Pro1, Ghost touches and other digitizer and display issues

[VaZso 1,998]

5 hours ago, SchattengestaIt said:

I'm wondering now if cleaning something or removing and reinserting the display cable could help. Or is the touch cable not the same as the display? Is there a dedicated touchscreen processor that could have corroded?

There is a long thread about this issue causing "Ghost touches".
Basically the root cause of the problem is the same (and also phone which have "Ghost touches" are having this blind line)... there are two ribbon cables coming from display at the bottom side (in portrait orientation). A very wide cable contains display signals and a narrow cable contains touch signals.

There is a dedicated touch processor at the back of display but most likely the ribbon cable broke somewhere (either the cable or the glass to cable connection).

I never heard removing and reinserting display cable worked for anybody here, it did not work for me.

I am afraid you need to buy a new display.
There is an Aliexpress seller recommended by F(x)tec (it was linked in this forum but I don't have it saved).
I have ordered screens for Elephone U Pro which works for me but basically every displays have some minor problems like missing part of one or two corners on display.

Edited April 14, 2022 by VaZso

[SchattengestaIt 559]

@VaZsoThank you for your profound answer and description. I had seen the ghost touches thread but didn't think the reason would be the same - thanks to the moderator for forwarding this thread.
I've now ordered two of the cheap elephone screens (since they are 32€ instead of 80€) and will replace the screen as soon as it arrives. If anybody knows a keyboard cursor app (probably designed for external keyboards) which allows us to use the keyboard as a mouse cursor, that would be interesting.

[dreamflasher 120]

I ordered this: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/32956500815.html and it works perfectly. Arrived within 10 days, I found it challenging to remove the old display, because it was broken and the glue on the top edge was so sticky that the display tore apart – and I needed a cutter to remove the remaining glass and glue. Other difficulty: I received 4 glue stripes to attach the new display, and I put two at both sides first – and that didn't work at all. Somehow most of the display actually does not touch the underlying case. It's holding well with two stripes at the bottom and the top but nothing holds the edges. Apart from the difficulties I encourage everyone to do it yourself, it took me 45 min, and I have never done this before and the result is great.

 

Now I have another issue. While having the ghost touches I disabled the left and right edge of the display: I somehow disabled touch input there, but not the screen. And now I can't undo it 😄 I already tried with "wm overscan" but I have Android 11. I remember searching for a long time to disable it (without an app that's constantly running), I already had a look at the history, but no, I can't find it anymore. I also turned off the margin setting. Anybody an idea?

Edited April 17, 2022 by dreamflasher

[Rob. S. 1,660]

@dreamflasher I'm afraid it wasn't you who adjusted those margins, that's how those displays come from the manufacturer these days. It's an internal predefined minimum for those margins, to which Android's margin settings can only add, they cannot substract. And non-stock ROMs have no way to reset them to the Pro1's defaults. To date, with current custom ROMs the only way to get the original margins back is is to flash stock Android, then flash your preferred custom ROM. 

There's a long thread about it:

 

Edited April 17, 2022 by Rob. S.

[dreamflasher 120]

18 minutes ago, Rob. S. said:

@dreamflasher I'm afraid it wasn't you who adjusted those margins, that's how those displays come from the manufacturer these days. It's an internal predefined minimum for those margins, to which Android's margin settings can only add, they cannot substract. And non-stock ROMs have no way to reset them to the Pro1's defaults. To date, with current custom ROMs the only way to get the original margins back is is to flash stock Android, then flash your preferred custom ROM. 

There's a long thread about it:

 

Oh wow, Thank you so much Rob! I would have continued searching for hours. You made my day. Happy Easter! 😄

[xelo 10]

Hi everybody,

I'm posting this just for the sake of statistics. In September 2021 my Pro1 also started to develop these ghost touches and the unresponsive area at the lower part of the screen. FxTec replied to my ticket after approximately 3 weeks and we figured out the issue is covered by warranty. This was great! Unfortunately no displays were available then.  Now, in May 2022 I still have not heard from the support team, and my display was still broken.

Yesterday I received a replacement screen from Aliexpress and installed it today. I have some problems glueing into the right position. As it was my first display swap I am satisfied with my work, nonetheless. Let's see how it performs as a daily driver.

Unfortunately the topic covered in thread

also applies to these displays.

 

BR

Xelo.

[SchattengestaIt 559]

I replaced my display as well. I ordered the same part as dreamflasher and it works fine. Unfortunately, it's not done removing the screws and just replacing the display since there's a custom made plastic bracket that holds the entire display in place which is glued together. A hot air gun (an hairdryer probably works as well) is needed.

