How To Troubleshoot Samsung Galaxy S7 Wont Turn On

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You’re staring at a black screen on your new #Samsung Galaxy S7 (#GalaxyS7), wondering what to do because it turn on when you press the #Power key and it won’t respond no matter what. It’s new and it was working fine yesterday, left it lying on the table overnight with enough battery but in the morning, the screen is just black. What could have happened? A few days after the Galaxy S7 was released, there were already owners that complained about their devices that won’t turn on. In fact, we already received a few complaints about this problem and so we publish this troubleshooting guide to address this very specific issue encountered by our readers. Read on to learn more about this problem and how to fix it.

Problem

“Hi! I have the new Samsung Galaxy S7, it’s still 5 days old and it has been working since day 1 without issues until today. The screen is black and it looks like it has turned off. I tried to turn it on but it won’t. Tried charging it but it won’t respond either. I know I can go to the store where I bought it and have it replaced but it’s a 40-mile drive, so I want to try a few things first before heading out. What would you suggest I do to try to fix this problem? Thanks.”

Symptoms and Possible Causes

Aside from the obvious black and unresponsive screen, there are other symptoms you may encounter when your new phone has this problem:
  • LED indicator is lit up but the screen is black and unresponsive
  • Screen is black, LED indicator is not lit and phone won’t turn on if Power button is pressed
  • You can hear the notification sounds but the screen is black
  • Device just turn off on its own and refused to power back up
This issue is common to all smartphones. In fact, we did receive hundreds of issues from our readers who encountered this problem using previous Galaxy models and among the most common causes are the following:
  • Battery completely drained that it takes a few minutes before the phone responds to the charger when plugged in
  • The Android system crashed leaving the phone unresponsive when the power key is press or if the charger is plugged in
  • Some downloaded apps keep crashing that also caused the system crash
  • The power key got stuck or damaged after the phone fell on a hard surface

How To Troubleshoot Samsung Galaxy S7 Wont Turn On

More often than not, won’t turn on issues are caused by system crashes. When it happens, the device won’t respond when you press the Power key and it won’t charge if you plug it in. It’s because the firmware plays a big role in starting up the hardware as well as charging the battery. So, here’s what you need to do in case this problem occurs…

First step: Force restart your Galaxy S7

By pressing and holding the Volume down and Power keys together for 10 seconds, your phone will perform the simulated battery disconnect. It’s just like when you pull the battery out of your phone to reset it.

This procedure is hardwired so it should work as long as it’s done correctly. Again, just press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys together for 10 seconds to do this.

Moreover, the Forced Reboot procedure will refresh the phone’s memory so whatever firmware and/or hardware glitch that occurred would be fixed immediately.

What if the forced reboot procedure failed?


Second step: Plug in your Galaxy S7 to charge

Maybe the reason why your phone turned off and won’t turn back on is because the battery got drained. It might also be the reason why the Forced Reboot procedure failed. So, it’s time you plugged the charger in and leave the device for, at least, 5 minutes before attempting to turn it on.

After 5 minutes of charging, try turning on your phone and if that won’t work, try the first step again.

Third step: See if the Galaxy S7 can boot in Recovery Mode

Now, this procedure will tell us whether it’s just a firmware issue or a serious hardware problem. In recovery mode, the Android GUI won’t be loaded during boot up but all the essential components will be powered up. So, if the phone boots up in recovery mode, it means the problem is with the firmware, probably. Otherwise, it’s a hardware problem.

  • 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.

If the phone can successfully boot up in recovery mode, proceed with wiping the cache partition using the Volume keys and the Power button to select the option and then try to boot up normally. However, if the recovery mode procedure failed, proceed to the last step.

What if the phone refused to boot up normally after the recovery mode?

Fourth step: Try booting the Galaxy S7 in safe mode

There’s a chance the problem was caused by a third-party app that may have crashed considering there are still apps in the Play Store that have compatibility issues with Android M (Marshmallow). In this case, you need to boot your phone safe mode just to see if it can and to rule out the possibility of the hardware problem once and for all.

  1. Press and hold the Power key.
  2. As soon as you can see the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
  3. Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.
  4. You may release it when you can see ‘Safe mode’ in the bottom left corner of the screen.

If your phone successfully booted up in safe mode, try to uninstall suspected apps. Or, you can proceed with Factory reset through Settings or Master reset by booting up your phone in recovery mode again. Either way, the problem will be fixed. However, if the safe mode boot up was unsuccessful, then the last option is the last step.

Last step: Have the technician troubleshoot the problem or have the phone replaced

At this point, you did everything you could to try to fix the problem without compromising the phone’s safety and voiding the warranty. It’s time you went to the store where you bought it and let the technician check it for you. If the problem can’t be fixed by the tech, you will receive a replacement unit.

