S9 Plus Screen Flickering, Green Tint/Bars, Black Screen Issue

[Sohel]

tldr; Turning auto brightness off and setting brightness to the lowest might work.

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I have been using the Exynos model for past two years. About a month ago or so the device first exhibited screen flickering issue all of a sudden. Green bars, black screen area, sort of animated and laggy. For the time being, only immediate lock-unlock attempts were causing the screen flickering (meaning, when I unlocked immediately after locking the device, the screen was causing trouble). I left it as it was and just kept avoiding immediate unlocking. Anyhow, after maybe a couple of weeks, out of nowhere the screen appeared to be flickering permanently and the device was rendered totally unusable. I tried doing some troubleshooting, factory reset, odin flash, etc. and none of them worked. Could not visit a service center in this lockdown situation.

Later, I figured that in my case, the screen is working at a very low brightness and partially working at full brightness but not working at all in between. It's just 90% black, 10% green and such. For about a week, I have been using it at a low (i.e. 5% to 10%) brightness. Left the auto brightness, always on display, and screen-on iris recognition settings turned off. I use Bixby or Google Assistant to set the brightness if I can't see the screen. With these setup, it's working for now. As of the software, I am on the latest firmware (May 2020 security patch).

From my observation, the issue had something to do with heating. I am not certain but I feel like the issue occurs more frequently if the device is used for prolonged period and heated up due to gaming or mobile data usage. I would suggest anyone who is stuck during this time before you can repair, should your device work at a low brightness then clean up the phone, get rid of unnecessary apps, games and reduce/avoid long usage that cause heating. Also leave the medium power saving mode on as it limits the CPU usage which supposedly help reducing the heating as well. Do not use night mode, gray wallpapers, etc. Use light or colorful backgrounds, apps, etc.

Thanks. Stay home and safe.

[cgraio]

same issue here, sad to see no answers from Samsung

[AdrianP]

Hello everyone,

I have this issue on my Galaxy S9+ since the last update. Same thing green screen, back screen or flickering between the two.

I think I have the trick to unlock the phone in "normal mode" (no more flickering, no more green) for me it worked and didn't have any issue since.

First use the other methods found on the internet (max brightness or lowest brightness) to at least have the possibility to see what are you doing on step 1.

Step 1. Make sure "Always On" display is turned on, and "Tap to Show" option active (Other options made it impossible for me to use my phone - entire display was green) - Can be activated from Quick panel

Step 2. Lock the phone (right button)

Step 3. Double tap to wake up screen, then double tap on the bottom square to unlock with pattern/ fingerprint/ face recognition/pin whatever you have set up (DO NOT USE Button to wake up screen or fingerprint to unlock directly).

This worked for me and all I have to do now is unlock the screen only by double tapping.

Now in my opinion this is a software issue and if someone from Samsung is actually reading this maybe can have a look at past updates.

Why software/ firmware ?

1. First of all It happened right after last month's update when the phone restarted to update all went green

2. Never dropped my phone + I have a clear view book case for protection

3. If it would have been permanent I would have blame it on the display, but the above fix works every time for me

4. At first I thought that there is something wrong with the unlock button, but it also happens if I directly unlock it with fingerprint sensor... (if I double tap then use the fingerprint everything is ok).

Hope the above is a temp fix for everyone until Samsung figures this out..

Kind regards,

Adrian

[ilhammakbr]

i have the same problem. I think I bought the wrong phone because I bought used stuff. but after seeing the conversation here I believe it's a software issue. I hope Samsung fixes this problem soon. i am currently using the AOD method to deal with this problem. the oled saver didn't help me because while working my screen turns yellow. not nice to look at. and also when the capture becomes dark. very troublesome to always turn on off the oled saver

[reca888]

Thank You!

The AOD wake up works for me too.

Double tap to wake, and than using the fingerprint sensor to unlock the phono and there's no flickering!

We need a software update to fix this!

[PetreB]

Same problem with my S9 exynos, but because my waranty is until 11 month  2020,  totay i was to samsung service express and they replace the display, battery and reinstall the lates software. The issue it was solve. Thx

[KL19]

I have an S9+ that is also doing the black screen green lines at the top if I lock then unlock the screen immediately with the power button.  It only started doing this since it was factory reset last week? and im guessing when it loaded up again it would have downloaded the latest firmware update which is what i think has triggered the problem ...so yeah im also thinking this is a firmware/ software issue, its just so unusual that so many of us have the exact same issue that started after doing the update...and it seems most ppl have the s9+ that have the issue??

Anyway  I took the phone in to Samsung and they just said it was because the screen hardware was faulty and needed replacing (even though the phones only 13 months old)...unfortunately as its had a 3rd party screen replacement in the past the warranty is void  😫  so they said they would have to charge me $405 to replace the screen (I said no to that for now and just trying to make do especially as i dont think its primarily a hardware issue).  I did find your instructions AdrianP have worked for me also and have been very helpful thanks.  I do find though that if i double tap to wake the phone i then have the option to either unlock by the power button or unlock by fingerprint sensor...just as long as I always do the double tap to wake it first and nothing else...wondering if anyone else has found this?  Also AdrianP just wondering did you need to use the OLED saver app as well as the method you wrote above? or no need to use that app also?

[QuickDeann]

I solve the dark capture problem by increasing the OLED saver brightness just until I've done the screenshot lol but it is a little annoying 

[AdrianP]

No need for other software. Just double tap

[AdrianP]

Have you tried the steps from my above post?

[pifixer]

Yes the AOD works for me. I am assuming it might be some case with the internal app such as the galaxy store (not sure) because I flashed the Android 9, 10, and both had the same issue.