Hi folks
Just inherited a very worn out one year old Xperia X10 from my son. Been trying to resurrect it.
About 2 or 3 months ago the touchscreen started to become non-responsive occasionally. Admittedly, I didn't look at it for him at the time. Then he dropped it down the loo (think - hope! - there was only water in it at the time). We dried it out in the hotpress and it worked ok but still with intermittent touchscreen not working.
He got a Blackberry from Santa, so a couple of weeks ago I inherited the Xperia. The screen was cracked in several places and totally non-responsive. Rather than chuck it in the bin, I thought I'd try and fix it up. So I bought a new screen on ebay and the other night I dismantled it and fitted the new screen. Touchscreen is still totally non-responsive. There was a slight rust on the perforated metal plate at the back of the screen which I carefully cleaned with WD40. All the connections and circuits look ok. I've updated it successfully on both PC Companion and SEUS.. I've also tried flashing using instructions from this forum but cannot get it right (most flashtool symbols greyed out). I have a feeling that it's a simple problem but just can't get there. The screen display is fine, I can get the camera and the keyboard up using the buttons. But damned if I can get the touchscreen to work. I feel the problem harks back to when the screen was intermittent - it still worked after the water/screenbreak, but not that well.
Anybody got any ideas or should I bin it? (Can't seem to get any worthwhile advice on the WWW - happened upon this forum while searching and thought - "This is my MAN". (One suggestion I saw on the web was to try a new battery - can't see how this would make a difference, present battery working fine. Also, I wondered if the proximity sensor could be on all the time?)
So my HTC Desire Z, running CM7, has recently started acting up. There is a certain spot on my touch screen that, at random times, will act as if it's been touched. In GO SMS PRO, this occasionally lines up with a message, so I can see it press, pause, press, pause, etc. It's really annoying and screws up my usage of the phone. If I turn the screen off and then on again, it'll usually go away for a bit.
I've tried googling this issue but it's a touchy thing to phrase. (hehe, "touchy", I didn't even mean to do that!)
Does anybody know how I can find out what is causing this and/or how to fix it?
tl;dr: touch screen is "pressing" a specific spot at random
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NspktrSpacetime said:
So my HTC Desire Z, running CM7, has recently started acting up. There is a certain spot on my touch screen that, at random times, will act as if it's been touched. In GO SMS PRO, this occasionally lines up with a message, so I can see it press, pause, press, pause, etc. It's really annoying and screws up my usage of the phone. If I turn the screen off and then on again, it'll usually go away for a bit.
I've tried googling this issue but it's a touchy thing to phrase. (hehe, "touchy", I didn't even mean to do that!)
Does anybody know how I can find out what is causing this and/or how to fix it?
tl;dr: touch screen is "pressing" a specific spot at random
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Its not rocket science is it bro ......... i figure you already can see the writing on the wall ...... sounds like your digitiser is on its way out. Quite a common issue on HTC's the capacitive touch screens just wear out.
My advice is backup, do a factory reset. see if problem persists, if so maybe try a different ROM (just for the sake of testing) see if problem persists.
If so you know its a hardware fault.
The good news is its really pretty easy to replace a digitiser in a Desire Z, I bought my own Desire Z 2nd hand with a dodgy digitiser (for about half its 2nd hand value) and replaced the digitiser in about 3 hours (that was going very slowly and being very careful)
Here is a link to the disassembly guides i used
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-dR8CHEGjY&list=PLEBB8603769CE1417&index=16&feature=plpp_video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SliyuYBvfic&list=PLEBB8603769CE1417&index=14&feature=plpp_video
Desire Z is one of the easiest phones i have ever worked on HTC obviously designed it to be repairable, almost everything is held by screws. So you don't have to 'unclip' loads of weak plastic crap.
All you need is to take it sloooooooowly and NEVER use much force, better to take an hour to do a job that should take 10mins than to rush or get impatient and break sh*t.
