{ Disclaimer: the following text is my view about this problem. I'm not in any way responsible for any damage }
As there is very little info known about this phenomena I will try to explain it. I learned a lot of disassembly guides and by visualizing it (settings-development-show touches)
Ghost touch is a strange phenomena of various types and is due to a hardware fault between the mainboard connector and digitizer screen, I'm therefore trying to clarify it by categorizing them in three groups:
1. Small; Screen is unresponsive. 1 lock/unlock and it works again. Almost perfect. No need to replace screen. Most common.
2. Large; Same as 1, and often up to 5 touches and the touches are often moving/pressing parts of the screen. This can become a very frustrating period. Messaging apps and settings can be messed up by these touches. Often a lock/unlock will fix this temporary. A full screen replacement is recommended
3. Unworkable; Same as 2, and the lower and upper part are not working anymore. Notfications bar can not be pulled down anymore, typing become a nuisance and it not possible anymore and you curse your phone. Also it is not even possible to insert your pin, unlock your phone etcetera. This problem will not be fixed by a restart/reset or lock/unlock. A full screen replacement is essential.
Many people say this can be fixed by software settings, however this is a hardware fault. I tried many different roms and I encountered at all of them. The only fix that can be done to fix this is replacing of the full screen as it is not possible to apply/remove your digitizer.
For a long time I thought it was due to the degrading digitizer or something, in fact it is probably the connection between the and the mainboard. The screen has two digitizers: One for the touchscreen and one for the home/settings/back/search buttons. For some reason this last one did not cause any trouble. The first one has a flex cable from the upper part of the screen leading toward a small hole and heading to the mainboard. The problem will probably reside in the part between the digitizer and the small hole. Here, just above the screen, the flex cable is folded 180 degrees. This fold will cause the problem as it is very sensitive. Mine has a very small damaged part, the copper parts are visible. The cause of this is due to the rubbing of the bezel just under the speaker.
How to fix it?
Buy a new screen including digitizer (often HTC & Sprint branded) and make sure you protect this part as much as you can.
EDIT:
I re-inserted my old LCD display with a bit of tape around the damaged part. Since then I haven't had any ghost touches.
Mine was ghost touching so bad it was completely unusable for a few days. I was thiiiiiiis close to buying a new phone, then one day it just stopped and hasn't done it again since. Very strange. Anyhow, I will be replacing it with an s4 when the price comes down to $100 for us SERO users.
Ghost touch
Nice explanation, and nice 3 lvl sorting but, tell me one thing... I have experience with lvl 1 and 2 (two different phones) and for both of them simple ROM change / reinstall helped to solve this problem.
For ex. I had JB [ROOTBOX] ROM since the last week.. ghost touch problems were getting worse and worse with each new day yet lock/unlock still worked quite well.
I decided to test new JB MIUI ROM and like a magic touch my ghost friend is gone since than, but I am afraid he will return more powerfull than ever... oops that is a different story. However my phone is now working fine ... no ghosts detected.
So please don't tell me that this problem is only mechanical problem ( due to ROM change / reinstall worked multiple times). Actually I am pretty sure that is software problem which is supported by hardware hitches.
My friends "ghost story" is pretty similar.. but he reinstalled back original ICS ROM.
PS: I don't want to start flame war with this reply. It is just mix of my experience and opinions.
Related
I read a ton of threads regarding this very common problem, however I was hoping I could find information more specific to my problem.
I bought the Atrix and it had Nottachtrix. A few of the keys weren't working in portrait mode, and in landscape they all work except the word correction bar. I flashed it back to stock, no difference. I recently flashed Neutrino GT, and still no difference (although the ROM itself has improved the phone IMMENSELY). I used a calibration app, seemed to help a little bit when drawing, however the problem keys in portrait mode (U and N), and correction bar in landscape persist.
I noticed that this phone has def. been taken apart, seems to be a small smudge on the LCD and the screws have wear. I assume he replaced the digitizer.
My question is..Can I try the PDS partition fix running the Neutrino ROM, or would this cause issues? OR, does it sound like I should just replace the digitizer? There seems to be a lot of different digitizers for the Atrix on eBay, I worry I might pick the wrong one. Could I open it up and attempt to "fix" the digitizer?
TheFullSpectrum said:
I read a ton of threads regarding this very common problem, however I was hoping I could find information more specific to my problem.
I bought the Atrix and it had Nottachtrix. A few of the keys weren't working in portrait mode, and in landscape they all work except the word correction bar. I flashed it back to stock, no difference. I recently flashed Neutrino GT, and still no difference (although the ROM itself has improved the phone IMMENSELY). I used a calibration app, seemed to help a little bit when drawing, however the problem keys in portrait mode (U and N), and correction bar in landscape persist.
I noticed that this phone has def. been taken apart, seems to be a small smudge on the LCD and the screws have wear. I assume he replaced the digitizer.
