Database Info

Screen going black

I've tried various different ROM images (including the excellent Dr.Gonzo), and I have this problem with all of them.
When I'm using the phone either with the keyboard in or out, the screen just switches off randomly. If I wait a few seconds (possibly the backlight timer length), then it comes back. Mostly... Othertimes I have to wait a lot longer, but it does always come back.
A reboot sometimes fixes it, but not always - does anything survive a reboot or battery removal?
Anybody else seen anything like this? I have seen a lot of threads about the screen staying on, but not off.
Of course, it could be a hardware fault, but because it's intermittent, it's hard to prove.
Mike

same problem

If you shake the phone can you re-produce this problem? I've never not heard of this being affected by software - you might also want to ensure you're not overclocking it.
Nothing is removed when you do a battery removal or reboot, ensure your connections are all tight and make sure the SIM pins are all making contact and the SIM door closes, apart from that it sounds like a possible bad LCD ribbon.

Shaking it doesn't reproduce the problem.
Once the phone has started doing this, it happens everytime you press a key.
Seems more like a memory leak to me since it always seems to happen after a while of web browsing/email use.

So actually, it looks like it might be a hardware fault.
I think it happens when the device gets warm. After a few minutes with the screen on, keyboard lit up, wifi on, the phone gets pretty warm and that's when the screen seems to go black. Leave to cool and all returns to normal.
Mike

Same issue here, but the screen does not acually go black/blank it just seems that the screen backlight does not turn back on from a standby like state, the phone itself functions but just not able to see whats going on on the screen.
(keyboard lights work fine and come on when expected)
Not sure about the heat theory as it happens (to me) most often right after a call, anything over 30-50 seconds and the backlight problem occurs, when it decides to work again is a matter of luck.
As said before because it's intermittent, it's very hard to prove.
Has anyone who has had this issue, fixed it with a hard reset ?
Very strange ... but also getting very annoying now!

i got the same thing. took it back to warranty and they said nothing's wrong with the phone but i still get this.

I experience the same problems.. it happens pretty random, but every time when you hit a key. I have set all timers to never but the problem is still there.
Running Gonzo 1.1 at the moment, upgraded from guava.. but that didn't solve the problem.
It is getting so annoying now that I am about to throw the s710 in the dustbin

I have had the same problem!
I have turn it back to my provider and no problem now.

i have the same problem with my VOX
apparently, i can still receive phone calls, and do whatever i want with the phone,
but the screen just stays black, its like if you have unplugged your monitor
since i dont have a htc center in my town or anywhere else nearby.
does anyone know a way on how to open the phone, change what need to be changed and correct the problem? im all up for testing if that would resolve this annoying problem :s
cheers everyone

there is a dismantling manual somewhere in this forum. search.
i don't think taking it apart would help you because this is not a physical fault that you can locate.
and i learned that mcel is the retail seller of vox in mozambique. they should be able to help you with service. else just send a mail to htc support and they will guide you.

yes, mcel are the retail sellers, but i tried to go there, and there are no specialists on htc's there,
the thing is, i didnt bought my htc from them, so i can't go there and change for another one
but tks anyway

no problem
but do try to contact htc support by email. they might suggest a way.

I'm having exactly the same weird problem and I think I found some pattern when it occurs. Well, the thing is that in the bright day or in a room with lots of light it works just fine. In the darker conditions… well… not so fine. It seems to me that this screen blackout happens whenever the keyboard light is on and screen changes to full brightness (in the dark, because of the light sensor). In the daylight, keyboard light doesn't turn itself on, so s710 works. I don't know much but this definitely isn't some bad contact problem. Maybe some battery problem, but I doubt it since I can receive phone call in this condition. This started to happen after I flashed this Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM from HTC (I have original S710). Flashing Dr.Gonzo's later on didn't bring any luck either. I believe that some power control SW is the main culprit. I've read that many people mention some Tornado Power Control app. Does anybody know can this application be permanently disabled or removed?

are you trying to say that by desabling the light sensor, the problem might go away?
i would also like to know if it possible to have the baklight on the lowest possible brightness forever, because it seems, on a low brightness the problem might go away

petlof32 said:
I'm having exactly the same weird problem and I think I found some pattern when it occurs. Well, the thing is that in the bright day or in a room with lots of light it works just fine. In the darker conditions… well… not so fine. It seems to me that this screen blackout happens whenever the keyboard light is on and screen changes to full brightness (in the dark, because of the light sensor). In the daylight, keyboard light doesn't turn itself on, so s710 works. I don't know much but this definitely isn't some bad contact problem. Maybe some battery problem, but I doubt it since I can receive phone call in this condition. This started to happen after I flashed this Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM from HTC (I have original S710). Flashing Dr.Gonzo's later on didn't bring any luck either. I believe that some power control SW is the main culprit. I've read that many people mention some Tornado Power Control app. Does anybody know can this application be permanently disabled or removed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have this problem with the lightsensor turned off. And also at (as it seems) random moments.