The good thing is that tools and glue strips are provided and the back side of the new display comes with a not too strong glue so there's no risk of losing the display but you still can remove the display if it breaks again. For 40€ that's great service and well thought out.



What I find interesting as well is that the faulty part is NOT the ribbon cable but a stationary, non-moving (flexible) cable in the display itself. Can somebody explain that to me?

[VaZso 1,998]

1 hour ago, SchattengestaIt said:

What I find interesting as well is that the faulty part is NOT the ribbon cable but a stationary, non-moving (flexible) cable in the display itself. Can somebody explain that to me?

My theory is that part (a wide ribbon cable at the bottom of display in portrait orientation) is start to move when glue of the display starts to release - only a slight moving of the display in its frame may sooner or later break that ribbon cable or glass-to-ribbon connection may releases which can cause touch or display-related issues.

So a theoretically non-moving cable can start moving if display start to detach from its frame.

[SchattengestaIt 559]

So it's not the cable with the connector but a non-visible connection between display and touchscreen that causes this issue?

[VaZso 1,998]

9 hours ago, SchattengestaIt said:

So it's not the cable with the connector but a non-visible connection between display and touchscreen that causes this issue?

The cable is basically visible, look at the photo below:

On 4/18/2021 at 4:27 PM, VaZso said:

The ribbon cable circled with "1." is the potential cause of the problem.
The green cable is the cable of display and the black on the right is the touch cable.

These cables may break by moving but most probably their connection to the display "glass" can release caused by movement.

[Milly 32]

Wow, who'd have thought. A replacement screen has been sent by F(x)Tec today (requested July 2021). Along with 'a complementary battery due to the inconveniences caused'.... 

Hopefully this screen, my third, will not develop the ghost touch issues of the first two. Otherwise, at least I'll be using my Pro 1 for another 9 months or so 🙂

Edited June 14, 2022 by Milly

[Derecho 7]

Since I bought my phone I've had to replace my screen before already, but since a few months the replacement has been slowly breaking in the very same way. I've contacted support, and after a long wait and a reminder they got back to me.  They asked me to confirm my shipping details and once I've done so, they sent me a replacement module along with a complementary battery and sheet of screw cover stickers right away. (Just like for Milly it seems). This arrived merely 2 days later and I've swapped my screen module over the last weekend, having everything working as it should again. I'm happy that despite support being overwhelmed, they are taking responsibility for the issue and providing me with a means to keep using my otherwise great phone. Just reporting this to make others aware of how the requests are being handled and to give credit where it is due.

Edit:
Sidenote: the new screen I received registers touches all over the screen, including the bent sides. This despite me running LineageOS rather than the stock rom, and I've not reflashed it either. So it seems that the screen module was shipped with the margins reset. Great!

Edited June 20, 2022 by Derecho

[Hook 3,020]

Indeed,  Say what you want about  communication and delays, their customer service is stunning, Got the Pro1 I sent for repairs in December back 2 days after they said it had been repaired and was being shipped, and also with a new battery thrown in. 

Even though he had seen all the delays, after seeing the CS I was provided, a friend ordered the Pro1x Enthusiasts Perk on IGG.

This is a company that cares.

[EskeRahn 5,460]

1 hour ago, Hook said:

This is a company that cares.

Indeed. I met them at the London event before all the Corona mess. And it was quite obvious that these are really good guys, and kind too. If you could blame them for anything it would be for being overoptimistic, and that communication isn't their strong side. But they undoubtedly really tries to go an extra mile to bring keyboard phones back.
I'm amazed to see their stamina! Had it been me, I would have folded after the swindle, but oh no, they 'just' went for reinventing the whole inner part once more!!

And Chen's handling of the Moto-Mod project that failed due to Motorola, was also awesome. A lot of money already used, and I guess the most optimistic we could hope for was to share anything left proportionally, but oh no, he went an extra mile and offered us all either a voucher for the Pro1, or all our money back, for us to choose! Now how is that for a way beyond decent way to handle things!! These guys are amazing, can not say it often enough!

[auvo.salmi 135]

On 10/28/2021 at 1:38 AM, auvo.salmi said:

I do have recognized the ghost touches issue to be more "aggressive" sometimes when the phone is being charged. But on my device the symptoms usually fluctuate; so also when the device is not charged, sometimes the ghost touches render the device virtually unusable, and then sometimes I may have days of no ghost touches (the blind horizontal line stays still all the time).

