Soft keys are possessed...at times

[ncarbon]

So sometimes, mostly in the car dock my soft keyes radomly go off, home button, menu button etc....and at times, I try to dimm the phone with the power button and 'click' screen shot....really annoying. It seems fine for 5 minutes in the dock and then all of a sudden radom soft keys start happening.
I am on SC 2.9.2 with NitroDark and EC10 source - Voodoo(lagfix+sound)+BLN+UV+Misc tweaks - jt1134 Voodooo only. This anomoly has happened with most kernels and roms....just wondering if some one else has managed to fix this!?


Ned

 

[gunnermike53]

So sometimes, mostly in the car dock my soft keyes radomly go off, home button, menu button etc....and at times, I try to dimm the phone with the power button and 'click' screen shot....really annoying. It seems fine for 5 minutes in the dock and then all of a sudden radom soft keys start happening.
I am on SC 2.9.2 with NitroDark and EC10 source - Voodoo(lagfix+sound)+BLN+UV+Misc tweaks - jt1134 Voodooo only. This anomoly has happened with most kernels and roms....just wondering if some one else has managed to fix this!?


Ned

do you have bln control installed?

 

[ncarbon]

Nope....

No no installed

 

[krunkan]

do you have bln control installed?

What is this? (bln is too small of a word to get picked up in thread search.)

 

[Chris3D]

Back-light notifications. Basically, it'll blink or light the backlight for the soft-buttons when you get an e-mail or SMS

 

[phooky]

So sometimes, mostly in the car dock my soft keyes radomly go off, home button, menu button etc....and at times, I try to dimm the phone with the power button and 'click' screen shot....really annoying. It seems fine for 5 minutes in the dock and then all of a sudden radom soft keys start happening.
I am on SC 2.9.2 with NitroDark and EC10 source - Voodoo(lagfix+sound)+BLN+UV+Misc tweaks - jt1134 Voodooo only. This anomoly has happened with most kernels and roms....just wondering if some one else has managed to fix this!?


Ned

i had the same issue for about a month now. wiped and tried different roms, but still persisted. just got off the phone with verizon, was told its a hardware issue, replacement device is in the mail.

 

[MolecularGraph]

i had the same issue for about a month now. wiped and tried different roms, but still persisted. just got off the phone with verizon, was told its a hardware issue, replacement device is in the mail.

So its something we have to get replaced or just deal with it?

 

[Sta11i0n]

Make sure the face of the phone is clean. I've had a few times a dirty fingerprint or grease had caused a soft button to stick.

 

[TripSixes]

I've seen all sorts of crazy "soft button pressing" depending on what Power Source I had plugged into the phone..

out-of-the-box Samsung charger : no issues at my house.
out-of-the-box Samsung charger : at my parents house, I've had phantom presses occur.

cheap store-bought chargers : I've had these experience phantom presses at various locations, including my house.

in short, I believe the soft key presses that I've seen are due to fluctuations in the power source when plugged into a charger.

 

[mrcymstr]

I have a third theory on top of hardware issue and charger issue....i believe its possible that static buildup can cause it, to test my theory I've laid my phone on an aluminum speed square I had laying around and as long as its touching that no phantom presses...i can't say for sure but its looking promising thus far. Maybe someone else try this test to check if its valid or just an odd coincidence.

 

[FearTheGhost13]

I too have had the soft key button problem since I got the phone, it's been a minor issue to me, but since screen capture has been introduced it's become much more annoying to me as the back button seems to be the one that likes to magically press on it's own the most, so I tend to get a ton of screen captures every day when simply trying to put my phone to sleep with the power button. I agree that it's mostly a hardware problem, but also agree that other things can cause it especially oily finger prints and static as I've tested every theory I can think of over the months. My phone is still well under warranty, think I may just take it into the store I bought it and get a NEW replacement, not a refurbished one!

 

[HogFanatic03]

I agree

 

[swenpro]

So THIS is what is causing so many problems!! I have had my Fascinate for about a month...

A couple weeks ago I started experiencing random screen captures. I know this is a common problem.

A week ago I first experienced a 'Safe Mode' boot. I had never seen this before. Then suddenly every other time I booted my phone it would boot into 'Safe Mode'.

Now the last few days I am getting incessant soft key toggles. They start and stop at random.

I hooked up to ADB last night and started looking at what was going on. That's when I realized that crazy loops of the following type of code were being executed over and over again:

V/WindowManager( 2737): Dsptch to Window{4898f9e0 AtchDlg:com.ebproductions.android.launcher/com.ebproductions.android.launcher.Launcher paused=false}

I guess this equivalent of a soft key press. Many times again and again.

This must be the common denominator!! Random soft key presses of this sort would cause the random screen captures, screen not shutting off by itself, booting into Safe Mode, and so on.

Now, WHAT IS THE FIX? Do I just get my phone replaced? I do have a Realook screen protector on, but I have read that taking the screen protector off does not necessarily fix anything.

Advice please...

 

[Landshark]

For the most part, the random soft key presses can be alleviated by keeping the screen nice and clean. I bought a small gray microfiber screen cleaning cloth from Office Max and carry it with me so I can periodically wipe my screen clean. I also bought one of the bigger blue screen cleaning cloths which I keep at home. It works better, but is not meant for carrying around with you.

 

[bxojr]

For what it's worth, my experience tends to support the theory that this problem is caused by power fluctuations.

I also get the possessed soft keys from time to time; it only happens when the phone is plugged in to my car adapter, and I can generally make it stop by just unplugging the adapter from the cigarette lighter for a few seconds.

