Develop Bugs

[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] Getting horizontal lines intermittently

My phone is about 4 weeks old now. Last week I noticed that sometimes, powering the screen on shows some light pink/grey horizontal lines. This is in standard portrait mode.
They are more obvious in medium to bright light and eventually go away after another screen off/on.
I'm using the standard HTC ROM (Sense 5.0, Android 4.2.2).
Would this be a hardware issue?
Thanks!

huitz said:
My phone is about 4 weeks old now. Last week I noticed that sometimes, powering the screen on shows some light pink/grey horizontal lines. This is in standard portrait mode.
They are more obvious in medium to bright light and eventually go away after another screen off/on.
I'm using the standard HTC ROM (Sense 5.0, Android 4.2.2).
Would this be a hardware issue?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like hardware. I knew someone with a Thunderbolt with a similar issue. Next time you see it, don't turn your screen off, but lighly push on the screen in different areas and see if it makes it better (or worse). This may have happened (if its hardware related) due to too much pressure being put on the screen accidentally, perhaps while in your pocket or something.

peteschlabar said:
Sounds like hardware. I knew someone with a Thunderbolt with a similar issue. Next time you see it, don't turn your screen off, but lighly push on the screen in different areas and see if it makes it better (or worse). This may have happened (if its hardware related) due to too much pressure being put on the screen accidentally, perhaps while in your pocket or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did notice the lines again and tried pressing on the screen but nothing changed from what I could tell.
I ended up contacting HTC support and was recommended a 'Dead Pixel' app. Except they didn't specify which one. There's tons on the market and some claim to fix dead pixels. Not sure how true that is or that I even have that problem. Anyone know if those apps work?
Also, they recommended doing a factory reset. Not sure how that would help but I'm willing to give it a shot if there's no other ideas.

I'm not familiar with the apps either, a factory reset would help rule out a software related issue, and is probably the first thing that Verizon would do.
Sent from my M7 using the xda app

LG G3 D855 Screen Goes Black On ROM and Recovery

So this happened last August and still no luck to this day. What happened was I saw an update for Fulmics ROM which was at version 6.0 at the time and I was still running the previous version so I updated it and the installation was successful until the screen went black while I was browsing the net. At first I figured a clean install would solve things but the problem persisted up to this day. I tried other ROMs (both AOSP and Stock) and had no luck on either. There are some days when things seem to be working fine but then the screen just turns black on its own. I was able to download some apps and even use it for a time but the screen will just go black all of a sudden. I tried wiping the storage (internal and external) and still it goes black. I tried backing up the current "working" ROM I have which is an AOSP one but then during the backup the screen went black and the file is probably corrupted at this point. I also feel that even when it "turned off" there's still power in the phone since the battery becomes drained of its charge over time. I tried replacing the battery with a new one but it didn't solve things for me. Additionally, I encountered a weird part of the recovery wherein there's an orange background and white text which really surprised me like pressing detonate. Any help is appreciated.

zearcxm69 said:
So this happened last August and still no luck to this day. What happened was I saw an update for Fulmics ROM which was at version 6.0 at the time and I was still running the previous version so I updated it and the installation was successful until the screen went black while I was browsing the net. At first I figured a clean install would solve things but the problem persisted up to this day. I tried other ROMs (both AOSP and Stock) and had no luck on either. There are some days when things seem to be working fine but then the screen just turns black on its own...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like you may be experiencing the lcd flickering/fading/dying issue some other users have experienced. It is a problem with the main board/connectors, and not the LCD itself. You can try an easy fix, but it may not be a permanent fix.
You'll need to take the back cover off of your phone and put some folded up tape or a label of some sort - something with a little thickness to it - on the rear camera connector; you can also put some on the front camera connector and the metal can that covers the processor chip, but the rear camera connector is the most important spot. Here's a pic with the spots labeled for you.
View attachment 3896177
What you are looking to do is put enough - but not too much - tape on those spots to add a little pressure to the board when the rear cover goes back on & it is screwed back together. I've done this fix on a friend's phone and it has worked well, although I ended up having to do it again about 4-5 months later.
*Follow this G3 teardown guide to step 7, carefully/gently re-seat the connectors once for good measure(optional), and then put your tape on... https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/LG+G3+Screen+Replacement/33203
**Remember that when you put your back cover on and screws in that there is one shorter screw - it is labeled in step 4 of the teardown.
***Here's a youtube video of someone doing the "fix"(I didn't make the video, so don't blame me for the classical music ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IVFA_224Aw