My question is..Can I try the PDS partition fix running the Neutrino ROM, or would this cause issues? OR, does it sound like I should just replace the digitizer? There seems to be a lot of different digitizers for the Atrix on eBay, I worry I might pick the wrong one. Could I open it up and attempt to "fix" the digitizer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not a PDS problem... you should change the digitalizer or send it to repair.
Aroma Installer With Nowatrix
I dont know about that soto.. Funny coincidence same thing happened to me after running Nowatrix with the aroma installer. my keys are different, letters SZE dont work. Theres a straight line from bottom of screen to top which doesnt react to touch input. Heres the thing though, going back to the aroma installer that "dead zone" line can be moved by calibrating the touch input.. Seems to me what happened on my end was i chose alternate input and then saved the settings.. I know it's only supposed to use the settings within Aroma, but after that my phone has had this "ghost line". Screen worked just fine before using Aroma with Nowatrix.. For a cheap fix i "moved the dead zone as close to the edge of the screen as possible, and use the landscape keyboard at 270 degrees.. Tried the two fixes here on xda, neither worked, but i think the original mmcblk0p3 which btw is in my /dev/block/platform/tegra-sdhci.3 folder , is being rewritten on reboot. Grrr Im so mad, I had just got this tempermental phone running like a charm too.. So just for the record TheFullSpectrum, you can use the calibration gui within the aroma installer to maybe move that dead spot elswhere on your screen to make navigation or selections easier on the touchscreen. or like i said the "rotate phone 270 degree" trick untill someone can think of something to fix this... I wouldnt replace that digitizer just yet Spectrum, or bother opening it.. Aroma did it to me, theres no doubt about that.. Just need to find out now if the damage is as simple as misentered location information from the Aroma calibration gui, that can be reentered or changed back to proper dimensions, or if the calibration technique has actually damaged the screen.. God I hope not the latter.....
I was faced with the same dilemma. I tried the PDS fix and it didn't do anything for me, but I felt as it was free for me to do, it was worth a try. I eventually bought a new digitizer on eBay for ~$45. I have only a few weeks left until I'm eligible for an upgrade on my AT&T plan so I get to sell my phone and get a new one. My advice to you is that if you're anywhere near your upgrade, sell your phone on eBay (as is) and get a new one. You won't make your money back if you install a working digitizer.
Also, I've read that digitizers can go bad at any time. There seems to be an inconsistency in the design process.
Just my 2 cents
EDIT: I was successful on fixing mine but the one I bought didn't come with any type of adhesive or anything so I had to superglue it to the plastic frame. I ended up getting some on the screen and I had to clean it off with acetone. The screen has these ugly stains/marks now that are impossible to remove. It sucks because I was extremely careful during the whole process and I still screwed up. If you end up doing yours, do it in a dust-free environment and be really careful!
hi there
I've got some strange issue with my lcd screen on my atrix. Everything is on this video(sorry for quality):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbMsmbblXLc
I don't know what to do- i don't have my warranty because of unlocked bootloader(in Poland they are very strict and surely they won't fix this on warranty.
So the issue is: when i touch near front camera/ front speaker the virtual finger appears. The second thing is that when i touch in showed area
there are 2 touches from one finger. It isn't a rom issue because it is on all roms i've tested.
If you have any idea what should i do please write it
Thanks in advance for any help
I'd say your digitizer is dying. Except unlike most others where a part of the digitizer stops registering touches, yours registers multiple touches. Either way, I believe buying and installing a new digitizer would fix this problem.
After a night which phone spent in home there is no additional touch in this line. Of course the issue with touching near camera didin't disappear.
Maybe it is because of very low temperatures in Poland nowadays and i think there can be some water inside of phone. But as you said
i'll think about changing digitizer
The digitizer on my HTC One X+ seems to be unresponsive on some strips of the screen.
This problem occurred after I replaced the lcd+digitizer module because the original one was cracked.
First 1 strip of the digitizer didn't work but 1 week later there were 3 unresponsive strips.
Today I reopened the phone to check if the new screen was the problem but after putting the old cracked screen back, it showed the same unresponsiveness but on different strips. I added a screenshot of a draw test in the attachment (since I can't post images from outside links).
On this screenshot, all 5 strips of the bottom half of the screen are unresponsive but sometimes only 2 or 3 strips don't work.
I notice that the screen freezes sometimes while trying to unlock the phone (which is a pain currently). Also the phone gets really slow and sometimes it randomly registers touch all over screen while I don't even hold it.
So my question: Is this a hardware or software problem? and does anyone have an idea how to fix this?
On the side, another problem: when I try to update the phone's firmware I get a notification that a new update is available (this is a very old update from months ago) but when I try to update it, the phone reboots, tries to install the software and then a red question mark appears on the screen. I haven't been able to update the phone for about 4 months now. Don't know if that has anything to do with my current problem but I thought maybe I should mention it.
