Oftentimes, a lot of Android owners wish there’s an easy way to fix the screen without spending for parts or phone replacement but the truth is, there’s none. In this #GalaxyS9 troubleshooting episode, we show you what you can do for two cases where the screen can fail. The second case is more interesting though as the owner tried an unofficial (and highly not recommended) workaround to make the screen work again.
Problem #1: Galaxy S9 Plus screen has vertical lines, won’t turn on, black screen of death
The night I bought my Galaxy S9 Plus, thin vertical green lines appeared on the full length of right side of screen. I did a Backup of data on the Galaxy, then I did a Factory Reset. As I was configuring it, I may have hit some key in error, & I have a BSoD — Black Screen of Death. It still has WiFi on. I can’t turn it on. When I send myself an email on Dell computer, the small blue light in top left corner flickers. When I telephone the Galaxy’s Tel #, the small green light in top left corner flickers. it seems I’m able to charge it. It vibrates occasionally. a woman’s voice comes on periodically informing that it has been turned on, & various other info – but it has not turned on.
I’ve tried your recommendations of pressing Power button simultaneously w/ Volume Down button, unconnected & connected to electricity — no result. Do you think this is a Screen issue, Power issue, Operating system issue, software issue, or other? Thanks a lot. — Steve Breslin
Solution: Hi Steve. We don’t exactly get what you mean by “configuring” but if you’re referring to the setup you need to do right after a factory reset, we don’t think there’s anything there that you can misconfigure to turn off the screen, like what is happening to your S9 right now. Setting up an S9 right after a factory reset is straightforward and won’t result to any issue, much more damage the screen or tweak the software in order to prevent the screen from working normally. The more likely reason is hardware malfunction.
Screens don’t usually just turn black on their own. Because the touchscreen is the only way to bridge the user and the software, Android devices are built so that display continues to work even if there’s an issue with the operating system. Since you’ve already tried a factory reset and, in fact, the issue occured right after doing it, only hardware malfunction can be to blame. The thin, vertical green line may be related to this issue and it may be one of the symptoms that your S9’s display is defective. This means you’ll most probably end up with a repair or replacement in this case.
Before you send the device in for repair, you can try to see what happens if you boot it to alternate modes. We suggest that you try to access Recovery Mode first by doing these steps:
- Turn off the device (if you can’t turn it off normally, wait until the battery drains).
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
If your S9’s screen works during this time, then there may be an issue with Android operating system. Consider wiping the cache partition and doing a factory reset to see what happens. However, if the screen stays black and won’t turn on at all, go ahead and try to boot the device to Odin / Download Mode.
To boot your S9 to Download Mode:
- Turn off the device (if you can’t turn it off normally, wait until the battery drains).
- Press and hold the Volume Down key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the green Android logo displays, release all keys until you see the Download Mode screen.
Just like in Recovery Mode, if your S9 screen works only on Download Mode, then something’s not going on right with your operating system. The good thing about this is the fact that you don’t have a screen problem at all. All you need to do is to probably do a master reset in Recovery Mode.
Problem #2: Galaxy S9 Plus touchscreen not working in all areas
Purchased S9 Plus brand new after few months and few drops i noticed the screen slightly messing up here and there on certain areas of the keypad or areas of the screen. So i invested into a Otterbox and it seemed like (but not for sure) that it made it worse. maybe the pressure on the screen is what i assumed, so the screen malfunctioning was getting worse and worse as far as touching the screen sometimes have to press harder than normal on keys or they wouldn’t work at all. So one morning i woke up after having phone charging all night and the screen was completely unresponsive. everything lights up and volume and turn on like perfect working phone, except unresponsive screen, after trying to mess around with it here and there and realized that the screen worked in the morning so boiled that down to a theory that it maybe the cold. so i tried a test and put it in the freezer and after few minutes in there, it works perfect, like a new phone. i have searched all over internet for similar issues or fixes and found nothing, closed thing found was a post from someone who had a problem with the cold. — DANIEL
Solution: Hi Daniel. Once any hardware component had been damaged, it’s there forever unless there’s a software tweak that can be done to minimize its effects. In your case, there’s no software manipulation that you can perform to reverse the screen damage at all. Using protective cases like Otterbox is not a fix but a preventive measure. Adding it after the damage won’t make the screen any better. In fact, the extra pressure from the sides of that case may even worsen the situation.
Well, as far as putting a smartphone in a freezer to fix a broken screen is concerned, we’re not entirely convinced that it works. If it does for you, then there must be some unique circumstances that made it possible. But if you really are looking for a permanent solution to your screen problem, we suggest that you let Samsung check the hardware. If you’re lucky and the damage is only isolated to the display assembly, replacing this part may bring all your phone’s functionalities to their working order. If you only recently purchased this phone, make sure to check with Samsung if they can offer you a phone replacement instead. This is often a convenient option rather to wait for a repaired device. Some repaired Samsung phones may continue to similar or related symptoms after they were serviced because hardware damage is usually not isolated to one component. If service won’t be able to address all broken components, you’ll most probably end up with a broken device after repair.