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Pro1, Ghost touches and other digitizer and display issues


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On 11/21/2021 at 5:03 PM, Chris2 said:

Thanks for your answers. I just contacted the support. I received my phone last year in August, so they should agree. Hopefully, the replacement of the screen won't take to long.

After I contacted the support they wanted me to send some photos of the display. I did that 20 days ago but I received no reply since then...

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Update: fx support got back to me and offered a free replacement screen assembly, which they claim will become available some time in January. They also pointed me to an aliexpress seller and suggested if I want it fixed sooner, I could buy this at my own expense.

With fx timelines being what they are, I am not holding my breath for January, so have ordered screen from Aliexpress. Meanwhile, my current screen has mainly settled down and just sometimes has that one unresponsive row, but no crazy random presses, thank goodness!

It seems I may now have another major problem - the battery - but that will be for another thread!

Good luck to everyone else with this issue!

I'll certainly update it once I receive my aliexpress screen and attempt the swap-out.

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Hi mbecroft,

I had this problem too: the offer of a replacement was delayed from October - so I ordered the screen replacement from aliexpress.

I just fitted it this afternoon, and it wasn't too difficult - all working now 🙂

Reason I'm here is while there's an official video for replacing the whole screen unit, I couldn't find one for replacing just the screen itself. So I was flying blind and a bit worried about damaging things as you have to prise the screen off the frame. As mentioned it turned out not to be difficult, but if anybody has a link to a "replacing just the screen" video, it would be good to link it here.

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6 hours ago, andy said:

Hi mbecroft,

I had this problem too: the offer of a replacement was delayed from October - so I ordered the screen replacement from aliexpress.

I just fitted it this afternoon, and it wasn't too difficult - all working now 🙂

Reason I'm here is while there's an official video for replacing the whole screen unit, I couldn't find one for replacing just the screen itself. So I was flying blind and a bit worried about damaging things as you have to prise the screen off the frame. As mentioned it turned out not to be difficult, but if anybody has a link to a "replacing just the screen" video, it would be good to link it here.

...."deglue" display from frame is simple. I have preheater for it , sometime i am too lazy to go to second room where is preheater 🙂Solution is simple - buy zippo lighter fuel, littlebit moisten gap between lcd glass/frame...and then use carefully razor blade and put it between glass and frame - but not cutting! ...thats all. 

 

Edit - razor blade is needed because is thin!!!

Edited by CornholioGSM
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/29/2021 at 12:05 AM, CornholioGSM said:

...."deglue" display from frame is simple. I have preheater for it , sometime i am too lazy to go to second room where is preheater 🙂Solution is simple - buy zippo lighter fuel, littlebit moisten gap between lcd glass/frame...and then use carefully razor blade and put it between glass and frame - but not cutting! ...thats all. 

 

Edit - razor blade is needed because is thin!!!

The replacement screen shipped with a bag of tools, including thin plastic shims that were useful to help prise the screen off.

Unfortunately I just gone and dropped it on a tiled floor and the screen is completely borked now :_(  Not cracked but doesn't display anything, I presume the ribbon cable or connector is broken.

Hey ho - not much I can do about that, I'm a software guy not hardware. Let's see what the official repair process is like, failing that may give up and get a new Pro-1X...

 

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1 hour ago, andy said:

Unfortunately I just gone and dropped it on a tiled floor and the screen is completely borked now :_(  Not cracked but doesn't display anything, I presume the ribbon cable or connector is broken.

Does Pro1 look to be working?

I may try to disassemble it again looking for a released connector.
Basically I am thinking of two connections - one is the connector at the bottom of display assembly which may has came out and there is also a connector of that display cable at the bottom part of the phone but it has a metal part above so maybe it is less likely to come off but maybe it is also a possible thing to release.
(These are snap-in connectors but an impact may get them to release.)

I would also buy a replacement screen anyway as it may happen also the screen may has problems, but I would check the connections of cabling or bring it to a service where someone can do it.

Disassembling the bottom part is also not complicated but you may need a thin tool for opening it.

