The situation when the display Redmi Note 7 shows the image but stops responding to touch, is one of the most stressful for the owner. Especially acute problem when you need to urgently turn off the device to prevent overheating, reboot the system or just to save battery power. the Standard path through the Settings menu or swipe notification curtains becomes unavailable, which puts the user at a loss.
Fortunately, the Android architecture and MIUI shell provide several hardware and software management methods that work even when a touchscreen fails completely. Forced reboot and logging into special boot modes allow you to turn off or restart without using the screen. Below we will discuss in detail all available options.
It's important to understand that some methods can lead to the loss of unsaved data if the system does not have time to complete the background processes. However, in emergency cases, when the phone hangs and warms, the choice is small. We will look at methods from the most secure to those that require a connection to a computer.
Hardware reboot with power buttons
The first and most affordable method that every Xiaomi user should try is using physical body buttons, and engineers have designed hard reset at the power controller level, which is independent of operating system status or touchscreen drivers.
Usually, holding the Power button for 10-15 seconds for a long time leads to vibration and the Mi logo appears, after which the device begins a reboot cycle. However, in some versions of MIUI firmware, the button behavior can be reconfigured or blocked by a software failure. If simple retention does not help, try the combined method.
- 🔘 Press the Volume Down and Power button at the same time. 10-15 seconds.
- 🔘 Hold the Volume Up and Power button until the logo appears.
- 🔘 Try triple pressing the power button if the function SOS It was not previously disabled in the settings.
It's worth noting that the volume-down combination often puts your smartphone in Fastboot mode, rather than just turning it off. That's okay: once you're in the Fastboot menu (the screen usually shows a hare repairing an android), you can just press the power button for 10 seconds, and the phone will forcefully shut down. This is a workaround that is guaranteed to work at the hardware level.
⚠️ Warning: If the phone turns on spontaneously after switching off, the power button may have stuck or the alarm/start schedule is in the system.
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If the phone is in Fastboot mode, hold the power button for about 10-12 seconds until the screen is completely out.This is a guaranteed way to turn the device off when the sensor is not working.
Using Recovery Mode to Turn Off
Recovery is a separate diagnostic partition in the smartphone memory that loads independently of the main Android system, and can only be accessed with buttons, making this method ideal for a non-working sensor. Unlike Fastboot, the Recovery menu often contains clear controls, although navigation is carried out exclusively with volume buttons.
To enter this mode on the Redmi Note 7, you must first turn off the device completely (if it is still on).If you can't turn it off, wait for the battery to drain or use the button-clamping method from the previous section to get into Fastboot, and then go to Recovery. The main login algorithm when the phone is turned off: clamp Volume Up and Power at the same time and hold until the logo appears.
Once you're on the Recovery menu, you'll see a list of options in English or Chinese, and you'll be able to navigate with volume buttons (up/down), and you'll be able to choose from the power button. Depending on the version of Recovery (Stock or TWRP), the shutdown can be called differently. In a Chinese or English stock reclaimer, there's often no direct "Power Off" option, but there's a "Reboot" option, after which you can select "Power Off" or just reboot, which will also solve the problem of hanging.
| Action of the buttons | Function in Recovery | The result |
|---|---|---|
| Volume Up/Down | Moving on the menu | Selecting the right item |
| Power button | Confirmation of choice | Execution of the team |
| Volume + Power (10 sec) | Forced restart | Getting out of the regime |
If you're on the TWRP menu (user installed), there's almost always a Power Off button in the main menu or in the "Reboot" section. This is the safest software way to turn off your phone, as it correctly completes all the processes before power goes off. In the Xiaomi stock drive, you often only see the "Reboot to Android" or "Reboot to Bootloader" button. In this case, select a reboot, and immediately after the screen goes out, press the buttons to log in to Fastboot again to turn off the phone from there.
