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Help moto droid touchscreen problem

I'm having similar issues as well. The most frustrating part though is when I can't answere a phone call. The swype to answer won't work. This happens very frequently. Any tips?
Download Tedd's Droid Tools from the Market. It let's you answer the phone by pressing the Camera button. Works everytime for me. I was so frustrated that I could not answer the phone. This app made me love my Droid again.
 
It has passed some time since the last entry on the post.. is there any news ?

My milestone also behaving badly. the touchscreen stops working properly and just like some described.. is like a ghost is messing with it as it has random touchscreen input, opens and slides things on it's own.

SOmetimes, after a reboot our a battery dropout, it will work for some time.. but each time less and less time...

I would belive that this is related with heat!.. maybe any electronics got damage from vapor or sweat and now whenever it gets hot it stops working.

Notice that before it really got messy, 2 or 3 days ago the phone was getting too hot and running on bat realy fast.. bu I don't have almost any app install.. just google's apps and 3 or 4 apps that are very known and aren't supposed to bring any trouble (they are from well known software house.. nothing to lame).

Any news or solutions?

Thanks and hope this goes aways to everyone :)
 
Mine still has the problem... i uninstalled launcher pro and advance task killer and nothing helped... this all started ever since i recieved the update.
 
I have just recently been having the same problem. My "home" button will not work, the screen is unresponsive in the column running up above the home button and the screen goes nuts on its own sometimes. Of course I have had the phone just over a year.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
PS-does anyone know anything about Verizon's early upgrade policy? That might be what I am looking at doing.
 
My Droid started doing this last night. As far as I can tell, there is *no* reason for it. The phone has never been wet, dropped, rooted, or infected with viruses. It simply stopped working correctly, and the touchscreen went nuts. Safe mode didn't fix it, factory resets didn't fix it. There are no other options, as the ROMs to reflash it are no longer available on Google's website.

Granada, I don't know when you purchased your Droid, but mine is eligible for early upgrade. Unfortunately, I don't have the minimum $300 that entails (most of the good phones have a $100 mail-in rebate, rather than instant.)
 
Or is it just best to go get a new phone? I'm on a factory replacement already, and have been since May of last year. Last night, I had the problem of 1/3 of my screen (right vert column) not responding to touch. I had to change my lock pattern so I could get into the phone and randomly it would register that I was touching that area of the screen but it has not worked properly since. Just frustrating and makes it difficult to use the phone. Anyone have other solutions?
 
Are any of you using non OEM chargers? They've been known to cause problems like this.
AFAIK those only cause problems while the phone is plugged in... I could be wrong though.

the screen is unresponsive in the column running up above the home button and the screen goes nuts on its own sometimes.

My Droid recently started just going nuts. When on, it opens programs at random, I don't have to click anything and it will open this or that. I can't get it to select the middle menu ison of the 3 icons at the bottom. it will select the internet or phone, but not the menu.

1/3 of my screen (right vert column) not responding to touch.
This is exactly the problem I'm having. The center column of the screen is unusable -- if I press in that column it thinks I'm pressing somewhere to the right or left. It also goes crazy on it's own all the time now, pressing random spots all over the touch screen. This started ~2 weeks ago and usually resolved itself within a few seconds, but it's gotten so bad that the phone is completely unusable because it's always pressing random things on the touch screen.

I did a factory reset, formatted the SD card, pulled the battery for a full night, cleaned the screen and battery contacts thoroughly, and I've never used any chargers other than the Motorola ones that were released with the Droid.

I'm 99.9% positive this is a hardware problem and there's nothing we can do to fix it, nor anything we could have done to cause it.
 
I believe this is a software problem.

I've had a dead strip from the home key(moto droid) to the top since just after Thanksgiving. It just got worse. Now it is from the center to the top as well. It is very difficult to unlock my phone.

However, if I touch the screen in a dead and at the same time area attempt to unlock the phone, the phone does NOT register the second touch. In other words the hardware knows that the that the first finger is touching the screen.

