[Q] Issues with the back, menu, search and home buttons - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

My soft buttons on my Nexus S 3G are playing up recently.
Have been playing with the ICS ports and the nexus mv ROMs recently,
The buttons will work for a short period, then cut out (lights off too)
Hibernating and then unhibernating the phone sometimes works and brings the buttons back to life, however it's becoming more and more frequent and i'm getting quite frustrated with the issue.
This is happening on multiple ROMs - ICS, MV and even back to stock, the same issue is occuring.
Any ideas on how to fix guys?
Thanks in advance.

I have had issues on my 9023 with the soft buttons when accidently flashed 9020 firmware into it, so you can check this, maybe that's the same problem with you.

Confirming that i only flash the ROMs compatible for my 9020...
This has been a gradual thing on my phone, cant seem to pinpoint the cause.
And no, have not dropped my phone so its not a physical fault

Maybe download Nstools from the market and see if you've got BLD enabled
Sent from my SNES

Related

Anyone recognize this? Volume goes up and down like crazy.

Ever since I received my Polaris back from repairs by Euro Twice in Belgium, I occasionally have a problem with the volume slider appearing out of nowhere and going up and down like crazy. This also happens when I'm not even touching the phone.
Sometimes the problem doesn't appear for days and sometimes it happens many times per day. It seems like some kind of internal short-circuit involving my volume-buttons and memo-button. I have to do one or more soft resets to make it go away.
Also, sometimes my phone won't switch on from stand-by by using the top button. Lastly, sometimes the 4 hardware keys under the LCD-screen don't work.
As I said, it seems like the device thinks that buttons are being pushed while they are not.
Does this seem familiar to any of you guys? Any idea what could be causing this? I have already sent it in for repairs by Euro Twice again but I received it back because they couldn't reproduce the problem (I guess they didn't test long enough).
I have ROM version 1.28.405.3 WWE (03/05/08), Radio 1.58.25.14, Protocol 25.69.30.05H. I'm not using any custom ROM.
A hard reset didn't help.
Bump...
Can anyone please make a guess what could be the problem? I have done a hard reset again and the problem is still there but much less frequent.
...sounds like a hardware issue...
Thanks, I know it's definately a hardware problem. IMHO, anything other should have been solved by a hard reset.

[Q] Possible hardware problem of the back button?

