Galaxy Tab won't unlock

[RobinElvin]

I am unable to get into my tablet after leaving it on charge. The unlock requires a PIN and biometrics are unavailable until next time. I enter my PIN and it just takes me back to the lock screen. It looks like the PIN unlock is crashing.

Because the PIN unlock doesn't work I can't reboot or shut down either.

How can I get around this? The battery is at 100% so it'll be over week before it runs out.

[krzemien]

...so I experienced similar problem yesterday yet again - but this time it was somewhat different.

I was able to unlock tablet without problems, but it looked like top part of the screen became unresponsive: I was not able to access top bar & its settings and (for example) clear outstanding notifications.

However, when I rotated tablet by 90 or 180 degrees, everything worked fine.

Furthermore, I was not able to launch / open any apps from the main screen correctly - but was able to slide to the other ones (on side, or below)and launch them from there.

The only remedy, having locked and unlocked tablet couple of times, was to restart it.

Something definitely worth looking into, I think - looks like a bug within SystemUI or similar.

[fluffy2]

worked like a charm, thanks.

[DL21]

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@RobinElvin wrote:

I am unable to get into my tablet after leaving it on charge. The unlock requires a PIN and biometrics are unavailable until next time. I enter my PIN and it just takes me back to the lock screen. It looks like the PIN unlock is crashing.

Because the PIN unlock doesn't work I can't reboot or shut down either.

How can I get around this? The battery is at 100% so it'll be over week before it runs out.

---

[krzemien]

As per the solution in this post:

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/Tablets/Galaxy-Tab-won-t-unlock/m-p/929680#M398

You do not have to log in in order to forcibly reboot your tablet:

In the end I found out I could reboot by holding down Power + Volume Down and thankfully it has started up fine this morning.

[MikeyTAB]

does not work on my tab SM t380. i can't power off asks for pasword but reboots but keeps asking for pin...

[IndyOnePea]

Perfect solution!

[Jay20]

Galaxy tab A wont unlock

[krzemien]

...so I experienced another one of these: this time biometrics (IRIS recognition) - even though I do not use it to auhenticate - got stuck once I opened the case and logged in, simply remained on (with LEDs being lit red) and did not want to retire.

Restart has tweaked it okay.

Although it's very infrequent occurence - every two months in my case it seems - it's something definitely worth looking into.

[Dee56]

Workes for me

[Steve1966]

What i did was tried to powerdown, could not without a passcode 4 digit. Tried everything except hard reset, but it's my girlfriends tab A 10.1 and has several profiles for gaming, yeah i thought so too, Game Junkie for Several hours, dam near 20. But lately very paranoid about content, even me getting in to it. That's another story, supposedly I'm on Facebook, all day, average 5 to 45 minutes, hey if shes ignoring me, im going to FB. Period! Anyway, i switched to a different user/guest account it was not password protected. Shut the tablet down, and powered up after a minute. When asked for password, i entered hers and low and behold it opened up. I told her if she has anything to hide, get rid of it. Delete your hoojup accounts, and grow the hell up. Your 53 not 22 looking for love in all the stupid ass hookup web sites. Gotten rid of a few, but shes made friends and want to continue chatting. I said oh yeah, sure you do......keep it up or im gone. Then a phone text from one, third one so i investigated. Found it and you should hear the stories. So if you honestly need it use it, but my belief is your hiding something if you do. My bank app requires passkey entry and only a fingerprint opens it up. And i tell her my password and let her look through my any time she wants. Or ill open it up and hand it to her. Any time, but hers for me, hell no. Lol. Funny stuff she pulls.