Galaxy S5 is Randomly Restarting

[MattHunt]

Hi all,

I've had my S5 for a week now and all was good until this morning when, since about 6.20am it has restarted of its own accord at least 15 times.

Sometimes it in doing something, sometimes it is idle, and once or twice it restarts and crashes out as I try to log-in.

It has done this whilst using BBC Iplayer, Samsung Music, Messages, Internet (IE) and whilst downloading update from 4.4.2 to Lollypop. It has an SD card in.

I am going to see if it is any more stable after the update, and if not try a reset, then a new SD card as people suggest here.


***Some minutes later****

So once the Lollypop update occurred it took me several goes to update Google play since the phone kept resetting although I am not sure if this the phone resetting as part of the post upgrade configuration. However, it has now hung... and crash out again.

Now it is telling me that it is upgrading apps and has let me use SMs without crashing out.

**A minutes later**
Crashed out again. So removed SD card. No difference

Factory reset. Set-up wizard stopped working and then it reset itself whilst asking my log-into a Google a/c. Upon restart it had kept the wireless settings, but again hung and then restarted when asking for Google a/c email address.

At this point I think I've tried all reasonable things and...(its has restarted as I type this)...will be walking over to the Vodafone store at lunchtime.



Thanks for the informative forum.

Matt

 

[calimero100582]

I have the same issue
I noticed that my phone (randomly!!) restarts at Midnight, 6h00 AM, 7h30 AM...
Just like a planned task

So I decided to try a little something
I created a Samsung Account
Open Galaxy Apps and let it updates everything
Setup Email software (even if I'm not using it)

So far, 8 hours without a restart, still waiting, but I tought I could share my results

 

[jmfig314]

I've been having the same problem as everyone else here, and I may have accidentally stumbled upon a solution! It's been extremely annoying--every 20 seconds my screen would freeze for a split-second, flash white, then restart. I have T-Mobile; it seems like everyone with this problem does. This led me to believe the source of the problem was our phones' network connection, so I turned off my phone's wifi and activated airplane mode. After upwards of 10 minutes, my phone was behaving normally. This was encouraging; previously, my phone would restart before I was able to unlock it half the time! I tentatively turned off airplane mode and reactivated my wifi, fully expecting the problem to reappear. However, as of yet, it hasn't randomly restarted once. So, for all of you out there with this problem, try turning off your wifi and turning on airplane mode for a while (15 minutes did it for me), then turn your wifi back on. Hopefully you'll have the same success I did.

On a side note, my phone wouldn't let me increase the brightness at one point because it said the device was overheating. Maybe this is related?

 

[wicpp]

As I told earlier my phone was randomly restarting once or twice in a day. I tried everything from wiping factor data reset, reinstalling official firmware using odin, tested my battery by revolving it on the flat table, tested battery terminals, nothing solved my problem. Ultimately I gave up and went to Samsung Service Centre in London (30 miles drive). I told them everything they tested my battery there and battery was fine according to their tests, 2+1/2 hours were left since their closing time, they said that they need to replace the motherboard of the phone and it can not be done in that much time. They told me that I will loose all my data and I am responsible myself for backup of data they will not do any backup for me, they also told me that I will loose screen protector on my screen as they have to open the screen. They asked me to leave the phone and come back again when they will call me which will be some time in next day. So I left my phone with battery with them. Next day I went to collect my phone. They said that they have repaired my phone, that is replaced the motherboard of the phone, surprisingly the screen protector was still intact, however none of the dust particles were left around the edges of screen that were there, you will understand what I am talking about if you own Galaxy S5, so most probably the screen was opened. Also the phone was in full data reset state like new phone. The service was done extremely professionally, I mean there is no mark or scratch or ding or any sign on the screws of phone from where I can tell that phone was repaired. The firmware of the phone was also freshly installed according to them.
Anyways I am using my phone from last 20 days and it never restarted itself during that time. It seems that it was a hardware fault.
It costed me 60+ miles of travel, a lot of time and parking charges It seems samsung have quality issues but I have faced dead pixel and screen bleeding issues with apple in the past as well

 

[itguy14]

Interesting. Did you have any sort of warranty left?

