Motorola Moto G 3rd Generation Troubleshooting

The phone does not respond to pressing the power button and shows no signs of powering on.

If your Moto G will not turn on, the problem may simply be a drained battery. Ensure that you have a working charging cable, and let your phone charge for at least 30 minutes. The phone should reboot by holding down the POWER button after charging.

Try long pressing the power button for at least 10 seconds. If the phone still does not turn on, unplug the phone if it is plugged in. Then hold down the volume down button while simultaneously plugging the phone into a charger and then release the volume down button. On the menu that appears, use the volume up and down buttons to select “START”, and then press the power button to boot up the phone.

If you couldn’t complete the previous step, your power button may be broken. Contact Motorola/Google for support.

If the Moto G does not respond from simple charging, a reset can be performed as follows:

1. With the phone connected to the charger, press and hold the VOL DOWN key.
2. Continue holding the VOL DOWN key, and press and hold the POWER key.
3. Hold both keys down for over 120 seconds, and then release them.
4. When the Flash Boot screen appears on the screen, use the VOL UP key to select the Normal Reboot option.

If your Moto G’s battery has been completely discharged, it may not respond to simple charging. In this case, leave the phone to rest overnight without being connected to a charger. After this period, the phone should respond after 30 minutes of charging. In order to avoid this problem in the future, charge the phone once the battery level reaches 5%.

If the battery is damaged, please refer to the Motorola Moto G 3rd Generation Battery Replacement guide.

If no other solution fixes the problem, you can perform an external factory reset that will restore your phone's software to factory settings (i.e. before you bought the phone). This is a last resort since it will delete all of the data and information on your phone. The following steps will perform an external factory reset on your phone:

1. Make sure the phone has at least 25% battery, and then power off the device.
2. With the phone connected to the charger, press and hold the VOL DOWN key.
3. Continue holding the VOL DOWN key, and press and hold the POWER key.
4. Hold both keys down for over 120 seconds, and then release them.
5. When the Flash Boot screen appears on the screen, use the VOL DOWN key to highlight the "Recovery" option.
6. Press the VOL UP button to select "Recovery".
7. When an Android robot with a red exclamation mark appears on the screen, hold down the POWER button and press the VOL UP bottom.
8. Use the VOL DOWN button to highlight "wipe data/factory reset," and select it with the POWER button.
9. Highlight "Yes-erase all user data," and select with the POWER button.

The battery level does not increase when plugged in or rapidly decreases when idle.

If your the Moto G does not charge when plugged in, check to make sure the charging cord snuggly connects to the phone and that the cord also has a good connection with the charging source (outlet or computer).

If your Moto G loses charge rapidly, you may have too many apps running in the background. To check this, select the "Settings" app and look under the "Battery" tab. There you will be able to see which apps are using the most energy. Closing unused apps will help to maintain charge.

If the Moto G will not charge while being correctly plugged in, the charging cord may be damaged. To test this, try using a different charging cord and perhaps a different wall outlet.

If the phone still will not charge, the charging port may be damaged. To replace the charging port, please refer to the Motorola Moto G 3rd Generation Charging Port Replacement guide.

If the battery is damaged, the phone can suffer either a rapid loss of charge or fail to charge altogether. In order to replace the battery, please refer to the Motorola Moto G 3rd Generation Battery Replacement guide.

The phone disconnects from wifi frequently, or the connection is unusually slow.

To reconnect to the same network, pull down the settings panel and tap the Wi-Fi icon to turn it off. Then tap the Wi-Fi menu and tap the same network to connect to it again.

There could be a software bug related to Wi-Fi that Motorola/Google has fixed in a recent patch. Under the "Settings" app, select the "About Phone" tab, then select"System updates," and install the latest update if one is available.

Some issues can be caused by junk buildup that is cleaned when the phone is rebooted. To reboot the phone, hold the power button, tap “Power off,” and hold the power button again after the phone is off to turn it back on.

If you are getting “Authentication Problem” when you select a Wi-Fi connection from the Wi-Fi page, you probably entered the wrong password. First, verify the password (you might look on the router or ask the Wi-Fi administrator). Then, tap the connection on the Wi-Fi screen, tap “Forget,”and try connecting to it again. This time, enter the correct password that you have verified. If the authentication still fails, try connecting to other networks. If the authentication problem only occurs on one network, the problem is most likely in that network’s settings or connection. Otherwise, you might have faulty Wi-Fi hardware or software. Contact Motorola or Google for support.

If your phone’s Wi-Fi speeds are slower than other devices on the same network, try rebooting in safe mode. When the phone is on, hold the power button until “Power off” appears. Tap and hold “Power off” until “Reboot to safe mode” appears, and then tap “Ok”. In safe mode, check your Wi-Fi speeds again. If it is still slow, check again on other Wi-Fi networks. If the problem exists on only one network, your device may have a low priority connection (contact the Wi-Fi administrator for this network). If your device is consistently slower than other devices on multiple Wi-Fi networks, you could have faulty Wi-Fi hardware or software. Contact Motorola or Google for support.