If you look at here, the first connector I was thinking is this one and the second connector is under the metal part here on the right of the battery.

So I feel there is a chance for a minor problem and a relatively high chance for repairability.
 

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I purchased the panel from the Aliexpress vendor that fxtec support recommended. Installed it a couple of days ago.

I removed existing panel with hot air 160 degrees per this guide:

https://matland.be/pro1disassembly.pdf

I did not use a suction cup but instead a very thin metal wedging tool (similar to razor blade mentioned above). It took a few minutes to remove.

The mistakes I made were about installing the new panel. The original panel had a black plastic over the panel's adhesive - so from looking at that, I did not realise that the entire reverse side of the panel as supplied is adhesive. Rather than try to re-glue around the edges, I used 3M two-sided tape (that I already own, nothing was supplied with panel) at top and bottom, and covered most of the adhesive leaving some exposed to hopefully hold panel well enough (I don't care about water-proofing). But nothing would stick, and I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time, but I stuck the panel on using by its entire adhesive area. Which is fine, but means it is nearly impossible now to remove. Luckily I aligned it well and it's all good - but the 2-sided tape I used top and bottom is not holding (I think I used too-thin tape) so in the end I just put some kapton tape across the bottom on the outside to hold it down. Sounds janky, but the main thing is it works, and screen is perfect and defect-free.

But there is a problem - left and right digitizer margins:

The left and right margins of the panel by about 5mm do not respond to touch. Not a digitizer fault, clearly it is intended behavior. You can drag into the margins, but not initiate a touch in the left/right margins. This is a problem, as some apps have buttons close to the sides. I am  told it is due to different programming from the factory designed for the Elephone which uses same panel. Is there a solution to this?

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So I just searched the forums as I should have in the first place, and it sounds like only solution is to reflash the entire phone. Which would be a huge hassle to do. Has anyone found a better way? I am on LineageOS 18.1.

Can anyone provide the instructions fxtec has allegedly provided to some people? Maybe I can just XXXadbXXX fastboot the special debug OS that has been mentioned, without flashing the phone...

Thanks!!

Edited by mbecroft
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@mbecroft The instructions I suppose you're referring to describe the use of a proprietary not-for-distribution flashing tool specific to the digitizer in our screens. The flashing tool used to work with LOS 17.1 (Android versions up to Android 10), but there's no way to make them work with LOS 18.1. Hardly anything about that tool seems to exist on the net, and the few mentions I found only refer to even older versions than the one we're talking about here.

For the time being, the only solution to the margins problem (for someone not using stock Android) unfortunately seems to be to flash the latest stock ROM (the process automatically resets the margins to what we need on our device) and then re-flash the OS they want to use...

 

Edited by Rob. S.
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Darn, well at least I know now, thanks for that!

I will ask fxtec for the tool, and maybe can reverse-engineer it enough to make it work. It actually would be nice to be able to control the margins - by default, it is a little overzealous in that if you are holding the phone in your hand it's hard not to accidentally be touching a screen edge, which blocks all other touches from working. So a little bit of margin, but not too much, would be good. Probably not possible to reverse-engineer things enough to achieve that level of control, though, without ridiculous effort.

I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it also feels as if the new panel is somehow slightly more responsive than the old one. May be just placebo effect...

Will update thread if I make any kind of breakthrough, otherwise this is the end of the line on this topic from me, for now.

Thanks everyone who has helped out!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been having the exact same problem with my touchscreen, with a line across the screen not responding to real touches (or showing ghost touches) in the same place as others have seen. It's strange that it's always in the same place...

I have received a new screen from Aliexpress which seems to work in a quick test.

Side-by-side, old screen on left, new on right:

image.thumb.png.92b6727068c4a943158b2386bab76dc5.pngDoes anyone know what I need to do to make the back of the new screen similar to the old? If I pull off the current protective covering off the new, it reveals the copper-coloured backing seen around the edge of the old, which is good, but do I need something to replicate the large black covering, or the metallic tape near the bottom?

