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How to Fix Samsung Galaxy S9 with Black Screen of Death

Black Screen of Death (BSoD) isn’t the thing that is associated with computers only. Nowadays, it is often to observe them on a smartphone. In such situations, the phone becomes unresponsive, and the display screen goes blank and doesn’t display anything. This total blackout doesn’t indicate there’s nothing you could. Fortunately, we have some troubleshooting solutions to deal with such problems. In this tutorial, we’ll help you fix Black Screen of Death issue on the Samsung Galaxy S9 through different troubleshooting solutions. Until the problem is linked to the software part, we can cure it through these solutions.

The Black Screen of Death or BSoD generally happens due to corrupt files and hardware failures. Just like computers, our smartphones have different aspects linked to each other and run dependently. If for any reason, one part malfunctions than other parts would stop working properly. In Android phones, most of the time the dark screen appears due to toxic applications or some kind of configuration, that restrict the hardware or OS work properly. That makes the phone become unresponsive and sometimes things could go worse, the screen goes black and nothing works. The state where your phone’s screen turns to black and it doesn’t boot up, you might be facing BSoD problem.

Before you head towards the service center and seek help from technicians, you should try these troubleshooting methods. Most of the problems, including a black screen on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and other Android smartphones, can be cured easily. Sometimes just rebooting work, but at the same time, you might need to re-flash the firmware. Till the problem is related to Android OS, we can cure it. If you find that nothing seems to work on your phone, you better take it to the service center and try to resolve it under the warranty terms. The dead screen issues might occur due to minor glitches in the Android OS, some system apps might have crashed and affected the whole operating system.

If BSoD happens to your phone doesn’t mean that it is dead already. There could be unknown reasons that have unstabilized the system and it got crashed. Though the BSoD is a serious issue, through this tutorial, we’ll try to solve this problem through basic and advanced troubleshooting solutions. Regardless of the condition of your phone, whether it’s a brand new or old, such problems can occur. We have seen many users reporting such power-related problems on the Samsung Galaxy S9, and we think it is necessary to post this tutorial. So, at least users would know what they can do to troubleshoot such problems before they reach to the service center.

In the Black Screen of Death condition, the phone usually becomes unresponsive to user commands. No matter how many times you press the power key, the screen won’t turn On. There are greater chances that your phone might not even boot up even trying hard. So, our first priority is to check whether it able to boot into different modes like Safe mode and Recovery mode as they work independently. If your phone is able to boot into these modes, that means the problem is linked to the Android software and we can troubleshoot it easily. If none of the modes run on your phone, that means that somehow hardware part has been infected and failed. In that condition, you better take this smartphone to the service center. And before you do that, just try to implement these following troubleshooting methods to see if your phone sprinkles back.

Troubleshooting Galaxy S9 with Black Screen of Death (BSoD) problems

Android has different modes that come helpful in such situations. These modes run independently and allow users to modify and maintain the Android software. So, we would try to boot into this mode. And if it boots into these modes, it would possible to deal this Black Screen of Death problem on a Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone.

Before we do that, there’s one recommendation. Sometimes the BSoD happens due to minor clutter data and apps. Therefore, we should begin troubleshooting this problem by applying the soft reset on this phone. That will refresh the phone’s memory, working environment and if any clutter or app causing this problem should be resolved.

Apply soft-reset on the Galaxy S9 to fix black screen/unresponsiveness issue

You can apply the soft reset to your phone. If you find that Android UI isn’t working then try to apply this reset. Actually, the soft reset doesn’t delete anything from your phone, and neither it resets configurations, it just refreshes the Android software and phone’s memory. It clears minor booting problems and clutter things. We want to figure our that actual problem causing your phone to malfunction, so it is better to climb from small to higher steps. Perform the following steps on your phone to see if your phone becomes responsive:

  1. Press and hold the Volume Down button.
  2. While pressing the Volume Down button, press and hold the Power button.
  3. Hold these two keys for 10-15 minutes.

