[Q] bizarre screen glitch - G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

When closed my screen works just fine, and when I open for the keyboard it STILL works just fine, except that the whole screen shifts upward, so that part of the taskbar is actually off of the screen. If I open it slowly it seems like about at 10% open the screen flips horizontal, as it should, but then at about 80% of the way open the whole screen shifts upward until part of it is offscreen. Its not nonfunctional at all, but it is a nuisance, especially when playing any games I have the hardkeys setup as a controller. I've tried a full wipe and rom re-install and that didn't fix it. Also it seems like I've had to do a factory wipe more than once recently because the Home and Search touch areas have stopped working. Is there a weird software glitch going on or is my touchscreen on the way out?

I'm either going to just replace the screen for 35 bucks because its already kinda screwy, but if that won't also solve the weird screen shift issue ill just buy a new phone, any ideas?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Ok - so I think its hardware because the screen shifts even when the phones still booting. Would a new lcd fix this maybe?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

I had the exact same problem. Your issue is in your ribbon cable, I was able to get my phone replaced but if that isn't an option for you, you can buy a ribbon cable and follow a very easy tutorial to install it
Sent from my Bulletproof G2

awesome, I've taken apart the phone a few times before, so now that I know the issue I can repair it finally! thank you so much for replying!! Which Ribbon cable are we talking about?

It is the ribbon cable that connects the screen to the keyboard through the z-hinge. I've never replaced it myself, but if your phone is completely normal closed and then distorts as it opens, then it definetely sounds like the ribbon cable has bad contact as it's stretched. It's really one of the only things it can be, if it were your lcd then the distortion would persist even in portait I would think
Sent from my Bulletproof G2

I must agree with the above poster, seems like its the ribbon too!

Related

[Q] Advice on unlock/digitiser issue

Hi
I upgraded to my new DHD less than 3 weeks ago. It is not rooted and I did the recent OTA update over Christmas.
Over the last couple of days I have started to experience difficulty unlocking the device on the slide-to-unlock screen. The problem seems intermittent - somethimes it will unlock fine, and other times the slider just seems to "get stuck" at the bottom of the screen.
At first I thought this a bug or something, but after some investigation I am concerned there is a problem with the digitiser. I opened a picture and zoomed in to fill the screen and tested the touchscreen in different places by sliding the picture around. What I found was that the bottom 1cm of the screen above the keys does not respond properly to Up and Down swipes. It is fine however with side-to-side and also individual taps. This is obviously a problem when trying to move the unlock slider!
I've had a screen protector on for about a week - I don't imagine this has caused the issue but haven't removed it to test as yet as I don't have a spare. Aside from this, the device has been very well looked after, definitely no bumps etc and kept in an HTC leather pouch.
Any ideas? Should I return it to CW?
Thanks
OK, I seem to have resolved this for the time being but expect the problem to return.
I downloaded a screen test app that allows you to draw on the screen and got some very strange results. A 1cm band of screen about 1cm up from the bottom was completely unresponsive. Trying to draw a horizontal line within this band would result in lines being drawn either above or below it, or strange vertical lines "jumping" around. The rest of the screen was fine. I realised this is why I have been struggling to close the keyboard - the button is placed within this band and trying to press it would result in on of the buttons above or below being pressed. Also have had problems with the sapce bar.
I did a restart (not fast) and this has resolved the issue, however I expect it may return as I did a restart only yesterday.
At least it is obviously software and not the digitiser....
Hi again. As expected, the issue returned after a couple of hours. This time however, restarting is not making a difference.
I resorted to a hard rest, which has not changed anything either.
Any help/ideas would really be appreciated...
Best to return it for repairs or exchange. Seems like the digitiser is faulty.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
olivierlee said:
Best to return it for repairs or exchange. Seems like the digitiser is faulty.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, this definitely sounds like a hardware problem.

