S23+, Green screen, phone off and updating after charging

[mommamckain]

I had a very strange thing happen to my phone in the middle of the night. I had turned it off and it was connected to a USB which was charging off my clock radio. I woke up around 3 am to use the washroom and unplugged the charger. My phone screen went bright green and indicated it was conducting an update. There were Chinese characters/words in the top left side and English words in the centre stating there was an update taking place. I couldn't turn the phone on or clear the screen. In my groggy state, I flipped the phone over, as it continued to glow green and went back to sleep. It was the strangest thing and I swear I wasn't dreaming. When I woke up in the morning my phone was unplugged and off and there was no sign of this update when I turned it on. 

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? It's a little freaky and wonder if the phone has a defect or is infected. My phone is an S23+, purchased a few months ago.

Please comment if you've experienced the same.

Thank you!

[RedDogRabbit]

What is the model number of your device as shown in About Phone, ie: SM-xxxxx? 

[mommamckain]

Hi @RedDogRabbit, SM-5916W

[RedDogRabbit]

Also in Settings > About Phone > Software Information, at the very bottom what does it say under Android Security Patch Level?

AFAIK, there was no recent OS Update Scheduled for your device, but as we've seen, the Carriers haven't always been advised, or advised us about OS Updates. 

[mommamckain]

@RedDogRabbit
September 1, 2023

[RedDogRabbit]

That would be the most recent update for your device. 

If you have "auto download over WiFi" Toggled ON, it would automatically download available updates, but I don't think that it would install the update on it's own.

Personally I have auto download Toggled OFF, as I want to control when & where. 

Google normally releases the Security Patch for THEIR own devices in the first week of month, and then Samsung tries to release it for their own devices the same month, but usually towards the end of the month. 

[mommamckain]

@RedDogRabbit
Is it even possible for updates to occur when a device is off? I have a feeling this was related to the charging plug. Perhaps it's faulty. I don't know, but the situation was extremely weird.

[RedDogRabbit]

No, it's not possible to receive any updates, emails, phone calls, texts, or anything else when the phone is powered off.

Open the Samsung Members app & Click on Support, run the Diagnostics for the the USB Charging Port. See if you get any error messages. 

[Deeezzyyy]

Is this the screen that you were seeing or something similar?

This is the Samsung download mode. And by the way, the characters are Korean and not Chinese.

This screen is accessed by a combination of volume up and down keys while the phone is off and connected.

You may have pressed and held onto the buttons while being half asleep.

Nothing to worry about. It's not an issue. The phone probably died afterwards cause it ran out of battery with this bright screen on all night and exited the download mode.

This screen is for when you want to flash the firmware basically.

[RedDogRabbit]

Pressing, and holding Power + Volume down, until the device Boots into Download Mode, while sleeping, or half asleep, is a pretty neat trick 😂