The black screen of death is most often characterized by a blank and unresponsive screen that leaves the impression that the phone is turned off. Sometimes you can see the LED indicator blink, indicating that the phone is still on and not responding. Some of our readers who own Samsung Galaxy A5 units have contacted us regarding this issue, so we need to publish a post that addresses it.
In this article, we will tackle this problem and look at all the possibilities. We will try to determine what the problem really is and we will try to find a solution that will definitely fix it. Sometimes it is easy to fix this problem, but there are times when it is very complicated. So if you own this phone and are currently experiencing a similar problem, read on.
But before we continue with our troubleshooting, if you have other issues with your phone, please visit our Galaxy A5 Troubleshooting Page as we have already addressed some of the most common problems with this device. In case you need further help with your issue, please complete our Android Issues Questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.
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Fix Galaxy A5 issues with the black screen of death issue
There’s only so much we can do with your phone that won’t turn on or respond, but it is imperative that, as the owner, you have to do something to try to fix it. It may just be a minor issue and that gives us a good chance to get the device working perfectly again. With that said, this is what I suggest you do on this topic …
Try to perform the forced restart procedure
This will restart your Galaxy A5 which could have frozen or crashed. Many of those who encountered this type of problem reported solving it using this method. For those who own older models with removable batteries, he said that removing the battery, which basically has the same effect as a force restart, seems to fix the problem.
So to do this, press and hold the volume down and the power keys together for 10 seconds. If the phone starts up normally after this then it was just a system crash or even a minor system glitch. However, if the phone still does not respond to this, try the following procedure.
Verify that it is not due to liquid damage
You must go through this just to make sure the problem is not due to liquid damage. We have readers who reported damaging their phones when they tried to charge them because they did not know the liquid had reached their device. We know very well that water and electricity do not mix, so it is best to be careful.
- Check the USB port to see if it is wet or not.
- If the port is wet or has any trace of moisture, use a cotton swab to clean around the area or insert a small piece of tissue to absorb the moisture.
- Remove the SIM card tray and look into the slot to find the liquid damage indicator. It is a small sticker that turns red, pink, or purple if you trip. If it is white, then you have nothing to worry about.
Charge the phone and see if it turns on
Another possibility that your phone won’t turn on is that your battery may have run out. So after making sure, there are no signs of liquid damage, it’s time to plug the charger into a working electrical outlet and then plug in the phone.
Typically, you will see the charging icon on the screen and the LED should light up the moment the phone detects flows of electrical current through its circuits. This is one way to determine if the problem is hardware-related or just a minor problem with the firmware.
Regardless of whether the charging signs show or not, allow your phone to charge for at least ten minutes, but be aware of whether it gets hot when plugged in or not. If so, unplug it from its charger immediately and take it to the nearest store.
After ten minutes of charging, try turning on the phone. If it doesn’t respond, try the Forced Restart procedure while the phone is plugged in.
Try to start the phone in safe mode
We have to rule out the possibility that this problem is caused by some of the third-party apps you downloaded and installed. So in this step, I want you to start your phone in safe mode or at least give it a try. By running your phone in this environment, you are actually temporarily disabling all third-party apps that may have caused the phone to become unresponsive. This is how you do that …
- Turn off the device.
- 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 holding the volume down key until the device finishes rebooting.
- Safe mode will be displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen.
- Release the Volume down key when you see safe mode.
Assuming your phone has successfully started in this mode, it’s time to find the apps that are causing the problem and then uninstall them one by one until it’s fixed.
- From the home screen, touch the application tray.
- Touch Settings> Applications.
- Tap the desired app in the default list or tap the 3-dot icon> Show system apps to show the pre-installed apps.
- Touch the desired app.
- Tap Uninstall.
- Touch Uninstall again to confirm.
However, if your phone is still unresponsive after trying to start it in safe mode, then you should try the next step.
Run your phone in recovery mode
Android system recovery is fail-safe for almost all Android devices that is why it is called the “Recovery Mode” as it can actually recover your phone that might have firmware issues through it. Actually what you are going to do while in this mode is wipe the cache partition first, which will remove and replace all caches on the system. Then you need to restart your phone to see if it starts up successfully. Otherwise, you have to do the master reset, which will return the phone to its factory default settings but will also delete all your files and data.
The master reset is your last resort, but if it fails, you should take the phone to the shop and let the technician take care of the problem for you.
This is how you boot your Galaxy A5 into recovery mode …
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Android logo appears, release all keys (“System update installation” will be displayed for about 30 – 60 seconds, then “No command” before displaying Android system recovery menu options).
Hope this troubleshooting guide can help you fix the problem with your phone.