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[Q] Nexus 5 screen showing colorful static

Has anyone come across this before? I was watching a video on MX Player not too long ago, and it seems to have resulted in a permanent colourful static for the phone.
I can't really tell if it's doing anything, but when I go through the motions of resetting it or booting into bootloader, the screen does not change at all.
Interestingly the volume buttons are still working, and if I press the area of the screen where I think the buttons are (e.g., the back/home/programs buttons) I get the right vibrations. Which leads me to believe my screen is broken, and that it's a hardware fault. I'm hoping pretty hard this isn't the case, as my phone is only two months old and it was a replacement for a 6 month old Nexus 4 which had stopped charging.
Anyone come across this before? I'm hoping there's a kind of solution somewhere out there... To make matters worse I bought this phone via a parallel importer AND I'm currently overseas and won't be back till the end of January.
Sigh. Photo of screen is as attached - please forgive the terrible quality as I had to use my laptop webcam.
Thanks in advance, everyone!

jono_nz said:
Has anyone come across this before? I was watching a video on MX Player not too long ago, and it seems to have resulted in a permanent colourful static for the phone.
I can't really tell if it's doing anything, but when I go through the motions of resetting it or booting into bootloader, the screen does not change at all.
Interestingly the volume buttons are still working, and if I press the area of the screen where I think the buttons are (e.g., the back/home/programs buttons) I get the right vibrations. Which leads me to believe my screen is broken, and that it's a hardware fault. I'm hoping pretty hard this isn't the case, as my phone is only two months old and it was a replacement for a 6 month old Nexus 4 which had stopped charging.
Anyone come across this before? I'm hoping there's a kind of solution somewhere out there... To make matters worse I bought this phone via a parallel importer AND I'm currently overseas and won't be back till the end of January.
Sigh. Photo of screen is as attached - please forgive the terrible quality as I had to use my laptop webcam.
Thanks in advance, everyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only time I've seen something like this was when my integrated graphics card on my desktop overheated, everything still worked, but colorful static everywhere. I'd let it cool down for a while, chances are it was pretty hot when it did that, and see if high temps might make it happen again.

I just had the same thing happen. Phone had been in my pocket and I had just taken it out to check the time maybe 10 minutes before it happened. The only difference with mine was I bumped into a table and hit the phone in my pocket. It does have a case on it and there is no sign of damage at all such as a cracked screen or anything. The static only lasts for a few seconds and thats right after I force it to reboot. After that it just goes to an all black screen. My LED indicator light is still flashing at me telling me I have an email though so I'm not sure what the deal is.

Were you able to resolve this issue? I too just experienced this issue as well and my phone is currently unusable. Thanks!

Do a full wipe as in wiping the entire phone and making it as if you just got it out of the box. if it persist RMA
Sent from my Nexus 5

Hi, I broke my screen (really bad smash) and had have this static on my new screen. The new screen was apparently fully tested. When using the slim port i can display on my TV and the digitizer works fine, its just this same colour static on the handset. I am now waiting for a replacement USB flex (it was a bit bent in the break) and i expect the new USB flex will fix it. If not then its a bad screen.
Will post the results when i get the parts

Fixed!
Hi,
My new USB flex arrived today. I installed it and found my screen is working perfectly.
The first pic is the same colour static that the op had.. Second one is the USB flex board / ribbon. Ebay for 20 Euro. Please remember that USA users are LG D820 and Europe/rest of works LG D821. I think its important for this part as the aerials connect here ans they are different in USA.
Good luck everyone

zeebo1111 said:
Hi,
My new USB flex arrived today. I installed it and found my screen is working perfectly.
The first pic is the same colour static that the op had.. Second one is the USB flex board / ribbon. Ebay for 20 Euro. Please remember that USA users are LG D820 and Europe/rest of works LG D821. I think its important for this part as the aerials connect here ans they are different in USA.
Good luck everyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
sorry for reopen the topic but I really need to know if change de USB flex solve this problem
thanks

