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
    2018-07-21T19:13:57+00:00

    Thank you for your response steve030. I will look into that Mugan battery and get  ball with my results.

     David

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-07-21T18:20:02+00:00

    Thanks for getting back with suggestions however having tried all sorts of combination of packing and charging the only sustainable solution I have found that works is purchasing and installing a mugen power battery.

    Bulky and takes a bit of getting use to but great to have my windows phone working consistently again.

    Would certainly recommend Mugen as I was just about ready to bin it and reluctantly start using an Android phone

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-07-21T15:20:28+00:00

    Update:

    7/21/2018 10:00 am

    The phone shut down again unexpectedly and produced a nasty alarm-like sound as it shut down.

    I removed one of the two layers of duct tape from the battery (both locations) and put the battery back in. The phone would not restart on battery so I plugged it in. The indicator on the screen indicated that the battery was completely dead (from 75% - 0%). A note, I had the hotspot running without being plugged in before this last shutdown. When the phone finally rebooted, it was at 8% charge and the SD Card Scan message appeared again. I did go ahead and perform the scan which was successful.

    I will follow up every now and then as necessary to note any status updates.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-07-21T15:19:38+00:00

    On 7/21/2018 At 9:10 am

    I added two layers of ½” wide strips of Duct Tape to the back of the battery on the end where the connector contacts are.  I also added two layers of duct tape at the top end of the battery (being careful not to let the tape wrap around to the back of the battery) to tighten the fit. After restart, I did get the SD Card Scan message but elected to NOT perform the scan at that time.  The battery level at the time of this operation was 75%.

    I will follow up every now and then as necessary to note any status updates.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-07-21T13:45:29+00:00

    Step8346,

    You replied that you replaced the battery in your Lumia 950 in March of 2017 and that seems to have fixed the random shut off issue. It is now July of 2018. Is the issue still resolved or has it returned or worked?

     Thank you,

     David.

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