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The Droid Razr is an Android-based, 4G LTE-capable smartphone designed by Motorola.

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How can I fix my Motorola Droid RAZR power button?

The button on my Motorola Droid RAZR suddenly stopped working. When I press it, it doesn't turn the screen on or off and it won't pop up with the power off option for my phone. If I let my screen turn off or go into "sleep," I can't get my screen to come on unless I plug it into a charger, but the button is useless. Can it be fixed?

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Sarah Moore i thank u so much i am a tech junkie and i did end up taking my razer apart and then after that failed i tried what u suggested and it worked beautifully thank u truthfully i was ready to smash it of the wall and would not a been near as mad bud i am what i call a primary texter I use less than three hundred min a talk time a month but over 6500 text so when someone called it come on but text just the led would light up so from a very great full person I wanted to right this and tell u u are def a genius dude

P.S. Sorry for calling ya Sarah just saw thats the name u used lol thanx a bunch!!

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That´s sounds really funny, because if the button doesn`t work..how could you confirm "reboot system now" in reboot menu???

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I have the same problem buuuut my phone is dead soooo I basically have no phone at all. I wish it was like apple where the phone would on when it had 10/15 %

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Now it says safe mode why

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My wife just had the same thing happen to her RAZR. She took it to the VerizonWireless store. They told her they don't repair phones and, since our phones aren't insured, they started talking to her about payment plans for a new phone (at full price).

Long story short...

I told her to come home and I'll check all our options. That's when I found your question here. I downloaded Smart Screen On, but it didn't really work for me. I found out it was created for the Samsung Galaxy and not guaranteed to work on other devices. I figured I'd reboot the phone in case the proximity sensor wasn't engaged. Well, what do you know? Rebooting fixed the power button!

Here's how:

Hold the power button down while pressing the down (-) volume button on the phone. Hold that until the Motorola logo appears and the boot up sequence starts.

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42 Comments:

You are a genius. Thank you! My phone started doing the same thing out of no where. The reboot did the trick.

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I followed the advise to hold the power button down while pressing the down (-) volume button on the phone. I held it until the Motorola logo appeared and my phone rebooted and is working like it always had. You made my day and took a load off my shoulders, I will now not be prosecuted for causing bodily on the Best Buy employee that told me I was

SOL and would have to purchase a new phone from them. I want to '''THANK-YOU '''and so does my wife.

joludea July 21

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Yes! You are a genius my friend. I was trippin that the button didn't work. Did the reboot, and vua-la its working fine now. Eff those idiots at Verizon, all they want is your $

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Thanks a lot!

In my case the "power plus (-) button" did not work, but a "power plus (-) plus (+) buttons" did it!

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Apparantly this happens more then I thought. My phone was doing the same thing, and I was thinking about taking it apart, but wasn't sure if I'd be able to put it back together, since its not really meant to be disassembled by the owner. Anyway, that trick worked beautifully so my husband and I thank you bunches. :)

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IMPORTANT: note that sometimes the battery will be completely dead and the use of the volume down plus the power button won't perform the soft reset.

The battery can go dead suddenly for various reasons which I won't discuss here since I don't know much about that.

To revive your phone:

Plug the phone into your charger overnight.

THEN first hold down the volume down button, and then also hold down the power button and keep both pressed. It can take as long as a minute or more for the reset to be performed. The reset is intended to do the same thing as removing and replacing the battery on phones with removable batteries.

If the phone doesn't then come alive stop pressing the buttons and give it a little time. If it still does not come alive it is possible your internal battery failed completely and must be replaced. But you can try the charge and reset a few more times, hold down the buttons shorter or longer, etc. If those don't work get on the forums again and search for more answers before you go to the trouble of replacing the battery.

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I had the same problem. I am close to my upgrade date and don't want to spend the money to fix it. I found an app in the google play store called smart screen on, it works to get your screen to turn on. The one thing that I found was that I tried to wave my hand to fast. It requires a simple paced wave or tap on you screen sensor.

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Well I can't hold down the power button because its already down..button is sunk in

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This doesn't work for me at all... I understand the concept and I realize this is the first droid with a built in battery that can be reset. But my power lock button is NOT WORKING, so when I go to reset IT DOESN'T WORK because it required the power button... Holding power & volume up, power & volume down, and power with both volume buttons does nothing. I've done all three multiple times for the past 3 hours. Makes sense to reset the phone to make a button work WITH the button that doesn't work??? I'm glad everyone else fixed the issue but it's not working here.

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Atley Stumpf, are you trying to reboot the phone while it is off? I was having the same problem but was able to make it work when the phone was on.

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My phone is on and I'm trying to do it but its not going. My power button is doing nothing

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I've tried also and with my phone on and it still isn't working. My power button is doing nothing.

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I had the same problem and found this site. However, after a couple of hours it crossed my mind that it possibly had something to do with the charger or battery. I notice a couple of days before that although plugged in it was not charging up at all. At that tiem I unplugged it from the wall socket and placed it somewhere else and it worked. This did not happen tonight I decided to remove the USB part of the charger from the plug and inserted the USB into my computer. The mobile phone started to charge. I hope this is all it is for others.

After the phone has nearly charged I will try putting the USB back into the plug and make sure it is fully fitted in and place it in the wall socket. If it does not work, maybe it will be the fuse in the plug.

