Galaxy S5 is Randomly Restarting

[hybucket]

I did a Clear Cache Partition thing, cause I wasn't quite ready to do a Factory Reset, and that seemed to help. However, now I've got a new problem...an overnight charge seems to work well til it gets down to about 50%. Then, it's downhill really fast, losing about 10% an hour, with the phone just sitting idle. One weird thing after another, and certainly agree about AT&T reps knowing far less than the info you can find in the forums.

 

[scottcruss]

Anyone find a fix for this yet?

I know this is not hardware related. I had the same problem with the Lollipop release until an update came out. I have never dropped my phone. I tried a full factory reset and many clear caches with no help. (and unless you are rooted, backup software does not really work completely) I have tried disabling lots of features and no positive outcome. I have not tried removing all apps yet or just working in safemode. But this definitely has something to do with software... most likely a driver issue.

 

[wec123]

really frustrated with this boot loop defect. it's affected thousands of people across the world and samsung has yet to really acknowledge it as a factory defect. if it occurs after the warranty you have to either pay them to fix it with no guarantee that it will stay fixed for good, or if you have insurance you still have to pay a huge deductible. a $600 device should last AT LEAST 3 years (and that's conservative), mine didn't last 2. samsung is awful. i don't know why they expect the customer to pay for their mistake. out of the 4 people i know who own this exact phone, including me, 2 of them are now bootlooping. a samsung HDTV i bought a couple years ago had a dead pixel, getting it repaired required leaving work early (losing money) to let the repairman in... and then again a week later when the backlight became defective. now their flagship device is exploding on peoples reproductive organs. ill never buy another piece of crap from them again

 

[KimMcG]

Mine will just up and restart. Doesn't matter what you are doing - listening to music, whatever. Tonight it was in the middle of a call. It was quiet and I heard the T-Mobile jingle before I realized the damn thing rebooted!

I'm getting so frustrated with this thing - if it's not the stuttering worse than a Turrets patient when using BT, the reboots, and the general flakiness. I'm hoping Lollipop fixes this mess or I'm seriously thinking iPhone 6+ is coming my way...

I've been dealing with the same issue! This is already replacement #1. At the Verizon store the guy told me it's because there's too much stuff on my phone, & that you should always leave 1 gig free. (How the hell is THAT possible?!) Guess I'll have to get another one. It stinks because I really do like this phone

 

[JPMay]

Hey guys, like most of you I am (was) having problems with my Galaxy S5 but I think I've fixed mine and just wanted to register here and share my experience if just to add to the knowledge base. I'll try to make this as short as possible, but the jist of it is that - more than the phone being full of too many apps - I think the culprit is the numerous background processes running, added by the latest firmware update (as of Oct 2016). The firmware has the phone doing too much.,

Background:

Bought the phone around April of 2015 from Tmobile, never dropped it or mishandled it, it has a basic protective cover, never tampered with it's firmware, and hardly uploaded any 3rd party apps, I've also been through several major over-the-air firmware updates since I had the phone (like marshmallow). But around (maybe) August of this year (2016) after the latest firmware update around that time, my phone started having "charging" issues that continued for 2 months eventually leading to the phone freezing in sleep mode or frequently rebooting with the phone remaining hot until the battery was drained.

I did everything most of you have done to try to fix the problem, including manually installing the latest software, buying a new battery, new charger but eventually the rebooting would return.

The only time I noticed longer stability (and by that I mean the phone lasting at least a day before rebooting/freezing at night) is when I factory reset the phone, reentered my account info and reinstalled apps. The phone would run smoothly for a bit, but after a while the phone would get unnaturally hot and would eventually restart it's "sickness".

I read every posts on this thread, and did notice a correlation with being away from my home wifi (when my phone run smoothly while I was out and about), and yet when I returned home and sat the phone down it would eventually freeze in sleep mode or start to reboot.

My warranty had expired and the only solutions my carrier had were what I already tried (apart from sending in the phone to have fixed for hundreds of dollars). So I started to consider everything I was experiencing and reading from sites like this and here's what I concluded...The new firmware's "default" settings are laboring the phone's resources too much for it to keep up so it reboots until reboot eventually fails or battery drains. My phone was:

Sending diagnostic data to Samsung...

Sending diagnostic data to Tmobile...

Sending diagnostic data to Google...

Auto-switching between wifi or data, or between data frequencies to maintain steady internet...

Increasing location data accuracy using wifi and bluetooth **EVEN WHEN WIFI AND BLUETOOTH ARE TURNED OFF** (!?!?!?)

Auto-updating all phone apps to latest versions (without my approval)

...along with the tasks that brand new system apps prepackaged with the new firmware would perform in the background...

