Update causes Galaxy S5 lockscreen to stop working and screen to become unresponsive, other issues

s5

We bring you another list of #GalaxyS5 issues we’ve collected during the past few weeks. If you can’t find the solutions you’re looking for, don’t forget to visit previously published posts in this link.

  1. Galaxy S5 black screen issue after it got wet
  2. Galaxy S5 battery drains faster than normal
  3. Update causes Galaxy S5 lockscreen to stop working and screen to become unresponsive
  4. Galaxy S5 fingerprint sensor not working properly after Marshmallow update
  5. Galaxy S5 active won’t install an Android update
  6. Galaxy S5 screen turns to black

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

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


Problem #1: Galaxy S5 black screen issue after it got wet

I went swimming about a half of a month ago and i had my phone in my pocket and i didn’t have anything to put it in, so I thought “hey its ip67 water resistant so i don’t have to worry about it.” I only went swimming for about 20 minutes and when i got out, i took the battery and back off (making sure no water was on the other side of the seal) and it was relatively dry so i wait about an hour for everything to air dry and it worked just fine.

But about a week and a half later, i went swimming again but i made sure to double wrap my phone in zip-lock bags. i went swimming for about 40 minutes and when i  got out and checked my phone, everything on it was dry. There was no water anywhere on the phone.

Then about a day later my screen starts jumping around and when i press my power button to turn off the screen and press it again to turn it back on, the screen stays black. if you touch the screen the bottom buttons still light up even though the screen is black. If i turn it off for about an hour and turn it back on, it works great then when the phone warms up a bit after a good 2 minutes worth of use it starts jumping again. If someone can help me I’d greatly appreciate it. — Cordell

Solution: Hi Cordell. The general rule of thumb in dealing with an issue like this is to do basic software troubleshooting first so you’ll know if the main reason of the black screen issue is software in nature. These procedures are mentioned in almost all our posts. The things that you can try involves booting the phone in safe mode, wiping the cache partition, and doing a factory reset.

If nothing works after you perform them, you can safely assume that water may have found its way to the motherboard for some reason. In this case, you have no other option but to have the phone checked so it can be determined whether repair or replacement can be applied.

Kindly visit this previously published post on the basic things a user must do if he/she thinks that water may have seeped inside the phone.

Problem #2: Galaxy S5 battery drains faster than normal

I’ve had this phone since last Thanksgiving and I had a problem back in January where I went into a Verizon store because my phone kept freezing, restarting and deleting stuff. We tried everything and eventually we had to do a system reset.

Now my battery won’t last more than a fee hours. Yesterday I went to school and when I woke up my phone was at 100%. by 11, my phone was at 19% and I was on it maybe 5 times to send a text. Nothing else was open. I’ve recently deleted Facebook hoping that would help because I heard it’s always running.

This morning too I woke up and my battery had only charged to 45% and I’ve bought new chargers and nothing works. I can’t go to work or school and leave without it dying within hours and it’s really starting to piss me off. People can’t rely on me if my contact device isn’t working. — Tabitha

Solution: Hi Tabitha. The first thing that you want to do is perform a factory reset. This will not only eliminate possible bugs that may have developed after some time, but will also put you into a position to observe how the phone works when there are no apps installed to it. This means that after you do a factory reset, you don’t need to re-install your apps right away. Be sure to observe the phone for at least 48 hours.

If the battery still drains faster even without your apps, that’s an indication that the battery may be to blame in the first place. Needless to say, you need to have the battery replaced immediately.

However, if the opposite happens, that is, the phone works normally and the battery does not drain faster than normal, you can bet that one of your apps is the culprit. Make sure to isolate which of your apps is responsible.

To do a factory reset, simply follow these steps:

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

Don’t forget that factory reset will wipe everything on your phone. Make sure to create a backup of your personal data before you do it.

Problem #3: Update causes Galaxy S5 lockscreen to stop working and screen to become unresponsive

I have a Samsung galaxy s5 mini and it has been the best phone that I’ve had for a while. before the system update 5.1.1, my phone worked perfectly. after the update my phone still seems to work that way except one thing, every time I lock my phone and don’t touch it for about 30+ seconds It doesn’t unlock. it just stay on the black screen.

I first thought that my phone had ran out of battery so I tried turning it back on but nothing happened. so I took the battery out, waited a while, and placed it back in. when my phone turned on I did the same thing — locked my phone and there we go again another black screen.

It cannot be anything about power as if I get a message the LED still flashes. The screen seems to lock and then won’t reload when I press the lock key again.

Any help I need to get this fixed as it doesn’t let my alarm go off when I need them to and I really don’t want to be taking the battery out everytime I lock my phone. — Danny

Solution: Hi Danny. If you’re positive that the problem occurred right after an Android update, the two best things that you can do are to delete the cache partition and erase the phone completely via factory reset.