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I had the exact same issue and I held down the power and volume down buttons and it worked like a charm. Its all fixed!! Great advice!

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Ah! Thank you so much! I too was having problems with my power button to where it wouldn't work and I had to plug my charger in to even get into my phone. I couldn't figure out how to restart it since the power button is obviously how I shut it off/turn it on and I did exactly what you said to do and voila...IT WORKS NOW! Saved me a trip to the Verizon store especially because I know they would've just told me I had to buy another one since my contract isn't up. & because my dad accidently deleted my insurance off when he was updating the minutes on our phones since we never came close to them. You think it would be covered through verizon and they would replace the phone since it would be a mal function that isn't due to me causing the issue. Yeah right. They just want you're moneyyyy! thanks again though! Glad I'm not the only one experiencing this so that I knew how to resolve it...for now at least! Lol

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Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!

I had no idea what I was going to do and had not a clue why it happened. Brilliant, you are.

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how do you download the smart screen if your phone is already frozen? I am pretty sure my power button is broke

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Kevin, does your screen wake up when you plug in your charger? If so that is when you can reboot per the instructions above.

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I got the phone to reboot doing this, but the power button still does not work.

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Can only see the screen if I plug it in still.

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HELP! (please)

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i actually used the Smart screen on and it worked as i already tried to rebooting but fortunately it didn't work so i recommended it

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Im trying to to turn my phone on! Help!! when its plugged into the charger, i can turn on the screen to see how much it is charging by using the "power button" and the "down button" but it wont reset itself or turn on. its almost completely charged but i cant get it to turn on! HELPPP

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did the reset holding the power and -vol button down for about 20 sec. waiting for the logo. when I let go the logo popped up and the phone reset. Power button working now.

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Oh my. I have had a broken power button and been searching for a month on how to fix and FINALLY Came across this. You have saved me so much money and the rest of my time. thank u so much!

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I had this problem several months ago and this solved the problem. It happened again today, but now it will not respond. The only thing that happens is the volume is turned down. :( I guess this only works once.

Update

Update: I plugged in my phone to a computer via the USB cable. (I also have the settings set to lock my screen only to open with a 4-digit password). When I plugged the phone into my computer, my screen came up. I put the phone on silent. Only then was I able to press the power button then the volume down button and hold them both until the phone reset. The button works now.

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I have the same problem with my RAZR Maxx. I downloaded the Smart Screen (Lite) from the play store. Although it says it is for the Galaxy Nexus, it works fine on the RAZR. Once I got the phone on again which took about 10 minutes, I started the app and it works to wake a sleeping RAZR. I've used it the last 24 hrs, no problem. I also set the sleep time to the max 10 minutes so it doesn't go to sleep as often, just to be safe.

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thanks for your help jimhert. with the program "Smart Screen (Lite)" my cell is working , but I'll have to keep it charged, if I missed I'm quite certain that it will stay off for till I'll have it fixed.

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Hello, i had almost the same problem with you and i came across this answer...

The start button has been destroyed and when i say destroyed, i mean we can't press it anymore/ o i am talking about a useless button anymore...

Is there any way to make android phone start even only once, so that after that, do whatever solutions (e.g. software restart or software reset or locking) you proposing here?? Can the button be always pressed, i think this could be a solution, or it will keep locking the phone after that?

thank you.

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I have exactly the same problem. My Razr button is really broken, I can't press and I don't know how to recover my phone.

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Have the same destroyed/broken power button. Did you ever find an answer to that problem?

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Thank you. My Droid Maxx HD just had similar issues and I did exactly as explained here (power button + volume (-)). Amazingly, the moto logo appeared. Thanks I owe you a beer.

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i had charged my phone all night and it still would not turn on. I plugged it into my computer and the computer recognized it but the screen still would not turn on... I held the - and the power buttons until i heard the disconnect tone on the computer and yee haw the phone came on!!! Thanks

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Thanks! Works! I cannot wait to go back to the Verizon store I stopped at on the way home last night. They will get a piece of my mind.. Tried to sell me insurance or a new phone. Tech said they could not do anything.

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Hi! For 2 1/2 yrs, my Motorola Razr V has been great, but today, it inexplicably "turned off" & the on/off switch instantly became useless! I thought "Battery?" until the phone rang, lit up & showed a FULL charge! After the call, the (again dark) screen only lit up by plugging in the charger. "Reboot" to fix this? How - with a dead on/off switch??? "Malware"?? Maybe!! So I searched -- & found YOUR article instead. Your "REBOOT" METHOD -- WORKED!! -- & IT FIXED THE PROBLEM!! -- THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

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Worked great for me and saved an expensive repair. I had to hold the power and + volume to get it to recycle but I returned to full function. I had the same problem with the phone only turning on with an incoming call or attached to power.

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I've had 4 xt885 Droid Razr phones that have suffered a faulty power switch. The Droid Razrs come with 2 spare switches in the volume control. If you are handy with a soldering iron the switches can be swapped. Be sure to undo the battery terminals before the screwed down cover plate is removed.

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In general the hard user reboot is suggested about once a month, followed by an extended recharge cycle. It forces clean-up of memory leaks caused by faulty Android app software, which is something that “safe mode” cannot do by itself.

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Mandybear will be eternally grateful.
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