Hi,
I have this phone for little over 2 years. For over 1 week now I'm experiencing my phone not being able to wake up when I use the power button/home button. Whenever I push the button, the screen flashes for like 1s blue color, you can also see that the notification panel is blacked out and part of it green and it doesn't wake up. Sometimes it doesn't even flash. It used to take about 10 tries to wake it up but today I couldn't wake it up. I performed soft reset, I couldn't see the booting animation at all but it rebooted, buttons lit up and I was able to get in. It's like the phone is working fine in the background but the screen doesn't light up. I can turn down/up the volume, take a screenshot, get into settings, open apps, write a message but the screen is black. Even my alarm went off this morning but I couldn't dismiss it.
I downloaded an Always On Display app. Although I don't actually see the screensaver when it's locked, it's still on and it's easy to get in beacuse of it.
It all started with the screen flickering on minimum brightness. In February this year I had the screen replaced for the same issue but this time it's worse because of the blacked out screen.
Any ideas what it could be? Faulty display again?
Thank you
tessicorn said:
Hi,
I have this phone for little over 2 years. For over 1 week now I'm experiencing my phone not being able to wake up when I use the power button/home button. Whenever I push the button, the screen flashes for like 1s blue color, you can also see that the notification panel is blacked out and part of it green and it doesn't wake up. Sometimes it doesn't even flash. It used to take about 10 tries to wake it up but today I couldn't wake it up. I performed soft reset, I couldn't see the booting animation at all but it rebooted, buttons lit up and I was able to get in. It's like the phone is working fine in the background but the screen doesn't light up. I can turn down/up the volume, take a screenshot, get into settings, open apps, write a message but the screen is black. Even my alarm went off this morning but I couldn't dismiss it.
I downloaded an Always On Display app. Although I don't actually see the screensaver when it's locked, it's still on and it's easy to get in beacuse of it.
It all started with the screen flickering on minimum brightness. In February this year I had the screen replaced for the same issue but this time it's worse because of the blacked out screen.
Any ideas what it could be? Faulty display again?
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's over to have this phone for little over 2 years now you should have to change
TIP:
Flash a new stock rom of your phone from sammobile via ODIN.
Sophia.xda said:
It's over to have this phone for little over 2 years now you should have to change
TIP:
Flash a new stock rom of your phone from sammobile via ODIN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be great, but I'm not a person that buys new phone every 2 years. I was thinking about it though .
When it comes to flashing. Do you think that would help? I don't want to end up with a black screen unable to set the phone up again. Cause overall it's working great .
Hi, i have the same problem, i'm from Belgium, and I have blinking screen problem and wake up screen problem :s
is it a software issue (nougat???)
before the big update (marshmallow i dont have any problem)
i'm on firmware A510FXXS7CRJ6_A510FLUX7CRJ1_A510FXXU7CRJ6_HOME.tar.md5
Turn screen brightness up abit to stop the blinking of screen. It's an issue of the screen hardware itself at low brightness after wear and tear. As for the hanging issue, maybe it has to do with your AOD app? Try uninstalling the AOD app OR flashing a stock Rom OR custom rom OR factory reset and use your phone at a higher brightness that the screen does not blink and see whether it still persists.
conanDO98 said:
Turn screen brightness up abit to stop the blinking of screen. It's an issue of the screen hardware itself at low brightness after wear and tear. As for the hanging issue, maybe it has to do with your AOD app? Try uninstalling the AOD app OR flashing a stock Rom OR custom rom OR factory reset and use your phone at a higher brightness that the screen does not blink and see whether it still persists.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, because of my past experience with the same problem earlier this year I know about that "solution". Unfortunately, it makes the battery die faster as expected. Which is sad because I used it mainly on low brightness. So it's really not a solution at all.
I got rid of the AOD app because I found out that the phone lights up on 2nd try. AOD didn't work at all. I have to wake it up, put it to sleep and wake it up again which is always successful and the screen lights up. The screen flashes white about 3 times in a row now otherwise it works.