[Q] screen problems, how could i fix

okay so sometimes my G2's screen will have spots in the screen where the color and outline of whatever is on the screen on fuzzy blue and red, i would show you but whenever i use shootme to capture my screen it shows up normal. whenever i slide the screen open it gets worse, so ill get lucky when the screen finally goes back to normal sometimes. but i got used to it and now sometimes the screen will flicker and shut off. i cant even get into recovery or the bootloader because of the screen problem. its becoming quite annoying, is there anyway i can replace the screen? or how could i go about getting the top part of the phone replaces as i believe its a problem with the connecting ribbon inbetween the two halves of the phone? bleh
Help would be greatly appriciated
Sent From My T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Sounds like the ribbon cable between the screen and the keyboard may be damaged.
redpoint73 said:
Sounds like the ribbon cable between the screen and the keyboard may be damaged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea thats what i was thinking, it seems like the most obvious choice. everytime i google replacemnt screen ribbons all i can find is camera and keyboard ribbons or something. do you know anything? im think my upgrade is soon and G2xs are free so im just gonna get one of those, they any good compared to the G2?

Trackpad/Touchscreen Issues, please help!

Ok so my touchscreen has been acting up as of a few minutes ago. Its starting to only work when the keyboard opens. So i thought hey maybe its just a software issue with the xm-7 rom, but then when i went to clockworkmod recovery, the trackpad doesnt work at all, not even when clicked. I've been treating this phone very well, even the condition looks nearly brand new, so what could have happened?
edit: my touchscreen somehow works again, but my trackpad no longer works. It has no function at all in clockworkmod recovery (no scrolling or clicking). When in the android UI, the trackpad only works to wake up the phone, the scrolling does not work at all. This is very strange and i cant tell whether this is a softwar or hardware issue.
I had this issue right before my slide died. Probably the ribbon cable. All of my front buttons stopped working entirely, the only thing that did work was trackpad scrolling. Eventually the screen went out as well. It might be just partially disconnecting somewhere, only enough to where the digitizer and trackpad sensor are being affected. That's the only thing I can think of. If it doesn't work in recovery, definitely a hardware issue.
Thanks, I figured it was a hardware issue. I'm gonna take the phone apart and see what I can do since my 1 yr warranty with this phone is up.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk
MusicMan374 said:
I had this issue right before my slide died. Probably the ribbon cable. All of my front buttons stopped working entirely, the only thing that did work was trackpad scrolling. Eventually the screen went out as well. It might be just partially disconnecting somewhere, only enough to where the digitizer and trackpad sensor are being affected. That's the only thing I can think of. If it doesn't work in recovery, definitely a hardware issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if i replace the flax cable, this should solve the problems right?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/T-MOBILE-HT...515?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b5951ebb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cNrKaHQPps
I took apart the phone and replaced the flex cable and now the screen, buttons and trackpad completely work now .
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk

[Q] Weird touchscreen behaviour (only works when keyboard is flipped out?)

