Samsung Galaxy S4 - won't switch on at all!

[TiggerB]

My son's S4 has just stopped working! I have one as well so we swapped batteries, his battery works fine in mine but my fully charged battery doesn't make a difference in his. It doesn't even appear to be charging when plugged in - just looks completely dead. He got his phone virtually the day it was released on the O2 network (mines on Virgin and only a couple of days younger).

Does anyone have any ideas?

TIA

 

[Golfdriver97]

My son's S4 has just stopped working! I have one as well so we swapped batteries, his battery works fine in mine but my fully charged battery doesn't make a difference in his. It doesn't even appear to be charging when plugged in - just looks completely dead. He got his phone virtually the day it was released on the O2 network (mines on Virgin and only a couple of days younger).

Does anyone have any ideas?

TIA

Welcome to the forums!
I would suggest taking it back. It sounds like there is a problem hardware wise involving the power button.

 

[TiggerB]

Hi people im TiggerB's son

What happened is i knew it was low on battery and had plugged it into my computer to charge, but i had forgotten the fact that if you actually carry on using it while its charging it uses more power than it can get from charging, so as i was playing on it all of a sudden it just turned off, and since then it just hasnt come back on. Even when plugged in to charge the phone is lifeless, there is no battery charging graphic or anything so i think it must be something more than just the power button.

 

[markbc]

Agree with Golf, this may be hardware like the power switch or perhaps usb port. (but it should still turn on if it were usb!!!)

Only thing I could recommend:

0. check the contacts between the phone and battery
1. check your charging cable and your (wall) charger as well.
2. plug the working phone into the charger cable/charger and see if it switches to charge.
3. Replace cable and or charger if they don't appear to be connecting or charging correctly,
4. If they do seem to be working well, try turning the phone on while connected to the charger
5. If that does not work, make sure the dead phone has a reasonably charged battery (> 30%) (yours!) and then try starting it /placing it into the recovery mode.
-do a reset by Pressing and holding the Volume up + Power + Home buttons simultaneously. See if you can get the Samsung logo to appear.
- If you can, release the buttons and you should be in the stock recovery. (You can reset the phone or just restart at this point).
6. If the cable check and trying to get back to recovery both don't work, then I would recommend returning it to store for servicing or replacement as well.

Good Luck!

 

[cohenfinlay]

I have had the same problem twice. Mine was from using a charger i bought off ebay (Clearly not reliable). the first time it happened i sent it away and they just flashed the whole thing and gave it back. it happened again this morning but i found an easier solution. all i did was hold in the power button until the samsung screen came up, as soon as this comes up start tapping the button next to the home button, continue tapping this as fast as you can until you reach the home screen. this will put you in safe mode. it should work from there. it worked for mine. let me know if it fixed your problem

 

[G8rRob]

I find myself with the same problem this morning. Phone was dead. Plugged it in to charge for a few hours, and now I checked it and it won't turn on or show any life at all. TiggerB, what was your resolution?

 

[Nicky Healy Jennings]

My phone died this morning showing the same issues. At first an OS warning message came up and the phone told me to swipe to continue so I did. I made a few phone calls then 20 mins later I swiped the screen to make another call and the phone switched off. I cant even charge the phone or switch it on... what are your suggestions please?? ok 10 mins after this post, the phone switches on but comes up with the message"warning battery level is too low" with a flashing yellow triangle, it also said that charging has been paused due to this problem.. what is happening?

 

[Rhiannon Beal]

This happened to my bf's s4 this morning has anyone figured out how to fix it yet?

 

[Delo773]

I'm not a phone scientist but I would just return the phone back than to later face more issues in the future. But anyways hope the issue got resolved.

samsung > apple
note 3 > iphone

 

[Rhiannon Beal]

My bf's s4 is second hand from a family member and pretty old so I don't think they'd take it :/

 

[INSTxNZA]

The simultaneous *Volume +, power button & home button* worked for me, i also had the same problem just make sure to charge the phone as soon as it turns on

 

[INSTxNZA]

My phone died this morning showing the same issues. At first an OS warning message came up and the phone told me to swipe to continue so I did. I made a few phone calls then 20 mins later I swiped the screen to make another call and the phone switched off. I cant even charge the phone or switch it on... what are your suggestions please?? ok 10 mins after this post, the phone switches on but comes up with the message"warning battery level is too low" with a flashing yellow triangle, it also said that charging has been paused due to this problem.. what is happening?

Press the Home, Power and Volume up button at the same time and it should reboot automatically

 

[Catherine Gomez]

It worked for me but should I reset my s4? or just use it as usual?

 

[sheeny92]

The same thing just happened to me a couple hours ago. Was using my phone with about 27% left and it suddenly shut down, tried to switch it on but it took a couple tries before the Samsung startup logo flashed and then went black again. Went home and tried charging, could charge but still could not turn on (same old start up logo flash and then goes black). After an hour, I switched off the charger and tried to reboot it, take out battery etc etc but now it simply remains black.

HELP! First time this has happened, it's only three months old. Had some issues with auto shut down (like maybe five times the past few months) but could always turn it on again.

 

[Joe Vile]

Do u know how to boot into recovery? This happened to me too. Unfortunately you'll have to do a factory reset but most things apps etc should sync up with Google/Samsung account

Posted via Android Central App

 

[gordyvision]

I just got the same problem....holding the power button, volume up, and home doesn't work...just causes the samsung screen to show up for a second and then goes black again. This is extremely frustrating especially knowing I cannot even reset the phone and get rid of my data in case I wanted to get rid of the phone.

No matter what I can't turn the phone on and plugging it in doesn't do anything. Please help.

 

[Michael Gershkovich]

The same is here. My phone works and charges well until it turns off because of battery. Once it happens I have to perform voodoo dance to make it charging. Connecting the original charger doesn't take effect and I need to connect / disconnect the charger and install/uninstall the battery tens of times before it starts charging. So I'm trying to keep my phone turned on and charge it before it turns off, but my biggest fear is that one day my Voodoo Dance will stop working and the phone will finally die.

 

[Rikki Wallace]

Same with me
Mine just got sent off to samsung will le you know what the outcome is...

 

[Gw8419]

Same with me
Mine just got sent off to samsung will le you know what the outcome is...

Hey, did you ever get to the bottom of this issue? My S4 is doing exactly the same!

Kind regards.

 

[tinskie17]

what is your solution for this? had the exact problem. thanks