Sprint Galaxy S4 Display Screen Not Responsive - As if Locked or Frozen?

Sgooter

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Bought my S4 from BB 6 weeks ago, and now it's having frequent episodes in which the display screen does not respond to any touch inputs. The live wall paper on the home screen is functioning OK, but the rest of the screen is frozen or locked. The fix has been to restart the phone, then the screen responds as it should. So then, I set the phone aside for let's say an hour, then pick up the phone to make a call or open an app, and nothing happens - it looks normal but it's not responding to any touch/swipe kind of inputs. I searched in the settings, but didn't see anything obvious that would cause this problem. Any ideas?
 

Paul627g

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Re: S4 Display Screen Not Responsive - As if Locked or Frozen?

Sgooter,

Is the device updated to Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) ? You can verify this by looking in your app drawer/Settings and then I believe its under last tab on the right which shows you the important technical information about your device like OS version, build number, etc..

My wife has been experiencing similar issues with her S4 since updating to Android 4.4.2. Same fix, reboot seems to be the only way to get out of the non responsive touch state.
 

Sgooter

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Re: S4 Display Screen Not Responsive - As if Locked or Frozen?

Yep, it's on KitKat. The frozen screen problem started last week - a month after the KitKat update.
 

metle_geek

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Bought my S4 from BB 6 weeks ago, and now it's having frequent episodes in which the display screen does not respond to any touch inputs. The live wall paper on the home screen is functioning OK, but the rest of the screen is frozen or locked. The fix has been to restart the phone, then the screen responds as it should. So then, I set the phone aside for let's say an hour, then pick up the phone to make a call or open an app, and nothing happens - it looks normal but it's not responding to any touch/swipe kind of inputs. I searched in the settings, but didn't see anything obvious that would cause this problem. Any ideas?

Sounds like a bad digitizer you should get it warranty swapped out

must have unlocked boot loaders!!
 

Sgooter

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Thanks metle-geek,
You may be right about a bad digitizer. Yesterday, I cleaned out a bunch of excess apps - either uninstalled or stopped them. Phone worked OK afterwards, and we'll see how it does today. If the problem occurs again, then I'll pursue a warranty replacement.

Update: The phone has performed flawlessly throughout today and evening...keeping my fingers crossed.
Update 2: Since cleaning out some needless apps, the phone has been working fine for several days.
 
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metle_geek

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Thanks metle-geek,
You may be right about a bad digitizer. Yesterday, I cleaned out a bunch of excess apps - either uninstalled or stopped them. Phone worked OK afterwards, and we'll see how it does today. If the problem occurs again, then I'll pursue a warranty replacement.

Update: The phone has performed flawlessly throughout today and evening...keeping my fingers crossed.

Well then your lucky last time I had an issue like that I had to get a new phone

must have unlocked boot loaders!!
 

sambo57u

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I am also on KitKat and this happened only once so far yesterday (not rooted, with few apps).
It looks like a software bug since after the reboot it has been working fine. I had the phone since it was first released and never had it until now.