Develop Bugs

Capacitive button not working

I dropped my HOX and cracked the digitizer a while ago and i still used my hox since to me it's not really a problem to have a broken glass. A couple of days ago capacitive buttons started to malfunction. Now they are not working anymore. I installed Button Savior to make the phone still usable, but now i am looking forward to solve the problem.
I am asking a simple question because i opened my hox so many times resolving GPS and WIFI malfunctions (my WIFI and GPS now are stronger than Galaxy Nexus', so that's a hardware problem), and played a lot with the connection to antenna pins. There is the remote chance that i actually broke something on the mainboard. The question is: replacing the digitizer+display would 100% solve the problem of capacitive buttons? Are the capacitive buttons totally integrated with screen digitizer?
Maybe it's just a silly question, but i want to be sure before buying a spare display+digitizer.
Picture of the broken glass:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/834/img20121007021243.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/717/img20121007021307.jpg

Bump!
I'm also having troubles with my capacitive buttons..
Opened my HOX to fix the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth issue with a couple solder point, closed it back, connection is now amazingly good, but:
-I have no lights on my capacitive buttons (except for the lights off they work alright).
-I have no sound on my loudspeaker (the one behind the device), tested it with a 1.5v battery (like this: youtube.com/watch?v=xIMHGkxw72o) and the speaker itself is fine, but, no sound.
I'm from Brazil, no HTC presence here, so, no authorized service where I can send it to be fixed.
I'm hoping you guys could give me some help on how to proceed to identify/ fix those issues!
Anything???

rafaumm said:
Bump!
I'm also having troubles with my capacitive buttons..
Opened my HOX to fix the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth issue with a couple solder point, closed it back, connection is now amazingly good, but:
-I have no lights on my capacitive buttons (except for the lights off they work alright).
-I have no sound on my loudspeaker (the one behind the device), tested it with a 1.5v battery (like this: youtube.com/watch?v=xIMHGkxw72o) and the speaker itself is fine, but, no sound.
I'm from Brazil, no HTC presence here, so, no authorized service where I can send it to be fixed.
I'm hoping you guys could give me some help on how to proceed to identify/ fix those issues!
Anything???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went on a rage and FULLY disassembled the phone... putting all back together later on.
Everything is fine now!
For me, I GUESS this cable was disconnected: etradesupply.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/o/e/oem_htc_one_x_navigation_light_flex_cable_ribbon_4_.jpg
It's related to capacitive buttons light and loudspeaker (I don't know if anything else goes trough it)...unfortunately can't use this solution for nonworking buttons...
=/

sorry for bring alive this thread but im very interested on thi issue, im having the exact same problem after "fixing" wifi issue :/ does reaplcing the digitizer fixes this problem?

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eltoffer said:
sorry for bring alive this thread but im very interested on thi issue, im having the exact same problem after "fixing" wifi issue :/ does reaplcing the digitizer fixes this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've also just had an issue with non-working capacitive buttons, they light up but won't actually do anything, the phone hasn't been dropped and is usually left on the sideboard in the bedroom as I mostly use my newer HTC One instead, any reason why it would just suddenly just stop like that? was fine the day before whilst playing a game on it.

[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

N7100 overheating with wifi dropout - hardware problem

I did a search and most of the Wifi problems seem to describe knox security and bootloader issues.
Here, I wish to describe/discuss what seems to be a hardware problem in my n7100 note 2.
This occurs with stock and dr. ketan rom on 4.4.2 even with wifipatch applied (technically not needed).
OS 4.4.2
boot loader: n7100ZSUFNL1 (I believe this bootloader should be ok - correct me if I'm wrong).
model GT-n7100
ISSUE
- the wifi icon doesn't turn on or wifi drops out when the system is running hot. This happened the first time after I flashed a ROM/upgraded and I thought it was a ROM issue.
- however, more recently, I have managed to keep the wifi signal absolutely stable when i open up the back cover and run a fan blowing on the back/cpu area at the top back of the phone around the camera area.
- with fan cooling => completely stable
- without fan cooling => drops out when system under load or randomly.
for some reason, omega rom had a problem for me where it kept disconnecting irrespective of the heat
I have seen discussions of our phone overheating but this seems to be a hardware problem with the wifi module.
I presume that there may be micro fractures with the wifi chip solder (seems to be a theme in electronics) that may be causing wifi problems with overheating.
This happened with an iphone 4 voice audio processing chip once for me and the "online community" had figured out a fix by taping in a "pressure mount" for the chip.
//blog.lovefone.co.uk/iphone-4-faulty-microphone-audio-chip-problem
Any suggestions on taping in a heatsink or pressure against the wifi module?
Help would be appreciated. Just adding to the knowledgebase in the community.

When Samsung adopted RoHS some range of devices plagued with badly soldered BroadCom chips. I personally know one S3 and two Note 2 (one is mine own) with all the same problem: no WiFi from time to time and likely no BT too.
I paid ~100 euros to change the main board with BC chip guaranteed working about half a year ago.

Thanks for the quick reply and confirmation.
After ordering a new midframe; playing around with screws and disassembling it a few times; it does feel like a solder joint/connection issue.
I haven't heard much feedback from the net on this problem which is why i raised it.
Others on the net have mentioned loosening the screws securing the motherboard down. I will try that as well but I presume that with a loose solder joint; overtightened screws may warp the motherboard just enough for the connection to flake out.
THanks again.
PS - if anyone else has the same problem/suspicion; please chime in.

