Touchpad Possessed...Tapping itself at random locations

**rajku** · 10/11/2011, 09:02 PM

Could anybody help me solve the tapping problem I'm having with the touchpad. My touchpad automatically starts tapping at random location by itself. Does anybody know what is going on with it. I even tried WebOs Doctor and it does not seem to solve the problem. I would appreciate if anybody could help me solve the problem. Thanks in advance.

**rajku** · 10/11/2011, 09:27 PM

My touchpad taps itself at random locations. I could not do anything I wanted properly. Is it due to faulty touch screen? It looks like it is possessed and has a mind of its own!! Can anybody help me with this. Thanks in advance.

**johnsonx42** · 10/11/2011, 09:35 PM

it's probably going to have hairy palms and go blind

yeah, sounds like a faulty touch screen. call hp for warranty service.

**prolongExistence** · 10/12/2011, 02:28 AM

While I do not have a TP to help you specifically, I can tell you that this has been a problem for the Pre for a long time...

http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pr...ng-itself.html

To summarize, some say it is due to moisture, some say it is due to heat. Rod says it is a hardware issue. I had that happen to my wife's Pre and the Dr didn't help. Basically, whichever reason you decide to believe, a replacement is the only fix.

**johnsonx42** · 10/12/2011, 02:45 AM

lol, I thought I responded to this post earlier, but now my reply is gone. oh well, I couldn't resist the obvious joke, perhaps it was too risque for our gentle moderators (i kept it clean, honest!). fair enough. the point is made though, HP tech support will have to be called for a replacement unit.

edit: oh, I see the OP double-posted this, and my reply is still there in the other thread. whatever.

**The Bard** · 10/12/2011, 06:40 AM

Is this real?? I mean the phantom touch happened on TouchPad too ??

OMG!! This will horrified me again after my Pre+ suffer from this problem, I don't want my TouchPad that still in shipping will suffer same problem.

**joysnow** · 10/12/2011, 09:31 AM

My first one was bricked during WebOS 3.0.2 upgrade the same day I received it. Trouble-shooting for hours and failed. Sent back for repair and got a replacement (different serial #) on 9/30. On arrival, it started doing the same thing, erratic touch response, typing in all by itself, the upper right corner status menu pop up and go with settings switch on and off without even touching it, sometimes non-responsive, does all that. Requested advanced exchange, and still waiting for a replacement. Since it way past 21 days, I can't even return it for a refund. So I am stuck with it for 6 weeks without being able to use it for a single day. HP really sucks!

**DDT1345** · 10/12/2011, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by rajku

My touchpad taps itself at random locations. I could not do anything I wanted properly. Is it due to faulty touch screen? It looks like it is possessed and has a mind of its own!! Can anybody help me with this. Thanks in advance.

I don't have a TP, but this happened to my original Sprint Palm Pre-. I took video of it just in case I had to prove it when I went to get it exchanged (I didn't have to, they exchanged it without question).

Possessed Palm Pre - Phantom Gestures

**Superjudge** · 10/12/2011, 12:15 PM

Sorry to hear that. I have the same problem on my current Pre even as I type this. It will be retired this weekend sadly yet thankfully.

**major payne** · 10/12/2011, 12:16 PM

LOL most of the time it is because of a dirty screen

**dvilhotti** · 10/12/2011, 01:20 PM

This has happened to a lot of Pixi owners as well, myself included. My research seems to indicate that it is a faulty digitizer and that no doctoring or cleaning of the screen will fix it. Some have a theory that it is a result of using third party chargers and that upon switching to a palm branded charger or touchstone the problem will go away. I have had a Pixi that has only been used with palm brand chargers and it will experience phantom touches for extended periods and then miraculously fix itself for a few days at which point the phantom touches will return. It's looks finally that my Pixi screen has stopped responding completely, because for the past month there have been no phantom touches and the touchscreen has been completely non-responsive.

If you are using a third party charger, try switching to a palm brand, but if that doesn't fix things, then send it in for repair.

Gosh, I hope the phantom touches aren't in line to plague the touchpad as well. This is the first I have heard of this problem on a touchpad, but the timing of the digitizers going bad on the phones appeared to be six months or so after their release.

If the Touchpad is doomed to have the problem of faulty digitizers, I suppose now is when they would start to fail.

Can't HP get anything right?

Good luck.

**OldSkoolVWLover** · 10/12/2011, 02:01 PM

**schro** · 10/12/2011, 02:05 PM

Is it connected to a non HP/Palm charger when it is going bonkers?

**mohaynes** · 10/12/2011, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by schro

Is it connected to a non HP/Palm charger when it is going bonkers?

This is the only time my Pre- experienced the random taps phenomenon.

**vishnumrao** · 02/19/2012, 04:11 PM

I just found thread while looking up info on random phantom touches on my TP. Now that the TP is a discontinued product, does HP handle the warranty? Is there some other solution other than contacting HP?

OP i.e. rajku, did you find a solution to this problem?

**N2HPZ** · 02/19/2012, 08:14 PM

There is a known problem where the glue that holds the screen in can start to let go. This can cause a problem with the contacts. I have seen a video on YouTube about it and my TP is shipping back from HP at this time because of the problem. If you hold the unit in away that causes it to twist a little, it can aggravate the problem.

The most common cause on the pre for this is a bad screen protector. Once the glue starts coming off and dirt gets under it, it screw up the screen sensors.

**awats** · 02/19/2012, 11:41 PM

I had a problem where it would just kick out key presses. I have a pin number set and when I rebooted it from totally off, it just kept pressing numbers (none highlighted on the keypad.) It made it impossible to enter the pin to unlock it. It took 5 cold reboots (off to on, not just a reboot) before it stopped. It's been fine since then.

**bigcatny** · 02/20/2012, 04:51 AM

There is still a one year warranty on the touchpad so call HP for warranty support IMMEDIATELY

**kolnari** · 02/21/2012, 07:26 AM

I've experienced the same problem intermittently. I suspect the problem is software at this time. My primary reason for suspectin software is that I can use the power button to blank the screen and the problem 'disappears'. I'm now wondering if my issue is realted to overclocking and the dynamic

One of the first things I did was install Uberkernal and Govah.

I was running the Govnah default Uberkernal profile and having lots of touch screen problems. Touches not being registered at all. The ripple showing up elsewhere when I touched. Changing to one of the Govnah OnDemand profiles eliminated these issues

I changed the profile to the 1.8 OnDemand and had the same symptom as the OP show up when the battery got down to ~%10.

I'm now running the 1.5 OnDemand profile and need to run the battery down to see if the problem shows up. If it does I will remove the over clocking stuff and test again. If it fails then back it goes for an exchange.

Had my TP for two weeks now and happy with WebOs!

**ShiftyAxel** · 02/21/2012, 08:07 AM

I had the same issue with an iPad a while ago, it would randomly self-touch all the way up and down the right border of the screen. Very strange. I had to go the refund/exchange route in the end.

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