Lumia 950 shuts down randomly and has trouble starting again

Anonymous
2016-04-14T22:42:30+00:00

Several days ago my Lumia 950 started randomly shutting down. It happens all of the time and when it does it is not easy to get it to start again. Rarely I am able to just hold the power button and have it turn on, usually what happens is the power button either does nothing or the phone acts like it is starting but after the "Microsoft" screen it just shuts off again. When either of those things happen the only way to get it to actually start up is to either start charging the phone or take out the battery and then put it back in. Half of the time when I am able to get it started again it says there are problems on the SD card and needs to scan it to fix errors, meaning everything that I have saved on the SD card is unusable. I have never received a message that says the scan has completed. Usually the phone shuts off on it's own shortly after and the SD card is fine when it gets started again. One time the phone was on for an hour or so and in the storage settings it looked like the SD card was still being scanned, but once restarted the SD card was fine. Unfortunately, I don't have anything else that uses microSD cards at the moment so I can't check it with another computer to see if there really is a problem. 

I'm 99% sure that the solution to this problem is going to be the same as every other time that the phone screws up which is to reset everything. I'm a big fan of Microsoft and Windows phones, but I'm getting really tired of having all of these problems on a supposedly release ready phone and software and having to reset all of the time. I'm posting here on the off chance that there might be an easier solution to the problem. 

By the way, I did get a notification a day or two ago after one of the shut downs that said new updates were installed, but that didn't help the random shut offs. 

Thank You.

Windows for home | Other | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-04-15T10:01:21+00:00

    Kevin, when a microSD shows that behavior I abandon the microSD, because I can no longer trust it. Therefore, did you try without and/or with another microSD already?

    With shutting down, do you mean the phone restarts on its own or does it turn-off? In the latter case, I suspect a hardware issue because when the OS finds an error it either hangs or restarts. If the phone turns-off, I would bring that phone to my retailer. Are you sure, it did not hang – in that case, a manual restart should bring it back easier.

    However, for restarts, Microsoft offers the app Field Medic » Advanced » Choose which ETW … » Options » select all. Then, you start logging before the hang/reboots happens. After that, you stop logging. When you are back home, you transfer that log via USB and open it for example via WordPad. Anything suspicious?

    Anyway, sounds like a hardware issue. Please,

    1. remove the microSD,
    2. apply the Recovery Tool via a Windows computer,
    3. do not add any Wi-Fi, and
    4. do not add your Microsoft account.

    Now, you ruled out all configuration issues. If the issues persists your phone or battery is faulty. In that case, I would return it to my retailer. The retailer in turn sends it over to a local but authorised repair centre.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-05-06T23:23:26+00:00

    Hi there,

    So the reason that I placed something behind my battery 🔋 its because the battery gets loose. So I change the post it's to gift cards, I cut them in the size of my battery and carefully put them on top of my battery. I had 2 of them and then after that I put the cover over. My phone has been great. I have been watching all my shows and not even one shut down. Just give it a try, there's no harm in trying. I am loving my phone again.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-04-15T01:31:33+00:00

    I had exactly the same problem before, the turning off to the SD card problem. It has been 3 days now and my phone hasnt turned off except when my battery drained. My simple solution is post-its. I folded 2 post-its and placed them on top of my battery before putting the cover back on.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-11-30T15:03:37+00:00

    HELP! did all this and still not working, I am bringing it to the retailer today because now it wont turn on at all. I don't know if I want another windows phone, I have a feeling they are pulling an apple and bugging the firmware, so they don't have to support the phone since they **** down the windows phone program.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-04-14T22:47:03+00:00

    And my OS build is 10.0.10586.218

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