A phone that vibrates or rings while the screen stays black is a 'black screen of death': the system runs but the display pipeline stalled. Software recovery works surprisingly often.
- 1Force restart: Power + Volume Down held 20-30 seconds.
- 2Charge 30 minutes with a known-good charger and repeat (rules out empty battery).
- 3Plug into a computer: if it's detected, the system is alive, screen path issue confirmed.
- 4Try Recovery Mode (Power + Volume Up): recovery visible = software problem, wipe cache; still black = display/board hardware.
- 5After a drop or water exposure, hardware is likely, display or flex cable replacement.
Tip: If the screen comes back, check for a rogue app (Safe Mode) and update everything, recurring black screens before hardware failure are rare but real.