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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.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
It really Baffles me that this is a hardware issue. I have two 950's and both have the same problem. When one started i switched to the other and it worked until it got an update and it started doing it as well, There is something with the software update that is causing this to be an issue.
This was happening to me as well and it was really frustrating. I read several replies that said it was a battery issue, and though I was skeptical that a new one would solve my problems, as they seemed to start right after a software update, I figured I'd bite the bullet and bought a battery from Amazon.
It's been 2 months now and the random reboots have stopped. I can use my phone again and haven't had an issue since. I don't know if this will solve your problem, but it worked for me.
i agree, sounds stupid. but i replaced my battery also and it really does fix the issue. haven't had the problem in months since i replaced the battery. i tried the paper or card to hold the battery better, but that wasn't my issue. it was a dying batter. replacing it did wonders.
Simillar problem started to occur with my L950 after I got a replacement for my old L950 last August, due to a banged up camera which couldnt auto focus and would keep on changing the focus. My original phone's warranty would expire in a week after I got my replacement phone from B2X. Basically it was a new phone with my old battery and back cover. Anyway the replacement phone was ok only for a few weeks after which, the phone would randomly shut down and it felt like it was getting worse and the frequency of the shutdowns were increasing after every software update. I was under the impression that it was due to the software updates and will eventually be fixed in the forthcoming updates. However over the last few weeks my phone turned out to be so unreliable that i was not able to use it for even 10 min in a stretch it would turn off itself everytime after few minutes of use. I suspected that it to be the battery showing its age as it was from my older phone and took it to B2X again... They analyzed my phone and the battery and found no problems with it. The battery was healthy. Strangely my phone didnt shutdown by itself even once when it was being checked at the service centre. I got my phone back and before i could get home it started to behave as it would before shutting down after 4-5 ins of use :(. I was puzzled why it did not shutdown all the time while it was checked at the service centre and voila! it seemed like a solution struck me. At the service centre they inspected my phone and battery separately and then together. One combination that they did not try was with my after market back panel. I was using the Mozo leather patched wireless charging back panel for my new replaced phone all this time. It seems like the after market panel gives a wiggle room for the battery which causes the battery to disconnect sometimes. As soon as I replaced my after market back panel with my original Microsoft OEM backpanel. This issue has never recurred over that last 10-15 days.
I used a thick business card. Mine was randomly shutting down and I wondered if the little foam pad on the back cover was no longer thick or squishy enough to hold the battery in place. Something led me to think battery compartment security - I think based on how loosely attached the battery and the back cover are. I am not sure this is the only problem, but it had shut down three times while taking a photo within the texting function. Did this and then I was able to take and attach the photo. Have a new battery and case coming, but am keeping an eye on this issue too.
