Why doesn't my touch screen work???

[AC Question]

so basically i was at my mates place and my phone was completely fine, and i placed it on the bench and left it there and it started ringing because my dad was calling me. I went to swipe it to answer but it didn't respond i tapped everything on my phone and it seems the buttons work but the touch screen just isn't responding. Its a samsung galaxy s4 so its quite old but it there any way we can fix it?

 

[belodion]

Try a Cache Partition wipe.
If no go, the digitiser or some internal component may have failed. However you may care to try a Factory Reset, if all your personal data is backed up beforehand. Let us know if you need advice about that.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Rukbat]

I'd first turn it off, remove the battery, hold the power switch for a few seconds, replace the battery, then turn it on. If any hardware got hung, that will reset it. (It's called power-cycling - the hardware starts fresh.)

If that didn't work I'd try to clear the cache. If it still didn't work, it's time for a trip to a repair shop or your carrier.

Is there any way YOU can fix it? If it's a bad digitizer (the "touchscreen" part), I'd recommend against it, even though the Youtube videos make it seem simple. It's not until you've done a few, and you start practicing on dead phones, because you're going to destroy a few screens learning. It's cheaper in the long run to pay a shop to replace it. (If they won't without doing a factory reset - a lot of shops won't work on a phone without resetting it first - try a factory reset before giving it to them to see if that alone fixes it.)