Welcome to the 55th part in our series of troubleshooting articles dedicated to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Although this isn’t the latest Note model out in the market it is still considered as a high end device and can even compete with some of the recent flagship models. The software upgrade to Android Lollipop will make this model seem like new again for its owners.
In this latest installment of the series we will tackle some of the latest emails that we have received from our readers concerning this model. We however can’t accommodate all of your emails since we are receiving a huge volume every day. If we haven’t featured your email then try checking our previous posts on this model as the issue that you have with your phone may have already been answered.
If you own a Galaxy Note 2 or any other Android device for that matter then feel free to send us an email at mailbag@thedroidguy.com. We will be more than happy to assist you with any concern that you may have with your device. This is a free service we are offering with no strings attached. We however ask that when you do send us an email ty to be as detailed as possible so that an accurate assessment can be made and the correct solution can be given.
If you would like to browse the previous parts in this series then check out this link.
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Note 3 Randomly Saving Screenshots Of Games/Webpages Visited
Problem: Hi there. My NOTE 3 has started randomly saving screen shots of games I play on + Web pages I visit. How do I stop this?
Solution: Do you recall when this issue occurred? Did you happen to install an app prior to this happening? If this issue occurred right after installing a certain app then try uninstalling that app first and see if the problem remains.
You should start your phone in Safe Mode to check if this issue is app related. In this mode, only the default apps are loaded while the third party apps installed in your phone are disabled.
Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key.
When ‘GALAXY Note 3′ appears on the screen, release the Power key. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
‘Safe mode’ will display in the bottom left corner of the screen. Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode.’
If in Safe Mode the issue does not occur then it’s probably caused by an app. Find out what that app is and uninstall it.
There’s also a possibility that this may be a hardware related issue. Try checking if any of your phone buttons are stuck. Specifically, check the power button and the home button. In most cases if the power button is stuck the phone takes random screenshots whenever you accidentally press on the home button.
Note 3 Call Problem When Using VoLTE
Problem: T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – SM-N900T
Connecting Issue:Whenever I received a call, LTE switched to 4G, after a call, it would switch back to LTE. When making calls, LTE would switch to 4G, after the call, back to LTE which was normal, great. In the middle of January, there was an outage for like 30-40 minutes and the signal bars were crossed out with a “x”. After services seemed to be back up again, I’m making a call by swiping right on the contacts name, and instead of seeing “calling” it says “VoLTE call HD” and my phone stays on LTE. great, I figured VoLTE was initialized in my area now. In Settings, Device, Call, there are “Voice over LTE settings”, 2 options, “Use VoLTE when available” and “Do not use VoLTE”. When I choose “Do not use VoLTE”, I cannot receive calls or txt msg’s or voice mail notifications. When I make a call, it switches to 4G and missed txt msg’s or vmail notifications pop up. When I call my phone (obviously with another phone), it either rings a few times, then goes to vmail, or goes straight to vmail. The only way I can receive calls is if I switch Network mode to WCMDA/GSM (auto connect). I don’t want to use VoLTE for many reasons, regardless, having the phone on 4G all the time is ridiculous. What’s the solution? Seems like no one has VoLTE and I’m the only one and if others do have it, they are not having this issue. From what little I’ve found on forums, “Do not use VoLTE” setting works fine for others.
Service Menu help:In SERVICE MODE MAIN MENU, I went into UE SETTING & INFO, then SETTINGS, then PROTOCOL, then NAS, then UE USAGE SETTING and it has 2 choices [1] VOICE CENTRIC [2] DATA CENTRIC. I forget which mine was under and not sure which one to choose? I accidently changed it when addressing the above issue. There literally is nothing on this online, I found 1 reference on XDA, but it doesn’t mention what the default setting is. Also, Is there any way to put Service Menu settings back to default? If anyone knows, it would be you guys, thank you for your time…
If I cannot fix these issues, I will have to have it repaired, my question is, would I be better off taking it to T-Mobile store for help, or a Samsung Service Center?
Solution: From the way I see this, It looks like when you choose the “do not use VoLTE” setting your phone loses connectivity. The connection only comes back when you try to make a call which activates your phone 4G connection. Since the connection is present, messages and voice mails will start arriving. This looks like a software related issue that may be addressed in future updates.