Good luck
Citizen
Update: So the "pressing" isn't really happening any more, but now there's a dead area that takes up an entire horizontal portion of the screen. I tested it out using a TouchTest app (picture 1) and the cut shows the dead portion. However, I tried it again later, and the dead portion moved up! I'm very confused, haha
So I made the jump from Android (Nexus One) to the Radar and I really like it so far!
I do, however, have an issue with the phone that I am wondering if anyone else has noticed.
I have noticed that sometimes when I go to touch a tile(or other UI object)...if I quickly touch it, it seems that the screen doesn't always detect my touch. Sometimes I'll even hit it a couple of times before it responds.
The behavior is inconsistent though. After it smartens up and responds to my touch, then it seems to detect it fine. It's squirrelly and a little disconcerting.
I also think that the region of the screen might have something to do with it. The tile 2nd from the top on the home screen ("messaging" in my case) seems particularly susceptible to this problem.
Has anyone else noticed this? I'm a little paranoid because I bought this phone "new" from someone on CL and when I took it home I realized it was a refurbished model.
I had this problem when I had my 7 Pro. After a while it got worse, as I had to put the phone on standby and then turn it on again to be able to use the screen. I sent it in to HTC for repair, and they swapped the entire front panel with a new one.
Im having the same problem with my sprint arrive I think the problem is related to what is in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1239238&page=7
but I still cant seem to get it to work
{ 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.
Hi, i have had my tablet for about 1 week, straight after starting it up i had a fw update which is 17.1.1.A.0.402 which i am assuming is the latest?
anyway i have read a lot about the new fw was supposed to fix the touch issues?
I also have the z1 which i still have and is perfect. ive recently updated to 4.4.2 on that and all my issues are fine on there.
my z2 is acting very strange, if i leave it alone for a while sometimes i will go on it and everything on the screen will be frozen, i can't tap anything, i have to press the power button and then swipe to open it again, it is then fine after that.
also i have noticed, and i think its happening a lot when my tablet is a little angled using the case, the screen will be a bit jittery, where as my z1 is really smooth, and i also sometimes have to really tap icons a few times before they register.
i play clash of clans a lot and its been a bit difficult to play as troops aren't selecting as i am tapping on them.
has anyone got any advice?
I have done a factory reset to see if that would fix any issues from the fw update but its still exactly the same.
Thanks
James
anyone?
james_lpool said:
anyone?
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I installed the new firmware yesterday. While I notice an improvement with the touch problem it's still present. Just install an multitouch app (like this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.easylabs.multitouch), let your finger trail on the screen and it's definitely obvious (the number on the top right should be the number of fingers touching the screen and it's often not). I tried the same thing on my old Iconia A500 and that's the one thing where it's WAY better than the Z2.
I don't experience anything as strange as you do though, it's mostly usable and I hardly notice it with the new firmware.
I did experience something very strange just BEFORE updating with one specific charger and one specific USB cable , the tablet wouldn't register any touch at all while it's was plugged in. As soon as I unplugged it it would work. The cable was fine with another charger and vice versa;
Weirdest of it all:
This happened while I was testing the output current for each combination of cable/charger and this particular couple was the one giving the "best" results; consistently between 1.1A and 1.2A
I can't reproduce this behaviour with the new firmware. All in all, it's usable for me. Biggest bug would be it not charging while playing power consuming games.
I have found mine goes more weird when it goes to sleep and i then wake it up, the screens sensitivity seems to be terrible, i have topress the off button and then start it again then its fine.
it will then mostly stay fine until the screen times out again then the same thing will happen when i wake it.
James: Same with my 521...
Touchscreen response was REAL BAD after updating to .402, then it went better and better day by day; strange phenomenon.
I also occasionally experience some touchscreen "numbness" after waking up the table with a double-tap, sometimes touch sensitivity suddenly becomes quite low just without any reason; touchscreen has problems detecting touches near the screen corners or doesn't react to touches at all. Solution: Switch to standby, and back on.
At the same time, the Android symbols (Back, Home, last apps) again become difficult to hit.