Hi everyone,
I've had my Desire Z for little over 2 years now and two months ago (was running CM7.2 at the time) I started getting a weird issue where my touchscreen would only be responsive when the keyboard was slid out (so the opposite problem of what quite a few other people have reported where the touchscreen becomes unresponsive when the keyboard is out). The status LED would also stay off whenever the keyboard was closed, and the keyboard backlight didn't come on anymore at all. Also, I had to make sure that the keyboard was slid out during boot, if the phone booted without the keyboard out the screen would not become responsive at all until after another reboot. My earpiece speaker stopped working around the same time so I was wondering whether it was just an issue with the flex cable becoming a bit loose, but the touchscreen would consistently start working again when I flipped the keyboard out, and also the physical scroll button on the top bit would always work, so I was still hoping it would be some weird software issue.
I then upgraded to Flinny's (amazing) Andromadus ROM (build 22, complete data+dalvik wipe) after which the keyboard backlight started working again, but the rest remained pretty much the same. Since then the touchscreen issues have been getting worse, so that I sometimes have to flip the keyboard in and out again a few times, or turn the screen on or off with the power button several times before it becomes responsive again, but then it tends to work fine until I lock the screen again, with no noticeable dead spots anywhere on the screen. I've had days where it worked all day without problems (except having to flip out the keyboard, that's been a constant for the past two months), and then today I haven't been able to get the screen to do anything at all even after dozens of reboots.
I've already bought a new digitizer and am all ready to put it in (I'll have to replace the broken earpiece anyway), but was wondering whether anyone has any thoughts on whether it could still be a software issue after all, or if anyone has experienced anything similar? The thing with having to flip the keyboard out to get not only the touchscreen but also the status LED to work is just so weird and makes me doubt that it's a pure broken digitizer or lose flex cable issue, so I'm wondering whether it would be better to first try reverting to a stock ROM before taking on the messy sticky glue stuff (I should be fine but still, never done it before)?
Many thanks!
From what you describe my best guess would be the main flex cable is what needs to be replaced. Flash a touch based recovery and see if you have the issue there as well, if so its very unlikely that its anything but a hardware fault
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Thanks for the heads-up, I've been playing around a bit more with software and I do manage to get the screen working again occasionally, typically after the second boot into a newly flashed ROM or restoring a backup, and only until one or two reboots later when it becomes completely unresponsive again. I've tried CM 7.2.0 as well as Flinny's Andromadus 10, and it is only complete flashing that does the trick, cache wipe or factory reset alone does nothing. The two occasions where the touchscreen worked were still limited to when the keyboard was flipped out, and it also had to be flipped out during boot, otherwise nothing would work. I've learned to navigate my way around the phone by just using the hardware navigation button, but I'll have a close look at the flex cable when I take it apart to replace the earpiece speaker tonight...
Hello,
so I took my dear phone apart yesterday to replace the broken earpiece - everything went fine but after reassembly the replacement earpiece isn't working either, which leads me to think that all those little broken bits might actually be related to some contacts being a bit lose, all in the same region. Should've thought about that earlier really since the earpiece and the LED (only works when keyboard flipped out) are both in that top region that the digitiser data presumable also has to run through before passing through the flex cable.
In any case, I also took a picture of the flex cable which is slightly bent but doesn't seem straightforwardly damaged (see attachment, that thing on the right is *not* a rip). Think it's worth trying to replace it anyway?
What was truly bizarre is that after the first boot following reassembly the touchscreen worked quite consistently for the entire evening - I thought I might've fixed a lose contact by un- and replugging the digitiser cable, but then the screen went nonreactive again at some point. I wonder if the working screen was again actually related to some software reset caused by the battery being taken out for so long? In the meantime the actual screen and trackball are still working away perfectly. Bizarre.
Just to let people know the solution to the mystery: the increasingly odd behaviour was actually caused by an initially small rip in the flex ribbon cable that got bigger and bigger - it's actually half-visible in the picture I uploaded above, only that the rip is where the cable comes out from underneath the case, and not where it's wrinkled!
Just in case it could be useful for anyone, here's the (top half of phone) components in the order in which they failed on me, which I guess corresponds to the order of the respective data lines in the ribbon cable (from the top of the phone towards the center):
environment brightness sensor (I thought that the sensor had been broken for almost a year, but as soon as I rebooted with the new flex cable I noticed how my phone stopped shining into my face at full brightness - if your brightness sensor gets stuck reporting the same (low) value this means your flex cable is on its way out!)
earpiece speaker
status led
touchscreen
screen (non-alignment with edge of screen, visual artefacts)
screen (fade to black/power interrupt)
obstacle3 said:
Just to let people know the solution to the mystery: the increasingly odd behaviour was actually caused by an initially small rip in the flex ribbon cable that got bigger and bigger - it's actually half-visible in the picture I uploaded above, only that the rip is where the cable comes out from underneath the case, and not where it's wrinkled!
Just in case it could be useful for anyone, here's the (top half of phone) components in the order in which they failed on me, which I guess corresponds to the order of the respective data lines in the ribbon cable (from the top of the phone towards the center):
environment brightness sensor (I thought that the sensor had been broken for almost a year, but as soon as I rebooted with the new flex cable I noticed how my phone stopped shining into my face at full brightness - if your brightness sensor gets stuck reporting the same (low) value this means your flex cable is on its way out!)
earpiece speaker
status led
touchscreen
screen (non-alignment with edge of screen, visual artefacts)
screen (fade to black/power interrupt)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll for sure keep that in mind. Mine is still going strong for the time being, but it's good to know some warning signs if I need to replace parts or if it's time to get a new phone
fireball0093 said:
I'll for sure keep that in mind. Mine is still going strong for the time being, but it's good to know some warning signs if I need to replace parts or if it's time to get a new phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Replacement parts all the way, the repair was 15$ and it feels as good as new! Well, it could do with a new battery but that's just another 5..
Just realised that the proximity sensor should actually be added to the very top of the list - just noticed that faint red light when taking a phone call, don't remember seeing that in almost a year :]
obstacle3 said:
Replacement parts all the way, the repair was 15$ and it feels as good as new! Well, it could do with a new battery but that's just another 5..
Just realised that the proximity sensor should actually be added to the very top of the list - just noticed that faint red light when taking a phone call, don't remember seeing that in almost a year :]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not a bad cost at all. I know I'm going to have to replace my keyboard in probably 2 months or so (maybe sooner) because some buttons are starting to not work. Other than that fact my phone is currently still going strong for being going on a 3 and a half year old phone

