What to do if your Galaxy S9 Plus has a colored horizontal line (bad screen issue)?

A lot of #GalaxyS9 and #GalaxyS9Plus users encounter issues with their screens so here are the sample cases we’ve collected so far. In our own experience, we Samsung Galaxy screen assemblies are generally reliable, often outlasting the motherboard in older devices. If you have a screen issue on your own S9 or S9 Plus, this post should give an idea what needs to be done.

Problem #1: What to do if your Galaxy S9 Plus has a colored horizontal line

I dropped my phone just a few times at home. They were nothing too serious and the hardest drop my S9+ suffered was a 3 ft drop from a table. The screen didn’t crack, and looked very clean. There was also no sign of damage on the rest of my device. However, recently, a thin very light orange horizontal line developed on the top third of my phone screen, from one edge to the other (from volume down key to power button). The orange color is strongest where the line is, and then seems to lighten out as it gets further down my phone screen, to the point where it is not noticeable. The rest of my phone screen is totally normal. To see the line clearly, I have to view it on a solid color background. The strange thing is that the problem part of the screen can display all colors normally, but just gives whatever color it is displaying a very slight orange tint. Touch functionality is also normal. I have tried hard restarting and booting into safe mode but the problem persists. When I take a screenshot and view it on another device, the line does not exist. I am really hoping that this is not a hardware problem, because that would be expensive. Any kind of help would be appreciated.

Solution: Any discoloration or abnormal line/s on a screen of a new smartphone is almost always a sign of hardware damage. To check if that’s the case, try to boot the device to Recovery Mode or Odin Mode and see if the line remains. If it does, you’re out of luck as that’s a clear indication of a damaged screen.

These are the steps on how to boot your S8 Plus to alternate modes. Check the steps below on How to boot your S9 Plus to Recovery Mode:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. 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). You should now be in Recovery Mode.
  4. Check for the problem.

How to boot your S9 Plus to Odin Mode:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Down key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. Wait for your device to boot to Download Mode.
  4. Check for the problem.

If the orange line continues to show in any or both of these modes, that means that the screen assembly, particularly the monitor must be broken. There’s no telling if this is an early sign of a total screen failure but if it does happen, let Samsung replace the screen for you.

Problem #2: Galaxy S9 shut down on its own while taking video

I took a fairly long (20~+ minutes?) 4th of July fireworks video last night and my Samsung GALAXY S9 smartphone (on the TELUS Mobility network in Canada) video camera app / function crapped out and closed on its’ own … when I checked in Gallery, there is no evidence of the video … the whole thing is gone … the battery level was only down to around 50%, I think … can’t be exact about the % at this point, but the phone continued to do everything else, including Wi-Fi internet browsing, ect. just fine for the rest of the evening …  and storage space (internally [13.3 GB available], or, on my 200GB Sandisk MicroSDXC card [163.91 GB available]) is not an issue … there’s nothing I can think of that would have caused this issue, except possibly for a too large file size … is that an issue for MP4 files on these phones?

Solution: As far as our own experiences are concerned, Samsung had placed a limitation on how long you can record a video on the device. This is because recording a video is a very demanding task and expensive your s9 might be, it’s not primarily designed to record like traditional video recorders. When recording lengthy videos, the phone’s memory, processor, and storage may not work properly after some time causing overheating and most probably a shut down. If you tried to record a video for 20 minutes straight, your Galaxy S9 must have become too hot to continue to operate. By design, this device is designed to turn itself off when internal temperature reached a certain level to prevent motherboard damage.

The sudden crash may have also corrupted the video file in the internal storage device or SD card that’s why you can no longer find it right now. If your camera app was saving to the device’s internal storage device, try to create a full image of your phone’s software using Smart Switch and see if your computer can find the intact files.

Below are the default file locations for Smart Switch files:

  • Windows 10: C:\Documents\Samsung\Smart Switch\Back up\
  • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
  • Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
  • Mac OS X: /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

If your camera app is saving to an SD card, insert the SD card to another phone or computer and see if the missing video files are there.

If the video files are gone or corrupted, you’re out of luck. The sudden crash may have corrupted them or caused your phone to fail to save them properly. There’s no way to retrieve missing video files so they’re good as gone.

Some corrupted files may be repaired using special tools. If those corrupted video files are in the phone or SD card, you may be able to repair them with help from professionals. Try to find reputable data recovery specialists to do the job.

Problem #3: Galaxy S9 screen keeps flickering white and green

Hi! I have a Samsung Galaxy S9. The phone has been doing great for almost 8 months now. I have not dropped it anywhere and the phone has no visible physical damage. This morning all of a sudden the screen started flickering white and green. What started as flickering for the bottom half of the screen has spread to almost the entire screen. I tried clearing the cache, and also following all other suggested steps. None of it worked. Please help.

Solution: Your phone’s screen must be broken. If you still can, create a backup of your data first, then factory reset the device. If the screen continues to flicker immediately after a factory reset, that means the screen has to be replaced. Contact Samsung so they can do the repair for you.

Problem #4: Galaxy S9 keeps showing there’s available system updates

I bought an Galaxy s9 a week ago, since then it has gone through 16-20 system updates! And still keeps trying to system updates. I factory reset it as well and nothing. Is my phone just faulty or can I did It? The People/company I bought it from want me to send it back, however I am leary to do this. 

Solution: We have not seen this issue occuring on a brand new S9 so you either are using carrier-branded S9 and using it in a different network, or your brand new S9 is simply faulty.

Carrier-branded S9

If you have a carrier-branded phone and you’re using it on another network (for example if you have an T-Mobile S9 and you are using it on AT&T), that must be the reason why the phone keeps telling you that there’s an available update. Unlocking a phone only changes the network configuration but the main software is still that of the original network it was originally designed to work. So, an unlocked T-Mobile device won’t necessarily switch over its software to that of AT&T even if it’s unlocked. That can be a problem once you start using it with a different network because the software will now be constantly reminded to install an update. It won’t however install the downloaded update since it’s not compatible with the phone’s software. This is the reason why you’ll get a persistent notification to install system updates. Unless your phone’s software has an option under Setting to turn update notifications off, there’s really no way to get rid of them.

Brand new S9

If you have a brand new S9, we suggest that you demand for a replacement unit to save your from further hassle. Keep in mind however that the replacement unit may no longer be brand new, as often what happens even with Samsung issued ones. Be sure to talk to the dealer or store so you’ll not be disappointed.


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