94 thoughts on “How To Troubleshoot Samsung Galaxy S7 Wont Turn On”

  1. My samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S7 edge #Custom) used to shut down and reboots by itself after software update. Then I manage to avoid that by erasing/ factory reset and enabling the “Safe Mode”….but as soon as I disabled the safe mode and install an application, it started to behave similarly as previous (shut down and reboots by itself )….need help!!

  2. I couldn’t turn my phone off or swipe to access applications. I searched for the Samsung Galaxy S7 troubleshooting information on the internet and quickly found the solution to the problem. It was so easy to fix. Only took 20 seconds! Very thankful that I didn’t have to travel 30 miles to have the situation resolved. Awesome!

  3. I was starting to freak out and thought that I would have to pay to have it fixed. I tried holding all the buttons down and it worked, I never knew about this trick, so thank you so much you just saved me 100$ or something like that

  4. My Note 3 just blacked out and went into coma (or died for good?) all of a sudden. I was charging it with PowerbankA until maybe 55% before PowerbankA went flat. Then, I continued charging with PowerbankB (I haven’t used this in a while and I can’t remember why I stopped using it for so long) untill over 70%. One minute I was still using the phone to check on travel schedules and the next it just went black. I didn’t exactly see it happening (going from screen on to blank), but I’m sure it was fine moments ago.

    Now I did some googling and tried all the possible solutions (battery out for extended periods, all possible key combinations, and even took out the sdcard too) yet it’s still not turning on. I managed to measure at the battery terminal (the +- leads ) that it still has 2V when connected to the charger, is this a good value? What else can I check on the motherboard to see what’s wrong?

  5. It didnt work for my. My power button doesnt work at all and my battery died. Does anyone know how i can cut my phone back on w/o using the power button?

  6. my phone is blacked out , first the led was on and the screen was black, overnight it ran out of battery, in the morning i put it to charge and tried to restart it and it worked . After about 1 minute on my phone it crashed and went black and wudnt turn back on i tried everything but still nothing, i think the cause is a game i downloaded which kept crashing regularly. Please help

  7. id step 3 thought it worked phone came on went trow what to do now gone black again and wont turn on.if buy any chance i can get it turned on will try step 4 but not holding my breath on that happening.
    any advice what to do as it seems to be the phone software

  9. Hi
    I had a problem with my new Samsung Galaxy S7. I had turned it off my then tried switching on but it didn’t switch on again. Because of your article it’s working again after 3-4 hours research. i formatted my phone and did factory reset by pressing volume up and home button. Can someone please let me know how to remove this issue permanently.

  11. Thanks for the post of how to fix Galaxy = got it to reboot after going through directions. Saved a trip to the store tomorrow.

  12. The volume down and power button worked a charm, tried everything else and was about to give up and bring it to a repair shop.
    Massive thanks!

  15. Mine is still black. No response. I’ve tried all your options. This happened a w
    Hill back and it fixed itself.. but now it’s happened again. I’m on holidays overseas.. I’m really disappointed with Samsung now.. I’ve never had iPhones and always had Samsung but this time I’m really upset. Might try a trip to the Samsung shop, maybe they help

  19. Wow! I worked- thank you so much, I really did not know what to do.
    The first suggestion worked for me!

  21. Hey,
    I went true all options.. still not working.

    My s7 was black screen, so i did the regular reset, first time i press volume down to restart, when it didnt, i press volume up to download..
    Since that moment, my device is dead.
    Nothing works.
    Can you please help me?

  23. This phone did not power on out of the box. It vibrates every 10 seconds or so. I have tried all the troubleshooting steps but no change.

  24. This is the first time EVER… I actually came to a troubleshooting/help site that REALLY did fix the issue… THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH!!!!

  26. Mine is not responding at all, I’ve tried it all. Thanks. I’m extremely disappointed with my Samsung 7, I’m ready to run it over with my car. I prefered my S5. Should of kept it.

  28. alhamdulillah. thought the phone has been short circuit coz i’ve hard pull the cable while charging.
    thanks for the help. god bless u all

  31. my s7 is not working even after i have wiped all the data . My phone is not stuck in a constant boot loop and wont even go to the samsung logo . what do you think is the issue and how much money do you think Samsung would charge me to fix the issue.

    THANK YOU

  36. I’m deployed in the middle east and you saved my life! I thought it was because of the extreme heat….I went to my S6 (IT folks) nope, went to two local national cell phone repair shops nope, and basically anyone who would listen to my plight nope…I finally stumbled on your site and it works! And why isn’t this common knowledge? Chukran!

