Develop Bugs

[Q] Extremely weird screen behaviour.

Hello all! Ive just recently got my Xperia arc, and flashed a nightly build of CM7 on it, number 20. Everything seemed to run smoothly, but just now screen started to behave very weird, it almost seem to have osme kind of "ghostly" second touch.
The upper part of the screen is almost impossible to use, when I try select an app to move it on the screen, by holding finger down, it just flickers for a second and gets deselected. If I manage to select it and drag+hold, it starts spazing out all over the screen, with screens switching between eachother by it self.
The problem is especially noticeable in games, where you usually have a joystick controller in bottom left corner. When using it, I usually trigger the buttons above it in the upper left corner which I am no where near at with my finger.
Is this a ROM issue, or hardware issue? Ive been using the rom for couple of days with no strange to it, and now this happens. Any ideas what the source can be?

ROM failure.

Sorry for bump, but apparently the problem remained. I changed to XDA rom, which too is based on CM7 thou and after a day I stumbled upon same problem of ghotsly second touch on screen.
I cant hold to move apps, cant precisely press a button in game on left side of screen, it then triggers some other button nearby. I do get haptic feedback from long press on a homescreen, but the "add new" menu popups only every few tries Any ideas of what may be causing this? I would really like to avoid the hassle of resetting the phone and sending it back for repairs :/

try stock one or miui.

It sounds a bit like your screen had a bad encounter with water...
Could this be the case?
iR¡[email protected]!* via Tapatalk

iridaki said:
It sounds a bit like your screen had a bad encounter with water...
Could this be the case?
iR¡[email protected]!* via Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, this phone is only few days old.
I think I am noticing a pattern.. screen behaves this way only late evenings, till next morning. I never noticed the issue during the day, but then it was there again for no reason after I left phone for couple of hours (it's past midnight here at the moment). Now when I think back, same was previous two evening, issue only noticeable during late evenings. Could my phone be possessed lol?
It's quite weird issue too. Upper half of the screen seems to have a ghost touch as I said. When trying to add a widget to upper screen, I only get a haptic feedback from long press. When playing games, all buttons on left side (landscape mode) get activated as soon I press one of them. Most weird of all, is that screens works perfectly in app drawer and settings, but not in app/homescreen. I will test how it is again tomorrow and report. If it works just fine again as if nothing happened I will be really puzzled.
Currently on CM7 Xda version, same was for official version. I am considering updating to MIUI, just gotta figure this radio difference stuff, but am becoming sceptic to whether this issue really lies with ROM and not app/settings.

Yep, issue is gone like nothing happened at the morning, this is is haunted ._.

I've figured the cause, it only happens when the phone is plugged in and charging. Beats me why thou, what remains to see now is if it is tied to the kernel or not. Posting it here in case others with similar problem stumble upon the thread.

Are you using the stock charger, i used to face bit similar problem when i used to connect my old HTC USB charger... later i discover the HTC charger was giving only 500mA , where as sony one is rated at 700mA.

mangemayur said:
Are you using the stock charger, i used to face bit similar problem when i used to connect my old HTC USB charger... later i discover the HTC charger was giving only 500mA , where as sony one is rated at 700mA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip! Turns out it didn't like my 1000mA charger I am using for all my usb stuff, but the stock on works perfect (it's 850mA).

[Q] Xperia Play Backlight not working, screen very unresponsive

A little while ago my battery ran out on my Xperia Play and nothing has really worked since then.
1. Backlight does not work, at all.
2. The phone does not detect the batter (though I am able to charge it). I have that 'no battery' indicator on the top of my screen at all times. I have bought a new battery, no change. If I keep it plugged in with/without battery nothing changes.
3. Screen is really laggy now. I have to try to swipe the screen like 18 times before it actually goes through and unlocks. When I try to type, the keys I press get held so all sorts of funny accents are all over the place.
Its not usable currently.
Note: If I use the arrow keys to navigate the menus, it works fine.
When I tried to take the phone apart I managed to break the LCD screen. Replaced that and now I'm back where I started.
Anything I can do? Replace the digitizer?

