Database Users

All capacitive buttons just stopped working today.

Just today my housemate's T mobile vibrant, the capacitive buttons on the front stopped working, the back light comes on, but the buttons do nothing when pressed, I tried doing a factory restore and they still didn't work. So I restored the nandroid I had just made.
Any ideas on how to get them working again, I think I might try a bit of surgery tomorrow morning. But any help would be GREATLY appreciated, I am a bit newb on Samsungs as my handsets have been all HTC, so hopefully I don't make it worse.

calm down, i think i have good news!
2 months ago i read a topic here of a guy who bough a used phone with exactly the same problem. he flashed through odin stock 2.1 and everything came back working. you should give a try

OK I will try this tomorrow... thanks for the suggestion...

power off phone
pull out battery
GRAB THIS STUFF : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1047087
turn on odin
attach phone to pc with usb cable
now while holding down both volume buttons put battery back in.
now you should be in download mode and go back to stock with odin from here!
make sure u put the proper tar file in pit and the .pda file in pda in there proper places on odin and ur set to go.
Enjoy and also make sure u have the proper samsung drivers

infestedd said:
calm down, i think i have good news!
2 months ago i read a topic here of a guy who bough a used phone with exactly the same problem. he flashed through odin stock 2.1 and everything came back working. you should give a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha I remember it was funny
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

Still not working
I flashed back to stock through ODIN and the capacitive buttons are still not working. Any other suggestions?

really strange... since these buttons and the screen are the same digitizer piece, i THINK if there is no software solution, you will need to replace the digitizer. on ebay you will find it for 20 dollars, not expensive but you will NEED an professional to replace it, believe me, i tried and its hard as hell.
But, if you have money to spend... you can buy the lcd+digitizer set and replace yourself, for about 130 usd

I have replaced my screen on my vibrant and buttons are separate piece of hardware tapped to the screen
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

gun said:
I have replaced my screen on my vibrant and buttons are separate piece of hardware tapped to the screen
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am guessing that the connector might have come loose, I will have to do some surgery on the Vibrant tomorrow to check it out. I am guessing that because none of the buttons work it is going to be a connector, and going by a tear down video i just watched I am hoping that this means I won't have to go through the whole screen removal thing, cause that looks long and arduous!!
Hopefully it's just a connector!!!!

hmm sounds like driver/firmware issues. the capacitive buttons actually have seperate firmware. did the owner of the device try updating screen drivers/firmware via operator codes or using an app like sgs toolbox etc? i'm using miui so i can't give you instructions on how i fixed the problem for myself when i accidently tried updating screen firmware. but i will say ODIN didn't do squat for me. if you have an app like sgs tools/toolbox on that vibrant find the operator code for maintenance/tech and screen firmware and try updating/reverting and see if it fixes the issue. Ben about 4 months otherwise i'd be more specific sorry.

boystuff said:
hmm sounds like driver/firmware issues. the capacitive buttons actually have seperate firmware. did the owner of the device try updating screen drivers/firmware via operator codes or using an app like sgs toolbox etc? i'm using miui so i can't give you instructions on how i fixed the problem for myself when i accidently tried updating screen firmware. but i will say ODIN didn't do squat for me. if you have an app like sgs tools/toolbox on that vibrant find the operator code for maintenance/tech and screen firmware and try updating/reverting and see if it fixes the issue. Ben about 4 months otherwise i'd be more specific sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah her phone was in her bag, she pulled it out and the buttons were not working. She doesn't know how to update or anything, and no one had tried updating or anything for 5 months.
Samsungs are so different to HTC, which is what I use that I am struggling to get my head around the different methods of doing stuff on it. I will try to find some drivers or something and go from there. Stupid Samsung releasing so many different versions of the Galaxy S!!
The big issue is that the Galaxy S here in Australia is so different, and the owner of the phone is visiting from America, so it's the Vibrant, so I basically gotta find out info myself, not sure anyone in Australia can help!!!

