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Galaxy S7 can’t be factory reset due to Factory Reset Protection (FRP), other issues

We bring you yet another article that talks about #GalaxyS7 issues and solutions. We hope that some of you will find this post helpful in fixing your own problems.

These are the specific topics discussed in this material:

Galaxy S7 messaging app won’t sound notification when receiving SMS from particular number
Galaxy S7 Edge corrupts SD card
Galaxy S7 Gmail app reply button not working properly
Galaxy S7 can’t be factory reset due to Factory Reset Protection (FRP)
Galaxy S7 not reading SD card
Storage space in Galaxy S7 not showing true figure

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 messaging app won’t sound notification when receiving SMS from particular number

I’ve had my phone for a few months now. I never had this problem before but whenever my husband, and only my husband’s number texts me. I get the message through the messaging app itself. But it doesn’t make a notification at the top of the screen like it used to or come across a game I’m playing or even make the notification sound. Whenever someone else, anyone else texts me, I don’t have this problem. So I can get up to 10 messages on my phone from my husband sometimes because I have to go in manually to see it. This is very unfair to have this problem with one lonely number that I’ve had in my contacts for years. This has caused quite a few arguments and needs to be fixed. Please help. Thanks. — Nicole

Solution: Hi Nicole. The first thing you want to try is wipe the cache partition. Minor firmware and hardware glitches can be fixed by deleting the system cache. In fact, we technicians always recommend doing it before performing any of the reset procedures.

The cache partition is a repository of system files used by the operating system during app load times. Rather than come up with sets of files to hasten loading times, your Android device “caches” previously created system files in the cache partition so it can access them easily the next time an app is loaded. In an ideal world, files in the cache partition should be refreshed automatically during an app or system update. This doesn’t happen most of the time though. Sometimes, manually wiping the cache partition is necessary in order to refresh it. Because the files themselves are temporary, they can be deleted safely without impacting the operating system or the apps. The system will automatically create a new set of cache files that next time you load your apps.

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 refreshing the system cache won’t do anything, you must wipe the messaging app’s cache and data next. This will force the phone to virtually “re-install” the said app, resetting all notification settings back to default. Here’s how it’s done:

Go to Settings.
Proceed to Applications.
Select Manage Applications.
Tap the All tab.
Look for the messaging app and tap it.
Tap Storage.
From there, you will see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 Edge corrupts SD card

Recently, my Galaxy S7 Edge has been presenting itself with a large variety of problems. It began when my microSD became corrupted. I was receiving a ‘storage not found’ notification from Spotify, and most of the pictures in my Gallery which were on my SD card had appeared broken. Resetting it did nothing. Furthermore, my keyboard sometimes become unresponsive, and ‘TouchWiz Home’ kept crashing so I couldn’t go back to the home menu. Unsure if it was a problem with my device, I shoved the card into my PC, and attempted to repair it. It told me that it was irreparable because it was corrupted, so I thought it was a problem with the card. I replaced the card and the problem seemed to disappear. 3 days later, my photos still sometimes appear corrupt. Music playback sometimes stops abruptly, and then my phone becomes completely unresponsive, not even allowing me to do a force reset. It’s becoming a rather troublesome problem. What should I do about this? — Jayjaystownjo

Solution: Hi Jayjaystownjo. Try wiping the cache partition and observe the phone for a few days. If that won’t correct the erratic behavior of your phone, don’t hesitate to start fresh by wiping the phone clean via factory reset. Here’s how:

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.

Once you’ve factory reset the phone, make sure that you also reformat the SD card. It is important that you reformat it using your phone and not any other device.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 Gmail app reply button not working properly

Hello. My Galaxy S7 is fine except for a little quirk in the GMAIL application. When I need to REPLY to an email I have just read and I click on the small arrow pointing (curving) to the left which is the symbol for making a REPLY, the cursor automatically goes to the END OF MY SIGNATURE BLOCK INSTEAD OF THE AREA JUST BELOW THE EMAIL I AM TRYING TO REPLY TO. Each time I have to redirect the cursor to the proper location before typing a reply. This did not happen when I was using a DROID MINI but in all other respects this Galaxy S7 is a great little smartphone. Thank you for your kind attention. — Will

Solution: Hi Will. We haven’t observed this behavior in any of our devices when replying via Gmail app so it must be isolated to your device. In order to fix it, the first thing that you want to try is reconfigure your Gmail account on the app. This means you need to remove your Gmail account from the said app before setting it up again. If that won’t solve the issue, the next step is to wipe the cache and data of the said app (steps provided above).

There’s a chance that the issue may be due to a bad Android update or operating system so if the two procedures won’t work, don’t hesitate to do a factory reset.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 can’t be factory reset due to Factory Reset Protection (FRP)

My mother was recently diagnosed with early onset dementia. She now has trouble remembering her password and is locked out of her Gmail account. Her phone is requiring her Gmail account password (not sure why because she doesn’t have a passcode on her phone) to operate the phone. I have tried a factory reset and it still requires the Gmail password. Can I bypass this so I can delete the Gmail app from her phone? All I want on her phone is the ability to text & call. I don’t know which Android version she has since the phone is locked. — Lyndeweston

Solution: Hi Lyndeweston. Starting with Android Lollipop, Samsung had integrated an additional security measure on their devices so no one can perform a factory reset unless the Google account is either removed first, or its correct password entered. This security measure is called Factory Reset Protection (FRP). Basically, it strengthens the phone’s defenses again theft and unauthorized changes by blocking any attempt to factory reset the device without first doing any of the two conditions above. If the phone prompts you to enter your mom’s Gmail password during a factory reset, then FRP must be protecting it. You must exert all efforts to enter the correct password if you want to unlock the phone. FRP doesn’t not discriminate whether you are the device owner or not, or if you have simply forgotten your Google account password. If you can’t provide the correct credentials, there’s no hope that you can still perform a factory reset.

There was a simple hack previously published RootJunky in YouTube before that showed FRP can be bypassed but we don’t know if it’s working at this time. Since you cannot expect help from Samsung or Google on this issue, we suggest that you try the said hack. Keep in mind that hacks like this may already be patched by Samsung at this time so if it will not work, you’re out of luck. Please visit this page for instructions.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 not reading SD card

Hi. My Galaxy S7 has been acting up lately. At first, it was just restarting at random times and I wasn’t too bothered by it. Then I noticed the phone started to get slower. Finally, while I was listening to music with earbuds and trying to load my gallery, my music suddenly stopped playing and the gallery albums were all gray. Somehow, my SD card wasn’t mounted although it was still in the phone and I hadn’t touched it. All my music was stored there and so were most of my pictures. My phone shuts off randomly or goes all dark except for the taskbar sometimes and sometimes the apps take forever to load, or won’t load at all until I close it and restart the phone.

I already tried taking SD card out and positioning them in again, but my phone never detects the SD card unless I try to put it in while my phone is on. Even then, it gets stuck on “Preparing SD card; checking for errors,” then proceeds to automatically go pitch black as if it turned off. What really bothers me is the fact that I can’t mount my SD card though, and I don’t want to erase anything in there. Can you help me or tell me what’s going on with my phone? My phone is updated to date and it was working fine until about 8:30 this morning, by the way. — Helen

Solution: Hi Helen. First of all, you want to ensure that the problem is not due to a bad SD card. To check, turn off the phone and remove the SD card. Then insert the card to another device or to a computer so you can see if a second device can still read it. If a computer or another phone won’t be able to access the contents on the card, that’s a clear indication that the SD card has been corrupted for some reason. You have no other options in this matter but to simply reformat it, which of course means deleting everything off it.

However, if the SD card can still be accessed by a computer or another device, try to create a backup of your contents then factory reset your Galaxy S7.

Problem #6: Storage space in Galaxy S7 not showing true figure

Hi! I’ve had my phone for a while, and consequently have installed and uninstalled plenty of apps, as well as downloaded plenty of pictures which I then backed up either to the cloud or my SD card and then deleted. My phone says its 16G of storage is full, and that ‘used space’ is what is taking most of it up. However, when I go to where ‘used space is broken down’ it doesn’t add up to the 10GB but my phone THINKS it is! I’ve taken pains to clear my caches and hidden files, delete any music or photos, old text messages, superfluous apps–everything. I’d attach screenshots to an email, but I can’t! On the ‘storage’ screen, it says 10.3GB are being taken up in ‘used space’. But when I tap on ‘used space’ for the break down, it tells me I’m 5.29GB on apps, and less than 1 GB on other things (pictures, videos, audio, and downloads). That doesn’t add up! What’s wrong? Thanks for your help! — Emma

Solution: Hi Emma. The “total” amount of used space under Storage does not always show the correct figure. The same can be said of the breakdown. We’ve been trying to get an official explanation from Samsung about this discrepancy ever since we noticed it on the Galaxy S3 years before but so far nothing. We think it’s because the breakdown does not take into account the true figure taken up by some apps or services. Whatever the true explanation is, it’s just pointless not to accept whatever the phone is telling you. For now, we suggest that you simply take whatever figure the phone is showing under Storage.

To free up more space, make sure to delete apps that you haven’t used for sometime. Games can sometimes install large updates so make sure that you get rid of them if you no longer use them. The same is true for other apps so we strongly suggest that you go over your list of apps (that are kept in the phone’s internal storage device and NOT in an SD card) and uninstall whatever is not necessary.

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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.

Below are the specific topics discussed in this material:

Galaxy S7 screen is black and unresponsive
Galaxy S7 touchscreen not working properly
Galaxy S7 screen flickers if brightness is not set to maximum
Galaxy S7 can’t reply to automated SMS
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.

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.

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How to fix SD card not detected error on your Samsung Galaxy A8 2019 (easy steps)

Error messages typically occur when the system detects something wrong. Just like when you’re suddenly seeing an error prompt saying that the SD card is not detected on your Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 or any other mobile devices. In most cases, these errors transpire as random glitch rather than hardware damage. This denotes they’re likely to be resolved on your end. All you have to do is try some workarounds and troubleshoot software problems on your phone that might have triggered off-key errors like this to occur. Highlighted below are a few generic solutions you can try if ever you need some more inputs on how to deal with the same SD card error on your Samsung A8 handset.

