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.

[userEqu1VTkVDj]

I have exactly the same problem. SamsungBelgie suggested I do a factory reset. I did, and it made the problem go away...for about 48 hours.

Now it's started randomly rebooting again. Samsung suggests to take it to a Samsung Premium Support center and I'll just do that, and see what comes of it.

I'll try to keep you all posted!

[userEqu1VTkVDj]

I've got news!

According to the Samsung Premium Support Center, the motherboard of my Note 4 needs to be replaced. Price? 285 Euro... 

I asked Samsung how many of their Note 4's have had their motherboards replaced, but they don't want to give that information to customers. I wonder why not? One Premium Service Center said they had replaced "more than a few" Note 4 motherboards...

I just hope that the replacement motherboard will not have the same issues after a couple of months...  

I'll try to keep you all posted when I get my phone back! 

[userEqu1VTkVDj · Accepted solution]

Update.

Upon collecting my repaired Note4 (the Samsung Premium Support Center put in a new motherboard for 285 Euro), I turned it on, and the screen went black with odd colored stripes on random locations. Carefull inspection showed that the screen had been broken. So, the Samsung Premium Support Center put in a new motherboard, but broke the screen in the process. They won't make me pay for replacing the screen, but I have to wait for another couple of days. They did give me a replacement phone this time though. 

I asked the technicians of two Samsung Premium Support Centers about this issue. Both technicians confirmed (off the record though) that there were "quite some" Note4's with this issue, and yes, more Note4's than any other device. 

I'll get 3 months of warranty on this reparation. I'll have a Note4 with a brand new motherboard and a brand new screen. Anyone interested in buying my Note4? You'll get it for only 400 euro! I'll never buy Samsung again!

[Jmaldon1022]

Every single issue and symptom I have read here, I have experienced. It started after 2 years

[Jmaldon1022]

Every single issue and symptom I have read here, I have experienced. It started after owning the phone for 2 years, so I bought a new battery and problem solved... or so I thought. After 6 months the problems/issues came back with a vengance. I firmly believe that this might something designed to force consumers to upgrade, etc.

I have been a loyal Samsung customer for about 15 years, but if this continues and we dont see a soloution at the end of the tunnel, screw it! I will throw every samsung item I own in the dumpster!

[userTdfDiFYBlI]

How ironic is it that the post maked as "the solution" with a pleasent green check mark, finishes by stating "I will never buy Samsung again"...?
My Note4 is barely hanging on, sometimes takes over an hour of agony , 1-2-3 minute method on the power switch, hoping, eject battery, plug into power, hope & wish, then it may start.

Wake-Lock is the only thing that has made it usable.

Samsung has reduced the Baseband version on Note4 that they continue to sell, so that it can't update to version 6 of Android, it is obvious they know they are at fault but still provide no help to loyal customers.  I really don't like Apple, but they are better at support than these folks...

[ADNixon]

I have been using my second Note4  successfully with Wakelock doing its thing in the background for a couple of months now. No problems with the phone as long as the battery is kept charged. If I accidentally allow the battery to die, then it is always questionable whether it will restart - refrigerated or not - but I have been lucky so far. 

It is now clear to me that Samsung has no intention of addressing this failure of their Note4 phones, so it seems that the only way to get any satisfaction is to go through the small claims court system. I too, am not keen on buying an Apple as others have noted, but, in the future, I will consider other manufacturers EXCEPT Samsung when I purchase a new phone. Having said that, our back up phone is an old iPhone4 and it works flawlessly whenever we use it. Really kind of refreshing to use a phone that is always reliable. 

By the way, has anyone heard how the class action lawsuit against Samsung for their Note4 phone failures in New Jersey is going?

[Shrekopher]

It wasn't a faulty MOBO Samsung broke these phones with a bad update. Whatever they pushed out cause a huge portion of the phone to break. So many of them in fact that they ran out if Note4 motherboards and won't do the repair anymore even if you are will to pay. Huge mistake by Samsung, would have been big news accept at the same time they had the Note 7 disaster so the Note 4 issue got buried in the wash. Still salty about my broken note4.

[user38b4UD9b1H]

Read this and decided to never buy a Samsung phone again. I am having the same issues with my Note 4 AND having from day one an issue with my camera not focusing (except when ticking on the side of the phone which seems to unblock a moving focussing part in the camera probably, have to do this every time I use the camera).

Richard

[userhuUDJEI4KI]

I am in the USA and I will never buy Samsung again either -- many people feel a phone should last at least 3 years before being obsoleteD.  😞