I just wanted to share this, since I was able to replicate this issue with three different phones, also asking if other people are having the same issue.
I am using my Samsung Nexus S for three days.
I noticed that the back button (the first capacitive button on the bottom left) appears to have an hardware problem.
Basically normally it works fine, I mean when I'm not using the phone for some hours.
Then if I start to use the phone, after a moderate use (example installing applications from the market, browsing etc) the button gets less and less sensitive.
After some minutes it gets really annoying.
To make it work it is necessary to use a really stronger pressure with the finger, and it is not even always working!
I am planning to return my device, but today talking with some people/colleagues I discovered that two of them have exactly the same problem.
I'm suspecting there is a batch of Nexus S phones with this glitch, I am curious to know how many people have the same problem.
Note:
At first I thought it was a general issue of the capacitive buttons. But I can't replicate the same problem with the other three buttons, they work very smoothly just lighltly skimming the finger over them, even after long usage.
Anyone with the same problem? What is your experience with this button after some usage?
Cheers
I want to say that I noticed something similar the other day, but it was short-lived, and I'm not 100% sure. It wasn't long enough or bad enough to make me think the phone is defective, but I'm a bit used to funky capacitive button responses from my N1 days.
I can't reproduce the issue right now, though. How much usage are you talking about needing to duplicate?
Does your phone get hot, or feel hotter than normal when this happens?
I'd see if there's some particular pattern or software that seems to trigger it if you're interested in trouble-shooting.
The problem goes away when I don't touch the phone for a while (it seems that 1 hour is enough to reset the problem).
It seems "recharging".
Then with normal usage, nothing in particular, just even browsing in the settings/maps/market/browser etc., in few minutes the problem appears. The button definitely loses his "power".
It's very annoying, and my friends confirmed the same behavior.
EDIT:
Forgot to sat that the phone is not getting hotter, everything else is really normal.
Cheers
Mine definitely can be used for much more than a few minutes without the problem you're describing appearing.
I'd take it back. Factory reset the phone to protect your private data before taking it back. After the factory reset, you might want to test the behavior again, if it went away, the phone's not defective, you just had some software glitch.
Reminder, factory reset erases everything on the phone, so if you do it as troubleshooting step, be prepared to have to set the phone up from scratch again...I'm sure you knew this, but just covering my butt in case you didn't. It's a good trouble shooting step no matter what if you don't mind the hassle of re-setting things up.
I have a similar experience with the back button. Not sure what to think yet.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I had a similar problem when I had the Vibrant. Just exchanged it and luckily I got a better one without any problems. I did find out though if you are using the screen protector that came with the phone, it can cause this type of problem.
No problem, I will try everything tomorrow. This is not my primary phone (still loving my rooted Nexus One with CyanogenMod 6.1.1 ;-) I can't renounce to the colored trackball for the different notifications), but just a "dev" phone for testing purposes.
michele72 said:
No problem, I will try everything tomorrow. This is not my primary phone (still loving my rooted Nexus One with CyanogenMod 6.1.1 ;-) I can't renounce to the colored trackball for the different notifications), but just a "dev" phone for testing purposes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app NOLED from the Market may interest you if you can't live without trackball style color notifications. Seems to work fine when I tested it.
distortedloop said:
The app NOLED from the Market may interest you if you can't live without trackball style color notifications. Seems to work fine when I tested it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, giving it a try.
Anyway, today I factory-reset my telephone and the problem of the back button is still there. I am returning the device.
Back button non responsive
Hi,
I just got my new nexus S (about an hour ago) that I was really excited about and am faced with a problem with the back button too.
Its got factory settings, so it cannot be a downloaded software issue. Also, I have not yet charged the battery at all, its still running on the same battery power that it shipped with.
The other buttons at the bottom of the phone (home, menu and search) all respond fine, its only the back button that does not seem to work. After going through this thread, I tried long-pressing the button, hard-pressing it, pressing just above it, below it, etc. It just wont respond. I had removed the screen protector it shipped with, so that cannot be the issue either.
If this is a known hardware problem (i.e. others have faced it too), irrespective of whether it is acknowledged by Samsung / Google, I'll return the handset. I do not want to spend a fortune and be landed with a handset that does not work - forget working as desired, but it does not seem to be working as designed !
Thanks & Regards,
Rohan
Yep. Definitely a problem here with the back button. There's also two other threads here about it.
I'm having similar problems. I have to touch the button just right for it to work properly
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I was experiencing the same thing with my Nexus S, wasn't sure if it was the case I was using! Took of case and still had problem. I eventually returned mine cause it seemed like it was getting worse! I have a new one worth no problems, definitely a hardware problem! Return it!
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
michele72 said:
I just wanted to share this, since I was able to replicate this issue with three different phones, also asking if other people are having the same issue.
I am using my Samsung Nexus S for three days.
I noticed that the back button (the first capacitive button on the bottom left) appears to have an hardware problem.
Basically normally it works fine, I mean when I'm not using the phone for some hours.
Then if I start to use the phone, after a moderate use (example installing applications from the market, browsing etc) the button gets less and less sensitive.
After some minutes it gets really annoying.
To make it work it is necessary to use a really stronger pressure with the finger, and it is not even always working!
I am planning to return my device, but today talking with some people/colleagues I discovered that two of them have exactly the same problem.
I'm suspecting there is a batch of Nexus S phones with this glitch, I am curious to know how many people have the same problem.
Note:
At first I thought it was a general issue of the capacitive buttons. But I can't replicate the same problem with the other three buttons, they work very smoothly just lighltly skimming the finger over them, even after long usage.
Anyone with the same problem? What is your experience with this button after some usage?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
those buttons work over the heat of your finger. thats why after use it doesnt get as responsive. its because the screen is also heated and the heat of the screen is effecting the buttons. thats why you need harder pressure for the phone to understand this is your finger.
same issue was with Nexus 1. less responsive buttons. thats why there is a bigger gap between the buttons and the screen for galaxy S phones. i dont know why they did such a thing again with the nexus S. its like samsung didnt learn from anything from HTCs mistake.
They work with capacitance, not heat. Hence it being called a capacitive screen with capacitive buttons.
I think this is true ...
I have an HTC Desire with AMOLED screen.
When I play a finger intensive game, like "SkyForce Reloaded", after some times, the touch is not registered.
Then I must stop for a while, or change finger
Try that, you will know what I meant.
But, I don't have issue with the back button on HTC Desire because it is a hardware button. I am just trying to explain about loosing touch registration because finger interaction on (s)amoled screen.
PS: SkyForce Reloaded is an old school shot'em up game where you control a little space ship with your finger, shooting enemies.
ll_l_x_l_ll said:
those buttons work over the heat of your finger. thats why after use it doesnt get as responsive. its because the screen is also heated and the heat of the screen is effecting the buttons. thats why you need harder pressure for the phone to understand this is your finger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Desire's digitizer is the same Clearpad 2000 which is used in the Nexus One (and quite a few others), the problem there is that it's pants.
Rusty! said:
They work with capacitance, not heat. Hence it being called a capacitive screen with capacitive buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, isnt called like that because it registers the heat from your fingers. thats why if you try to use a pen, it wont register . and thus. the screen is NOT resistive type "where it will recognize anything since its being pushed by force ? "
Much more too it than that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitive_touch_screen
Rusty! said:
Much more too it than that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitive_touch_screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from your link
"A capacitive touchscreen panel is one which consists of an insulator such as glass, coated with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide (ITO).[7][8] As the human body is also a conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the screen's electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance. Different technologies may be used to determine the location of the touch. The location is then sent to the controller for processing.