Is this the thread you are talking about... I am not sure on how you used the code to fix the problem...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=854725
I entered the code into dialer and the info was given to me:
Phone's Touch key FW version :0xd
Part's Touch key FW version: 0xd
I pressed the "Touch key FW update" button and it did it's thing telling "passed" at the end but still no love on getting the keys working again.
The lights for the keys all work, but they buttons do not actually do anything... sigh...

to get to those buttons you have to separate digitizer from LCD and this is the hardest part to do since they are taped together. I used hair blower to heat it up and slowly I mean very slowly was pulling them apart. At one point I almost gave up but next day tried again and it came apart.

gun said:
to get to those buttons you have to separate digitizer from LCD and this is the hardest part to do since they are taped together. I used hair blower to heat it up and slowly I mean very slowly was pulling them apart. At one point I almost gave up but next day tried again and it came apart.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK so fixing this is beyond me and no one in Australia has the Vibrant to get parts from....
sooooo.... Is there anyone on here who would be willing to fix this for me? I am prepared to pay!!! Let me know if there is anyone who wants to have a look at this, cause my chances of getting this done in Australia is quite low!!!

I have taken apart quite a few various phones to replace digitizers and such. From experience I can say that even if all the parts are able to be separated with heat they will never go back together quite as good as stock. Also if you do this please do not use a large heat gun as they will get waaay too hot. we have heat pumps with a temperature adjustment that we use here. The lowest setting they have is 100C. I generally set them at 150-175C to remove digitizers.
seeing as how the entire assembly for this phone is around 130 why doesn't she just get a new one with her insurance if she has it? The deposit on an insurance claim for T-Mobile is 130 for me so it is the same financial investment either way.
If she does decide to repair the phone when she gets back to the states I would be willing to help. I do repair various phones and whatnot regularly although most of what comes through here are iPhones (idiot phones). i am in Chicago, but we regularly have phones and laptops shipped to us to repair.
I only found this thread because my buttons just stopped working. A reboot brought them back though.
I hope all works out for her either way.

Ordered new button things from ebay and watched few videos on dismantling and repair of the vibrant then repaired it myself.
All good now! Everything works 100%
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

bunnybash said:
Ordered new button things from ebay and watched few videos on dismantling and repair of the vibrant then repaired it myself.
All good now! Everything works 100%
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the link for the videos? Im having the same issue.. i removed the back cover to replace the camera and now my buttons dont work. but everything looks fine.. not sure what happened.

df186 said:
Do you have the link for the videos? Im having the same issue.. i removed the back cover to replace the camera and now my buttons dont work. but everything looks fine.. not sure what happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odds are that bunny won't respond back due to the his last post was August lol.
Its not hard at all I saw a couple of vids on disassembling the vibrant and the touch keys are easy
I think if you Google" install ffc on vibrant video" it should pull up

Lol.. thanks for the reply... I figured it out . Ribbon was cut slightly.. replaced it and now good as new
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

[Q] Different HD2 should I be concerned?

I recently dropped my HD2 and the screen popped, anyhow it has been replaced by the insurance company and the handset is immaculate.
At first I thought ahhh must be a new handset altogether but upon removing the battery and seeing the IMEI it's my phone or so I thought.
I powered it up and checked *#06# it's a different IMEI - should I be concerned? it may solve my heat issues I had on my old handset, only time will tell I guess. Bit narked that they tried to cover this up with the sticker from my old phone. Should I be bothere?
Something else that I'm not so fussed about, the screen on it doesn't have the dots when tilted in daylight (you know what I mean, capacitive dots) and it now has a blue tinge when off - looks a different type of screen.
Anyone come across this before any advice greatly appreciated

Normal, and they aren't covering anything up,,, they swapped out the mainboard, which gives you a new imei (new unlock code will be needed if its locked) but used your original casing with the sticker still attached.

