The #GalaxyS4 is a proven platform for years now. Released almost 3 years ago, the S4 has remained in the hands of millions of users right now so it can be expected that a huge number of problems occur from time to time. Below are some of the issues shared to us by our community. We hope that the solutions given below are helpful.
Galaxy S4 overheating and keeps booting itself
Galaxy S4 apps won’t work after using a third party software
Water-damaged Galaxy S4 overheating and won’t charge
Galaxy S4 text message is converted to 10-digit phone number with domain
Galaxy S4 can’t open files downloaded by browser
Galaxy S4 won’t boot completely
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Problem #1: Galaxy S4 overheating and keeps booting itself
It started this morning while I was reading an email. My phone shut down and then kept trying to reboot. Once it finally rebooted to my screen lock page I could open unlock it to my home page but if I opened any app it would shut down and keep trying to reboot.
I tried taking the battery out but it did not help. My battery was fully charged when this happened and I did not have any kind of considerable battery loss. Also, the hard drive area under and above the SIM card and SD card became very hot. I did try putting in an old battery that is very slow to charge and I am not having the issue as bad but it has shut down a few time. I am confused that it is the new battery or a phone issue. The new battery is the RavPower battery that I see as a “fix”. Help, I don’t want to spend money on a newer phone! — Janet
Solution: Hi Janet. Random reboots and overheating are some of the common symptoms of a bad battery and other hardware issues. Your first task here is to isolate the real reason for overheating and random reboot symptoms. You can do so by using a known working battery first. If both symptoms won’t show when a new battery is in place, that’s your clue that the current battery you have is not working properly. Otherwise, you have no other option but to have the phone checked so a full hardware diagnostics can be performed to pinpoint what component may be defective.
Our blog does not provide hardware troubleshooting and diagnostics, not to mention tips on how to replace defective parts. If you want to fix a hardware problem yourself, please look for other online resources like iFixit site.
Problem #2: Galaxy S4 apps won’t work after using a third party software
I have a Samsung S4 phone model GT-I9505. I tried to use a software to retrieve some deleted pictures on my phone. The software did not find any pictures but my phone stopped working. When I switched the phone on, I have the Samsung logo then it tells me that such and such (for example – Smart manager provider, Touchwiz, Unified daemon, Videoplayer, Kies, Google etc etc etc) applications has stopped. And so the phone cannot be used. I cannot access any of my contact or messages or anything at all.
Does this mean that all the info I had on the phone is gone? Has the software I used erased all the data on my phone ? Or can my phone be restored to how it was before I used the software???
The phone contains a lot of important contact numbers and information and I don’t have a back up. — Mayveen
Solution: Hi Mayveen. If your phone became unusable after using a third party software, your best bet right now is to contact the developer of said software for assistance. We don’t know how their software work so it’s tricky to give you solutions when we don’t even know where to start.
As regards the data loss concern, the amount of information that can be recovered depends on the conditions of the files right now. If the third party software has corrupted your files in the process of trying to recover deleted photos, we’re afraid that there’s nothing more that you can do right now. There’s even a chance that said software may have also deleted some critical files or folders the operating system use to load some apps. Again, we strongly recommend that you find a way to contact the developer of that software so they can help you on what to do.
There’s no other way to restore your phone to the state before you used the third party software unless you saved a full NANDroid backup somewhere.
Problem #3: Water-damaged Galaxy S4 overheating and won’t charge
Hi. I am Vannie. I got my S4 wet at work a few days ago. I worked as a pet groomer and that day I forgot to take me phone out of my pocket. After bathing the dog, I discover that my S4 was wet from the outside. I didn’t take the battery out immediately, but it was still working. After like an hour, I took the battery out and used a dryer to dry it a bit because I didn’t have much time at work.
When I came home, I plugged in the charger and it still charged perfectly but the battery drained really fast. Next morning, I brought the phone to work and charged it again but the device warned that the battery is overheating and couldn’t be charged and I couldn’t open most of the apps on the phone, only texts and calls. So, I tried to put it in the rice zipped-bag for over 24hours. Now, when I plugged it in, it still appeared battery overheating and can not be charged.
Is it too late for my S4 to be fixed now? Will buying a new replacement battery help? Thank you. — Vannie
Solution: Hi Vannie. The best case scenario here is a busted battery, while the worst can be other parts no longer working properly. There’s no way of knowing what the extent of the problem is unless you can narrow the factors down. Water damage can result to all sort of problems and a general rule of thumb in addressing it is to ensure that you only turn the phone back on if you are 100% sure that there are no moisture or traces of water left inside. Even a tiny amount of liquid can cause a short circuit a component rendering it or other parts go bust. Your smartphone has billions of transistors and even a single shorted transistor can create a negative ripple effect for the entire system. Turning on a wet phone can be its death sentence.
Having the phone checked and cleaned thoroughly is a necessity. If you can’t do that yourself, make sure to have a professional do that for you. Once that’s covered, the next best thing to do is try a new battery.
