Two x S7 Edge Phones have died at the same time!

[Tonst744]

My Daughter and I both bought S7 Edge phones on the same day at the end of 2017.

Last weekend, both phones completely died whilst being used with exactly the same symptoms.

This happened within 48 hours of each other, which suggest to me that there has been an update which has caused a fatal error and rendered both phones completely dead. 

In the middle of doing something, despite the batteries showing healthy charge levels, the screen went black and the phones are unresponsive.

We have tried hard and soft reset, switching on and off, recharging with chargers, computers both mains and wireless, to no avail.  the phones will not switch on or off, and mine clearly had plenty of battery as it had a green notification light flashing for over 24hours after it "died"

I did do an online chat with Samsung but as they are out of warranty, they can only advise booking in for a workshop repair for which there will be a charge. 

I can't believe that both phones have developed the same fault at exactly the same time in their useage life which could have caused the problem.

I have seen similar issues reported on this community recently but as I have said, this has happened to two phones bought at exactly the same time!

Does anyone have any suggestions? 

[SupremeNoteFan]

Hi Tonst744,

There might be a way to recover your S7 that is if they are not BER.

It appears the fault is software based as you do not describe any physical damage.

Using Samsung Smart switch via a desktop computer (or laptop) you will be able to access an emergency recovery function. ** PLEASE NOTE YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR DATA FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS ** Once you've got Samsung Smart Switch installed, connect your S7 to the computer and select emergency recovery from the menu, at this stage your phones LED should light up and indicate some form of life.

If this does not work, you will most likely have to try putting your phone into recovery mode or safe mode if at all possible, I know they don't turn on so this might not be possible at all.

Failing these steps and without paying a hefty amount (which is not worth repair cost) I regret to say I would determine these S7s Beyond Economic Repair.

Good luck I hope this helps.

[Tonst744]

Thank you for your reply.

Do you think this will work even though it won't switch on?

The phone doesn't show up when I have connected to a computer. 

I haven't tried using Smart Switch and was hoping that I could have recovered the phone in order to use Smart Switch to migrate but didn't know you could use it to recover the system. 

It may be worth a try.

Has anyone managed to use Smart Switch to migrate from a dead phone?

Thanks for the suggestion 

[Tonst744]

It is irritating that the phones are only just over three years old and probably don't have a physical fault though and replacing them will be very expensive.

[Phoenix142]

quick note here, leave them alone for a while, clicking power buttons as often as you can to make sure even If the screen is dead you drain the battery.

following that before wiping the phones, there is a way through the emergency recovery system to gain a backup but as mentioned above 1 step wrong you lose it all. its a delicate process.

make sure to give them at least 24 hours without power. then connect them to a PC or mac and follow the post above.

if they are NOT the edge model, most phone shops will actually try to fix them and or locate your issue.

note they will not even look at them if they are the edge version.

there's some good kits, including how to and tools with new screen replacements and a new battery many places online for low prices now if you want to try yourself.

at the end of the day, if you don't have backups or care about the phones, it's down whether you need to save data or save money on new devices.


let me know if I can point you towards anywhere or anything specific or of any of the posts here worked for you:)

[Phoenix142]

to this particular bit, the emergency recovery is a jump-start straight into a full forced wipe of the phone. there is a way to back up data though when doing it bit easily missed.

I have had several S6, 7 and 8s come my way that just needed a little clean up, and a kick in the rear from a brute force initialisation.

it's not 100%

do you see ANY light around the screen areas or hear ANY small noises from the phone?

real good check to at least see if they get power. the S7 On wall charge without a case have a real strong current on the back you can actually feel

[Tonst744]

There are now no lights coming from LEDs or the screen. It has been a few days now so the battery is completely flat.  

When I connect the USB lead, it doesn't recognise that anything has been connected. 

[Tonst744]

I am assuming that if I can get the phone to restore it's own software that  the phone will be good to go. 

It would be a bonus to be able to recover any data from it but most of my photos are on the SD card anyway and my contacts are on Google. 

Apart from that the only real issues are with Memo app contents but that isn't that important. 

It would be good to have the phone working to be able to do a Smart Switch migration as it makes the process so much more convenient though. 

[Phoenix142]

that very much depends on what happens when they have been plugged in for at least 30 mins,

let me know what happens. any little detail that might seen unimportant.

noise, lights, PC recognising the units etc

I assume you have connected them before based on your writing , if not let me know.

[Tonst744]

Are you saying it could take a while to detect the connection?

I'll leave it connected and see what happens.