If the Wi-Fi speed is improved by rebooting in safe mode (see previous item), the slowdown is most likely caused by an app or service on your phone. In safe mode, you can open apps on your phone one by one while testing your Wi-Fi speed to find the app at fault. If the app is not necessary, uninstalling it may fix the problem. If the slowdown is not caused by any particular app, you can also try disabling automatic updates on the Google Play Store and automatic syncing. To do this, select the "Settings" app, select the "Accounts" tab, and check the sync settings for each account.

The phone is telling me that the SD card was unexpectedly removed.

Under the "Settings" app, select "Storage" and make sure your SD card is not currently unmounted. If it is unmounted, tap "Mount SD card".

There could be a software bug related to SD cards that Motorola/Google has fixed in a recent patch. Under the "Settings" app, select the "About Phone" tab, then select"System updates," and install the latest update if one is available.

Some issues can be caused by junk buildup that is cleaned when the phone is rebooted. To reboot the phone, hold the power button, tap “Power off,” and hold the power button again after the phone is off to turn it back on.

Your SD card may be loose or otherwise improperly inserted into the SD card slot. Take off the back cover of the phone using the tab at the bottom and then pull out the SD card from the bottom slot in the top left corner. Insert it again into the same slot, sliding it all the way in. Make sure your phone recognizes the SD card by going to the "Settings" app, selecting the "Storage" tab, and seeing if your SD card is listed.

Follow the instructions above but replace the current SD card with a different one. If the problem persists for other SD cards, it is likely that you have a faulty SD card reader. Refer to the Motorola Moto G 3rd Generation Card Reader Replacement guide.

The interface does not respond when you tap the screen.

If your phone's screen is unresponsive due to a software glitch, a simple restart can help to resolve the issue. To perform this, hold down the POWER button for 10 seconds until the phone turns off. Then, simply turn the phone back on by pressing the POWER button.

If normal reset fails to fix the problem, a forced reset can be performed as follows:

1. With the phone powered off and connected to a charger, press and hold the VOL DOWN key.
2. Continue holding the VOL DOWN key, and press and hold the POWER key.
3. Hold both keys down for over 120 seconds, and then release them.
4. When the Flash Boot screen appears on the screen, use the VOL UP key to select the Normal Reboot option.

If no other solution fixes the problem, you can perform an external factory reset that will restore your phone's software to factory settings (i.e. before you bought the phone). This is a last resort since it will delete all of the data and information on your phone. The following steps will perform an external factory reset on your phone:

1. Make sure the phone has at least 25% battery, and then power off the device.
2. With the phone connected to the charger, press and hold the VOL DOWN key.
3. Continue holding the VOL DOWN key, and press and hold the POWER key.
4. Hold both keys down for over 120 seconds, and then release them.
5. When the Flash Boot screen appears on the screen, use the VOL DOWN key to highlight the "Recovery" option.
6. Press the VOL UP button to select "Recovery".
7. When an Android robot with a red exclamation mark appears on the screen, hold down the POWER button and press the VOL UP button.
8. Use the VOL DOWN button to highlight "wipe data/factory reset," and select it with the POWER button.
9. Highlight "Yes-erase all user data," and select it with the POWER button.

Go to system updates and click on device software to check for new software updates for the phone

The phone itself also has a “screen test” when going to the settings. This allows for a finger sensitivity test where you move the finger across the screen to see what areas show success and what areas don’t.

Your phone may have a faulty touchscreen. Refer to the Motorola Moto G 3rd Generation Display Replacement guide to replace your phone's screen.

No audio can be heard through the headphones, when they are plugged in.

Since the headphone volume differs from the speaker volume, the volume may actually be muted. Try adjusting the volume with the headphones plugged in by pressing the VOL UP button until the system sound appears to be in the middle.

If adjusting the volume does not help, rebooting the phone may fix the problem. To do this, hold the POWER button for 10 seconds. Once the device is off, press the POWER button to restart the device.

Connect a different pair of headphones, and test the volume again. If the sound works for other headphones, your headphones might be faulty. However, if the problem persists with other headphones, you might have a bad audio jack. Contact Motorola or Google for support.

You are completely unable to make or receive calls and messages from your phone.

If you are in an area not covered by your service provider, you will be unable to use data, make calls, or send text messages. In this case, you must return to an area with cell/data coverage.

If airplane mode has been activated on your phone, all calling service and data will be blocked, preventing calls and messaging. To turn this mode off, select the "Settings" app and select the "More" tab. There you will see a slider labeled "Airplane mode." Push the slider to the left so it is greyed out. Airplane mode will then be deactivated.

If your data and cell service are not working properly, please contact your phone's carrier service (e.g. Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.) for assistance.

If your phone's SIM card is damaged, you will not be able to make calls or send messages. Contact your phone's carrier service (e.g. Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.) to request a new SIM card.

If the SIM card itself is not damaged, the SIM card reader may be faulty. To replace the SIM card reader, please refer to the Motorola Moto G 3rd Generation SIM Card Reader Replacement guide.

If no other solution fixes the problem, you can perform a factory reset that will restore your phone's software to factory settings (i.e. before you bought the phone). This is a last resort since it will delete all of the data and information on your phone. The following steps will perform a factory reset on your phone:

1. Select the "Settings" app.
2. Select "Backup and reset".
3. Select "Factory data reset".
4. Select "Reset Phone".