What to do if your Galaxy S7 has become too slow even after doing multiple master resets
This short post answers two common questions for a lot of #GalaxyS7 users:
- what to do if S7 has become way too slow
- what to do if wireless charging has stopped working.
With millions of Galaxy S7 devices still being in active use at the time of this writing, these two issues will continue to appear time and again in the foreseeable future. If you have any of these questions yourself, make sure to spend some time reading the cases and our suggestions below.
Problem #1: Galaxy S7 wireless charging has stopped, wonât work
I have two S7 edge phones; Iâll call them the blue one and the gold one. The blue one worked great but got black listed, so I got the gold one right from T-Mobile. That one worked great too, but after a few months it would not charge on the platform only by wire. Squares started to pop up around screen buttons that were not there before. The âcamera settingsâ opens when I click the gear and closes before you can use it. The phone has slowed down. When swiping my home screen some of the icons donât swipe with the screen they pop up after the swipe and fill in. Some apps and widgets get stuck, both the ones that came with the phone as well as ones from google play store. I will note that both phones are set up about the same way. Last month figured out how to open the blue phone (bad esn) and did so very well. I was going to get a mother board for it. At this point I tested the blue phone on my Samsung charging pad to see if maybe it was the pad. Nope the blue phone with back glass carefully just laid in place charges great on the platform (charges without the glass too) , but not the gold. I rebooted like 5 times. Still nothing. I cleared the cashe. Still the gold will not wireless charge. I deleted some of the apps and widgets that were having issues and cleared cashe again. Still wonât charge. At this point I thought well I can just put the gold mother board in the blue phone. That did not work either. Still wonât charge on the wireless pad. But the board from the blue phone will charge fine in the gold housing. As such it is either software on the gold mother board or a bad motherboard as this was the only part moved. And yes I tried safe mode. I donât know what else to do with safe mode other than it has all the same issues in safe mode. I hate to do a factory reset because all the phone numbers and text messages. I would really hate to have to up load them to Samsung or google because I really hate the cloud. I donât use them at all I have everything possible disabled if the phone does not need it to function to my purpose. Remember before you think I did something; I set the gold phone using the blue phone as a guide. There both have all the same stuff, but yet one works the other has issues. Perhaps do you think I got a virus? Or did my mother board take a dump? Any suggestions?  I am running 7.0 on both phones. Remember this all started with a charging issue and then got out of hand in about 3 days. All issues existed in the gold phone before I opened it. And no I did not buy insurance so thatâs not an issue. I can still use the phone but itâs annoying and I can only charge by cable. I could live with the black boxes around most of the buttons, but no wireless charging⌠That really gets me. I.B. — Ibsupafat
Solution: Hi Ibsupafat. Wireless charging is way too complex to explain how it works on your Galaxy S7 in this short troubleshooting post. Your device manages wireless charging with the help of a special algorithm and of course, with its hardware circuitry. Any of these two can be the reason why your âgoldâ S7 wireless charging capability has stopped working.
In many cases weâve handled in the past, hardware malfunction is often the primary reason for wireless charging failure. Keep in mind that in order for wireless charging to occur, the charging pad or base station has to send the correct signal out. This signal is then received by your S7âs receiver coil to allow inductive charging. In most cases, the disconnect happens after the signal has been modulated and received by the phone. The process of allowing magnetic signal to be transformed into electricity may not occur in the phone at all, resulting to failure to wireless charge. Wireless charging is an intricate process that requires a number of important components to work properly. If one of the hardware components failed for a reason, such as a burnt or damaged coil in the receiver, wireless charging will completely stop eventhough all external indicators may appear fine.
To know whatâs preventing wireless charging to work though is often very tricky and itâs often too economically impractical to do. This is why Samsung will usually simply swipe out a device with bad wireless charging function instead of investing time and effort in determining the cause.
If you need wireless charging to work on your gold Galaxy S7, we suggest that you let a professional do a physical hardware check so more diagnostics can be performed.
We donât provide specialized hardware tips and troubleshooting guides in this blog so if you want to fix this issue yourself, we recommend that you visit other websites that can provide you with the tools and materials needed to do the job.
Problem #2: What to do if your Galaxy S7 has become too slow even after doing multiple master reset
Have unrooted S7 on Nougat 7.1.2. Phone has started to slow to a crawl, where even typing one letter on the keyboard takes 2 to 3 seconds to register, then the screen goes black and I have to push the power button 2 to 3 times before the lock screen comes up. Sometimes it will keep going black every minute or two until I reboot. Rebooting fixes it, but it happens sometimes once or twice a day. I’ve cleared cache and dalvik cache, stopped all running apps, optimized, etc…no effect. I’ve done a master reset twice and don’t install apps for a day or two but it still happens. I disable bloatware…same thing. I’ve changed SIM cards. Removed the case. It does it plugged in or not. I have my apps set to not run in the background, optimized, restricted data use, and have installed a VPN firewall (Netguard) to keep them from accessing the internet. I have app notifications turned off. I’ve tried with data saver on and off. Run Malwarebytes, Norton, etc. Nothing is helping. I’ve had all these apps since I got the phone and had no issues except for maybe the last 3 or 4 months. If it’s the firmware, how can I take it back to prior version? — Char
Solution: Hi Char. In most cases where master reset is recommended, the goal is to know if reason for the problem is software or not. If youâve already master reset your S7 twice without change, thatâs probably because the issue does not lie on the software at all. Based on how you described your problem, which suggests of general slow performance trouble, it is is most likely hardware in nature. Android troubleshooting is simple and if youâve already completed the drastic master reset procedure without getting a positive result, thatâs a clear sign of a hardware issue.
We donât think firmware has something to do with the problem at all. Unless you previously rooted or used non-official, non-Samsung ROM, thereâs no way youâll get your S7 to work normally again by downgrading the operating system version. Like computers, your S7 can slow down or can suffer performance issues due to hardware malfunction alone. Was the phone physically impacted, exposed to water or heat, or accidentally dropped prior to noticing all the symptoms you mentioned? Even the worst form of Android malware today will not result to severe performance issue as they will be wiped out from the device after a master reset. If your S7 remains slow and problematic even after youâve exhausted all software troubleshooting, bad hardware must be to blame. We suggest sending it in to Samsung so it can be repaired or (most likely) replaced.