For smartphone owners who found our site while trying to find a solution, try to see if your phone is one of the devices we support. If it is, then visit the troubleshooting page for that device, browse through it to find issues that are similar with yours and feel free to use our solutions and workarounds. However, if you still need our help after that, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

First solution: Reboot your phone (soft reset).

If it suddenly occurs on your Samsung S8 2018 to not detect the SD card without making any changes on your device settings, then most likely it’s just a random software glitch, which can be remedied by a soft reset or restart on your phone. A soft reset does not affect data so all data you saved in the internal memory remain intact. If you haven’t restarted your phone yet, then you must do so with these steps:

Press and hold the Power button and the Volume Down button simultaneously for about 10 seconds or until your device restarts.

Alternatively, you can do the usual restart procedure with these steps:

Press the Power button for a few seconds or until the phone shuts down.
Then after 30 seconds, press the Power button again to turn the phone back on.

Wait until your phone finishes the bootup process then see if that fixes the SD card not detected error.

RELEVANT POSTS:

Second solution: Remove and reinstall your SD card.

If you haven’t to bump your phone into something hard or drop it by accident, then most likely the SD card must have been dislodged. And in that case, you’re device prompts the error to let you know that it’s unable to detect the SD card. To rule this out, try to remove and reseat the SD card on your phone. But before you remove the SD card from your phone, make sure you unmount it first. Doing so will prevent data corruption thus avoid inflicting damage to the SD card itself. If you need more help, then just follow these steps to unmount the SD card or memory card from your Samsung Galaxy A8 2018:

Open the Apps screen.
Tap Settings.
Go to Device Maintenance.
Tap Storage.
Tap More.
Select Storage settings.
Tap SD card.
Select the option to Unmount SD card.

After successfully unmounting the SD card, turn off your phone then continue with these steps to remove and reinstall your SD card:

Insert the ejection pin into the hole to loosen and pop the tray out.
Gently pull out the tray from the tray slot.
Remove the SD card from the tray.
Check and ensure no visible signs of damage like scratches on the SD card. If everything looks good to you, then put the SD card back into the slot in the same position before you took it.
Secure the SD card into place.
Then gently push the tray back into the slot.

If everything is back into place, turn your phone on again then see if the SD card is already detected. If not, then try the next applicable workaround.

Third solution: Insert your SD card to your other compatible devices.

If you’re phone prompts you with this error message when inserting a new SD card, there’s a higher chance that the SD card is not compatible with or not supported by the Samsung A8 2018. That said, your phone won’t be able to recognize it. To ensure that this isn’t the root cause, verify and ensure that the SD card you’re using is supported.

Try to insert the SD card to your other device to see if it will be detected. If the SD card is detected or recognized by your other devices and not on your Samsung A8 2018, then there are two possibilities that you need to consider. Either your SD card is just not compatible with your Samsung A8 2018 or it could be totally damaged hence not working. If none of your devices is able to read the SD card, then most probably it is damaged or corrupted.

Before you get a new SD card replacement, you may attempt to reformat your SD card. This can potentially fix the error if some corrupted data segments in the SD card are to blame. An SD card usually gets corrupted when any of its contents is infected by malware and viruses. And more often than not, this can be rectified by reformatting the SD card. It works the same way as a factory reset on your phone that will wipe everything out from the SD card including any virus and malware in it. As a result, you’ll have an empty same as new SD card to use. Refer to the following method to continue.

Fourth solution: Reformat SD card on your Samsung A8 2018.

Formatting the SD card will delete all data in it. But this may be necessary to fix any erratic files that might have caused conflict and prevented the SD card from being recognized by your phone. Here’s how to reformat an SD card on your Samsung A8 2018:

Open the Apps screen.
Tap Settings.
Go to Storage.
Scroll down and tap the option to Format SD card.
If prompted, read and review the warning message then tap Format SD card again to confirm action. If the option to Format SD card is disabled, then you need to Unmount SD card first.
Finally, tap Delete All to complete the SD card formatting process.

Menu options may vary between Android versions.

More options to consider if the error persists

Update your phone software. Installing the latest software update on your phone may be able to help fix the error if some bugs had triggered it. That said, try to check for any available update for your phone. Here’s how:

Open the Apps screen by swiping up on an empty spot from the Home screen.
Select Settings.
Scroll to and select Software update.
Tap the option to Download updates manually.
Wait for your phone to search for available updates.
If an update is available, follow the onscreen instructions to proceed with the update download and installation.

You will then see a message saying that the latest updates have already been installed.

Factory data reset/master reset. While this may not be a feasible option given that the main issue is on the SD card, it would be necessary especially if the error is inflicted by a more complex system error, which can only be resolved by a full system reset. Be sure to note though that a master reset or factory data reset deletes all your data stored on the internal memory thus results to data loss. So if you wish to proceed, don’t forget to back up your files. Then follow these steps:

Open the Apps screen.
Tap Settings.
Go to Cloud and accounts.
Tap the option to Backup and restore.
Enable or disable options to Restore and Back up my data as you would prefer.
Go back to the Settings menu.
Tap General Management.
Tap Reset.
Select Factory data reset from the given options.
Tap Reset device.
If prompted, enter your PIN or password.
Tap Continue.
Then select Delete All to confirm.

Your phone restarts automatically when the reset is finished. By then you can proceed with the initial setup process and everything should be working properly again.

Seek further assistance

You may also consider escalating the problem to your carrier or Samsung Support if it instigated after installing a new software update or latest Android version on your Samsung Galaxy A8 2018. Should this be the case, they can further assess if the No SD card error you’re getting can be tagged among other post-update issues to be addressed in the next update rollout.

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Posts you may also like to check out:

Solution to “Unfortunately IMS Service has stopped” error on AT&T Galaxy S7, other issues

Are you having an issue with your #GalaxyS7? Keep reading and you might find a solution. This post covers 6 more Galaxy S7 issues that were reported by some of our readers. If you don’t find a solution to your own problem here, don’t forget to check previously published S7 posts.

Below are the topics covered in this post today:

Galaxy S7 unable to read encrypted SD card after Marshmallow update
Galaxy S7 keeps showing SMS is not sent
SMS are delayed on Galaxy S7
How to fix “Unfortunately IMS Service has stopped” error on AT&T Galaxy S7
Enhanced Feature box keeps popping up on Galaxy S7
Galaxy S7 fails to power on after charging

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 S7 unable to read encrypted SD card after Marshmallow update

Hey you guys seem fairly knowledgeable so here it goes. I buy the phone when it drops — no problem. About a week later my brother comes up and he has a Samsung 32 Pro Plus SD card. We do a quick test and it’s faster than my 2-year Sandisk 64 Extreme plus. The test is just dragging a movie file back and forth in Windows. It hits like 100 a. He lets me keep the card.

Sometime later, i encrypt the card — still no problems. Sometimes after that, the first OTA update comes. And that’s when all the problem started. Basically, I’m locked out of the encrypted card. The phone that encrypted has forgotten it encrypted it. In short I’ve tried everything except probably a witch doctor.

I’ve refreshed it, Live Chat with Samsung and they have refreshed it. I brought it to a local Best Buy Samsung kiosk and they basically refresh. With that I’m saying I’ve never seen anything like this. It makes it seem like there is an SD slot issue when in fact the card can’t be accessed because its encrypted.

While reinserting the card does offer to decrypt the card, it doesn’t actually do it. And its stuck in no man’s land. While i use a big secret letter to encrypt and decrypt the card, the underlying hash key must have been lost or spun during the OTA. This has all happened a while back in 6.0 days. l have long since put it back in its adapter and in a drawer waiting for some future technology to come along and decrypt it. I’ve also never seen this mention as being a problem ,and don’t know how many people bother to encrypt their cards. Meanwhile Sandisk is dropping the extreme 256 in a couple of days, and the old S7 is starting to show its age Cat 9 vs Cat 12 USB 2.0 vs USB C and UHS1 vs UHS2 Â 🙂 Any help would be most appreciated. — Zeno

Solution: Hi Zeno. Updating from one Android version to another (like moving from Lollipop to Marshmallow) is not supposed to change how the encryption key is handled. In fact, it’s our first time to encounter this issue so it may be caused by something unique to your phone. This unforeseen variable can be anything — a bad app, an unknown operating system glitch, a rare firmware quirk — anything. Since the issue did happen anyway, the only suggestion we can give is proven and effective factory reset. That if you don’t mind losing whatever files you’ve stored in that SD card anyway. While you’re within your right to wait for a more advanced decryption process that might be made available in the near future, we can’t really say it’s happening in the next few years. As far as our knowledge regarding encryption is concerned, current SD card encryption method being used by Samsung is still state-of-the-art and will not going away soon. That said, there’s really nothing much that you can do on your end at this time. There’s still no new decryption method that will help you unlock that SD card. Even Google and Samsung won’t be able to.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 keeps showing SMS is not sent

I have had issues with sending texts messages and it will show up grey with an exclamation point and pop up with a message not sent box with options to delete, resend, or edit text. When I asked my mom and my best friend if the messages I sent to both of them when through they both said yes. So even though it’s saying not sent it’s really being sent.

Also it takes my phone or Rogers about 20 minutes when off the LRT train (mostly underground) for me to get reception back to send a message. I can receive texts while I’m waiting for reception but not sending. I have talked with Samsung and Rogers and they both blame the other person. Plus when the big update was pushed thru on Oct 7 it made my phone so hot it blistered my hand (I have the S7) and phone was not working from before 6 am to 6 pm when I took it into the Samsung store. — Heidi

Solution: Hi Heidi. Hi Heidi. The first thing that you want to do here is wipe the cache partition of your phone. This will force the phone to build a new system cache afterwards. Technically, the system cache helps the system load apps faster but sometimes, a corrupted cache can also affect how they perform. Making sure that the system cache is up-and-running is a must. To do that, please follow these steps:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power key to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ an 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.

After wiping the cache partition, your next troubleshooting is deleting the cache and data of the messaging app you’re using. Here’s how to do it:

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

After wiping the messaging app’s cache and data, observe how it works for a few days to see the difference. If nothing changes, do a factory reset.