This method is usually called as Forced-restart and soft reset. Make sure that you press the Volume Down button first otherwise, this won’t work. Pressing the Power key first would boot this phone normally. There are few chances that would reboot your phone and turn ON the display normally. If you see nothing happens, just go ahead and try the next troubleshooting.

Boot into the Safe mode and remove toxic applications on Galaxy S9

One or more apps could be causing your phone to become unresponsive. If that’s that case, your phone should respond to Safe mode and boot into it. And if that happens, we can uninstall those toxic apps resisting your phone to work in normal condition.

Therefore, you should try this method. Inside the Safe mode, all third-party apps remain inactive and have not to impact on the Android UI. There could some recent installation, changes, and configuration that resulted in your phone to face the Black Screen of Death problem. So, our motive is to get into the mode and try to revert the recent installation and configuration. If any of these causing problems, it solves this problem on your phone. And eventually, the Galaxy S9 should boot up normally and respond to your commands.

Getting into the Safe Mode doesn’t require much effort. Just follow the below steps to get into this mode and remove the toxic apps and one you suspect inducing this problematic dilemma. (Also see: list of best apps for Samsung Galaxy S9)

  1. Turn off your phone using the Power key (It should respond to this command until the problem is linked to Android OS).
  2. Now, press and hold the Power key.
  3. Release the key once the Samsung Logo appears.
  4. Then instantly press and hold the Volume Down button to abort to normal start-up.
  5. Continuously hold the Volume Down button till the phone finishes rebooting.
  6. You should now reach to Safe mode.

A Safe mode text should appear at the bottom right or left of the display screen. If your phone boots into this mode successfully, then it is clear that some applications or configuration is creating these issues.

Now, you should browse to Settings and apps list to revert the recent changes. If you’ve recently indulged with some third-party applications, downloaded from Google Play store or somewhere else, you should uninstall them. And try to set the default configuration on your phone. To remove the application, follow the below steps:

  1. Open the Settings menu on your phone.
  2. Now, open the Apps->Apps list.
  3. Then, uninstall all the applications that you’re recently installed and suspect as culprits.

There’s one more thing you could try. Try to reset the configuration on your phone. The system might have failed due to some wrong configurations that you’ve done. To reset settings only, the following instructions are set to perform.

  1. Open the Settings.
  2. Now, look for Backup and Reset.
  3. Tap on reset menu.
  4. And then, tap on Reset Settings only and perform this action.
  5. After that, reboot your phone.

Allow your phone to reboot and wait till it turns on and take you the home screen. Hopefully, that should fix the Black Screen of Death on your Samsung Galaxy S9. And if that doesn’t work, don’t worry just follow the next step.

Clear cache partition on your Samsung Galaxy S9

If you’ve been using your phone for a long time, then there are greater chances that loads of clutter and cache file data would have been gathered on your phone. Depending on the usage, the size of the cached data is gathered. Actually, each time we open an application, it creates some cache files to sustain the user experience. These files are stored under the cache partition and over the time it becomes massive enough to interfere with the usual working of the phone.

Eventually, this cached data generates many problems that generally include slow performance, stability issues, app crashes, and similar ones. In extreme cases, it could cause major problems like BSoD and make the smartphone suffer from unresponsiveness and similar problems. Therefore, to restore the performance and stability, you must wipe the cache partition on your phone. We want to rule the possibilities to recover your Samsung Galaxy S9 from this Black Screen of Death condition. Thus, you must try to implement this solution.

For this purpose, you first need to boot into the Recovery mode on your phone, and then we will perform this action on your phone. Just follow the below steps:

  1. Turn OFF your phone using the Power OFF key.
  2. Now, press and hold Volume Up, Bixy and Power buttons altogether.
  3. Release these buttons once the Samsung Logo appears.
  4. If Warning screen appears, just press the Volume Up button to enter into the Recovery mode.
  5. Now, you’re in Recovery mode.
  6. Under this mode, tap on ‘Wipe Cache Partition’ and perform this action.
  7. On completion, exit this mode.

Then all your phone to reboot normally. Most probably, it should work fine now. Remember, wipe the cache partition won’t delete any of your apps or downloaded files.