Static screen and freezing
Hi All,
Need help here with my 6 month old Nexus 5. It has been pretty good with no issues but since last evening, it started behaving weird. The chronological events are as follows
1. While browsing on Chrome some websites were not scrolling intermittently. This was only in the browser.
2. After about 10 mins of the above behavior the entire phone froze and didn't release itself. I had to force reboot by holding the power button down for about 10 secs. When the screen came on, it was the static screen
3. I again pressed the power button a couple of times but no use. Held it again for 10 secs, then phone rebooted and everything was fine.
4. Continued to use the phone and everything was normal until this afternoon, when the phone again froze while browsing a website
5. Since then the phone screen shows the static and if I press the power button once, the screen switches off and press again the screen comes on with the display showing properly. I can now only perform one touch which is registered and the screen freezes. If I switch off and on again the next screen / action is shown which is the action I did in the previous touch. Every time it registers one touch and I have to switch off and on again to see the next screen. Sometimes the phone just shows static and I have to wait a few seconds (30 sec) before using it again.
6. If I make a call to my phone, I hear one ring and then it is busy tone like I've cancelled the call. However the phone does not show the incoming call.
My phone has been intact and is well protected with screen guards and case. There is no physical misuse / abuse of the phone. I managed to shut down the phone and enter recovery. Here as well it only registered one touch, though the phone was processing and moving the next step. I somehow managed to initiate a factory reset through the settings, but no use.
Now in about 2-3 hrs the phone has become completely useless. I'm uncertain what the problem is, all my touch inputs are registered and processed. The screen just doesn't refresh to the next and requires a power off/on. I picked up this phone in the US and now in India. So I can't RMA the phone and I don't have warranty for this in India.
Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Madzy said:
Hi All,
Need help here with my 6 month old Nexus 5. It has been pretty good with no issues but since last evening, it started behaving weird. The chronological events are as follows
1. While browsing on Chrome some websites were not scrolling intermittently. This was only in the browser.
2. After about 10 mins of the above behavior the entire phone froze and didn't release itself. I had to force reboot by holding the power button down for about 10 secs. When the screen came on, it was the static screen
3. I again pressed the power button a couple of times but no use. Held it again for 10 secs, then phone rebooted and everything was fine.
4. Continued to use the phone and everything was normal until this afternoon, when the phone again froze while browsing a website
5. Since then the phone screen shows the static and if I press the power button once, the screen switches off and press again the screen comes on with the display showing properly. I can now only perform one touch which is registered and the screen freezes. If I switch off and on again the next screen / action is shown which is the action I did in the previous touch. Every time it registers one touch and I have to switch off and on again to see the next screen. Sometimes the phone just shows static and I have to wait a few seconds (30 sec) before using it again.
6. If I make a call to my phone, I hear one ring and then it is busy tone like I've cancelled the call. However the phone does not show the incoming call.
My phone has been intact and is well protected with screen guards and case. There is no physical misuse / abuse of the phone. I managed to shut down the phone and enter recovery. Here as well it only registered one touch, though the phone was processing and moving the next step. I somehow managed to initiate a factory reset through the settings, but no use.
Now in about 2-3 hrs the phone has become completely useless. I'm uncertain what the problem is, all my touch inputs are registered and processed. The screen just doesn't refresh to the next and requires a power off/on. I picked up this phone in the US and now in India. So I can't RMA the phone and I don't have warranty for this in India.
Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting the same issue. Tried soft and hard reset. Opened her up and seated all cables. The issue is still persisting. Is replacing the USB flex the way to go?

Hey I have a nexus 5 32GB and the screen started to do weird things and now it isn't working at all. Its the same in recovery mode also do I think that it's not a software problem.
I think there is an issue with the motherboard. Please help me out.
Thanks in advance.

nexus565 said:
Hey I have a nexus 5 32GB and the screen started to do weird things and now it isn't working at all. Its the same in recovery mode also do I think that it's not a software problem.
I think there is an issue with the motherboard. Please help me out.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely the flex cable
ふかつどう

Anyone seen this colored screen?. I have been getting this past 2 weeks when phone is charging and screen is about to turn off. I am on stock not rooted.

bullorbear said:
Anyone seen this colored screen?. I have been getting this past 2 weeks when phone is charging and screen is about to turn off. I am on stock not rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like the daydream function. You can turn it off in Settings>Display>Daydream
Sent from my Nexus 5 Unchained using XDA Free mobile app

Same thing, Screen now black. Won't turn on...
Hey everyone, I know that this is kind of late to the thread, but I have what I believe is the same problem as everybody else here. I had my Nexus 5 in my pocket for maybe five minutes, and in between the times that I put it in my pocket and took it out again to reply to a text, the screen went all colorful and static on me (Red tint, almost as if I had twilight on, but I didn't). I tapped the back, and the colors went back to normal, but the digitizer wasn't responding to touch. Then, It went black. No color, the speakers weren't working, neither was the backlight on the display. I took it apart, and figured its either the USB flex cable (which looked frayed), or the mainboard. If its the USB flex cable, then I know I can repair it. If it's the mainboard... well, as a sixteen year-old who has no current source of income, I'm out of a $400 phone.
Pictures attatched. Thanks!

rikudo said:
I'm getting the same issue. Tried soft and hard reset. Opened her up and seated all cables. The issue is still persisting. Is replacing the USB flex the way to go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took the phone the LG service center and the technician seemed to know this issue and immediately said that the USB flex cable needs to be changed. The entire fix took about 5 mins and the phone is working fine since then.
Sorry for the delayed response.

