Galaxy S4 shuts itself off when I use Google or Google voice search

[elprofesor2112]

Lately, my S4 has a habit of shutting itself off. It does so in very specific sets of circumstances: 1.) Sometimes, when the "low battery" popup appears at 20%, the phone will immediately shut off right after; 2.) Sometimes, at between 40% and about 25% charge left, use of the Google widget (specifically - no other app seems to do this) will cause the phone to shut down; 3.) At below 20% or 25% charge, any use of the Google voice search feature (tapping the mic icon in the Google widget) will work, but the phone will shut down before the search is completed, 100% of the time; 4.) At below 15% or 20%, the phone will shut down seemingly randomly, though at that low level any use of Google (tap or voice) seems to kill it pretty consistently. This does not happen, no matter the charge level, if it is plugged in and actively charging. An At&T sales rep in a corporate store said she thought the battery was "swollen" and tried to sell me a new battery for an outlandish price, like 40 bucks (I think I can get them from Samsung online directly for $8 or $9). Does any of this ring a bell with anybody? It's so frustrating, and as time goes on, it seems like the %ages it will conk out on are getting higher. Will swapping the battery solve it, or am I looking at an actual phone issue, do you think?

 

[LongbranchPennywhistle]

I had this issue before I replaced my S4, but it wasn't specific like you mentioned, it just happened....a lot. Restarting at random 7-10 times a day, even while sitting in my pocket idle.

Couple things you could try though:
1) Boot into recovery mode, and wipe the system cache

2) Back it up, and do a full factory reset.

3) It COULD be, because I did encounter this issue myself, the device overheated. The battery then became swollen enough to were it was lose and would lose connection with the contacts, thus turning the phone off. Only solution was replacing the battery.

4) Could also be internal damage to the power button. I've seen and heard of a few S4's and even S3's were the power button would become partially stuck in a depressed position, causing the phone to turn of at random. Which would most likely not be an easy DIY fix sadly.

And yes, tell AT&T to screw off, you can buy a battery on amazon for way less than 40 bucks.

 

[ckkhoo]

I had the same problem, factory reset or soft reset doesn't help. It turns out that the power button is faulty, it's shorted from time to time causing it to turn on by itself or keep rebooting itself indefinitely.

Here's a link I found to troubleshoot if the power button is faulty. It's pretty detailed and definitely not for the amateur. If you are ready for the challenge go for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l_6fwzuIwA