We bring to you some of the #GalaxyS5 issues we received from other readers in the past week. If you want to look for previously posted S5 troubleshooting articles, please visit this.If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free from Google Play Store.Problem #1: Verizon Galaxy S5 cannot receive MMS on T-Mobile networkI was originally with Verizon, bought my phone at full price. Switched to T-Mobile because they said my Samsung Galaxy S5 would work with T-Mobile. I called Verizon to verify my phone was unlocked and they said they come factory unlocked and since I paid in full and have no contact I was good to go. I followed your help I found on your site with APN settings and saved then restarted my phone. I now have data but still cannot receive MMS messages. I had a friend send me a picture and it came and said unknown address as the sender in the message says message not found.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 was released to T-Mobile in April 2014 on Kit Kat. The S5 comes in 16GB and 32GB model variants, which are expandable up to 128GB with a micro SD card. The S5 has a 5.1″ super AMOLED touch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and is also dust and water proof, to a certain extent. Insert a Non-T-Mobile SIM & turn the phone on. The phone will automatically prompt you to enter the code into an empty field. Tap in the empty field above Unlock & Dismiss. Input the unlock code provided by T-Mobile. Tap the Back button to remove the keyboard from screen. The phone will display Network Unlock Successful.
I have been getting these for days since activating on T-Mobile just didn’t realize what it was until now. I also get a message saying SIM card not from Verizon that I can’t clear but I saw your info on how to remove that. I just haven’t attempted it yet.
I really want to avoid buying another phone at the moment but will if it comes to that just trying to trouble shoot everything possible before spending money. — RyanSolution: Hi Ryan. It’s a known fact in Android community that Verizon phones are particularly hard to work even when unlocked and used on another carrier’s network. The first thing that you want to do here is to ensure that all network settings are correct. To do that, you must ask help from T-Mobile technical department. Below is the APN settings for T-Mobile that we know of at this time. Some of the details may have been changed by T-Mobile so you have to contact them to confirm everything.Name: T-MOBILEAPN: epc.tmobile.com but you it’s an LTE Device, use: fast.tmobile.com insteadProxy: Port: Username: Password: Server: MMSC: proxy: MMS port: MCC: 310MNC: 260Authentication type: APN type: default,supl,mmsAPN Protocol: Leave it to the Default oneIf T-Mobile confirms that all your APN and network settings are correct, you may have to end up rooting your device so you can further customize and remove Verizon-related apps and restrictions.
Please use other online resources for ways on how to root your phone. Keep in mind that rooting can brick your phone if not done properly. If you want to accept the risks, this can be a good start. Problem #2: How to bypass Factory Reset Protection on Galaxy S5Tried doing a factory reset and it is saying: This device is locked because of an abnormal factory reset. Sign in to the previous Samsung account that you have already signed in to on this device to confirm that it belongs to you.The problem is that my brother gave me the phone and I don’t know his info and there is no way to get in touch with him.
He did the same thing when he bought the phone from his friend and it worked fine. It wants me to enter an ID and password. I did go to the recover of and password website and created a new account with a new password but it isn’t accepting either. Is there a way to fix this or can I reboot it somehow?– EricSolution: Hi Eric. If your Galaxy S5 had been updated to Android 5.1 or higher prior to your attempt to factory reset it, the new security feature called (FRP) must be at play right now. This new security feature was added by Samsung on their devices running Android Lollipop and higher to prevent unauthorized access and factory reset. A created by RootJunky discovered a possible workaround but we are not sure if this is still effective at this time.
Otherwise, your only other option is to contact your brother and ask him to enter his credentials on the phone. Problem #3: Galaxy S5 freezes during software updateI plugged my phone into my Macbook and the Verizon software assistant icon came up asking me to upgrade software. The update was supposed to last up to 90 minutes, after 6 hours, it was clear that it had frozen. I disconnected the phone, then Verizon software assistant wanted to repair, but the repair freezes between 57-65% and my phone is absolutely useless!
It does not boot up, only shows a screen stating that my software update fails, telling me to repair the device. I have tried 8 times, and the repair freezes every time. — JoiSolution: Hi Joi. What you need to do here is to clear the phone’s cache partition and perform a factory reset if necessary. Updates can sometimes result to unforeseen consequences due to variety of reasons. Doing the above solutions though has proven to be effective. To clear the cache partition, simply follow these steps:.
Turn the phone off. Press and hold the following buttons together: Power, Volume Up and Home. Release the buttons once the Android system recovery menu appears. Use the Volume buttons to navigate to Wipe Cache Partition option. Press the Power button to confirm selection. Select Reboot System Now option after deleting the cache. Wait for the phone to reboot.To do a factory reset, simply do he first three steps then select wipe data/factory reset option.
Problem #4: Galaxy S5 that won’t turn on loses all data in memoryAfter the last usage of the Merriam Webster dictionary app, I placed the phone on my kitchen table. I had dinner, went to use it after, and it was completely unresponsive. I have checked the battery, purchased a new battery, put that one in, charged, checked the battery pins to see if any were “odd looking” but nothing appears out of the ordinary physically.I did not drop it on the floor, or in the toilet bowl or anywhere.
It just stopped, totally, completely. I brought it to where I purchased it, Best Buy, and they tried a few things, like pressing the power button, volume button and the home button simultaneously, took the battery out but did not get the device to power up.I’m currently using my old Galaxy Note 1 with a new SIM card and new memory card.I recently lost my brother, age 48, and I had pictures and videos and texts from him on there that were not saved to the SD card. They are all in the internal memory of the phone.I am so upset that I may never get to see all of the pictures and videos of my brother again. This is much more important to me than whatever the monetary cost of obtaining a new phone, obviously.If you could help me in any way I would sincerely appreciate anything you could do to help me. I would pay for any service you could provide me.