If issues persist after doing these two basic things, you can be sure that your device has a hardware issue. That means that if a technician can’t fix it, getting a replacement will be your only other option.
Suggested reading: Things to do when you have a water-damaged Android phone
Problem #4: Galaxy S4 text message is converted to 10-digit phone number with domain
Whenever I send a text to one specific mobile phone number (my sister), the text does not go through. When I send her a text message, after I hit “send” I notice that that it changes her contact/phone number from her 10-digit phone number to her 10-digitphonenumber@mypixmessages.com. Then I get the following: “Undeliverable Message: (Undeliverable Message) Message could not be delivered to mobile. Error: No valid recipients for this MM.”
I’m a Verizon customer and have troubleshooted a variety of solutions with tech support to no avail. Does anyone know what might be happening?
She can text me but I cannot text her. I have an S4 and she has an IPhone 5. This issue was happening on my previous Android as well, but I had a work-around.
Also, she previously had an Android phone and we were having similar issues. But now with this S4 I can’t text her at all. We both have Verizon and no tech support person seems to be able to help us. — Karin
Solution: Hi Karin. It looks like your network automatically changes the number to one used when you are trying to send a message in a computer via SMS gateway. One can actually send a text message from a computer to a mobile device using your carrier’s SMS gateway as long as you know the correct domain (in this case 10-digitphonenumber@mypixmessages.com). The first thing that you can try is to completely remove the number of your friend from your contacts list and add it again afterwards.
If you or your friend previously registered to PIX Place, try to deactivate your or your friend’s account from the service and try again.
Problem #5: Galaxy S4 can’t open files downloaded by browser
Hi there. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4. i did not have a problem with it and i disable a few app which i am not gonna use like Hangouts, Google+, Chrome, Drive, Dropbox, Flipboard, Google Playbooks, games, music and Newsstand which is part of Google, Samsung account and Samsung billing is the apps i disables cause i use Google Play Store to do my updates. And the web browser that i am using is Opera Mini.
If i download images on my opera mini browser it shows this 12728795_15890218680775996_6144555142001900568_n.jpg?efg=eyJpljoiYiJ9&oh=diab32e9aebaa39913cf8ec16628f78&oe=57291857. Weird thing in My Files and does not show in my Gallery and i can’t open the image cause it says i don’t have the application to open the image or that i have disabled the app to open up this image. This happens with all the images i download, even if i use another web browser.
I can still open it on my computer when i say open with paint and it shows and then i just save is as a jpeg and transfer it to my phone then it shows. But i don’t always just want to transfer to the PC and then back it takes time. Am i missing a file or is there something else wrong ?? And it been like this for about 6 months now. Help please! Kind regard. — Luna
Solution: Hi Luna. If you’re phone recognizes files forwarded from your PC but not the ones downloaded from any browser, there’s high likelihood that you may have indeed unknowingly disabled an important app. You can either manually enable all the apps or you can simply do a factory reset to restore all default settings. If you want to do the latter, please follow these steps:
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.
When the phone vibrates, 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 several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘delete all user data’ is highlighted.
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 restart the device.
Problem #6: Galaxy S4 won’t boot completely
I hope you can help me. I looked on your website but couldn’t seem to find my specific issue or the fix for it so I am hoping you can help.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 that is currently having real problems booting or something. It started off by all of a sudden. The Samsung logo boot screen would come up randomly then it would vibrate and turn off and would continually cycle like that. I took the battery out and left it for a bit, put it back in and it was fine.
However last time I tried that it didn’t work and it is now stuck in a loop. As soon as I put the battery in it turns on without me pushing the power button. The Samsung load screen comes up for about 30 seconds then it vibrates and switches off, then restarts again. Have tried new battery but it won’t even stay powered up long enough to access boot menu. Any ideas or is it dead lol?
I am in the UK using the EE network although I normally use Wi-Fi for Internet. As far as I know the operating system was Android 4.4 but I can’t check at the moment obviously!
Also, it’s a bit naughty but I’ve been downloading movies using the uTorrent app ( I do have AVG antivirus running too). Would that affect anything or could that have caused the problem?
If you have any questions then I can be contacted by email any time or on Google plus and thanks in advance for your help. — James
Solution: Hi James. An issue like yours can be due to a faulty battery, other hardware component malfunction, or even a software glitch. Because you have already tried using a new battery, the next best thing that you can do is to check if you can force the phone to boot in other modes. You want to see first you can reach safe mode. Simply follow these steps:
Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key.
When ‘Samsung Galaxy S4’ 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 phone boots in safe mode fine, restart the phone and check again if it will boot back normally. If nothing changes, boot back to safe mode and uninstall third party apps until the issue is gone.
Now, if your phone won’t even boot to safe mode, try booting in recovery or download mode (the only difference is by pressing either the Volume Up or Down button). Here are the steps to do it:
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.
When the phone vibrates, 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.
If your phone fails to boot using any of these procedures, that’s a clue that you have a hardware issue at hand. Please call Samsung or find a reputable shop to help you fix the problem.
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