Help Screen rotation might be killing my phone?

[Sharpset]

I bought my first Droid 3 in August. Never had any problems with it; the phone and I were very good to eachother. Randomly, around December or early January, my touch screen started acting up. I had no idea why. Sometimes it just wouldn't work, then it just cut off completely. Verizon promptly shipped me a new one, and the problem was no more. Now, about a week or - or less - I started experiencing the same thing. When I would unlock the phone, the touch screen just wouldn't work. It wasn't a problem, I thought it was just a glitch or something. It got progressively worse. Yesterday, it was to the point where if I pressed the unlock button at the top, the screen wouldn't work unless I slide the keyboard out. Or, it would be the opposite, and sliding the keyboard out made the screen not work until I closed it. Today, the thing cut out on me completely. I took it to Verizon after a few hours did me no good. The guy looked at it, ordered me a new phone, said all he could do was reset it and hope for the best until my new one comes in. Randomly, it started working again. So, I changed my timeout settings and haven't locked it since. This idea was working great, until I tried using my keyboard to type a long message. Killed the screen for a good ten minutes. Which got me thinking, every time I use the keyboard and switch between that and the touch screen (sliding the keyboard, forcing screen rotation), it always lags and sometimes freaks out a little. So I'm wondering if that could cause a problem with the phone? I don't aggressively shove the thing open or anything. Like I said, I'm good to my phone, and it's good to me. The only thing I could think of is that sometimes I shut/lock or unlock/open it too fast and that would freak the processor out, or something. I have a task killer so my background processes don't get cluttered up. Also, it's been a good month or so since I've downloaded (or updated) any apps at all. So I have no idea what could throw a software issue like that. A hint towards a hardware issue: my menu/home button are constantly lit (when they should be). The return/search button work, but often are not lit. They do flicker on and off here and there.

Hopefully someone has a clue. Thank you for reading all of this, even if you can't help me.

 

[redsox985]

Are you rooted at all? If not, I would root, buy Titanium Backup, make a back up of all apps and system data, then FXZ/SBF the phone to stock in an attempt to fix it. FXZ/SBF'ing the phone will remove root, so you'd have to re-root to get your data back, then you can unroot and the phone will appear as if it was never rooted despite what has happened.

 

[doogald]

I bought my first Droid 3 in August. Never had any problems with it; the phone and I were very good to eachother. Randomly, around December or early January, my touch screen started acting up. I had no idea why. Sometimes it just wouldn't work, then it just cut off completely. Verizon promptly shipped me a new one, and the problem was no more. Now, about a week or - or less - I started experiencing the same thing. When I would unlock the phone, the touch screen just wouldn't work. It wasn't a problem, I thought it was just a glitch or something. It got progressively worse. Yesterday, it was to the point where if I pressed the unlock button at the top, the screen wouldn't work unless I slide the keyboard out. Or, it would be the opposite, and sliding the keyboard out made the screen not work until I closed it. Today, the thing cut out on me completely. I took it to Verizon after a few hours did me no good. The guy looked at it, ordered me a new phone, said all he could do was reset it and hope for the best until my new one comes in. Randomly, it started working again. So, I changed my timeout settings and haven't locked it since. This idea was working great, until I tried using my keyboard to type a long message. Killed the screen for a good ten minutes. Which got me thinking, every time I use the keyboard and switch between that and the touch screen (sliding the keyboard, forcing screen rotation), it always lags and sometimes freaks out a little. So I'm wondering if that could cause a problem with the phone? I don't aggressively shove the thing open or anything. Like I said, I'm good to my phone, and it's good to me. The only thing I could think of is that sometimes I shut/lock or unlock/open it too fast and that would freak the processor out, or something. I have a task killer so my background processes don't get cluttered up. Also, it's been a good month or so since I've downloaded (or updated) any apps at all. So I have no idea what could throw a software issue like that. A hint towards a hardware issue: my menu/home button are constantly lit (when they should be). The return/search button work, but often are not lit. They do flicker on and off here and there.

Hopefully someone has a clue. Thank you for reading all of this, even if you can't help me.

Try using an alternate home screen/launcher app (Go Launcher EX is a good one to try.) Go can be set either to support flipping to landscape with the keyboard open or not (menu->preferences->screen settings->screen orientation). I was always having a problem with the Moto default launcher setting my wallpaper back to the default wallpaper when I flipped from portrait to landscape and/or back when I opened or closed the keyboard; no alternate launcher that I have tried has done that to me.

If it doesn't work out, just uninstall Go Launcher Ex and you'll be back to the standard launcher.

That said, the backlit/not backlit capacitive buttons sounds like a hardware problem to me.

Also, try turning the task killer off for a full week. If you think that it is still better with it, then you can turn it back on, but I think that you'll find that it makes no difference at all, and may be making things worse.

Go Launcher EX (free): https://play.google.com/store/apps/...1bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5nYXUuZ28ubGF1bmNoZXJleCJd

 

[Sharpset]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I will try the Go Launcher Ex first, since back in the day I would lose my background momentarily as well. However, I just cannot fathom how sliding the phone open kills the touch screen, especially if I slide it out either when the screen's off (locked) or in the midst of a text message. If that doesn't prevail, I'll try rooting it and everything.

 

[doogald]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I will try the Go Launcher Ex first, since back in the day I would lose my background momentarily as well. However, I just cannot fathom how sliding the phone open kills the touch screen, especially if I slide it out either when the screen's off (locked) or in the midst of a text message. If that doesn't prevail, I'll try rooting it and everything.

I wouldn't bother rooting it - if you have a hardware problem, just call for a warranty exchange. Rooting/unrooting will not change anything.

 

[Stein1071]

I have to agree with doogald. You're not dealing with a software issue at all. What you have there is a definite hardware problem. The variation in the button lights prove. Warranty return time. Do not root or risk going to jail and not collecting your $200... Those are itty bitty connections in there and you've got one or two going bad.

 

[Sharpset]

Yeah that's what I figured. The Go Launcher is a cool app, and I'll use it again, but that wasn't the problem. Everything is definitely hardware. Replacement comes tomorrow, there's no hope for this thing. I accidentally used my keyboard and lost my touch screen, but it came back. The keyboard is killing me. I hope Motorola finds a solution to this, because I LOVE this phone.