What to do if Galaxy S9 won’t charge, only charges when on Ultra Power Saving Mode

If there’s a common issue all smartphones in the market share, it’s a power-related problem. There are thousands of smartphones experiencing power, battery, or boot problems every day and even top-of-the-line Samsung #GalaxyS9 devices are not exempt. Today’s post covers one form of power issue and it involves charging. We also would like to educate those that might be reading this post on what to do if your S9 no longer turns back on.

Problem #1: Galaxy S9 won’t charge, only charges when on Ultra Power Saving Mode

My phone went from one charge to another not working. it only charges when it is in ultra power saving mode, and it charges slowly. i waited 7hours for it to charge. I have already tried different cables and wall boxes, already tried rebooting it (not factory reset), already tried restarting it. I have blown into the port with my mouth already to clear debris and dust. still nothing. I dropped my phone in water over 4 months ago and it had worked perfectly fine. like i said int the morning it was charging fine, then by the afternoon night time it was no longer charging unless its its ultra power saving mode. i have turned the phone completely off and plugged it into the charger there is no screen light up but the phone vibrates every 2 seconds. Im not sure what to do anymore. Im not sure of the verizon number or such so i pressed oreo for this feedback. — Rugster07

Solution: Hi Rugster07. Android problems are categorized into two — software issues and hardware issues. Knowing what type of problem your have or where it’s coming from is key to fixing it. When it comes to an issue like the one you’re experiencing, there’s a fair chance that it may be caused by a software bug so you’ll have to do the complete software troubleshooting package. Below are the software troubleshooting steps that you need to do in this situation:

forced restart
cache partition wipe
observing your phone on Safe mode while charging
reset of all settings
factory reset

Boot your S9 to safe mode

If you haven’t yet, we suggest that you try charging your phone when it’s on safe mode. In this mode, all third party apps are not running so if your phone charges fine, it’s an indication that you have a bad app problem. While in this mode, make sure to check that fast charging feature is on by going under Settings > Device maintenance > Battery > More settings (three-dot icon at the upper right) > Advanced settings > Fast cable charging.

Once you’ve turned on fast cable charging, boot your S9 to safe mode and check if it charges fast as it should.To boot your device to safe mode:

With your S9 off, press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
When “SAMSUNG” 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.

To know which app is causing a problem, follow these steps:

Boot to safe mode.
Check for the problem.
Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
If your S9 still refuses to charge normally, repeat steps 1-4.

Resetting all settings

This is one of the least known software solutions that many people don’t do when faced with problems. It’s basically like factory reset without the need to drastically the software landscape. With all software settings back to their defaults, any configuration issue on the software side may be fixed by doing this simple solution. Here’s how to do it:

Open Settings app.
Tap General Management.
Tap Reset.
Tap Reset settings.
Tap RESET SETTINGS button to confirm.

If that won’t fix the problem either, you need to factory reset your device. We know for a fact that an S9’s factory state software won’t have a random restart issue so if the problem remains after wiping your phone, that only means one thing — hardware malfunction.

To factory reset your S9:

Make a backup of your personal data.
Turn off the device.
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).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

While the solutions above will most likely address any possible software issue, there are also other basic things that you need to do such as

Check the charging port for physical damage or water damage.
Use another charging cable and adapter.
Use another outlet
Charge the phone when it’s off

Get professional Samsung support

If your phone does not charge still after you’ve done all our suggestions, the problem is most likely beyond your ability to fix. Make sure to let Samsung know about the issue so they can repair or replace your device.

Possible workaround

If you decide not to send your phone right away to Samsung, you can try to see if wireless charging can work for you temporarily. It’s not as fast as cable charging but if the issue is, say, isolated to the charging port, your phone should still be able to charge albeit slowly. Make sure to take advantage of fast wireless cable charging feature under Settings > Device maintenance > Battery > More settings (three-dot icon at the upper right) > Advanced settings.

Problem #2: Galaxy S9 turns itself off when battery is low, won’t turn on

It has been turning itself off when it gets to anything below 40% battery. Sometimes it simply turns off and turns back on itself, most times it keeps turning on and off over and over until I press the power down button and the volume down button together and power down from the reboot menu. I then have to put my phone on charge and i can then turn it on after a few minutes. Today however it is not charging or turning back on… Please help. — Nidadean

Solution: Hi Nidadean. Your first task in troubleshooting your problem is to know if you can still turn the phone back on your level. If you can’t, then that means you’ll most probably end up bringing your phone to a Samsung Service Center.

To check if there’s something that you can do, you need to do all these things:

charge the phone for at least an hour before attempting to power it back on
check if the charging port is dirty, or if there’s a chance that a debris may be blocking the charging accessory
use another set of charging cable and adapter
charge the phone using another power outlet
check for water damage (your S9 won’t charge if charging port is wet)

If you’ve already done all of these things prior to contacting us, that means you have a bad hardware issue. Call Samsung for help.