  37. When I woke up and my phone was HOT and unresponsive, I was panicked! I found your article, did Step 1 and it WORKED! I think I love you. Thanks.

  40. thank you for the help, pressing the volume key down and power key works for my phone. my heart stop for a moment when wake up to a dead galaxy s7 lol

  43. Mine is still not working afte doing this……been using my s7 edge since April last year and today it went blank,can’t power on,charge …..what do l dodo?

  47. my galaxy s7 the screen is all black bu the led is still on so and when i try to reboot it the screen black but the LED still changes colors

  48. Iv had my phone for 6 months last couple of months it keeps freezing getting hot will not turn on . iv done all trouble shooting with no joy phoned voidafone been in shop twice and there saying nothing they can do . not happy

  58. I have NO IDEA what’s wrong with my s7. The screen went black and a pulsing blue led came on and it’s been like this for HOURS. I tried everything and I think I did it all right but it still is unresponsive to everything.

  59. My husband’s S7 active got a few rain drops on it. At that time the screen was on in Spotify listening to music. He turned the screen off to wipe away the small amount of water. Now the screen is black. However it still respondes to touch. I called. He was able to answer. please help

  62. Excellent advice, saved my day and a visit to the operator and lots of troubles. I had my Galaxy S7 Plug in to charge when I did the first step and that did the trick. So, apparently battery was drained by system crash. This incident reminded me also of the importance of backups… Thank you so much! 🙂

  63. Excellent article… to be fair I didn’t read it all… because it worked at step 1!!!?

    I didn’t realise how powerful my beloved S7 is at affecting my mood!? perhaps some counselling is in order ?! Any who, now I can get back to enjoying my weekend.

    Thanks Droid Guy ?

  66. The it solution worked for me, I only experienced this once before on my S6. I have only had my S7 a few weeks & really hope it’s a one off. Thanks for your advice, you saved me an unwanted trip out and a working phone from the start of business hours.

  67. i have s7 active, woke up in middle of night to black phone with green lit led and tried everything to turn my phone on, nothing will work. i dont know what happened, it was fine before bed, but happy I woke up because my alarm wouldn’t of gone off, taking my phone in tomorrow. so mad this happened!

  68. My phone attempts to reboot but gets locked at the decrypt stage, tried to hard start, but it gets to the decription page and forces me to enter my security code, so I cant start in safe mode.. Any ideas?

  69. Thanks, dunno why mine did this but rather than panic, look on google, ur site came up first and it worked.
    Saved me alot of time.

  71. Thank you Team. It was very useful, i was very worried about.But why this happened, was it any glitch or something?

  73. Thanks! My GS7 just was off and I couldn’t power it on at all. LED was also off. Did the power + Vol Down and was able to force a reboot. Phones has 65% battery so no idea what happened to it.

  76. I think I received a defected phone. Started acting weird after a few days of using. I tried all the methods that motherf***ing phone just wouldn’t budge. Seems like I got to go down to the service centre to know whats wrong…

  79. Thanks a tonne!! Responded to step 1. Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE. Question: Should I still go to my retailer/samsung and report this?

    (Hate it when technology doesnt work/stops working.)

  80. Thank you so much for posting this. I never remember how to do a reset. That being written, I don’t know if it is just a coincidence but twice my S7 has frozen and both times when I reset it, it was in the process of updating my Instagram App. Needless to say I have removed Instagram from my phone and will see if this stops it from happening again.

  82. Thank you! Thought I was gonna have to go into town to get it fixed but the system reboot did the trick.

  83. My battery ran out (week old phone) let it charge, up to 60% but all that is on the screen is the charging green stuff. Found this page. Followed first step, nothing happened, disconnected charger, screen went black; plugged charger back in just got the grey charging (lightning) icon flash a few times before the green stuff came back up showing me now 60% charged. Any further suggestions in this case? Thank you

  86. Thank you! My phone is a week old. Plugged it in at 15%, put it down and came back to a phone that wouldn’t turn on (red light was on though).

    I’m used to the home/power reset.. never considered the volume button.

  87. I have the opposite problem with my S7 Edge – Always On Display won’t DISABLE – no matter what it comes on.

  90. WONDERFUL! Thank you so much! Phone just went out, wouldn’t turn on. Sitting here half in panic, the volume down / power button trick worked. Couldn’t be more grateful Felix. Thank you.

  91. Thank you SO much!!! The first step fixed my dead phone. I couldn’t be more grateful. Have a wonderful day 🙂

  93. Thank you for the quick, easy fix. I wish the down volume/power button idea would come in the manual! Geesh!

  94. Thanks for saving my phone. I thought it was dead cause I had no lights and it was only on a black screen.

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