Display only readable while holding phone in front of mirror - Galaxy Note II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
My girlfriends note2 is acting weird...out of the blue the display reversed and is only readable when looking at it via a mirror. Its not the mirror view function!
Also after booting when the display goes dark there is no way of getting the display to work again. the phone works and is responding on touch inputs but the display remains dark. Only a reboot brings the display back and only for a brief period...
Phone runs on stock android, not rooted...never dropped nor damaged!
Any idea's? We still have warranty but we are no longer in the same country where we bought the phone, and I doubt that I have international warranty - phone bought in Central Africa (Chinese version).
Before setting back to factory settings I would like to recover the phone numbers and pictures stored on the phone. I don't even know if its a software or a hardware problem.
Thanks,
Yves

Update from my side...as I was trying to recover the phone dictionary and the pictures stored on the phone I did notice that the phone was responding to inputs...without me even touching the display!
So I gave it a "calibrated" knock with my fist on the display and hey the stupid thing came back life and is working as before.
Will ditch this iffy thing as I lost my confidence in this phone...
Wondering if this could be an loose/improper connection inside the phone or I am just lucky and is this going to happen again?

The reversed display happened to a co-worker's Nexus 5 after it was dropped. A new screen solved the issue.

audit13 said:
The reversed display happened to a co-worker's Nexus 5 after it was dropped. A new screen solved the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still working normal after my "fix". The only thing I can imagine was that there was a bad connection inside the phone...

Related

Serious problem with my Galaxy S Screen!!!

