Fix: Galaxy S6 Won’t Turn On

Sometimes your Galaxy S6 won’t turn on or boot up past the logo. Though it is a frustrating situation, here are 3 easy fixes for when your Samsung Galaxy S6 won’t turn on.

Fix: Galaxy S6 Won’t Turn On

Force Restart

  • Press both the volume down and power keys at the same time.
  • Hold both buttons for about 10 seconds.

After 10 seconds, your Galaxy S6 ought to reboot. Did you S6 boot up? If it did, then use your device as per usual and monitor for problems. However, if it did not boot up, you may need to boot your S6 into recovery.

Boot S6 Recovery Mode

  • Press and hold both the Power, Volume and Home buttons together.
  • Once the recovery screen appears, let go of the power button (keep holding the volume and home button).
  • Once the recovery menu appears, let go of the other buttons.
  •  Use the Volume buttons to go to Cache Partition and use the Power button to select it.
  • Once the process finishes, your Galaxy S6 will restart.

Did your Galaxy S6 turn on? Then, that’s great! But, if your S6 won’t turn on after you wiped the cache, try the following fix.

Boot S6 Safe Mode

  • Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 and hold down the Power button.
  • When the Samsung Galaxy S6 logo appears, release the power button and long press the Volume Down key.

By booting the S6 in Safe Mode, you can determine if the reason your S6 won’t turn on or boot up is due to an application. In Safe Mode, only the default factory apps load.

If it is an app that causes the problem and you can’t get to uninstall it. You may need to factory reset your Galaxy S6 by following the steps in this tutorial.

Final Advice

The above tips help fix a Galaxy S6 that won’t turn on or boot up. However, if you still can’t get your S6 to start up, your next and best option is to take your device to a Samsung repair shop or to a technician.

Additional Information

Sometimes, your Galaxy S6 screen won’t turn on but the phone is on and you see LED lights flashing or solid lights in the LED indicator. Here’s what those lights mean and what you can do:

Blue LED

  • Pulsing: the device is turning on or off.
  • Blinking: there is an unread notification (missed call, message etc) or during voice recording.

Red LED

  • Glowing: connected to a charger and charging.
  • Blinking: connected to a charger but not charging (or when low on battery).

Green LED

  • Glowing: connected to a charger and fully charged.
  • Blinking: fully charged.

Blue Light Flashing

If you Galaxy S6 won’t turn on and there’s a blue light flashing, even though the screen is black, it means that your S6 is working (to say the least).

Since the S6 battery is not replaceable, you need to do a simulated battery pull. To do this, press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys for 20 seconds.

Once there is sufficient battery life, your S6 should restart. However, please note that your phone may freeze up and become unresponsive again if you do no figure out what caused the issue in the first place.

Solid White Light

Unless you have custom notification colors for certain apps, a white light shouldn’t be appearing on the LED indicator.

However, there’s no need to concern yourself. The white LED light more than likely means that there is a third-party app that is causing your S6 to not turn on.

  • Charge your phone for 30 minutes (minimum).
  • Turn off the phone completely (or wait until the battery completely drains).
  • Press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  • When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  • When the Android logo shows, release both keys wait for the Recovery mode menu to appear.
  • You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

If your phone still won’t turn on or the screen remains black or unresponsive, please take your Galaxy S6 to a Samsung repair shop or to your carrier for assistance.

Red Light

As mentioned above, the Red LED light means that your battery is dying or that your phone is plugged in and charging. If you know that your battery is charged and there is no charger connected to your phone then do the following:

  • Simulate a battery pull by pressing and holding both power and volume down buttons for at least 20 seconds. Your phone should restart after this.
  • Clean the charging port of the phone using a can of compressed air making sure to remove any debris or dirt stuck in the port.
  • Charge your phone for at least 20 minutes then try turning it on.

Overheated

If your Galaxy S6 overheated and won’t turn on or charge then you know that you have to let your phone cooldown. Read this article on what to do when your Galaxy S6 overheats for more information.

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