Hi All, (first post) (Note 5 on Sprint, marshmallow)
A few weeks ago my Samsung Note 5 started giving errors about using a bad charger (with no charger connected), Battery Circuit problems ("that sometimes correct themselves") and Power Sharing without Sharing Software warning (again no cord attached). It would periodically beep like a charger was plugged in and then frequently display one of those 3 messages. The power sharing message was the most frequent. Another frequent occurrence was a black screen with a tiny x in the lower corner even while using some feature of the phone which was especially annoying.
This is when I discovered just how bad Samsung warranty support is. I had the option to send my phone in and wait 10 days for them to send it back. Their policy of no swaps and no loaners makes Samsung phones useless for business users. After several days of trying different things, I arranged for the RMA, which requires at least an hour of answer questions that are geared toward you saying something that will void the warranty. I was warned that using 3rd party charges can void my warranty especially on battery related problems, then later in the same conversation they asked if I would test with a third party charger to see if the problem went away!
Part of the return procedure was to do a factory reset. Of course that fixed the problem ... for a few days, then the problem returned. I was pretty sure Samsung support would do a reset and say everything is fine and send it back, so I decided to try and identify the culprit.
Over the following week or so, I did several iterations of factory reset and limiting the software I installed. Eventually I noticed that the problem only returned after the Samsung Gear VR software AUTOMATICALLY installed itself. I think I closed the install app every time it came up, but not sure. I don't have or use any VR products. You cannot disable the Gear VR software through "Settings".
I used a third party product to disable everything related to Gear VR (wizard, service, wizard stub, etc) and the problem has not returned. If anyone knows a way to alert Samsung to this issue without spending hours on the phone or in chat, I would be interested to know how.
Hope this helps someone else.
Sean
A few weeks ago my Samsung Note 5 started giving errors about using a bad charger (with no charger connected), Battery Circuit problems ("that sometimes correct themselves") and Power Sharing without Sharing Software warning (again no cord attached). It would periodically beep like a charger was plugged in and then frequently display one of those 3 messages. The power sharing message was the most frequent. Another frequent occurrence was a black screen with a tiny x in the lower corner even while using some feature of the phone which was especially annoying.
This is when I discovered just how bad Samsung warranty support is. I had the option to send my phone in and wait 10 days for them to send it back. Their policy of no swaps and no loaners makes Samsung phones useless for business users. After several days of trying different things, I arranged for the RMA, which requires at least an hour of answer questions that are geared toward you saying something that will void the warranty. I was warned that using 3rd party charges can void my warranty especially on battery related problems, then later in the same conversation they asked if I would test with a third party charger to see if the problem went away!
Part of the return procedure was to do a factory reset. Of course that fixed the problem ... for a few days, then the problem returned. I was pretty sure Samsung support would do a reset and say everything is fine and send it back, so I decided to try and identify the culprit.
Over the following week or so, I did several iterations of factory reset and limiting the software I installed. Eventually I noticed that the problem only returned after the Samsung Gear VR software AUTOMATICALLY installed itself. I think I closed the install app every time it came up, but not sure. I don't have or use any VR products. You cannot disable the Gear VR software through "Settings".
I used a third party product to disable everything related to Gear VR (wizard, service, wizard stub, etc) and the problem has not returned. If anyone knows a way to alert Samsung to this issue without spending hours on the phone or in chat, I would be interested to know how.
Hope this helps someone else.
Sean
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