I haven't flashed it yet although I wanted to. But I will see what can I do. Thank you though!
I'm having the exact same issue using LineageOS.
It's already been 2 years, but since this thread is one of the first results on Google, I'll gladly add a solution.
Exact same problem for me, went through two screen repairs under warranty, and it would always come back a year later. No difference between Samsung OS and LineageOS, though I haven't tried rooting it.
Found on Ifixit: this issue is related to the AMOLED screen technology used by Samsung (among others). You can look it up, apparently there is a bad (?) voltage management in low brightness which worsen with time.
I could fix it with the "OLED Saver" application on Play Store. It works around this voltage management and allows you to reduce the brightness without the green flickering.
I still got white flashes after the installation, but not anymore the day after. I could even disable this application without the issue coming back.
I don't know what kind of magic cleanup this app performed, but it really is a (screen) life saver.
Related
I installed a battery booster app from the market, and it had an option to dim the screen, it was on 11%, well i tried to adjust it, and i guess i went way to far and it turned my screen black, i cant see nothing.
im on the Darkstone build.
is there a way to either delete that app or what, i know the phone works as i feel the vibration from me sliding it to unlock from home screen.
aznsHD2 said:
I installed a battery booster app from the market, and it had an option to dim the screen, it was on 11%, well i tried to adjust it, and i guess i went way to far and it turned my screen black, i cant see nothing.
im on the Darkstone build.
is there a way to either delete that app or what, i know the phone works as i feel the vibration from me sliding it to unlock from home screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The LCD still light up but very dim, so try going into a dark room and wake up the phone. Then you will be able to see the contain on your phone.
10507 said:
The LCD still light up but very dim, so try going into a dark room and wake up the phone. Then you will be able to see the contain on your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no its literally black, i cant see anything.
aznsHD2 said:
no its literally black, i cant see anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not even in a totally dark room?
10507 said:
Not even in a totally dark room?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like i said it is BLANK. seriously blank. its not dim or nothing.
Is there a way to restore the brightness on here, because i cant see anything im doin on it.
what you can try to do is, grab a friends phone and try to immitate the same touches on both devices, the best way to do it is by unlocking it, pressing the menu key, click on the corner to make sure u go to the settings, scroll all the way up and find your way to "display" tipically the 4th (or 5th in my case because i have cyanogen mod) and brightness (should be the one at the top) and just try to drag ur finger from left to right to increse it (as it should over pass any 3rd party app) and see if it works, but..... keep in mind these things dependeding on what phone you use to guide you....
screen size
DPI scale
sense??? or not! as settings are different
and other things, also..... when you unlock it make sure its on the home screen
i also believe if you go outside you can see the screen a little bit under the sun, but not completely sure
hope this helps, oh and by the way, if you have a build based on sense go to a sprint store and use an EVO lol, or if u have stock froyo grab a nexus one from a friend and use that (but like i said before, keep in mund the screen size)
yea thats what i was tryin to do. no luck.
I had this problem twice and rejoice, I have a solution!
Simply download "DroidExplorer" for windows.
Boot your phone in android.
Once booted (when your screen turns black), plug in USB, and launch DroidExplorer.
In DroidExplorer, look for the "Screencast" icon (little android icon).
Run that, you will see your screen. Reset brightness to a normal level.
You are saved
aznsHD2 said:
I installed a battery booster app from the market, and it had an option to dim the screen, it was on 11%, well i tried to adjust it, and i guess i went way to far and it turned my screen black, i cant see nothing.
im on the Darkstone build.
is there a way to either delete that app or what, i know the phone works as i feel the vibration from me sliding it to unlock from home screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When this happens, try shining a bright light on the screen, make sure the device is woken up (i.e. press a hard button) and view your screen from different angles. Even if the backlight is completely off, the LCD display is still active and the graphics elements just about visible.
With this method, you should be able to make enough of your screen to navigate to the brightness settings.
Screencast in Droid Explorer (for your PC) is also a good last measure.
Most apps that control brightness has this problem on HD2, so be careful about going too low in all of them. In Tasker, for example, 30 is the lowest setting that works.
