screen problem - washed out color and black crush grain with some horizontal faded lines

[guiribeiro]

Samsung S9 started to have screen problems a few weeks ago, after doing several official updates. this happened just before the 2 year guarantee expired (coincidence?). because of the pandemic I couldnt go to the samsung store and action on the guarantee. have  factory reset, and clean up cache and still a problem. 

does anyone have a solution or faced the same problem?

thanks

[Mariusmunteanu]

found it out in this video. Make this steps at your own risk though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrEg86Q9pt0

[Mariusmunteanu]

This guy on youtube fixed my problem. Had the same issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrEg86Q9pt0

[MW36]

I found this topic after my phone suddenly ran into this issue as well. The youtube video is pretty accurate in showing the different brightness effect.

However, one thing I am still confused, why is this only happening at certain condition? If it's a software issue, shouldn't it be consistent (all the time, or after some software event)?

I noticed it started a week ago when I quickly lock and then unlock again. I had to give it 2 sec (actually my son was the one who said 2 sec) between lock/unlock.
Then this weekend it suddenly got worse when I was out and about doing groceries, etc. It basically has 3 horizontal lines and the color is washed out very green-ish, and it became more and more persistent. I noticed that heat may also have to do with this, but why? Is this a hardware problem?

Of course, phone is out of warranty... so...

Any idea? I don't want to blindly install PWMfree if this is a mix of hw/sw issue. Samsung really should address this.

[MW36]

Also, mine seems to temporarily fix itself when I put it on induction charger... what is causing this issue seems to be really related to HW not SW.

[MoMemarian]

I think you are right this is HW/SW issue, but I think it is one of those that can have a SW remedy can help. 

Also PWMFree did not help with the issue on my Galaxy S9. I am still getting a faded out screen. I am noticing that the right side of the phone is getting unusually hot by just turning the screen on barely doing anything

[MW36]

Yea, I did end up installing PWMFree but I can still tell the black level is not the same, and in some cases like a gradation change during screen lock you can see it almost animated and looks awful.

My question is what actually causes this all of a sudden. To me it is really more of a hardware thing more than software. Most likely some chip is going bad/loose (due to heat?) and that is sending the wrong signal to the OLED dim/brightness controller.

[Mariusmunteanu]

Indeed, the phone is getting really hot. Have no answer for what is causing this issue, but my guess will be that the OLED is not meant to last for that long on this phones. It just simply ran out off steam :).  I guess I'll be using the PWM software until it can't take it anymore. Anyways I still can't get used to the rounded corners on this phone after  I think 2 years of usage so trying to find an excuse to replace it. 

[RafaelB77]

I having the same issue, and I didn't find a permanent fix for it. However, I found that if "Always on display" is enabled, I can avoid the issue just tapping the screen first (so the clock and notifications icons appear) and then unlocking the device (either with fingerprint or with pattern unlock).

Weird, right?

[Mariusmunteanu]

I found about it as well like 1 month ago. 

[Mariusmunteanu]

I won't be really surprised if this is some kind of "Planned obsolescence".  And people some how found ways around it.