Hi to all,
A couple of days ago I noticed that when I answered a call the colors of the screen looked bad, and I didn't pay attention to it.
Now my screen has transparent horizontal lines which are pretty visible, kind of like interference you get in computer screens when you take a picture of them.
I would like to mention that I haven't dropped the phone even once.
I'm considering doing a factory resest in hopes that it will solve the problem, but I doubt that it is a software issue.
What do you guys think?
Please advise
Itay
Sounds like a broken screen to me. And definitely like a warrenty case. Restore stock f/w if you have flashed and return it.
Restore the original firmware (if you have flashed the phone) and call the samsung service for the assistance.
the thing is that now I don't see it at all.
It's as if it came and gone.
I disabled my task killer and juice defender, performed a complete titanium backup, in case I want to restore afterwards, and now everything is normal.
It does sound like a hardware issue, but do you think there's a chance it is software related?
I'm asking because I purchased it in europe, and I don't live there, so sending it for repair is something I would rather avoid.
Of course, if it is indeed 100% hardare issue, I have no choice.
That is why I'm asking, to be certain and to see if there are others who experienced this issue.
Your replies are much appreciated
update:
It appeared again -> Did a Factory Reset -> It's still there -> Sending for repair.
Must be a hardware issue.
Thank you for your replies.
I've actually always had slight screen issues with my Galaxy S also. The screen flickers slightly once in a while. I don't know if the radio is actually the cause but it's the kind of thing you might expect from radio interference.
Has anybody else noticed this?
Benjamin Dobell said:
Has anybody else noticed this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, never seen any flicker. My screen seems to have a defect of it's own though, but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort to send it in, because I imported mine from the UK while I live in South Africa.
When in the sun or under bright light I can see a two vertical lines near the sides and a horizontal line on dark/black colours and when the screen is off. As if those pixels have a grey/brown tint to them. The line is mostly one pixel thick but in places it is two pixels.
They are almost impossible to see unless under sunlight where they are clearly visible where the screen is black.
Does anyone else see this or know anything about it?
Edit: Apparently it's just the motherboard or something visible through the screen and they all have it, so I'm worrying about nothing...
That's interesting...
It used to come and go, but I think now it's here to stay.
It's really annoying and the screen, while usable, is really not a pleasant sight to look at.
I've attached some photos showing the problem.
With a normal screen I would say that it looks that way because that's what you see when you photograph a screen of an electronic device, but the sad thing is that what you see in the picture is exactly what I'm seeing now.
I did a factory reset, so it's in german now.
I heard some Droid X had a similar problem, but didn't know Galaxy S was having it as well.
In any event, can you confirm that after a factory reset, I no longer have root access?
Just making sure so that they don't give me problems with the warranty.
seem like the phone was dropped, and the screen got damaged
the connectors are lose
double posted again....
Really?
That's very weird...
The only time it was "dropped" was from half a meter , it didn't fall directly but partially sideways, it was with a case, and it landed on its back, not on the screen.
I wouldn't even call that a fall.
Unless, someone in my family dropped it without telling me...
Either way, I think there's no escape but to send it to repair.
If you think it's a problem with the connectors, would you try and give it to some local lab to try and fix it or send it to samsung for replacement?
I faced similar problem.
This problem only occurs when I use the phone in 2g mode.
there are occasions whereby the signal bar for 2g is full and when I place the phone near some conductive surfaces the lines becomes very obvious, to the point of irritating.
nit sure if anyone has such problems too
I have same problems with horizontal lines.
I never paid attention if i am on 2g or 3g when it happens. I will now.
Edit: rooted on jm5
-------------
It seems that my phone too has started to do the same thing since last night.
I have called Samsung and am waiting to hear from them now.
I hope this is a thing covered in the warranty.
I have reverted to the local ROM for India and have deleted everything on my device.
Yet it shows lines flickering like you can see on old computer monitors.
Its not as bad as the ones on the attachment above but it is starting to annoy me.
It usually happens when the screen is completely filled with a single color except black.
Eg. When you pull down the notification tray down.
Also I seem to notice that when the wifi is off, it stops.(I dunno maybe a placebo effect)
aditya_t90 ,
I have sent it to Samsung for repair, and they should tell me in the coming days exactly what the problem is and whether it can be fixed under warranty or not.
I will update as soon as I hear from them.
Until then, try to see if it changes when you hold the phone differently, for example if you grip it more firmly or hold it in another way.
itaykoren said:
aditya_t90 ,
I have sent it to Samsung for repair, and they should tell me in the coming days exactly what the problem is and whether it can be fixed under warranty or not.
I will update as soon as I hear from them.
Until then, try to see if it changes when you hold the phone differently, for example if you grip it more firmly or hold it in another way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When did you send it in and when did they receive it(if you were not there when they got it).
Also how long has it been without your phone?
The samsung service center is shut in my area today.
I will go to them tomorrow and get this sorted out.
Its not like the phone was cheap or anything.
I actually sent it to my uncle in Germany because it was purchased there.
He went to the store where he bought it and the store owner immediately sent it to samsung and said that probably by this Tuesday or Wednesday (so tomorrow or in 2 days) he will get an answer from them and see what's going on.
aditya_90 ,
Just to let you know that Samsung are sending me a new phone to replace the damaged one.
I sent in my phone for repairs and they replaced the LCD module. The problem is now gone.
I suggest that you should do the same while the warranty still holds since it appears to be the LCD that failed somewhat.

Screen died?

