Help Droid touch screen - freezing a LOT

[Hemorrdrhoid]

So I've had my Droid (original) since December. I've loaded various apps and dealt with assorted app-related FCs and oddities now and then. However, over the past month or so, my touch screen started to freeze up at random times. And those occasions have accelerated to today, where it froze up 5 times in one day. And won't seem to stay on without freezing now.

The scenario: originally it would freeze when I was multitasking, like trying to use the map and search for stuff while on the phone, tapping quickly. I assumed I was just overtaxing the input a bit. Then it started to freeze during mundane stuff like scrolling through websites on Dolphin. I killed off Helix launcher, then I stopped using Dolphin browser. Today when it repeated, I killed off every single active app/function except for keyboard & search (native), and then it froze up again.

Sometimes the freeze is only partial, in that I can slide open the keyboard and use the D-pad to navigate a bit longer. In these cases, I can hold the power button and D-pad to the Off option and shut down normally. Lately the majority have been full-on freezes that require a battery pull.

I'm probably going to take it back to Best Buy or to a Verizon store tomorrow, but I'm stressing about the apps containing data I *need* to get out (checkbook, password keeper/etc) that aren't cloud-backed or auto-stored on the card. I'm also floating this out there hoping someone else has any ideas beyond Hard Reset, because I am not looking forward to playing the refurb shuffle.

Stuff that is generally resident:
Google Voice (I never use it, but it's always active in the apps list)
Bar Control (to access the phone through the drop-down shade)
Profile (switch Work, Home, Road often)
Finance (that little stock app; always resident in the background)
Battery Left (a couple versions old)

Widgets:
Astrid
CalWidget
Power Manager (native)
MoreIcons
that flashlight icon that looks like a wand
The Weather Channel

Anyone experience anything similar, and could it be related to any apps above? I'm wracking my brain to think of anything else that runs in the background. Right now it's off, and I'm letting it sit in case it's heat related (and because I'm annoyed at it, so it's in "time out", ha). Any insight is appreciated.

 

[Hemorrdrhoid]

Aha! Think I solved my own problem. I plugged it into my laptop to try and at least extract the SD card data, and while the screen was jumpy as usual (repeating input, twitching on taps) it stayed working. A long USB extension cable solved the jumpy problem and then it was perfectly fine while plugged in. This indicated to me that the issue was insufficient power from that battery.

I have a spare battery, so after I backed up everything possible with the Droid plugged in, I turned it off and swapped batteries. Now it works absolutely fine. The battery that I yanked out is now isolated and will be returned. I'm concerned about why that happened in the first place, and will take extra care when recharging going forward, in case that contributed to the battery degradation.

 

[Hemorrdrhoid]

Day 2: The backup battery is not sufficiently functional any longer. This means that it's likely something resident on the handheld instead of the actual power source, although it's odd that the second battery worked for 24 hours without any issues. I plugged it in to charge overnight with the OEM plug/cord (instead of my Amzer stand), and this morning it froze with both the new battery and the wall charger in use.

I've now got it plugged into the laptop again to see if that power source helps, and so far it's gone into a boot loop. Good times.

 

[Hemorrdrhoid]

With no replies, this is shaping up to be a blog, heh.

The boot loop stopped with a battery pull, and it's now working, but no idea for how long. I called the local store but nobody's picking up, so I got punted to Verizon's corp office who tells me I can't walk into my local store to swap it out and a shipped refurb (ETA Tuesday am) is the best that can be done. Sigh.

I went through with the sign-up for the refurb, but have been retrying the local store to verify that I can't just walk in and out. So far it appears that they're studiously avoiding the phone.

 

[Hemorrdrhoid]

Final entry... due to snafus between Verizon & Fedex, my refurb expected Tues at 10am escalated into a 2nd re-shipped refurb arriving Thurs at 10am. The original replacement sat trapped at the depot way out by the airport. When I opened the 2nd shipped one, it looked like it had been thrown down a flight of stairs; scuffed on every corner, charger slot mashed on, crud in the ear screen, backside of the slider well worn. Not in the least 'like new'. In utter frustration, I left work early to retrieve the first-shipped refurb that had been held hostage at the Fedex depot, hoping that it was in better shape.

That refub turned out to look great; no damage at all. I've messed with it just over 24 hours now and it doesn't appear to have any internal defects yet. The battery cover connection is *slightly* looser than mine was (it's still my cover, but it was supar-tight on my old phone), but it's not going to fall off. I need to test it out with my 'bad' battery - the power source that seemed to first kick off the weird behavior of the first phone. It may be perfectly fine after all.

So this concludes my 'blog', barring any unforeseen issues with the refurb. Thanks for following along!

 

[estubby]

I appreciate your documented case study. My droid touch screen is spazzing out and your 'blog' has given me some solid information. Thanks