I hate to necro up this thread but I'm having similar problems to the op with my nexus 5. About two weeks ago I saw my screen get grainy just like the op and many others mentioned and then the screen went completely black. The screen still "turns on" but it's just black with the backlight on. I can hear notifications and other things and I'm hoping that all I need to replace is just the flex cable. If it's a problem with the logic board then I'm screwed basically.
Anyway that's my story. Bought the flex cable and it'll be here by tuesday so I'll find out then if I'm lucky or not. Fingers crossed.

pezkiln said:
I hate to necro up this thread but I'm having similar problems to the op with my nexus 5. About two weeks ago I saw my screen get grainy just like the op and many others mentioned and then the screen went completely black. The screen still "turns on" but it's just black with the backlight on. I can hear notifications and other things and I'm hoping that all I need to replace is just the flex cable. If it's a problem with the logic board then I'm screwed basically.
Anyway that's my story. Bought the flex cable and it'll be here by tuesday so I'll find out then if I'm lucky or not. Fingers crossed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man, did you ever try this out and get it to work? I have the same problem and was thinking of trying this out but wanted confirmation first.
Thanks!

Just wanted to post here to say that this thread just saved me a lot of money!
Had the same issue (static showing on the screen). Local phone repair shop told me it needed a new screen, without even looking at it(!), and it would be £120 + labour. Told them I would think about it, and came home and did some more research, found this thread. Ordered a replacement USB flex cable from eBay, and fit it by following a YouTube tutorial, and now the phone is back working fine. brilliant!
Thanks xda!

I had a problem where my screen looked like an old CRT TV with particles flashing all over on anything with a static dark background. Any ideas

[Q] My display seems to fail randomly, even after changing LCD. What could it be?

So here's my issue. Yesterday, my phone started to give me a while screen full of dead pixels (pinkish color) randomly. I would turn off the phone, turn it back on and after 2-3 minutes it would crash again. Last year I dropped it and cracked the screen, so to me it was related to that. The phone works fine other than that (music plays when display fails. I did wipe it completely and reinstalled Kit Kat, it solved the issue temporarily but after 30 minutes it started again.
Today I decided to go check out a phone repair shop and ended getting my phone fixed by them. What this consisted of is a replacing the display and plastic frame. I picked up the phone and everything was perfect, new screen and display which looks and feels like new.
Now it's been about 5 hours and the phone started acting strange again. Now it's a lot less worse than before, but I still get the full screen of dead pixels. The display will go on and off (I guess it's trying to reinitialize or something) but always fails. So I end up rebooting the phone for it to work again.
The 2 times it happened after getting the phone fixed it was when I put it in my pocket to go from my work to my car, and then from my car to my home. So I don't know if it has anything to do with being in my pocket, that's why I came here.
So could anyone could shed some light on my issue here? Is my phone already dying? It's only been 13 months and I'd hate to have spent for a new display for basically nothing.

Replace the flex cable. If that doesn't work then it's an issue with the motherboard/screen, in which case you would have to guess between the two, or simply send it to LG and pay for a repair.

Nexus 5 colorful vertical lines

Hello
I have a strange problem with my Nexus 5. Today when I booted it up it started fine and everything was working. After 2 hours I wanted to check my phone, but it had turned off. I pressed the power button and strange vertical lines appeared coming from the top of the screen. They disappeared after 3 seconds, but now my phone has no picture only the backlight is working. When I reboot the phone I see the stripes again, but still screen is unresponsive after booting. I know the phone works, because I hear the notifications coming in. I though, that maybe the lcd cable has gotten loose, so I opened up the phone, but the cables were still all connected. I haven't dropped my phone or anything. Can anyone please suggest me what to do? Does it have something to do with the cables? Or is the screen broken ? Any help will be appreciated.

This has happened to mines previously. Unfortunately you'll need to replace what is called the flex cable.

A lot of topics about this issue but no one answers is not complete.
In my case usb flex replacement haven't got any result. Absolutely!
Only by replacing the mainboard (i.e. motherboard) Nexus 5 became alive.
So, feature Nexus 5 rainbow vertical lines victims, keep this in mind.
ps: yes, I'm a necroposter, sorry

Same thing happens to me some time ago, now i've put some paper on the mainboard connector and the problem appear only some times.
I think i have to buy a new phone.