However, just to verify that no app or data glitch is causing this problem you should consider doing a factory reset on your phone. This not only eliminates the possibility of an app or corrupt data causing this issue, it also resolves your second question since your phone will be restored back to its default state. Make sure to back up your data before proceeding.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.
When ‘GALAXY Note 3′ appears on the screen, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘delete all user data.’
Press Power button to select and start the master reset. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to turn the restart the device.
Note 3 Stops Playing Audio During Screen Timeout
Problem: Hi- I have a Galaxy Note 3. For some reason this phone doesn’t play audio books during screen time out (when I press the side button to be more precise) it just cuts outs, same with YouTube. My friend has an S5, if he presses the side button to send his phone to sleep his audio book resumes playing uninterrupted. Any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.
Solution: Does this issue occur when you are playing streamed content? If so then the Wi-Fi connection on your phone may be set to turn off when your phone goes to sleep.
Navigate to Menu
Tap Settings
Tap Wi-Fi and select the menu button again.
Select Options, Advanced
Set Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep to Always
If the issue persists then try checking if there is a new software update available for your phone. These updates usually come with bug fixes that may help resolve the issue you are having with your phone right now.
Note 3 Handsfree Wire Damage
Problem: My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 handsfree wire got damage near its plug, now i am hearing sound from one side the one without volume buttons please help me to solve this problem.
Solution: The damage may have cut one of the wires that connects to one side of the handsfree earpiece. It’s best to just get another handsfree headset.
Note 3 S Notes Missing
Problem: HI GUYS. From last 2 weeks I’m facing some issues in my Note 3, I have saved several things on note pad bt I couldn’t find those notes, nd when I open SNote it says there were nothing to show, bt I have saved so many things on that pls try to help me to solve this.
Solution: Could it be that the notes were not properly saved or were deleted? Try creating a test note and save it. Check on this saved note after a day and see if it is still there. If it is then the previous notes may not have been saved properly or were deleted.
If you have synced your S Notes to your Samsung account then try to resync your account again. If your lost notes were saved in the cloud then they will reappear again in your phone.
Note 3 Can’t Connect To Mobile Data
Problem: Hi, I just received my galaxy note 3 in the mail last night and I’ve noticed it will not let me on the Internet unless I am on wifi. I have checked my data network settings and have enabled the ability to switch back and forth. I currently have my data roaming enabled. I have tried it with and without that enabled. My carrier is AT&T. I normally have good service but it doesn’t say 4G or lte at the signal bar. Can u help me understand why it won’t use my data network. It worked fine on my iPhone 4s I had before this phone. Thanks.
Solution: The first thing that you need to check is if your phone has the correct APN settings. These settings are unique for each carrier and allows your phone to use the mobile data feature. To check if you have the correct settings follow the steps listed below.
Go to Settings
Go to Wireless & Networks
Tap More Networks
Tap Mobile Networks
Tap Access Point Names
Check if your phone has an entry for ATT. If it has then click on it and verify if the settings are correct. If it does not have one then create a new one and name it ATT.
Name: ATT Phone
APN: phone
Proxy: Not set
Port: Not set
Username: Not set
Password: Not set
Server: Not set
MMSC: http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net
MMS port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 410
Authentication Type: None
APN type: default,mms,supl,hipri
APN protocol: IPv4
Bearer: Unspecified
You may also contact the help hotline of AT&T for assistance in checking your phone APN.
Note 3 External Microphone
Problem: HI there, Thanks for your service! I’m trying to shoot better videos by using an external microphone. Do you have any recommendations for microphone set ups and will my phone be compatible. When I plug earbuds with microphone into the Note 3 and shoot a video the microphone does not work on the video making me think there is a settings action I need to take care of. Any insight? Thanks so much!
Solution: I was also previously trying to find external microphones that best suits my Android phone. I found the Sony Stereo Microphone STM10 to work well in my case. You should check it out and see if this suits you. What I liked about this device is that it is small enough to carry around and is able to record stereo sound with its two microphones which can be adjusted.