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

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

If the lock screen issue continues, refer to the steps above on how to do a factory reset.

Problem #4: Galaxy S5 fingerprint sensor not working properly after Marshmallow update

After I updated my Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900FD to the newest versión (Marshmallow), the fingerprint sensor only works from time to time. For example, once I turned on the phone after the update, it asked me for my backup password, which I had. After I tipped in the password, the phone worked for 3 or 4 hours fine, but suddenly the finger sensor stopped working. I went to the setting and to the fingerprint icon, which says that some error occurred with the sensor. It suggests to me that I had to reboot the phone if it does repeat the error, which does at least 6 or 7 times a day easily.

So in conclusion I have to reboot the phone many times a day, and the sensor starts working until suddenly stops. Already tried to erase the cache, replaced the fingerprints.

Which solution is on my hands?

Thank you very much in advance for any tip you give me, I’m completely desperate. — Martin

Solution: Hi Martin. Like what we suggest for others above, you can do a factory reset. There may be a rare firmware glitch that’s causing the sensor to malfunction.

Problem #5: Galaxy S5 active won’t install an Android update

I am using a Galaxy S5 active. I have the issue where it says an update is available but no space. so I moved all the apps it will let me move to my SD card and freed up 2.4GB on the device storage. It then downloaded the update, told me it needs to restart. The phone restarts and then a message displays saying the update was interrupted and cannot be completed at this time.

I have 12GB of internal storage and don’t have tons of apps, most are on the SD card anyway. I have all my music files on the SD card, as well as all camera pics and videos. I cannot figure out what is taking up so much space on my internal storage. I have read multiple posts about clearing cache but some that say you will lose data if you clear cache for certain apps. So I’m just not sure what to do that won’t cause me to lose data.

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated. I’ve been trying for months to fix this and get the update loaded but short of a full hard reset, I’m not sure what to do. Thanks!! — Jeff 

Solution: Hi Jeff. There’s no official explanation from Google, hardware makers, and carriers why a system update sometimes fail to install despite having an abundance of storage space. The only apparent thing that we can think of is that there’s something in the system that blocks the installation. What this might be is still unclear even to us so we can only speculate. Perhaps the built-in security feature that identifies and allows updates is messed up for some reason. Because there’s no way to know this for sure, we recommend that you restore all your phone settings to default via factory reset before attempting another installation. It won’t hurt too if you delete the cache partition first prior to doing a factory reset.

Problem #6: Galaxy S5 screen turns to black

Hello. I have had my Samsung Galaxy S5 for a couple of years. It’s been through a number of things (screen replacement, new battery). Currently, just this evening, my screen is black and it will hardly produce any image. Here’s the strange thing. Sometimes it produces a very small strand of the image and then gradually fade to black, or it will flicker for a second when I push the Home or Power button, but ultimately return to black.

It is very quick to vibrate from text notifications and other notifications. I’ve maybe seen in the past two hours, 5 views of my screen for a second before it goes blank. I can’t type my passcode in because the screen goes black instantly.

I’ve tried the following in this order:

  1. Taking battery out and trying to reboot the phone. Result: screen appears for 2-3 seconds,, able to scroll maybe one time. Then goes black.
  2. Attached charger. It was at 34% and I plugged it in for about 45 minutes before I touched it.
  3. Attempted to boot the phone in Recovery Mode — Result: Vibrated upon pushing the appropriate buttons, did not show screen.

Currently: since I’ve started writing this, my phone has gone from faint image fading to black, to one little glimmer where the screen turned on, and I saw the recovery mode.

Thought: After reading your troubleshooting articles, I’m thinking it is probably a hardware issue. What do you think?

Where do you recommend I take the phone, a place that is not only effective but would be well worth the money, not more than I need to spend?

Your help is appreciated! — Steph

Solution: Hi Steph. You’re right to think that you have a hardware issue at hand. One strong confirmation of that is the fact that the phone continues to show indications that it receives messages and notifications. That it still reboots normally though the screen turns to black right away is another. As far as solutions on your end is concerned, your options are very limited. Obviously, the screen problem cannot be fixed by doing software solutions. There’s no amount of software troubleshooting and tweaks that can restore the normal hardware function of the screen.

Two of the common causes of hardware failure includes exposure to water or liquid and dropping the phone. If any of these two happened before the black screen symptom started showing up, that’s another reason for the current hardware malfunction.

If you let a third party shop repair the phone before, we recommend that you bring the phone back to them again as they are more likely familiar with  the current setup.

 


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1 thought on “Update causes Galaxy S5 lockscreen to stop working and screen to become unresponsive, other issues”

  1. It seems that the fingerprint sensor malfunction after few hours on Galaxy S5 (I have the same Duos version G900FD as Martin) is related to Smart Manager and battery saving feature. Once the battery saver is disabled, the fingerprint sensor works after restart without any issues.

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