Problem #3: SMS are delayed on Galaxy S7

Just yesterday I started noticing my friend’s messages where coming, but they were delayed — I was receiving them hours after they were being sent. It got worse now; I can longer get messages from anyone. I tried with my mom’s phone which is the same one with the same carrier; hers worked fine but mine didn’t.

I have already deleted messages and turned off my phone for at least 3 hours. I also noticed my bleacher report notifications were also delayed (I was getting scores to games 5 hours after it had already been completed). Youtube notifications most of my app seemed to be delayed. — Ronny

Solution: Hi Ronny. Please follow our suggestions for Heidi above. If nothing works, do a factory reset. Make sure that you create a backup of your important files before doing it. Here’s how to factory reset your S7:

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.

Keep in mind, if the issue persists after a factory reset, the SMS delay may be network related. Contact your carrier for assistance.

Problem #4: How to fix “Unfortunately IMS Service has stopped” error on AT&T Galaxy S7

Hello. I’ve been searching your site for my issue. I just got the Samsung S7 Active yesterday. I did the upgrade late last night. I have been having the “unfortunately IMS Service has stopped” message popping up every 30 seconds. It doesn’t matter if I’m on my phone or if it’s sitting. It has been popping up non-stop since the update. I saw a section on here where a person had said it was popping up only when they were in text message. I tried doing all that was suggested but to no avail. The only thing I can think of is taking it back in to the ATT store. But it’s such a hassle especially since I’ve already personalized it. — Damaris

Solution: Hi Damaris. This error is caused by a bug from one of AT&T’s apps following a Marshmallow update. Make sure that you turn off any AT&T cloud service or any app that offers saving to the cloud. To fix it, do these steps:

Go to Settings.
Tap Applications.
Tap Messages.
Tap AT&T Messages Backup & Sync.
Tap Stop Backup (link).

Problem #5: Enhanced Feature box keeps popping up on Galaxy S7

The Enhanced Feature pop up popped up on my phone. I activated it and went through with it and a notification was sent to me with a specific code. The enhance feature is activated on my Galaxy S7 and one of my capacitive buttons does not work. My quick launch doesn’t too and notifications don’t show anymore . I’d really like to recieve some help with disabling the enhanced feature ASAP, without having to do a factory reset. If there is no other way, if I back my phone up right now and then wipe the phone, restore the data, would I not have the problem Still? Please get back to me . Thank you. — Sibusiso

Solution: Hi Sibusiso. Try checking if this error is caused by Simple Sharing Feature. To do that, follow these steps:

Tap Apps from the Home
Tap Gallery to continue.
Tap on the image you want to send. You may choose any image to share from the Downloads, Camera or More tab.
On the image preview screen, tap the Share icon at the bottom.
Tap the Contacts icon to proceed.
Select the contacts you want to send the image to from the phone’s All contacts To select a contact, just tap on the checkbox next to the contact (recipient).
Tap Done to continue.
Verify the recipients are correct, and then tap OK to initiate file sharing via Simple sharing. Please note that additional charges may apply when sharing files via the mobile network. To make sure, please contact your service provider and verify if extra charges are applied when sharing files using your mobile network.
Wait until the files are completely uploaded and successfully shared.

If that won’t change anything, try toggling Enhance messaging. here’s how:

Go to the Home screen.
Touch Apps.
Touch Messages.
Touch More from the Messages screen.
Touch to select Settings from the given options.
Touch Enhanced messaging.
Touch the ON/OFF switch to turn on (enable) Enhance messaging.

If any or both of these procedures won’t help, you must do a factory reset.

Problem #6: Galaxy S7 fails to power on after charging

Hi. My Samsung Galaxy S7 is less than a month old. It’s been working fine until two nights ago. Overnight, I plugged it in to charge. It does this fancy charge that I don’t need where it only takes 1 hour or less to fully charge the battery (could be part of the problem?). I wake up in the night to check the time and find my phone won’t turn on and has a steady-on green LED indicator. I have to hold the volume and home buttons (which I learned from your site at 2am. sigh) in order to reboot the phone, at which point it works perfectly… Until the following night when I plug it in to charge and the same thing happens. Should I get replacement phone or is there a way to find out what’s causing this? Thank you for your help, Amy

Solution: Hi Amy. Like you, there’s no way for us to know what is the exact cause of your issue. Try doing the basic software troubleshooting first to see if they will help. We suggest that you try booting in safe mode while charging. If this issue is being caused by a third party app, the problem should not happen while safe mode is enabled. To boot in safe mode, follow these steps:

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

Remember to boot in safe mode first before charging the phone. If the same thing happens, wipe the cache partition and/or do a factory reset steps provided above. We think the issue should go away after a factory reset but should it stay, find a way to have it replaced.

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Galaxy S7 won’t play videos from SD card, other issues

We give you once again a new list of more #GalaxyS7 and S7 Edge problems. We hope that the solutions mentioned here will be helpful to those experiencing the same or similar issues.

These are the specific topics discussed in this material today:

Galaxy S7 bad voice call quality
Galaxy S7 won’t play videos from SD card
Galaxy S7 Wi-Fi is not working
Galaxy S7 Wi-Fi won’t connect and keeps showing proxy server error
Galaxy S7 is not responding | Galaxy S7 won’t turn on

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

Problem #1: Galaxy S7 bad voice call quality

I have terrible phone call quality. I have called T-Mobile for months, have received a replacement phone, and still have the same issues:

crackling phone quality on both my end, and, on the end of the speaker. They can’t hear me well and I can’t hear them well.
dead air appears during calls (i.e. people are speaking and the sound disappears)
I have a cell tower in my house, to prevent dropped calls, and the calls continue to drop.

I didn’t have any of these issues when I was on the same carrier with the Note 3. — Colleen

Solution: Hi Colleen. An issue like yours can’t be a phone issue since you’ve already received a different unit. It’s still worth checking though if the same issue occurs if you insert your SIM card to another phone. If the issue remains, that’s a confirmation that there may be a network issue that must be addressed by T-Mobile first. We don’t think doing software troubleshooting will do anything either since situations like this can only be resolved by a carrier. The most that you can do on your end is factory reset. If the issue remains even with clean software, call T-Mobile again and ask for more assistance.

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

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 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 won’t play videos from SD card

I store all photos and videos on my mounted SD card. I have been having trouble playing back videos recently. Today I copied a video to the device memory. I tried to play the video from the SD card file and the video froze within the first 3 seconds but audio continued. I tried playing the same video with from the device copy of the file and it plays fine without freezing. I tried this with multiple files and they all were the same, issue when playing from SD card but no issue playing from device.

Please help as this is exceptionally frustrating and the work around is just plausible for the long term.

Also, it seems as though everytime I access files on the memory card it’s exceptionally slow to load the directories etc. Thanks so much in advance for any help you can provide. — Craig

Solution: Hi Craig. We can’t see you mention using a different SD card so you must do that first. This is an obvious troubleshooting step which you should have done before contacting us. Keep in mind that any SD card can go out of order for a lot of reasons. An SD card can get corrupted anytime, or files go corrupt for other reasons. If the SD card you’re using is a recycled one, that is, it’s been in other devices before for some time, you can safely assume that age and wear and tear may have taken their toll.

If the issue lies on the current SD card, this problem should not occur if you use a different one. If the same problem happens even if you keep the file in the a different SD card though, the cause may be phone related. Try to wipe the phone’s cache partition first and try to play videos again. Here’s how it’s done:

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

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 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 there’s no apparent change after a cache partition wipe, the next logical step is booting your phone in safe mode. Enabling safe mode is an efficient method to see if a problem is due to a third party application. Here’s how it’s done:

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

If nothing works still, consider doing a factory reset. Kindly refer to the steps above.

Remember, the issue can only either be the SD card or your phone. Make sure that you isolate which one is the cause of the issue first.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 Wi-Fi is not working

My Wi-Fi wasn’t working. it keeps not letting pic shoe up I turn wifi off and on. It will work for a bit then do it again slow and say no Internet even though it says I’m always connected. It also keeps sending me tons of Facebook and email notifications. At one time, even when seen it not the time it should be acting like wifi just picked up when phone I’d on sleep mode.

Also, I feel like when go to phone when it wake up and still on wi-fi it won’t work good, it’s slow and act like there is no Wi-Fi. I have never had bluetooth and I only have 2 apps I downloaded. It is a new phone and I factory reset it twice. Got it month only ago. Talked to Verizon 3 times now they can’t figure it out. They’re saying i don’t want a new one in case does the same with wifi not working properly.

please help me. I did it all safe mode and all nothing. Did new updates there is no new one since the July update. I’m at lost for words since 800 dollar phone and unhappy and stuck with it. I’m furious. — Samsung user

Solution: Hi Samsung user. Before you contemplate on having the phone replaced, you must do an important troubleshooting step first, which is to connect your phone to another Wi-Fi network. We haven’t seen you mention it in your problem description above. The purpose of this troubleshooting step is to know if your phone only encounters said problems when you are connected to your own Wi-Fi. There’s a chance that your own Wi-Fi network is problematic. In other words, the issue may not entirely be due to a faulty phone but rather one that lies within the Wi-Fi network itself. Needless to say, you have to make sure that you Wi-Fi network is reliable and does not have intermittent internet connection. Remember, even if Wi-Fi connection status says “connected,” that doesn’t mean that the internet connection on your device is okay. The “connected” status is just an indication that your S7 is talking to the local router but not beyond it, which is the internet. For all you know, the router itself is not communicating to your internet service provider, or may be doing it poorly, causing internet connection to be spotty at times.

If you don’t know how to troubleshoot your Wi-Fi, contact your internet service provider (not your cellular provider) and ask them for support. Doing this is important, especially if your S7 works just fine when connected to other Wi-Fi networks.

If you observe the same problems even after connecting to a known, working Wi-Fi network, consider having the phone changed as you may have a bad Wi-Fi radio.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 Wi-Fi won’t connect and keeps showing proxy server error

Hi guys. I have a Galaxy S7. Got it brand new out of the box about 2 months ago. Early in May this year I changed out my modem/wireless router combination to a Netgear Nighthawk which is also a modem/wireless router combo. All of my devices, the S7 and my iPad and iPod, have had no connection issues w/ the new router at all. it was a seamless change.