Thanks never had to claim on the insurance before so wasn't sure how they operate.
I've had a bit of a play around and the heat issues seems worse! shut down after going on youtube app 20 secs into a vid...not good I fear

Duflet said:
Thanks never had to claim on the insurance before so wasn't sure how they operate.
I've had a bit of a play around and the heat issues seems worse! shut down after going on youtube app 20 secs into a vid...not good I fear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On stock OS?
Does this reboot/shutdown issue happen often with the new board?

Duflet said:
Thanks never had to claim on the insurance before so wasn't sure how they operate.
I've had a bit of a play around and the heat issues seems worse! shut down after going on youtube app 20 secs into a vid...not good I fear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
orangekid said:
On stock OS?
Does this reboot/shutdown issue happen often with the new board?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would get straight back onto them, repairs are often fixed using parts from returned items, (at least they are if HTC are like most other company) so its possible you got a defunct one.

samsamuel said:
I would get straight back onto them, repairs are often fixed using parts from returned items, (at least they are if HTC are like most other company) so its possible you got a defunct one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what I'm thinking. Don't flash HSPL, just call them and tell them the phone is ****ed.

orangekid said:
that's what I'm thinking. Don't flash HSPL, just call them and tell them the phone is ****ed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
erm what if I've put Artemis 62 on? Can I flash back to stock without them noticing?

Possible solution to GPS problem on Nexus S

Hi,
i've tried just about anything to improve GPS singal on my Nexus S, i was so desperate i even thinked about selling it. But by accident i've found something interesting.
When you remove battery cover signal from GPS is really good, usable even indoors 1-2 meters from window. When you put cover back - it suddenly drops. Here's the best part - when i use different cover directly on the back of the phone, WITHOUT original battery cover (i have thick back case which you put on battery cover, anti scratch thing) signal was just as fine as without any cover!
Then i tried covering back of the phone with a case from another phone (Galaxy S) and signal was fine.
So the culprit is NFC spiral which is sticked to the battery cover. I'd like to take it off, but im not sure if it is possible to stcik it back in case of RMA or something.
I'd like you to try this simple experiment and tell me if your phones suffer from the same thing.
Thanks

hmm interesting

Lol wow with cover on I get 2-3 .. without cover 3-4.5 ... lol
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

YourMainDude said:
Lol wow with cover on I get 2-3 .. without cover 3-4.5 ... lol
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about turning NFC off?

Today i took off NFC antenna and it didn't work, which is strange. Now the culprit is whole battery cover. As i said i tried different cases and GPS was working fine with them.

Hello,
in our german community we discuss this problem, too. The Problem isn't the NFC antenna, it's the backcover! Some user tried with another cover from ebay: http://www.ebay.de/itm/250846706756?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 and this seems to work better!
Here is a link to the original thread (in german!) http://www.android-hilfe.de/nexus-s-forum/98979-probleme-mit-gps-fix-ab-2-3-4-a-19.html#post2080524
Best regards
Handymeister

Handymeister said:
Hello,
in our german community we discuss this problem, too. The Problem isn't the NFC antenna, it's the backcover! Some user tried with another cover from ebay: http://www.ebay.de/itm/250846706756?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 and this seems to work better!
Here is a link to the original thread (in german!) http://www.android-hilfe.de/nexus-s-forum/98979-probleme-mit-gps-fix-ab-2-3-4-a-19.html#post2080524
Best regards
Handymeister
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, that exactly what i considered. It's really funny, because original battery cover is making GPS works like s**t.
If that cover form ebay is really working i might consider buying it, i'll try to read original thread, thanks.
Have you tried that cover? My German isn't that great and neither is google translate. But from what i read this is really working, but i don't know how well.

