2.1 Random key presses

[Psc]

Hey, guys.

Have a stock AT&T 2.1 install. Haven't gone nuts with installing apps, just a few basics such as Twitter, Facebook, Kindle and a couple of others.

When I use the phone, regardless of app, it frequently fires what appears to be random keystrokes as I'm just sitting there holding it, typically 3 to 5 or so, that bring up the search window, sometimes voice search, etc. I've been letting it go and just backspacing to where I was.

However, the other day while using the Twitter app, it happened several times where I ended up in the popular hashtag list with #PAX typed in. After the third time it seemed more virus than random, but it could just be that #PAX was trending and the list is where I kept ending up since the Twitter app isn't the only place this happens. Dunno.

Any of you experienced / heard of such behavior?

Yeah, I know. I should probably get around to rooting it and installing Froyo, just haven't wanted to spend the time. I'm a 20 year MS dev by day, so I know once I root an Android gizmo I'll be headed down the dev addiction / rabbit hole for heaven knows how many late nights - so long spare time.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Reggie]

First you do not need to root for 2.2 froyo. I have had a few instances of random search coming on but my fingers could have triggered it.
so do the official upgrade with out fear

 

[Psc]

Hey, Reggie.

Thanks for the tip on 2.2. Be curious to hear what you find should you discover the reasons for your own keypresses.

Ghosts, perhaps?

 

[Reggie]

They only occurred this morning and are gone now??? Who knows

 

[Psc]

Yeah, I know very little about Android OS and haven't started developing for it yet, so when stuff like that happens I can never tell if it's a virus, hardware glitch, bad app, or just phase of the moon.

BTW, my inclination to root isn't for a Froyo update, it's just because I'm a control freak.

On a related note, just unboxed a Xoom tablet tonight, so I suspect my motivation to become more droid proficient will only increase. Gotta say, it's a nicely done little gizmo.

 

[Birdman2010]

The same thing started on my phone yesterday. It happens CONSTANTLY. It happens so much that I cannot use the phone. I tried to do a factory reset, but I couldn't get there through the random keystrokes/actions. I googled and found this website to do a manual reset:

https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/38397/~/droid---master-reset-%2F-factory-data-reset

However, the random actions continued to happen! So, I pulled out the SD card thinking that the virus set itself up on the SD card. I did another manual factory reset. I went through setting up my phone again (activation, etc). Now, I am setting up the email and -- damn it! -- the random keystrokes are starting again.

Does anyone know what is going on? Do I have a virus? If so, how can I kill it? Is this a hardware issue? Help!

 

[pittsm]

This is due to having something on your screen which is registering as a finger press. Clean your screen good and see if that fixes it.

Sent from my extremely awesome captivate...

 

[Psc]

Birdman,

Pittsm's point is something I hadn't considered. While I don't think it's the case in my scenario, conceptually it comes out the same - hardware, i.e. physical cause rather than virus.

For my captivate, I believe the problem is a sticky / intermittent contact on the phone's Search button as this is the only action that I get random presses on. Since you have a Motorola I don't know what buttons you have, but either way my current gut feeling is that it's not a virus.

Don't know how helpful this is, but if you're the adventurous sort you might consider taking the phone apart, cleaning contacts, etc.

Or you could just clean the screen as Pittsm suggested. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky!