and ask them for the correct message center number. You can ask them how to access it as well if you don’t know how to.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 5 keeps showing VR wizard popup after an update | Galaxy Note 5 fast charging not working after installing an update

Hi. I guess last night my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note5) ran an update and now I have all sorts of issues.

  1. It keeps on prompting me to run the Galaxy VR wizard. I don’t have a VR or anything like that (nor do I want it (at all!)
  2. My fast charging charger (or any of my other ones) charges my phone properly anymore. If it charges my phone (65% in over 4 hrs, while usually it took around 30-50 mins max for an 85-50%charge). If plugged in, it keeps on ‘skipping in and out” I have tried a reset, nothing! I ran a factory reset… no changes. I cleaned out the charger port, still same problem. I am at my wiz end and just want to throw this damn phone against a wall (no worries, I won’t!) What else is there I can do before I end up in an I-love-me Jacket? Thanks in advance. — Nadia

Solution: Hi Nadia. If factory reset did not change anything, make sure that ALL (as in all!) apps are compatible with the new firmware (operating system) version. Most mainstream apps from known developers like Facebook, Google, etc usually release updates for their apps shortly after a certain Android version is released. Unfortunately, this is not always the case for smaller, unknown (and possibly broke) developers. Your second issue may be caused by incompatible apps so if you can’t update them to make them compatible, simply uninstall them.

For your first issue, try checking if you can find a certain Samsung service or app responsible for the constant popup about Galaxy VR so you can disable it.

  • Go to Settings.
  • Proceed to Applications.
  • Select Manage Applications.
  • Tap the All tab. Browse through the entire list of apps in this tab and look for anything that says about VR or Samsung virtual reality.
  • Tap the identified app and hit uninstall or disable, whichever is available.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 5 won’t connect to network | Galaxy Note 5 “not registered to network” error

My Note 5 has had network issues for the last two weeks. It wouldn’t connect to my network provider who I’ve been using for the last year and half with my Note 5. The Note 5 is not able to connect to the network and keeps giving me the error “not registered to network” when I try to connect it manually in mobile settings. I haven’t been able to make/receive a call, text or use internet. I’ve tried every suggested resolve for this seemingly common issue with Note 5 that I’ve seen on the web but still no avail – soft reset, SIM card change and even a factory reset, couple hours with network provider on the phone to resolve it from their end. I’ve babied this phone since I got it brand new and have yet to drop it! I don’t want to dish out $$$ until I know the issue is irreparable. Can you guys provide a solution? — Aravind

Solution: Hi Aravind. If you are in a GSM network, try to insert your SIM card to another phone to see if there’s no network-related issue. You have to make sure that the SIM card will work in another device first.

If you are in a CDMA network, then there’s no way to check if network is to blame unless your carrier will confirm that there’s no existing account- or network trouble. In this case, since the basic software troubleshooting did not help in resolving the problem, your only way out may be replacement. Call Samsung and let them check if your phone can still be repaired, or if replacement is the best route for you.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 5 not receiving all text messages when using Chomps messaging app

Hello! I just recently bought the Note 5 and the problem that I’m having is that my clients and some family members have been telling me that they’ve sent me text messages, but for some reason I haven’t been receiving them. I do use a messaging app “chomps”. I always used chomps and never had this problem. I’ve always been an Android user. The messaging application I use is up to date, but for some reason some messages I receive and some messages I do not. Just recently my girlfriend text my phone and I received the message later she text me and I didn’t, so I’m not sure what the issue is.

I’m a business owner and communication via text messaging is very important, but lately this new phone has been given me an issue that’s really causing a lot of mis-communication between my clients and me. Sure I could call but the line of work I do, messaging is must more convenient. Could it be the SIM card? Could it be the phone? Please help! Thanks in advance. Respectfully. — Paris

Solution: Hi Paris. Before you check the SIM card, make sure that check the messaging app first. Consider uninstalling the third party app (Chomps) for a week so you can use the stock/native Samsung or carrier-provided app. This will give you enough time to see the difference between the two apps. Keep in mind that a good working app in Galaxy Note 4 may not necessarily work properly in a Note 5. Make sure that you only use a compatible third party app on your phone.

If the same problem occurs even when using the stock messaging app, try the suggested basic software troubleshooting above such as wiping the cache partition and factory reset. If the issue stays, contact your service provider as they may be able to shed light on the problem. Remember, SMS is not a 100% guaranteed service. Carriers are not obligated to deliver your messages everytime although they strive to do that.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 5 can’t connect to the internet when connected to new home Wi-Fi  network

I have recently changed ISP provider, new router -super fast fibre broadband. All devices in my house will connect, except my Galaxy Note 5 which recognizes the signal but says I have to wait until it is a better quality connection. Shows strong signal on the phone, and sometimes have same issue when connecting to other wi-fi – but won’t work on home one. Everything else in the house connects to the router absolutely fine!

I have tried resetting the phone, forgetting and re-inputting the wi-fi data, will connect for a short while, but then it stops. Recognizes the wi-fi, connects but then when trying to access internet it states I am not connected, and wi-fi signal indicator shows excellent strength. I have to switch wi-fi off and connect to mobile data connection which is okay when I use that! Many thanks. — Anne

Solution: Hi Anne. Make sure that there’s no third party app causing the issue. To check, boot your phone in phone (steps provided above) and observe the phone for a few hours. This will give you enough time to see how Wi-Fi works when all third party apps are not running. As we said above, if Wi-Fi works properly on safe mode, then one of your third party apps is to blame. We don’t know what apps you have so you must find out yourself which of your app is problematic.

Should the issue stays even when on safe mode, consider wiping the cache partition and doing a factory reset.

 

Engage with us

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

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

Galaxy S7 Edge keeps dropping calls, other issues

Welcome everyone to yet another #GalaxyS7 series post that tackles problems related to this device. As usual, the cases mentioned below are taken from reports submitted by our readers during the past few days.

s7

Here’s the complete list of issues we cover in this material today:

  1. Galaxy S7 Edge keeps dropping calls
  2. Galaxy S7 can’t send SMS and MMS all the time
  3. Galaxy S7 Edge screen has blurred green or pink color
  4. Galaxy S7 won’t read SD card
  5. Galaxy S7 can’t receive group message after an update
  6. How to remove other “sharing” options on Galaxy S7

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

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

Problem #1: Galaxy S7 Edge keeps dropping calls

I have a huge issue with my Samsung S7 Edge. First, I got two of these phones when I bought these. The one I use all the time, I lost but before I lost it, I can be on a call and it drops every single phone call within 2-5 minutes, and if I try or the other person tries to call me back they might be able to hear me for just a few seconds and I hear nothing. I hear them during the 2-5 minutes but they cannot hear me. The lost phone got replaced. This phone does the same exact thing and also the secondary phone that was pre ordered with my primary phone does the exact same thing. I have checked and I am not on mute. It is my phone. I cannot talk to anyone over 5 minutes. This is a huge issue and now I am stuck in contract with these phones. I need to be able to talk to people besides texting. Thank you. — Kimberly

Solution: Hi Kimberly. If you have been experiencing this problem on at least two phones, you should right away ask assistance from your wireless carrier. Intermittent call disconnection problem cannot just be attributed to a faulty phone. If you haven’t talked to your carrier about it, now is the perfect time. There’s really nothing much that we can help you about it, especially if it’s your carrier’s service that’s not working properly.

If you think that it’s a phone issue though, consider doing a factory reset so you can observe it for at least 48 hours. Doing so will help you check if one of your apps is causing the trouble, or if it’s the operating system. Make sure that you don’t install any app during the observation period. To factory reset your device, follow these steps:

Step 1: Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 can’t send SMS and MMS all the time

So I got my phone about 3 weeks ago. On a daily basis my phone will not send 95% of picture messages and about 60% of my regular text messages. I can send a picture in a message to a phone number and then once I try to send another almost immediately it will not send even if it’s to the same number. I will send a regular text message but seems the longer the message the less likely it is to actually send. I also cannot receive picture messages and some text messages. The ones I do receive tend to be messed up. Almost looks like the picture is cut in half, I receive both halves of the photo in the same message but they don’t line up and look like they are discolored and blurry. — Ebysummer

Solution: Hi Ebysummer. The first thing that you want in this case is to see if this is due to a bad messaging app. To do that, you want delete the cache and data of your messaging app. To do that, follow these steps:

  • Open the Settings menu.
  • Tap Apps (some versions may show Applications or Application Manager).
  • Tap the messaging app.
  • Tap Storage.
  • Tap Clear Cache, then Clear Data (in this order).

If the procedure above won’t fix the problem, try using a different messaging app for a few days. You can find more messaging apps in Google Play Store.

Should the problem stays after trying other messaging apps for some time, let your carrier know so they can also check if their service is not working properly.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 Edge screen has blurred green or pink color

My Galaxy S7 Edge was bought new 17 days ago. It has not been dropped, banged, water- or heat-damaged. Yesterday while my phone was on the desk I noticed instead of the “always on” lock screen displaying the time, it was a blurred green/pink colour, almost as if I’d left the camera on. Over the next 6 hours the screen became increasingly glitchy, with flashing green lines, and then failed completely. My mobile service provider are refusing to repair or replace this phone under warranty, as there is a single (barely visible) scratch under the screen. Please help! Even if you could give me an idea of how many people you have come across with the same problem so I can have some numbers to back up my complaint. — Sarah

Solution: Hi Sarah. First of all, you must understand that hardware components can fail for some other reasons other than the causes you mention above. Since you never mishandled your phone before (It has not been dropped, banged, water- or heat-damaged), you can try the usual dose of software troubleshooting we suggest in our blog like wiping the cache partition, booting in safe mode, performing a factory reset, or even flashing a new ROM. If all these procedures won’t change anything and the screen problem persists everytime, you can be sure that you have a defective hardware. You must find a way to have the phone repaired or replaced.

We do get screen problem reports from time to time but many of them are due to bad handling of the device in the first place. We haven’t encountered an issue like the same exact one you’re describing here so it may be an isolated case.

For reference, here are the steps on how to boot your phone in safe mode:

  • Turn the phone off.
  • Press and hold Power button until the Galaxy S7 logo appears.
  • Once you see the S7 logo, press the Volume Down button while releasing the Power button.
  • Keep holding the Volume Down button until the phone is done rebooting.
  • After the reboot, “Safe Mode” should be shown at the bottom left corner of the screen.
  • Release the Volume Down button.
  • To exit safe mode, simply restart the phone.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 won’t read SD card

Hello, I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 that I bought recently and put in a 128 SanDisk SD card. Every now and then my phone seems to forget the SD card is in there, as none of my pictures load, but taking the SD card and putting it back in fixes this problem. Now, twice this has happened, and I can’t see any of my pictures, and my usual fix doesn’t work. When I go to “storage” in my settings, it says my SD card is corrupted and I can’t access any of my pictures on it. When I press to format the SD card, I get a warning saying that formatting will delete everything on the SD card, but I can’t accept or anything, so I have no idea how to format! Your help would greatly be appreciated! Thank you so much, Masha

Solution: Hi Masha. There’s a need to identify where the problem lies in order to resolve it. To see if the issue is on the SD card, find another one and observe how your S7 interacts with it for a few days. Make sure also that you format the new SD card using your phone. If the same problem occurs when using a different SD card, you should focus the rest of your troubleshooting on the phone. On the other hand, if the issue is absent with a new SD card inserted, consider replacing the old SD card for good.

The troubleshooting for your phone includes wiping the cache partition and doing a factory reset (steps provided above). To refresh the cache partition, kindly do the following:

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

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 can’t receive group message after an update

It appears that AT&T pushed an update to my phone tonight which wiped out every APN I had on my phone that WAS working. Now I can’t receive ANY group text messages. I’m back to getting the “downloading” message and nothing downloads. I have Consumer Cellular and I know they will not help me resolve this problem since they do not support the Galaxy S7. I found the APN online that has been working for the past 1 without a problem. I sent that APN to you folks when I found it and it was working. Now I’m back to square one once again. If you have any advice I’d appreciate hearing it. I’ve tried all the tricks mentioned and I know it’s got to be a needed specific change in the APN. I’m using the APN that was working great with group message without issue before this update. But now it’s not working for group messaging. — Sharyn

Solution: Hi Sharyn. APN is carrier-specific settings that may be changed from time to time. If the old APN setting stopped working after installing an Android update (which is odd), you must contact your carrier (Consumer Cellular) for the correct APN. We don’t work for Consumer Cellular so we have no handy information regarding any network-related changes like a new APN setting. If they won’t help, consider reverting to the previous Android version by manually flashing the right firmware. Keep in mind that user-initiated flashing can potentially brick your phone. Do it at your own risk.

Problem #6: How to remove other “sharing” options on Galaxy S7

Hello, I have been having issues with the “sharing” portion of my phone and being able to move or delete options that are not and have never been relevant but show up before the things that I use do. For instance if I want to share a picture on Facebook externally, it shows a person that I once followed on twitter a long time ago with the option to direct message it to them. The issue is not exclusive to Facebook as it also happens on Chrome and other placestuff that I attempt to share something externally as such. My question is: how can I remove this mild nuisance e from my options to share to them since I never have and never intended to talk to them? I have screenshots of what I am requesting if you would like further clarification, please don’t hesitate to ask. — Douglas

Solution: Hi Douglas. Options like this are pre-packaged with the operating system, thus most of them cannot be removed. Usually, rooting and installation of app/s that modify operating system behavior is the only resort for adventurous users. We are not aware though of any custom ROM or app that can do the thing that you want here. Try checking other third party forums for other options.

 

Engage with us

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

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

What to do if your Galaxy S5 has a screen issue, other S5 issues

s5 touchscreen

From time to time, we receive requests for assistance regarding broken #GalaxyS5 screens. In this post, we address such issue by educating the user and our community on what to do. Frankly, there’s nothing much that we can provide in terms of concrete help in dealing with it, especially if we can establish that it’s a hardware failure. Continue reading below to know what we say about this issue.

  1. Galaxy S5 won’t install system update
  2. How to fix freezing and random restart issue on Galaxy S5
  3. Unable to access Galaxy S5 apps and settings
  4. Galaxy S5 keeps displaying No Service error and searching for signal
  5. What to do if your Galaxy S5 has a screen issue

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

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

Problem #1: Galaxy S5 won’t install system update

My Galaxy S5 has been unable to update for quite some time now. It started last fall with the ~600Mb update, where I attempted to update it several times with no success. Since then, I have tried to update it several times per month to update it. It did not appear to be significantly impacting my phone at all (aside from occasionally surpassing my mobile data limit), so I generally just ignored it and assumed that it would fix itself eventually.

Here I am, several months later. The current update appears to ~850Mb, and it is still not installing properly. Downloading it is not an issue. When the phone restarts to install the update, the screen displays the “RECOVERY BOOTING” in the top left of the Samsung splash screen when it first turns back on, and then enters a screen with the AT&T logo and a loading bar.

Text above the loading bar at first says “Installing…”, then “0%”, then less than a second later says “update failed” and reboots again. I get a message saying “the update could not be installed”, and nothing more.

Other Info:

-No 3rd party apps

-Have over 3GB of free space when attempting update

-Have a stable wifi connection

-Nearly full battery

I am getting very frustrated with my phone, and I would be extremely thankful for any assistance you can offer. — Chris

Solution: Hi Chris. We’ve seen this issue happening on non-Samsung phones in the past so it’s not unique to your device. The thing is, there’s no way to know what the real cause for the update failure. And as far as solution is concerned, the only effective way to address it is by doing a factory reset first. Doing so will minimize potential firmware and app-related bugs that may have developed over time. For reference on how to do this, just follow these steps:

  • Power down the Galaxy S5.
  • Press and hold the Volume up button, the Home button, and the Power button together until you see the Android on screen.
  • Use Volume down to highlight the wipe data/factory reset option and press the Power button to select it.
  • Use Volume down again to highlight Yes – delete all user data and press Power to select it.
  • Use the Power button to select Reboot system now.
  • When the S5 restarts it should be completely wiped and ready to set up again.

Factory reset will wipe everything off your storage device. Be sure to create a backup of your personal data before doing it.

Problem #2: How to fix freezing and random restart issue on Galaxy S5

(I believe the version is 5.1-5.1.1 Lollipop. I am not sure) for a full day I would be looking up things on my phone when it would freeze and then restart itself. It would reset over and over again. So I just assumed it was the CM Browser app I am always on. So I uninstalled it then re-installed again. the issue was still there so I just figured I needed to shut it off and turn it back on. And it never turned back on. I have tried everything you had suggested several times.

I didn’t do that because the phone needs to be on. A couple of times when I held down the power, down volume, and home button it would ask if I wanted to install an OS. I said Cancel (Restart). Then the error message appeared saying go to Repair Assistance Software for help. and two times it had the Samsung Galaxy S5 start up screen but in the middle it would have an unlocked lock and the word custom underneath it. I haven’t tried to change the battery with another one yet and I really don’t want to go to the store for assistance. Think you could help? — Adriana

Solution: Hi Adriana. Holding Power, Volume Down, and Home buttons together will pull up the Odin or Download mode. We want you instead to press and hold Power, Volume Up, and Home buttons in order for the device to boot in recovery mode. Under this mode, you can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset. Either of these options may fix your problem.

If nothing changes though, you can assume that your phone may have a hardware issue. Make sure that you check the battery by using another one first. If that will not fix the random restart problem, your only other choice is to consider getting a phone replacement.

Problem #3: Unable to access Galaxy S5 apps and settings

Earlier today my phone worked fine. I got home and  plugged the cable in to recharge it (at 10%) then the tasks stopped. I use Nova Settings and 360 Security. I heard a female voice giving me the 360 charge level and another phrase relating to 360 Security that I never heard before. .

I tried to:

1 soft reset but nothing changes.

2 swipe 2 fingers up, settings opens but is unresponsive.

3 I swipe fingers and the apps from Nova appear but will not navigate.

4 notification panel is frozen closed

5 when I press the lighted icon on the button, to show active apps, it opens but the icons are frozen.

6 cannot get the app drawer to open.

7 searched AndroidCentral and Google for the problem but since I cannot use apps or settings, I found nothing to help.

I am not sure if anything else was tried. Thank you in advance for your help. — Donna

Solution: Hi Donna. If your device locked you out of its settings and apps, the first thing that you can try is to delete the system cache via receovery mode.

This troubleshooting step is usually recommended if you have updated a device to another operating system version or if the phone is having some weird glitches. Despite not having installed the full set of new operating system files, we suggest the you do the following steps to erase possibly corrupted cache on your device:

  • Turn the phone off.
  • Press and hold the following buttons together: Power, Volume Up and Home.
  • Release the buttons once the Android system recovery menu appears.
  • Use the Volume buttons to navigate to Wipe Cache Partition option.
  • Press the Power button to confirm selection.
  • Select Reboot System Now option after deleting the cache. Wait for the phone to reboot.

After wiping the cache partition, try to check if you can now open apps or go under Settings. If the previous situation continues, be sure to boot your phone in safe mode. This will help you determine if one of your third party apps is to blame. Here’s how:

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

If the issue won’t occur while safe mode is enabled, that a confirmation of our hunch.

Some apps or services may be designed to ignore safe mode so doing a factory reset, if the issue remains, is necessary. Once you’ve done the reset, don’t re-install your apps right away. You must observe your phone for a few hours to see if one of your apps in indeed the culprit. If you’ll be able to access settings while the phone is clean (after a factory reset), that means that a third party app or launcher is to blame.

Problem #4: Galaxy S5 keeps displaying No Service error and searching for signal

About a week or two ago, my phone started all of a sudden displaying (No Service) or (Searching) the carrier signal despite all bars being displayed correctly. I try to make a phone call and a message displaying “Not registered to network” appears.

I tried different methods from putting it through safe mode, recovery mode, software update from T-Mobile (my phone is T-Mobile but I was able to use it with Orange carrier with no problems before this issue), factory reset, removing battery and SIM card, checked with my service carrier and they say my account is ok, tried wiping out the cache partition, etc.. The only method I haven’t tried is to update the phone to the latest Android Version 6.0-6.0.1 Marshmallow (API level 23).

This problem suddenly happened. I didn’t drop the phone causing physical damage to it. I always keep it away from moisture and try not to get the phone to overheat. PLEASE HELP ME.

Thank you for reading this. — Joel

Solution: Hi Joel. There’s only one other thing that you have not mentioned, that is, using another SIM card on your phone. We recommend that you do this first to determine if the issue lies on the SIM card you’re using or on your account, or if it’s a phone issue. Obviously, the former can easily by fixed by talking to your wireless carrier. If the problem remains even if you’re using another SIM card, then that’s a clear indicator that you may have a hardware error. If the phone was provided by your carrier, now is the right time to ask for a replacement.

Problem #5: What to do if your Galaxy S5 has a screen issue

Hi. I am facing a screen problem suddenly in my Samsung Galaxy S5 Android phone. To be more specific, i didn’t do anything at all. It just started showing this problem all of a sudden yesterday. Dunno what happened suddenly.

Now the problem is that my screen has become black. However, i can only see the top bar and scroll it down where we can see bluetooth,wifi,sound button etc.I forgot what that top bar is called. I can see the time on top, wifi logo, battery and alarm that i had set.

And i can see if anyone calls me. But when i click on the missed call area, it shows for awhile but then goes back being black with the top bar and icons still showing. When a message comes, it shows message arrived line on top but when i click on it, it shows nothing. I cant even go to the message area.

I hope you guys know what is my problem. Thanks. Really need solution fast because actually, all important calls, including from family members come in this phone. — Saimoon

Solution: Hi Saimoon. A screen issue like yours is more likely caused by a hardware issue rather than software but we still recommend that you try some of the basic software troubleshooting. These troubleshooting steps includes booting the phone in safe mode and doing a factory reset. Together, these two steps will help you determine if a rare firmware or app glitch is behind the trouble or not.

Try to restart the phone in safe mode first and see how the device will fare. If the only visible things will still be on the top part, we doubt if you can even do a factory reset as the options will occupy about or more than half of the screen.

Doing a soft reset may or may not work but we recommend that you try it nevertheless. Simply turn the phone off and remove the battery. If nothing will change after that, you can assume that the device’s screen may have been damaged or simply stopped working normally after some time. The most likely reason is a failing LCD (the little monitor that displays things).

Be advised that our blog does not provide hardware troubleshooting and diagnostics. If you want to check the status of the screen assembly yourself, kindly look for detailed online guides via Google. We’re not against users who feel they can handle hardware repair themselves if they have the right guide to follow. The thing is, such attitude is even commendable. However, experience tells us that doing smartphone repair is a delicate business and one tiny misstep can have catastrophic consequences. For example, replacing the liquid crystal display (LCD) requires careful removal of the digitizer, a component that requires careful handling itself. If the digitizer removal is not done properly, you may end up breaking it. The same can be said of the digitizer flex cable.

Needless to say, fixing or replacing hardware components is a tricky business and requires hours of research if it’s your first time to do it. Make sure that you have the right tools and mindset when you decide to do it.

The best thing that you can do, or anyone having a screen problem, is to have the fix handled by a professional or Samsung. Not only will it save you time and effort, but it also raises the chance of having the problem fixed properly.

Also, hardware repair in this case may or may not fix the issue at all. There may be other hardware errors in the system that requires maintenance as well so a fix is never guaranteed. Not to mention that you may end up bricking the hardware for good. Do the repair at your own risk.

 

Engage with us

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

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

Galaxy S6 apps disconnects from Wi-Fi after Marshmallow was installed, other issues

S6 Edge

With millions of #GalaxyS6 devices now running the most recent Android Marshmallow operating system, we are starting to receive many forms of new problems. We give you three scenarios below that shows what can happen to an S6 running Android 6.0. Keep watching for more related articles in the next few days about this issue.

  1. POP3 email account on Galaxy S6 not syncing properly after Marshmallow update
  2. Verizon Voice Mail app not working after updating Galaxy S6 to Marshmallow
  3. Some Galaxy S6 apps disconnects from Wi-Fi after Marshmallow was installed
  4. Galaxy S6 screen has dark blue color
  5. Galaxy S6 won’t connect to home Wi-Fi after a trip

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

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

 

Problem #1: POP3 email account on Galaxy S6 not syncing properly after Marshmallow update

Since upgrading to Marshmallow, one of my three POP3 accounts on my phone isn’t syncing properly. On this particular POP3 account, I have it checked on my phone to never delete the email from the server when downloading to my phone. On my computer, in Outlook, I have it checked to not keep messages on the server. What I want is for emails to primarily go to my computer, and if Outlook is closed, then they will go to my phone. I do not want emails on my phone unless Outlook is closed.

Before the update, if an email did download to my phone, then it would disappear as soon as I opened Outlook and downloaded it to Outlook, which is exactly what I wanted to have happen.

Now, even after I download the email into Outlook, it also shows up on my phone, and it won’t disappear even though I’ve downloaded it into Outlook. The problem with this is I end up with a huge number of emails in my deleted box on my phone or I have to go in there 10 times a day and delete them out of my deleted box. Why won’t my messages disappear after I’ve downloaded them to Outlook? This seems to be an issue with the upgrade to Marshmallow because nothing else has changed, and it was working correctly prior to the upgrade to Marshmallow. Help! — Amy

Solution: Hi Amy. Email syncing process in your case involves at least three devices — your S6, your computer, and the server. Usually, a user must identify which of these devices is causing the problem but if the only change you’ve done is to update your S6 to Marshmallow, then troubleshooting must be focused on this device only. The first thing that you can try is to delete the cache and data of the email app on your phone. If the glitch is being caused by outdated or corrupt local app cache, then this procedure should fix the problem right away. Keep in mind that clearing an app’s data is the virtual equivalent of uninstalling an app so be sure that you have all the information you need to reconfigure your email account afterwards. Here are the steps on how to delete an app’s cache and data:

  • Open the Settings menu.
  • Tap Apps (some versions may show Applications or Application Manager).
  • Tap the email app.
  • Tap Storage.
  • Tap Clear Cache, then Clear Data (in this order).

After tapping the Clear Data button, go back to the home screen, tap the email app again, then setup the email account again.

If reconfiguring the email app won’t help, you can then wipe the system cache. Wiping the cache partition has proven effective in fixing minor app-specific issues as well as freezing and random reboot issues. If you haven’t done this step yet, simply follow these steps:

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

Problem #2: Verizon Voice Mail app not working after updating Galaxy S6 to Marshmallow

Since updating to Marshmallow 2 days ago, visual voicemail just gives me an error on the drop down screen. Spent an hour with Verizon this morning trying a bunch of things to fix it, however she finally checked their ticket logs and found that a number of people are having this issue since updating.

I took out the SIM card, disabled and re-enabled visual voicemail on my end and then manually on her (Verizon person’s) end.

Guessing you guys can’t fix (which is surprising because I feel like you fix everything…except stupid Lollipop battery issues, but that is another story 😉 )

Please let me know if you have a solution(s) or at least let other people know that they are not the only ones dealing with this. They must beta test the heck out of these, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem like it.

Thanks!  — Jenn

Solution: Hi Jenn. Any app-specific problems are beyond our expertise. Verizon’s Voice Mail app has always been problematic even with older Android versions and only their developer team can fix whatever problem you may have right now on your device. The most that you can do is to perform a factory reset. If that won’t help, that’s an indication that the app is poorly coded, or not yet fully compatible with Android Marshmallow. Fixing the problem requires tweaking some codes of the app which we can’t do.

Problem #3: Some Galaxy S6 apps disconnects from Wi-Fi after Marshmallow was installed

After “upgrading” to Marshmallow 6.0.1, I am experiencing issues with apps staying engaged to either Wi-Fi or 4G signals.

For example, I have a Sonos system that relies upon a Wi-Fi signal. As long as the app is up and running and is on the screen, there is no problem.  However, when I, for example, check an email on my phone, the app disconnects from all signals.

This happens with all apps including Kik messenger. If I have Kik open and am messaging, everything is fine and normal.  However, if I am not active on kik and in another app, kik acts like my phone is completely off and no messages that are sent to me appear in my feed when i open the app again.  It takes like 30 seconds for them to flood in and the person who sent them however long ago they sent them does not get the notification that they have been delivered until i open the app, where previously, as long as the phone was on, they would show as being delivered,  Finally, if I send a video message in kik, I have to wait for it to completely upload and be delivered before moving into another app. If I send a video message and then check an email before it is completely sent, when I come back, the video has not been sent.

It is like if I am not completely engaged and active on an app, the app acts like the phone is completely off.

Before the update, even if the app was just running in the background (Sonos) or the app had not even been opened, it would still receive messages without being open or running in the background (Kik).

Your help is sincerely appreciated. — Christopher

Solution: Hi Christopher. Android Marshmallow is a developing system at this time and some apps may not yet be properly coded or tested for their full functionality with this OS. The developers may still be working with their products at this time to make them compatible with Marshmallow so your course of action includes doing the basic software troubleshooting, or uninstalling the problematic app.

Try to wipe the cache partition  (steps provided above) first. If nothing changes, consider performing a factory reset by following the steps below:

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

No one wants to do a factory reset, especially after a major update but it may be your only choice for resolution.

If wiping the cache or factory reset won’t fix the problems, try to contact the developer of the apps involved to see if they can provide direct assistance.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 screen has dark blue color

I’ve had the phone for a few months already and had no problems until now. I had a baseball game and was on the bus and using it with no problems at all. but when we got to the field I put my phone away in my bag and from there I don’t know what happened to it (because I was on the field).

when we got back on the bus and I turned on my phone there was blue splatter behind the screen (almost like someone flicked a paint brush on it) but it started off minor and ten minutes later started shutting off and resetting itself. every time it happened the blue splatter got bigger and bigger. when I got home I just plugged it for the night and hoped it would fix its self but instead now it’s entirely covered with a dark blue/black color except for the edge of the screen.

What happened to it? Can I fix it myself? Do if have to bring it in somewhere to get it checked out? If so about how much will it be for the dysfunctional part? Thank you. — Eric

Solution: Hi Eric. Your phone’s screen may have been physically damaged while you were playing. The screen assembly is composed of three major components — LCD, digitizer, and flex cable. Damaging any of these components can result to the problem you describe here and the only way to fix it is to have the phone repaired. There’s no software fix that you can do on your end to resolve a screen assembly issue. If the phone is still covered by a  warranty, make sure that you contact Samsung for screen replacement.

Keep in mind that you may have to invest in the repair process as any physical damage automatically voids the warranty. The only reason why you want Samsung to fix the screen is to ensure that it’s done properly. Screen replacement procedure can be tricky and may result to more issues if not done correctly. We don’t recommend that you do it yourself for this reason.

If you want to do it yourself though, try searching for online resources via Google for instructions.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 won’t connect to home Wi-Fi after a trip

I am currently living on the East Coast. I recently traveled to the West Coast for a conference and before leaving I was connected to my Wi-Fi network (aka JS_HOME_16). On my return, I am unable to connect to the previous network and even worse, it does not appear on my Wi-Fi list of possible connections. In turn, the Samsung Galaxy S6 automatically connect to a router that I am currently using as a Wi-Fi extender in the house. The previous Wi-Fi connection (JS_HOME_16) was coming from an all-in-one box (Comcast router and modem device). I thought it may be a connection issue, but my laptop and tablet are connected to JS_HOME_16 without any problem. And, for some reason it does not even appear on the list of Wi-Fi connections on the phone, as mentioned before. I died a restart on the phone and follow simple steps to solve the problem, but I have not been able to resolve the issue yet. I recently updated into Android 6.1 on my phone. Do you guys have any recommendations or advice? Thanks in advance! — Josue

Solution: Hi Josue. An issue like this usually happens due to a caching glitch of some Android device. Make sure that you wipe the cache partition first before attempting another connection to your home Wi-Fi.

After you refresh the system cache on your S6, restart all networking devices (modem, router, Wi-Fi extender, etc) and your phone. Try another connection.

If the issue persists, boot your S6 to safe mode before connecting to your Wi-Fi. Sometimes, third party apps can create conflicts related to mobile data and Wi-Fi connections so preventing them from running before a connection is good. Here’s how it’s done:

  • Turn the phone off.
  • Press and hold Power button until the Galaxy S6 logo appears.
  • Once you see the S6 logo, press the Volume Down button while releasing the Power button.
  • Keep holding the Volume Down button until the phone is done rebooting.
  • After the reboot, “Safe Mode” should be shown at the bottom left corner of the screen.
  • Release the Volume Down button.
  • To exit safe mode, simply restart the phone.

 

 

Engage with us

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

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

Battery drain issue on Galaxy S5 after Marshmallow update, other issues

S5 battery drain

We’ve been supporting the #GalaxyS5 for over a year now but we still get some weird reports about problems on this device. Below are some of issues we’ve collected for the past few days so far. We hope that the solutions provided here can help our ever-growing Android community.

  1. Galaxy S5 camera app won’t focus properly
  2. Battery drain issue on Galaxy S5 after Marshmallow update
  3. Galaxy S5 “com.android.app has stopped” error
  4. Galaxy S5 screen moving up and down when using apps
  5. Galaxy S5 no longer powers on
  6. Galaxy S5’s screen is black and won’t respond

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

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

 

Problem #1: Galaxy S5 camera app won’t focus properly

My problem is intermittent focus failures that make for a fuzzy image. It works less than 20% of the time. It can’t focus properly at short or long ranges. Long before, I broke the square protective lens but it still could focus sharply at the center of a subject, where the hole in the lens was, but not at the edges. Finally, I replaced the lens, but I also upgraded to Lollipop. To be honest, I do not remember if the focus problem began immediately after Lollipop, but I do know I never had the problem BEFORE lollipop.

I tried everything you suggested:

-rebooted to the screen that allowed me to wipe the phone’s cache.

-cleaned the lens and the new square lens protector that I replaced. I double-checked in case a protective film remained.

-I tried it after booting into safe mode.

-I tried another camera app

-I wiped the camera app cache

-I removed the outer protective lens entirely.

I have not yet done a factory reset yet, in case you might suggest something short of that.

Can I delete the camera app and reinstall it? If so, where can I go to download the OEM camera app?

Thx for any suggestions you might have. — Kwame

Solution: Hi Kwame. Please do a factory reset to see if that will make a difference. If the issue lies on the firmware, restoring all phone settings and functions back to defaults via factory reset should fix it. Otherwise, you can say the problem is due to bad hardware.

Factory reset will also reset the current camera app version into its factory version so you don’t need to manually install the camera app APK.

For easy reference, here are the steps on how to do a factory reset:

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

Problem #2: Battery drain issue on Galaxy S5 after Marshmallow update

How can I remove the Marshmallow update? I got the update on Saturday, and it’s killing my battery. I did a soft reset and wiped the cache partition, and I’m seeing my battery drain as I use it! It’s a new Samsung battery and held a great charge with Lollipop, but since the update I’m only getting a few hours of normal use. Just writing this question, it has already dropped by 10%!

A few other annoying problems with settings and getting my phone to accept fingerprint to unlock it now, but overall, I’m not happy at all with this update and would like to remove it. I’ve had this phone for 1.5 years, and it was one of the best I’ve ever owned, but not any more! Can you help? Thanks in advance! — Kathleen

Solution: Hi Kathleen. If the update was “pushed” by your carrier to your device, i.e., you received a notification for available update and downloaded the files, then there’s no way to revert back to Lollipop unless you do it manually. If wiping the cache partition did not help, we recommend that you also try to do a factory reset. This will ensure that all apps are installed back to their original state.

Once you’ve done a factory reset, make sure that all apps are updated. Bear in mind that updating the operating system does not necessarily mean the apps are updated as well. Apps that are not optimized to work with Marshmallow can be problematic and issues due to incompatibility may manifest in different forms including faster battery drain, freezing, app crashes, slow performance, to mention a few. An app that works well with Lollipop may no longer work properly with Marshmallow on the same device. If you have plenty of apps, make sure that all of them are updated for Marshmallow. You will usually find update information of an app in its Google Play download page. If you can’t find any indication that it’s ready for Marshmallow, make sure to remove them.

If you still want to install Android Lollipop, we recommend that you look for reliable online guides via Google. Manually flashing a ROM/firmware is risky and can potentially convert your phone into an expensive paperweight. Do it at your own risk.

Problem #3: Galaxy S5 “com.android.app has stopped” error

Hi. I have been using my S5 for more than a year without any issues. About a week ago, a message appeared “com.android.app has stopped”. I restarted the phone by taking the battery out because it couldn’t be restarted otherwise. After that the message appeared again and the phone keeps restarting with the Samsung logo then the message began appearing again and again.

I tried to reach safe mode fast before the phone restarts itself then I restarted the phone again. This worked well and the phone started normally but then all the apps are not there and nothing in the phone runs except for Whatsapp and Facebook apps. The camera is not working and cannot run from the home screen. Videos don’t run and no gallery icon found although I can send and receive images from the Whatsapp but received videos cannot run. I wiped the cache partition but nothing happened. Apps are found in the application manager showing 0.00 bytes.

Please help me as I cannot backup my phone data because usb cables don’t read the phone in the PC and no backup app can run. —  Hazim

Solution: Hi Hazim. There’s no more effective solution to your problem than a factory reset. If you need to copy your files to another device, try booting the phone in safe mode, connect it to a PC, and create a backup.

The “com.android.app has stopped” error is an indication that one of the important services does not run properly, most probably due to a third party application. If you have a lot of apps, or if you can’t figure out which of your apps is problematic, doing a factory reset is the first important step towards resolution. Before you do a factory reset, make sure that you disable Automatic restore option under Backup and reset section. This will prevent the phone from re-installing the same set of apps after a factory reset.

Now, since we think the problem is caused by one of your apps, we recommend that you invest more time in observing how the phone behaves after re-installing a single app. If the issue returns after installing an app, that’s an indication that the new app may be the cause.

Problem #4: Galaxy S5 screen moving up and down when using apps

Hello and thanks for this free asking form you’ve created.

It’s been about 2 months now that i have the following problem with my phone. When typing on WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, etc, for the first 5 minutes, everything’s ok. But then, the screen starts something like moving up and down…the keyboard goes on top of the screen, or half of it goes up and the rest stays on the bottom. If i want to type, i have to type where the keyboard SHOULD HAVE BEEN. so i learnt where i should type till the keyboard comes back to normal. It was only a screen issue.

Recently, when that happens, i cannot scroll down the screen, stays frozen, doesn’t respond, and sometimes, even though the phone is working perfectly (receives calls, messages etc), the screen is black and stuck. When i reboot my phone everything’s works fine for another 5 min and then the problems starts right again.

I’ve tried uninstalling the apps. I don’t use Facebook apps but via Google Chrome. I have deleted the cache, some photos, but the problem seems to persist after every minimum automatic update. Can you help me please? — Nikos

Solution: Hi Nikos. It’s interesting to note that you haven’t tried observing how the phone behaves when it’s on safe mode. We think that one of your apps is to blame for the problem so restarting the S5 in safe mode is the next logical step to do. While on safe mode, no third party apps will be allowed to run so if the problem fails to occur, that’s a confirmation of our hunch. If you haven’t tried to boot your S5 in safe mode before, simply follow these steps:

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

Most software or app issues can be fixed by factory reset. Don’t hesitate to do it if nothing changes even when the phone is in safe mode.

Problem #5: Galaxy S5 no longer powers on

Hi. I have a Samsung S5. This morning I had an message so I opened it and the phone crashed so I left it for a few minutes hoping it will sort itself out but instead after a few minutes the phone decided to turn off and refused to turn back on even with a fully charged battery. I’ve tried all the usual ways to turn the phone back on like pulling the battery out and with and without SIM and micro SD card. Still nothing.

I’ve also tried the factory reset and still nothing happens. It’s completely dead not even a flash or a vibrate. Nothing works at all. I rely on my phone for work mainly but also family and friends cause it’s the only phone I have. I don’t have the money to take the phone to the shop to be fixed so please could you help me.

Many thanks. — Lee

Solution: Hi Lee. An issue like this can be caused by hardware failure or software glitch. If you have access to a new battery, we recommend that you try using it to see if battery is the issue. Lithium-based battery can sometimes fail for no reason, so using another known, working one may actually work.

Another good thing to try is to see if you can boot the phone in other modes (safe mode, recovery mode, download mode). To boot in recovery mode, please follow these steps:

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

If you can boot your device in recovery, that means that you can do two important troubleshooting steps — wiping the cache partition and restoring the defaults via factory reset.

To boot in download or Odin mode, simply turn the phone off, then press Home, Power, and Volume Down keys at the same time.

If the phone is totally unresponsive after doing the procedures, consider having it checked for repair or replacement.

Problem #6: Galaxy S5’s screen is black and won’t respond

The phone worked fine a couple of days ago. And then yesterday, I was using it (4/9/16) and all of a sudden, the screen is completely black. And all it will do is beep when I plug it in, and make the lock screen sound. And the only light that shows up is the charging light, which is red (I’m guessing due to a dead battery.) And the buttons that light up blue on both sides of the center home button. My phone was bought as a Christmas gift just this past year (December 2015) and was bought used. The phone has worked fine until yesterday, as I said above. I’ve read your article on the black screen problem and tried your solutions, and nothing has worked. I thought also that it could be a burnt out LED bulb on the screen which has happened on my previous device, but you could still see the apps, but just barely. And on my S5, it’s completely black, like it’s shut off.

Also before I forget, I guessed above on the Android Version software, because I honestly don’t know what software it has, if that helps any? Thank you! — Brandon

Solution: Hi Brandon. The red LED light on top of the screen is an indicator that your device charges fine and that the battery is probably fine as well. Most of the time, a black screen issue can sometimes be a result of hardware failure. If you dropped the phone before or got it wet, there’s a big chance that one of the three major components of the screen assembly — LCD, digitizer, or flex cable — has been damaged. Unfortunately, diagnosing a screen issue cannot be done by doing software troubleshooting. You have to allow a professional do it for you.

 

Engage with us

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

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

Galaxy Note 5 touchscreen stops responding after a drop, other issues

 

 

Note 5 touchscreen

Touchscreen problems can be caused by several factors so we have decided to publish at least two cases in this post. We hope that the solutions we give in this post today can help other #GalaxyNote5 users out there. For more Note 5 troubleshooting, please visit this page.

  1. Galaxy Note 5 restarts on its own
  2. Galaxy Note 5 won’t power back on
  3. Galaxy Note 5 touchscreen stops responding after a drop
  4. Galaxy Note 5 screen is broken
  5. Galaxy Note 5 microphone is not working properly
  6. Galaxy Note 5 proximity sensor issue

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

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

 

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 5 restarts on its own

Hi! My phone always restarts on its own. I can particularly pinpoint what app is the culprit but it restarts when I am using my camera, gallery, Facebook, Instagram or even Chrome. What I would normally do is pull out the battery and put it again then manually restart my phone. I have been dealing this for quite a while and I am afraid to factory reset my phone.

However, I have encountered a more serious error today. My phone restarted on its own again. Additionally, I was notified with the error “Google Play services, which some of your applications rely on, is not supported by your device.” Then I cannot find my Play Store app anymore. So as most of my apps have not been working properly.

Can you help me with this?

If I ever reset my phone, will the Play Store and Google Play services will be back as normal? — Joangela

Solution: Hi Joangela. We don’t know how you’re able to pull out the battery on a Galaxy Note 5 (unless you decide to void the warranty by opening the hardware) so we’re not really sure if this issue belongs to Note 5 issues. Anyway, since it appears that you have a problem with multiple apps, it won’t hurt if you do a factory reset as the first troubleshooting step. Doing so may fix the problem and would also reset all app settings including Google Play Store’s and Google Services’. Once you’ve done that, allow your phone to work for 24 hours without installing any third party apps so you’ll know if one of the previously installed apps is to blame.

For easy reference, here are the steps on how to do a factory reset:

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

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 5 won’t power back on

The screen went suddenly blank with no warning while using the device. I was in the process of catching up with notifications on Google + when it simply went blank. I tapped the screen but no response then pushed the home button but no change and proceeded with the power button and nothing. I’ve also noticed that none of the capacity keys light up either. The device was on 95% battery at the time. So I ran all the troubleshooting  tips listed on your web site and no change. I then decided to charge it and not even that worked. It doesn’t display anything on the screen. The device seems simply put shut down entirely.

Any advice you can offer I humbly await. — Maverick

Solution: Hi Maverick. Was the device dropped or exposed to liquid before? These two things are some of the most common reasons for an electronic device to stop working all of a sudden. Although a lot of smartphones can survive being dropped several times, there’s still the chance that the shock generated by a drop can damage an internal component or create a break in a power circuit. Similar damage can happen after liquid exposure. Make sure to have the phone diagnosed by Samsung, or simply find a way to have the device replaced.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 5 touchscreen stops responding after a drop

I dropped my Samsung Galaxy Note from a relatively low height, and my screen protector was cracked, but the cell screen is till okay. After that, the cell phone was working fine for about 2 weeks, then it has an issue with the touch screen. My pen was stuck, so I could not use the pen to check to see if it works with the pen. But it does not response to my finger. I read the tips online and tried the reboot by pressing both the power button and the low volume button at the same time to reboot it. I was able to reboot the cell, I still can see the blue login screen with the password waiting for me to enter, but I cannot type because the touch screen does not recognize my finger.

Please instruct me what I should do in order to get my phone touch screen fixed. Thank you so much. — Van

Solution: Hi Van. A touchscreen that doesn’t detect your finger input is a broken touchscreen. There is no software troubleshooting step that you can try to fix it. Unless you are equipped to replace the touchscreen yourself, we say you let a professional do it for you. Because there’s physical indication that you dropped it, Samsung will consider repairing the phone for you for a fee. Dropping your device constitutes customer misuse so warranty won’t apply.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 5 screen is broken

The other day, I was at a track meet. After my event was over I walked over to my bag and pulled out my phone, which I had wrapped in clothes to make sure it wasn’t kicked or hit while I was gone. It was in the same place that it was, but when I hit the unlock button, my lock screen came up dimmed, with a giant bright blue line going from the bottom left corner, to the top left corner. Thinking it was just a glitch, I restarted it. After restarting it the screen stayed black. The back key and the little folder key light up, the phone vibrates every once in a while telling me I have a message, and the blue light still pulsates in the top left corner. A day later, and the phone has dark green coloring on the screen when I hit the unlock button, and goes away when the phone times out. The color is only there when the phone is powered on and the power button is pushed. The entire screen is not green, just a large majority of it. Please help, thank you. — Riley

Solution: Hi Riley. As screen that dims on its own like the one you are experiencing is an indication of a possible screen assembly malfunction. The display or screen assembly has three major components — the digitizer, the LCD, and the flex cable. Any of these three can be the source of the problem (although we think that the LCD may be physically damaged). The digitizer is a thin layer of glass over the LCD that detects and converts your analog touch into digital signal, hence the name. The LCD itself must not be confused with the digitizer. To put it simply, it’s a thin computer monitor that displays whatever it is that you should see. The flex cable is connected to the digitizer that conducts the digital signal to the phone.

Usually, damaging one of these three components means replacing the entire assembly itself. While there are people who may be able to replace, say, a digitizer alone, a lot of times the effort is not worth the shot. The flex cable’s connection to the digitizer is fragile and it’s easy to break if you’re not careful.

Suffice it to say, if you don’t the electronics skill to replace the screen, we say you let someone replace the display assembly for you.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 5 microphone is not working properly

I live in Louisiana and currently have no service until my AT&T SIM card comes in in a couple days. I just bought an unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 5 from online. My microphone is acting strange and I’ve looked all over the web trying to figure out what is wrong. Inbound call works fine. With outbound it either does not work at all, works fine (not often), or can barely be heard as long as my mouth is right at the microphone hole. I have all my settings turned up. I did Soft Rest, Safe Mode check, Hard Rest, and checked to see if the microphone hole was clogged. Soft Reset changed nothing. The Hard Reset changed nothing. Before I started troubleshooting, my husband used it for a couple weeks before me and had the same problems with it.

I went here https://updato.com/how-to/how-to-fix-microphone-issues-on-samsung-galaxy-smartphones and did a HR first because I had nothing on the phone yet. I then use the app Nextplus to call and found that the voice did not work at all.

In Safe Mode I repeatedly used my voice recorder to help figure out the problem. I would speak 3 times at the same volume: at the microphone hole, holding it normal, and about 6 inches from the microphone hole. In Safe mode I plugged my phone into my computer to charge. I decided to check my microphone and found that the microphone worked perfectly with a clear resonating distinction between all the rest of the tests. The other tests no matter how loud all sounded muffled. I then took it off the USB and did another test and it came out perfect. I then didn’t touch my phone for at least 5 minutes and then did another test to find that it was muffled again. I then put it back on the charger and tested again finding it muffled. I had also checked the microphone hole for clogging while in Safe Mode.

I took out the battery and the useless SIM card I had in my phone and did another test and found no voice at all. I put the sim back in and still no voice. Plugged it in USB and still no voice.

 And I am currently trying an update to see if that will work. — Jenny

Solution: Hi Jenny. We appreciate the effort to provide us with as many details about the problem as possible but look, there’s only so much that you can do when troubleshooting electronic gadgets. We can see that you’ve tried everything that can be done with apparently no positive result.

There is one thing that is not clear to us though. By hard reset we assume that you did a factory reset but did you observe how the phone works without any third party apps? If the problem is being caused by an app, doing a factory reset won’t necessarily help you. You must first do a reset and observe the phone without installing anything to rule out possible app involvement. If you already did this though, then that’s it. You must have a lemon. Most microphone issues are caused by bad software but it looks like your is hardware in nature. What you can do right now is either to have the phone repaired or replaced.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 5 changes system time randomly | Galaxy Note 5 proximity sensor issue | Galaxy Note 5 intermittent internet connection during calls

I have 3 main issues:

  1. At random times my time will change to a 2 hours off local time. I’ve gone in and done the “workaround” of unchecking the automatically set time & time zone fields, but it still reverts at times.
  2. Each time I use the phone for a call and my cheek touches the screen, it throws the phone into the settings and starts to set things. (sometimes it’s undoing the automatic time checkbox). I don’t know what gets set at these times as I’m on the phone, and have my cheek against the phone. I’ve tried to hold it gingerly against my cheek, but it’s very sensitive. I’ve ensured before holding it up to my ear that it’s on headset, but it still goes into settings and starts checking things.
  3. Internet. Sometimes my internet is working, but then at random times, the phone will say I’m “offline”. I can’t find where to set it back to “online.”

Verizon assisted me one time and I had to do something in settings like changing the global setting or something, but now it’s off again. Maybe my cheek hit something while I was talking on the phone…not sure.

I’d like help trying to keep these settings consistently “on.”

Thank you. — Patty

Solution: Hi Patty. These three issues may or may not be related so it’s good if you start the troubleshooting by making sure that the cache partition is in good working order. A corrupt or outdate system cache can sometimes lead to all sorts of issues so we see the need to do it first. In order to do that, please follow these steps:

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

Now, if nothing will change and all three problems return afterwards or after some time, be sure to back up your personal data before doing a factory reset. The aims of factory reset in your case is to see if resetting all app and firmware settings to default will resolve the problem, and if an app may be to blame. After doing a factory reset, do not immediately install your apps. Wait for at least 24 hours and observe the phone first.

If the second problem returns even if there’s no third party app installed, try to ensure that the proximity sensor setting under Call Settings is enabled. You can do that by going to Phone app>Menu>Call settings. Make sure that Turn off screen during calls is enabled.

 

Engage with us

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

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

Galaxy Note 4 messaging app lags and keeps on failing when sending text message, other issues

Note 4

We hope that our #GalaxyNote4 post for today help answer some of the questions shared by some of our community members.

Below are specific topics covered in this article:

  1. Why a Galaxy Note 4 battery suddenly loses charge
  2. Galaxy Note 4 screen is unresponsive
  3. Galaxy Note 4 lag issue can’t be fixed by software troubleshooting
  4. Galaxy Note 4 not sending text message properly after Lollipop update
  5. Galaxy Note 4 messaging app lags and keeps on failing when sending text message

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

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

 

Problem #1: Why a Galaxy Note 4 battery suddenly loses charge

Hi guys. Thanks in advance for reading about my issue. Basically, I have a Samsung Note 4 in white. Originally it was locked to Vodafone but i had it unlocked (via an eBay unlock code)… have been using it for a couple of months after it was unlocked and it’s a brilliant phone and everything worked fine. I had the Note 3 before this.

Yesterday, whilst i was on the phone, the phone just turned off suddenly. It had some battery left so I was shocked to when it turned off.

Since then, I have tried everything… no responses at all – no vibration, no LED lights…!

Tried different chargers, connecting to my laptop, soft reset, recovery mode….. you name it!! ABSOLOTELY NOTHING HAS HELPED! 🙁

So basically the phone is dead but yesterday was working 100% fine. I don’t know what’s the issue. Someone please help me. — Riz

Solution: Hi Riz. If there’s one important troubleshooting step that you did not mention, it is battery replacement. If you’ve been using your Note 4 for over a year now, there’s a chance that the battery may have simply lost its ability to hold a charge. Lithium-based batteries like the one on your handset gradually loses capacity everytime you recharge it. After some time, the battery will just die a natural death due to regular charging cycles even if you take care of it.

A Lithium-ion battery works by moving Lithium ions between a cathode and an anode. During a charging session, the ions stick to the Carbon (graphite) anode, then they move back to the Lithium-Cobalt Oxide cathode when you discharge the battery or when you when your phone. The process of ions moving back and forth between the electrodes is called “cycling”.

The problem lies in the inefficiency of the cycling process. Every time you charge the battery, a film of Lithium atoms are collected permanently in the anode, resulting to capacity loss. The more Lithium ions bonded in the anode for good, the less the charge becomes. If the ions can’t move between the electrodes, no charge is generated leading to failure to deliver power. Do the charging cycle everyday and the battery will lose significant charge in over a year.

While the decline in capacity is gradual, it will not cause the battery to fail entirely though. This kind of situation can be caused by a different thing called electrolyte oxidation. Like the anode accumulating a film of ions during and after every cycle, the cathode can develop a similar layer due to battery overheating or higher voltage. Exposing the battery to high voltage or heat can create a layer of ions around the cathode which can lead to sudden capacity loss — one which is easily noticeable compared to the gradual decline because of regular charging cycle.

The problem is manifested in the phone being unable to boot up normally because the battery no longer deliver power. Unfortunately, electrolyte oxidation on the cathode is permanent and can cause irreversible damage. Your best bet is to have the battery replaced. Thankfully, you have a Note 4 so battery replacement can be done easily.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 screen is unresponsive

I can’t use my screen, but I know I have a version of Lollipop installed. The screen has the following issues:

1.) won’t respond to touch

2.) white, vertical, lines of varying width running the entire length of the screen.

3.) black, inky, splotches on screen that have continued to appear / grow since last night when this issue started.

I dropped it a few times recently, but with no immediately noticeable issues.

Was out a party last night and noticed it was getting hit in my pocket, so then I removed it and placed it somewhere safe – I checked it later, and it had these issues. — Kyle

Solution: Hi Kyle. If the phone appears to power on normally as it probably vibrates and make a sound when restarting it but the screen remains unresponsive, that’s a clear sign that you have a hardware issue. The drop may have damaged the display assembly or some of its components causing it to appear to be unresponsive and showing those lines.

If you are confident of your electronics skills, you can try the DIY (do-it-yourself) tutorials that some sites provide on how to replace the display assembly. Keep in mind though that screen replacement process is a bit tricky and can result to other hardware issues if not done correctly.

We highly recommend though that you let a professional do it for you. Better still, call Samsung so they can repair or replace the handset in a matter of days.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 lag issue can’t be fixed by software troubleshooting

Hi. I have been having problems with my Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It is constantly freezing, lagging, rebooting. I had taken it over to the Samsung repair center and they said that they rebuilt my software and check out all the hardware and everything passed its tests. However right after I left there I had more problems.

I use the phone for 3 days without my micro SD card installed as requested. I also use the phone as a game without installing anything. The problems continued although they were less frequent. Now I have put back in my micro SD card and reinstalled my backup but just for data. I still have not installed any third-party applications.

The issues with the phone seem to be getting worse. I am lucky if I can use the phone sometimes for 2 minutes before it freezes and I have to pull the battery to reset it.

Also sometimes when pulling the battery for reset the phone will boot up into download mode saying that it can’t boot up or can’t find a partition. Sometimes I will put in the battery and it’ll vibrate like it’s turning on but nothing happens. Sometimes I will put in the battery and hit the power button and nothing happens at all so I have to remove the battery and keep it out for a little while before it’ll turn on again. I am not certain if this is a software issue or if this might be still a hardware issue even though Samsung stated everything was fine. 

 I hope that you might be able to offer some helpful information so I can continue to improve on this phone otherwise I’m afraid I may have to replace it. 

 Thank you very much for your help. — Ranon

Solution: Hi Ranon. If Samsung’s diagnostics were not able to identify the reason for the lag issue, then most probably we won’t be of little to no help to you. The best that we can do in this case is to tell a user to do the basic software troubleshooting like wiping system and app caches, doing a factory reset, booting in safe mode, or at most, flashing a new ROM. If nothing of these procedures won’t help, we can assume that the issue lies something deeper, which unfortunately is beyond an average user’s ability to identify and resolve.

Lag issues that can’t be fixed by simple troubleshooting can be indicative of a processor malfunction, a coding glitch deep inside the operating system, some other hardware components that no longer works normally, or a combination of these three. In order to do a task like loading a game, all the necessary hardware like the processor (CPU), Random Access Memory (RAM), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Signal Processor, Modem, etc., are supposed to work in harmony to create a smooth rendering on the display. Visible lag can happen if any of the hardware components fail to work as expected. In other words, you may notice lag if your device is unable to handle a task/s. Keep in mind that your device manages multiple tasks or threads at the same time.

If a CPU, for example, has been damaged for some reason, it may not be able to process multiple tasks at the same time. This situation can create a chain of problems to other components as well as they will not get the expected result from the processor, causing further lag and stutter.

The thing is, this problem is rare. As mentioned, lag issues that refuse to be fixed by software troubleshooting means that there’s probably a hardware-related cause. We suggest that you invest in phone replacement rather than attempt to have it fixed.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 4 not sending text message properly after Lollipop update

Hi..i have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 N910F running on Android 5.1.1. Ever since i bought this phone, I’ve been facing this problem. I don’t know if this problem was there when the phone was running on KitKat as i updated it immediately after i bought it.

The problem is that after sending a few text messages, the phone stops sending further messages. At that point the phone doesn’t make any call or receive any call. Mobile data also cannot be switched on. In short, all network related functions stop. The signal bar shows full signals but wi-fi, applications and other functions keep on working fine. When i restart the phone, it starts sending text messages again and receives and makes calls again but again after sending a few text messages, the phone fails to send further messages.

I’ve tried doing a factory reset but of no use. If i don’t send text messages the phone, works perfectly fine for days; mobile data, calls everything works fine but the moment i send a few messages the problem starts again. Kindly guide me about it.. I am really worried about this problem. Thankyou. — Taimoor

Solution: Hi Taimoor. The problem may be caused by a third party app you installed. Doing a factory reset then re-installing the same set of apps afterwards is counterproductive. You can either try to do another round of factory reset and observe the phone for a few days without installing anything, or you can boot the phone in safe mode and observe it for a few hours. Either way should help you determine if one of your apps is to blame. Booting Galaxy Note 4 in safe mode will temporarily disable all third-party or download apps leaving pre-installed ones and core services running. This procedure can help you determine which of your apps is causing a problem. For reference, here are the steps to boot your Note 4 in safe mode:

  • Turn off the phone completely.
  • Press and hold the Power key and the Volume Down key.
  • When the phone starts to boot, release the Power key but continue holding the Volüme Down key until the phone finished restarting.
  • Safe mode will be display at the lower left corner; you may release the Volume Down key now.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 messaging app lags and keeps on failing when sending text message

Insurance company sent me a new NOTE 4 replacement. had done a back up. I reinstalled using Kies3. Everything works fine except messaging. I read the info on here about lagging texts. My texts don’t load immediately. And to delete any messages take 1-10 minutes. It’s frustrating.

I followed instructions about application manager and clearing Cache and data HOWEVER my MESSAGING App doesn’t appear in the downloaded or SD or running but appears in the “all” column. I did the data clear and still a problem.

All the other apps show up. I did install Textra as a 3rd party app. It worked great for one day and now, when i try to send im getting numerous FAIL message and try again.. SO i switched back to the default android Messaging. Any thoughts? — Michael

Solution: Hi Michael. Texting problems like the one you are experiencing can be caused by device-specific issue or wireless carrier problem. Your first task is to identify if it’s related to your phone by doing some software troubleshooting. You can start by either wiping the cache partition or going directly to factory reset. The former ensures that the system cache is fresh to minimize app-related problems, while the latter  restores all app and system settings back to default. Both of them can be done in Recovery Mode. Here’s how they’re done:

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

Any of these procedures should help you fix the problem. If nothing works though, make sure to contact your wireless carrier to see if the issue is from their side.

 

Engage with us

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

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

Virgin Mobile Galaxy S5 cannot do voice calls and LTE sessions at the same time, other issues

S5 Virgin Mobile

Today is the official release date for the latest Samsung Galaxy flagship phone, the #GalaxyS7 and S7 Edge. We know that this is big day for those waiting to get their hands on the new amazing platform from Samsung.

In the meantime, we welcome you to another post that answers some questions from our #GalaxyS5 users! Below are 6 problems that we’ve decided to publish today.

  1. Virgin Mobile Galaxy S5 cannot do voice calls and LTE sessions at the same time
  2. Google Calendar app on Galaxy S5 sets date of event to previous day
  3. Galaxy S5 won’t turn on after an attempt to wipe the cache partition
  4. Galaxy S5 screen is flickering
  5. Wet Galaxy S5 keeps rebooting
  6. Galaxy S5 won’t install Android update

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

 

Problem #1: Virgin Mobile Galaxy S5 cannot do voice calls and LTE sessions at the same time

My concerns are with the multitasking capabilities of my Samsung Galaxy S5.

When I had my dual core, Samsung Galaxy S3, I could utilize both voice capabilities and 4G LTE wireless browsing on this device, simultaneously. In December, 2015, due to various hardware issues with my Samsung Galaxy S3, my carrier (Virgin Mobile) decided to replace my device. However, because Virgin Mobile no longer carried the Samsung Galaxy S3, they upgraded me to the quad core, Samsung Galaxy S5.

Ever since I received the Galaxy S5, I’ve been unable to utilize both voice capabilities and 4G LTE wireless browsing on this device, simultaneously.  I’ve reached out to Virgin Mobile on multiple occasions, and they’ve tried to “refresh my device on their end”. Additionally, I’ve tried on several occasions resetting my device via ##72786#, even going as far as doing a hard factory reset, with no avail.

What am I doing wrong? Can you please offer a solution…Something that my carrier is clearly incapable of doing? Their ONLY response, to date, is there’s tower issues in the area. Since December? I find this hard to believe. Please advise. — Moses

Solution: Hi Moses. This is not a tower issue. The problem lies on the hardware limitation of your Galaxy S5. Some CDMA phones from Sprint (which is the mother company of Virgin Mobile) and Virgin Mobile itself are unable to handle voice and data at the same time. Your older Galaxy S3 was equipped with two radios — one for voice calls and another for LTE connection. The Galaxy S5 does not have this set up and uses only one radio concurrently to allow either voice or data to come through. This is the reason why doing a factory reset did not change anything. This is not a software glitch or limitation at all!

Kindly call your wireless carrier again and ask for another replacement phone or upgrade if you badly need to multitask.

Problem #2: Google Calendar app on Galaxy S5 sets date of event to previous day

I recently received a Galaxy S5 as a replacement. There’s an issue with the stock/default calendar from Google. When you attempt to add a task the date jumps to the day before the date you want. If you select 3/9/16 it will be entered as 3/8/16.

I called Samsung, T-Mobile about the issue and no one had a solution. This morning Samsung recommended that I see one of their techs at Best Buy which I did, the tech found out the phone is fine. It’s the stock calendar that’s not working properly. When you add a task after four days that’s when issue happens. The Samsung tech was able to recreate the issue using various devices.

Because this is a stock/default app the tech was unable to contact Google using an email address from the Play Store. Someone at Samsung needs to contact Google to make them aware of the issue. I should be able to use my device to its fullest capabilities. — Robert

Solution: Hi Robert. Have you considered checking if your phone is set to use Daylight Savings Time (DST), which can sometimes create a conflict calendar apps?

Google Calendar app uses Coordinated Universal Time, also known as UTC, to prevent potential problems with DST. When a user creates a task or event in their calendar, the time is automatically converted to UTC, although he or she will continue to see the local time.

If you have a computer, try to access Google calendar app that way and double check if the app is synced and set to the correct time zone. Here’s how it’s done:

  • On your computer, open Google Calendar.
  • Click the event you want to edit > Edit event.
  • Next to the time of the event, click Time zone.
  • Pick the time zone for the event.
  • Click Done.

If you continue to experience the same problem after checking all Calendar app settings, we recommend that you reach out to Google Calendar community via help forum.

Problem #3: Galaxy S5 won’t turn on after an attempt to wipe the cache partition

Hey DroidGuy! Lately I have been experiencing very poor battery life. So, naturally I came here to find a fix. While performing the clear cache partition steps that you provided, my phone decided not to boot into recovery mode at all! Once I powered it down it stayed that way. Nothing at all happened. No vibration, no LED indicator when I put it on the charger. Nothing. I took the battery out and hit the power key, like you said. Then replaced the battery. And still nothing. Please tell me what I did to this thing?

Oh it has been running pretty slow all day before I finally decided to clear the cache. Also, the battery charges very slow and sometimes the percentage decreases even while charging.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks. — Shoshana

Solution: Hi Shoshana. One of the worst issues that can happen on a smartphone is the one you are experiencing right now. We can see that it no longer responds to hardware button combinations so it can boot in recovery mode. That it apparently showed slow performance symptoms before it died makes us think that there you may be dealing with a hardware problem here. There’s no way for us to know that for sure but based on experience, a software-related booting problem can usually be resolved relatively easily because the phone will still respond in a way. That means that a user would still be able to boot the phone in other ways like restarting it on recovery or download mode. With your case right now, this is either a battery failure, or some other components are simply not working.

The first thing that you want to try is to see if you can power the phone back on with a new battery. If the problem remains, be sure to bring the phone to your local repair shop or Samsung so it can be checked for hardware errors.

Problems #4: Galaxy S5 screen is flickering

My phone is a year and a half old and the bottom half of the screen is flickering. It started out only flickering different brightness levels but now it is flickering green but only when it’s on the lowest brightness level setting. I tried resetting it to factory settings and the same thing happened as soon as it turned on again after being reset. When I go to check my software the only thing it says is Android 5.0. Whenever I check for updates it says that none are available. I’m no longer under contract with AT&T, I bought my phone and ended my contract with them to allow me to travel Europe so I don’t think I can get any technical support from them anymore.

Also, the battery life is all of a sudden terrible.  I used to be able to go a whole day without charging my phone and now I have to charge it 2, 3 times a day (possibly because I have to keep the brightness up higher than I usually do in order to avoid the green screen) but I’ not sure if there’s a similar underlying cause. — Anna

Solution: Hi Anna. The display assembly is composed of three major components — the digitizer, the LCD, and the flex cable. We think that the LCD  may have been damaged for some reason. Screen problems are usually the result of dropping the phone, or if the device is exposed to liquid or water. We recommend that you have the phone checked by your local repair shop so proper hardware diagnostics can be done. We don’t think the problem is software in nature because you said that nothing changed after doing a factory reset.

For the battery drain issue, the most likely reason for that may be the high brightness level of the screen. Leaving the screen brightness high all the time can significantly suck battery power.

Problem #5: Wet Galaxy S5 keeps rebooting

I was out for a walk one evening and it started raining. Phone got little wet, had case and all. Wiped it well took everything out and it worked great. Three days later after charging the phone I took the phone out and the battery shut off by itself. when I tried to restart only the Samsung sign showed and not the whole turning on displays.

Once again I took everything out, tried to restart it and it didn’t work. Then I held the power key, home button, and the volume key at the same time. Either it came back on right after that alright. press the power key again after taking out the battery and it worked.

Yesterday after talking to my friend the phone turned off by itself again. I did the same thing — took the battery out and after several tries it came back on. After about half an hour it happened again and I did the same thing — tried to take the battery out and then work again.

Should I do a factory reset? One of my virus detector app told me I had a malware with one of the apps and that I took that app out, but I do care about before the phone was wet.

Anyway please suggest what I should do you guys rock. — Ansarul

Solution: Hi Ansarul. Random reboot issue can either be caused by software glitch, malware, or hardware failure. Doing a factory reset in this case won’t hurt. In fact, we recommend that you do that to also know if the problem is hardware in nature. For easy reference, here are the steps how to do that:

  • Power down the Galaxy S5.
  • Press and hold the Volume up button, the Home button, and the Power button together until you see the Android on screen.
  • Use Volume down to highlight the wipe data/factory reset option and press the Power button to select it.
  • Use Volume down again to highlight Yes – delete all user data and press Power to select it.
  • Use the Power button to select Reboot system now.
  • When the S5 restarts it should be completely wiped and ready to set up again.
  • Now, make sure to observe the phone for 24 hours before you install any apps again. This will help you determine if one of your apps is to blame.

If nothing positive comes out after a factory reset, you can assume that the phone may had been exposed to water after it got wet. We know that an S5 is water-resistant but this protection only works when all the ports are properly sealed before water exposure. Kindly bring the phone to a nearby Samsung or repair shop so they can check it.

Problem #6: Galaxy S5 won’t install Android update

I need a software update and it tells me I need one so i download update. Then it turns off the phone and restarts to install update and all of sudden it stops and says unable to install. I’ve done this several times.