Even the standard screen dimming that occurs a few seconds before screen timeout is not calibrated correctly. In all Android builds/kernels I have tried, the backlight is turned off when it should be just dimmed. Cyanogen(mod) has a setting for the dim level, but the maximum you can use is 26, which still turns off the backlight.
Curiously, sometimes (very seldom) after waking my phone up from standby, the backlight is in a much dimmer state than usual. When sliding the standard brightness from min to max, the actual brightness range varies from barely visible (but still on) to the regular dimmest level. So the device *can* support incredibly dim levels, but I've have found no way of getting into this state predictably. It has happened only 3-4 times over the past 2 months. A reboot fixes it, but I've also gotten out of this state after a locking/unlocking cycle.
So there seems to be several layers to the backlight brightness:
- the actual hardware (which supports much lower brightnesses than we're usually allowed access to)
- the Android API (which probably is the layer turning backlight off below 30, and which occasionally is fooled into using a much dimmer range than usual)
- whatever app providing the GUI (usually showing a range of 0-100% or 0-255).
Does anyone know if there's a reason for the threshold? Is it somehow risky for the LCD display hardware to be very dim?
I've owned 3 of these so far (on the 4th... let's not even go there for now)
The newest one seems to be fine overall -- but I'm wondering if this is common among other GTs--
Problem:
Turning off the screen, and then quickly turning it back on causes the backlight to start, but the screen remains black until the power button is cycled again.
Here are the conditions under which I've experienced the problem:
GT 10.1, 32GB, Gray
Screen brightness ~40% and 100%
Lockscreen and Homescreen wallpapers set to Gallery image.
It has happened to me a few times, but not often enough to bother me. There was a topic about this soon after the release and I believe the problem isn't very rare.
I'm going to be at Best Buy later today anyway, so I'm going to see if I can replicate the problem on their display models.
It's quite annoying... Could someone try to see if they have the same issue on their retail model for me? It shouldn't be difficult to. It happens a lot, personally.
Ive been trying to replicate it but no luck. not sure if it matters but I've got a pattern lock screen.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
Ever since as long as I can remember, my phones brightness will dim to a brightness so dark you just can't see it. Even if you manually set the brightness, once you lock and wake the screen, it's fine then suddenly switches to dark.
I've used multiple ROMs and they all do it. Is it a device issue, or could it be a kernel issue? I've not screwed with kernels so I don't know if it could be it. If it's a device issue, I'll be getting a replacement ASAP.
Any help is appreciated!
Now that I'm able to Google, I realize it's a common problem with the S4.
Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
Serfma said:
Ever since as long as I can remember, my phones brightness will dim to a brightness so dark you just can't see it. Even if you manually set the brightness, once you lock and wake the screen, it's fine then suddenly switches to dark.
I've used multiple ROMs and they all do it. Is it a device issue, or could it be a kernel issue? I've not screwed with kernels so I don't know if it could be it. If it's a device issue, I'll be getting a replacement ASAP.
Any help is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only time I had the screen go dim like you describe is I remember once following a phone call. It goes dark when you put the handset to your ear like it's supposed to, and lights back up when I pull it away from my head. I was stepping out of a truck into the broad daylight when I tried to hang up my phone, I couldn't see the screen very well. The other party ended the call, and my screen timed out while I was squinting at it. I pushed the home button and it lit right back up nice.
You got something going on, and if you tried all those different roms, say... can you nandroid back to stock? Did you try that?
I'd try everything I could on the outside chance of repair instead of replacement. If you get a replacement you might be stuck with that MF3 where you cannot install a custom recovery.
fukenbiker said:
The only time I had the screen go dim like you describe is I remember once following a phone call. It goes dark when you put the handset to your ear like it's supposed to, and lights back up when I pull it away from my head. I was stepping out of a truck into the broad daylight when I tried to hang up my phone, I couldn't see the screen very well. The other party ended the call, and my screen timed out while I was squinting at it. I pushed the home button and it lit right back up nice.
