Is my phone dead

[MC6060]

Hi Guys,

Opened the Firefox app on my Samsung S7 and it froze halfway through loading the page, then all buttons stopped functioning, then the screen went black. Tried forcing a reboot by holding the power and volume down button, no joy. Tried charging (even though I know it had 20% charge), no charging tone nor did the screen light up. Tried plugging it into the computer to access it, but does not show up in windows explorer. At a loss on what to do next, any help would really be appreciated.

 

[Dannydet]

https://m.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s7-7821.php
This device came out in 2016.
Battery is probably dead.

 

[joe71]

Probably time to move on to something new

 

[Hadron]

Hi Guys,

Opened the Firefox app on my Samsung S7 and it froze halfway through loading the page, then all buttons stopped functioning, then the screen went black. Tried forcing a reboot by holding the power and volume down button, no joy. Tried charging (even though I know it had 20% charge), no charging tone nor did the screen light up. Tried plugging it into the computer to access it, but does not show up in windows explorer. At a loss on what to do next, any help would really be appreciated.

When a battery is old the meter becomes unreliable, so shutting off from 20% is not unusual. And if a battery is really flat it will need some time to charge to the point where you can boot it up (in fact to reduce the risk of damage it will probably charge quite slowly at first). So my advice is to leave it on charge for a while - probably a few hours, in an extreme case overnight - and then see whether it will boot up. Use a real charger rather than a computer's USB socket as well.

If the phone won't boot up there is no point in trying to get a computer to recognise it: there needs to be an operating system running before it can respond to the computer.

From what you've said I think there's a good chance the phone will restart if you leave it on charge for a while. But it's only going to get worse from here on, so you should start thinking about replacement anyway.

 

[svim]

I tend to agree with what's been suggested by all the others, it might be time to just start looking ahead and upgrade to a new phone. Your S7 was a great phone in its day but smartphones inevitably age. You could try to replace the battery yourself if you're comfortable tearing down your phone and you have the necessary tools and equipment:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Samsung+Galaxy+S7+Battery+Replacement/90299
but keep in mind any replacement battery you can find will be one that's also pretty dated and has been sitting idle for years in a storage shelf. (Battery manufacturers don't just make new batteries on demand, that would be a big profit loss matter.) It might be able to be a usable battery but there is no avoiding the tact that batteries do not last forever, whether they're in use or just waiting to be used.) If you drop it off at a local service shop to have them do it for you, weigh the costs between seeing if the battery does fix this problem vs buying a new phone. Note the battery failing is just supposition, the actual problem isn't going to be determined by guesses on an online help forum. It's a hands-on matter. Money spent on a possible suggestion (it'll be the labor costs more than the battery itself) might be better spent as part of just buying a new phone. You got your money's worth out that S7.

 

[Milo Williamson]

Now firefox does not have that massive issues on mobile either, just sometimes the battery crashes all the way throughout what you are currently doing. Still all of the above posts people are right. Take your time and see if you can connect via usb with it first.

 

[svim]

It's a misleading assumption that the Firefox app was indeed the actual cause of the problem. If the OP was using the Chrome app or the Facebook Messenger app or whatever app at the time instead, it would also be a misdirection that app was what triggered the problem. The described problem isn't some app acting in a quirky way, there's a severe firmware issue or hardware failure.

 

[MC6060]

Well I charged the phone over night as suggested and in the morning it started up no problem, nothing froze, sent messages surfed the net, great. So I replaced the battery and everything worked well for a couple of hours, now back to the black screen and nothing working. RIP little S7.

 

[ocnbrze]

Well I charged the phone over night as suggested and in the morning it started up no problem, nothing froze, sent messages surfed the net, great. So I replaced the battery and everything worked well for a couple of hours, now back to the black screen and nothing working. RIP little S7.

just use it as an mp3 player. i use my note 4 when i go out for a walk with my dog. it still holds a charge for about an hour or so......just long enough for a couple of walks.

 

[GameTheory]

just use it as an mp3 player. i use my note 4 when i go out for a walk with my dog. it still holds a charge for about an hour or so......just long enough for a couple of walks.

My Note 4 is giving me around 3-4hrs which I use it for testing. I think it has a custom rom on Android 9.

@MC6060
You should consider flashing the stock firmware since you already replaced the battery. If the problem persists after flashing the firmware, then you know it's hardware failure and can move on to another device.