Back button not functioning when cold

I just received a used nexus s i9020t and I've noticed that whenever my phone gets slightly cooler than say room temperature the hardware back button stops working correctly. When the phone is "cold" if I have BLD turned on and wait till the back light goes out I can press the back button when otherwise it wouldn't work if BLD is turned off. Does this make sense to anybody? I can try and clarify if it doesn't. I'm worried that its a hardware issue and that I'd have to get it fixed somehow. I just bought the phone and I'd rather now put more money towards it.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
I'd like to mention that it is responsive when the phone is "warm". Its a really annoying thing and I'd like to get it figured out
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
I've not experienced your issue, so it might just have something to do with wiping and reflashing your current ROM (especially if you didnt wipe everything from GB to ICS). Though something to note: the "soft" buttons at the bottom use the touchscreen. You can witness this by going on a long web page and scrolling off the screen and down onto the soft keys, and notice that you'll be able to scroll left/right and up/down where the soft keys are.
This just means that if there is an issue with these, it falls back on either a software issue or touchscreen issue. Might help with diagnosing, ICS settings -> dev options has a good option to diagnose touchscreen problems.
I think the capacitive button mechanisms are different in the i9020 and i9023. I've had both and I've noticed that you can scroll around beyond the screen parameters with the i9023 but I cant with the i9020. Maybe somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. I've done some research and it sounds like I may have to pull the phone apart and try to take off some of the paint on the back button. Another suggestion that some people have is to slightly tighten the 6 screws on back of the phone under the back panel. I did that and its sorta helped. I can deal with it now but if it gets worse I may have to take the phone apart which is something I don't exactly wanna do. Btw I did wipe everything multiple times and restored from a backup and I didn't notice an improvement until I tightened the screws
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
You have a good point there, I assumed they were the same but they may be different, I've never experienced the i9020 to comment.
Good luck with your problem. You might try tightening only the screws near the back button and loosen the others a little, possibly giving it some leverage.
..

Non-responsive keys on keyboard

I'm having an issue where random keys stop working on the keyboard. The keys are never the same and it happens completely at random. This has happened to 2 different Inspires after rooting and flashing CoreDroid. Initially I thought it was something wrong with the keyboard so I changed keyboards and the problem persisted. I then switched to ARHD after doing a super wipe on one of the Inspires and the problem arose again.
An example of the issue. When I want to hit the 'h' on the keyboard it won't respond. I'll be able to hit every key around it but not the h. It's never consistent in which key it is and it doesn't seem to have a patter of appearance.
Is anyone else experiencing the issue or is it just me? Any ideas on what could possibly fix it? I'm likely going to flash an ICS ROM to see if the problem pops up in an ICS ROM as well.
I've never seen anyone complain of this before. Since you say it's different keys every time, then it's definitely not a digitizer issue. It has to be software, but since you say you've had the same problem on 2 different phones, with different ROMs and different keyboard software, I'm stumped.
I've seen this issue around the threads before and I've had this issue several tines before (mainly only with ics roms). Mine always corrects itself once I tilt the phone to landscape and then rotate it back up. No as far as why its doing it? I dunno
"I love my Springfield XD40"
ya force it to rotate screen, or power screen off and back on will correct it. its a bug that has always floated around with non-sense roms. minor really
I've only noticed this after I installed an ICS rom on the phone. I get a similar issue while typing that a single key will be unresponsive. It seems to take about 2 seconds for it to work again.
The time doesn't appear to be affected if you keep tapping the screen, or just wait.
Well, if nothing else it's at least good to have confirmation than I'm not nuts
is the problem occuring only with this particular ROM?
Yes, I have seen this on a number of GB ROMs.

