Fingerprint Sensor stopped working

[kmcochran]

My phone was at about 45% battery last night. This morning the phone was black. I plugged it in to get it to start back up (I have this problem intermittently). Phone was still around 40% battery life. But after it started up, the fingerprint sensor is no longer working and I cannot find the settings for it under Security and Location. Has it been moved somewhere else? I searched Support and Tips and followed the directions to try set up my fingerprints again, but there is no fingerprint option now. It was working fine yesterday.

Anyone have any suggestions??
TIA!

 

[B. Diddy]

The hardware might be failing. Have you tried wiping the cache partition? https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-clear-the-cache-on-the-nexus-6p

 

[GSDer]

Shut it off completely, wait a few minutes and regular power on?
Otherwise time for a Factory Reset...

 

[kmcochran]

Thanks for the replies. I did turn it off completely this morning for a few minutes and then restarted and the fingerprint sensor does not react. I'll try wiping the cache and see if that helps. I see that we can also set up facial recognition. Have either of you used that?

I'm just trying to keep this thing going for a few more months until I can get a new phone. My microphone is not working properly either, so if I want to talk on the phone, I have to use my earbuds and mic.

 

[B. Diddy]

I've never tried the Trusted Face feature -- it's not particularly secure, but at this point, I'm guessing you'll take what you can get.:-\

My main worry for you is that the phone is getting ready to fail completely, so I'd make sure all of your important data is regularly backed up or synced.

 

[GSDer]

I see that we can also set up facial recognition. Have either of you used that?

My microphone is not working properly either, so if I want to talk on the phone, I have to use my earbuds and mic.

I've never used anything besides the fingerprint sensor and the PIN/Pattern/Password methods of unlock so I can't comment there.

As far as the microphone goes you could also use the speakerphone option - that uses a different microphone from the regular one at the bottom.

 

[jxmot]

I've also recently been having trouble with my fingerprint sensor. I think the cause might be an update of one of the installed apps or android services. At first it seemed completely unresponsive. First I rebooted the phone, no change. Then I added a second fingerprint and that process completed without any issues. Still no response to unlock the phone but the pin code works.

Then I noticed that if the phone was allowed to timeout and lock the screen on its own the reader would fail. There would be no haptic responses to touching the reader and the phone does not unlock. However, if I locked the phone manually then the reader would detect my finger and unlock the phone. This behavior has been somewhat consistent.

FYI, my phone is running Android 7.x and the issue started immediately after updates via google play within the past week or so. And prior to the fingerprint issue there has also been some battery issues where the battery was drained in just a few hours. But a reboot seems to have fixed the battery problem(before the fingerprint issue started).

 

[GSDer]

@jxmot,
Time to reboot into Safe mode and see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't then it's time for a Factory Reset and setup as New.

 

[jxmot]

@GSDer

ugh! Not exactly what I was hoping to hear... bummer. But thanks for replying!

Is the apparent necessity to reboot into safe mode, and the other steps a "regular" thing with Android? Or is it specific to only certain versions?

Is "safe mode" where the system cache can be cleared?

 

[GSDer]

Rebooting into Safe mode is a simple way to make sure that no 3rd party applications (ones that you installed after running the Out-of-Box setup) are causing whatever strange behavior you might be seeing.

Rebooting into Recovery mode is where you can clear the system cache (a special reserved area that's typically not accessible to the OS) and also where you would use ADB (Android Debug Bridge, a developer tool) to fiddle with OS settings or do other developer type stuff.

Both of these things are specific to Android, but apply to most versions of Android across most OEM devices (Samsung, Google, LG, etc).

If you need more specifics let me know.

BTW, performing a Factory Reset is a way to return an Android device back to the Out-of-Box condition.