 

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4 hours ago, John Veness said:

Does anyone know what I need to do to make the back of the new screen similar to the old? If I pull off the current protective covering off the new, it reveals the copper-coloured backing seen around the edge of the old, which is good, but do I need something to replicate the large black covering, or the metallic tape near the bottom?

The black tape is there because the copper-like part of new screen is sticky which would make hard to remove it later.
I would suggest to place a similar sticker on that or remove what was placed on original screen and place it there.

What I suggest is to use some glue like A800 at edges on assembly especially at the lower edge where the ribbon cable comes to ensure it can not move later what may cause a similar problem like these ghost touches.

The silver-like tape is a conductor (shield) on top of screen/touch controllers and its wires, so I would suggest to also move it to the new screen.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Still waiting for fxtec to send me the replacement screen that was promissed in october and was supposed to be sent late november.

Now, on top of chipset crisis, covid crisis, truckers crisis, ET crisis... we have the russia-ukrainian crisis to be used as an escuse by the hard core fans.

I still don't get it how any of this crisis apply to the matter or to the fact that fxtec didn't even bother to reply to my January 27th email when I've asked for an update. 

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My phone (December 2019) now also displays the ghost touch problems 😞 1.5 months out of warranty...

My line is a little over the middle of the display when in portrait mode. So not exactly as shown in the videos above, but same problem. For me it also gets better when touching the screen at the bottom. No need to squeeze. Just touching the lowest part/row of the screen seems to make it better. Unfortunately only for a few seconds...

I guess I'll get a replacement screen from Ali. Why couldn't this wait "a little" longer until the Pro1x arrives...

I just noticed though that the screw in the upper right corner (or upper left if viewed from behind) has gone missing. Could this be causing my issue? Anyone know where I can get a replacement screw?

 

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1 hour ago, dicer said:

My phone (December 2019) now also displays the ghost touch problems 😞 1.5 months out of warranty...

My line is a little over the middle of the display when in portrait mode. So not exactly as shown in the videos above, but same problem. For me it also gets better when touching the screen at the bottom. No need to squeeze. Just touching the lowest part/row of the screen seems to make it better. Unfortunately only for a few seconds...

I guess I'll get a replacement screen from Ali. Why couldn't this wait "a little" longer until the Pro1x arrives...

I just noticed though that the screw in the upper right corner (or upper left if viewed from behind) has gone missing. Could this be causing my issue? Anyone know where I can get a replacement screw?

 

It don't think that would cause this issue, though the play in the frame, if any, might set it off easier.

The screws for the pro1 are here.  You want M1,4 and 2mm.  They are perfect.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001476534333.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.21ef18022b0ENN

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14 hours ago, dicer said:

My phone (December 2019) now also displays the ghost touch problems 😞 1.5 months out of warranty...

Based on this thread I understood that the cause of the problem is the quality of the screens supplied to Fxtec. I guess that Fxtec has taken actions against the supplier (to face the complaints).

Many users face this issue. Does this fact have any impact on the guarantee period? We are not talking about a single defective screen here.

Edited by OKSun
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1 hour ago, OKSun said:

Based on this thread I understood that the cause of the problem is the quality of the screens supplied to Fxtec.

I think this issue is not as simple...

I have high certainty the cause is the bottom ribbon cable comes from display to display's electronics may break in some circumstances... it can be a bad gluing problem which allows the screen moving or dropping the phone which causing the same problem or maybe releasing the glue by a solvent which practically may be also alcohol used for disinfecting the phone...

...but the root cause of the problem is that ribbon cable can break or loose its contact at display side which is a final result of movement in relation to the above.

Actual display quality problem may also happen if the problem was caused by the ribbon cable starts detaching at display side (ribbon to glass connection).

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4 hours ago, VaZso said:

think this issue is not as simple...

Thanks. Good to have finally narrowed down the problem. The question remains:

Many users face this issue. Does this fact have any impact on the guarantee period? We are not talking about a single defective screen here.

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1 hour ago, OKSun said:

Thanks. Good to have finally narrowed down the problem. The question remains:

Many users face this issue. Does this fact have any impact on the guarantee period? We are not talking about a single defective screen here.

