Xiaomi Mi 5 common issues and how to address them

Xiaomi Mi 5 is one of those devices that, after you take a look at the specs and price correlation, can make you doubt. Premium flagship device for such a low price? Sounds strange but it’s indeed true.

However, the Chinese manufacturer is still lacking some of the experience the greater players have. There are some issues reported on the official forums that need to be addressed if they want to maintain the status of market contenders. On the other hand, some of those can be addressed with a few tweaks here and there. The nature of software available on Xiaomi Mi 5 enables users to troubleshoot certain issues on their own.

For that purpose, we conducted a research and provided you with the list of most common issues on Mi 5. If you’re troubled with certain problems, it may be worth a while to take a look.

Battery draining

We already wrote a dedicated article about the battery drainage on Xiaomi Mi 5, but it’s worth to mention it again. This seems to be a really grave problem for many users since the beginning. To make the things even worse, updates that were presented lately barely touch on this issue. It’s hard to determine which is the main reason behind the battery drains. Some users advise switching to Chinese ROM, others are more in favor of unlocking bootloader and flashing with custom ROM as Cyanogen. We’ll make sure to explain everything in our future writings, but, for the time being, you can check these steps and hopefully decrease the battery consumption to tolerable levels.

• Disabling background apps is always a good idea. If you’re not in need of push notifications from a mail client or similar apps, you should disable them. Instead of them working continuously while the phone is idle, you can use them only when needed.
• Disable Wi-Fi scanning. This is great if you’re willing to know all available networks all the time. But, it utilizes more battery resources and you should try to disable it and look for changes.
• Auto-sync is another feature that vastly affects the battery life. You can sync manually from time to time and there so avoid battery drainage.
• Switch to Balanced mode. The Performance mode might be useful if you’re playing GPU-intensive games. If that’s not always the case, the Balanced mode is much better suited and it preserves your battery substantially.
• Change GPS mode to Device Only. Other 2 modes are using either Wi-Fi and Mobile Data and they are more precise. But, if your main concern is battery life, it’s better to keep it local.
• Switch ROM. As we already stated, there are different experiences with the different ROM’s. It’s worth a shot to change your ROM for an alternative and look for changes.
• Wipe a cache partition.
• Reset to factory settings.

Mobile Data issues

Another serious problem that emerged for some users relates to Mobile Data. As you already know, Xiaomi Mi 5 is a LTE-ready device. But, users reported complete inability to use nothing except the 3G on their devices. Moreover, even then the signal is bad and overall connection quality sub par. Frequent disconnections are making this phone completely unusable in this department. We are not sure what’s the cause of the problem, but there are still some things you can do in order to improve your experience with the device.

• Switch Network type.
• TurnAirplane mode ON and then OFF.
• Reset APN settings.
• Reset Network Settings.
• Remove SIM card and put it back again
• Wipe cache partition.
• Reset to factory settings.
• Switch the ROM.

Low network coverage

A similar problem that troubles the mobile networking affects the GSM network, as well. Namely, users are experiencing unusual drops of network coverage. If you’re using (as most people do) GSM network to make and receive calls, this is a debilitating problem since it reduces the overall call quality and denies phone’s primary function. In other words, this is a deal-breaker for many users and it completely negates the flagship status that Mi 5 has.

Since the problem is obviously similar to LTE-3G usage, we advise you to take the above-mentioned steps. Maybe through troubleshooting, you manage to improve GSM network coverage.

GPS crashes and lacks precision

This is an unusual issue to start with. Most of the modern devices rarely have GPS problems, or at least, not as grave as Mi 5. Some users measured the precision of the GPS location and it’s up to 5 times less precise than on other handsets. Others have had issues with frequent crashes of GPS which suddenly lose signal.

Most of the time, these are hardware problems and it’s only so much you can do in the software department. However, there are some workarounds that might help you to some extent:

• Change ROM.
• Use the High Accuracy mode.
• Wipe cache partition.
• Reset to factory settings.

If your device is under warranty make sure to take it for a repair.

Overheating

Overheating is always a serious problem, especially if it’s not addressed on time. Xiaomi Mi 5 users reported frequent overheating, and some of them experienced prompts that informed them about critical temperatures. There are so many things that can affect this occurrence, starting from battery behavior and intensive use while charging, and even the extended exposure to heat sources.

One way or another, you need to do something or the internal hardware parts might be affected. This can cause critical damage and render the device completely unusable. Things you should take into consideration are presented below:

• Don’t use your device during charging.
• Make sure to use only supported charger.
• Keep your device off the sunlight exposure.
• Remove the protective casing.
• Check the battery activity and kill intensive background processes.
• Take a break from time to time after intensive gaming.

Camera issues

The primary camera on Mi 5 is solid. It’s not amazing, but it should, according to specs, take above-average photos and record vivid videos. Sadly, that’s not the case for all users. They have experienced blurry photos, especially in the low-light surroundings. In addition, the front-facing camera crashes occasionally.

There’s only so much you can do, but test the camera for bugs and/or restore factory settings and switch to other ROM. Some users reported improvements on Chinese ROM.

• Restart Camera settings to default values.
• Take a hardware check of the camera.
• Wipe cache partition.
• Perform a reset to factory settings.
• Download the third-party camera app and give it a try.
• Take a device to repair since the sensor might be faulty.

Screen rotation issue

Screen rotation is present for ages, but it never was as important as nowadays with the large phablet-like screens the modern handsets pack. Vertical view enables you to enjoy more in a plethora of features, especially the video playback and certain games. Sadly, some users can’t enjoy the vertical screen as, allegedly, the screen rotation won’t work for them.

There are some things you can do in this case, and we’re presenting them below:

• Make sure that the Screen rotation is enabled.
• Reboot your device.
• Wipe cache partition.
• Switch ROM from Global to Chinese and vice versa.
• Update MIUI.
• Restore factory settings.

Additionally, it’s advised to try a custom ROM that’s not MIUI. This requires some tampering with the bootloader, so it’s highly recommended to inform yourself before you get to business.

Can’t restore backup from PC suite

Some users who use Mi PC Suite for backup have had issues with the backup process. Namely, they were prompted to update the phone before the backing up process commences. The awkward thing is that both their Mi 5 and system are up to date. This can be instigated by various causes, and we prepared a list of possible workarounds for the problem at hand:

• Enable USB debugging.
• Restart your device and PC prior to connecting them.
• Use Photos mode instead of File modes once prompted.
• Restore factory settings.
• Download the latest version of the Mi PC suite.
• Backup your files manually.

Sadly, this is an enormous issue that isn’t officially resolved by the Xiaomi technical support. So, all of these are more workarounds and long shots. Until they decide to resolve it, you can either manually backup your data or use cloud services to do so.

That should conclude this article. We hope that you found something useful. In case you have any questions or suggestions, we’ll be glad to answer to those. You can post them in the comments section below. Have a nice day and thanks for reading.