[Q] Touchscreen Issues

I purchased my NVIDIA tablet yesterday but having problems with the responsiveness coming from sleep. About 1/5 of the time, my tablet will not respond to my finger/stylus. I always have to press the power button a few times to get it to work.
I have all the updates, including the recent update from yesterday. Is this defective?
Thanks in advance
ttxcsabby said:
I purchased my NVIDIA tablet yesterday but having problems with the responsiveness coming from sleep. About 1/5 of the time, my tablet will not respond to my finger/stylus. I always have to press the power button a few times to get it to work.
I have all the updates, including the recent update from yesterday. Is this defective?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never experienced any issues like this. Contact Nvidia Customer care.
This screen is very responsive!! Make sure you are all up to date with your ota and make sure you have a look in a settings / SHIELD POWER CONTROL/ OPTIMIZED
ttxcsabby said:
I purchased my NVIDIA tablet yesterday but having problems with the responsiveness coming from sleep. About 1/5 of the time, my tablet will not respond to my finger/stylus. I always have to press the power button a few times to get it to work.
I have all the updates, including the recent update from yesterday. Is this defective?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had that many times during one single day. Had to literally reboot the thing 5 or 6 times that day. COMPLETELY NO RESPONSE FROM THE SCREEN, ONLY BUTTONS. Still have to clue what the deal was. Hasn't done it since, but the issue DOES exist. And yes, I bought from the very first batch, straight from Nvidia.
I've had this problem since day one. Also the tab crashes at random times and it getting ****ing annoying. Thinking of returning the thing. It's worse than useless. Turn the screen off and you can bet that i'll have to reboot to get the touchscreen working again.
Idk why this helped but it did. I switched from using philz touch recovery to cwm recovery...now screen works less than half the time I turn it back on. That's still better than never.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet
I've never experienced this on Stock, Only on Pac-Man ROM and CM11. Either way it is very annoying.
This is a reaaallllllyy ghetto work around until the issue is solved, but the way I worked around it on CM11 is to have Tasker and Secure settings wake the device for a few seconds every 45 mins - 1 hour. Ever since I've had Tasker performing that task I've had no issues with the screen being unresponsive.
I have figured out how to fix the touchscreen issues. All you have to do is go under Settings>Apps>All Apps and find anything that ranges from Google Taiwanese or any Google foreign language app and disable it. There should be two of them. I haven't had any problems since I disabled them. :good:
I found something that has worked so far. I always use Nova launcher since it's my fav. I didn't think much of leaving the launcher that came with the rom. I went to titanium backup and froze the other launcher and it solved the touchscreen issue. This also fixed the app crashing problems most of the time. Still if I run more than two applications at the same time everything on the tab starts crashing. Seems to be a ram problem. I checked max backround processes and it's at "normal" which usually is fine. If anyone has a solution to the crash problem please let me know. Meanwhile i'll keep trying stuff.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet
Same problem here... Funnily enough I just wanted to try a custom rom to see whether this issue will be fixed and a new official upgrade to 7.0 came up - https://shield.nvidia.com/support/shield-tablet-k1/release-notes/1
Will see whether ithe problem is gone.
There was a time when my screen became a bit unresponsive. Very random. Calibrating the touch sensor fixed it up. Its a bit hidden but you'll find it by going into Settings>About Tablet (device)>Click on Model Number 3 times>The calibrating settings will pop up hit Touch then hit Start. It'll do it's thing and reboot. Hopefully it helps.
2kool2Bcruel said:
There was a time when my screen became a bit unresponsive. Very random. Calibrating the touch sensor fixed it up. Its a bit hidden but you'll find it by going into Settings>About Tablet (device)>Click on Model Number 3 times>The calibrating settings will pop up hit Touch then hit Start. It'll do it's thing and reboot. Hopefully it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a similar issue with touchpoints not working near the corners, calibration fixed things for me also. It's pretty quick and easy to do so I urge you to try that before doing a factory reset.
So far so good... Android N seems to fix the problem
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

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