It just removes the cached data created by the installed application. It wipes all the clutter jamming your phone running smoothly and normally.

That should have settled the Black Screen of Death issue on your phone without losing files and data. There’s one thing we can apply. We can perform a factory reset on your phone too. Still, this problem exists and your phone doesn’t turn up, then performing a factory reset a.k.a hard reset is the next ideal option you apply.

Perform a hard reset on the Galaxy S9 to deal BSoD problem

From many perspectives, performing a hard reset is very helpful. It removes all third-party applications, configuration and overrides the system settings to default one. Most importantly, you should know that performing a factory reset (hard reset) wipes the internal memory. That means anything stored under internal memory will be deleted. There’s no way to revert this process.

You should perform this action on your risk. Once deleted, it won’t easy to recover the deleted files like photos, videos, apps, and documents. However, that doesn’t matter even if you take your phone to the service center, they would wipe your phone at the first attempt.

Once we perform the factory reset on this phone, it ensures that all toxic applications, configurations and corrupt cached data are removed from your phone. That should result positively and make your phone work normally like it was before. This should fix all the problems originated within your phone including the unresponsiveness and the black screen.

Again, we will use the recovery mode to perform this action. The following instructions should take you through this procedure:

  1. Turn OFF your phone.
  2. Now, boot into the Recovery Mode, the instructions are given in the above method.
  3. Under the recovery mode, tap on Wipe data/factory reset and perform this action.
  4. Then, exit this mode.

Afterward, your phone will reboot. Wait a few minutes and allow your phone to boot up. For the first time, it may take several minutes to start. Hopefully, it should work normally now. If it wakes up, enter your Google Account to configure and start using your phone.

These are basic and advanced troubleshooting solutions you can try to fix the Black Screen of Death and unresponsiveness problems on your Samsung Galaxy S9. Including these, we have one more to discuss. If none of them work to wake your phone, probably, the Android firmware has been affected badly. Thus, you can try to restore the firmware on your phone and see if that work for you.

Restore stock firmware on Samsung Galaxy S9 and troubleshoot unresponsiveness

This is that last resort your phone. If the problem is linked to the Android OS, it is the sure-shot method to repair your phone. We usually call this process as downgrading the Android firmware. With the help of Odin software, the users can easily flash the stock firmware. That removes the entire firmware and replaces all the aspects with the new and untouched files. That leaves no place for issues and problems to persist. Thus, it is that resort that you should try before heading towards the service center.

Our motive is to help users to fix minor and major problems on their own. Some troubleshooting methods are easier to implement and some require efforts. If you don’t want to invest your time and efforts anymore, then you should immediately make a call to the service center. And if you want to set things yourself, keep on reading as we are about re-flash the stock firmware on this phone. To perform this action, you need to fulfill some preparations. You just arrange the followings:

  • At your disposal, you need a Windows-based computer, laptop or desktop, whichever you have or can arrange.
  • Next, you must have a compatible USB cable for your phone. We need that so we can connect your phone to the computer.
  • You must install the USB Drivers of Galaxy S9 to your computer. Otherwise, your computer won’t detect it. You can download the Samsung USB Drivers from →here and install them on your computer.

That’s you need. Now, you’re all set to flash the official stock firmware and fix different problems including BSoD on your Samsung Galaxy S9.

  1. First, download the latest version of Odin flashing tool from here. Then extract the content of the package and run the Odin program. Odin Flashing Program Samsung Phones
  2. Now, download the stock firmware of your phone from here.
    1. Download the correct firmware using the device model number, tap on Settings->About Phone->Device Model or something similar.
    2. Then, extract the firmware package to obtain .md5 files (flashable firmware file).
  3. Turn OFF your phone using the power menu.
  4. Now, boot into the Download using this guide or the below step:
    1. Press and hold Volume Down, Bixby and Power buttons at the same time.
    2. Release these buttons one Samsung logo appears.
    3. Now, press Volume Up on Warning screen to enter into Download mode.
  5. Connect your phone to the computer using the USB cable. Look at the Odin, the ID: COM section will turn to blue indicating that phone has been connected. If nothing happens, re-install the USB Drivers and reboot your computer.
  6. Next, tap on “AP” button and load the .md5 firmware file.
  7. Then, tap on “Start” button.
  8. Take off your phone once the process is completed.