Last night I was out and during the night I pulled my desire z out of my pocket to find that the screen was dead, the soft touch buttons were still lit up and working but no display. I pulled the battery and tried to reboot and no luck, you can hear it booting and even unlock/receive calls and txts etc once it has booted up just the screen stays blank the whole time so have to do everything on feel.
Essentially does this just mean my screen has a hardware fault? is it worth trying to fix? I assume the only option would be to purchase a replacement screen and dissemble and reassemble it?
(warranty is not worth it as I live in New Zealand and would have to send my phone back to the UK where I bought it from, also I have dropped it quite a few times so probably voided anyway...)
Thanks in advance for any input
Does it never display anything? So not even a flash during boot or something?
Because then it is probably a hardware problem.
Since the soft touch buttons do still work I think there might be a little crack or something in the flat cable that connects the bottom half with the top.
Maybe you could check whether you can see if the cable is broken or not?
The best thing to do then is to look for a replacement and try to fix it yourself or bring it to a shop where they can do it for you.
No it never displays anything, completely dead the whole time. The touch input is still working though as I answered a phone call this morning on it by making the usual gesture just without being able to see anything. Doesnt seem to be anything wrong with the cable itself as far as I can see. Yea might have to get someone to have a look at it.
My phone is acting the same. I dropped my phone in the pond before, but pulled battery out on time and had it in rice for a day. My phone was still working for about two weeks after that incident. I dropped it and had one little crack at the top of the screen and about a week after that it died when I had a water balloon fight with the phone in my pocket. D;
Do any of you know if the replacement lcd screen/digitizer for the Desire Z would work for the G2?
I had the same thing happening to my G2 screen, only it was intermittently working for a little while, then just completely died and wouldn't work. It was doing this crazy flickering thing then the back light wouldn't go on at all. If I held the phone at a certain angle in the sun, I could see that the pixels were indeed working on the display, but there was no backlight to make them normally visible.
So I purchased a replacement screen from ebay and carefully followed the directions on a youtube video for a G2 take apart. Its not a hard task to take apart and get down to the screen itself. It was rather easy. After putting it back together the screen still didn't work! Sounds work, i can also receive calls etc. But the screen still doesn't work!
Is there any way that this could be a software issue?
Oh and PS, I believe the LCD replacement would work for both the desire Z and the G2. They are identical phones after all right? I'd say its a safe bet. The screen I bought was only 35 bucks. Didn't think that was a bad deal.
Another dead screen or something else?
Few days ago my phone fell of the couch onto a rug - no big deal, so far it has survived much worse, but when I picked it up, the colors were all messed up - overly green and red. Tried restarting - no luck. Everything worked fine, except the colors, but then the screen turned of completely. I could hear notifications, phonecalls, but the screen was dead. After some tapping on the screen, it turned on again - with ****ed up colors. Then started flickering and was gone again. Few more times I could turn it on by tapping before it was dead for good.
Figured, after all these drops it survived, maybe the screen connector is a bit loose. I mean, I could sometime get a contact when tapping it, so I dissasambled it completely, secured all the connection, put it all back tougether and fired up - same thing: dead screen, phone working.
Has anyone had such problem before? Is it screen that is dead, or connector or... I have no clue... I would like try to fix it on my own, with some replacement parts I could get on ebay - but, what gave?

CDMA galaxy nexus - unresponsive to touch

Hello everyone,
Basically went to unlock my phone today and touch screen is not responding, however the hardware buttons work fine. Now i've done some research and found other posts of people with the same problem, however their touchscreen problems seem to be fixed(temporarily, at least) with a battery pull.. mine however is still unresponsive after half a day and multiple battery pulls.
Id rather not have to send in for certified to replace an otherwise perfectly working phone.
Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
bigdeezer20 said:
Hello everyone,
Basically went to unlock my phone today and touch screen is not responding, however the hardware buttons work fine. Now i've done some research and found other posts of people with the same problem, however their touchscreen problems seem to be fixed(temporarily, at least) with a battery pull.. mine however is still unresponsive after half a day and multiple battery pulls.
Id rather not have to send in for certified to replace an otherwise perfectly working phone.
Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are u undervolting?
Nope, sorry forgot to say. Completely stock never unlocked or rooted.
Also i tried getting into recovery to try and do a factory reset but when i select recovery i just get the android on his back with the red triangle..
so instead i just went through the steps and unlocked the bootloader and booted up (in order to give me the factory reset without having to touch the screen)
It unlocked and booted up fine but still no response..
No new recent app installed and never had this happen before.
Mine did this after a few days of owning it, and luckily the store took it back and swapped it out with a perfectly working unit. Is yours within a few weeks of purchase?
Figured this out randomly. Remove battery cover. With phone turned on, press on the area to the to the left of the camera lens until the screen is responsive. My screen becomes unresponsive when the phone is dropped and this fixes it.
dailong said:
Figured this out randomly. Remove battery cover. With phone turned on, press on the area to the to the left of the camera lens until the screen is responsive. My screen becomes unresponsive when the phone is dropped and this fixes it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hrmm this does not seem to fix either. I also have never dropped my phone, although this seems to be worrisome if the issue is hardware related.
@ tmellen i purchased the phone from amazon and am a few days past my return date :-/
Guess ill just give them a call and hope for the best. Thanks for the ideas everyone.
(update) called amazon and they are sending me a brand new phone.
Knowing this i thought i'd try dailong's method again only this time i was quite a bit more "rough" with pressing down on that area, and it actually worked!
Ill still be taking the new phone once it gets here but for anyone who is having this problem there's a sweet spot on the left edge of the phone towards the top (looking at it with the back cover off) there should be a circle shape. press on that area really hard and it should fix.. weird
Experienced the same on my GSM version a few minutes ago. I had to call my mobile to get it to respond. After that it worked again as normal. I'll see if I get this issue again in the next few days. Hope it's just random
Had the same happen earlier to mine and I was on AOKP. I've had this happen to other phone before, shouldn't be a a cause for alarm unless it happens very frequently. Btw, next time it happens to me I'll give that left side of the camera trick a try.
mine got fixed by removing battery.