I've noticed it's gotten better but still a sluggish mess of a phone at times.

Just waiting till the iPhone 6s with 700a comes out then I'm done with Android and Samsung.

 

[wicpp]

I have purchased this phone new, 2 months ago, so yes there is plenty of warranty left.
I am not saying that apple is a bad, however I had faced dead pixel and back light bleeding issues in their products as well.
Good luck with your search for problem free product

 

[Evan Mohr]

Try going into recover mode (Turn off phone then hold power button,volume up, and home button) Then using volume button select Clear Cache ( some models say Partion) then reboot

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Jennifer Reilly]

Mine has been recently resetting as well. After reviewing past comments, I continued through the same steps with no avail. I checked the RAM usage and that was not the problem since I had plenty of room left. I do remember when I had an iPhone that it would shut off at 30% battery for no reason. The culprit was the craigslist app. Once I remembered this, I removed the app from my galaxy s5. We will see if this helps at all.
-Sprint network Samsung Galaxy s5

 

[TR0G3R5]

I had this issue starting last night with my S5. Have had my device for a couple of years. It ran out of battery last night and when I plugged it in to charge and powered it on (while charging), it started rebooting about every minute. I didn't even have time to get into the settings and do a factory reset. Eventually hard reset the phone (hold home and up volume while powering up) and reset the phone that way. So far, so good. I'll see if once I restore some of my data, the cycle starts again.

 

[Tom Middie]

Why note 4 freezes then goes black and vibrates 2 times and then goes to start up gets to the Samsung screen thing on the boot and restarts and vibrates again and does it for like 30m at a time and then works and maybe 1m later I does it again but most of the time when I'm out it doesn't do it but when I'm at home wanting to use it it restarts should I take it back to best buy

 

[Beta Tucanae]

I recently bought an S5. (April 2015) SM-G901F running Android 4.4.4
I have noticed that the phone regularly resets for no reason.
It is random so very hard to debug. Recently every time I took a photo it reset and no photo.
I followed various suggestions on this forum and if I turn on "Do not keep activities" in developer mode the frequency of resets decreases but it would still reset twice a day.

I spoke with Samsung who were reluctant to acknowledge the resetting issue but very quick to recommend Lollipop. They agreed 5.0.0 was a mess but that Vodafone would not push that and I should upgrade. Coincidentally when I checked for upgrades it said 5.0 was available. No indication as to what version.

I upgraded OTA 3 days ago with what turned out to be 5.02 and the phone has not reset since. The uptime in "about device" is the indicator of random resetting. The phone if anything appears to be performing better and I have not had any noticeable battery impairment. I am guessing the issue in Kit Kat 4.4.4 is that applications were updating that had been modified to support Lollipop and with lots of new APIs etc in Lollipop something is not backward compatible and the phone throws an exception and resets. I bought the S5 after the S6 was released as I reckon better phone so hopefully the upgrades will continue to come. (Voda Ireland)

 

[maltrae]

ATT S5 Active on 4.4.4 here. I've been having the same problem occasionally (a few times a week) since I got this phone (new) in November. Two days ago the problem got worse. My phone has been rebooting every 2 minutes or so while I'm browsing the internet, making calls, etc. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, it constantly reboots without fail (and drains the battery while it's doing it).
The issue does not stop in Safe Mode, but does stop when I remove the SIM card, so I went to the ATT store to replace the SIM. That fixed the problem for about an hour, but when I got home, it started rebooting again same as before.
I tried clearing the cache and doing a factory reset. That didn't help either. I now have no apps running outside of the ATT and Samsung crap.
I went back to the ATT store and strangely, it stopped rebooting while I was in the store. But as soon as I got home, it started again.
Thanks for the tip about the Wi-Fi. I have disabled Wi-Fi and so far, no rebooting. WTF does that mean? It's driving me crazy and I'm ready to smash this stupid phone.
I will update later with any new insights.