well, even with the light sensor turned off, the problem persisted.
i got my phone to a repair shop of htc's, and they figured out the problem
my phone is now 100% thankfully, the repair man told that the problem was because of bad or malfunctioned circuits, he exchanged them with new ones, and the problem went away,
dont know wich circuits exactly, and he didnt want to tell me, but i suggest anyone having the same problem to try and do the same
probably its a hardware malfunction with these VOX,
its possible since so many times before i've heard about malfunctioned pieces coming out in large quantities for sale.
anyways, cheers everyone, and good luck Portugal in EURO!

I have the same problem. I just noticed that it usually happens when the phone is warm, so if you need to do something on my phone just... take some ice from fridge and put it on back of your mobile. I cant see any more solutions.
Please someone help us!

Update. Problem Solved
Just thought I'd update this thread I started.
I sent the phone back to my dealer (Grapevine in Poole,UK).
A week later, I got a brand new one back from the HTC repair centre.
So far, so good. Looks like the problem's solved.
Mike

Sam problem here,
i called with HTC and they sent them to there repair centre.

Screen burn in

I have screen burn in on my Fuze. The two soft buttons and the bottom 2/3's of the scroll bar are visible when they shouldn' t be. For example, click on a reminder at the top so that the screen goes black with the next screen allowing you to choose if you want the reminder, wireless info, etc... At the bottom I'll see the soft keys and program select scroll bar in a gray tint.
I guess I need to leave a white image on the screen for an extended time to undo the burn. But I've only had this phone for a few weeks...I've never had burn in on a cell phone and surely never this quickly on any monitor.

Something similar happened twice to me.. It faded out slowly.. now it's ok
You may check http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=447891

Funny now it's gone after having it turned off for a couple hours. I'll post if it comes back after I have it on for a bit.

It's Back!!! only took one power on cycle and let it sit there for a couple of minutes :-(
kind of scary.

Is it still under warranty?

Weird but believe me - it is a software issue. Restart will always help

D3TH METAL said:
Is it still under warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm going to get them to do a warranty replacement. I had another fuze that had a different issue (bad sound) that I replaced after 30 days...it never had this issue.

darfri said:
Weird but believe me - it is a software issue. Restart will always help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the part of the reboot that "fixes" it is the screen goes white for a while which helps clear it up. But a few minutes later its back.

The same happens for me, but not very often.
It must be a software issue, no need to replace your device.
BTW, It's definately not a burnt in screen.

johanromijn said:
The same happens for me, but not very often.
It must be a software issue, no need to replace your device.
BTW, It's definately not a burnt in screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It goes away easier if I use the SPB Clock and put it on the white clock...plug it in...set power options stay on 10 minutes when plugged in.
So it is an LCD type of burn it (it appears) as it goes away when a white screen is forced upon it. I think the pixels in that part of the screen don't change very often so it gets a little memory that needs to be "washed" away. Odd thing is my last one never did it. So I think some LCDs are better quality then others.

Its happened to me twice and both times its gone away.
Its good to hear its a software issue, I was worried it might be hardware.

johanromijn said:
The same happens for me, but not very often.
It must be a software issue, no need to replace your device.
BTW, It's definately not a burnt in screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My first Fuze had this problem. Sure I flashed a lot of roms but each rom displayed the same result for me. After getting a new device, the problem never occurred again.
If it was software, it would be doing on everyone's device in the same place or region. This is a hardware problem, no doubt in my mind. The same rom on 2 different phones would yield the same results if it were software related.
If your phone displays this type of "burn-in" then take it back, exchange it, whatever. My new phone has been perfect and works as it is supposed to.

Unusual Events?
Were there any unusual events that led up to the screen-burn in? It is odd that they would go away and come back like that.... did you try flashing another ROM?

Saw this 'burn in' a couple times too. Was scrolling the touchflo3d and went to the photo and videos tab. Once in camera mode I noticed faintly overlay 'album' and 'slideshow' on the view finder. But the 2 words couldn't have been burned in as its not normally on that tab. Probably some weird software driver issue.

Att Fuze black screen need help please! Not a bad flash issue.