Very Confused (Bricked)

Ok, so i'll start of by saying rougly 6 months ago I bought an unlocked T999V with a flashed ROM which was liquidsmooth 4.3 I believe. The phone worked perfectly fine up until a week ago. The phone was dropped off a desk and landed on its screen, nothing was broken so I thought nothing of it. The night afterwards I noticed a few darkish spots when I would look at the phone at night, only if the background was dark though (setting menu for example). The phone was plugged in when I went to turn it on and it wouldn't. Its unresponsive and I am unable to put it into DL or recovery mode. Leading me to believe its hard bricked and will need a jtag fix. But WHY? Why did dropping my phone all of a sudden mess up my screen as well as brick my phone ? Someone please help me out here :crying::crying:
yoimbeast said:
Ok, so i'll start of by saying rougly 6 months ago I bought an unlocked T999V with a flashed ROM which was liquidsmooth 4.3 I believe. The phone worked perfectly fine up until a week ago. The phone was dropped off a desk and landed on its screen, nothing was broken so I thought nothing of it. The night afterwards I noticed a few darkish spots when I would look at the phone at night, only if the background was dark though (setting menu for example). The phone was plugged in when I went to turn it on and it wouldn't. Its unresponsive and I am unable to put it into DL or recovery mode. Leading me to believe its hard bricked and will need a jtag fix. But WHY? Why did dropping my phone all of a sudden mess up my screen as well as brick my phone ? Someone please help me out here :crying::crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you comfortable opening the device? There's a chance the fall didn't necessarily damage anything, but knocked very important cables loose. I would check every cable connection on the motherboard, and check the battery prongs, as they may not be making good contact causing dead battery. Are you getting absolutely no response from the pc when connected?
Anyway, point is, checking the connections is the easiest thing to do- and you might be able to determine if anything else is loose (ie did it land on the power button and now it's stuck? Etc) It's likely something simple- so check that first, then you can move on to other diagnostics.
The Fall damaged Digitizer. Hence the dark spots. As to unresponsiveness, remove battery and then try. If it still does not work then Power button might be stuck or has loose wires.
I don't know I thought dark spots in a dark room on a dark background were norm for this type of screen- I have them too on a brand new led assembly. Google suggests that's normal and not necessarily damage, although it could be if they're appearing under normal lighting conditions. I agree with everything else though
Wonder if s/he got it worked out?
absinthesummer said:
I don't know I thought dark spots in a dark room on a dark background were norm for this type of screen- I have them too on a brand new led assembly. Google suggests that's normal and not necessarily damage, although it could be if they're appearing under normal lighting conditions. I agree with everything else though
Wonder if s/he got it worked out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I brought it into a repair shop and was told the EMMC(?) chip was most likely bad and the phone needed a reflow. I put it in my oven and tried the reflow but no luck, I ended up buying a new T999 as I was quite happy with my first one.
Glad you now have a working device

