Had S5 since August or so. The other day, I went home for lunch and plugged it in to charge. It was maybe in the 50s to 60s percent-wise, and after, it was 86%. Went back to work and back to what I was doing with the phone, which was listening to Pandora.
I put in my earphones, started Pandora, and thought all was was well. But I didn't hear any music, so I looked. There was the "play" arrow as if I had stopped it or something. So, I tapped that, but I only heard one of Pandora's commercial/ads, and then it still didn't play. I decided to restart my phone to see if that would "unfreeze" whatever was hanging Pandora.
During the shutdown - right before the screen went dark - I received a text notification but didn't look at the text. The phone appeared to shutdown normally - and otherwise behave normally. However, it didn't restart on its own. So, I tried to power it up myself. Nothing. So, I took the back off, thinking to take out the battery and replace it again. This was the first time I've ever taken the back off. And still nothing.
After work, I took it to the AT&T store, where they tried to power it up normally. Then, they did the power, home key, and up volume method. Nothing. I suggested they try one of their batteries, and that didn't do anything for my phone. Nor did my battery power up theirs. I thought that was weird since my battery was charged up pretty high earlier.
So, they suggested I go to the Best Buy nearby because they had the Samsung Experience thing. They essentially did the same tactics. The guy there said he was going to flash the OS - that usually fixed some problems, he said - but it wouldn't power up, so that was a no go.
The AT&T guy gave me the number to schedule a service where I send in my phone and they give me a replacement. The Best Buy guy told me about 2 nearby Samsung Repair Centers to try. I have yet to do either because I don't want to lose my pictures and videos of my kids and family and stuff. I have been told that probably the techs will do a "hard reset" of my phone, and I'll lose all my data.
I never put in an SD card because the internal storage of the phone was so great that I didn't see the need. If I had done so, then this would be a simple matter of using my computer to get the pics off the card. I regularly upload the pics to my computer, but I hadn't done so in a couple of weeks maybe, and we just had a couple of special occasions that I documented.
I also chatted with a Samsung rep over the phone to basically the same replies and suggested actions.
My phone is under warranty, so there's no charge (they say) for having them look and work on my phone. I have heard some say that I may be able to go to a data retrieval company, but would something like that void my warranty? I am only just back in town, so I haven't been able to go to the Samsung Repair Center yet, so I'm not sure what tools and capabilities they have either. I have my google account on my phone, but I don't use Google Drive, as some do. So, it seems that only my password or contact info may be stored, not pictures.
Anyway, I think this is all the pertinent info...ah, wait. I knew I'd forget something. This is interesting to me. So, after going to AT&T and Best Buy, I came home and swapped batteries with my wife's phone - same one, but white while mine is black. Just like in the AT&T store, my phone wouldn't power on (no indicator lights or anything), and hers wouldn't either. But my battery was almost full, I said to myself. So, I decided to charge her phone with my battery inside. And her phone showed the charging screen, and the battery was dead! I don't know how it went from 86% to nothing. Weird. After charging, it still wouldn't power my phone at all. However, hers did boot. So, I'm not sure where the problem lies. Also, I did try charging my phone, but it wouldn't do anything - no matter whose battery was in it.
So, yeah, I think finally, that's it. Do you know of any way to retrieve my pics and videos or will I just have to accept them being wiped out? Thanks for listening/reading. Sorry so long. I appreciate any help or advice you and your colleagues can give. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Shane
I put in my earphones, started Pandora, and thought all was was well. But I didn't hear any music, so I looked. There was the "play" arrow as if I had stopped it or something. So, I tapped that, but I only heard one of Pandora's commercial/ads, and then it still didn't play. I decided to restart my phone to see if that would "unfreeze" whatever was hanging Pandora.
During the shutdown - right before the screen went dark - I received a text notification but didn't look at the text. The phone appeared to shutdown normally - and otherwise behave normally. However, it didn't restart on its own. So, I tried to power it up myself. Nothing. So, I took the back off, thinking to take out the battery and replace it again. This was the first time I've ever taken the back off. And still nothing.
After work, I took it to the AT&T store, where they tried to power it up normally. Then, they did the power, home key, and up volume method. Nothing. I suggested they try one of their batteries, and that didn't do anything for my phone. Nor did my battery power up theirs. I thought that was weird since my battery was charged up pretty high earlier.
So, they suggested I go to the Best Buy nearby because they had the Samsung Experience thing. They essentially did the same tactics. The guy there said he was going to flash the OS - that usually fixed some problems, he said - but it wouldn't power up, so that was a no go.
The AT&T guy gave me the number to schedule a service where I send in my phone and they give me a replacement. The Best Buy guy told me about 2 nearby Samsung Repair Centers to try. I have yet to do either because I don't want to lose my pictures and videos of my kids and family and stuff. I have been told that probably the techs will do a "hard reset" of my phone, and I'll lose all my data.
I never put in an SD card because the internal storage of the phone was so great that I didn't see the need. If I had done so, then this would be a simple matter of using my computer to get the pics off the card. I regularly upload the pics to my computer, but I hadn't done so in a couple of weeks maybe, and we just had a couple of special occasions that I documented.
I also chatted with a Samsung rep over the phone to basically the same replies and suggested actions.
My phone is under warranty, so there's no charge (they say) for having them look and work on my phone. I have heard some say that I may be able to go to a data retrieval company, but would something like that void my warranty? I am only just back in town, so I haven't been able to go to the Samsung Repair Center yet, so I'm not sure what tools and capabilities they have either. I have my google account on my phone, but I don't use Google Drive, as some do. So, it seems that only my password or contact info may be stored, not pictures.
Anyway, I think this is all the pertinent info...ah, wait. I knew I'd forget something. This is interesting to me. So, after going to AT&T and Best Buy, I came home and swapped batteries with my wife's phone - same one, but white while mine is black. Just like in the AT&T store, my phone wouldn't power on (no indicator lights or anything), and hers wouldn't either. But my battery was almost full, I said to myself. So, I decided to charge her phone with my battery inside. And her phone showed the charging screen, and the battery was dead! I don't know how it went from 86% to nothing. Weird. After charging, it still wouldn't power my phone at all. However, hers did boot. So, I'm not sure where the problem lies. Also, I did try charging my phone, but it wouldn't do anything - no matter whose battery was in it.
So, yeah, I think finally, that's it. Do you know of any way to retrieve my pics and videos or will I just have to accept them being wiped out? Thanks for listening/reading. Sorry so long. I appreciate any help or advice you and your colleagues can give. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Shane