My phone was bloated and was constantly working, maybe too hard, even when I laid it down to sleep. So the very last time my phone froze (maybe 2 days ago), I did the following:

1) Backed up any accounts (google and samsung), apps, files to cloud and then charged the phone to 100% (no matter how many times it rebooted; no matter how long)
2) Restarted in recovery boot mode (power, home, volume up)
3) Cleared cache partition & turned off phone
4) Restarted in Odin mode (power, home, volume down...and then follow screen instructions)
5) I download the new firmware to the phone again, letting it install and reboot to title screen, then turned off before it reached home screen
6) Took the battery, tmobile simcard and sdcard out and drained the phone (by holding power button for 30secs)
7) Let the phone cool off for an hour...replace the batter WITHOUT simcard (for no access to data or radio signal)
8) Restarted phone in recovery boot mode and "factory reset" phone
9) Once the phone began the registration process, I made sure NOT to give these companies any diagnostic data
10) Once it asked for my wifi login, I selected not to auto-switch (I'm a big boy, I can switch on my own if I choose to)
11) Once asked if I would share my location through wifi and bluetooth even if they're supposedly still "turned off" I said NO
12) After I re-registered my google account, at the option section to install all previous associated apps I purposely refused to reinstall/update:
Dropbox
flipboard
google play books
Google play movies
google play newsstand
google talkback
google+
samsung milk music
samsung music
samsung print service plugin
samsung+
tmobile
tmobile tv HD
I also avoided updating "google play services"

13) I went into my google play store settings and turned off "auto-update" apps, so any and all apps must be manually approved by me.
14) I also re-registered my samsung account, went into their app store and turned off "auto-update" apps
15) Any new bloatware app that I don't use I deactivated in app manager in the phone's "settings"
16) Finally, I allowed the few 3rd party apps I trusted prior to the new firmware (like youtube, paypal, etc) to download/update.

For two days now, my phone has been cool and running smoothly, with my battery's charge lasting 12+hrs in sleep mode and my charge once again like lightning. My GS5 hasn't frozen on me yet.

I'll keep you guys posted with how long it stays this way.

 

[smiljana_jan]

I have noticed the same 2 years ago, and now it is restarting again, no matter if I am using wifi or 4G. I just had quick format of the phone, 1 week ago, so it has refreshed. But still doing the same.

 

[JPMay]

Hey guys, like most of you I am (was) having problems with my Galaxy S5 but I think I've fixed mine and just wanted to register here and share my experience if just to add to the knowledge base. I'll try to make this as short as possible, but the jist of it is that - more than the phone being full of too many apps - I think the culprit is the numerous background processes running, added by the latest firmware update (as of Oct 2016). The firmware has the phone doing too much.,

Background:

Bought the phone around April of 2015 from Tmobile, never dropped it or mishandled it, it has a basic protective cover, never tampered with it's firmware, and hardly uploaded any 3rd party apps, I've also been through several major over-the-air firmware updates since I had the phone (like marshmallow). But around (maybe) August of this year (2016) after the latest firmware update around that time, my phone started having "charging" issues that continued for 2 months eventually leading to the phone freezing in sleep mode or frequently rebooting with the phone remaining hot until the battery was drained.

I did everything most of you have done to try to fix the problem, including manually installing the latest software, buying a new battery, new charger but eventually the rebooting would return.

The only time I noticed longer stability (and by that I mean the phone lasting at least a day before rebooting/freezing at night) is when I factory reset the phone, reentered my account info and reinstalled apps. The phone would run smoothly for a bit, but after a while the phone would get unnaturally hot and would eventually restart it's "sickness".

I read every posts on this thread, and did notice a correlation with being away from my home wifi (when my phone run smoothly while I was out and about), and yet when I returned home and sat the phone down it would eventually freeze in sleep mode or start to reboot.

My warranty had expired and the only solutions my carrier had were what I already tried (apart from sending in the phone to have fixed for hundreds of dollars). So I started to consider everything I was experiencing and reading from sites like this and here's what I concluded...The new firmware's "default" settings are laboring the phone's resources too much for it to keep up so it reboots until reboot eventually fails or battery drains. My phone was:

Sending diagnostic data to Samsung...

Sending diagnostic data to Tmobile...

Sending diagnostic data to Google...

Auto-switching between wifi or data, or between data frequencies to maintain steady internet...

Increasing location data accuracy using wifi and bluetooth **EVEN WHEN WIFI AND BLUETOOTH ARE TURNED OFF** (!?!?!?)