Note 3 Randomly Missing Text Messages
Problem: Help! I keep missing texts. It is very sporadic and I may not even ever know about a lot of them, but people will say: didn’t u get my text? It’s been going on for a couple of weeks now. I’ve noticed it once or twice here and there in the past, but nothing like the frequency with which it is now occurring. I’ve been to tmobile twice. They switched out my sim card, to no avail. Now they’re wanting to swap me out with a refurbished phone, which I don’t want. They’ve mentioned something about tower work a couple of times, but I know other people with the same service provider with no problems. I am not having problems with phone calls or Gmail as far as I can tell. It seems limited to the occasional receipt of texts. .. from different devices, the same device and different carriers and the same carrier. I can discern no rhyme or reason! A friend’s sister and husband have been having the same problem. One of them is on Verizon and the other Sprint. They were told it’s their Samsung devices. Another friend goggled and saw problems with Samsung. I’m in Columbia, South Carolina. The device is about a year old. Thanks for ANY insight u may have! I’m @ a complete loss! I don’t know if I might have a virus? I have plenty of memory available.
Solution: The best option that you have right now is to perform a factory reset on your phone. If this is a software related issue then the factory reset will help resolve this. Just make sure to back up your phone data before proceeding.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.
When ‘GALAXY Note 3′ appears on the screen, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘delete all user data.’
Press Power button to select and start the master reset. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to turn the restart the device.
If after the factory reset the issue still persist and you are still missing text messages you may want to consider swapping your phone.
Note 3 Does Not Completely Read 128GB SD Card
Problem: Hey guys, was wondering if you could help me out with this problem I have. My Sprint Samsung Galaxy Note 3 won’t seem to read all of my sandisk 128 gb micro sd card. It only holds items like music and pictures to a portion of gig space. But then everything gets corrupt after a certain amount. And if I save something or add it to the card it doesn’t work. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I really want to use the full amount of this card on my phone. Thanks guys!
Solution: It looks like your SD card may be faulty. Take it out from your phone and connect it to your computer. Copy all of the content of the SD card to a specific folder in your computer. Once you have backed up everything try copying files to the card until it reaches its maximum capacity.
If the same error occurs then it’s definitely an issue with the SD card. You should format the SD card using your computer then try to copy files again into it to fill it to capacity.
If the issue disappears then formatting the card may have fixed it. You can then copy the previously backed up content back to the card.
If the issue however persists then consider getting a new SD card.
Note 3 Keeps On Restarting
Problem: Thank you for your time first of all. My wife recently dropped her note 3 and it had a Crack top right corner. Immediately it turned off. Now when I try to turn it on, the stem does not come on and it seems that it is restarting over and over. I can feel it vibrate each time I think it’s restating. No screen display but the blue light comes in after few seconds of it supposedly restarting. Please help and Thank you so much.
Solution: Since the phone was dropped the impact may have damaged certain components inside it. Your best option is to bring your phone to an authorized service center and have it checked.
Note 3 Multi Window Not Working
Problem: My multi window won’t turn on. I have a Samsung galaxy note 3 version 4. 4. 2 the multi window is a light green but not like the other buttons on my notification bar. It won’t do anything if I long press it & I can’t turn it on in the settings. It was working just fine & then it just froze or something. I’ve had my note 3 for about 8 months & I love it, but lately its been freezing up, & when I turn it off & turn it back on my wallpaper is gone & it just starts bringing up all these different Apps. Any suggestions??
Solution: If the multi window feature of your phone freezes or is not responding then you should try clearing its cache and data.
From the Home screen, tap the Menu key.
Tap Settings, and then tap the General tab.
Tap Application Manager.
Swipe to left or right to display contents of the All tab.
Scroll to and tap FlashBar Services.
Tap Force Close button first.
Tap Clear Cache. (The next step will delete your settings and some of your messaging data.)
Tap Clear Data, and the OK.
Note 3 Apps Not Loading On Wi-Fi Network
Problem: Mr. Droid Guy, Within the last few days, my galaxy note 3 has not been pulling data reliably when connected to my home wireless network. Apps like Facebook and many if not all Web pages refuse to load properly (I’m using dolphin browser). Whenever I disable my wireless, the apps and Web pages load near instantaneously on my mobile data connection. In basic troubleshooting, I found that apps like Twitter, flip book, and pinterest were not suffering the same issue, and when I used the pre-installed Samsung Internet browser, all pages loaded without issue. The problem seems to be unique to dolphin browser and Facebook. I just downloaded a system update from my carrier (t-mobile) last night in hopes it would fix the problem, but it persists even after the update. I have no security software aside from avast mobile security active, and I have not changed any settings. Can you provide any guidance or advice? I would really like to avoid a factory reset. Side note, my wife began to experience the same issues on her galaxy s5 around the same time. Could it be app related? Thanks in advance!
