Major screen issues after Jan 26 update

[akadis1]

A few hours after yesterday's upgrade, my mostly new (6 months) S21+ started having display/screen issues.

I have googled this but found nothing similar. There appears to be a repetitive shape (puzzle like) on the phone that makes things super hard to read, and there is something like green, black and purple bleeding. Photos attached.

Has anyone seen anything like this?

I have filed a repair service ticket since the phone is still under warranty, but since I am abroad it will be a pain to get it fixed.

My next step before mailing the phone to the US for repair, is to do a factory reset as recommended by tech support.

But I am just wondering if anyone has had a similar issue and if it can be repaired easily.

 

[blackhawk]

That ain't pretty...
What does it look like with ScreenTest?
Looks like hardware. Could be the download/install got corrupted; I really don't like OTA updates.
Factory reset. If it's still doing it it's likely hardware. A lot of Samsung display failures in the last year it seems. It will at the very least need to be reflashed.
Make sure to backup all critical data...

 

[akadis1]

I haven't tried ScreenTest... I will try it now
Yeah.... I am backing everything up before doing the factory reset.
Thanks for your reply

 

[akadis1]

So I ran the screen test, red, green and blue and black and everything looks good... this is so weird?
Then I powered off the phone and back on and the green purple bleeding is much less. The text is now mostly readable. The weird puzzle shape is still there.

I guess the next step should be the factory reset?

 

[blackhawk]

I haven't tried ScreenTest... I will try it now
Yeah.... I am backing everything up before doing the factory reset.
Thanks for your reply

Try clearing the system cache... (edit)
After seeing the phone dialing screen I don't think the ScreenTest will be any better. It may give you more insight though.

Now you see why I almost never update. The current Android 9 load on this phone will be 2yo in June, still fast and stable with minimal maintenance.
Android 9 and up are reasonably secure. I wouldn't update unless the current version isn't fulfilling its mission. The Fold variants probably have the most to gain from firmware upgrades.

 

[blackhawk]

So I ran the screen test, red, green and blue and black and everything looks good... this is so weird?
Then I powered off the phone and back on and the green purple bleeding is much less. The text is now mostly readable. The weird puzzle shape is still there.

I guess the next step should be the factory reset?

Not display hardware it seems... interesting.
Try clearing the system cache.
Try in safe mod.
There have been reports of older apps glitching Android 12 up. Try using the factory theme if you aren't; older Galaxy themes may not be compatible with the newer OS.

 

[akadis1]

Try clearing the system cache... (edit)
After seeing the phone dialing screen I don't think the ScreenTest will be any better. It may give you more insight though.

Now you see why I almost never update. The current Android 9 load on this phone will be 2yo in June, still fast and stable with minimal maintenance.
Android 9 and up are reasonably secure. I wouldn't update unless the current version isn't fulfilling its mission. The Fold variants probably have the most to gain from firmware upgrades.

OMG I always update!! Huge lesson learned... fingers crossed that a factory reset can fix this problem. But then will I have to update ?

 

[blackhawk]

OMG I always update!! Huge lesson learned... fingers crossed that a factory reset can fix this problem. But then will I have to update ?

After the factory reset you will still be running on the version you just updated to. Only the user data partition gets set back to its default values.

Bear in mind what I said about safe mode (3rd party apps) and the Galaxy theme that's running.
Maybe icon packs too... what a mess.
These are known issues. May not be anything wrong with the firmware. Android is putting developers through hell trying to be compatible with 12.

You should do a factory reset but then be careful what you load. Keep an eye on it. Uninstall any app that's not compatible as you load them.
Do system app updates one at a time, they could be a culprit.
Clear the system cache again after reloading everything.

 

[blackhawk]

Sorry I keep editing these posts. Really all I do to sort out most problems is to play with it.
That sometimes means multiple factory resets if you can't ID the problem. Put some thought into what your doing to try to avoid that and hopefully identify the source of any issues after the reset.

FRP... wipe your Google account from the phone before you reset and do the hard reset from settings vs the boot menu. I do the same with the Samsung account as well. Getting locked out isn't pretty or simple to fix.

If you don't like the upgrade it may be possible to roll it back (reflash) if the boot loader version hasn't been upgraded too.

 

[akadis1]

Good news... before proceeding with the factory reset (it scares me to do it) I removed some apps: instagram, facebook, wodify and regram. Other apps had not been updated since the last Android update, so I started updating them one by one: messenger, google maps, google photos, instagram.

Now the phone is 90% better!!

 

[blackhawk]

Yay. 90%? Still display issues?

I would ditch those social media apps, they are malware in of themselves
If I can't excess and use a forum through the browser I will not use it. Especially fb.
These sites have helped to ruined, harmed and destroyed more lives and careers than you can count. At the best they are purveyors of disinformation as well as wholesale disseminators of personal information.
I'm a 21th century man...

 

[akadis1]

Yay. 90%? Still display issues?

I would ditch those social media apps, they are malware in of themselves
If I can't excess and use a forum through the browser I will not use it. Especially fb.
These sites have helped to ruined, harmed and destroyed more lives and careers than you can count. At the best they are purveyors of disinformation as well as wholesale disseminators of personal information.
I'm a 21th century man...

I agree 100%

 

[akadis1]

yes display issues fixed at almost 90%

 

[blackhawk]

yes display issues fixed at almost 90%

What's still wrong?

 

[akadis1]

the repetitive shapes are still there but more faint... but now I can now red and view everything. A little bit of purple and green but barely noticeable.

 

[blackhawk]

Try using a fixed frequency like 60hz for the display. See if/how that effects it.
Does brightness level effect it? Full brightness?
Is it doing that in safe mode now?

 

[akadis1]

Try using a fixed frequency like 60hz for the display. See if/how that effects it.
Does brightness level effect it? Full brightness?
Is it doing that in safe mode now?

Let me google how to use a fixed frequency

I am not on safe mode, but I tried it and it looks the same.
Brightness does affect it... it looks a bit better. Actually it seems like brightness has diminished. Before I barely had the brightness set to like 10%... now that is too dark and the weird shapes show more. If I increase the brightness it looks better

 

[blackhawk]

Let me google how to use a fixed frequency

I am not on safe mode, but I tried it and it looks the same.
Brightness does affect it... it looks a bit better. Actually it seems like brightness has diminished. Before I barely had the brightness set to like 10%... now that is too dark and the weird shapes show more. If I increase the brightness it looks better

See if there's any system app updates on Playstore for it.
If you're in the US you can take it to a Samsung Experience center at a participating Best Buys store. They can run more advanced diagnostics on it or may know just by seeing it.
It's being quit the horror...

 

[akadis1]

Yes, I think I will end up taking it to a Samsung Experience center here in MExico.

Thanks so much for all your help and patience!!

 

[blackhawk]

Yes, I think I will end up taking it to a Samsung Experience center here in MExico.

Thanks so much for all your help and patience!!

You're welcome. Sorry to see you're having so much trouble with it.

Play with the new firmware and see if you like it.
If you like the previous version better the Experience Center may be able to flash it back to that version.