startswithPendswithOOH said:
It sounds like you may be experiencing the lcd flickering/fading/dying issue some other users have experienced. It is a problem with the main board/connectors, and not the LCD itself. You can try an easy fix, but it may not be a permanent fix.
You'll need to take the back cover off of your phone and put some folded up tape or a label of some sort - something with a little thickness to it - on the rear camera connector; you can also put some on the front camera connector and the metal can that covers the processor chip, but the rear camera connector is the most important spot. Here's a pic with the spots labeled for you.
View attachment 3896177
What you are looking to do is put enough - but not too much - tape on those spots to add a little pressure to the board when the rear cover goes back on & it is screwed back together. I've done this fix on a friend's phone and it has worked well, although I ended up having to do it again about 4-5 months later.
*Follow this G3 teardown guide to step 7, carefully/gently re-seat the connectors once for good measure(optional), and then put your tape on... https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/LG+G3+Screen+Replacement/33203
**Remember that when you put your back cover on and screws in that there is one shorter screw - it is labeled in step 4 of the teardown.
***Here's a youtube video of someone doing the "fix"(I didn't make the video, so don't blame me for the classical music ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IVFA_224Aw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I followed the instructions by adding some paper/tape to the labelled areas. However, the phone now won't turn on. The last time I was able to boot it up was yesterday and it only went so far as the LG logo. The logo seemed off and broken, white lines were all over the place. I tried going to recovery but the phone just died afterwards. I tried charging it and the screen remained black but the phone gets warm specifically around the power button/volume rocker area. I was able to boot it up now and I managed to successfully install a ROM but the screen still goes black and then boot up again but I wasn't able to use the ROM. I tried entering recovery and sometimes, booting up the recovery is a success other times the screen will just go black before entering the recovery. I'm using TWRP 3.0.2 and when I tried to wipe/flash some ZIPs or just tweak some of the settings the phone will just freeze and vibrate so much to the point that the only way to stop it from vibrating is by removing the battery. What seems to be the problem in my phone? Is my phone bricked in any way?

[HELP] Vertical Lines on Screen, Possibly Not Related to Screen

Wondering if anyone has any advice on something, plus I'd like to make some observations on a common problem. I dropped my phone about 4 months ago from about 3 feet up, in the cold (around 5C). Since then, I've had vertical lines appearing on my screen as in this post (https://www.asus.com/zentalk/thread-70061-1-1.html). Only difference is the lines don't extend all the way up the screen. There is about an inch at the top where the screen is normal. I have a few observations about the issue:
- It does not appear to be a broken screen. I replaced the screen/digitizer/frame assembly with another (used one), and it worked at first, but developed the same symptoms after a few days, out of the blue (did not drop).
- I can coax the screen to act fairly normally if I display a mostly white screen (either by inverting colors, or by setting a white background/opening a white app, etc)
- After a certain amount of time with a "mostly white" screen, I can revert to a dark screen and it seems to act normally and display dark colors again/can see everything on screen (not always though).
- When it's funky, I can see a vertical line about an inch from the top that flickers - above it, the screen is normal, below the screen is funky (vertical lines)
- It happens randomly, as in it will work normally, I will shut off the screen, and when I turn it back on, it's funky again.
- Weather/heat/cold appears to have no impact on it.
- This occurs during boot and in TWRP recovery, so it's not caused by software (doesn't seem like it's ROM dependent, by the way, I'm on CM 13.0), perhaps by bootloader which is common for everything that runs on the phone?
From these observations, it seems like it's not the screen that's the issue but rather the board the screen connects to (inside the phone, top board with the camera/volume attached to it). Does this seem right? I can't figure out why the screen would work when mostly white is displayed. I had a theory earlier that perhaps a (nano/micrometer sized) crack developed on the transparent conductor used to build the TFTs that drive the individual pixels - that would seem to make sense of the "white". As the lower pixels are driven, sufficient voltage/current is supplied to bridge the very small crack that occurred, leading to a (mostly) normally working screen. However that would have been fixed by replacing the screen, so it doesn't seem like that's the case.
I see two possibilities:
- The board that connects to the display has something that cracked/shorted like I mentioned above and sufficient voltage/current bridges the crack
- OR The second LCD is also broken - however this doesn't seem to be the case as the screen worked perfectly for a couple days. I haven't had the screen work for that long since this happened.
So, what are everyone's thoughts? I'm out of warranty. I could try replacing the board or just get a new phone. Or perhaps someone else has some insight...

Ghost touching

My Pixel C has suddenly been stricken with “ghost touching.” This even happens in recovery - TWRP. This kinda tells me it’s a hardware issue. Would you agree?
I reformatted the drive and reinstalled the latest Lineage 17.1 ROM/GAPPS and Magisk. Same result.
Does anyone have any ideas what to try next?

ulrich91 said:
My Pixel C has suddenly been stricken with “ghost touching.” This even happens in recovery - TWRP. This kinda tells me it’s a hardware issue. Would you agree?
I reformatted the drive and reinstalled the latest Lineage 17.1 ROM/GAPPS and Magisk. Same result.
Does anyone have any ideas what to try next?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hardware issue is possible. I had a swollen battery a few months ago, which caused a lot of issues and was left unnoticed until recently.
A while ago my tablet started to lose touches (that touches might be "released" prematurely, causing some unexpected misses of holding notes in rhythm games I've been playing) as well as having strange colors near the borders of the screen. Later the tablet's magnets become unable to hold it firmly in place against the keyboard and only then did I notice that the screen has mostly popped out (the adhesive holding the screen is completely visible), so I immediately knew what was going on.
After replacing the battery the issues with the screen (colors and touches) went away mostly.
EDIT: Hardware issues aside, it's also possible to cause reproducible ghost touches during charging, if the charger/cable quality has become bad (unstable). This happens not only on this tablet. It can happen on any device. In such cases, replacing the charger/cable with a good quality one would fix it.

Thanks for the info LSS4181.
I think I found the issue. If I turn down the screen brightness the ghost touches go away. This is repeatable. If I raise the brightness it starts again.