As long as there are no visible signs of physical damage, the display of your Samsung Galaxy Note 9 including its touch screen (digitizer) should work properly without any problems. However, there are times when these hardware components may stop working for some reason. Such is the case with some owners who reported that the touchscreen of their Note 9 stopped responding and there’s no clear indication as to what caused it.
In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy Note 9 with its touchscreen that’s not working anymore. I will share with you the troubleshooting procedures that have been proven effective in fixing this kind of problem provided that it’s just a minor issue with the firmware or app-related problems. So, if you’re one of the owners of this device and are currently having similar issues with the screen, continue reading as this article may be able to help you one way or another.
Before we move on, if you are looking for a solution to a different problem, drop in on our Galaxy Note 9 Help Guides page for we have already solved many issues that were reported by users. We may have already published articles that tackle the same problem yours. So, browse the page and look for similar issues.
Going back to our troubleshooting, here’s what you need to do if the touchscreen on your Galaxy Note 9 no longer works…
- Force restart your Galaxy Note 9.
- Run phone in Safe mode.
- Uninstall third-party apps.
- Wipe cache partition.
- Master reset your phone.
- Bring to shop for tech to check.
Forced Restart. This is important as it will refresh your phone’s memory. It is always possible that the cause of the problem is a system crash or that some services have stopped working that led to the touch screen becoming unresponsive. To do this, press both volume down and power keys at the same time and hold them together for 10 seconds or more. Your phone will reboot normally but if the problem is actually pretty minor, this is more than enough to fix it and you may have your touch screen working again after this.
Safe Mode. You have to do this if the problem continues even after doing the forced restart. This will temporarily disable all third-party applications and will tell immediately if the problem is caused by a third-party app or not. Supposing the touch screen works perfectly while in this mode, it means there’s a third-party app or service that causes it. In this case, you will have to move on to the next solution to fix the problem. However, if the problem continues even in this mode, then you have to skip uninstalling some apps and move to the deletion of the system cache. Here’s how to reboot your phone in safe mode:
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen appearing on the screen.
- When SAMSUNG appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- When Safe mode appears in the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume down key.
Uninstall third-party apps. Uninstalling the third-party applications that may be causing the problem is the next thing you need to do if the touch screen works perfectly while in safe mode. It could be a bit of a challenge especially if you don’t have a clue as to which app is causing the problem but once you can determine it, this will fix the problem for sure.
Wipe cache partition. You will need to run your phone in recovery mode in order to do this but it’s actually very effective especially if the problem is just due to some service or app that has a corrupt cache. A cache is a temporary files created by the system itself to make your phone work smoothly and perfectly but they’re prone to corruption and when that happens, this is just one of the problems you may encounter. This is how to you do it:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Android logo displays, release all three keys.
- An ‘Installing system update’ message will show for 30 – 60 seconds before the Android system recovery menu options appear.
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight wipe cache partition.
- Press Power key to select.
- Press the Volume down key to highlight yes, them and press the Power key to select.
- When the wipe cache partition is complete, Reboot system now is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
Master / Factory Reset. After doing the previous procedures and the touchscreen of your Note 9 is still not responding, then you have no other choice but to reset your phone to rule out the possibility that it’s just a temporary firmware issue. Before the reset, make sure to backup important files and data as they will be deleted. Here’s how to reset your phone:
- Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Samsung account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Samsung credentials to finish the master reset.
- From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts > Backup and restore.
- Tap the following sliders to desired setting:
- Back up my data
- Automatic restore
- Tap the Back key (bottom right) until you reach the main Settings menu.
- Tap General Management > Reset > Factory data reset.
- Scroll to the bottom of the screen, then tap RESET > DELETE ALL.
- If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
- If prompted to verify your Samsung account, enter the password, then tap CONFIRM.
- Wait for the device to reset.
Bring phone to service center. If all else fails, it’s possible that the problem is with the hardware specifically the digitizer which is a part of the display module. It can be damaged already or may be it is only a minor issue with the flex cable. Nevertheless, it’s a hardware problem and you need help from an authorized technician to open your phone without voiding the warranty.
I hope that we’ve been able to help you fix the problem with your device. We would appreciate it if you helped us spread the word so please share this post if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for reading!
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