So, in follow up.
Adding aluminum tape to the wifi chip didn't seem to work. I took it off and reseated the midframe where the antenna is located.
Still was getting dropped wifi.
Disassembled; took a small screwdriver and gently lifted the wifi contacts from the motherboard up so that it makes better contact with the midframe.
Seemed to help.
It's definitely hardware. Whether it's a problem with the WIFI chip or with the antenna; i don't know but it's somewhere along that line.
Crazy hardware gremlins

ZenFone 2 stuck in Asus Cover Mode with no haptic feedback after dropping on floor

I'm adding this thread to document my recent findings, in hopes that it may help others recover from similar issues.
I dropped my ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML) on the kitchen floor the other day. When I picked it up, it was stuck in Asus Cover Mode, even though I don't have an Asus Cover. I was unable to get into the phone, so I forced a hard-reboot. After playing with it for a few minutes, I was able to get the home screen, though Cover Mode would intermittently kick on and off every few seconds. I got into the settings and disabled Cover Mode, but I soon realized that I had lost vibrate and haptic feedback functionality.
I took apart the phone to inspect for internal damage, and I noticed a small hairline crack on the flex cable connector that resides on the charger port board (see attached photo for details). The now-broken connector allowed the flex cable to shift laterally from its original position, leading to connectivity issues and causing the problems noted above. I was able to temporarily fix it by disconnecting the flex cable and reconnecting it to its intended position. As a permanent fix, I ordered a new charger port board from a vendor on AliExpress that ran me about $5 USD. I just installed it yesterday, and it seems to work as well as the original.

ospatch said:
I'm adding this thread to document my recent findings, in hopes that it may help others recover from similar issues.
I dropped my ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML) on the kitchen floor the other day. When I picked it up, it was stuck in Asus Cover Mode, even though I don't have an Asus Cover. I was unable to get into the phone, so I forced a hard-reboot. After playing with it for a few minutes, I was able to get the home screen, though Cover Mode would intermittently kick on and off every few seconds. I got into the settings and disabled Cover Mode, but I soon realized that I had lost vibrate and haptic feedback functionality.
I took apart the phone to inspect for internal damage, and I noticed a small hairline crack on the flex cable connector that resides on the charger port board (see attached photo for details). The now-broken connector allowed the flex cable to shift laterally from its original position, leading to connectivity issues and causing the problems noted above. I was able to temporarily fix it by disconnecting the flex cable and reconnecting it to its intended position. As a permanent fix, I ordered a new charger port board from a vendor on AliExpress that ran me about $5 USD. I just installed it yesterday, and it seems to work as well as the original.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I know how you played with your phone to go to the homescreen? I had the same situation but mine is vibrating. I'm just stucked on cover mode.

I hit it against me hands a few times. It seemed to be enough to allow intermittent access to the home screen and settings.
If your device is still under warranty, my recommendation for you is to let Asus repair it. I purchased my ZenFone with a broken screen and repaired it, so I have no warranty coverage. That said, I'd be willing to bet that you can't fix this without taking the phone apart. If I were you, I'd open up the phone, disconnect the battery from the motherboard and the flex cable, antenna, and vibrator from the charge port board, and inspect for damage. If everything looks good, reconnect everything, reassemble it, and try it out.

ospatch said:
I'm adding this thread to document my recent findings, in hopes that it may help others recover from similar issues.
I dropped my ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML) on the kitchen floor the other day. When I picked it up, it was stuck in Asus Cover Mode, even though I don't have an Asus Cover. I was unable to get into the phone, so I forced a hard-reboot. After playing with it for a few minutes, I was able to get the home screen, though Cover Mode would intermittently kick on and off every few seconds. I got into the settings and disabled Cover Mode, but I soon realized that I had lost vibrate and haptic feedback functionality.
I took apart the phone to inspect for internal damage, and I noticed a small hairline crack on the flex cable connector that resides on the charger port board (see attached photo for details). The now-broken connector allowed the flex cable to shift laterally from its original position, leading to connectivity issues and causing the problems noted above. I was able to temporarily fix it by disconnecting the flex cable and reconnecting it to its intended position. As a permanent fix, I ordered a new charger port board from a vendor on AliExpress that ran me about $5 USD. I just installed it yesterday, and it seems to work as well as the original.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had the same problem, did what you did and got the same result!
thanks for sharing info!

ben.anter said:
i had the same problem, did what you did and got the same result!
thanks for sharing info!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I could help!

I got the same problem this morning. Tried the strong magnet mtd recommended in the asus forum but it didn't help. In the end, I found that by removing the cover, and then using your finger to flick on the magnet sensor (near the back button, bottom left of screen) works! After exiting the cover mode, quickly go to settings to disable it.

Thanks a lot
I had a similar problem , but my connector have gotten wet, and wasn't broken. When i cleaned it, the mobile got out from cover mode

Touchscreen problem - hardware or software related?

My Nexus 2013 has been experiencing erratic touchscreen behaviour lately.
Here's some videos to indicate what I mean:
Video 1
Video 2
It was running lollipop, which I then upgraded to Marshmallow thinking that would alleviate the problems.
I also cleared the cache and factory restored - no improvement.
I've tried sfhub's touchscreen fixes - also no improvement.
I've also opened it up and tried the ribbon cable fix - no improvement.
The screen only really recognises touches on a small vertical band on the right of the screen. At one point, it only registered touches within the dead zones if I had two fingers on the screen, but then further tests revealed that that was a fluke and then it went back to being erratic.
I was wondering if anyone else had this problem? If so, have you managed to fix it?
Is this more likely a hardware or a software problem?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks

I would try cutting power to the tablet and cleaning the digitizer connections with alcohol. Then try parrot mod as well

chkenwing said:
The screen only really recognises touches on a small vertical band on the right of the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sounds like a hardware issue. But still, certainly worth trying the parrotmod fix. As ethanchow suggested try cleaning the ribbon cable contacts. 91% isopropyl alcohol (and of course give it a second to be sure it's fully dry).
I'm assuming it's an original screen.