Pro1, Ghost touches and other digitizer and display issues

[marmistrz 93]

Thanks. That's what I supposed. Given that opening the slider (with impact) seems to help, this feels like a ribbon cable issue. I'll open up the device and try to inspect the ribbon cable.

[marmistrz 93]

The ribbon cable looks intact and reattaching the top half of the device doesn't help, however, I have trouble opening the bottom half. I removed the five screws, but the bottom part won't even budge when I try to pry it open. It's not necessary to remove the keyboard with a heat gun to pry open the bottom part, is it?

[SchattengestaIt 559]

If by 'bottom part' you mean the metal plating on the backside of the display, you are right. This is the easiest part to remove, you just remove five screws and pry it open.

As you have problems, I expect that you want to try to open the casing where the battery lies in.

You'll have to remove the display first and then access three screws on the side where the buttons lie and two screws in the corners of the display.

To access them more easily, there are holes in the back of your display back cover, where you can stick through your screwdriver.

You don't need a heat gun to remove anything, really.

[SchattengestaIt 559]

On 9/3/2023 at 12:07 PM, SchattengestaIt said:

Make your displays last longer

I've recently ordered a bunch of those 'b-ware' displays and out of seven, two were in good condition and one is usable (~20€ each). That's okayish since there are no good displays to order anymore.

As the displays are so scarce nowadays and they never caused touchscreen problems when assembled in the original phones (Elephone U Pro), I've looked more into the touchscreen issues.
I've inspected the frame and searched for a point of failure. And I think I found one.

Using one of the broken displays in my order (big black dots over the display) I found out which cable is used for the touchscreen. It's the black one.
If you look at the frame of the first image, you'll see some cutouts and slightly elevated plastic for the display connection (which goes over the complete bottom of the display).



What you also see is, that there's no additional space for the touchscreen cable. Even worse: there are two cutouts around the cable with a piece of plastic pushing onto the ribbon cable itself (circle). I expect that this middle piece is regularly pushing unevenly onto the touchscreen cable which causes it to break connection over time.

I don't believe this part is needed as structural support, so I filed that part away as seen in picture two and three. This way the ribbon cable has much more space and should - in theory - last way longer. Hopefully for years.

@VaZso Check this 'fix' for your ghost touch problems. I've had no issues about it anymore.

The touch problem didn't appear with the original Elephone U Pro so the display itself can't be at fault. My guess is that FxTec left too little space for the touch screen ribbon cable and therefore squeezed it too much. By natural movement (i.e. in pockets), the ribbon cable lines eventually brakes right where the plastic corner of the frame is.

[VaZso 1,998]

4 hours ago, SchattengestaIt said:

@VaZso Check this 'fix' for your ghost touch problems. I've had no issues about it anymore.

The touch problem didn't appear with the original Elephone U Pro so the display itself can't be at fault. My guess is that FxTec left too little space for the touch screen ribbon cable and therefore squeezed it too much. By natural movement (i.e. in pockets), the ribbon cable lines eventually brakes right where the plastic corner of the frame is.

Another difference is (at least for the very first hundreds of Pro1) is the gluing strength of the display.
(F(x)tec covered almost its entire back of the display leaving only edges for fixing display to frame - they apparently modified this  solution to fully use display's original sticky part without covering.)

By mistake, once I have ordered an Elephone U Pro display together with its frame.
It was a metal frame (so very rigid) and display was fully glued to the surface (whole sticky area was used) - it was not easy to remove it to be used in Pro1.

Definitively there is a reason for this problem appearing the very same way among users and you are right, that is a very sensitive part of the display.
Anything which prevents ribbon cable from moving helps and naturally everything helps which allows more room for ribbon cable for better angle.

However, Pro1's plastic frame compared to Elephone's metal frame is another weak point related to potential movement of ribbon cable.

As far as I remember well, my current display was replaced almost a year ago anyway and this time I have tried fixing that area of display panel before installing to prevent ribbon cable from moving.

Edited May 1 by VaZso

[Maska 5]

I just came here to share my report of replacing a screen assembly. After replacing, I now have a working screen. Two corners of the screen exhibit the black corner problem that is common with these replacement screens. These black corners are not intrusive and don't hinder normal use.

Since most of the Aliexpress links in all the threads have rotted, here's a new one: For F(x)tec Pro1 QX1000 LCD Display Touch Screen Sensor Digiziter Assembly Replace F(x)tec Pro 1 LCD Touch. I bought that whole assembly part instead of just a screen + digitizer, as my plastic screen frame had cracked a bit. It also meant less work with glue, even though glue was included in the package.

Carefully changing the screen took me about an hour. Otherwise everything went smoothly, except that the PCB with the cameras and other stuff on my old screen frame was troublesome to take off. It was attached with two visible screws, a patch of glue and one hidden screw. The glued patch gave in after I heated it with a hair dryer. I used the dryer to blow on the touchscreen side of the assembly. The hidden screw was under a silvery tape, next to the activity led.

Following the instructions of SchattengestaIt in the post earlier in this thread, I also carved out a part of the frame that might pinch the digitizer cable and cause the phantom taps syndrome. I will report here later if any issues come back to haunt me. Otherwise the trick will have worked (or the forums gone down).

Until today, I had coped with Partial Screen Pro and switching between portait and landscape with Ultimate Rotation Control to access any buttons buried under the disabled zone. Using the phone was mostly okay, except when in landscape, sporadic touches would occasionally bring down the quick settings menu and mess up my stuff. Rarely there were also lingering phantom touches on a couple other parts of the screen. These touches that weren't on the same vertical line came about after a long time of use.

This was my second screen replacement. The original screen lasted 12 months until it developed phantom taps. I used Fxtec service to change the screen. I sent the phone to them and 9 months later it came back with a new working screen. After service, the volume up button and the fingerprint reader no longer worked, which is a bummer. The new screen lasted only a few months before it got the same phantom taps again.

I advise against troubling the service (and yourself) with screen issues. Instead, buy a replacement. Just now, after finding my replacement screen good, I bought two screens from Aliexpress for backup: another one of the same type I linked earlier and an LCD Display Digitizer Touchscreen Touch Glass Touchscreen with frame for Elephone U Pro that wasn't available the last time I checked.

[VaZso 1,998]

On 5/28/2024 at 10:33 PM, Maska said:

another one of the same type I linked earlier and an LCD Display Digitizer Touchscreen Touch Glass Touchscreen with frame for Elephone U Pro that wasn't available the last time I checked.

This one may not be the best option (unless the unavailability of pure screen) because it includes the metal frame for Elephone what means you should detach the screen prior installing it in Pro1.

Anyway, it is possible but you should be gentle and some heat will be needed - the best is a heat gun running at low temperature (around 100-150 Celsius degree applying from distance) and relatively low air flow.

The Elephone U Pro screen what I had was glued to a metal frame using a big surface so it is harder to remove uninjured than a Pro1 screen which was (at least initially) only glued at its corners.

[Maska 5]

On 5/28/2024 at 11:33 PM, Maska said:

I will report here later if any issues come back to haunt me. Otherwise the trick will have worked (or the forums gone down).

Here I am, haunted by phantom taps again. They first appeared today, still very faint and occasional. The new screen lasted 5³ days. And damn I was careful when using the phone.

[EskeRahn 5,464]

5 hours ago, Maska said:

5³

5³=125? but not much that either.

[VaZso 1,998]

I think my current display is the one which remained intact for the longest time so far... this time I have also glued display's ribbon cable prior replacement and glued the screen to Pro1's frame correctly.

Edited October 5 by VaZso