Looks like a hardware problem (seriously damaged motherboard?), and I'm 99% sure it's totally not screen or battery-related problem. If your phone is on warranty I suggest you giving it back, instantly.
Sent from my beautiful Xperia PLAY using Tapatalk 2

Bah, I was worried it would be that. No warranty, I picked it up off kijiji for $200 last year.

[Q] Power/Lock button automatic keypress?

So I got my "faulty" HTC One X 32gb, which I managed to get for $100 working yesterday with help from a person here.
Anyway, I've noticed a strange issue, the keypresses of the power button will be simulated occasionally with no actual pressure on the power button, sometimes this is left on long enough to both shut off and turn on the device.
I opened the device and there appears to be nothing physically wrong with it, this problem occurs regardless of ROM or hboot.
This is a truly strange issue and after placing the buttons back in correctly, it doesn't appear to be registering the power button at all, even if it has a satisfying click like on my other one X, I think the issue lies within the internal button, but how do I fix it?
Edit: After leaving it overnight in the same position (no movement) to copy files over, it did not continue with the issue, which leaves me to believe the angle of the phone/gravity has some effect, although there are no loose parts to highlight what the cause is.
Edit2: It appears this One X has been repaired before, I have a suspicion it's a new case, unless the white One X is supposed to have a different feel (smoother) to the black One X.
The screen may have also been repaired, as the copper tape that would normally cover the battery is gone, and the battery is loose, so the adhesive was loosened.

I got the same problem! At first this problem was just for 5-10 minutes. After that, it would act normal again. Can't remember when, but after some days or weeks it stopped and i thought it was fixed, Now, some months later the problem is back. But this time it locks like 2 times a second. So my phone is unuseable. I can't even backup my files because it reboots or power off. I also opened my HOX but cant find anything inside, looks good and no damage anywhere...
I will leave my phone for a day. Hopefully it will work after 24 hours...