im guessing NFC wont work without the stock battery cover

when did this GPS problem started?
it must be new...
uberberben said:
Hi,
i've tried just about anything to improve GPS singal on my Nexus S, i was so desperate i even thinked about selling it. But by accident i've found something interesting.
When you remove battery cover signal from GPS is really good, usable even indoors 1-2 meters from window. When you put cover back - it suddenly drops. Here's the best part - when i use different cover directly on the back of the phone, WITHOUT original battery cover (i have thick back case which you put on battery cover, anti scratch thing) signal was just as fine as without any cover!
Then i tried covering back of the phone with a case from another phone (Galaxy S) and signal was fine.
So the culprit is NFC spiral which is sticked to the battery cover. I'd like to take it off, but im not sure if it is possible to stcik it back in case of RMA or something.
I'd like you to try this simple experiment and tell me if your phones suffer from the same thing.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

praveenmarkandu said:
im guessing NFC wont work without the stock battery cover
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it will not work without the original back cover
that is the antennae

uberberben said:
Today i took off NFC antenna and it didn't work, which is strange. Now the culprit is whole battery cover. As i said i tried different cases and GPS was working fine with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe. Put your NFC antenna back on. Google wallet is awesome.

Hey guys
I have my Nexus S (Blandroid + Trinity T144) tested just now, and now I only realize the GPS unit is on the right side of the phone.
Take off your cover, you should see a black, duct-tape like module pasted on almost 3/4 of the right side of Nexus S (the side where power button is located). That should be the GPS unit.
Tested with cover on, landscape with right side of the phone pointed upwards, I gained a score of 40~41 in one or two of the satellite in my view (GPS Test by Chartcross Ltd). When I test it with cover off, I gained a score of 45~47 in a few of the satellite.
Conclusion is, if you need a better GPS signal, you will need to hold it landscape with camera pointing to the left. Portrait mode will not works too well I guess. I wonder how Apple products can gain locks near instantly.

that's what i always do when i want to use GPS for navigation, pull off the battery cover.
it's almost impossible to get a fix with the battery cover on.

Humm I really wanted to delete this post but there isn't an option

Wow, i tried to get gps fix in my home without cover and it work!

[Q] Question on S5 GPS

I currently have an S3 and will be upgrading in two months. The one fault I dislike the most on the S3 is the faulty GPS. It will fail to lock on my location. I can fix it by opening up the back and tightening the screws. It will then work for anywhere from a few days to a few months and then it needs to be redone. Of course it fails when I am in an area I don't know and don't have a screwdriver. This is a hardware fault and I was wondering if any of you S5 owners are having this problem, or has Samsung finally fixed it.

I've never experienced any GPS issues.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

iresq said:
I've never experienced any GPS issues.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Instant lock, no issues whatsoever.

joekiv said:
I currently have an S3 and will be upgrading in two months. The one fault I dislike the most on the S3 is the faulty GPS. It will fail to lock on my location. I can fix it by opening up the back and tightening the screws. It will then work for anywhere from a few days to a few months and then it needs to be redone. Of course it fails when I am in an area I don't know and don't have a screwdriver. This is a hardware fault and I was wondering if any of you S5 owners are having this problem, or has Samsung finally fixed it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did a bit more than tightening the screws on my sister's phone a while back... this is a bit more dangerous because you can risk breaking the contact altogether... just a fair warning, but basically pry the contact slightly upwards so that it will stand out more, and then when you screw it back in (maybe even use loc-tite if your screws just end up unscrewing too quickly) you'll see that it works very well and should get an instant fix. Just the screws fix wasn't enough on the phone that i took a look at, so I did that extra measure.
That being said, no issues with my S5 (or my gf's) so far on GPS.

vacaloca said:
I did a bit more than tightening the screws on my sister's phone a while back... this is a bit more dangerous because you can risk breaking the contact altogether... just a fair warning, but basically pry the contact slightly upwards so that it will stand out more, and then when you screw it back in (maybe even use loc-tite if your screws just end up unscrewing too quickly) you'll see that it works very well and should get an instant fix. Just the screws fix wasn't enough on the phone that i took a look at, so I did that extra measure.
That being said, no issues with my S5 (or my gf's) so far on GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, for the info. I was aware of the extra steps just haven't done it yet. Good to know that your two S5's aren't having that problem.

joekiv said:
Thank you, for the info. I was aware of the extra steps just haven't done it yet. Good to know that your two S5's aren't having that problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 3 S5's on my account ant they all work great. Unlike the Note 3 I had these lock on just about instantly.

