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Samsung Galaxy Charging Issue

Jamie Johnson

November 13, 2013; updated September 16, 2019

My wife let me know that her Samsung Galaxy II Tablet not only ran out of power, but it would not charge. She plugged it in and after a few seconds, it would show the battery icon, and seem like it was getting to charge, moving across the battery icon a small bit, and then going black. Repeat. At times a "wheel" icon would appear on the battery icon. She left it plugged in for hours with no success.

In the evening, I searched some forums and saw others had this issue. Some talked about the low 1.5 amps when a battery dies is not enough and needing 2 amps to recharge. Some talked about cleaning the charger or getting a new one. I decided that the power button was worth considering.

I recalled long ago when I used to service Dell machines and I documented how a Dell Dimension 4550 running Windows XP Home Edition would come up to a cursor in the upper left-hand corner of the screen after the Dell Logo and one couldn't get to Safe Mode or BIOS after a failed download and an attempted reboot; i.e., the machine was stuck on a black screen with a cursor. The solution for the Dell was to disconnect the power and hold in the power button for 30 seconds and then plug it back in to try to reboot and if that did not work, to hold in the button for a minute and try again. This cleared the capacitors and allowed for a successful reboot.

Update (September 16, 2019): So, what does this have to do with the charging issue for a Samsung Galaxy? Well, the solution for the Samsung Galaxy II is similar. Here's the one-minute solution that worked for me:

  1. Unplug the tablet.
  2. Hold in the power button for one minute, plugging in the tablet at the 30-second mark and continuing to hold in the power button until you reach the one-minute mark.
  3. Upon releasing the power button, leave the tablet plugged in. Then, it begins charging normally.

If this does not work, then try the following as shared at SOLVED: Why won't my tablet charge or turn on? - Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 - iFixit (emphasized bold mine):

  1. Disconnect charger
  2. Hold power button and volume up button for 30 seconds
  3. Keep holding buttons while plugging in charger
  4. Hold buttons for another 30 secs
  5. Release power button keeping volume button pressed
  6. Tab starts to charge

By the way, this second scenario didn't yield a black screen but a battery icon with a continual spinning wheel where the battery doesn't charge. In either scenario, do keep in mind that batteries do eventually go bad.