Weird touch screen.

Its been some days, I'm experiencing this weird touch screen problem.
My DZ touch screen doesn't respond properly.
For example:
If i see an image and slide just one finger up and down then it would zoom in and out. And then the whole screen becomes unresponsive.
It seems as if, its touched by itself. Even the softkeys would go numb. Only the haptic feedback of my search button works at that moment.
But the trackpad works perfectly.
But, If i lock and unlock the screen using power buttons, it would work properly for some few moment and then again the problem repeats.
At present I'm repeating this process of locking and unlocking screen to use my phone.
One even worst weird thing is that, if the device is connected to a charger and kept on the table or floor. This problem doesn't occur.
I have done system format, restored my nandroids and even changed Roms. The problem still exists.
Please note, i don't use any Casing or covers that would press the device hard for malfunctioning of screen. I have even removed and replaced my screen guard.
I'm sure, its not a software issue.
And even i dont think its a strip issue, because i dont use my physical keyboard always.
Can anyone say what hardware issue it might be..?
Or what i need to do? I'm really out of options.
Do i have to replace my whole screen or the digitizer..?
Thanks...
Thats no fun,
As you stated it's more than likely a hardware fault, the two most likely culprits would be the digitizer or the main flex cable
Which would be this and this
both relatively easy to replace depending on your experience
in 4.x and up ROMs check the developers setting to show touch or use apps like
z device test
or
yet another multitouch test
these wont help you fix the issue but may show you where the bad points are on the screen
best of luck
I know the problematic spot. Its near Search softkey. Even Yet another multi-touch test would stuck at that spot....
As you can see in the image, that i'm not holding anywhere, still it shows that somewhere around Search softkey its touched by itself.
In second image, If i move my fingers around, it would show the other touch responds, but if i slide near search, it would go and stuck there itself.
So, i guess i would first go with the flex cable.
In actuality I'm leaning toward the digitizer in your case, but its possible to be either.
And if you have a spare phone it may be worth disassembling even without buying anything. On a G1 I once fixed a similar issue just taking out the digitizer and cleaning the contacts on the ribbon and the edges of it as well, when I put it back it worked like new. I think some dust may have gotten into the edges but it may be worth a shot before buying anything... But could make matters worse so if you don't have a spare, buy parts first
Best of luck
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I guess i should try disassembling and clean it first. If it still persists then i would go for digitizer.
And thanks for giving a hope.
Thanks...

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