I had the same problems on my S3, my S5 always locks on instantly.
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Premium HD app

Strip of unresponsive screen when powered on for a while?

So something I noticed on my old note 4 is that the screen has a strip unresponsive to touch (pen works fine).
The thing that weirds me out is that when you reboot the phone, it works perfectly fine, but after being on for a few hours, the middle part of the screen just stops responding.
Rebooting revives the part of the screen, but not for long. Factory resetting it does nothing different and it's running completely stock firmware and software.
Any ideas as to what's causing this? I'm not sure if replacing the screen would help since it seems to work fine for the short duration that it does.

It sounds like a digitizer problem. I wonder also if the heat of the phone is causing something to change or even physically warp to cause the unresponsive part.

Unidave199 said:
It sounds like a digitizer problem. I wonder also if the heat of the phone is causing something to change or even physically warp to cause the unresponsive part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Either a blown display or mobo.
A trace, solder joint, micro weld or junction failed.
It's possible it could be a connector/ribbon cable failure in which case easily repairable.
Check the display/mobo ribbon connectors...

Unidave199 said:
It sounds like a digitizer problem. I wonder also if the heat of the phone is causing something to change or even physically warp to cause the unresponsive part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure it's not heat since you can turn it on, leave it on a table, idle without anything running, and it'll be completely room temp and the part of the screen stops responding.
blackhawk said:
Either a blown display or mobo.
A trace, solder joint, micro weld or junction failed.
It's possible it could be a connector/ribbon cable failure in which case easily repairable.
Check the display/mobo ribbon connectors...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give them a look over, hopefully reseating connectors may help

YellowSomething said:
I'm pretty sure it's not heat since you can turn it on, leave it on a table, idle without anything running, and it'll be completely room temp and the part of the screen stops responding.
I'll give them a look over, hopefully reseating connectors may help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be literally 100s of thousands of parts that could have failed; semiconductor junctions, resistors or caps.
Solder failures aren't uncommon either.
If you spare parts, use the process of elimination. If you really like that model having a few parts queens around is a plan.
Hopefully it's a connector contact... check all connections including grounds.
For $650 you can get a Note 10+ 512gb in excellent condition... don't got too nuts trying to fix it.

blackhawk said:
Could be literally 100s of thousands of parts that could have failed; semiconductor junctions, resistors or caps.
Solder failures aren't uncommon either.
If you spare parts, use the process of elimination. If you really like that model having a few parts queens around is a plan.
Hopefully it's a connector contact... check all connections including grounds.
For $650 you can get a Note 10+ 512gb in excellent condition... don't got too nuts trying to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm not using this phone, it's my dad's old phone that i just want to mess around with since he put it in a drawer a while ago. I don't really plan on putting much into it. just hopefully get it running well and to **** around with roms on it.
Also $650 still isn't cheap for a phone when you're paying cash outright :v
at least a lot more expensive than a $50 screen replacement or $35 motherboard

YellowSomething said:
i'm not using this phone, it's my dad's old phone that i just want to mess around with since he put it in a drawer a while ago. I don't really plan on putting much into it. just hopefully get it running well and to **** around with roms on it.
Also $650 still isn't cheap for a phone when you're paying cash outright :v
at least a lot more expensive than a $50 screen replacement or $35 motherboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're my hero... I am not good enough to mess with solders and digging that deep! Good Luck!