Hi all,
I am at my wits end on this problem if anyone can offer any adivice it would be greatly appreciated. So let me give a recap of what has occured thus far. The water damage tag for some reason turn pink thus i am unable to get warranty exchange. I am pretty certain that the phone has never been expose to any water of anything of that sort, but i do live in houston, tx so might be humidity or what not that cause the tag to turn. Anyways.
1. This all started after i flashed RRE 5.2 RC3. Initially after a successful flash everything seem normal and fine. Then next morning i woke up to a frozen screen with many verticial lines running up and down the screen was almost unreadable. Initially i thought it was a bad flash or just random lock up. I did a hard reset and tried to enter the bootloader. Black screen, it does seem like the backlight is coming up but nothing on the screen. I can hear the phone power on and boot successfully into windows. Activesync connects i can browse the contents of the phone.
2. After flashing to stock att rom and stock htc roms same symptoms. So at this point i am thinking crap bad LCD screen. so I ordered both the digitizer and lcd screen for good measure. I replaced them hoping that a bad LCD was all. replaced both screens and i powered on the phone. same problem. black screen. The phone still powers on and boots into windows. Activesync still connects and i cna still reflash the phone.
3. I work extensively and do both desktop pc and notebook repair. I am not new to dealing with small electronic repairs. but at this juncture i am unable to identify the cause of hte malfunction. i am hoping maybe some of the gurus here might be able to shine some light on the subject.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I would have followed the same approach; your description makes it sound like it might be some kind of backlighting issue at first read. I'm inclined to think it might be a cold connection (bad connector) on the main board.
Silly question, what happens if you power up the phone with the keyboard exposed?
*EDIT* Not sure if you have been here yet: http://www.mikechannon.net/
Cheers,

i just tried to power up the phone with keyboard exposed. Powers up the same as with the keyboard hidden. Still boots up fine but black screen. I already have the service manuel dowloaded. i have checked around with several repair places both local and on the web. Seems like no one has any parts for the att fuze/touch pro gsm except for the lcd and digitizer and a speaker.
its quite possible that it is a main board but as the same time it might be something as simple as a ribbon cable. i have contacted htc about doing a possible repair and they want wayyyy too much for just a main board repair almost $400 USD.
Anyone have a bricked/ non working touch pro they would like to sell ? =P

fkoong said:
its quite possible that it is a main board but as the same time it might be something as simple as a ribbon cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be a bad ribbon cable ... and firmly pressing around the front/back of the unit shows no change?

pressing the phone front and back show no changes to display. in a very dark room I can see that there is light emitting from the display but its just the screen is not displaying anything visable. this occured both before and after i changed out the screens. I'll do another visual inspection of all the boards to see if there is any bad resistors burnt out circuits etc.. but i didn't notice anything mentionable during my first 2 inspections. Maybe 3rd time is the charm.
Thanks for all the feedback thus far Hilaireg it is quite appreciated. All this venting has at least made me feel 1000% better than after i replaced my lcd and still same problem at least i don't feel like a complete idiot!

Sorry I couldn't be of much help ... you've done all the steps a seasoned hardware person would do.
Do post back to let other folks know if you get it back up and running.
Cheers,

you have a pm fkoong.

I have possibly the same problem. Phone got wet, dried it out for 2 days (in a container of rice). Phone worked but had "water marks" on screen that disappeared after two days and everything was fine for about 2 weeks. Then one day (happened to be humid misting rain eve in Charleston) the screen is blank (hint of backlight only). A soft reset and it seems OK for about 1hr, then blank again. The hard resest screen displayed OK (readbale text etc), but didnt work. But as I write this, I retry to document it results correctly and the NATF ROM is reloading and the screen works! We will see how long!!
Well.. not that long, the end of the ROM load and it went blank again, seems like a video driver problem. The Press VoluP to boot does show some red artifact.
Trying hard reset again (No SIM no uSD)
The NATF v4.4 loads and gives me the Tap screen, Align Screen, stylus, loads customization, opera, tf3d, then loads a bunch of files under ...... and then the screen goes blank again, seem like what happened last time, so Ill try loading a fresh ROM copy... later

About the screen (bottom part)

Okay so I've had the HTC Fuze for 3-4 days now and 1 thing that i noticed is in the screen, by the bottom (where the touchflo is) the screen is like "blinking".
It's hard to explain, but if you get closer to the screen you see like its moving and shaking but when you look at any other spot its not.
Is this normal or my device could have a problem?
Oh and sometimes when i use the keyboard and the screen rotates, the "right side" which is the bottom (keeps blinking) sometimes has the letters of the menu before i rotated the phone, so it has like letters with opacity there as if OVER the screen.
Any of you have this problem? Or is it just me?
What can I do? My device is still in warranty but its a really small problem, it just bothers me the screen like that.
Thank you.
PS. Ill post a video if you want to see more clearly.

not normal

I agree this is not normal. Reflash your ROM.

xlinkx said:
I agree this is not normal. Reflash your ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never done this before. But i wanted to take all the A&T stuff of my phone and make it faster. What ROM would you recommend me?