[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

[Q] Tab Pro 12.2: Screen and Button Issues

I just got this tablet (to replace the garbage SGH-I467) a few days ago (Thu., May 15th). For the first couple of days it worked like a dream. However, the last 4 nights/3 days, I have been encountering some strange issues. What I will do here is describe the issues I've been having, what I have done in attempts to fix them, list some of the things I think may have caused it, and include any additional info/questions.
Before all that though, I would like to mention that I am not a developer, but I am a bit 'tech savvy' and am more familiar with/knowledgeable of technology than the average user. Also, I have spoken with Samsung tech support and even had the support guy access my Tab Pro 12.2 remotely (I will explain what I learned from that below). So, without further ado (I apologize in advance for the long winded nature of this post, but I want detailed):
The Issues:
1) Screen "flickering"—By flickering I mean that it is shutting off and turning on rather rapidly and sporadically, though inconsistently.
I first encountered the problem 3 days ago (the 18th).
Four nights ago (the 17th), before going to bed, I plugged the device into the same outlet I have used for all my mobile devices, when I woke up (on the 18th) the screen was doing exactly what I described. I hit the home button a few times and it stopped.
That night (the 18th) I plugged it back in to the usual spot before going to bed. The next morning (yesterday, the 19th), the screen was "flickering" again. I tried to press the home key a few times, as well as both the soft keys, nothing. In between "flickers" you can see the lock screen, where I have to enter a pin, but even while visible I can't type anything. So this time, to try to solve the problem, I held the power button + volume up to get to recovery and wiped the cache partition, rebooted the device, and viola, it worked again. Thinking that I may have to factory reset the device if the problem persists, I used Kies to backup all my data. I used the tablet the rest of the day, even plugged it in (in a different outlet than the one next to my bed) for a while and had no issues.
Last night (the 19th) I did pretty much the same thing, but this time, thinking that it might be an issue with the device getting too much power (the Quick Start Guide says: "Note: Connecting the travel adapter improperly may cause serious damage to the device."), I used a travel adapter from one of my other, USB 2.0 devices (the only difference between the adapters is the output: 2.0 = 5.0V—2.0A vs. 3.0 = 5.3V—2.0A, and output was specifically what I was concerned with). This morning (the 20th) the problem has returned, but now includes my second issue: the hard home button and both soft keys, back and recent apps, no longer function. So I immediately tried to wipe the cache partition and reboot, but this time it didn't work. Thankfully I had anticipated this yesterday and had that Kies backup, so I wiped the entire device back to factory settings. But alas, it was unsuccessful and the problem persists, including the loss of button functionality, with the exception of the power and volume buttons.
It is important to note that when I first got the Tab Pro 12.2 and set up the lock screen, I used the option that delays the actual locking of the device 10 minutes after screen timeout, but set it so that if I lock the screen with the power button it ISN'T delayed and immediately locks. That being said, a couple of times when the "flickering" stopped long enough to momentarily use the device, I was able to enter my pin and unlock. But when the screen starts flickering again, it locks the device, so the power button must be affected as well. Though since the first factory reset of the device, I haven't set up a pin. I have done several factory resets and none of them have worked. The best result has simply been limited (no back, recent apps or home key) and momentary functionality. I tried using Kies to do emergency firmware recovery, but every time I click the option it disconnects the device.
When Samsung tech support remotely accessed by device (I used one of the momentary functionality windows to download the required application) the agent was able to utilized soft and home key functionality, even though I couldn't. This tells me that it was hardware related, not related to UI/software.
So there are a couple of things I think may have caused/contributed to the problem:
The first, which I vaguely touched on above, is the power issue. Perhaps I have shorted the device out somehow. The outlet I use to charge things while I'm sleeping is on the wall behind my bed, so I have to use a common extension cord, one that has 3 outlets at the end. I have a light plugged into that and in the past have charged both my SGH-I467 (AT&T Note 8.0) and my SGH-I747 (AT&T S4 Active) with that cord and outlet. That is the only place I have charged the SM-T900 overnight, but none of the other power sources I have used have caused these issues.
The second possibility is a virus some sort. I have never used the Samsung app store on any of my other devices, but in order to update the Hancom Office suite I had to. Since I had an enjoyable time using it to that end, I decided to see what else I could find on Samsung's store. I downloaded a couple of things (the "Official Captain America game" and a couple wallpaper/theme apps) and was looking around the store to see if there was anything else I wanted to download. I found several apps that had reviews claiming they were trojans, so I immediately checked the reviews for the apps I had downloaded, but none of them had similar reviews. However, that does not mean they didn't have viruses.
So, what do the resident Android gurus of XDA think about these issues?
I tried searching all over the forums and elsewhere online for people having the same issues, but couldn't find anything. Have any of you ever encountered something similar to this?
Until recently, I hadn't ever heard of anyone getting a virus on an Android device. Are they common? What is the nature of Android viruses?
If these issues do have something to do with overcharging/shorting the device, how can I mitigate that problem? Tonight when I charge the tablet, instead of using the USB 3.0 charging cable, I am going to try just using the 2.0 cable. As I understand it, that can be done by simply plugging it into the right side of the port. Hopefully that will stop exacerbating the problem.
Again, I apologize for such a long winded post. I would like to thank you all in advance. If ever I have problems with an Android, you guys are the ones to ask!
*UPDATE* Before I started typing this I was attempting to run the Kies 'Firmware Upgrade and Initialization', as opposed to 'Emergency Firmware Recovery', to see if that too would disconnect the device. Unfortunately it said that my device needed to be charged first. So I shut it down and plugged it into a surge protected strip and began typing this post. Occasionally I would go over an check the charge. While it was shut down and charging I was able to use the home key to bring up the green battery. Once the charge looked like it was about 75% complete I turned it back on and lo and behold, the "flickering" issue looks resolved and so does the button issue. I can go back, enter the recent apps and task manager, and use the home key functions. For how long this will last, however, is unknown. I guess we'll see in the morning. I'll post what happens tomorrow.

What kind of case are you using? Some users have seen issues with some cases that use magnets for auto-sleep-wake. When the front of the cover is flipped back behind the tablet, the magnets seem to activate the auto-sleep feature
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

RE: Case?
dodo99x said:
What kind of case are you using? Some users have seen issues with some cases that use magnets for auto-sleep-wake. When the front of the cover is flipped back behind the tablet, the magnets seem to activate the auto-sleep feature
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not using a case or cover at all...

same issues here
Sounds exactly as the same issue I have had the last week. I have done several factory resets triad to avoid installing as many applications as I had prior the factory reset (to see If it was an app causing the issue). No solution yet but I will try your way with kies described above. I have a tab pro 8.4.