Shutting down via connection to the computer (Mi PC Suite)
One of the most effective software methods for managing a dead phone is the use of official software from Xiaomi. Mi PC Suite (or its modern counterparts, since official support for the Windows version is often updated or replaced by web versions) allows you to see the connected device even when the screen is locked, if the phone previously allowed debugging mode or trusted connection.
When you connect a USB cable to a computer, Android sends a connection signal. Unless the phone is locked with a complex password (or uses a simple pattern lock that the system sometimes bypasses when connecting to a "trusted" PC), you can access the file system. However, it is not the file manager that we need to turn off, but the utility software.
There are utilities like Xiaomi. ADB/Fastboot Tools that work through a command line interface. If you have your Redmi Note. 7 It was pre-installed "Debugging for the USB" (USB Debugging) in the Developer menu, you can send a command to turn off directly from your computer. This is the only way to turn off your phone software without pressing the buttons on the case.
adb shell reboot -pThis command, entered in the Windows command line (after installing ADB drivers), forcibly terminates the device. The word -p tells the system not to restart, namely to turn off. If debugging was not enabled, this method, alas, will not work, but it is worth trying, since some firmware versions allow you to execute basic ADB commands without confirmation on the screen.
⚠️ Attention: Method C ADB It will work only if the "Debugging by" mode was activated earlier in the phone settings USB". Without this permission, the computer will not receive the rights to control the smartphone.
Where to find the developer mode?
Method of complete battery discharge
When all the software and hardware methods fail, or the phone is in a state where it doesn't respond to any combination of buttons (which happens when there's a strong static discharge or a deep controller failure), the most primitive but absolutely working way is to completely discharge. Leave the device on until the battery runs out of charge.
It's data-safe, but it takes time. To speed things up, you can try to put a load on the processor if the phone is even partially responsive. For example, if you could run a heavy app or game before the sensor stopped working, leave the phone in that state. A bright screen and a running processor would quickly land the battery.
- 🔋 Leave your phone on with maximum brightness (unless it adjusts automatically).
- 🔋 Turn on the flashlight through the sidebar (if available) or leave the camera/video on.
- 🔋 Connect your phone to a powerful power source if it warms to avoid bloating, but don’t charge it if the goal is to discharge (although that’s a contradiction, it’s best to just leave it alone).
Once the charge drops to a critical low, the Redmi Note 7 will automatically turn off, then you can put it on charge and turn it on in the usual way. Often after this procedure, the "sleep cycle" touchscreen can temporarily start working, allowing you to save data or turn off the phone normally.
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Complete discharge is an extreme measure that guarantees the device to shut down, but can negatively affect the chemistry of the lithium polymer battery if practiced frequently.
Diagnosis of a faulty touch screen
Before you bring your phone to the service, you need to understand the nature of the problem: If the sensor doesn't work only in certain areas of the screen or reacts with a delay, it can be a software failure or contamination, and if the screen is completely dead, but the image is there, it is often a physical failure of the plume or digitizer.
On the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, there is a specific problem with the outgoing plume of the display module. Careful but strong pressing on the top of the screen (in the area of the speaker) sometimes restores contact for a short time. If you have time to press the off button in the interface, the problem can be solved without repair.
It's also worth checking if you're running Gloves mode or other specific sensitivity settings, although this is unlikely if you fail completely. You can run a touchscreen test on the engineering menu. You can log in to it using the code ##6484##, but you can't dial it without a working sensor. However, if you have a USB-OTG adapter, you can plug in a regular computer mouse.
Connecting a mouse via a USB-OTG adapter is a golden key for owners of broken-screen smartphones, and a mouse cursor will appear on the screen, so you can quietly press icons, turn off your phone, back up and even type messages, and it's the most civilized way to solve the problem without disassembling the device.
⚠️ Attention: For use USB-OTG Make sure you have an adapter with USB Type-C (Redmi Note 7 charging connector) on the regular USB. The mouse must be wired or have its own USB-whistle.