YellowSomething said:
i'm not using this phone, it's my dad's old phone that i just want to mess around with since he put it in a drawer a while ago. I don't really plan on putting much into it. just hopefully get it running well and to **** around with roms on it.
Also $650 still isn't cheap for a phone when you're paying cash outright :v
at least a lot more expensive than a $50 screen replacement or $35 motherboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gave you a top shelf example.
Lots S-10s etc.
There's no guarantee swamping out parts will fix anything. The devil is in the details.

blackhawk said:
I gave you a top shelf example.
Lots S-10s etc.
There's no guarantee swamping out parts will fix anything. The devil is in the details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough
reseating things didn't help, may see if i can scrounge up an old parts phone or something

YellowSomething said:
Fair enough
reseating things didn't help, may see if i can scrounge up an old parts phone or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that.
Some devices seem to defy being repaired.
45 years ago Tom Schall owned a TV repair shop. He was an excellent technician with a engineering degree in electronics.
He swapped out a trouble filled Magnavox chassis with a known good one for a customer after repairing the original one at least twice only to have another circuit fail.
After a month he did the swamp but continued to try and fix the original. He repaired completely different sections of it only to have another one fail, HV, tuner, horizontal output, audio, and more.
Never once did it survive a couple days of burn in, sometimes only hours. It got to be a running joke. Hundreds of test point checks, scoped it, testing isolated components pondering how it could be so cryptic to repair. At this point no one else would even touch it... but Tom persisted for at least 3 more years in his spare time.
If there's a heaven or hell I'm sure Tom's still tinkering with that chassis. RIP
They weren't called Magotboxes for nothing

.

YellowSomething said:
So something I noticed on my old note 4 is that the screen has a strip unresponsive to touch (pen works fine).
The thing that weirds me out is that when you reboot the phone, it works perfectly fine, but after being on for a few hours, the middle part of the screen just stops responding.
Rebooting revives the part of the screen, but not for long. Factory resetting it does nothing different and it's running completely stock firmware and software.
Any ideas as to what's causing this? I'm not sure if replacing the screen would help since it seems to work fine for the short duration that it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See if this works for you, it did for me after i thinking digitser was kerputt.
on Dialler, dial: *#2663#
if a menu comes up, choose the top left option to upgrade the fw for touchscreen, wait for complete, then hit home button and see if it works. Maybe best to try after your screen goes funny, it should fix straight away

thewudz said:
See if this works for you, it did for me after i thinking digitser was kerputt.
on Dialler, dial: *#2663#
if a menu comes up, choose the top left option to upgrade the fw for touchscreen, wait for complete, then hit home button and see if it works. Maybe best to try after your screen goes funny, it should fix straight away
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked at first, but I rebooted the phone and it seems to be doing it again. I tried to update the firmware again, and it's not working. Any advice? It worked fine for over a day without any issue after doing that at first, now it's back to doing it again.

YellowSomething said:
That worked at first, but I rebooted the phone and it seems to be doing it again. I tried to update the firmware again, and it's not working. Any advice? It worked fine for over a day without any issue after doing that at first, now it's back to doing it again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry late reply, I didnt get a notification. It worked for me and I haven't had to do it again, it likely sounds like you have a hardware issue unfortunately.

Only other option maybe, is putting on a custom rom, which will instigate a full system wipe and a new fresh software install to a more modern Android version. Possibly may be worth a shot?

thewudz said:
Sorry late reply, I didnt get a notification. It worked for me and I haven't had to do it again, it likely sounds like you have a hardware issue unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, update.
i tried again, and it fixed it, but a while later, it did it again. Since that seemed to fix it for a bit, i can't imagine it being solely a hardware problem.
thewudz said:
Only other option maybe, is putting on a custom rom, which will instigate a full system wipe and a new fresh software install to a more modern Android version. Possibly may be worth a shot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
honestly, that's the plan as of right now. As much as I like the S-pen features on this, it'd be for the better if it fixes it.

Update, TWRP + new rom installed. Still does it.
With Refined Nougat N7FE, I'm able to open the screen firmware menu from the dialer and update like with the stock rom. It sometimes fixes it for a while, but ends up doing it again.