You got something going on, and if you tried all those different roms, say... can you nandroid back to stock? Did you try that?
I'd try everything I could on the outside chance of repair instead of replacement. If you get a replacement you might be stuck with that MF3 where you cannot install a custom recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mf3? Is that something new with the S4s to prevent custom ROMs?
It does not go pitch black. It goes very dim every time I wake the device. If you Google S4 screen dimming it's a wide problem.
Once you wake it, it's fine for 2 seconds and dims quite dark. It is not screen timeout/sleep/etc since I can still see the screen.
Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
I'm on MDJ and don't get any auto dimming of any sorts. Auto brightness is off, brightness controls about 1/3 brightness (indoors), but Power Saving mode is on with all three options on.
My S4 is MDL. I found out the problem (More than likely) was the Paranoid Android ROM. I was on ver. 3.69 and since switched to CM 10.2 Nightlies, latest as of today, and no screen dimming. I will install my usual apps and use it as normal and if it happens, it's probably an app. However, the only apps I use are ones such as SwiftKey, LightFlow, ASTRO, Chrome, and Dashclock.
I'm on stock MDL. It has only been occurring since I upgraded from MDB 3 days ago, and is a huge PITA because brightness controls are unresponsive during this time - I go into settings to adjust brightness since I have removed all the brightness controls from the notification panel as they've always worked just fine, and turn off auto brightness, scale it all the way to max, and it is still dim as crap.... Only fix I've seen is to reboot, which is obviously not ideal in most situations when I need to wake the device! I'm using STOCK kernel, STOCK ODEXED ROM as well, nothing crazy should be going on to screw with brightness settings being unresponsive either!
KryptosXLayer2 said:
I'm on stock MDL. It has only been occurring since I upgraded from MDB 3 days ago, and is a huge PITA because brightness controls are unresponsive during this time - I go into settings to adjust brightness since I have removed all the brightness controls from the notification panel as they've always worked just fine, and turn off auto brightness, scale it all the way to max, and it is still dim as crap.... Only fix I've seen is to reboot, which is obviously not ideal in most situations when I need to wake the device! I'm using STOCK kernel, STOCK ODEXED ROM as well, nothing crazy should be going on to screw with brightness settings being unresponsive either!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you by chance use Light Flow?
I solved the problem. I had "lcd_backlight" control flipped on in the settings of Light Flow. It fixed it. To tell if it's an app problem, just factory reset and try, once you boot up, to lock and wake the device to see if it happens. If it doesn't, it's an app problem more than likely, or even a general setting. Troubleshoot for the win!
Serfma said:
Do you by chance use Light Flow?
I solved the problem. I had "lcd_backlight" control flipped on in the settings of Light Flow. It fixed it. To tell if it's an app problem, just factory reset and try, once you boot up, to lock and wake the device to see if it happens. If it doesn't, it's an app problem more than likely, or even a general setting. Troubleshoot for the win!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do use Light Flow, but I don't have either one of the LCD Backlight controls enabled, never have and never will, so I don't know how that could be affecting my phone at all.... That's a good start for some, but not for me, unfortunately! Good catch though
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S 4 using the XDA app
Serfma said:
Ever since as long as I can remember, my phones brightness will dim to a brightness so dark you just can't see it. Even if you manually set the brightness, once you lock and wake the screen, it's fine then suddenly switches to dark.
I've used multiple ROMs and they all do it. Is it a device issue, or could it be a kernel issue? I've not screwed with kernels so I don't know if it could be it. If it's a device issue, I'll be getting a replacement ASAP.
Any help is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this issue before on my Galaxy S3. I ended up replacing the front glass because of a dead pixel. Come to find out I had a sensor issue and that was causing my brightness auto going to whatever level it wanted.
Perhaps you're experiencing that too. Haven't heard or read of any sensor issues yet with the S4 but you could be the lucky winner!
Great phone but, it appears to be a bug with the screen dimming.
Regarding settings, I have everything turned off. Adapt display is off. Auto-brightness is off. Auto-adjust screen tone is off also.