There's other threads about this on these boards. It's a hardware issue with the Fuze, and yes, it is normal. I've gone through 4 Fuze's, all of them were sent back on warranty, because of this exact problem. I just seen a thread not too long ago about it and someone mentioned that it was a hardware problem but I really don't remember his/her explanation of it.

PryorDaniel said:
There's other threads about this on these boards. It's a hardware issue with the Fuze, and yes, it is normal. I've gone through 4 Fuze's, all of them were sent back on warranty, because of this exact problem. I just seen a thread not too long ago about it and someone mentioned that it was a hardware problem but I really don't remember his/her explanation of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh so should I send mines back or just keep it?
It doesn't bother me at all, i mean, i could live with it, but sometimes i think it would be better if it didnt do that.
It just happens when my device is hot. I mean, when you use WIFI the phone gets warmer and thats when the screen starts doing that, when i turn it off and let it rest it works fine again, and sometimes when i put it in standby mode and then back to normal it comes with the blinking thing and sometimes not.

Like I said, I've gone through 4 and still have the problem. My advice, either switch the TF3D look so it's not as noticable in portrait or just switch a totally new ROM with a new TF3D look. It's still going to happen but you'll notice it less. Even on this new Fuze it's still happening. I'm using EnergyROM Mercury right now, and while I still have the problem, it's nowhere near as obvious as before.
Another thing I've noticed that seems to help a bit from time to time is to turn off the screen and plug the charger in. Weird, but it fixes it sometimes. As you also noticed, it only happens when the device is hot. A prime time for it to happen is when you hang up a call.

PryorDaniel said:
Like I said, I've gone through 4 and still have the problem. My advice, either switch the TF3D look so it's not as noticable in portrait or just switch a totally new ROM with a new TF3D look. It's still going to happen but you'll notice it less. Even on this new Fuze it's still happening. I'm using EnergyROM Mercury right now, and while I still have the problem, it's nowhere near as obvious as before.
Another thing I've noticed that seems to help a bit from time to time is to turn off the screen and plug the charger in. Weird, but it fixes it sometimes. As you also noticed, it only happens when the device is hot. A prime time for it to happen is when you hang up a call.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for this information!!
Ill just keep my device and live with it.
I'm flashing to a new room soon, ill see which one i'd like.
Thanks again.

[Q] screen disaster - random tinting, solarization, turns upside down

sooo, yeah. my wife has the t959v. the screen cracked months ago, replaced it with one from ebay, works fine. a few weeks ago, it was involved in an accident and needed yet another screen replacement; ergo, back to ebay i go. installed the new screen yesterday, turn it on, all is well. for a bit.
now, the phone isn't currently, nor has it ever been rooted; pure stock tmo us 2.3.6. during boot, the splash screens and boot animation are gorgeous and perfect in appearance. the recovery menu is exactly as expected. android boots as you'd want it to, and then the display will do one of the following:
-work properly (rare)
-automatically turn off, capacitive buttons still lit, touchscreen unresponsive - turning it "off" darkens the cap buttons, turning it back on flashes the screen on for a half-second, then off, with cap buttons still lit (common)
-graphical corruption ("solarized" colors, completely wrong colors, pixel vomit in essence) (fairly common)
-screen tinting, blue most often, followed by pale yellow, then greenish, then red (almost constant)
-screen inversion - the display will show as rotated 180 degrees; grabbing a framecap in ddms shows it right way up. touches are also inverse; you have to touch where the onscreen element would be if it were displayed properly instead of where the element is; e.g. a button on lower-left will display in the upper right, upsidedown, but the screen registers the button when you touch the lower-left portion of the screen. (quasi common, equally infuriating and hilarious)
none of these problems will show up in a screenshot at all.
i can reliably reproduce any of the above by simply adjusting the screen brightness. this will, quite literally, cycle through every possible defective display mode randomly for a split-second before moving on to a different one as long as you move the brightness slider.
MOST of these issues are transient and are either fixed (temporarily) or replaced with a different listed issue if you lock/unlock the display. it feels like a hardware issue what with the solarizing and color horrors, but is acting like a software issue, considering that recovery and boot are perfect and have never displayed any of these issues. i tried gently flexing and stressing the case in areas that might be a weak connection point, but can't get it to bug out that way.
in no way am i suggesting that i didn't screw something royally in the reconstruction stage, but i tore down and rebuilt that phone 4 times with identical results, so i can guarantee it's not some loose ribbon connector or zif socket.
i beg of you, great minds of xda, what the balls did i muck up this time? any hope for a fix? are there different panels, drivers, something?
thanks in advance

