Dark screen prevents selecting icons to increase brightness

Second Wind

New member
Jul 11, 2022
2
0
0
Visit site
Samsung A- 51 Phone

Screen went dark but otherwise running fine and I can receive calls. I suspect the screen brightness is turn to minimum. BUT I can't navigate (blind) to change settings.

I can heard clicks when I touch a icon.

Suggestions?

Mike
 

B. Diddy

Senior Ambassador
Moderator
Mar 9, 2012
167,000
7,101
113
Visit site
Welcome to Android Central! The stock brightness settings should not let the screen get that dark. Did you ever install a 3rd party screen dimming app?

You can try forcing a power down by pressing and holding Power and Vol Down for about 20 seconds, then powering back on normally. Is the screen still dark? Can you see any faint images at all, or is it completely blank?
 

J Dubbs

Well-known member
Jun 4, 2016
4,004
1,151
113
Visit site
Welcome to Android Central! The stock brightness settings should not let the screen get that dark. Did you ever install a 3rd party screen dimming app?

You can try forcing a power down by pressing and holding Power and Vol Down for about 20 seconds, then powering back on normally. Is the screen still dark? Can you see any faint images at all, or is it completely blank?

Yeah I've never turned my screen all the way down, but I don't think it should go completely black... maybe try going into a completely dark room? You should still be able to see some kind of images I would think. Almost sounds like a hardware failure unfortunately :(
 
  • Like
Reactions: flgirl004

B. Diddy

Senior Ambassador
Moderator
Mar 9, 2012
167,000
7,101
113
Visit site
Yeah I've never turned my screen all the way down, but I don't think it should go completely black... maybe try going into a completely dark room? You should still be able to see some kind of images I would think. Almost sounds like a hardware failure unfortunately :(

I recall some 3rd party screen dimming apps that could make the screen go almost completely black, which is kind of a silly feature if you ask me. But if the problem is due to a 3rd party app, then rebooting the phone should make it go away.
 

Second Wind

New member
Jul 11, 2022
2
0
0
Visit site
tried voice commands with no luck.
no new apps loaded in at least a month.
I forced hard reboot and got the "Galaxy A-51, Secured by Knox, Powered by Android" banner page displayed with full brightness however the Verizon banner page did not display.

i get message notifications but still no screen.
no data backups. Is my only option to revert to default settings, (how do I do that?)

thanks to all who responded.
Mike
 

Javier P

Ambassador
Feb 21, 2014
19,479
4
0
Visit site
tried voice commands with no luck.
no new apps loaded in at least a month.
I forced hard reboot and got the "Galaxy A-51, Secured by Knox, Powered by Android" banner page displayed with full brightness however the Verizon banner page did not display.

i get message notifications but still no screen.
no data backups. Is my only option to revert to default settings, (how do I do that?)

thanks to all who responded.
Mike
Welcome to the forums. Try this, swipe down twice from the top of the screen to expand the quick settings panel. The brightness bar should be at the bottom (this is from the A52s but it should be the same in yours).

Screenshot_20220712-183845.jpg
 

J Dubbs

Well-known member
Jun 4, 2016
4,004
1,151
113
Visit site
tried voice commands with no luck.
no new apps loaded in at least a month.
I forced hard reboot and got the "Galaxy A-51, Secured by Knox, Powered by Android" banner page displayed with full brightness however the Verizon banner page did not display.

i get message notifications but still no screen.
no data backups. Is my only option to revert to default settings, (how do I do that?)

thanks to all who responded.
Mike

Well it sounds like the screen is still working if you're seeing normal images on it. So that would suggest a possible software or app issue. I would try the other suggestions above, but if those don't work you might have to do a factory reset through the recovery menu as a last resort.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Laura Knotek

B. Diddy

Senior Ambassador
Moderator
Mar 9, 2012
167,000
7,101
113
Visit site
Well it sounds like the screen is still working if you're seeing normal images on it. So that would suggest a possible software or app issue. I would try the other suggestions above, but if those don't work you might have to do a factory reset through the recovery menu as a last resort.

I'm not sure the OP is actually seeing anything after the initial boot screen. They mentioned getting message notifications, but I think that just means audible notification tones.

It'd be interesting to see what happens in Safe Mode, since it could be a 3rd party app that's doing this.
 

J Dubbs

Well-known member
Jun 4, 2016
4,004
1,151
113
Visit site
I'm not sure the OP is actually seeing anything after the initial boot screen. They mentioned getting message notifications, but I think that just means audible notification tones.

It'd be interesting to see what happens in Safe Mode, since it could be a 3rd party app that's doing this.

I hope they try some of our suggestions and let us know what happens... we would all learn a little something more ;) I'm curious as to what's going on. They are definitely seeing some start up animations, it would be nice to know if this is a hardware issue, app issue, software issue etc.
 

flgirl004

New member
Oct 10, 2023
1
4
1
Visit site

J Dubbs

Yeah I've never turned my screen all the way down, but I don't think it should go completely black... maybe try going into a completely dark room? You should still be able to see some kind of images I would think. Almost sounds like a hardware failure unfortunately :(


You are awesome Sir! You just saved me a few hundred bucks lol. I can't believe I was pressing buttons I couldn't see for hours and went into a dark room and BOOM phone comes instantly on
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!
 

J Dubbs

Well-known member
Jun 4, 2016
4,004
1,151
113
Visit site
I'm glad I was able to help you 😃 We aim to please around here, and it always feels good helping someone with a frustrating problem. We've all been there at one time or another 😉

And welcome to the forums, I'm glad you joined up! I think you'll like it around here 🤟
 

cbreze

Well-known member
May 30, 2011
2,880
88
48
Visit site
If it came on instantly when moving to a dark space then I would suspect the auto brightness is on and possibly wonky. I never did like the way auto bright worked and don't use it but to each their own. If happens again turn off auto brightness.
 
  • Like
Reactions: J Dubbs

Forum statistics

Threads
948,855
Messages
6,940,544
Members
3,161,271
Latest member
nicolasg