One of Samsung’s best smartphones was the Galaxy S5. Powerful, affordable, and absolutely attractive, it was nonetheless capable of manifesting frustration when a common hardware glitch–that flickering screen–cropped up and required a fix. Read on for our troubleshooting guide, that will hopefully fix this issue if it ever shows up on your Galaxy S5.
Amidst the sea of powerful Android mobile devices, Samsung has charged ahead to lead the pack with many of its smartphones. The Galaxy series has long represented some of the best that the Android OS can offer for its users, and when the Galaxy S5 released, it was no different. The glitchy behavior we’ll be addressing today was by no means a commonplace issue; instead, the S5 is regarded as a workhorse of a smartphone, capable of tackling anything available on the Android marketplace at the time of its April 2014 release.
Though it’s had a few good years to see newer Samsung Galaxy models come and go, those who aren’t insistent upon upgrading their smartphones once or more per year (or even just those who value a good device that isn’t the newest of the new) have found a lot to love in the continued use of their S5 devices. That quad-core Snapdragon processor and the 16-megapixel camera still perform wonderfully for most tasks, even today.
However, even the most stellar smartphone release doesn’t come entirely problem free, and a small number of users have complained about the very problem in the title of this article–a flickering screen that greatly disrupts your ability to enjoy your Galaxy S5! Thankfully, the problem isn’t always a sign of your phone needing replacing or any major hardware failure. A glitch is a glitch, and something as minor as that can be resolved by following a little bit of handy troubleshooting. Without further ado, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work!
Why is My S5’s Screen Flickering?
Though there could be a number of reasons that your phone is acting up, let’s spend some time examining some of the common culprits. When we get to our troubleshooting steps bellow, having some idea of how or why your S5 could be damaged will help us in our diagnosis. While there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to fix your flickering screen, the nature of your phone’s injury will either make it less or more likely to happen.
First things first. Have you dropped or submerged your phone recently? You don’t have to fess up to any accidents to me (I won’t tell!), but long falls and moisture damage are the biggest culprits for causing hardware failure in phones. No matter how well-built the Galaxy S5 is (and it is very sturdy), it wasn’t built to withstand the rigours of a rough swim or a several-foot drop onto a hard surface. Don’t despair, however! Even if your phone has incurred damage, there’s a chance that we can still fix a flickering screen.
On the other hand, if your screen’s flickering is a random occurrence that wasn’t preceded by any particular kind of damage, then the chances that we’ll be able to fix it here are quite high! While this could still be a sign of some type of hardware glitch, the fact that it wasn’t brought about by harsh treatment is a good sign.
There are a few processes I’ll ask you to go through while attempting to resolve this. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of it, I recommend that you back up your data. This includes saving any images, videos, or documents that you want to keep on a cloud storage system like Google Drive or Dropbox. We’ll be resetting a fair amount of hardware and software on your Galaxy S5, and it’s better to be safe and sorry, right?
First Steps
We’ll go through this step by step, in the hope that reaching certain points in our troubleshooting process will leave you with a remedied phone!
- Power down your phone and remove the battery. You should never remove your phone’s battery while it’s still operating, so ensure that your phone is allowed to power down entirely before you take the battery out from beneath the S5’s back panel. While you’re doing this, examine the battery area (and the battery itself) for any signs of liquid damage or corrosion. If you’ve recently exposed your phone to moisture, you may encounter some here. Use a static-free cloth to wipe away any that you find.
- Hold down the power button for 10 seconds. In the case that this is a hardware error, it will help to drain the electricity from any components that might be storing it.
- Replace the battery and power up your phone as normal!
Now, it’s time to observe a little bit. Depending on your particular device (and what happened to cause its screen to flicker) you should take the time to watch your phone closely. We’ve just performed a soft reset, which should help your phone’s hardware and software to fix any common glitches they were experiencing while the phone was on.
Did we fix it? Is your screen flicker-free? If so, commence your victory dancing (but don’t drop your phone!) If the same problem is still occurring, however, then read on!
If your phone has difficult powering up at all, then you can be sure that a more serious hardware issue is occurring in your Galaxy S5. Your best bet in this instance is to contact your phone’s manufacturers–or, the retailer from which you purchased it.
The Hard Reset
Depending on what’s going on with your phone, it may be necessary to perform a hard reset or factory reset. More than before, it’s very important that you back up the data, information, and media that you want to keep! We’ll be resetting quite a few functions on your phone, and data loss will accompany this process.
Once you’re ready, go through the following steps. I highly recommend reading through them once before getting started, in order to familiarize with a more complex process than I asked you to perform, above.
- Power down your device completely, giving it ample time (at least 30 seconds) to finish turning off all of its internal components. It’s important that your Galaxy S5 be completely turned off before we proceed.
- After this, you’ll need to hold down three buttons in tandem: home, power, and volume up. After your phone vibrates, continue to hold down volume up and home.
- If done correctly, you’ll be presented with the “Android System Recovery” screen.
- Use the volume buttons to scroll through your list of options. We’re looking for “Wipe Data – Factory Reset.” Use the power button to select this option.
- In the next menu, select “Delete All User Data.” Once again, use the power button to select it.
- Your phone will now prepare to do a master reset, which will restore the Galaxy S5 to its original, factory-fresh settings. Once this has been accomplished, select Reboot System Now, when given the prompt.
As before, pay attention to your S5 as it boots up. The phone should run and behave just as if it was being turned on for the first time, with the exception of it still being set up to operate on your preferred cellular network. If your phone’s screen is still flickering, then this is a likely sign that your device has incurred more significant hardware or software damage than our troubleshooting can fix. Your best bet, once again, is to contact a technician from your phone’s manufacturer. Additionally, if your mobile device was a recent purchase, you can try returning it to your retailer.
Additionally, if your mobile device was a recent purchase, you can try returning it to your retailer. Be warned, though, that if your S5 has incurred any water or falling damage, it may have voided your chance to have the device replaced. If you forgot to do it during the previous steps, make sure to examine the battery and battery compartment of your phone for any signs of damage or moisture.
Few things are so frustrating as a nonfunctioning (or malfunctioning) smartphone. We’ve become attached at the hip to these tiny pocket computers, and the sudden loss of all the accessibility they provide can be a jarring experience, no matter how often you use your phone or what you use it for. The Samsung Galaxy S5, being the powerhouse that it is, encourages its users to perform as much on the device as possible.
Still, dire circumstances from a flickering screen aside, there’s a good chance that the above steps will have fixed your phone! As you continue to use it, make sure to keep an eye on the circumstances that used to make your phone’s screen perform oddly, to make sure that you’re no longer having any trouble. Did our guide help to fix your Samsung Galaxy S5’s flickering screen? If you still have questions or even further suggestions, leave them in the comments below!