I got a spare display from Aliexpress, but now I am waiting for the replacement camera module which Fxtec has actually sent to me (already got tracking code). I guess I'd handle the screen replaement on my own, but the camera module replacement scares me off, so I have thought that I'll offer the both jobs for a local phone mechanic.

Quoting my old post. So 8 months ago I got a new display from Aliexpress and asked from a local phone mechanic to do the replacement. He refused because he didn't know the phone and didn't want to take responsibility from accidentally breaking the device. So I tried to do it myself, which went well otherwise but I put too much heat on the display, which ended up with the display plastic frame melting and losing the shape 😐 Should have got a heat gun with adjustable heat level 😄

So I put my Pro1 in the drawer and while waiting to get the display+frame from Fxtec (which was promised much earlier), I used several spare phones like Nokia 3210, Nokia n900 etc 😁 Suddenly, 8 months later I got an email from Fxtc support; finally they had displays on stock. I got my display yesterday and installed it, and now my ghost touches are gone, hopefully 🙂

During those 8 months I came here only few times. It's great to see the community is still active and going strong! Looking forward to get my Pro1X as my Pro1 still has some issues. But still, sure it's awesome to get my Pro1 back from the dead.

[Hook 3,020]

2 hours ago, auvo.salmi said:

Suddenly, 8 months later I got an email from Fxtc support; finally they had displays on stock. I got my display yesterday and installed it, and now my ghost touches are gone, hopefully 🙂

This is why I continue to believe in FxTec.  They can only do what they can do, but no matter how long it takes...they come through.  Even when it's at the point where you may have given up on reminding them.

[VaZso 1,998]

Today they got back also for me regarding faulty USB connector.

[Rob. S. 1,660]

So after my phone had already developed a big black spot and several bright lines across the display, now I've won first-hand experience with these ghost touches, too (no unresponsive areas as of yet). Funny! I just hope the ghost doesn't do anything stupid while I'm not looking.

Good thing is, as of now, I can reliably stop the ghost touches by pressing the display half of the phone together, between thumbs and fingers, once or twice over the whole area after sliding the phone open. Then it's ok at least for a good while.

My USB module and display replacements (from Fxtec, as reported earlier) are already in the country and scheduled to arrive on Monday, and I guess contrary to earlier plans I'll at least do the display replacement as soon as I get it, not wait until I have a Pro1 X in my hands... 

Edited July 23, 2022 by Rob. S.

[michael.bosscha 142]

OK so this has been going on since yesterday but my touchscreen is going haywire. Ghost touches galore, making the phone almost unusable. Anyone else had this problem? Sporting an original Pro1...

[EskeRahn 5,460]

(sorry guys merged the old thread into the new, should have been the other way, renamed)

[Rob. S. 1,660]

1 hour ago, michael.bosscha said:

OK so this has been going on since yesterday but my touchscreen is going haywire. Ghost touches galore, making the phone almost unusable. Anyone else had this problem? Sporting an original Pro1...

In addition to 

In the end, for me only replacing the screen helped (in my case, Fxtec's replacement unit which actually is the complete upper half of the phone)...

Edited August 4, 2022 by Rob. S.

[michael.bosscha 142]

I'd love a complete replacement. There's a few scratches in the screen... Where can I get such a wonderful thing?

[Hook 3,020]

13 minutes ago, michael.bosscha said:

I'd love a complete replacement. There's a few scratches in the screen... Where can I get such a wonderful thing?

You can email fxtec.(info@fxtec.com) I'm pretty sure they have some.  You can also buy a Tech bundle which includes that plus a spare battery on the IGG site (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pro1-x-smartphone-functionality-choice-control/x/17980121#/). The screen assembly is the same for both the Pro1 and Pro1x. They hopefully intend to make them available as spare parts in their web shop, but haven't yet.

 

[Rob. S. 1,660]

On 8/4/2022 at 2:57 PM, Hook said:

On 8/4/2022 at 2:39 PM, michael.bosscha said:

I'd love a complete replacement. There's a few scratches in the screen... Where can I get such a wonderful thing?

You can email fxtec.(info@fxtec.com) I'm pretty sure they have some. 

Right, that's how I got mine (together with a USB-C module that eventually has become available as a replacement part, too, just on time before my current phone would completely lose its recharging ability) 🙂

[AfroSamurai 0]

Hello community,
recently, my touchscreen has been generating false touches. It's very annoying, the screen generates touches by itself even when lying alone on a table 😕

Is it a common issue? Any idea how could I fix it?