New insight: I disabled the "Smart Network Switch" option under Wi-Fi and haven't had the problem since. When I enable it, the phone will reboot within 10 minutes. Can anyone test this and see if it works for them? I saw someone else had noticed an issue with the 5GHz band - maybe related???

 

[diexiel]

hey every one
luckly I dont have galaxy s 5, but my wife does. and same rebooting problems as well.
it starts rebooting after some time and after upgrading from 4.4.2 to android 5.0. the first idea was to wipe cache partition from boot menu, didnt help. after that factory reset. didnt help. we removed music and almost all installed apps, still it rebooting. we revomed sd card... same. tried to turn off the mobile data and the wi-fi. dosent helping. I even flashed the phone via odin 3.09 to stock rom 4.4.2. the phone rebooted even of the first sceen of chosing lang. seems to like it manufactoring broblem. in my opinion there is a problem with ram memory or with the cpu. its for sure have nothing to do with apps or android version.
I hope ive helped to some one and maybe answered on few questions... if some one have a solution for this let us know.

 

[ironass]

hey every one
luckly I dont have galaxy s 5, but my wife does. and same rebooting problems as well.
it starts rebooting after some time and after upgrading from 4.4.2 to android 5.0. the first idea was to wipe cache partition from boot menu, didnt help. after that factory reset. didnt help. we removed music and almost all installed apps, still it rebooting. we revomed sd card... same. tried to turn off the mobile data and the wi-fi. dosent helping. I even flashed the phone via odin 3.09 to stock rom 4.4.2. the phone rebooted even of the first sceen of chosing lang. seems to like it manufactoring broblem. in my opinion there is a problem with ram memory or with the cpu. its for sure have nothing to do with apps or android version.
I hope ive helped to some one and maybe answered on few questions... if some one have a solution for this let us know.

Hello and welcome to Android Central diexiel!

Which model of Galaxy S5 does your wife have, as per #1.2 of 40 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide?

 

[diexiel]

she using galaxy s 5 g900f and Ive flashed her pone to 4.4.2, celcom israel version

 

[ironass]

she using galaxy s 5 g900f and Ive flashed her pone to 4.4.2, celcom israel version

Try running the phone in, "Safe Mode",for a few hours, as per #1.4 of S5 Lollipop Update Problems - Dummies Guide, to see if the phone restart issue persists.

 

[diexiel]

hey there ironass ive tried to run the phone in safe mod, and soon as i start googleing and tried to use maps the phone double vibreted and rebooted... i hoped that it will be firmwere problem but seems to its a hardwere. because when the phone not in use hes not rebooting

 

[ironass]

hey there ironass ive tried to run the phone in safe mod, and soon as i start googleing and tried to use maps the phone double vibreted and rebooted... i hoped that it will be firmwere problem but seems to its a hardwere. because when the phone not in use hes not rebooting

If it is a hardware problem, then it is not across the board with 60 million Galaxy S5's worldwide. After you Factory Data Reset your phone and prior to reinstalling apps and user settings, as per #2.5 of S5 Lollipop Update Problems - Dummies Guide, did you check it out to see if it was still restarting? Also, does it restart if you remove the external SD card?

 

[diexiel]

after factory reset and also after flashing after first boot on the first screen where you need to chose the langueg it rebbots few times... with and without sd card.
there one option i didnt try, to flash and erase everything. but there is alot of photos on phone memmory.

 

[ironass]

after factory reset and also after flashing after first boot on the first screen where you need to chose the langueg it rebbots few times... with and without sd card.
there one option i didnt try, to flash and erase everything. but there is alot of photos on phone memmory.

I always recommend a Full Wipe with a Factory Data Reset, as per #2.4 of S5 Lollipop Update Problems - Dummies Guide.

See #2.1 of the guide for numerous methods of backing up your phone.