Auto-updating all phone apps to latest versions (without my approval)

...along with the tasks that brand new system apps prepackaged with the new firmware would perform in the background...

My phone was bloated and was constantly working, maybe too hard, even when I laid it down to sleep. So the very last time my phone froze (maybe 2 days ago), I did the following:

1) Backed up any accounts (google and samsung), apps, files to cloud and then charged the phone to 100% (no matter how many times it rebooted; no matter how long)
2) Restarted in recovery boot mode (power, home, volume up)
3) Cleared cache partition & turned off phone
4) Restarted in Odin mode (power, home, volume down...and then follow screen instructions)
5) I download the new firmware to the phone again, letting it install and reboot to title screen, then turned off before it reached home screen
6) Took the battery, tmobile simcard and sdcard out and drained the phone (by holding power button for 30secs)
7) Let the phone cool off for an hour...replace the batter WITHOUT simcard (for no access to data or radio signal)
8) Restarted phone in recovery boot mode and "factory reset" phone
9) Once the phone began the registration process, I made sure NOT to give these companies any diagnostic data
10) Once it asked for my wifi login, I selected not to auto-switch (I'm a big boy, I can switch on my own if I choose to)
11) Once asked if I would share my location through wifi and bluetooth even if they're supposedly still "turned off" I said NO
12) After I re-registered my google account, at the option section to install all previous associated apps I purposely refused to reinstall/update:
Dropbox
flipboard
google play books
Google play movies
google play newsstand
google talkback
google+
samsung milk music
samsung music
samsung print service plugin
samsung+
tmobile
tmobile tv HD
I also avoided updating "google play services"

13) I went into my google play store settings and turned off "auto-update" apps, so any and all apps must be manually approved by me.
14) I also re-registered my samsung account, went into their app store and turned off "auto-update" apps
15) Any new bloatware app that I don't use I deactivated in app manager in the phone's "settings"
16) Finally, I allowed the few 3rd party apps I trusted prior to the new firmware (like youtube, paypal, etc) to download/update.

For two days now, my phone has been cool and running smoothly, with my battery's charge lasting 12+hrs in sleep mode and my charge once again like lightning. My GS5 hasn't frozen on me yet.

I'll keep you guys posted with how long it stays this way.

Ok So it's been roughly a week since my last post and my phone hasn't rebooted at all. It's currently been running 229 hrs straight from regular usage (phone calls, texts, apps, games), so for me the problem was definitely related to software. I've let the battery fall to 15%, I've charged it back to 100%, I've left it on while sleeping at night, etc etc. and it's just like new.

[Something I forgot to mention in my previous post was, after I finished all the steps listed I turned off the phone to re-inserted my Tmobile simcard, then turned it back on.]

Again, my phone has been running smoothly since my last post, ever since turning OFF certain unnecessary "auto-features" and updates that run in the background after formatting and re-registering my phone.

I hope my posts were able to help you troubleshoot your problem.

 

[Bobbie404]

I too have a problem with my s5 just randomly restarting on it's own. Only sometimes when it's coming back on it gets to the att logo ball which starts spinning, but then it just freezes and it stays like that until I take the back off and remove the battery and put it back in. It's used to happen at about the same time every day, around lunch time, now it's doing it randomly, sometimes 2 times a day and no set times

 

[Rida Zainab]

Does it just freeze for a little bit then the screen turns black and vibrates twice then it restarts? That's what has been happing to my s5 ever since around the same time as yours.

Yes thats exactly what's happening to my galaxy S5. When I turn it on, it automatically shuts down and then the samsung logo ramains on the screen for few minutes and then it automatically restarts and it goes on an on.

I'm definitely gonna try this with my phone.Will let you know if it worked.

 

[manaih]

Does it just freeze for a little bit then the screen turns black and vibrates twice then it restarts? That's what has been happing to my s5 ever since around the same time as yours.

Mine is doing that too!! It just started doing that today. Any idea what could be going on?

 

[K Fonseka]

I had the same issue, found it was the battery. Check with my friends S5 phone battery which was heavier than my phone battery & it was good. When I put my battery back it was restarting again and again. So in my case it was the battery issue just 6 month old.

 

[Muzzargh]

I've had all these symptoms and tried all the fixes and even bought a new battery (which I thought had fixed it) but the only thing that has made my phone stable again is to leave WiFi turned off. Yes I chew through my mobile data now but I'd rather that than have my phone be crazy.

I had the same issue, found it was the battery. Check with my friends S5 phone battery which was heavier than my phone battery & it was good. When I put my battery back it was restarting again and again. So in my case it was the battery issue just 6 month old.

Just to confirm, my S5 is running 6.0.1