Google pixel screen demains black but still responds

Hello guys,
I got a problem on my Google Pixel out of nowhere. I turned it off a few days ago and when trying to turn it on again a few hours later it did not work.
Nothing happened whether it was plugged it or not so I thought the battery was faulty.
I ordered a new one and changed the battery. Now the phone turns on but the screen remains black (I can tell it's turning on because it vibrates).
The screen is black but is still responsive, I can still (with difficulty since I don't see anything) enter my pin code and then answer calls, receive messages and so on.
It is also worth mentionning that it seems to work the same with the old battery which I thought was faulty (I am 100% sure it wasn't vibrating before I changed it the fist time because I tried for two days before ordering the new battery).
Do you think replacing the screen would be enough or could it be another issue ?
Thanks for your help.

Kargrim said:
Hello guys,
I got a problem on my Google Pixel out of nowhere. I turned it off a few days ago and when trying to turn it on again a few hours later it did not work.
Nothing happened whether it was plugged it or not so I thought the battery was faulty.
I ordered a new one and changed the battery. Now the phone turns on but the screen remains black (I can tell it's turning on because it vibrates).
The screen is black but is still responsive, I can still (with difficulty since I don't see anything) enter my pin code and then answer calls, receive messages and so on.
It is also worth mentionning that it seems to work the same with the old battery which I thought was faulty (I am 100% sure it wasn't vibrating before I changed it the fist time because I tried for two days before ordering the new battery).
Do you think replacing the screen would be enough or could it be another issue ?
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you dropped the phone? not like the ribbon cable connecting the screen to the motherboard could be loose and needs to be reattached again? just a guess though..

Arju said:
Have you dropped the phone? not like the ribbon cable connecting the screen to the motherboard could be loose and needs to be reattached again? just a guess though..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Arju,
No I didn't drop it.
Since I had to take off the screen to change the battery I had to unplug the ribbon cable. When putting everything back together I tried many times to unplug/replug it without success so far. (I did not glue it back yet to the case so far so I still have access).
Moreover, since the touch screen is working I am guessing it has to be attached correctly.
Thanks for your idea anyways.

Black Screen Of Death

Hi All
Has anyone had any issues with a black screen?
Everything else works like incoming calls and notifications but the screen it totally black!
Woke up early hours last night and noticed no AOD so tried to turn my phone on but the screen was just dead. Tried the volume and power button but still no joy

Power it down completely then plug in the charger.
If nothing shows on the screen it sounds like you lost some significant hardware... maybe just a connector.

toddyc said:
Hi All
Has anyone had any issues with a black screen?
Everything else works like incoming calls and notifications but the screen it totally black!
Woke up early hours last night and noticed no AOD so tried to turn my phone on but the screen was just dead. Tried the volume and power button but still no joy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same happened to my SM-N9860 unit when I woke up today. I about to unlock and the display suddenly went black screen. Did everything but no luck. I am also sure it's the display that's f***d up. The phone is still working - I can still access it in Dex and Link to Windows. This is my second Samsung phone with f**d up display for unknown reason. This is crap Samsung. Not expecting for this from an expensive flagship smartphone. I swear this is the last.

toddyc said:
Hi All
Has anyone had any issues with a black screen?
Everything else works like incoming calls and notifications but the screen it totally black!
Woke up early hours last night and noticed no AOD so tried to turn my phone on but the screen was just dead. Tried the volume and power button but still no joy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the way, how did you fix your phone?
I tried searching it on the net, seems a number of Note 20 ultra units are experiencing the same.
https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Note20/Note-20-Ultra-Black-Screen-Phone-no-display/td-p/1437825
Seems that display replacement is the only fix.

tribalfs said:
By the way, how did you fix your phone?
I tried searching it on the net, seems a number of Note 20 ultra units are experiencing the same.
https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Note20/Note-20-Ultra-Black-Screen-Phone-no-display/td-p/1437825
Seems that display replacement is the only fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Poor parts QC.
Samsung will substitute components and smaller chipsets in the middle of a production run. This can lead to unpredictable behavior especially after firmware updates... or outright failures like this.
Not reassuring especially with a flagship phone.

blackhawk said:
Poor parts QC.
Samsung will substitute components and smaller chipsets in the middle of a production run. This can lead to unpredictable behavior especially after firmware updates... or outright failures like this.
Not reassuring especially with a flagship phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. Very disappointing.

