Pre's Screen Turning on By Itself

[Drift]

Hey everyone,

My Pre's screen turns itself on and off again every few seconds, even when there are no new notifications.

When I try to turn it off, it blinks off, then turns on again.

Here's a video to explain:
youtube.com/watch?v=vtYHohfyDCc

(sorry, can't post links yet)

A reset only fixes the problem temporarily, which leads me to believe that it's a hardware issue (power button??). This has been going on for a few months now, but I haven't brought it back to Sprint or sent it to Palm. I bought it on June 6th, the day it came out.

As a side note, I have the following patches installed on my Pre (version 1.3.5.1 BTW). Not sure if one of them could be causing the issue.

15px Font
4x4 Icons v3
Add Select All and New Message
Advanced Phone Menu
Audio/Video Attachments
Battery Icon and Percent
Call Duration in Call Log
Character Counter
Default to Month View
Enable Add/Delete Pages
Enable Landscape E-Mail
Enable Landscape PDF Viewer
Enable LED Notifications
Enter Key for New Line
gDial Pro Universal Integration
Improved Filename Format
Limited Emergency Button
Match state to Area Code
No Battery Level
Notification Repeat (Call)
Notification Repeat (SMS)
Open to Alarm List
Swipe to Delete
Timestamps - Clean
Unthrottle Download Manager

[sillyricky]

Originally Posted by Drift

Hey everyone,

My Pre's screen turns itself on and off again every few seconds, even when there are no new notifications.

When I try to turn it off, it blinks off, then turns on again.

Here's a video to explain:
youtube.com/watch?v=vtYHohfyDCc

(sorry, can't post links yet)

A reset only fixes the problem temporarily, which leads me to believe that it's a hardware issue (power button??). This has been going on for a few months now, but I haven't brought it back to Sprint or sent it to Palm. I bought it on June 6th, the day it came out.

As a side note, I have the following patches installed on my Pre (version 1.3.5.1 BTW). Not sure if one of them could be causing the issue.

15px Font
4x4 Icons v3
Add Select All and New Message
Advanced Phone Menu
Audio/Video Attachments
Battery Icon and Percent
Call Duration in Call Log
Character Counter
Default to Month View
Enable Add/Delete Pages
Enable Landscape E-Mail
Enable Landscape PDF Viewer
Enable LED Notifications
Enter Key for New Line
gDial Pro Universal Integration
Improved Filename Format
Limited Emergency Button
Match state to Area Code
No Battery Level
Notification Repeat (Call)
Notification Repeat (SMS)
Open to Alarm List
Swipe to Delete
Timestamps - Clean
Unthrottle Download Manager

I had the same problem with my first pre, and found out that it was because of the loose slider. I got it replaced with a better build pre, and the problem was absent.

What i used to do when it would turn on a lot was open the slider and close it a few times. Seemed to do the trick.

[gamble79]

I can top that. I also have a day one Pre and all of a sudden today the screen turnes off for about a second then turns back on, so basically the screen wont turn off. On top of that the touch dosent work anymore so i cant use the phone at all. I was hoping a full erase reset would fix it but I tried to use WebOS doctor but it says it cant reset and the remote wipe did nothing but reset the phone to enter the profile info, but I CANT cause the touch dont work! I have a feeling Sprint is not going to exchange it. Plus I still have a theme, 4x4 icon, and MM/DD installed on the top bar. I dont know what to do.

[mastahaze]

mine does this too since one week. I have an unlocked O2 german palm pre. no patches installed (so, as I see, this isn't a patch r software anomaly) but the problem is still here.
Plus, sometimes, the pre won't turn on the screen also opening the slider.
could it be the flat cable connecting the screen? or will it be a contact with the power button.
hard to know.
as usual. if someone have a fix for this....

[sjaakb]

I have somewhat same issue that started on Monday. Power button does not function anymore, to make it work I have to slide open phone. Before putting back in pocket I'd better wait until it goes in standby mode. "asks me" quite a few times if I want to go into airplane/power down mode as well. Did not drop the phone or anything that would physically damage it. I'd suggest to contact Palm and Sprint. Love the WebOS, the build quality of the pre leaves me cold....

[jbg7474]

Mine kind of did this for a while. When I would remove it from my side case, I would see that the lock screen was already on. Sometimes I can make the screen turn on just by turning it around in my hand. But it seems to have gotten better. I think there is some dirt or something that is making contact and causing the phone to think the slider is opening. Maybe not, I don't know.

[mastahaze]

Originally Posted by jbg7474

When I would remove it from my side case, I would see that the lock screen was already on. Sometimes I can make the screen turn on just by turning it around in my hand

This is exactly my issue! when opened with the keyboard out there are no problems. I need to touch the power button to turn the pre on (or a key on the keyboard. same effect)
When closed, I can touch randomly the phone and the screen wil turn on again.
Sometimes, my pre do this trick also by itself, also if is lying on the desk with me far away.
By now, we tryed to relate the problem to: battery, headphone jack, internal cabling, loose slider.
I'm sure about one thing. this is NOT a software problem. it's hardware. one of the multiple this phone has.
such a shame... HP, could please speed up things and start a new webOS phone production as soon as you can? we palm users feels tired. we love the phone, we made love with the OS. but I cannot make my d**k hard enough if I see problem every single day... (plus I'm Italian, I cannot have a replace phone, just throw this one away and buy a new unit)

EDIT
Before goin' home from work, I tried to do some things that seems related to this problem.
lucky me, i had time just to pick up a straightened paper clip, and wisely cleaned the headphone port with a little piece of toilet paper (very soft) rolled onto it.
I touch my balls ( Italian style ) but also touching and retouching the touch screen and some parts of the body, the Pre DO NOT turn itself on again (I mean for the problem of the screen turning itself on after locking the phone. This one I'm reporting is NOT related to abnormal power off behavior.)
It didn't on the Tube while in pouch nor now while I'm writing.
maybe this one could help some of you brothers. I hope so. my Pre is ALWAYS watched and will be under my sight til night.
I'll keep you updated.

EDIT 2
After the yeasterday cleaning, the screen of my Pre did not turn on by itself.
I can now confirm that after watching and monitoring the phone from 17.25 PM til 1 AM (Italian Time) and from 7.30 AM til now (morning, circa 10.30 AM) the anomaly did not ahow up anymore.

I can now say this problem, talking about my side of things, was the headphone port.

[shaferz]

thanks to this thread, I was able to solve the same problem. I took one huge puff into the headphone jack and the problem hasn't happened since!

[rprockey]

So happy I found this thread quickly. Like shaferz, one puff into the headphone port and my phone's random and touch induced screen activations have been minimized. Thanks mastahaze and shaferz!