I think I'll try a different car adapter and see if that makes a difference (though it doesn't happen that often, so it might be hard to tell).

 

[phissure]

Mine does this as well. I'm rooted but have done nothing to it... It does the phantom presses both plugged in and not plugged in. It is usually in a silicone case...

 

[swenpro]

Okay, I am getting these phantom soft key presses multiple times a day now. They are very frustrating. Sometimes I won't even realize that they are being pressed in the background unless you look at the LogCat.

With regard to the theory that the phantom presses are caused by dirt or dust on the screen...

Why then is the Back soft key being activated (causing errant screen captures), but never causing the screen to go Back (as when it is actually pressed). Or how come my phone never jumps to Home or does Search soft key function by itself?

In favor of the dirt theory, even when the soft key area looks clean, I will rub vigorously to clean it and suddenly the phantom soft key presses go away for a few minutes... only to return again. So, I go around wiping my phone's face like an OCD freak every time I pull it out of my pocket. Ridiculous.

What I really don't get is, if dirt is really activating the soft key buttons, then why does the result generated in LogCat look different??

Pressing the Menu soft key on my Fascinate generates the following code in the LogCat:

E/imdg81 ( 2738): IsShutDownStarted()

I/KeyInputQueue( 2738): Input event

V/WindowManager( 2738): Dsptch to Window{488fd800 com.ebproductions.android.launcher/com.ebproductions.android.launcher.Launcher paused=false}

Now compare this to the code being automatically generated by 'possessed soft keys':

V/WindowManager( 2737): Dsptch to Window{4898f9e0 AtchDlg:com.ebproductions.android.launcher/com.ebproductions.android.launcher.Launcher paused=false}

Notice they're not the same? So shouldn't there be a way to fix this issue via software, seeing as the phantom soft key presses are NOT identical to actual soft key presses?

 

[bxojr]

An update... I tried a different car charger today, and still had the weird issues. I still think it's power-related, because never happens unless the phone is plugged in, and only in the car; but it's not the charger.

I also don't believe the dirt theory because the "possessed" behavior I get isn't limited to soft keys going crazy. The other problem I get is the on-screen keyboard appearing for no reason, even though there's no text being entered. It's even more annoying because it obscures the screen, and there's no easy way to dismiss it. Could be a SwiftKey beta issue, but it only happens under the same conditions as the soft-key glitch.

 

[Brian_G]

I had this problem before. Although I can't nail down the exact cause, my suspicion is either an aftermarket charger at work, or the very week signal at the same location. My theory is one or the other caused it to go into an over-power state. The reason I attribute it to this is the problem would start as soon as I sat at my desk. It seemed to get really bad when I started using the charger.

The first few times it was just an annoyance. After a few weeks it got progressively worse. Finally it got to the point where it would do it at home and other locations as well, regardless of signal strength. The degradation occurred quickly.

I called Verizon and was lucky enough to reach a helpful person. She quickly identified it as a "known" issue. A hard reset was recommended. I had already done this, so she approved a replacement.

My new (recertified) phone was fine at work for a few weeks. I decided to risk trying the charger again. Within two days I had a few minor episodes of phantom button presses. Needless to say, I got rid of the charger. The problem went away, so I guess I caught it before causing irreversible damage. I've since bought a spare OEM samsung charger. I use it at work regularly. It's now been about 2 months with no problems.

Bottom line is I can not guarantee the work charger alone was the cause. I also used aftermarket chargers at home and in the car with no apparent problem. But, these locations had decent signal strength as well. I was also doing ROM and Kernal changes throughout this time. But, my feeling is the aftermarket work charger combined with low signal quality to damage the old phone.

So, you may want to replace the phone now before it gets worse and buy some spare samsung chargers.

 

[swenpro]

I had this problem before. Although I can't nail down the exact cause, my suspicion is either an aftermarket charger at work, or the very week signal at the same location. My theory is one or the other caused it to go into an over-power state. The reason I attribute it to this is the problem would start as soon as I sat at my desk. It seemed to get really bad when I started using the charger.

The first few times it was just an annoyance. After a few weeks it got progressively worse. Finally it got to the point where it would do it at home and other locations as well, regardless of signal strength. The degradation occurred quickly.

I called Verizon and was lucky enough to reach a helpful person. She quickly identified it as a "known" issue. A hard reset was recommended. I had already done this, so she approved a replacement.

My new (recertified) phone was fine at work for a few weeks. I decided to risk trying the charger again. Within two days I had a few minor episodes of phantom button presses. Needless to say, I got rid of the charger. The problem went away, so I guess I caught it before causing irreversible damage. I've since bought a spare OEM samsung charger. I use it at work regularly. It's now been about 2 months with no problems.

Bottom line is I can not guarantee the work charger alone was the cause. I also used aftermarket chargers at home and in the car with no apparent problem. But, these locations had decent signal strength as well. I was also doing ROM and Kernal changes throughout this time. But, my feeling is the aftermarket work charger combined with low signal quality to damage the old phone.

So, you may want to replace the phone now before it gets worse and buy some spare samsung chargers.

This is the most insightful post I have seen yet regarding the issue. Thanks for taking the time to share.

I wish I could say I have never used a non-OEM charger with my phone. But I have used this Zip-Linq Micro USB charger several times, either plugged into the Samsung OEM adapter or my laptop.

I thought all Micro USB chargers were alike. But from your post and others posting regarding car chargers, etc, this does not seem to be the case.

I plan to only use the OEM Samsung wall adapter and cable from here on. What you said about the phantom presses going away after discontinuing use of non-OEM charger on your 2nd Fascinate gives me hope that my phantom soft key presses could be reversed as well.