I can't believe it but my screen unexpectedly revives itself after a day.

tribalfs said:
I can't believe it but my screen unexpectedly revives itself after a day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Time will tell. Intermittents are the hardest hardware failures to troubleshoot...

blackhawk said:
Time will tell. Intermittents are the hardest hardware failures to troubleshoot...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree. But I am happy that it's working fine now and I hope it will not recur.

tribalfs said:
I can't believe it but my screen unexpectedly revives itself after a day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi im facing exact same thing in my N986 B Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. I had 10 percent battery left. i had put phone on charge and saw after 20 minutes and tghe screen was black.
Now its blackscreen can connect with tv via hdmi dex mode
but phone restarts after 10 minutes.
the touch seems fine as mouse function works phone is on but no display
can you tell exactly what you did when your phone revieved after one day
did u keep it on. charge all tiime tried reset or removed charging
or nothing and tried after 1 day
Edit After 24 hours of tapping slappingrebooting installing stock firmware. my display came back alive.
last thing was i was using phone in dex mode and trying to open close camera app rapidly by direct touch on screen. i dont know what worked but it saved my 300 dollars of screen replacement

I have exactly the same issue.
I was typing on whatsapp when suddenly screen get black. It was on friday morning. Notifications were ok, voice commands too. Touchscreen ok, I could use it normally when using my TV as screen with HDMI cable or with my notebook, when connected to windows or even Dex.
One day earlier I had an issue with the new magisk update. I freeze magisk manager wich was force closing but later, I managed to reinstall with dex and was working fine. Not sure if it's related.
I already flashed fresh stock Android R rom, wich I thought would solve any issues related to magisk or any other software issue.
24h after flash stock rom and keep force rebooting and taping, and my display is still dead.
Tried to tap, slap, shake (I can her some noise next to camera module when shaking, is it normal? I took off S-pen and microsd tray to see if it was the cause, but the noise still persists). No damage, water, or anything else. Only 2 months of use.
Display is still dead.
I'm draining battery now with some apps that also vibrate phone, to see what happens when full drained.
I live in Manaus/Brazil and repair centers are not working until March 23 because of Sars-CoV2. And my knox is tripped. It would cost a lot If I have to replace display or even the phone, since they probably will say it's no longer covered by warranty.
Any tips are welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Hope I have that lucky as well.

It happened to me again today. Surprisingly, a strong knock at center of the screen revived it again.

tribalfs said:
It happened to me again today. Surprisingly, a strong knock at center of the screen revives it again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hardware failure. May be a loose connection, cracked solder joint, trace failure on the mobo, or a bad component.
Intermittents are the hardest problems to find...

blackhawk said:
Hardware failure. May be a loose connection, cracked solder joint, trace failure on the mobo, or a bad component.
Intermittents are the hardest problems to find...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, obviously. Samsung already replacing displays of those who are having this issue.

tribalfs said:
Yes, obviously. Samsung already replacing displays of those who are having this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not good if there's a recall... crap QC is getting to be a bad Samsung habit.

Those of you with BSOD issues: Did you have intermittent wifi connectivity issues as well? My N20U had the 'connected to wifi AP but no internet' for the last month. Then today after unplugging the OEM charger, checking charge level, never picking the phone up from the desk, and returning to it 30 minutes later the BSOD had hit. No amount of hard restarts or waiting fixed it and it had to get shipped back. Just wondering if there is any correlation between the wifi issue and the screen going out, and if people should start sending their note in ASAP if the wifi problem occurs before the screen goes?

hello
i had the same problem (didn't have any Wifi issues before)
and after the screen went black for 2 day , it came back and worked for a few hours.. then went off again and Never came back
i tried everything, resets , cables , connecting to Dex or Hdmi , updating.. but Never worked
i went to Samsung and they said screen must be replaced ( will pay for it as i am out of warranty)
can you tell me what have you done or if anything worked for you?

My screen went black after a screen replacement. Only the front glass was broken not the digitizer or actual screen. From what I can tell it's not just the screen that's dead, it's the digitizer too. The S-Pen board underneath it all isn't even registering. When I plug it in the computer doesn't see it so Dex won't connect and there is no signal for HDMI to work. Had the USB port replaced just to be sure it wasn't a bad port.
It's like some one took the graphics card out of a computer and took the touch screen monitor. The phone still gets signal. It connected to my smart Fossil watch and I could answer calls and texts.
But the phone is 9 months old. And from what I've heard from parts distributors it's not the screen that's the issue. So now I have a new motherboard. Now I have to figure out how to program it....