Then, your phone will reboot. It will take you the setup screen soon. There, enter your Google account credential and start using your phone. Now, all the problems existed on your phone should have been removed. The Black Screen of Death problems should have vanished and the phone should respond normally to your queries. That’s how we can flash the stock firmware on this phone.

The conclusion

There are the basic and advanced solutions that you apply on your phone. Most probably, this should have settled all the problems on your phone. If anyhow, it doesn’t make any differences, then you should take your phone to the service center. Now, only they can repair this smartphone. Probably, a hardware fault is resisting this phone from running normally.

That ends our tutorial here on how to solve Samsung Galaxy S9 with Black Screen of Death and unresponsiveness problem. If you find any of these methods helpful, do let us know. We are open for your further queries, just drop your comments below with all of your questions and problems. We would surely help with the best solutions.

5 Comments

  1. A VERY GOOD AND DETAILED TROUBLESHOOTING INSTRUCTIONS ARE ADVISED.I AM ALSO FACING THIS PROBLEM.MY NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 IS CONVERTED TO BLACK/BLUE SCREEN.AS I OBSERVED THERE ARE TWO PROBLEMS – –
    (1)-SMART TUTOR PARTIALLY SHARED BECAUSE WITHOUT SCREEN SHARING DUE TO WHICH A TECHNICAL EXPERT FROM SAMSUNG CAN’T CONTROL/REPAIR ON PHONE.
    (2)- 2ND PROBLEM IS THAT WHENEVER I DOWNLOADED AN APP.FROM PLAY STORE THE STORAGE DROPS TOO MUCH.I DOWNLOADED MY TELENOR APP.AND STORAGE DROPS FROM 55GB TO 28GB.THEN I DOWNLOADED SMART TUTOR AS PER ADVICE OF TECHNICAL EXPERT FROM SAMSUNG THE STORAGE DROPS FROM 28GB TO 16GB AND THEN GRADUALLY DROPS.WHEN IT BECOMES ZERO THE MOBILE BECOMES UNRESPONSIVE AND SCREEN CONVERTED TO BLACK/BLUE.BUT AS I OBSERVED THE BEST WAY IS TO CALL THE SERVICE CENTRE ESPECIALLY SAMSUNG’S OWN OR APPROVED.THANKS.

    1. Hi there,

      That’s really sad to hear. That seems to be hardware related problem and you’re taking the right step. You should take this phone to the service center. They should help you appropriately.

      Thanks and regards!

  2. NOW I HAVE ONLY ONE PROBLEM WITH MY GALAXY S9 MODEL SM-G9600 THAT IT IS ABSORBING TOO MUCH STORAGE.I MEAN INSTEAD OF 10MBS IT IS USING 10GBS DUE TO WHICH ITS STORAGE DROPS WHICH IS THE MAIN REASON OF ITS UNRESPONSIVNESS.THE EASIEST WAY I THINK TO UPGRADE AND UPDATE IT FROM SAMSUNG SERVICE CENTER.2ND POINT I HAVE TO ASK KIYA HAM SDCARD KO AS DAFAULT WRITE DISC US KER SAKTEY HEIN.OPTION TAU HAI MAGER KIYA YEH SAHIH WORK KERTA HAI AUR STORAGE PER DIFFERENCE PERTA HAI.THANKS.

  3. Hi my Samsung Galaxy S9+ has the bsod.

    Took it to the shop under extended warranty last week, they exchanged the screen. My warranty provider then cancelled my service.

    Was not worried because phone was fixed. Well as I write my screen is black, the phone is on in the background. I have performed every fix that can be done with a blank screen. Volume down and power for 10 to 15 seconds until my phone vibrates, let go and nothing.

    How can we perform other fixes ie safe mode or factory reset with a black screen? I am definitely missing something. ARGH I am extremely frustrated.

    Any assistance you can provide is appreciated.

    Thank You Kindly,
    Toni

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