Reposted, with image - Intermittant transparent overlay on MOST of my screen

[oldmobie]

I have an a semi-transparent overlay that comes and goes, seemingly at random. It covers most of my screen. It seems to show over any apps, as well as my home screen. It doesn't show in screenshots, so my wife took a picture of it.

(I'm not the only one, see a better description here: https://forums.androidcentral.com/a...-have-greyish-screen-overlay-all-screens.html)

It's a Samsung Galaxy s7 with android 7. (Nougat)

Does anyone know what causes this, or how I can go about figuring this out?

 

[VidJunky]

What happens if you press the drop down arrow in the lower corner of your photo?

 

[VidJunky]

It looks like the silhouette or space saver for an ad. How regularly does this happen? Is it regular enough that you could turn off your data for an hour or so and see if it skips a beat? If it is some kind of broken push ad turning off data might interrupt things and prove its an ad.

 

[oldmobie]

What happens if you press the drop down arrow in the lower corner of your photo?

The "greater than" symbol in the lower left? That opens taskbar.

 

[oldmobie]

How regularly does this happen? Is it regular enough that you could turn off your data for an hour or so and see if it skips a beat?

I usually see this happen at least once per day. When it happens again, I'll try this and report back.

I also use DNS66, an ad blocking VPN. I used it for sometime before this behavior started, but I may try disabling it as well. (On a seperate occasion, so I don't muddy the results of turning off the data.)

 

[oldmobie]

I've had one opportunity so far to try turning off mobile data in the presence of the overlay. It hung around for two minutes until my screen dimmed. (Times out at two minutes.) I tapped the screen to keep it awake. When the brightness returned, the overlay was gone. Doesn't seem conclusive to me, so I'll try again unless I hear back otherwise.

 

[oldmobie]

It hung around for two minutes until my screen dimmed. (Times out at two minutes.) I tapped the screen to keep it awake. When the brightness returned, the overlay was gone.

It's happened three more times now. The first time, I shut off mobile data. (I've tried that twice now.) The next time, I disabled DNS66. The last time, I didn't change anything. Every time, the same behavior, the overlay remains until the screen dims before standby. I tap to keep it awake, the brightness returns, and the overlay is gone. I guess the reason I didn't notice this before is because I was trying everything to fix it, I didn't just watch and wait. Oops.

 

[VidJunky]

It's happened three more times now. The first time, I shut off mobile data. (I've tried that twice now.) The next time, I disabled DNS66. The last time, I didn't change anything. Every time, the same behavior, the overlay remains until the screen dims before standby. I tap to keep it awake, the brightness returns, and the overlay is gone. I guess the reason I didn't notice this before is because I was trying everything to fix it, I didn't just watch and wait. Oops.

So you're reporting that this is the behavior before the screen times out? I've seen devices that dim the screen just before they time out but not with a bright strip across any portion of it, it's usually just a warning that the screen is about to turn off to see if you're still using the device. But you said you could press buttons thru it, as though anything that opened would simply open under the dimness, which I wouldn't think was a screen time out warning...

 

[oldmobie]

So you're reporting that this is the behavior before the screen times out?

The overlay appears randomly, but when the phone is active. If I don't touch it until I get the shutdown warning, and then touch the screen to avoid shutdown, the warning and the overlay go away at the same time.

 

[oldmobie]

But you said you could press buttons thru it, as though anything that opened would simply open under the dimness, which I wouldn't think was a screen time out warning...

Correct. If I keep the phone active, whatever I do just appears "under" the overlay. The shutdown warning is seperate. It just happens that clearing the warning also clears the overlay.

 

[oldmobie]

New symptom, as of today: a shaking "ghost image" of what's on the top left appears at the top right. Doesn't show in screenshots. Disapears if I wait until the screen dims, just before going to sleep, then touch the screen to keep it awake. If it comes back, I'll try to take a pic with another phone to upload.

 

[methodman89]

Run the phones diagnostic mode test.

 

[oldmobie]

Run the phones diagnostic mode test.

*#0*#? Nothing happened. Website says some carriers disable the feature. I'm on verizon.

 

[oldmobie]

The overlay turned solid black today and the phone was unusable. I finally realized it was cold from being outside, so I warmed it with a hand dryer. It went back to semi-transparent, but didn't go away.

I factory reset my phone, then installed every update. The overlay came back.

I'm convinced now that it's hardware, rather than software. Gonna see if there's any warrantee left.