Basically it is not an official problem description, just my own findings...

I don't know how it affects warranty (they have provided replacement screens within warranty period, so it was covered).

Also, we don't know the amount of Pro1s which had defective screens compared to the number of units sold and also we don't know any impacts on the screen/phone were caused by user during everyday usage which may also be a cause of this problem.

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5 minutes ago, VaZso said:

Basically it is not an official problem description, just my own findings...

I don't know how it affects warranty (they have provided replacement screens within warranty period, so it was covered).

Also, we don't know the amount of Pro1s which had defective screens compared to the number of units sold and also we don't know any impacts on the screen/phone were caused by user during everyday usage which may also be a cause of this problem.

Agreed.  The old Forum bias-- people mostly post in forums when there is a problem, they don't post to say things are going great.  Plus there are (probably many) Pro1 owners who never come  to this forum.

In addition, after two years, is it a defect or just wear and tear on a device with a lot of moving parts?  That may get them complaints due to the longevity and quality of their builds and parts, but they have a case for saying it really is no longer a warranty issue.  Same thing happens to my cars that  start developing problems just after warranty end.  😉 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/13/2021 at 11:47 AM, VaZso said:

- My original screen was working for eight months.

- I have replaced it using another screen bought from Aliexpress which was worked for 4.5 months then started having screen issues - collecting colour dots which have disappeared by turning the screen off and on, later it became permanent (ribbon cable was injured at other part).
Gluing this case was not perfect as I only used double-side adhesive tape provided with the screen.

- I have replaced my screen once again using another screen bought from Aliexpress but using a better gluing method.
So far it works well since 10 months now.

So it may happen also with stock and replaced Aliexpress screens, so I think the latter is not better nor worse in this relation.

Also I would like to say again the curved ribbon (bottom) part of the display should be glued well to not allow that part of the screen to move and also need to be ensured that ribbon cable is not bent in a sharp edge.
Don't misunderstand me, the glue should be flexible anyway to allow the screen to be replaced but not loose.

Just for reference, I have experienced problems with my second replacement starting today.

So this time the screen took me 13  months of use...

Anyway, currently I I don't have ghost touches but an insensitive area at the very same position where my first screen had...
...so, prepared to replace my screen somewhere in the near future... next time I may try to fix the screen / cable a bit better...

However, I would be happy if F(x)tec would has sent me the promised replacement USB panel and I would not have to disassemble the phone twice but the time since my first contact (24th of November, 2021) was not enough, nor their promise on 4th of January 2022 to even send it as of 9th of March, 2022...

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am joining the ghost touch club.

I don't expect anything from Fxtec, so: What's the best replacement screen to get?

The "official" the Fxtec support links: https://aliexpress.com/item/1005001300088859.html

Or the cheap Elefone U: https://aliexpress.com/item/32956500815.html (What's the difference between Elephone U and Elephone U Pro?)

 

I have read in this thread that there might be hints, that it's not a display but a connection problem. Is there anything I can try before ordering the display?

 

Edited by dreamflasher
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49 minutes ago, dreamflasher said:

I have read in this thread that there might be hints, that it's not a display but a connection problem. Is there anything I can try before ordering the display?

Do you refer to the ribbon cable-related problem I told?

Practically it is not repairable...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey there,

I've got a touchscreen issue and I wqonder if there's any way to solve it without replacing the screen.
In the attached video I'm using only one finger with a touch visualizer. In one area on the lower half of the screen the touch screen doesn't recognize the finger which results in two touch inputs around that 'broken' line.

The issue is more complex though. When I slap the phone very hard or hit it onto my leg, it often works way better with only slight deviations around the 'broken' touchpad line. That's the case for only a few minutes though.

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?
Also, where is the current best place for buying a replacement screen?

Thank you in advance for any kind of help.

Edit:
No screen protector is used and I don't want to send in the device for repair since it would take months to get it bakc.

Edited by SchattengestaIt
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  • EskeRahn changed the title to Pro1, Ghost touches and other digitizer and display issues

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