You can test this by slowly swiping your finger up from the lower bezel towards one of the symbols: If the touchscreen is ok, symbols get highlighted right after your finger reaches the lower edge of the symbol. If the touchscreen malfunctions, you need to move your finger up to the center of the symbols to get them highlighted.
So it smells like a software issue.
Touchscreen problems usually occur two to three times a day of normal use; so I regard it as acceptable - but the problem still isn't fully solved.
I would say it's a hardware issue which Sony attempts to counterbalance with software patches.
Just like on the Nexus7 (2013). There sfhub released a touchscreen fix which made the problem bearable for most users (with some experimenting with different versions of the fix, because each device is different).
I wrote a PM to sfhub asking him whether he could disclose how his fix works so that Z2 Tablet users perhaps could apply a similar, variable, tailor-made fix to their individual device.
No response, unfortunately.
Perhaps some of you could send the same request to him, and perhaps then he reacts?
every now and then, after double tap to wake, the tablet is extremely unresponsive.
I also just sleep/wake up again via power button and it's fine after that.
So my but feeling it's a software issue, not hardware issue.
- Frank
I never had touch problems but after updating to the latest firmware, the tablet is unusable from time to time
what's annoying me is that Sony wont seem to admit that there is an issue, i was talking on their live chat to support and they said that's the first time anyone's mentioned that and isn't on any list of any known issues
Which doesn't fill me with confidence on how quick this may get fixed.
The speed in which is gets fixed may determine if i just send the tablet back to Amazon for a full refund, unfortunately i have bought the Sony case and magnetic charger now as well
I'm just really puzzled what to do, what can i do apart from sent it back if Sony wont even acknowledge they are aware of the problem and will release a fix soon
The only thing is because i have now bought the charger and case, i kinda want to keep it.
It was a direct replacement for my Z1 which i still have, and that is also updated to 4.4.2 now, but that shows no touch issues at all.
What's very interesting and revealing:
When Sony was addressed a few days ago regarding battery problems on Tablet Z and a few phones after the Kitkat update, they immediately reacted!
They readily explained that it is a problem with the Google Play Services running amok and that a fix will come.
But it seems that just because this here is a Sony problem (and not one for which another company can be blamed like in the above one), Sony simply doesn't react at all and obviously orders the service employees to lie and say that they haven't heard at all of a touch problem.
Boooo, Sony, shame on you!
james_lpool said:
what's annoying me is that Sony wont seem to admit that there is an issue, i was talking on their live chat to support and they said that's the first time anyone's mentioned that and isn't on any list of any known issues
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HAHA ! Exactly the same in Germany. Even after talking about that issue with the SAME person three days in a row, I still was told the problem was totally unknown.
Later, I had a more private talk with one of the support guys. He revealed to me there was an order from Sony to tell callers exactly that.
Ah, as I thought.
This is abysmal behavior by Sony, period.
Also on the Sony support forum, none of the official support staff has replied to any of the topics about touch screen issues. It seems they are just completely burying their heads in the sand...
FW .402 didnt fix the touch screen issue. It is noticeably better than any FW from before.
Gosh, the touchscreen keep going back to home when i'm in a middle of fb conversatuion.
I was testing with chromecast +youtube: those swibe action to enlarge or fade out afe 99% imprecise...
Really wondering if I can return the item to amazon to fix this problem...
Diomorgan said:
Gosh, the touchscreen keep going back to home when i'm in a middle of fb conversatuion.
I was testing with chromecast +youtube: those swibe action to enlarge or fade out afe 99% imprecise...
Really wondering if I can return the item to amazon to fix this problem...
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Click to collapse
Are you sure you're not just accidentally touching the home button while typing? That happens to me from time to time, which is a downside of having the navigation buttons centered compared to having them in the corner like on pre-4.4 Android tablets. I actually think Google should add a setting to choose if the navigation buttons on tablets are in the left corner, centered, or in the right corner. Having them centered also makes it awkward to reach these buttons when holding the tablet with two hands.