I believe this must me a software issue. I'd guess it its in the low-level touchscreen driver. I believe the corruption is occurring before the Google UI gets the touch notification.

Just my 2 bits
 
Tagging this also.

Having the same issues and it just started a few days ago. It started with the system freezing for about 20-30 sec (no touch screen or side buttons working). Now the Home button does not work, the strip at the bottom (default browser button) reads as if touching the right page button, and several of the virtual keyboard "keys" above the home button do not respond (non landscape orientation).


~DS
 
Just a FYI for everyone in this thread -

My Droid developed this problem last week, overnight. Working fine one day. Wonky touchscreen the next. Quickly became unusable due to the fact that I couldn't answer phone calls. Had the same looks-like-a-ghost-is-using-my-phone issue also.

I called up VZW customer care and requested a warranty replacement for a defective touchscreen. They switched me to tech support. I described the problem. They said "Yep, sounds like a bad touchscreen. Your replacement will be delivered tomorrow."

I'm 100% sure it's a failing digitizer (hardware) issue. It's not a software issue. I had flashed my Droid back to stock unrooted 2.2.1 just to be sure.

So if you're still under warranty (I had an extended warranty plan) you can get a free replacement for this problem.

-Gunner
 
Took my phone back to Best Buy since I got it at release -- they said they're probably gonna have to give me a new phone, but it's gotta be sent to their service center to be looked at first. I guess screen issues are too difficult or costly to repair?

Either way, the fact that such a severe flaw can pop up > 1 year after purchase is pretty disappointing. I only got the warranty from Best Buy for the accidental coverage figuring I might do something stupid, never thought the phone would randomly self destruct 15 months later.

I'll post an update once I find out whether it will be repaired or replaced. It seems like there are a lot of people with the same exact problem, and I'm guessing a decent number no longer have warranties...
 
I realize that Gunner may be a hardware problem. I believed that for a couple of weeks till I ran an ebook reader app,that I have used from the first day I got my Droid. The app was able to select from sections of the screen that other apps failed to recognized. At this point I realized it's not the hardware but software/files corruption somewhere between the hardware layer and the standard calls apps make to read the screen, It appears that my ebook app uses a non-standard way to see touches..

IMHO that when my screen went "wonky" it was a poorly coded or a malicious app that caused a buffer overflow that corrupted memory or files that Android uses to convert the screen hardware into the software resources used by apps.

BigSam
 
Just a FYI for everyone in this thread -

My Droid developed this problem last week, overnight. Working fine one day. Wonky touchscreen the next. Quickly became unusable due to the fact that I couldn't answer phone calls. Had the same looks-like-a-ghost-is-using-my-phone issue also.

I called up VZW customer care and requested a warranty replacement for a defective touchscreen. They switched me to tech support. I described the problem. They said "Yep, sounds like a bad touchscreen. Your replacement will be delivered tomorrow."

I'm 100% sure it's a failing digitizer (hardware) issue. It's not a software issue. I had flashed my Droid back to stock unrooted 2.2.1 just to be sure.

So if you're still under warranty (I had an extended warranty plan) you can get a free replacement for this problem.

-Gunner

I went to the VZN store and they said is a known problem. I wish I knew this before I bought the phone. I guess that happens when you jump too soon into buying new products. I am very disappointed with Motorola. Now I need to buy a new phone since Im out of warranty. Stay away from the Motorola Droid 1 people.
 
I went to the VZN store and they said is a known problem. I wish I knew this before I bought the phone. I guess that happens when you jump too soon into buying new products. I am very disappointed with Motorola. Now I need to buy a new phone since Im out of warranty. Stay away from the Motorola Droid 1 people.
Did they say it can't be repaired?
 
Did they say it can't be repaired?

it can be repaired but it might cost over 100 dollars. Not worth it.
the point is.... why did the phone just stop working for no reason. They say is a known problem but they do not recall the phones to fix the issue ....WTH
 
This is so damn irritating. VW already sent me to hell and back getting a replacement for a BB Tour that was a design disaster. Started 2 year contract in 2/10, had 5 replacement Tours before filed an FCC complaint to get out of the contract.
They FINALLY said they would give me a different phone but I was to pay $50 and start my contract over in July 2010. Said no way to paying$ 50 but had no choice w/contract restarting.