Part of Note 10+ Screen Goes Black

This problem just started today, I've done nothing with settings, have not installed any apps recently, did not drop it, expose it to water, or anything that could possibly cause damage. What's happening is that basically about 1 inch-1 inch 1/8 of the bottom of the screen turns black, and at almost random, sometimes it could go a minute and half or so, sometimes 30 seconds, sometimes within 5 or less seconds. The strangest part? The part that goes black still operates fine to touch, so if an icon or letter of the keyboard, or whatever, is located in that area, it can still be selected/operates. Taking a screenshot to try to show it is worthless since it'll show the screen as just fine, so I attached a picture and a video of the problem from an old phone of mine. The blacked out are will go right back to normal if you turn the screen off, wait a second, and turn it back on. Also, if the blacked out area is there, it'll go away after about a half a second when the screen dims right before the screen inactivity turns the screen off. I've only had this phone for a couple months, I got it back on December 7th 2019.
I learned something else. If I manually lower the brightness to a particularly low level, the black goes away, so it seems to in some strange way be related to the phones brightness level (I use auto brightness), this also might explain why the black comes at differing intervals, as my brightness is adjusting constantly to my surroundings, the time before it comes is either shortened or lengthend based on the brightness.
It doesn't seem that strange that the touch still works in that area as the digitiser and the display are two different things. I would factory reset (because Samsung will make you do this anyway) and if still an issue, take it directly to Samsung, that does not look good.
willhemmens said:
It doesn't seem that strange that the touch still works in that area as the digitiser and the display are two different things. I would factory reset (because Samsung will make you do this anyway) and if still an issue, take it directly to Samsung, that does not look good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just thinking I might have to do factory reset, if that doesn't work, and it needs repair/replacement, do I go to an authorized Samsung repair place (I know I have one within about a couple miles of my house), it's
obviously well within warranty, or take it to At&t store as I do have that AT&T Protect Advantage coverage for my phone?
willhemmens said:
It doesn't seem that strange that the touch still works in that area as the digitiser and the display are two different things. I would factory reset (because Samsung will make you do this anyway) and if still an issue, take it directly to Samsung, that does not look good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did the factory reset, turned out to be a waste of time. That black bar was showing immediately, right at the setup screen. So I guess it's safe to say that it's a hardware issue, defective whatever. Funny story is that when I bought this phone, my att store only had two of them left, one was immediately defective, it wouldnt get past the main logo screen, and now I got this one and it became defective within just a couple months, got to love it.
willhemmens said:
It doesn't seem that strange that the touch still works in that area as the digitiser and the display are two different things. I would factory reset (because Samsung will make you do this anyway) and if still an issue, take it directly to Samsung, that does not look good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just left AT&T store where I initially purchased the phone. They're shipping out a brand new note 10+ to me today and I'll get it tomorrow ?
Glad to hear! That definitely sounded like faulty hardware. Funny you saw two failures, I guess it will happen with such complex devices.
Note 10 plus screen goes black
Hi i thought i was crazy until i saw your thread. The same thing is happening to me but it does not go continuously so id see two red squares first theyre really small and they appear anywhere on the screen then if try to screenshot them they show upblack in the screenshots instead of red . I just need to know if anyone found a solution yet because my phone came with the warranty booklet but it wasnt filled out.
Tech girl99 said:
Hi i thought i was crazy until i saw your thread. The same thing is happening to me but it does not go continuously so id see two red squares first theyre really small and they appear anywhere on the screen then if try to screenshot them they show upblack in the screenshots instead of red . I just need to know if anyone found a solution yet because my phone came with the warranty booklet but it wasnt filled out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just need the proof of purchase, or, if you got it on contract, the contract itself will suffice

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