Note 4 rebooting, restarting, freezing, not restarting properly, Wake Lock

[Eli-Sprint]

Hi Samsung!  Please, if a Samsung representative is reading this - please do something to help. Please speak to a higher up technical programmer, software engineer and hardware engineer. Please get to work on this to find out how to correct this problem.  This problem is going on for years with several of your phones.  The problem?  The phone lags, freezes and reboots. Or does not reboot. The phone turns off as if the battery has died when the battery has 20-30% left.  Several times mine turned off when my battery had 49% left!

It may pop up with a message with the green Android man saying do not turn device off while we download...  I will lay out the general problem. But if you do a search on this forum AND on Google - for the words Samsung Rebooting or Note 4 rebooting - you will find hundreds or thousands of people complaining about this exact same problem. Yet Samsung has not done anything to correct it. Many people are saying that this problem is engineered into the phone by Samsung in order to get the users to upgrade. 

I'm on my second Note 4.  7 months ago my Note 4 just started freezing and rebooting. Rebooting in a loop. Sometimes the phone acts dead and does not restart.  We have to do all kinds of tricks to get it to start up.

Most people blame this on the software updates.  I had the phone replaced by Sprint.  It worked great. This time I refused to do any software updates. 7 months went by and again last week one morning out of the blue, it started freezing and rebooting. Same exact problem. This time I did not do any software updating so the updates was not the problem. When the problem started this time I had not done anything to the phone. I had not loaded any new apps. I called Samsung and the representative doesn't know anything about it.  I told her to search the Community forums.  She asked me to do the standard checks again.

No - removing the SD card does not fix it.

No - clearing the Cache does not fix it.

No - factory resetting does not fix it.

No - going to Best Buy to have them reflash the software does not fix it.

No - new batteries do not fix it.

No - keeping the phone plugged in does not fix it.

No - the problem happens while running in Safe Mode also.

I tried many other ideas as well. No help.

This is the last chance. I am hoping to replace the phone again. If this happens again then I will be out and I will no longer buy Samsung. I feel this is a serious problem that Samsung is not interested in correcting. Please read all the forums. I am not the only person saying that.  Most people with this complaint are saying they will not buy Samsung again.  When my Note 4 works I very much like the phone. I'M VERY HAPPY WITH IT. But I need a reliable phone that does not reboot when I'm on a  call or doing something. Often I pick up the phone to make a call to find out that it is trying to reboot itself again and is stuck in a reboot loop.  I will have to consider LG, or Pixel or Nexus or even Iphone (ugh). I just started getting information about a new phone competing with the S8 - Essentials PH-1. I'm not looking to switch. I want to remain with Samsung with my Note 4.  Does Samsung want me to stay with them?  I'm not convinced.

This phone is a $700+ phone.  I've only had the first one for 7 months and the replacement for 7 months.  I'm not willing to pay this kind of money for an another phone.  Totally unreliable for a very expensive price.

This problem is not limited to the Note 4. I've spent a few hours reading these forums looking for help. Note 5 users, Note 7 users have the same complaints. Though the Note 4 seems to have the bulk. I just saw a post on Samsung's Community Forum with someone having the exact same complaint on the brand new Galaxy S8!

I personally think that this is not a software problem because when the problem started again last week, I had not made any software changes to my phone including - I had not downloaded any apps. I had not done any software updates since I got the phone. The refurb phone replacement that I received was already on Android 6.0.1. I left it where it was and did not update it.  When I woke up one morning and turned on my phone, the phone froze and rebooted. It then rebooted itself countless times that day. I went to the Sprint store and the man says he knows the problem. But he is obligated to go through a series of testing even though he knows it will not fix it.  I believe that there is a hardware component or circuitry in the phone that failed. Maybe it was overheated or burned something out. There's an app called WAKE LOCK. I found out about this app from a forum on a Google search for Note 4 rebooting. Look for it in the APP Store and look at the comments to see how many Samsung users are using this.  I loaded this app on to the phone and set it for level 4 - Partial Wake Lock.  As long as that is running, it does about an 80% good job of keeping the phone from rebooting. It does it by not allowing the CPU to rest and fall in to sleep mode.  But when I change batteries and try to reboot - either it will just not restart. Or it will get into a rebooting loop. Or it will sit on the opening SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 4 startup screen for a VERY long time. Once I get it to start up and the WAKE LOCK app starts it stays on for a longer time before rebooting. But it may turn off (without rebooting) even when the battery has plenty of power left.

SAMSUNG PLEASE - PLEASE FIND AND SPEAK TO THE RIGHT TECHINICANS IN THE COMPANY. PLEASE FIND OUT HOW TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM. PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR CUSTOMERS AND KEEP THEM HAPPY. OTHERWISE IN THIS AUTOMATED SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD, WORD WILL GET OUT ABOUT THESE PROBLEMS AND CREATE ANOTHER PUBLIC IMAGE PROBLEM FOR SAMSUNG. MY FRIENDS KNOW HOW FRUSTRATED I AM AND HOW MUCH TROUBLE I HAVE GONE THROUGH TO GET THIS FIXED - UNSUCCESSFULLY.

PLEASE!  Let me know. Thank you.

[Eli-Sprint]

Ok. Thanks for your post.  On the first Note 4 that I had for 7 months I was being careful to make sure my phone always stayed up to date with the software updates. Then my phone went bad. They replaced it. This time I made sure not to make any updates. I turned off the automatic update. I was meager on the apps that I installed. After 7 months it happened again. The phone that I got as a replacement was a refurbished phone. The software that it had was up to date at the time that I got it. That was in October, 2016. But I did not do any further updates.