Solution: Try to temporarily disable or uninstall your Avast security software then check on your Facebook and Dolphin browser using a Wi-Fi connection. If both apps can connect then Avast may be blocking these apps from connecting. Try checking on the settings of Avast to resolve the issue.
If the issue persists then try connecting to a different Wi-Fi network. If both apps can connect then your Wi-Fi may be blocking access to both apps.
If both apps still can’t connect using a different Wi-Fi connection then try clearing the cache and data of both apps.
From any Home screen, tap the Menu key.
Tap Settings.
Tap the General tab.
Tap Application manager.
Swipe to the All screen
Tap the desired application
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
Tap Clear cache.
Note 3 Unable Download Issue
Problem: I have a Galaxy Note 3 & when turning the phone on out pops up a notice in a white box on the bottom of my phone that says ( UNABLE TO DOWNLOAD AT THE MOMENT, PLEASE TRY AGAIN). It does this through out the entire time that I’m on it & when checking my phone if any apps is running, there isn’t any.. Please help me. I have a few things in my text that I could be able to download before but now it’s not letting me. If someone sends me a picture or mms message, I can’t download it at all.. Thank You
Solution: Have you checked if your phone has a good Internet connection? This error message usually occurs if your phone is not connected to the Internet. Since the issue seems to be related with downloading a picture message then it’s best if you have a mobile data connection. Make sure that your phone can connect to your carrier’s data network. You may also want to check on your phone APN setting and see if it matches that of your carrier. This setting allows your phone to connect to the mobile data network. If you are having a problem checking in this setting then contact the help hotline of your carrier.
Note 3 Screen Timeout Every 15 Seconds
Problem: Good morning, Before I smash this phone to smithereens please explain and help me fix the problem that this Big Gurl has with black out screen every 3 -15 sec! I have the setting on 5 mins n it resets to 15 secs automatically. Nothing like being in the middle of reading or writing emails n BAMB… black screen. Have to push button then swipe to open…with pass code n hope your work is still there!
Solution: This issue may be caused by a third party app that is installed in your phone. To check if this is the case you should start your phone in Safe Mode.
Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key.
When ‘GALAXY Note 3′ appears on the screen, release the Power key. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
‘Safe mode’ will display in the bottom left corner of the screen. Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode.’
If the issue does not occur in this mode then it is likely caused by an app. Find out what that app is and uninstall it.
If the issue persists then you should wipe the cache partition of your phone.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key
When ‘GALAXY Note II’ appears on the screen, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power key to select and wipe the cache.
With ‘reboot system now’ highlighted, press the Power key to restart the device.
Note 3 Recorded Audio/Video Not In Sync
Problem: Hello The Droid Guy, I am using samsung galaxy note 3 and it is been almost 10 months of it. Now I have a problem in it, when I shoot a video from my phone and then view it after words, the sound and video doesn’t get synced and thus the sound gets completed way before the video gets completed. Help me out how to solve this problem.
Solution: This issue may be caused by corrupt temporary data stored in your camera app. Try clearing the cache and data of this app to resolve the issue.
From any Home screen, tap the Menu key.
Tap Settings.
Tap the General tab.
Tap Application manager.
Swipe to the All screen
Tap the Camera application
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
Tap Clear cache.
Note 3 “Unfortunately SNS Has Stopped” Error
Problem: Hi, I hope you will be able to help me. I haven’t had a problem with this phone until yesterday. I keep getting a pop up message say ” unfortunately sns has stopped” to get the message of the phone I have to press ok. I do not use facebook, twitter or anything like that on my phone, is this problem anything to do with this. It only came on whilst I was sending a picture message. How do I either enable this sns or get rid of the message, as it is coming up whilst making a call or sending a txt. I hope you understand what I am asking as I do not know what sns is. Hope you can help.
Solution: SNS stands for Social Network Services and is usually present in phones with social network apps integrated into the system. Some phone owners say that a battery pull helps resolve this issue. While your phone is turned on remove its battery and reinsert it after a minute.
This issue can also be resolved by wiping the cache partition of your phone.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key
When ‘GALAXY Note II’ appears on the screen, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power key to select and wipe the cache.
With ‘reboot system now’ highlighted, press the Power key to restart the device.
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The post Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Problems, Errors, Glitches, Solutions and Troubleshooting [Part 55] appeared first on The Droid Guy.