I know Samsung displays dim if the phone overheats but my phone will auto-dim even if the phone is cool.
What I've found out is that the phone will only dim "permanently" when the screen is about to shut off.
For example: Set the screen shut off to 30 seconds and around the 28 second mark, the screen will dim for a couple of seconds before it shuts off. This is where the auto-dimming will "permanently" kick in. When the screen dims at the 28 second mark for a second, i'll touch the screen so it doesn't shut off. But by this time, the screen has dimmed already and won't go back to the regular brightness. I have to lock and unlock the phone for the dimmed screen to go away.
This scenario has happened every single time. Extremely annoying.
Anyone else experience this?
swy05 said:
Great phone but, it appears to be a bug with the screen dimming.
Regarding settings, I have everything turned off. Adapt display is off. Auto-brightness is off. Auto-adjust screen tone is off also.
I know Samsung displays dim if the phone overheats but my phone will auto-dim even if the phone is cool.
What I've found out is that the phone will only dim "permanently" when the screen is about to shut off.
For example: Set the screen shut off to 30 seconds and around the 28 second mark, the screen will dim for a couple of seconds before it shuts off. This is where the auto-dimming will "permanently" kick in. When the screen dims at the 28 second mark for a second, i'll touch the screen so it doesn't shut off. But by this time, the screen has dimmed already and won't go back to the regular brightness. I have to lock and unlock the phone for the dimmed screen to go away.
This scenario has happened every single time. Extremely annoying.
Anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like software problem, do you use custom roms? kernels? maybe any app that could control ur screen? try to do hard reset.
GodXen said:
Seems like software problem, do you use custom roms? kernels? maybe any app that could control ur screen? try to do hard reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using stock Kit-Kat 4.4.2
No other strange apps. Ughh hate to have to do a hard reset. Just set this thing up yesterday brand new. :crying:
Have the exact same issue but it only happens some times very strange.
acerdroid said:
Have the exact same issue but it only happens some times very strange.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, same here. It happens alot. Not every single time, but alot of the times.
Try this...
Hi
As the other user said it might be the software bug.
Please try this app. Disable your auto brightness and install this software https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitocassisi.luxlite
This lite version is free. Try this. If everything works, you may consider the paid version to support the dev guy...
Hi everyone
I want to share a workaround to all of us who owns a defective S5
Symptom: You unlock your phone and it doesn't show anything. Actually, the phone is working. Capacitive buttons light up and you may heard some activity in the phone
Your phone has a defective screen. There are a lot S5 which have this problem, according to several forums. After several tries, unlock and lock over and over, the screen light up and you are able to use your phone. The problem is when you receive a call and you want to know who is calling you, the screen doesn't illuminate and you won’t be able to know who is.
Here's a workaround which makes your powerful S5 usable and take out from your drawer.
Solution:
The more effective way to fix it is: change defective screen! But sometimes it could cost as much as a new phone, or simply you can't afford it, and it's better to change your phone instead, and you put your S5 in a drawer.
The technical explanation of this problem is: Screen doesn't receive enough electrical current at low brightness levels (maybe the flex is defective, get old, etc)
Most probably the wake up problem exist together with screen flicker at low brightness levels
The wake up problem rises up more in dark environment, when light sensor make low bright screen
The lock screen light up screen, with a dim effect: when you lock the phone, it slowly turn screen off, and when you unlock, it make and effect of dim screen.
When you are is in dark environment, the effect is very slow, preventing the screen illuminate because the technical problem explained before.
When you are in very light environment, you lock screen and sensor light make the screen very brilliant and chances are you defective phone wakes up correctly.
We can use an app which give us complete control over brightness subsystem. I use an app called Velis AutoBrightness:
Once installed from Play Store, it shows a Setting Wizard. Follow the instructions. Below are some notes
• 1/7: Welcome Screen
• 2/7: How bright... Most probably is your phone always have flicker in low brightness. Choose "AMOLED" or "AMOLED bright". By the way choosing any one of those cure always minimum brightness failure!