Thank you very much.I am saddened by the fact that not only did I quite possibly lose these sentimental items, but also regarding the fact that I could have prevented this by saving the pictures and video to the SD card, which I have done on the phone before, but not in the time period of about a year. I could have backed it up to any service or cloud but I did not which I could kick myself for. Anything you can recommend, please. Thank you very much. — JohnSolution: Hi John. We’re sorry to hear about your situation but the only way to recover data from a smartphone, Android phones included, is to ensure that they are powered.
Your phone’s internal storage memory called Nandroid needs power in order to be accessed by whatever means.Unlike a PC hard drive that you can easily remove and plug in to another device to access its contents, Nand flash memory is an integral part of the motherboard and has a hardware-based security protection that prevents access to its contents even if it’s physically plucked out. Removing the memory chip and reading its contents require highly specialized tools that may not be available in your local electronic repair shop.
Only government agencies and investigators are crazy enough to attempt to try to access memory chip contents. And even them doing it cannot guarantee complete extraction of data. Current chip encryption in Samsung devices simply makes data extraction very challenging, if not impossible. Needless to say, failing to turn the phone back on means losing all your data. Problem #5: Galaxy S5 Gmail account not receiving emails with attachments or linksFor some reason I can’t send an email attachment or link to my wife’s Samsung S5 from my iPhone. I can send other emails.
It is not that I can’t open the attachment, but the email will not even show up in her S5 for her Gmail account. I signed into her Gmail account through a browser and it does not show the email in her inbox. I was reading an article on my iPhone that I wanted to send her.
I selected the up arrow on bottom of page and selected Mail and it created a link and I sent it. The message was sent from my iPhone successful but it never shows up on her S5 Gmail account. Everything else works. Just attachments or links. I just sent an email to her S5 Gmail account from my Comcast account from my laptop, and it sent with the link attached.This just started today.
— SeanSolution: Hi Sean. Please check your wife’s Gmail account settings using a PC browser to see if there are any Filters or Blocked Addresses enabled that might have caused this issue.You also have to check other folders in her email like Spam and Deleted Items to see if your messages with attachments or links are forwarded there.Alternatively, you can also post your issue in Google Help Forum so Google’s representative or its community can help you figure out a solution. Problem #6: Unable to update Galaxy S5Hello Sir/Madam. I am using Samsung Galaxy S5.
I think it is imported from Korea and it is unlocked in India. When i purchased my mobile it has OS with 4.2 but I updated it to 4.3 with Samsung Kies 3. Now my issues are:1) When I’m trying to update my OS through my mobile settings/software update it says “Your device has been modified. Software updates are not available”.2) When I’m trying to update my OS through Samsung Kies 3, and I connect my mobile to my laptop it says “Device not responding. Disconnect and reconnect the cable”.
I had tried other mobiles and there’s no problem with the cable. Samsung Kies 3 is up-to-date with the latest version. I need to upgrade my mobile to the latest version. Thanks in advance.
— RaviSolution: Hi Ravi. If official methods of updating Android won’t work, you can always opt to do a manual update. The only downside to doing it yourself is the amount of effort required.
If you haven’t tried to manually update Android before, you will need to spend considerable amount of time reading and researching to give you a better picture of what you’re about to do.Doing an Android manual update requires rooting the phone, which is an entirely different procedure to do. Manual update procedure, also called flashing, together with rooting have inherent risks that can result to transforming your phone into an expensive paper. Make sure that you follow guides you will be using for both procedure to the letter. We can’t emphasize this point enough. While it’s not rocket science, the procedures can easily overwhelm an Android beginner. If you know someone who has already tried rooting or flashing, try asking for assistance from him or her.
Otherwise, asking Mr. On where to start is smart idea. Problem #7: Galaxy S5 won’t power onLast night when I went to bed, I deleted a few unnecessary apps and then plugged my phone in to the charger like normal. However, when I woke up, there was an odd message on the screen that basically told me I could either wipe my phone’s cache or reset it to factory settings. This has happened once before after restarting my phone (about a month ago), and I simply took out the battery, waited an hour, put it back in, and it worked fine again (all without having to reset the phone or wipe the memory).So, knowing this and having done it before, I simply took out my phone’s battery and decided to try the same method.
However, after an hour, I got no response when trying to turn on my phone again. It has now been a day, and it still will not turn on.
I have tried plugging it into a charger again, taking out the battery and holding down the power button, holding down all the volume, power, and home buttons, but nothing has worked so far.I know this is a weird scenario, but if there is any way you can help me it would be much appreciated! My job and school work heavily depend on this device and the contacts I have saved to it.(P.S. I’m not sure what the “Android Version” is because I am unable to turn my phone on and check in the settings like the instructions say). — JulietteSolution: Hi Juliette. There’s really nothing much that we can tell you what to do if your phone won’t boot up normally. You should however try to see if you can turn it by going to recovery mode, download mode, or safe mode.
These procedures require pressing a combination of hardware buttons. For example, to access recover mode, you have to turn off the phone completely and then press simultaneously the Power, Home, and Volume Up buttons. Download mode can be accessed by pressing Power, Home, and Volume Down buttons at the same time. For instructions how to boot in safe mode, please visit this. If you’ll be unable to turn the phone on by doing any of these procedures, a hardware problem must be the reason behind it.
Try replacing the battery to see if that will help. Otherwise, bring the phone to a shop so it can be physically checked for damage or errors.Engage with usIf you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts.
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