Now I have this Droid 2 and the screen does what it wants whenever it wants. If I accidentally hit a contact it calls them and I cannot end the call. The screen gets stuck, wont move, flashes the same window over and over and on and on.

Took every app off I could (didn't have any non-preinstalled except a PW keeper I had since I got the phone. Never been wet, humid, droppd, or used any non-oem product.

I've had it with this garbage and Verizon. Does the I-Phone do this garbage?

I should have let the FCC follow thru with the complaint and gone with a prepaid Blackberry.

It's always something and I'm literally at the end of my rope.
 
I just found this forum while struggling with my Droid all day. It completely ruined my Saturday, I'm really dependent on a working cellphone as I don't have any other phone. Like many others here, my Droid has been fine for just a little over a year since I got it, then all of a sudden out of the blue it goes haywire. At first I had trouble getting the slider to work to unlock the phone, then it started randomly launching apps, would not respond to screen presses, and sometimes misresponded, as if I pressed another part of the screen. I tried multiple hard resets etc to no avail. Finally I plopped it down on my desk in frustration and proceeded to try to research the issue using my regular computer. While in the middle of doing that, I hear the sound of my phone dialing a number all by itself. The dialing was slow, as if someone was remotely pressing keys. That was pretty alarming to say the least, so I scrambled to stop it....but the stupid phone refused to respond. I couldn't even shut it down, because that still requires a screen press. So I just ripped the battery out. Now I'm back to using a 6 year old non-smart flip phone with a broken hinge, until I can figure out what phone to switch to. I'm afraid to take my chances with another Droid at this point.
 
Thought I'd try the suggestion of cleaning the screen really good with rubbing alcohol, but it made no difference. Also, I discovered that the entire right side of my screen is a dead zone, about the width of an icon, and running all the way up the screen. That explains why my settings button stopped working, since it falls within that zone, except when the phone is in the charging station, when everything is oriented along the length of the phone. Also explains why I can no longer unlock the phone with the slider - the unlock point is within the dead zone, so I have to place it in the charging station to unlock it. Well, it was good while it lasted. Now I'll find a place for it next to my dead Motorola Moto Q9C phone that also only lasted just a little over a year.
 
I just found this forum while struggling with my Droid all day. It completely ruined my Saturday, I'm really dependent on a working cellphone as I don't have any other phone. Like many others here, my Droid has been fine for just a little over a year since I got it, then all of a sudden out of the blue it goes haywire. At first I had trouble getting the slider to work to unlock the phone, then it started randomly launching apps, would not respond to screen presses, and sometimes misresponded, as if I pressed another part of the screen. I tried multiple hard resets etc to no avail. Finally I plopped it down on my desk in frustration and proceeded to try to research the issue using my regular computer. While in the middle of doing that, I hear the sound of my phone dialing a number all by itself. The dialing was slow, as if someone was remotely pressing keys. That was pretty alarming to say the least, so I scrambled to stop it....but the stupid phone refused to respond. I couldn't even shut it down, because that still requires a screen press. So I just ripped the battery out. Now I'm back to using a 6 year old non-smart flip phone with a broken hinge, until I can figure out what phone to switch to. I'm afraid to take my chances with another Droid at this point.


My droid started doing the exact same thing yesterday out of the blue. Very frustrating. The same thing happened to me last fall and I got it replaced under warranty. Guess that isn't an option this time. It the entire left third of the screen. So I can't unlock or answer calls. :mad:
 
I also have this issue - here's a scary way to see what the hell it's doing... If possible get into browser and select the 'gestures' key in the bottom left: You'll see what your touch is actually being interpreted. Mine will zig and zag randomly all over the screen which at least explains the randomness. I went to Verizon store and they said this was such a freaky anomaly - so much for that I guess.
 
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