• 3/7: Choose High sensitivity
• 4/7: On, if you want additional brightness when charging. Irrelevant for this thead. Choose your favorite setting
• 5/7: Same of 4/7
• 6/7: Choose enable: That enable the app
• 7/7: Some additional notes: Press Done
Now important settings: go to Menu > Settings > General: Settings Mode > Advanced
Service Activation settings:
• Disable system handler > ON: When you use Power saving mode, you surely noted screen flicker, which is very annoying, and make unusable power saving mode. By set this ON: Android doesn't set screen too dim; instead Velis have a minimum of brightness set by Wizard 2/7. (Surely you find out that you avoid screen flicker, by setting autobrightness off and slider in 8-10%)
Sensors settings:
• Screen-on sensor value override: Set this value to 30000. Read below this post if you want technical explanation of this setting
After you establish these settings, you'll be able to unlock your phone all the time!
This is the trick: When you unlock your phone, you'll note that the screen is very bright (because Screen-on to 30000) and quickly adjust to the environment light. The failure is that electrical current to screen is defective, and when exterior light is dark, the screen make a dim effect and doesn't light up.
Note to Marshmallow users:
• This app make use of Screen overlay permisions: And marshmallow is very restrict with this kind of app. This is specially true when you are installing an app. All you have to do is deactivate the app in notification screen: press "OFF" button, adjust system brightness upper enough to not flicker the screen, install your app, and activate Velis Autobrightness again
• Because of Doze mode, wake up from this mode may avoid your screen light up, the first time you use your phone. Let 10-15 seconds your phone wake up, lock again, and unlock again, and velis will make its work!
I hope this post make your smartphone usable. I barely apply this trick to two phones, but I think this is a good workaround!
I used this app & the flickering is still available
What worked for me is downgrading the firmware on my g900f all the way back to Android 4.0. My phone came with version 5.0 and I noticed the problem only after I kept installing samsung's system updates. Will report if the problem starts up again but I'm running rooted and running nougat just fine so I don't see a reason to keep upgrading the firmware.
Edit: nevermind, this didn't work
Reyse said:
The technical explanation of this problem is: Screen doesn't receive enough electrical current at low brightness levels (maybe the flex is defective, get old, etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anyone know for sure if it's the flex cable or some capacitors? I notice only the lower half of my screen flickers.. I bet there's a simple electrical fix for it instead of replacing the whoooole display
fbs said:
Does anyone know for sure if it's the flex cable or some capacitors? I notice only the lower half of my screen flickers.. I bet there's a simple electrical fix for it instead of replacing the whoooole display
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Have you change jour battery? If it s old it could cause some issues...
But try to buy a genuine one, I think that your battery must be old now.
Bye
cedouic said:
Hello,
Have you change jour battery? If it s old it could cause some issues...
But try to buy a genuine one, I think that your battery must be old now.
Bye
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it doesn't make any sense. the lower half of the screen flickers in green even on charger
fbs said:
it doesn't make any sense. the lower half of the screen flickers in green even on charger
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed that screen only flickers at low brightness when using Boeffla kernel for LOS14 and others based on it.
No issue for the same device with LOS or Stock based kernels.
zlazaar said:
I noticed that screen only flickers at low brightness when using Boeffla kernel for LOS14 and others based on it.
No issue for the same device with LOS or Stock based kernels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're wrong
I was using los16 with stock kernel for months with flicker everyday
fbs said:
you're wrong
I was using los16 with stock kernel for months with flicker everyday
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to that , i even went back to stock and the screen flicker appeared and such issues are well known already with samsung amoled panels back in 2014-even some panels from 2018 . So def not kernel related.
I was using los 15.1 and this problem got worse. The phone was barely usable as mentioned by the op. In my case, the screen would start flickering below 60%. Then I switched back to stock marshmallow. I noticed that 100% brightness in los 15.1 is actually only about 70% in the stock rom.
I have been using the phone at 80% brightness for some weeks now and the problem has significantly reduced. But not completely gone, it's much much better. Also, you might want to avoid using dark wallpapers.