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Help After factory reset, activation stuck at "checking connection"

S

stimulii

Lurker
A few days ago my phone lost the ability to make calls. I could receive calls and could send and receive texts but no outgoing calls would connect. A big storm was rolling through at the time so I thought maybe that had something to do with it. I could not find any solution that fixed the problem so I backed up my data (I think) and tried a factory reset. Going through the activation process the phone recognizes my SIM and phone number and then I hit NEXT and the next screen says "checking connection". This screen is never successful and always ends with the message "Couldn't connect to the internet", at which point I am sent back one screen to try again.

I am not knowledgeable about smart phones and do not know what to do to get this thing working again. Please help.
 
stimulii said:
A few days ago my phone lost the ability to make calls. I could receive calls and could send and receive texts but no outgoing calls would connect. A big storm was rolling through at the time so I thought maybe that had something to do with it. I could not find any solution that fixed the problem so I backed up my data (I think) and tried a factory reset. Going through the activation process the phone recognizes my SIM and phone number and then I hit NEXT and the next screen says "checking connection". This screen is never successful and always ends with the message "Couldn't connect to the internet", at which point I am sent back one screen to try again.

I am not knowledgeable about smart phones and do not know what to do to get this thing working again. Please help.
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Hi. Sorry to hear you are having problems.

It sounds as though your problem may lie with your carrier's APN settings. These settings configure your phone to operate and connect on your particular carrier. See...

https://www.helpforsmartphone.com/p...4/guides/22/Set-up-Internet-Samsung-Galaxy-S5

The settings will be different for each carrier, worldwide. Initially, you could try shutting down your phone and removing your carrier's SIM card and then reboot the phone. Next, power off the phone and re-insert the SIM card and reboot. See if this solves your issue. If not, you can either request your APN settings from your carrier or Google them for the Samsung Galaxy S5 and your carrier.
 
ironass said:
Hi. Sorry to hear you are having problems.

It sounds as though your problem may lie with your carrier's APN settings. These settings configure your phone to operate and connect on your particular carrier. See...

https://www.helpforsmartphone.com/p...4/guides/22/Set-up-Internet-Samsung-Galaxy-S5

The settings will be different for each carrier, worldwide. Initially, you could try shutting down your phone and removing your carrier's SIM card and then reboot the phone. Next, power off the phone and re-insert the SIM card and reboot. See if this solves your issue. If not, you can either request your APN settings from your carrier or Google them for the Samsung Galaxy S5 and your carrier.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply. I followed the steps you described powering down, removing sim card, powering up (screen said SIM card required), powered down again, replaced SIM card and powered up phone. The activation process still cannot successfully complete the "Checking Connection" screen. I was able to find Verizon MMS and APN settings for the Galaxy S5 and instructions for inputting them but that requires access to settings that I cannot yet get to during the activation process. The only commands I can access are "Next" and "Emergency Call" in this setup wizard. It appears I never should have done the factory reset.
 
stimulii said:
Thank you for the reply. I followed the steps you described powering down, removing sim card, powering up (screen said SIM card required), powered down again, replaced SIM card and powered up phone. The activation process still cannot successfully complete the "Checking Connection" screen. I was able to find Verizon MMS and APN settings for the Galaxy S5 and instructions for inputting them but that requires access to settings that I cannot yet get to during the activation process. The only commands I can access are "Next" and "Emergency Call" in this setup wizard. It appears I never should have done the factory reset.
Click to expand...
Right, so you have the Verizon SM-900V carrier minority variant of the Samsung Galaxy S5. See #1.2 and #1.6 of ...

42 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide

If I recall correctly, this model comes with APN settings already locked in to the handset's firmware. Therefore, it may mean that you may just require a new SIM card. If you have another Verizon SIM card lying around, try it in your phone.
 
ironass said:
Right, so you have the Verizon SM-900V carrier minority variant of the Samsung Galaxy S5. See #1.2 and #1.6 of ...

42 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide

If I recall correctly, this model comes with APN settings already locked in to the handset's firmware. Therefore, it may mean that you may just require a new SIM card. If you have another Verizon SIM card lying around, try it in your phone.
Click to expand...

Yes it appears to be SM-900v. Unfortunately the only other SIM card I have access to is from an old flip phone and that is too big. In accordance with the page you referenced, do I need to contact Verizon for help on this issue?
 
stimulii said:
Yes it appears to be SM-900v. Unfortunately the only other SIM card I have access to is from an old flip phone and that is too big. In accordance with the page you referenced, do I need to contact Verizon for help on this issue?
Click to expand...
Yes, it would be a good idea at this stage to contact Verizon as the connection issue could very well exist at their end.
 
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