What To Do If Your Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Keeps Showing 'Moisture Detected' Error?

For how long did your Samsung Galaxy Note get wet? The water will usually dry out after 2 hours or so. If it has been more than that, read further and fix your Samsung Galaxy Note 9 keeps showing “Moisture Detected” error.

When the error “Moisture Detected” shows up in your Samsung Galaxy Note 9, the immediate effect is in the charging process–your device would no longer charge. This only happens if the phone detects moisture in the charger/USB port and Samsung actually almost perfected this feature.

Most of the time when this warning pops up, it’s accurate and in if that’s really the case then you don’t have to worry so much as the error would go away after doing some practical troubleshooting procedures.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy Note 9 that’s plagued by the ‘moisture detected’ error. I will share with you the solutions we’ve been using in fixing similar issues we’ve encountered in the past. So, if you’re one of the owners of this device and could no longer charge your phone due to this error, continue reading as this post may help you one way or another.

Before moving on, if you found this post while searching for a solution to a different problem, then drop by our Note 9 Help Guides page for we have already addressed some of the most common issues with this phone.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy Note 9 with ‘moisture detected’ error?

As the owner of the phone, you should be the first one to know if it somehow touched water and if it actually did, don’t worry as the Note 9 also has the IP68 rating which makes it water-resistant at a certain level and the error is a normal occurrence. Assuming you used the phone to take pictures under water or it touched water accidentally, here’s what you need to do.

Turn off your phone – aside from charging, there wouldn’t be any adverse effects to your phone when the error shows up but at this point we don’t know the gravity of the issue. So, to make sure there wouldn’t be any complications, turn your phone off for now.
Set the phone on the table upright – this is to allow the moist to flow out of the USB port. Don’t shake the phone as it may push the moist further in. You may insert a small piece of tissue paper into the port to help absorb the moist. Let the phone sit for 10 minutes or more.
Turn the phone on and try charging it – after doing the first two procedures, your Note 9 should already be working fine. So, turn it on and connect it to its charger. Use the wired charger to know if the error would still show up because if you use the wireless charger, the error won’t show so you wouldn’t know if the problem is fixed or not.
Check the cable – after doing the previous procedures and the error still shows up, check the cable as it may also have some moisture in its connectors.

Should the error continue to show up after doing all this and you know that your phone touched water at some point, then bring your phone back to the store so that a technician can clean it up for you. It’s better to keep it powered off while the problem persists to avoid complications.

On the other hand, if the error started to pop up and you’re sure the phone hasn’t touched water, then it could be a minor problem with the firmware. We have encountered similar issues in the past wherein the ‘moisture detected’ error started to pop up after an update. You can follow the procedures below but before that, do the ones I cited above.

Run phone in Safe Mode and try charging – we need to know if this problem also happens in safe mode because if it does, then it’s a firmware issue and it’s good news as you can fix it by doing the procedures below. If it does not show up in safe mode, it’s possible that the problem is with the hardware.
Wipe cache partition – you can only do this if your phone still has enough battery left. Wiping the cache partition will delete and replace the system cache. It’s important to do this because the cache that’s used by the firmware to facilitate charging may have been corrupted especially if the problem started after an update. Continue reading below to know how to wipe cache partition.
Backup data and do the Master Reset – this is your last resort and if the problem continues to bug you after this, then it’s time you brought the Note 9 back to the store so that a technician can check it up for you. Before you actually reset your phone, make sure to create a backup of you important files and data as they will be deleted. The instructions on how to reset your phone effectively can be found below.

The following are the step by step instructions on how to perform the procedures I cited above…

How to wipe cache partition on Galaxy Note 9

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.

How to perform the Master Reset on Galaxy Note 9

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.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide have helped you somehow. Visit our help guides if you still have other issues with your phone.

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