Thanks in advance.
This may be because of the bad connection between mainboard and the touch module.
If you can , pull apart your phone and check the cable that connects the digitizer. Also, clean out cable's jack and cable's fingers.
As i am new, i cannot post imgs/ links.Search on youtube for "one x screen/ digitizer replacement" and follow step by step instructions.
I have got a (most likely) hardware related issue with the touchscreen of my Xperia U.
Some parts of the screen are not or barely responsive, which is very annoying when typing. I have to tap some letters twice before they actually work. (It's especially around the 'i', 'n' and 'e' when I have my keyboard open by the way.)
I was running stock Android GB and I'm now running stock Android ICS, after I updated my phone the problem was still there which is why I assume it's hardware related. There does seem to be a slight improvement though, but that's probably because ICS feels a bit faster (so far).
Like five minutes ago I noticed something very strange, when I put my finger near the 'N' on the keyboard, but not touching the screen itself, it kept touching it like 10 times a second, sometimes holding the touch so it would result in a ';', but that's not really relevant I guess. It stopped doing that after I turned the screen off and on again by the way.
Now I've downloaded a drawing app on my phone, to see if the phone would skip the parts that were responding bad, but that wasn't the case.
(I would send a picture, but I'm not allowed to send outside links as I'm a new user, sorry. )
There is a chance that this problem is caused by a kind of overpowered charger I had been using last summer, because when I plugged that in, the phone started doing the same, only waay worse. I haven't used it for almost 3 months though, and the problem occurred just a few days ago, which is pretty weird.
I can probably get a replacement touch screen for free because my brother had this phone too and he bought a new phone because the glass of his screen broke.
But I hope I don't have to use that, haha :angel:
Is there any solution to this without taking it to a service center or replacing it?
Thanks!
@Fir3Fli3
Lots of touchsscreen thread in the forum, search and see what they did
I just got done replacing my broken screen on my LG G3. I replaced the whole front panel and just transfered the guts. Everything checked out fine after replacement until i typed my first text message. row A-L will not goto screen unless I touch nearly inbetween the middle of the row beneath it. q-p work fine as well as z-m. What really has me boggled is that the screen accepts touches there in virtually every other app/drawing. Just the keyboards aren't allowing touch in that specfic row. any suggestion?
Found a few more bad section.. Pulled the back loudspeaker back out and tried reseating the cables and still had same issue. They're sending a replacement for free.
This was my first screen replacement, but not my first time dealing with small ribbon cables. All cameras function fine, hoping it was a defect in screen and not my screen changing abilities.. Any tips for the next one would be appreciated. Would like to have a fully functioning phone again sometime. This is nearly more frustrating than the broken screen.
I am having same Issue
steber04 said:
Found a few more bad section.. Pulled the back loudspeaker back out and tried reseating the cables and still had same issue. They're sending a replacement for free.
This was my first screen replacement, but not my first time dealing with small ribbon cables. All cameras function fine, hoping it was a defect in screen and not my screen changing abilities.. Any tips for the next one would be appreciated. Would like to have a fully functioning phone again sometime. This is nearly more frustrating than the broken screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey just curious if your issue has been resolved.... I am having same issue, but i took mine to a computer store i have been dealing with for years. about a year ago they started doing cell phone repairs as well. I had them replace my cracked screen on my LG G3 and that same row of text if off for me and there are a few other spots i have noticed are off as well .... very frustrating... Anyway the place I took it to has replaced 3 screens hoping they were getting defective parts.... they just called to tell me I can come get it but they were unable to repair the dead spots without going further into replacing boards or something.... I dont know... It is weird though cause you can get the dead spots to work sometimes by very lightly touching or just touching it in just the right spots like a calibration if off....
thomas020476 said:
Hey just curious if your issue has been resolved.... I am having same issue, but i took mine to a computer store i have been dealing with for years. about a year ago they started doing cell phone repairs as well. I had them replace my cracked screen on my LG G3 and that same row of text if off for me and there are a few other spots i have noticed are off as well .... very frustrating... Anyway the place I took it to has replaced 3 screens hoping they were getting defective parts.... they just called to tell me I can come get it but they were unable to repair the dead spots without going further into replacing boards or something.... I dont know... It is weird though cause you can get the dead spots to work sometimes by very lightly touching or just touching it in just the right spots like a calibration if off....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A review on G3 LCD's on Amazon reports the same problem "I installed the screen and immediately my wife mentioned that it seemed to have "dead spots" when she was texting / playing games. I noticed it myself when I tried texting myself as a test. Several of the letters on the keyboard just wouldn't register very well. She went into the settings and ran the "motion sensor calibration" test under general settings>gestures. This has resolved the touch screen issues. "
I don't see how that would fix it but I guess it's worth a shot.