VeinkWiles said:
So, what do the resident Android gurus of XDA think about these issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am no guru, but it sounds like a loose connection. Maybe it is affected by temperature. Try it on a (not too) hot water bottle or on freezer packs.

Mike Austin said:
I am no guru, but it sounds like a loose connection. Maybe it is affected by temperature. Try it on a (not too) hot water bottle or on freezer packs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not overheating. It can get warm, but it's never gotten hot. And I've had other devices that have seriously overheated and still functioned, albeit slowly.
**UPDATE**
After I got it working the night I originally posted I let it fully charge (it's important to note that I got it up to about 75% while it was off; green battery the only thing on the screen, and I had home button functionality), then disconnected it and disabled all the radios, put it in power saving and left it over night without power. Doing that I was able to use it all day yesterday. But while I was full-charging it, after it reached 100%, I noticed that it started acting up almost immediately. The sound was on and kept making the lock screen sound (that's how I noticed it from across the room). So it is tied to the power/lock key. But disconnecting it before it could get out of control mitigated the problem. Last night I was going to try to charge it over night with USB 2.0, but I fell asleep before changing the cable out, so it charged on 3.0 all night and is back in poor repair. I'm currently trying to full charge it while off to see if that gives me functionality again.
Either way, each time I fix it the solution becomes more difficult/timely than the previous one. It's clearly not getting better, so I'm going to have to send it in to repairs.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537

VeinkWiles said:
It's not overheating. It can get warm, but it's never gotten hot. And I've had other devices that have seriously overheated and still functioned, albeit slowly.
**UPDATE**
After I got it working the night I originally posted I let it fully charge (it's important to note that I got it up to about 75% while it was off; green battery the only thing on the screen, and I had home button functionality), then disconnected it and disabled all the radios, put it in power saving and left it over night without power. Doing that I was able to use it all day yesterday. But while I was full-charging it, after it reached 100%, I noticed that it started acting up almost immediately. The sound was on and kept making the lock screen sound (that's how I noticed it from across the room). So it is tied to the power/lock key. But disconnecting it before it could get out of control mitigated the problem. Last night I was going to try to charge it over night with USB 2.0, but I fell asleep before changing the cable out, so it charged on 3.0 all night and is back in poor repair. I'm currently trying to full charge it while off to see if that gives me functionality again.
Either way, each time I fix it the solution becomes more difficult/timely than the previous one. It's clearly not getting better, so I'm going to have to send it in to repairs.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorta sounds like a screen grounding problem. I had a nexus seven with this issue and the charger seemed to really make it act up. Needless to say I gave that to my wife and bought this. If the digitizer is not grounded properly it will act up.
Turning on developer settings and set it to show touches on screen. See if when charging the screen registers more touches than you are doing.
Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk

Re: developer settings; display touches
dottat said:
Sorta sounds like a screen grounding problem. I had a nexus seven with this issue and the charger seemed to really make it act up. Needless to say I gave that to my wife and bought this. If the digitizer is not grounded properly it will act up.
Turning on developer settings and set it to show touches on screen. See if when charging the screen registers more touches than you are doing.
Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn! That's an outstanding idea! The only downside is that last night I sent the tablet to Samsung's repair department, so I can't test that out. But once I get it back, if the problem persists I will definitely be doing that first. Thanks for the advice dottat.

Fw:Re: developer settings; display touches
mikegbg said:
Sounds exactly as the same issue I have had the last week. I have done several factory resets triad to avoid installing as many applications as I had prior the factory reset (to see If it was an app causing the issue). No solution yet but I will try your way with kies described above. I have a tab pro 8.4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey dude, check out dottat's reply. He's got a really good idea that may shed some light on the source of the problem. Unfortunately, I can't try it out. If you do it, let me know how it goes. Maybe you can take some screenshots? Either way, hopefully you can get something out of it.