Indeed, fear gripped me when I saw my S22 phone only giving me a totally dark screen after being turned on. While I initially panicked, it’s a blessing in disguise as I soon discovered ingenious ways to work around it.
The Samsung Galaxy S21/S22 “black screen of death” issues can occur due to faulty firmware. Fix this issue by force-restarting the device: by holding its power and volume-down buttons at the same time.
That’s not the only solution, though. Read on to the last part to learn eight proven and tested solutions to fix your Samsung phone’s black screen of death issue, plus two bonus tips to get going should everything fail.
How To Fix The Samsung Galaxy S21/S22 Black Screen of Death Issue
The Samsung Galaxy S21/S22 black screen of death sounds scary but it should not stop you. The solutions below should work on all Samsung Galaxy S21 and S22 series phones, including their Plus and Ultra variants.
FIX 1. Charge your Galaxy S22 series phone
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 1 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 10 to 15 seconds |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra A compatible charger |
Charging your Samsung Galaxy S21 or S22 series phone is an intelligent way to kickstart the troubleshooting process. Sometimes, what appears to be a black screen of death issue could be the device only running out of juice.
Believe it or not, it’s a simple detail that even the most adept Samsung phone users may overlook. Therefore, one of your best options is to determine whether or not your Samsung Galaxy S22 series phone has a black screen problem.
Identifying the problem is crucial in troubleshooting since it helps determine what necessary actions you must take to resolve it. After all, you don’t want to waste time conducting complex troubleshooting methods—you can just recharge it.
And even if your Samsung Galaxy S22 series phone doesn’t charge, doing this step will help narrow down the culprit behind the black screen problem.
Once you understand the possible reasons behind your phone’s black screen, you can follow the other solutions below.
FIX 2. Force-restart your Galaxy S22 series phone
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 3 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 40 seconds |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra |
Performing a force-restart is the most straightforward solution for problems involving your S22 phone. This method will refresh your phone and reboot its system, allowing it to fix minor errors that cause black screen problems.
It’s a quick and easy solution that you can effortlessly perform regardless of your skills in handling electronic devices. Worry not about losing your user data and apps since forcibly restarting your device doesn’t affect them.
However, the most important thing to note is that force-restarting your Galaxy S22 phone works even if its screen is frozen, unresponsive, or stuck. Thus, it’s one of the ideal solutions for fixing the black screen of death issue on Galaxy S22 devices.
The restart sequence will also tell you whether or not your phone can boot its system. This information is essential because you can’t use some of the following solutions if your device can’t boot into any mode.
Step 1: Hold simultaneously your Samsung Galaxy S22’s power and volume down buttons. |
Step 2: Release both buttons once the Samsung logo appears on your Galaxy S22 screen. |
Step 3: Wait until your Galaxy S22 series phone completes its bootup sequence. |
FIX 3. Let its internal temperature cool down
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 1 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 10 to 15 seconds |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra A room with proper ventilation A mobile cooling fan (optional) |
If nothing you try turns on your Samsung Galaxy S22 screen, it’s reasonable to suspect it has hardware damage or defect. However, it may also happen because your phone shuts down automatically due to overheating.
This automatic shutdown feature is a built-in defense mechanism that helps your phone protect itself from overheating damage. After all, overheating can be destructive to your phone’s internal components.
Allowing your smartphone to operate in high temperatures shortens its battery lifespan and may also result in burn damage or explosion. Therefore, you must use cooling accessories so your phone can regulate its temperature during heavy tasks.
Once your S22 device shuts down after overheating, you must only turn it on once its internal temperature is safe for operation. You can attach a cooling fan to help your phone dissipate the heat faster or place it in a ventilated room.
WARNING: Never put your phone inside a refrigerator to speed up the cool-down process since very low temperatures are also bad for its battery’s health.
However, you can put your phone inside the fridge quickly. Protecting it with a zip lock may be okay, but it is still an unnecessary risk.
Plus, you don’t want to increase the risk of making the Samsung Galaxy S22 black screen issue unrepairable due to severe battery and hardware damage.
FIX 4. Do a reboot via the Android Recovery menu
| Difficulty | Easy ●●○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 6 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 1 minute and 20 seconds |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra A compatible USB cable A PC |
If you can force-restart your Samsung Galaxy S22 phone, booting into the Android Recovery menu is a wise recourse. This recovery menu has many troubleshooting tools to help fix the black screen of death issue.
Among these tools is the option to reboot your phone’s system. Although this method is similar to force-restarting your smartphone, we encourage you to try this since it can also help fix the black screen problem.
Since exploring all your options is always good, you don’t want to pass on the opportunity to do another restart sequence. Remember that some troubleshooting tricks may only work after repeating them multiple times.
As mentioned, the restart sequence won’t affect your user data and installed apps, so it’s not like you’re losing anything anyway. In this case, rebooting your device should only do more good than harm.