About a week ago, almost 3 months later, my S7 started acting up. It shows connected to my wi-fi, as it always has, but it won’t connect to the internet. It keeps giving me proxy server errors, but it is connecting to the wi-fi at my workplace so I know it is still able to connect to a wifi source and connect to the internet.

It may be worth mentioning that my iPad and iPod are experiencing zero problems on my home’s wifi so it’s tough for me to believe it’s my router.

And also, I have made no changes to my router’s settings so everything, to my knowledge, is the same as it was when the S7 was working properly. So far I have tried using different browsers but all give the proxy server errors or say my wi-fi is offline.

If you guys have any ideas or can put me on the right path to a solution I would be very grateful. Thanks in advance for your time and attention. — Richard

Solution: Hi Richard. If you are 100% positive that there are no Wi-Fi changes prior to the phone started acting up, then the issue may be isolated to your S7 only. You may have installed some updates or apps that changed how the operating system handles Wi-Fi functionality. The first thing that you want to try is wipe the cache partition. If that won’t change anything, the next step is to boot the phone in safe mode so all third party apps and services will be prevented from running. This will help you check if one of them is the culprit.

You also want to ensure that the smart network switch is not the problem. If you have it enabled, try to see how Wi-Fi behaves when it’s turned off.

Finally, if nothing appears to work, don’t hesitate to do a factory reset.

All the steps on how to wipe the cache partition, boot in safe mode, and do a factory reset are provided above.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 is not responding | Galaxy S7 won’t turn on

Hello!

I apologize for contacting you about a question that you have undoubtedly been asked a million times before, but I’m at a loss for what to do. I have an S7, Android phone that for whatever reason won’t turn on. What’s strange is that the problem appears to have started with the camera. I had it open when suddenly the screen stopped working. At first I thought it had been a charge issue, so I plugged it in. When I went to reboot the device it worked for a whole of 5 seconds before I once again decided to use the camera, and I haven’t been able to fully turn the phone on since. At that point the battery was at 18%.

Now normally, when I have these issues I would go to my phone carrier given that my phone is only 7 months old and I’m still covered under warranty. Except. My phone carrier is in Canada, and I’m currently between Germany and Denmark for the next 6 months. I’ve put the phone in a bag of rice on the crazy chance that my water-resistant phone happened upon a water problem. Any suggestions for booting it? Or should I just find a Samsung store and hope for the best? Thanks. — Karlene

Solution: Hi Karlene. Is the phone completely unresponsive, that is, the screen remains black and it doesn’t sound or vibrate when turning it on? If yes, then the problem can be caused by one of these things below:

bad charging port
faulty battery
bad USB cable
broken power button
software glitch

If you noticed, the first four items in this list are all hardware, which all needs to be checked. Try using another USB cable and charger and leave the phone connected for at least 30 minutes. If the issue remains, try to see if you can boot the phone to other modes like safe mode (steps provided above), recovery mode, or download mode/Odin mode. To boot in recovery mode, follow these steps:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 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.

To boot in Odin mode, simply replace the Volume Up with Volume Down keys while doing the rest of the steps like in recovery mode.

If your phone remains unresponsive after trying to boot to any of these modes, there’s nothing much that you can do on your end. You must find a third party repair center so they can check it for hardware errors.

If, on the other hand, the screen remains black but the phone still vibrates or makes a sound, it’s possible that the issue is isolated to the screen only. Screen replacement should fix the problem easily.

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Galaxy S7 screen has green lines running on top and in the middle, reboots when playing a game, other issues

For most people, a phone’s screen is usually the most important consideration when buying a smartphone these days. This is also one of the reasons why Samsung’s latest flagship, the #GalaxyS7, remains at the top of its class. However beautiful an S7’s screen though, it sometimes can also become a source of frustration for some users. This post shows you why that is for a certain user. We also bring 5 other S7 issues in this material so we hope you’ll find this helpful and interesting read.

Below are the topics we cover for you today:

Solution to Galaxy S7 speaker issue due to faulty SD card
Galaxy S7 edge stuck in boot loop after an update
Accidentally dropping resulting to damage of Galaxy S7 voids Samsung warranty
Galaxy S7 won’t charge | Galaxy S7 stuck in charging screen (with yellow triangle icon)
Galaxy S7 screen has green lines running on top and in the middle
Galaxy S7 reboots when playing a game

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: Solution to Galaxy S7 speaker issue due to faulty SD card

Just thought I’d pass this on. Recently purchased Samsung S7. Worked fine. Then I noticed speakers seemed lower, then it got louder with extremely crackly or static plagued sound but very intermittent. Finally decided I should return to Verizon store. They said they had some other S7s people bought in with similar issues and they helped me setup a process to mail me a new phone. When I got home I decided to remove the SD card I had installed from my old phone, which contained a lot of music. When I removed the SD card, I noticed I could hear the tapping sounds again when I typed. So I played some songs and ringtones and sure enough, the sound was working fine again. It appears that some issue with SD card was the culprit. I can’t figure out how a memory card could interfere with audio but it was repeatable. So you may want to pass on to your readers. — Doug

Solution: Hi Doug. We’re glad to hear that you fixed the issue on your own. We agree that there’s no logical explanation why an SD card will affect the audio function of a smartphone, but since you said the issue can be replicated, we’re going to publish this. We may not be able to give an explanation why this is so, but we’re definitely happy to share your experience. We hope that other users experiencing the same or similar problem will come across this post in the future.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 edge stuck in boot loop after an update

Hello DG! Last night, I was on my S7 edge around 12:30 and then put it down. Around 2:30, it lit up because it was restarting. I hadn’t touched it in over two hours. When I tried to put in my password to unlock it, it switched to a black screen with “Installing system update.” After that it went through a series of various loading and rebooting screens, but nothing ever actually finished loading before the phone would crash. Since then, I can’t get any kind of response out of it. I have tried a “battery pull,” a soft reset, rebooting it in safe mode, and rebooting it in recovery mode. I have also tried plugging it into both a wall outlet and my laptop. Nothing is receiving a reaction, including my laptop when I plugged it in. I just don’t know what else to try. Thank you for your help! — MF

Solution: Hi MF. So what happened after booting the phone to safe mode and recovery mode? You can’t just say that and leave us guessing. Were you able to boot the recovery mode and tried cache partition wipe or factory reset? If nothing happened, especially after a factory reset, then the only thing that you can try on your end is to try flashing a stock firmware. If you haven’t done that before, use Google to find a good tutorial on how to do it.

If flashing is unsuccessful and the phone continues to reboot randomly, find a way to have it replaced.

Problem #3: Accidentally dropping resulting to damage of Galaxy S7 voids Samsung warranty

Hi. I have an S7 that has been freezing about 10 seconds after I turn it on, no matter what I do. I’ve turned it on in Safe Mode, and have tried resetting it but the phone just freezes after 10 seconds. I’ve sent it to a repair shop and they’ve told me that it was a software issue, but a week later, they told me that it was a mainboard issue and that it overheated. I’ve dropped my phone and the rear glass cracked but it functioned well even 2 months after the drop. What do you think could be the problem?

Also, if I were to send it to a Samsung contact centre, would it still be covered under the warranty (the mainboard not the rear glass)? Am very desperate to know what is wrong with my phone. Thank you so very much! — Wan

Solution: Hi Wan. If a non-Samsung service center has already examined the phone and told you that there’s a hardware problem, it’s most likely true. Keep in mind that if the problem is on the software side, doing a factory reset should have fixed the problem by now. That you dropped your phone before does not help either. Like water damage, accidental drops can have a short-term and long-term effects depending on the damage. Hardware damage cannot be fixed by doing software hacks on your end, obviously. This makes the phone either an expensive paperweight at this time, or something that needs repair to get going again. If what the third party repair shop said was true, that the motherboard has been damaged, then the repair and replacement of parts can be a very expensive proposition. Sometimes, phones don’t work properly even after a repair so it’s also a risky operation. If you’re lucky, you may be able to use the phone normally again after the motherboard has been replaced.

Sending the phone to Samsung service won’t help you financially too. Accidentally dropping a Samsung device is considered customer misuse, thus automatically voiding the warranty. This means that if you let Samsung repair the device, you are still going to pay hundreds of dollars, especially if the motherboard has to be replaced.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 won’t charge | Galaxy S7 stuck in charging screen (with yellow triangle icon)

Hello. So I had my phone and it had been working fine and then just yesterday it stopped cooperating. While I was at work my phone died because the battery drained. When I got home to charge it, it wouldn’t charge. Instead the battery charge symbol would turn on for five seconds, then turn off for 10 seconds and it would cycle this way until removed.

I came to this site to try and trouble shoot it and so I tried the steps. First, when I cleaned the lint and whatnot out, my phone acted differently. When I tried to charge it, the charging animation came up but for 30 minutes it stayed at 0 and then it shut off and went back to the charging indicator cycle (5 on, 10 off). I let it do this for ten minutes to see if maybe anything would change (which it did not).

I then turned on my phone to see if anything happened, and my phone was at 7 percent. While it was on, it went from 7 percent to 0 in about 3 minutes and the screen and battery bay were really warm. Then I tried a soft reset and re-cleaned the pins and the charging port. After I did this and plugged my phone back in, the yellow triangle charge icon showed up and that is where I am stuck. Any Ideas? — Seanmalota

Solution: Hi Seanmalota. We don’t know how old your phone is at this time but if you’re not careful when plugging or unplugging the charging cable from the USB port, you may be looking at a bad charging port as the cause of this problem. Your description of the situation seems consistent with a damaged USB port. Since there’s no direct way to check the actual condition of the said component, you must try other indirect troubleshooting steps to help you check if our hunch is correct.

The first thing that you want to do in this case is to try other chargers. If you can find an original charger for an S7, that’s better. Your aim is to check whether or not the current charger you’re using is bad.

If using another charger won’t change anything, the next best thing to do is to boot the phone to safe mode. Not only will it help you check if a third party app is the culprit (very highly unlikely), but it can also aid in checking if restarting the phone to a different software environment will make any difference. Here’s how to do it:

Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
Press and hold the Power button.
Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.