If it is some kind of app that is not allowing me to do this, then please let me know and I will uninstall.

I do have Clean Master and CM security and on cm security it allows me not to scan or mess with certain apps and I have several checked so it will leave them alone. But maybe one of those apps won’t let it install but it used to let me update all the time.

And I can’t remember what app I got when it no longer let me update please please please help me I need update six updates ago. — Angela

Solution: Hi Angela. Before attempting to download the update again, make sure that you do the following:

  • ensure that the phone’s internal storage device has plenty of memory space left
  • wipe the cache partition
  • perform a factory reset

If you don’t know how to delete the phone’s cache partition, kindly do these steps below. This troubleshooting step is usually recommended if you have updated a device to another operating system version or if the phone is having some weird glitches. Here’s how it’s done:

  • Turn the phone off.
  • Press and hold the following buttons together: Power, Volume Up and Home.
  • Release the buttons once the Android system recovery menu appears.
  • Use the Volume buttons to navigate to Wipe Cache Partition option.
  • Press the Power button to confirm selection.
  • Select Reboot System Now option after deleting the cache. Wait for the phone to reboot.

If wiping the cache partition won’t make any difference, do a factory reset and attempt the update installation again. Make sure that you don’t install any app before the installation.

 

 

Engage with us

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

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

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

Galaxy Note 5 battery drain issue after an Android update, other issues

Galaxy Note 5

As we prepare for the release of two new flagship devices from Samsung this year, the Galaxy Note 6 and Galaxy S7, we also continue to receive requests for assistance for older devices including the #GalaxyNote5. Below are the specific topics discussed in this post:

  1. Galaxy Note 5 lock screen options
  2. Galaxy Note 5 showing a flashing screen after trying to recover photos
  3. Galaxy Note 5 battery drain issue after an Android update
  4. Galaxy Note 5 won’t turn on
  5. Galaxy Note 5 overheating issue
  6. Galaxy Note 5 audio not working properly

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

 

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 5 lock screen options

First time switcher to Android on the back of a Note 5 purchase. For this reason I didn’t realize my phone’s lock screen was “absent” as my phone was being locked (fingerprint in my case) only directly to and from the home screen. I never saw the actual lock screen until I activated Smart Lock using the Bluetooth option.

As soon as this was enabled the screen lock appeared and I guess I found myself in the same position as 99.9% of other Android users.

Needless to say my preference is to unlock directly from the home screen. The closest discussion I could find after hours of web searching which mentions odd lock screen behavior being related to Smart Lock was this thread.

I finally bit the bullet and reset my phone in the hope of reverting back to home screen locking but this didn’t work and alas I’m now stuck with the traditional lock screen.

My question is simple. Is it possible for my Note 5 to recover its original home screen lock screen?

P.S. I do not wish to root my phone. — Patrick

Solution: Hi Patrick. We don’t think we understand what you really want to accomplish here. First of all, lock screen customization options are straightforward. Start by checking out Swipe, then proceed to the rest of other options to see if you can get what you missed after a factory reset.

Secondly, your phone’s lock screen mechanism will change once you enable Smart Lock regardless of which trusted lock you’re using. The “absent” lock screen will now be visible on the home screen if your device is not detecting the trusted Bluetooth device. This is how Google designed it and unfortunately, there’s no way to change it at this time. If you want to revert to the original lock screen set up, simply turn off Smart Lock.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 5 showing a flashing screen after trying to recover photos

After losing my photos  and videos on my Note, I tried to recover it by Dr. Fone but not only did I not get my files but also phone didn’t boot any more. I tried to re-root it, it comes up but there were a webroot warning (secure anywhere) and a massage that the license has expired.

I tried to uninstall it but in initial process without confirming uninstallation it started to flash and restart. It didn’t help to get better. I don’t know what happened!

1-how i can get rid of this flashing (screen get on and off on secure anywhere) and it doesn’t allow to access anywhere?

2-how can i get back this license?

3-Knox warranty void:0x1 (4)??

Thanks. — Mohsen

Solution: Hi Mohsen. Let’s answer your points individually.

Firstly, the flashing message may be an indication that a software modification has messed up the system. Make sure that you perform a factory reset to restore the default settings of your phone’s operating system. For easy reference, here are the steps to do that:

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

Secondly, you have to contact Dr. Fone’s customer support for assistance on how to get the license of their product again, especially if you paid for it.

Lastly, we don’t know if your third point is a question what a “Knox warranty void:0x1”. If it is, this means that your phone’s KNOX Active Protection security protection had been tripped probably by your attempts to flash non-official firmware, or by rooting. Knox is an electronic fuse that tells Samsung if the phone’s software has been modified. Tripping the Knox counter means the device no longer has warranty and there’s no way to reset it back to 0x0 (original status).

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 5 battery drain issue after an Android update

Hi. I have an Note 5 which used to run perfectly on its stock Lollipop OS. But recently I was asked to install updates which claimed to optimize performance. The only thing I noticed after the update was a few apps re-skinned, but then the battery started draining like crazy. The phone gets hot when charged apart from when it is off, and to sum it all up THE PHONE IS ONLY 1 WEEK OLD.

Before the update battery life averaged 30 hours constant use, now I get less than 13 hours. ‘Android System’ takes up most battery and shows it to be consuming 40% of the total power when the screen takes only 12% on high brightness. This is clearly an Android issue, since the battery was perfect and there were no problems before updating. Please help, thank you. — Usama

Solution: Hi Usama. Android updates can serve different purposes like improving user experience, fix known bugs, update security features, add or remove services, among others. In general, they are intended to fix rather than to create problems. The thing is, installing an Android update does not necessarily mean you are updating your apps too. Outdated apps working with an updated Android operating system can be problematic and often results to issues including the one you are experiencing right now. Actually, this is only one of the many potential causes.

Make sure that your apps are compatible with the version of your device’s operating system. Official apps from popular developers or products are often up-to-date. The same cannot be said of old apps or those built by least known developers though. Get rid of apps that you haven’t used lately. A good rule of thumb when it comes to getting rid of apps is by going over all of them. If you haven’t used an app for the last 2 weeks, chances are it is not that important to you. Install as few apps as possible. The lesser the number of apps your operating system has to work with, the lesser the chance of conflicts and battery drain issue from happening.

Also, make sure that you wipe the phone’s cache partition. The cache can sometimes get corrupted so you need to get the system create a new cache. Deleting the system cache won’t affect your personal date like photos, videos, contacts, etc so it’s perfectly safe to do. In fact, we recommend that you do it once every few months. Here are the steps how it’s done:

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

Among the issues that may be fixed by this procedure are…

  • Phone got stuck in the logo during boot up
  • Device entered the boot loop or can’t boot up successfully
  • Phone randomly reboots after an update
  • Device can’t get out of Safe Mode
  • Phone always freezes, lags, or becomes unresponsive from time to time

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

My phone has had the issue that seems pretty common. The lock screen is unresponsive then the phone freezes up and then restarts.  It was been more and more frequent and then last night it went spastic, started restarting over and over again. 

When I woke up this morning, the screen was once again unresponsive, there was a LED notification flashing but nothing else. I let it sit for a few minutes and then pop it back in and power up the phone. Except as of almost 2 hours ago now, it will not power on.

When i put it on charger no battery charging light comes on. I am at a loss as to what to do at this point.  Can you help me? — Josh

Solution:  Hi Josh. The first thing you want to do is to try another charger, or connect the phone to a computer. This will help you determine if there’s a problem with the current charger or USB cord. Make sure to leave the phone charged for at least 30 minutes.

The next best thing to do is to check if you can restart the phone in another boot mode. We suggest that you try recovery mode first as doing so can give you options to either perform a factory reset or delete the system cache. Here’s how:

  • Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.
  • Keep the three buttons pressed and when ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.
  • Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.
  • The notice ‘Installing system update’ will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.

You can also try to boot in Download mode (by pressing Volume Down, Home, and Power buttons), or restart the phone in safe mode. For reference, here are the steps to boot safe mode:

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

If nothing seems to work, have the phone checked for possible hardware problems.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 5 overheating issue

My Samsung suddenly went off and came on after a while on its own and started showing this animation like it wanted a reboot. This lasted for over six hours without any change on the screen. After some time, it came on but I noticed that the phone was unusually hot (very hot) and ever since then it’s remained that way — very hot.

Now it goes off and comes on on its own and sometimes refuses to come on. I have done a factory reset still same problem. Please can you offer any assistance? Thanks. — Chuks

Solution: Hi Chuks. Overheating is almost always a manifestation of a hardware issue. To see if our hunch is right, make sure that you do a factory reset first. Observe how the phone works after a factory reset (without installing any apps) for at least 24 hours. If overheating remains even after a factory reset, that’s a confimation that the phone suffers from a hardware issue. Make sure to have it checked by Samsung.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 5 audio not working properly

I have a big problem with my Samsung Galaxy Note 5. I was listening to songs through my phone on my external Microlab speaker. For some reason i unplugged the audio jack and plugged it again. it was playing fine but after plugging again i did not hear any sound. Then carefully I heard the speaker is making very very low sound. I almost needed to put the speakers in my ear to hear sound. After that i unplugged the jack and tried playing songs or any music or video through my phone speaker. But it’s all the same thing. Very little sound is coming out of my mobile speaker too at full volume. Tried headphone — it’s the same. In headphone i can hear distorted sound. Very very low. when i make a call there is no sound on my earpiece and if i talk the other person can’t hear me. What could be the problem?

I tried rebooting many times. Tried factory reset and all other things i could find on forums. Nothing seem to work. i don’t think it’s a speaker IC issue as it makes very very low sound. And moreover, i can’t hear through earpiece or headphone on calls which i guess isn’t related to the speaker IC? this is really weird. Anyone got any help for me? — Vincent

Solution: Hi Vincent. If a factory reset did not change anything, that’s a clear indication that there must be a hardware problem behind this trouble. It can be anything from a bad speaker IC, malfunctioning headphone jack, to other audio-related components. A physical check of your phone is needed to know the exact reason for the audio failure on your device. If it’s still covered by warranty, make sure that you send it to Samsung. Otherwise, call your wireless carrier for a warranty repair or replacement.

 

Engage with us

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

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

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