Step 1: Plug a USB cable into your Galaxy S22 phone and connect it to a PC. |
| Step 2: Hold your Samsung Galaxy S22’s power and volume down buttons simultaneously for 3 seconds to shut it down.  |
| Step 3: Hold your Samsung Galaxy S22’s power and volume up buttons simultaneously for 5 seconds to load its Android Recovery menu.  |
Step 4: Unplug the USB cable once the Android Recovery menu loads. |
Step 5: Press the power button while “Reboot system now” is highlighted to select it. Note: You can only operate your Galaxy S22 during recovery mode using its power and volume buttons. The volume buttons are for scrolling, while the power button is for selecting the highlighted option. |
| Step 6: Wait for your Galaxy S22 series phone to reboot completely. |
FIX 5. Wipe your Galaxy S22 series phone’s cache partition
| Difficulty | Easy ●●○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 5 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 1 minute and 30 seconds |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra |
Aside from rebooting your Samsung phone, you can wipe its cache partition from the Android Recovery menu. The cache partition is a storage where your Galaxy S22 stores temporary files and data that help it operate smoothly.
Unfortunately, some old data in your phone’s cache partition may cause the opposite effect. As such, we suggest clearing it whenever your Samsung phone is stuck with a black screen or has other severe device errors.
However, wiping your Samsung Galaxy S22’s cache partition isn’t recommended for regular use. Thus, you must only use it when the situation calls for it or if you don’t have other troubleshooting solutions to try.
Regularly using this method to fix even minor errors may corrupt its data, which may be more troublesome than a black screen problem.
| Step 1: Follow the instructions earlier to boot into your Samsung Galaxy S22’s Android Recovery menu.  |
Step 2: Select “Wipe cache partition.” |
Step 3: Click Yes to confirm the selected action. Note: Wait for a “Data wipe complete” message on the bottom left corner of the screen. You’ll return to the Android Recovery main menu after this data wipe. |
| Step 4: Press the power button while “Reboot system now” is highlighted to select it. |
| Step 5: Wait for your Galaxy S22 series phone to reboot completely. |
FIX 6. Factory reset your Galaxy S22 series phone
| Difficulty | Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 5 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 1 minute and 30 seconds |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra |
The factory reset option is the most potent of all the troubleshooting tools available from the Android Recovery menu. This solution is the best way to deal with system issues, including those that cause the Samsung Galaxy S22 black screen problem.
Unfortunately, this solution’s effectiveness comes with a significant drawback. After the factory reset, you’ll permanently lose the user data and installed apps stored on your phone.
WARNING: Ensure you retain a copy of your essential apps and phone preferences before doing a factory reset, as the process will wipe out these files.
Under normal circumstances, you can backup and restore your phone’s data using Samsung’s cloud service. However, it’s an impossible task when your phone is inaccessible due to the effects of its black screen of death problem.
Therefore, we suggest using only this method after you have tried all the possible solutions. However, you must realize that giving up your phone’s data is sometimes necessary to keep it running and return it to its optimal condition.
| Step 1: Follow the instructions earlier to boot into your Samsung Galaxy S22’s Android Recovery menu. |
Step 2: Scroll down and select “Wipe data/factory reset.” |
Step 3: Click “Factory data reset.” Note: Wait for a “Data wipe complete” message on the bottom left corner of the screen. You’ll return to the Android Recovery main menu after this data wipe. |
| Step 4: Press the power button while “Reboot system now” is highlighted to select it. |
| Step 5: Wait for your Galaxy S22 series phone to reboot completely. |
FIX 7. Boot into your Galaxy S22 series phone’s safe mode
| Difficulty | Easy ●●○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 6 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 1 minute and 50 seconds |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra |
Faulty apps can also trigger the black screen of death on your S21/S22 series phone. Therefore, you must conduct troubleshooting tricks that can deal with them specifically to fix the black screen problem.
Thus, the best solution is to try booting into safe mode. To clarify, this action doesn’t fix your faulty apps, but it helps determine whether or not they’re behind the black screen of death issue.
While the safe mode is active, third-party apps are temporarily disabled, allowing you to monitor if the black screen problem persists. With this, you can confirm if an app is causing your Samsung phone’s screen to turn off or go black.