OK, if your screenshots appear normal, then your phone appears to be working correctly!
or at least it thinks it is we can conclude that it isn't the rom, kernel, or anything that you can blame the phone for going screwy.
Try buying another screen??
The ribbon connector might be broken?

yeah, these were what i figured what my options were. it just seems odd that the boot process and recovery menus have error-free displays while only the full android os doesnt. oh well, i'll probably just have to make a stink about it on ebay or something.
thanks for reading

You might try a fresh flash before getting a new screen to see if it is indeed a hardware issue. If you want to try that follow the second link in my signature. You will not need to flash bootloaders since you are currently on KJ6.

lumin30 said:
You might try a fresh flash before getting a new screen to see if it is indeed a hardware issue. If you want to try that follow the second link in my signature. You will not need to flash bootloaders since you are currently on KJ6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hell, warranty's void at this point anyway, right? may as well thanks much!

welp, all went well, screen was perfect through the whole heimdall/recovery process, but the problems still exist in the os c'est la vie. at least my wife's phone is finally rooted, i suppose. thanks anyway!

Have you tried opening it back up and reconnecting?

yup, 4 times, but i guess one more wont hurt
[edit]
it definitely seems to be related (if not related, exacerbated by) changes to screen brightness. turning off autobrightness has helped minimize the issue, but it still presents itself semi-often during screen-off/on events. obviously nothing useful in logcat.

zero01101 said:
it definitely seems to be related (if not related, exacerbated by) changes to screen brightness. turning off autobrightness has helped minimize the issue, but it still presents itself semi-often during screen-off/on events. obviously nothing useful in logcat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting and could very well be a hardware problem with the screen. You wouldn't see that in recovery as the OS isn't loaded to mess with the brightness in that mode.
Does it do it on-demand if you mess with the brightness slider?

stephen_w said:
Does it do it on-demand if you mess with the brightness slider?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you better believe it does. rapid fire cycles through every color until it can't take it anymore and turns off. if i take/refresh a screenshot through ddms and poke blindly at the screen at that point, it'll still take input which is a curious, difficult game to say the least.

zero01101 said:
you better believe it does. rapid fire cycles through every color until it can't take it anymore and turns off. if i take/refresh a screenshot through ddms and poke blindly at the screen at that point, it'll still take input which is a curious, difficult game to say the least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's that Pink Floyd screen. You're supposed to drop acid & watch the wall when that's going on. LOL j/j
Given that you're on a fresh ROM & the problem persists, I'm leaning toward a hardware issue man. Sorry.

stephen_w said:
It's that Pink Floyd screen. You're supposed to drop acid & watch the wall when that's going on. LOL j/j
Given that you're on a fresh ROM & the problem persists, I'm leaning toward a hardware issue man. Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as fun as that sounds, unfortunately i bet i'll end up just getting my wife a used phone on ebay or somewhere similar and using this one as a development monkey. i was assuming that it wasn't something i could fix but hoping otherwise... yeah, that worked out

I just started having this problem. It wasn't too bad at first, just the color changes, but then it started not showing a screen at all. Changed to three different roms, even back to the stock non-rooted KJ6 and gave up. Keeping it on a steady brightness is the only way to minimize the color changing. I thought your thread had a solution but...
I may try opening it up and fixing the ribbon. But otherwise I'll keep using it as long as I can tolerate it until an S3 or a new Nexus.

kristoper said:
I just started having this problem. It wasn't too bad at first, just the color changes, but then it started not showing a screen at all. Changed to three different roms, even back to the stock non-rooted KJ6 and gave up. Keeping it on a steady brightness is the only way to minimize the color changing. I thought your thread had a solution but...
I may try opening it up and fixing the ribbon. But otherwise I'll keep using it as long as I can tolerate it until an S3 or a new Nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nawp, nothing even close to a solution here i did end up buying my wife a whole new replacement phone and turned the broken one into my api10 development device. for what it's worth, yeah, autobrightness off does help a bit for when the phone is actively displaying content, but after you put it to sleep/screen off and try to turn it back on, it's a crapshoot. for a few horrifying hours, the screen was upsidedown even in recovery/boot animation and would NOT flip back to right-side-up until i ran the battery completely flat.
is no fun, 'tis truth. sorry for your troubles.