I don't know if it is possible to go back to set the phone up with the original software. I never tried that. If you do try it please keep us all informed. Good luck and thank you. 

[SamsungCourt]

Hi @Eli-Sprint Unfortunately it is not possible to restore software to it's previous version once an update has been complete. Are your apps running up to date as well? We do suggest keeping your software and applications up to date as much as possible.

[Eli-Sprint]

Hi Samsung Moderator.

Thank you for your advice.

Have you read all the posts in this thread? If you have, do you still suggest that we keep all software and applications up to date as much as possible? This problem is affecting thousands of Samsung phones, especially the Note 4. Samsung has not done anything to find the cause of this problem and has done nothing to fix it. That being the case, we users are groping in the dark, guessing and trying to find the cause ourselves to see what we can do to keep or $700+ investment working as best we can. Most people are thinking it's precisely because of a software update that this happened. I personally don't think so but I don't have any better reason to offer to understand why this happened. I SO WISH THAT SAMSUNG WOULD FIX THIS PROBLEM. OTHERWISE I WILL JOIN THE CHORUS OF PEOPLE THAT SAY THEY WILL NO LONGER INVEST THEIR BIG MONEY IN BUYING NEW SAMSUNG PHONES ($800+). I even found someone online with the same complaint with their new Samsung S8! Apparently there must be a serious design flaw in Samsung phones that allows this problem to keep creeping up in newer phones as well.

We've been waiting for a decent response. Still waiting....

Thank you in advance.

[userYU2Qxr54fN]

Is there any response from Samsung yet ?

[userVr4q2mktk3]

It **IS** possible to go back to previous firmware/Android version after update. Requires computer, Odin software, and firmware flash file. If you are tech savvy it is a breeze, if not, I would suggest finding someone that is/has experience to assist you. Had the same problem myself (Note 4) and it finally gave up the ghost claiming a memory error. Just finished all updates and app installations (4 days of fun) on the replacement I got from Sprint and was fine, up until this morning when it shut off at 20%. However, no lag issues and it may have been because of an app update, so I'm not calling foul yet. Just happened across this thread looking for something else. Good luck to us all.

[gymrat22]

I constantly have the exact same issues that you are currently having. This is my 2nd Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The first phone worked beautifully, I never had these kinda issues. I got a replacement cause I had a crack in my camera lens. The new phone got replaced in July/August of this year. I remember within a week of getting the replacement a software update was done on it. This is where my problems started emerging. My initial thought was the phone was over heating cause I noticed the phone was very hot on the back. The phone was constantly rebooting in this loop cycle. The only remedy was to take out the battery. This would usually fix the loop problem but I would still get very laggy responses, locking up issues even after the battery replacements. This problem has been persistent and it happens at all hours of the day. I recently started driving for Uber/Lyft around the same time these problems started occuring. Does anyone e else use the Uber/Lyft apps on their phones? Could there be a correlation where the Uber App have an effect on the battery/navigation/continuous usage? I don't see any other post that would suggest that this could be a problem. I just know that I need a solution cause this problem/Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is costing me money while driving for Uber. Nothing is more embarrasing while you are driving a new customer in the area to his destination and your phone shuts off or freezes. The customer has to take out his phone and tell you where to go to get to his destination. HELP, HELP, HELP! THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM SAMSUNG. FIX THIS OR I'M SWITCHING TO APPLE PRODUCTS RELUCTANTLY! Sincerly, Mr. Wright

[user6HvJhGw0gC]

I believe with a 100 percent that Samsung is wuiet on this, because they know what they did. When samung comes out with a new "flagship" phone the previous version no longer works this is done to force you to upgrade. if you decide to get a replacement it is a referbished phone that will die soon as well. 

cell phone are good for about 2 years then the manufactures and service providers send **bleep** to disable your phone. 

I have been with samsung and the same provider for many many years. it has been this way. I'm upset now because i dont want to upgrade i liked my phone. So Samsung you can get the finger if i am foced to give up my note 4 I am concidering Apple that says a lot because i am not a fan. I have a 3 year old iphone and it works just fine. was using it for music and pictures but i may have to turn it on

[Thirdwatch1965]

 My partner took my 3 year old note 4 to the service centre in Glasgow today. Checked the phone and said it was out of warranty. It has all the same issues as on this post. The guy then says it needs a new motherboard at a cost of £400. And i'd be better getting a new phone. Totally scunnered by samsung. However I have downloaded wake lock today to see if it helps. Who knows.

[Thirdwatch1965]

Since I installed wakelock ive had no issues and everything is back to working as normal as it could be. Its a miracle.

[usereR7qLvfrs6]

in addition to using Wakelock, I have found that I should only charge the phone while it is on. charging it while off makes me have to wait for it to cool and or take the battery out. there had been posts about putting them in the fridge, etc and I don't have those issues as long as I charge it while it is on and don't turn it off immediately. I might have an issue once every two weeks where I have to take the battery out, discharge the phone and wait a few minutes to power back up. the battery life isnt very good either. so this is all still a bandaid and not a solution despite the indications on some posts. I have for now sworn off all Samsung products while looking for a Samsung response. too bad I really like my tablet from them and now can't consider them for future TV purchases. different product lines but who wants to tell themselves they should have known better when a problem pops up on an unrelated product line