Since information gathering is an essential troubleshooting technique, you can utilize this to narrow down the culprit. More often than not, the cause of the black screen problem will be the most recent app installed on your Samsung phone.
| Step 1: Hold your Samsung Galaxy S22’s power and volume down buttons simultaneously to force a restart sequence. |
| Step 2: Release your Galaxy S22’s power button and only hold the volume down button once the Samsung logo appears.  |
Step 3: Wait for the Samsung Galaxy S22 series phone to boot into safe mode. Note: Sometimes, your phone may not boot into safe mode, so you must keep repeating these steps until it does. |
| Step 4: Use your Samsung Galaxy S22 series phone to confirm if the black screen issue persists in safe mode. |
| Step 5: Hold your Samsung Galaxy S22’s power and volume down buttons simultaneously to force a restart sequence. Note: Release both buttons once the Samsung logo appears to boot your Galaxy S22 into normal mode. |
| Step 6: Uninstall your Galaxy S22 series phone’s most recently installed apps. |
FIX 8. Use an Android repair tool
| Difficulty | Moderate ●●●○○ |
| Number of Steps | 11 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 5 to 10 minutes |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra A compatible USB cable A Windows PC A working internet connection |
After trying all the abovementioned solutions, you can use an Android repair tool on your PC if the black screen problem remains unresolved. This method is our last recommended solution for fixing the Samsung Galaxy S22 black screen problem.
Regarding the Android repair tool, you can look up various software online and select one according to your preference. For this guide, we’ll show you how to use Tenorshare’s free ReiBoot repair tool for Android devices on your Galaxy phone.
We selected this repair tool since it’s free to use, and black screen problems are among the Android issues it can fix. Unfortunately, their repair tool is only available for Windows PCs, and they have no announcement for a Mac version thus far.
As such, you must look up other Android repair tools if you don’t have access to a Windows PC. Otherwise, you might need to ask your friends or family to lend you one so you can fix your Samsung Galaxy S22’s black screen problem.
Step 1: Open a web browser on your PC and go to the Tenoshare ReiBoot download page. |
Step 2: Scroll down and click the Free Download button. |
Step 3: Open the installer file once the download is complete. |
| Step 4: Select Yes on the small window pop-up and click Install on the ReiBoot for Android installer.  |
Step 5: Open the ReiBoot for Android application after you install it. |
| Step 6: Plug a USB cable into your Galaxy S22 phone and connect it to a PC. |
Step 7: Click the Repair Android System tile once it detects your Galaxy S22 phone. |
Step 8: Click Repair Now on the following page. |
Step 9: Enter your Galaxy S22 phone’s information and click Next. |
| Step 10: Wait while the repair tool downloads the latest compatible firmware for your Galaxy S22 phone.  |
| Step 11: Click Repair Now once the firmware download is complete to apply it to your Galaxy S22 phone. |
Common Causes of the Black Screen of Death Issue on Samsung S21/S22
Here’s the rundown of the common black screen of death causes on Samsung Galaxy S21 and S22 series phones. You can refer to this list to determine the reason behind your Samsung phone’s black screen and what solution will fix it.
- Faulty Firmware: Firmware or software-related issues can cause your Samsung phone screen to turn black during use. They may even prevent your Galaxy device from turning on correctly unless you troubleshoot its system.
- Overheating: Samsung phones are susceptible to overheating damage, so they automatically shut down when this happens. You can boot your Galaxy device in this state until its internal temperature reaches a safe level.
- Drained Battery: You can’t boot your Samsung Galaxy S22 without power. Your Galaxy device will remain with a black screen unless you recharge its battery so it can boot up its system again.
What to Do if Your Samsung S21/S22 Remains Stuck With a Black Screen
Below are alternative options if the troubleshooting tricks above didn’t fix the black screen problem.
FIX 1. Send it to a local Samsung Store
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 1 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 5 minutes |
| Things Needed | A Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra |
If you can’t fix the Samsung Galaxy S21/S22 black screen problem, you can always ask the experts for help. In this case, the best thing to do is visit your local Samsung Store so their technicians can look into your Galaxy device.
You may even get a free service or replacement if your Samsung Galaxy S21 or S22 is under warranty. Otherwise, you must pay for the out-of-warranty repair, including the spare parts they may have to put into your Samsung Galaxy phone.
FIX 2. Buy a replacement
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 1 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 10 to 15 seconds |
| Things Needed | A PC or smartphone A working internet connection |
If you spend money to fix your Samsung Galaxy S22, you might as well buy a new one. Of course, this will likely cost more, but a new device is much better than a refurbished one.
Plus, a new Samsung phone will be under another warranty policy. Therefore, you can receive a free repair service or replacement if it suffers from Samsung Galaxy S21/S22 black screen problems.
We recommend buying from your local Samsung Store to test the device you’re getting. Otherwise, you can purchase from the official Samsung website to avail a warranty directly from them.
FAQs About the Samsung S21/S22 Black Screen of Death Issue
Overheating and battery drain problems can turn your Samsung S22 screen black. In some cases, faulty apps and system software can also result in black screen problems.
A force-restart is the fastest and safest way to fix your Samsung Galaxy S22’s black screen. The solutions in this guide should help with this problem unless your Galaxy S22 has a hardware defect or broken LCD, fixable only with a replacement.
You can fix Samsung black screen issues once you determine their root cause. Addressing its root cause should fix the problem, granted the damage is not severe, and thereby unrepairable.