If the phone remains stuck or won’t charge at all, visit your nearest Samsung or third party service center so the hardware can be checked.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 screen has green lines running on top and in the middle

About a month ago, I was outside in very cold weather for about an hour and a half. That was the first time I noticed my phone became unresponsive. I moved it to my chest pocket where it warmed up and eventually the screen turned on. Since then I’ve noticed flickering on the lowest level lighting. And in the last week, whenever it has sat for awhile (typically a few hours or overnight), when I press the power button or the home button, the screen zaps…green lines across the top and/or middle. The screen is black, and the blue lighted touch buttons at the bottom go out, then turn on. The volume buttons seem to work (tones when pressed), seems as if the only thing not working is the screen.

I ran a scan of the phone to clean out any bad files and check malware. I take care to close apps after each use. I never let apps just run in the background continuously. Should I be looking for a new phone? I’m really happy with my S7. I’m not sure of my operating system — Mszornyi2

Solution: Hi Mszornyi2. One of the ways to check if those green lines that runs on top and in the middle of the screen are signs of a bad screen assembly is by booting the phone to another mode. If those unnatural lines will persist while the phone is restarted to recovery or download mode, that’s a sure indication of a bad screen. In this case, you must have the phone checked by Samsung so they can decide if they should replace the defective component or just replace the entire phone altogether.

To boot the phone to either Download or Recovery mode, follow the steps below:

Boot in Recovery mode:

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

Boot in Download Mode:

Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
Wait until the Download screen appears.

If the issue happens to lie on the touchscreen, you can also check it by accessing the service menu. Here’s how:

Open the Phone app.
Dial “*#0*#” (without the quotation marks).
Tap the Touch box.
You’ll then see an “X” inside a rectangle. Try to run your finger on the portion of the screen where the green lines usually occur to see if the touchscreen will register your input. If there’s an unbroken line in the portion where you ran your finger, that’s an indication that that part is working.

If you think that touchscreen is bad, you also need to have the phone either repaired or replaced.

Problem #6: Galaxy S7 reboots when playing a game

I have a Samsung S7 and today it started to glitch. I had it plugged in for most of the afternoon (about 4 hours). One of my children dropped it behind my couch and my oldest got it out and gave it to me. Here is when the problems started. I notice that it was turned off, which I never do. When I turned it back on, it had the droid in the middle of the screen and said “downloading do not turn off target.” I left it alone for about 10 minutes and nothing happened so I turned it off and back on again. All seemed fine until I tried to play a game (Simpson’s: tapped out). It lets the game load but when I start playing it shuts off the phone after about 3 minutes. When I try and turn it back on it shows me a battery on the screen, but it’s not plugged in. And eventually, after a few minutes I’m able to turn it back on, but if I play the game it keeps turning off.

What happened and how do I fix this?! Thanks. — Victoria

Solution: Hi Victoria. Does the issue only happen when you’re playing this game? If the answer to that is yes, try to delete the app’s cache and data and see what happens. Here’s how it’s done:

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

If your phone continues to restart when playing the game, or when using any other app, the next logical thing to do is to wipe the cache partition. Doing so will force the phone to delete the old system cache and build a new one. Sometimes, a corrupted system cache can lead to all sorts of problems so it’s best to keep the system cache fresh. If you haven’t tried it before, follow these steps:

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 Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
The phone will now reboot longer than usual.
Observe the phone again.

Should the issue remains after wiping the cache, the last thing that you want to do is factory reset. As the name implies, all software settings will be restored to their original, factory state. If a glitch was introduced after you’ve unboxed the phone, factory reset should eliminate it. That means that the problem should not be there right after a factory reset. Follow these steps on how to factory reset your S7:

Create a backup of your important files and contacts.
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.
Observe the phone without installing anything.

If the problem remains, an unknown hardware problem must be the cause of this trouble. Keep in mind that overheating can also cause a phone to shutdown automatically. This is a mechanism designed to prevent damage to internal components due to heat. If your phone gets warm while playing, there’s a chance that overheating is actually the reason for the unexplained shut down. You can either stay away from the game, or contact its developer so they will know that their product is way too demanding for the hardware.

If the phone is not overheating but continues to restart even after a factory reset, send it to Samsung for repair or replacement.

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What to do if your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 does not detect SD card (easy steps)

With constant downloading of apps and new contents, the built-in storage of your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will eventually run out. When this happens, you will no longer be able to store more files on your phone as the internal memory gets fully occupied. As resolution, you can get extra storage through an SD card or external storage media. All you have to do is insert the card into your phone, mount the card if prompted and you should then be all set to add more files to use on your phone. But then again, there are factors that can trigger things to go wrong and suddenly your device failed or unable to read the SD card even when it’s properly seated. And if this happens, you’ve got a problem to fix.

To give you more inputs on how to deal with pertinent issues on your Galaxy Note 8 like when your device does not detect the SD card, I have mapped out a few possible solutions and workarounds for you to try on. This should serve as free reference if ever you needed more help.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our Galaxy Note 8 troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy Note 8 that can’t detect your SD card

SD card errors in mobile devices as depicted by the error prompts saying SD card not detected, not recognized, or no SD card inserted are usually tied to software glitches, if not hardware damage. Software-related errors concerning SD card detection for example, are usually triggered by corrupted data within the SD card or phone system itself. These are usually random occurrences that can be remedied by some workarounds. On the other hand, hardware-related errors with the SD card are usually due to a bad or damaged card reader in use, damaged SD card slot or tray on the phone, or the SD card itself is physically damaged and/or malfunctioning. There are also other cases wherein your phone cannot read the SD card due to incompatibility issues like when you’re using an SD card that is not supported by your Note 8.

Before you get a new SD card replacement though, try these things first.

First solution: Reboot your phone (soft reset).

Should the SD card error is inflicted by random firmware glitches, then performing a restart or soft reset on the phone can possibly fix it. A soft reset clears minor system errors and temporary files (cache) from the phone’s internal memory and refreshes the system too. For as long as it’s a minor issue, a soft reset will take care of it. So if you haven’t done it yet, then follow these steps to soft reset or reboot your Galaxy Note 8:

Press and hold the Power button for a few seconds until the Power off prompt appears.
Tap the Restart option.
Tap Restart again to confirm.
Give your phone up to 90 seconds to complete the restart process.

Alternatively, you can use the hardware keys to soft reset your device, especially when it gets frozen from the error. Here’s how it’s done:

Press and hold the Power button and Volume Down button simultaneously for up to 45 seconds.
Release both buttons when the phone power cycles.

Both these restart methods won’t affect your data so no need for backups.

Second solution: Unmount and mount SD card again.

Many factors can trigger certain apps to go rogue or get corrupted. And when this happens, there is a higher chance that other system functions on your get affected. This then could result to certain errors, including SD card reading failure. As possible solution, try to unmount the SD card on your phone and then mount it again. Follow these steps to get started:

Navigate to Storage.
Scroll down and tap the option to Unmount SD card.
Wait for your phone to say that it is safe to eject the SD card.
Carefully pull the SD card out from the tray.
Inspect the SD card for any visible signs of physical damage that may be preventing your phone from reading it. Among the possible signs of damage are missing gold prongs and dents in the card. In this case, you may need to replace your SD card.
To get rid of any dust particles that may be interfering with your card, you can blow the SD card gently or wipe it off with a soft or microfiber cloth.

If the SD card looks good to you, then reinsert it into the SD card slot on your phone and then see if it works. Otherwise, consider other options.

Third solution: Format SD card on your Note 8.

If you think your SD card is corrupted or malfunctioning, then you can possibly fix it by a reformat. This will wipe all contents you stored on the card so don’t forget to create a copy of your important files beforehand. There are different ways for you to format a microSD card. You can do the SD card formatting through your phone settings, or using a computer.

Here’s how to format SD card on your Note 8:

Tap Settings.
Navigate to Storage or SD & Phone Storage.
Scroll to and tap the option to Erase SD card or Format SD card.
If the Format SD card is disabled or grayed out, you will need to unmount your SD card first by tapping on Unmount SD card option.
If prompted, tap the option to confirm SD card formatting. This will trigger your device to start the formatting process on your SD card and erase all its contents.

After you have successfully formatted your SD card, mount it again and see if your Note 8 is already able to read it this time.

Other options to consider

First option: Update device software to the latest version.

Installing the latest software update on your device can also be the key to fixing the problem especially if some tough bugs are inflicting it. There might be some complex errors transpiring on your Galaxy Note 8 system and eventually caused the phone’s SD card reading system to crash and malfunction. Software bugs are usually addressed by a fix patch contained in the new software update so all you have to do is install the update file so as to implement the fix patch.

To check for software update on your Note 8, open the Apps tray, then go to Settings-> Software Update menu. Then tap the option to Download updates manually. Tap OK and then Restart. When the restart message appears, tap OK to confirm.

After the restart, try to see if your phone already detects the SD card.

Second option: Test your SD card on another device.

Try inserting your SD card to your other compatible devices and see if it will be detected. If the SD card is recognized by your other devices, then most likely the issue is within your Note 8. In that case, you will have to perform more advanced workarounds to troubleshoot and fix complex software issues on your device.

If the problem started after installing a new Android version and it persisted after exhausting all possible solutions on your end, then contact Samsung Support instead to report the issue and ask further assistance and recommendations.

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What to do if your SD card is not detected on your Samsung Galaxy S9 (easy steps)

A prompt solution to insufficient storage issue in mobile devices is the use of SD card. It provides extra storage space to allocate more files and media contents. However, not all SD cards work smoothly on every device given the diversified SD card support system. SD card mounting issues in mobile devices are usually attributed to different factors. Among common culprits are not supported SD card type, corrupted SD card, and damaged SD card , SD card slot, or device itself. In other cases, a device may not be able to detect or recognize the SD card simply because the card is dislodged or not installed correctly. Here in this post, we will tackle a pertinent issue on the new Samsung Galaxy S9. Find out what to do if your SD card is not detected on your new Galaxy handset.

The new Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus support microSD or TransFlash memory card types, preferably class 10, UHS class 1, 3 or newer memory card types. To rule incompatibility issue out from the underlying cause, verify and ensure that you are using a compatible microSD card. Otherwise, consider replacing it with the right card.

If your phone still cannot detect your SD card even if it’s the correct card type, then move on and troubleshoot software issues on your Galaxy S9 that might have caused you this trouble. And here are your options.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our Galaxy S9 troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.

First solution: Remove and reinstall SD card.

Sometimes, a device won’t be able to detect or read an SD card simply because the card is dislodged or covered in dirt. To make sure this isn’t causing you this trouble, try to remove the SD card from your phone. For safe removal, be sure to unmount before removing the SD card. Here’s the proper way to remove and reinstall SD card on your Samsung S9:

Unmount the SD card by going to Settings-> Device maintenance-> Storage-> More option-> Storage settings-> SD card-> then select the option to Unmount.
Turn your phone completely off.
With the display facing up, head over to the top corner of your phone and then remove the card tray by inserting the removal tool or a paperclip into the provided slot. Doing so will unlock the tray.
Gently pull out the tray and then remove the SD card.
Check the card for any visible signs of damage or dirt. If there’s none, insert the SD card back into the tray with the gold contacts facing down.
Push the card tray back into its slot then press in to secure it.

Turn your phone on again and test to see if the SD card is already recognized. Most devices will automatically mount an SD card after it’s inserted into the SD card slot. But if this isn’t the case, then you can mount it manually through the Settings-> SD card and Phone Storage menu. Finally, tap the option to Mount SD card.

MicroSD card cleaning tip:

If there’s a need to clean the SD card, you can use a white colored rubber eraser to gently rub the copper piece or gold contacts on your microSD card to remove any dirt. You can also use some nail polish cleaner, dab it in with a Q-tip then gently rub it over the gold contacts of the SD card. Doing so can help detach any erosion. After cleaning, allow the SD card to dry out and then plug it back into the SD card slot on your phone. After securing the SD card tray, turn your phone on. See if you find any luck from the prior workaround.

Second solution: Test SD card on your other device.

To determine if your SD card is working or not, try to insert it into your other devices that support the same SD card type. If the SD card is recognized by your other device, it means that something is preventing your S9 from reading the card but the card is working. In this case, you will need to find out which from your phone’s system components is the culprit. Again you can start by booting your Samsung S9 into safe mode and diagnose third-party apps. Refer to the next procedure.

Third solution: Boot your phone into safe mode.

All third-party apps are bypassed or temporarily disabled in this mode so it would be easier for you to determine whether or not the issue is triggered by a third-party app or not. Here’s how to boot your Samsung S9 into safe mode:

Press and hold the Power button until the Power menu shows up on the screen.
Touch and hold (long press) on the Power off option until it switches into a Safe Mode option.
Then tap on Safe Mode.

Your phone will then automatically reboot to safe mode. You should see a Safe Mode badge on the bottom left corner of the screen. If your phone is able to recognize the SD card while in Safe Mode, then it means that a third-party app is to blame. In this case, you may need to uninstall the most recent app you’ve added and then test your phone.

To uninstall an erratic app, go to Settings-> Apps menu, then select the app you want to remove.

If the problem persists while running your device in Safe Mode, press and hold the Power button then tap on Restart to switch back to normal mode. Proceed to the next applicable solution.

Fourth solution: Format your SD card.

If your SD card is new and still empty, you can format it directly. However, if you already have stored some files in it, you will need to do a file transfer first as they will all be wiped out in the formatting process. You can move your SD card contents to your computer through a card reader. Once everything is set, follow these steps to format your SD card:

To format SD card on your Samsung Galaxy S9, follow these steps:

Swipe up on an empty spot from the Home screen to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings.
Tap Device maintenance.
Tap Storage.
Tap Menu.
Select Storage settings.
Tap SD card.
Select Format.
Tap Format again to confirm action.
Wait until the SD card is completely formatted then tap Done.

Restart your phone and see if it’s now able to detect your SD card.

Fifth solution: Hard reset your Galaxy S9 (factory reset).

This should be considered as the last resort if all else failed to fix the problem and your Samsung S9 still cannot detect your SD card. A full system reset will likely fix the problem especially if it’s triggered by a complex system error on the phone. But it’s also worth to note that this reset will wipe all your data including personal settings and information stored on the internal memory. That said, back up your phone before you proceed with these steps:

Tap Settings from the Home screen.
Scroll to and tap on General management.
Scroll to and tap Reset.
Select Factory Data Reset from the given options. This will wipe out all your data and personal information from your device. Bugs and software glitches are also obliterated in the process thus gives your device a clean fresh start.

Wait until the reset is finished and your phone reboots. Proceed with the initial device setup and try to mount your SD card again to see if it’s now recognized by your phone.

Seek further assistance

Contact Apple Support and seek further assistance and other options if your Samsung Galaxy S9 still cannot detect any SD card you tried to insert. There might be a more serious problem on the device that needs to be fixed by a technician or intricate system error that needs to be dealt with on your phone.

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How to move files to SD card

Moving files from your Android phone’s internal storage to the SD card is now easier than it was before. Smartphones nowadays can easily be detected and recognized by computers even without installing their drivers. As a result, accessing the files stored in your phone’s memory through a computer is a simple plug-and-play procedure.

In this post, I will guide you on how to move your files from the internal storage to the external or expanded storage device. For me, there are only two very common ways to do this although there are others methods that are more complicated than the ones I present here. Without further adieu, here they are…

Move files to SD Card using Android’s stock File Manager

I think this one is the easiest thing to do because you don’t need to connect your phone to a computer to be able to drag-and-drop the files. What you need is your phone’s stock File Manager which will give you access to almost all of your files. Here’s how it’s done through this method…

From a Home screen, navigate: Apps > Tools > File Manager.
Tap All Files or any other file format you want to move.
Touch and hold one of the pictures until check boxes appear on the left side of each item.
Now select a file you want to move by checking the box beside it or if you want to move all of them, put the check on the box at the top.
Once you’ve already selected the files, tap More on the upper-right corner.
Now choose between Move or Copy. If you choose Move, then all the files will be cut from the current location and moved to a new location you choose. However, if you choose Copy, Android will create a copy of each file to the location you specify.
Choose SD card.
Navigate to a folder you want the files to be moved or copied or you may create one.
Wait for the phone to finish moving the files and depending on their number, it may take a few minutes to complete.

Once the process is finished, you can already access your files from the new location and depending on their format, they may still be classified by the File Manager as pictures, videos, etc.

Move files to SD Card using a computer

Now, this is the good old drag-and-drop process but you would need to connect your phone to the computer for this. The phone has to be detected and recognized by the computer so it will have access to the files you want to move.

Connect your phone to your computer using the original cable. Most of the time Android devices can be detected and recognized by a computer without installing the drivers.
When prompted to choose a connection type, tap Media device (MTP).
On your computer, open the File Explorer.
Click your Android phone’s name. If you can’t find it, then try clicking on This PC in the left sidebar.
Double-click the “Internal storage” folder.
Double-click the folder where the files you want to move are saved.
Select the files you want to transfer and then right-click on selected files and choose Copy.
Click your Android phone’s name again and this time, click on SD card.
Navigate to the folder where you want to move the files or create one.
Right-click on the folder and click paste or press CTRL+V.
Wait for your computer to finish moving the files.
Once the transfer is complete, disconnect your phone from your computer. You can then access your files from your SD card.

Basically, the process of moving files happen inside your phone, you just need a computer to initiate the process. Well, I hope that his guide have helped you one way or another.

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How to move pictures to SD card

If your Android phone only has a 16GB internal memory, then more likely you’ll run out of space after a few months of use especially if the device has good cameras and that you’re fond of taking pictures of everything you encounter everyday. Phones with low storage capacity often have a microSD card slot for expandable memory.

While you may not be able to move all your apps to an external storage device, you can surely move your files, pictures and videos. If you’re looking for ways to free up some space for other apps, then these files must be saved into the SD card. In this post, I will guide you on how to move your pictures over to your SD card. So, read on as this article may be able to help you one way or another.

How to move your pictures from Internal Storage to SD card

I would always recommend this method as you don’t need to use any device or computer to perform this except for your phone. Any Android device has it’s own file manager and you will be using that app to access the images you want to move. I would assume that you’ve already mounted your microSD card and formatted it to become usable. Here’s how it’s done…

From a Home screen, navigate: Apps > Tools > File Manager.
Tap Images.
Touch and hold one of the pictures until check boxes appear on the left side of each item.
Now select an image you want to move by checking the box beside it or if you want to move all of them, put the check on the box at the top.
Once you’ve already selected the images, tap More on the upper-right corner.
Now choose between Move or Copy. If you choose Move, then all the images will be cut from the current location and moved to a new location you choose. However, if you choose Copy, Android will create a copy of each image to the location you specify.
Choose SD card.
Navigate to a folder you want the images to be moved or copied or you may create one.
Wait for the phone to finish moving the pictures and depending of the number of images, it may take a few minutes to complete.

How to move pictures to SD card using a computer

If you’re not used to accessing files using the file manager of your phone, then you may need to connect your device to a computer. In so doing, you will also have access to your pictures and you can simply drag and drop them to a new location. Here’s how it’s done…

Connect your phone to your computer using the original cable. Most of the time Android devices can be detected and recognized by a computer without installing the drivers.
When prompted to choose a connection type, tap Media device (MTP).
On your computer, open the File Explorer.
Click your Android phone’s name. If you can’t find it, then try clicking on This PC in the left sidebar.
Double-click the “Internal storage” folder.
Double-click the “DCIM” folder. This is the default folder where all photos and videos taken by your phone’s camera are saved.
Double-click the “Camera” folder.
Select the photos you want to transfer and then right-click on selected photos and choose Copy.
Click your Android phone’s name again and this time, click on SD card.
Navigate to the folder where you want to move the pictures or create one.
Right-click on the folder and click paste or press CTRL+V.
Wait for your computer to finish moving the files.
Once the transfer is complete, disconnect your phone from your computer. You can then access your pictures from your SD card using Gallery or Photos.

As far as moving pictures to SD card is concerned, these two methods are the easiest ones to do. I hope that this guide have helped you carry out this task on your phone.

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How to move apps to SD Card

Moving applications from your phone’s internal storage to a microSD card is just easy to do. In fact, you may only have to tap your screen a few times to move an app to an external storage. But the thing is, not all phones and apps support this feature. Of course, only smartphones with a microSD card slot should be able to do this and as for some apps, only a portion of their data files can actually be moved over to an external storage and among the most common reasons is that some SD cards are actually slow and may affect the performance of the app.

In this post, I will walk you through in moving applications to an SD card provided your phone support this feature. Continue reading as this short article may be able to help you one way or another.

Move apps to SD card via Application Manager

Before anything else, make sure that you properly mounted the SD card on your phone and then format it so it would become usable. If you’re using a used card then make sure to backup files in it as you may never be able to retrieve them once they’re deleted. After making these preparations, it’s time to move some apps.

Navigate to Settings on your phone.
Tap Apps or Applications.
Now choose an app you want to move to the microSD card.
Tap Storage.
Tap Change if you can see a button with that name. If there’s none, then it means the app cannot be moved to the microSD card. One of the best examples is Spotify which requires to be in your phone’s internal storage but you will have an option inside the app to change the location of downloaded tracks.
Finally, tap Move.

Depending on the size of the app as well as the number of files to be moved, this process may take a minute or two so just wait until the process is finished. Should you want to move the app back to the internal storage, follow the same procedure and hit Change to change location.

Move apps to adoptable storage

Adoptable or Flex storage was first introduced in Android Marshmallow but not all manufacturers were happy about it because it defeats the purpose of building phones with higher storage capacity that are often offered in higher prices than those with only 16 or 32GB phones. While majority of the phone makers include this feature in their devices, popular brands like Samsung and LG removed it from their flagship devices.

With this feature, your microSD card will really become an expandable storage because after doing the steps below, your phone will see it as an extension of the internal storage. So, your phone with only 16GB storage may be able to install applications way beyond that if you mounted a high capacity external storage device. Here’s how it’s done…

Navigate to Settings on your phone.
Tap Storage.
Select your SD card.
Tap the menu button in the upper-right corner.
Select Storage Settings.
Tap Format as Internal.
Tap Erase & Format. If ever you saved some files in your SD card, copy or move them to your computer or phone before you do this procedure as you will not be able to retrieve them after this procedure.
You will be prompted to move some files into the extended storage and if you want to do so, tap Move Now.
Your device will tell you how long the process will take and once finished, tap Done.

The system will then use the card as an internal storage after this procedure. And that’s pretty much it! I hope that this article can help you one way or another.

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How to fix a Galaxy Note 4 that keeps on rebooting randomly, other issues

Today, we give you five more issues taken from emails sent by some members of our community. This article though allocates a big chunk of troubleshooting instructions on how to address a common, yet, misunderstood issue — random reboot. We hope that the solutions provided in this post today will help the users who sent us their emails as well as those looking for ways to fix their own #GalaxyNote4 woes. If you want to look for previously published articles about Galaxy Note 4, please visit this page.

Galaxy Note 4 camera won’t record video to new SD card
How to fix a Galaxy Note 4 that keeps on rebooting randomly
Galaxy Note 4 stuck in Download mode
Galaxy Note 4 keeps dropping cellular network connection
Galaxy Note 4 file recovery after screen was replaced

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 4 camera won’t record video to new SD card

I may have just figured out my problem. I’ll tell you what it is and what I think and can you please comment with your thoughts.

I have a new Galaxy Note 4. I installed a 128GB SD card. I used to have a Galaxy S3 with a 64GB SD card. I took the old 64GB card and copied it to a PC. I then copied all of the old data to the new 128GB SD card. I then installed the 128GB card in to my new Note 4. Everything was ok. I took pictures and they were saved in the SD card. But then I took a video and it did not save the video properly. When I went to play it, it shows me a strange opening picture and said File not found. I tested taking videos when saving to the device memory and they worked ok. So I replaced my 128GB SD with a new 16GB SD card. Videos worked ok.

I put the 128 back in. I looked at the files in the DCIM -> CAMERA folder and saw that the video I took was named temp_video. Why wasn’t it saving my videos properly?

Finally I came up with a possible cause. That CAMERA folder has over 3400 files in it for a total of over 25GB of data. So I renamed the folder to CAMERA-2016-03-16 and created a new CAMERA folder. I took some pictures and a video and I think it worked. Was the problem too many files and/or too much data in the folder? What do you think? What are your thoughts? — Eli

Solution: Hi Eli. We tried to replicate your situation in our lab Note 4 and everything works fine so your issue may be a rare bug. Also, we are not aware of any limitation to the number of files or amount of data a Note 4 camera folder can hold. That was probably just a glitch specific to your device. You can however try to replicate the situation again by filling in the current camera folder you’re using with approximately the same amount of data to confirm our hunch. If the issue occurs again, kindly contact us so we can update this post and educate Android community about the issue.

Problem #2: How to fix a Galaxy Note 4 that keeps on rebooting randomly

The Note 4 started behaving weird about two months ago. It would reboot multiple times without reaching the home screen, only reached the Samsung logo. I have noticed that that issue appears only when the phone is in good use, multiple apps opened, chats etc. I was thinking that it is the battery, because the phone is about a year old and I ordered new original Samsung one. After replacing the battery the issue persisted. I was really pissed off because Note 4 is power house and always worked very well. With time things got worse, rebooting became spontaneous and was really getting on my nerves, because I could not take photos, chat and use maps.

I have restored factory settings with a hope that it may help but unfortunately it did not. My data was backed up and I had 64GB memory card so I did not lose much. I have brought today my phone to repair shop with a hope that for 140 Euro they will solve this puzzle. I’m really losing hope with Samsung and Android. — Pavel

Solution: Hi Pavel. Random reboot issue is one of the common problems we encounter everyday. The causes for the issue are varied and requires a user to check many things to narrow down the real reason. Below are the specific things that you can do:

Know if the phone is overheating. Android phones are designed to shut down automatically once its core system reaches a certain heat threshold. This mechanism is meant to prevent damaging internal components and the phone in general. Overheating per se is not an issue but may also be a symptom of a hardware malfunction. For example, if a processor or battery is damaged, it can produce abnormal heat level that may manifest in overheating. Running simultaneous apps and services at the same time can also lead to overheating, especially if the phone is left in that state for a long time. If you notice that the phone gets uncomfortably hot before, then you can assume that overheating may be the cause for the random reboot issue.

Know if the issue happens after installing an app. Not all apps are created equal. In fact, majority of Android apps are poorly coded, or in the least, not totally optimized to work with the firmware of each Android device. If you recently installed an app prior to noticing the problem, try to remove or uninstall it and observe the phone.

Alternatively, you can also boot your phone in safe mode and observe the phone for at least 24 hours. Restarting your Note 4 in safe mode will prevent third party apps and processes from loading. If the issue fails to occur while safe mode is enabled, that’s a confirmation that one of your apps is to blame. Here are the steps to boot your phone 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.

Install a free antivirus app and scan your device. We’re not aware of a specific malware that’s designed to shut down an Android device at this time but hackers are creative. We can never be sure if one has already been created and is released in the wild. Be sure to scan your device using a reputable free antivirus app like the AVG Antivirus. Remember, there are many “free” antivirus out there but most of them may give your device more harm than good. Stick to known brands to avoid infecting your device with things you are trying to get rid of.

Install the latest Android update. We always recommend that you install the latest available Android update to patch potential weaknesses of older versions. You can try to perform a factory reset first to restore all operating system and app settings to defaults before an update. For easy reference, here are the steps on how to factory reset your Note 4:

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

If none of the things mentioned above won’t help, you can assume that your phone has a defective hardware.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 stuck in Download mode

I tried doing a factory reset to the phone and it caused the “Downloading… do not turn off target” error with nothing on the upper left hand corner as seen in your examples. I tried doing all the different combinations of boot modes but recovery mode (volume up+home+power) caused it to restart and displayed the note 4 intro for a millisecond to go back to the same “downloading..” error screen. I tried Download mode (volume down+home+power) and that just showed an error message that “downloading a software… something..something..”

I am planning to go back to the store and get it fixed because they surely know the problem although I would still like to diagnose the problem and fix it myself. — Pavan

Solution: Hi Pavan. Have you tried restarting the phone after removing the battery? If you haven’t, make sure to try it first. Should nothing change after that, we doubt if there’s still anything that you can do on your end.

If you can’t get the phone to boot in any other mode right now using any hardware button combinations, your best option is to have it replaced. There’s just no other way to go past the boot sequence, which is where the phone is stuck right now.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 4 keeps dropping cellular network connection

Hello TDG. I have a couple of problems with my Note 4. The first and oldest problem is that I can’t connect to my network. I’m almost everywhere out of service area (where service should be). If I get a connection it’s just for a couple of seconds (maximum is 2 minutes). The SIM Card does work with other devices and other SIM Cards don’t work with mine.

The latest problems are power problems. If my battery is about 30% it drains (mostly) very fast. And at the same time it seems like the next issue is also related to these 30%: my Note starts restarting and restarting over and over again.

First it freezes for one or two seconds than the screen turns of (it looks a bit like those very old TVs) and then it’s in a rebooting loop.

I tried some of your troubleshooting, tested some “”#0626*#”” (something like that) codes in the dialer, to have service again.

I tried some factory resets and soon I will try a new battery. — Chase

Solution: Hi Chase. Looks like the first issue has something to do with your phone. Make sure that the SIM card fits snugly to the slot when you insert it. Putting some paper on top of the SIM card so the back cover of the phone will press it down may help. There are cases wherein the SIM card slot malfunction. Make sure to have the slot checked by repair shop to ensure that it’s not the problem.

The second problem may also be due to defective hardware or battery. It won’t hurt though if you can try the standard software solutions we provided above (like booting in safe mode, wiping the cache partition, or doing a factory reset). If nothing changes, we’d recommend that you simply have the phone replaced instead of having to go through a repair process.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 file recovery after screen was replaced

Good morning. Could you kindly advise, I have a Samsung S4 Mini and some guy dropped it and it cracked so because I needed it fixed immediately the guy replaced the screen but I am assuming he replaced the screen with a fake or not so proper screen it worked for only three days but then it just went blank dark. The phone when I charge it it goes on but the screen is dead I think the LCD is messed up.

My question is if I perhaps take it to someone to fix it will my pictures and other stuff still be on the phone or not?

Please also note that I have not used this phone for 2 years so it has been messed up for 2 years. Kind regards. — Faith

Solution: Hi Faith. If the guy only replaced the screen and left the software untouched, your files should still be in the phone’s internal storage device at this time. If you can have the screen replaced and power the phone back on, you should still be able to recover your data without any problems.

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Cannot Delete Photos from Galaxy S3 SD Card

Personalize Galaxy S3 SMS Notification Sound

Here is another question that was sent to us in Mailbag, “I am experiencing a very peculiar problem. I cannot delete the pictures from my SD card. At every attempt to delete photos from it, I encounter an error message which tells me that the action has failed. Can you please provide me solutions to this problem I am experiencing with my Galaxy S3?”

If you cannot delete photos from Galaxy S3 SD card similar to the problem above, the issue may have been triggered by corrupted image files, glitch in the SD card or it may be related to a defective memory card.

What to Do if You Cannot Delete Photos from Galaxy S3 SD Card

Here are the steps that you have to perform to fix the issue:

1. Restart Your Phone

Restart your device or do a soft reset (by holding down the Power/Lock button until the phone restarts). Then, access the photos and delete them again.

2. Enter Safe Mode

There are instances wherein third-party apps start getting erratic. During those times, certain glitches are triggered randomly which may include the issue being discussed here. If you suspect that a third-party app is preventing you from deleting a photo, enter Safe Mode and attempt the deletion of the images there.

3. Delete the Photos via the Computer

Another way to delete a photo which is stuck in your SD card is by connecting your phone to a computer using its USB cable or insert the SD card to its intended slot in the computer. From there, open the SD card directory and delete the images using your computer.

4. Format the SD Card

If the solutions above fail to work, format the SD card using your phone or computer. Use the methods described in the article titled “Galaxy S4 SD Card Error Fix“ to go about this.

Email Your Android Questions

For more questions about Android devices, email us at [email protected].

How to fix Galaxy S5 with weak or no signal, other issues

One of the issues in this post today is about a Galaxy S5 with weak or no signal, as reported by one of our readers. Network or connection problems of this type are usually hardware-related so there’s not much that an average user can do. Nevertheless, we still encourage you to continue reading so you’ll also see potential solutions that may work in your case.

These are the specific topics discussed in this post today:

Galaxy S5 battery not working
Galaxy S5 cannot boot past the Samsung logo screen
Galaxy S5 with weak or no signal
Galaxy S5 screen won’t turn back on
How to recover files from Galaxy S5 SD card

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

Problem #1: Galaxy S5 battery not working

My phone has all of the sudden decided not to charge. i have the speed charger that it’s supposed to have and it worked great i noticed that it drained very quickly that day and was acting odd. it went from 12% to 6% to 2% in a matter of minutes, but it was fine all day. Then when i plugged it in, the charging light didn’t come on. it wouldn’t charge. eventually it died. it stayed on 2% for 2 hours and then the charging symbol will pop up on the screen, stay for about 5 seconds, vibrate, then disappear. it will do this continually all night. then by mornings its charged to about 50%. the battery is draining a little faster than normal, but otherwise its fine. wasn’t dropped, no water damage it sat on the counter all day. it just started doing this out of the blue. I’ve tried other chargers and rebooting it. cleared the cache and i have no idea what to do next. It’s almost 2 years old. — Alexis

Solution: Hi Alexis. If you’re still the original battery at this time, it’s probably high time for you to replace it. A Lithium-based battery like the one on your S5 loses capacity after every charging cycle (the process of emptying and charging the battery). Technically, all types of batteries start to degrade the day they were manufactured. Loss of capacity is the function of charge cycle as well as age. The best Lithium-ion batteries can start showing significant capacity loss after a few hundred charging cycles. In most cases, a smartphone battery loses 80% of its capacity after 300-500 charging cycles. Assuming you empty and charge the battery everyday, the current capacity right now must be very degraded. The things you mention here like the erratic battery level, random reboot, and right now, inability of the phone to turn on, are some of the common symptoms of battery malfunction. Replacing the battery at this time should fix the issue easily.

Problem #2: Galaxy S5 cannot boot past the Samsung logo screen

Hi everybody! I had an unlocked Galaxy S5 of Sprint for over a year. Recently, it often auto reboot when using or screen off after waiting time. It will reboot and i encounter with 2 cases:

Stuck in boot screen “Samsung Galaxy S5 powered by Android” then turn off with a vibrate and turn on with a vibrate. And it keep repeating.

[IMG=””bootloop””]https://image.prntscr.com/image/459266ab838049c9a6cf24b1678b50d5.jpg[/IMG]

In this case i will remove battery and keep it alone over 2 minutes. then it boot successfully. The device sometimes becomes hot, sometimes cool but it still happen (no depend themal).

It also reboot but no screen on: i heard boot sound. when boot done, the touch screen still work (sound when i touch in lock screen). And i have true black phone.

I tried to boot in safe mode, reset factory, odin with android 5.0, 6.0 but nothing changed. I hope everybody help me. Thank a lot.

My device: S5 900P with stock lollipop 5.0 (OK4- newest lollipop). Knox 0x1″ — Minh

Solution: Hi Minh. You should know that our blog only provides software troubleshooting for Android devices. These software solutions often include factory reset as well as occasional recommendation to flash a different ROM via Odin for cases wherein the phone becomes totally unresponsive. You’ve apparently done them before contacting us so you can assume now that the problem is not software in nature. Either the screen assembly is not working properly, or there’s another hardware component that is failing. Whatever it is, your best option now is to have the phone repaired or replaced. Call Samsung or your carrier for resolution.

Problem #3: Galaxy S5 with weak or no signal

I have an AT&T sim card from Straight Talk. I had a Galaxy S4 and recently bought a refurbished S5 from Amazon.com. The phone seems to be working great expect that I will sometimes have no reception. I used the APN setting I used for my S4 (I had quite a time getting those to work originally with Straight Talk).

I was very happy with Straight Talk on my S4. I had at least 2 or 3 bars if not full service everywhere I went. Now I cannot get calls or texts most of the day, even in places my S4 had perfectly good reception. Today for example my phone was sitting on my desk, where the S4 would have been fine, and I couldn’t send texts. Then about an hour later it vibrates like crazy because it suddenly had 2 bars of service and was able to send my messages as well as get an hours worth of incoming texts. Then a few minutes later it was back to no service and I couldn’t sent a text. — David

Solution: Hi David. If you’ve installed a lot of third party apps, we recommend that you check if one of them is causing this problem. You can do that by booting your S5 in safe mode. Safe mode is one of the most useful troubleshooting trick for an Android phones. This is a different software environment wherein you can securely uninstall apps and observe how your phone behaves for some time. Safe Mode is usually recommended when an S5 encounters problems like freezing, random reboots, connection difficulties, of if one suspects that one of the apps is problematic. Third party apps installed on the phone will not load, thus, it is very helpful in narrowing down the source of the problem. If the phone behaves normally while in safe mode, or if texting works fine during the observation period, that’s a confirmation that one of the apps is responsible. Be sure to leave the phone in safe mode for at least 24 hours so you’ll know the difference. To enable Safe Mode, just follow the steps below:

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 nothing changes after observing the phone in safe mode, do a factory reset to ensure that there’s operating system-level glitch causing it.

Resetting an S5 to its factory settings is the fastest way to delete everything on the phone as well as a great troubleshooting step if you encounter an issue that may appear hard to resolve. It’s also a great way to get rid of annoying, rogue, or troublesome apps fast.

As a precaution, please ensure that the battery has been fully charged and you have created a back-up copy of your data before you proceed.

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 the phone has been reset, observe it for another 24 hours. Be sure not to install any app during this period.

If you have the same situation after a factory reset, the problem must be hardware-related. If possible, have the phone replaced.

Problem #4: Galaxy S5 screen won’t turn back on

The night before this problem occurred, I was watching Netflix on my phone for at least two hours. after that I put my phone on the charger and went to sleep. The next day, my phone was dying and I kept having to take it off the charger without it being fully charged. Once I was able to settle down, I let my phone charge to 100%. After it was done charging I was texting on Snapchat. Then after that, probably 30 minutes later, I put my phone down to play with my little cousins . About an hour later I picked up my phone to text someone back and I pressed the home button to turn it on but it didn’t. So I hit the power key and it still didn’t turn on. It’s been almost 2 days and my phone still won’t turn on.

I’ve tried all the procedures and it just won’t turn on. When people call me they say it rings but it doesn’t come through my phone of course because it won’t turn on. the LED lights are not on, nothing is on! I don’t know what to do . — Raeen

Solution: Hi Raeen. If others can call your number and hear your ringtone fine, that’s an indication that phone is on but the screen remains black. We can’t fix a bad screen by doing software troubleshooting so make sure that you have the phone checked or repaired. Better still, simply ask for a replacement if that’s still an option at this time.

Problem #5: How to recover files from Galaxy S5 SD card

Recently, I saved all my photos to my micro SD card. Today, when I was in my Gallery app, the Gallery app kept freezing and the app would shut down. I restarted my phone, and when it turned back on. I got a message saying “Blank SD card: SD card is blank or has unsupported files.”

Now when I go to settings–>storage, there’s an option to mount my SD card, but when I click it, it only tells me the same “Blank SD card” message.

I wasn’t using all of the memory on the SD card and I have about 1GB of internal storage space left as well. I’m not sure what the issue would be and I really want my files back.

Am I able to recover files from my SD card somehow? — Tina

Solution: Hi Tina. The “Blank SD card” message seems to be a generic error that suggests the device may be corrupted or not working. The best thing that you can do in this case is to unmount the SD card and insert it to another device like another smartphone or SD card reader. If the second device won’t read the SD card either, you can bet the card is gone.

File recovery in this situation depends on the cause of the malfunction. You may or may not be able to recover your files depending on the condition of the memory. We don’t support file recovery as it requires advanced software so try your luck by contacting firms advertising their services in Google.