Unresponsive Touch Screen only while charging??? (not a grounding issue)

[musicman555]

I have had my incredible since the first day it came out and have loved every minute! I just recently started noticing that when my phone is plugged in to charge (via wall charger or usb) the touch screen gets real buggy and is unresponsive. So much so that I cannot browse the internet or send texts because it will only register maybe every other keyboard stroke. The home screen is buggy as well and does not swipe smoothly from screen to screen. I have tried multiple chargers and have ruled that out and I am making sure that it is grounded when I am doing this. My wifes Moto Droid just started having the same problem this morning. Her keyboard would register five letters at a time when she was trying to type but when she unplugged it everything was fine. Any suggestions?

 

[rpfarrah]

It does the same thing on every charger? Even the stock charger that came with your DI?

 

[musicman555]

Yes even the stock one. It did not happen at first either which is what I found odd. It was fine for a couple months and then all of the sudden started bugging out only when charging...

 

[rugbyua9]

Does your house have voltage problems? Do you see other equipment thats plugged in whizz out?

Too high of a voltage has tendency to do that.

 

[musicman555]

No voltage problems that I know of. No other electronic devices are having any trouble and I have a lot plugged in around the house. My laptop works just fine from the same outlet

 

[JimmyMac]

Try a different outlet or a different house (work, friends, etc with different chargers). That should rule out your house.

 

[rugbyua9]

Try a different outlet or a different house (work, friends, etc with different chargers). That should rule out your house.

Or even try to charge in the car with a car charger....

 

[mclarryjr]

My MOTO Droid would have the same issues when I used any of my blackberry chargers but worked fine with the one that can with the phone.

If your having a fluctuation in your voltage at home you might not notice it on any other electronics since some have higher tolerance to changes in voltage.

 

[DHSFed]

I purchased two different wall chargers off of Ebay and they all caused what you are describing. Whenever I use my OEM that came with it it works perfect as well as my OEM car charger. As a result, I started using my EnV Touch charger at work and it also works perfectly.

 

[Legobricke]

I dont have this issue...

The only time it gets wonky is if its sitting on styrofoam.... then the touch doesnt work...

That and the fact I get a better connect strength and better wifi signal if I hold the phone at the bottom... If I hold it at the top, signal strength and wifi drop dramatically.

Lego!

 

[musicman555]

I just took a drive to lunch and did not have the problem with my OEM car charger (and no Oprah I was not texting while driving, maybe browsing the engadget site but not texting), so maybe it is just a problem with the two chargers I have at home. One is my OEM charger that came with the phone and the other I got off ebay. I'll try my old EnV 2 charger at home and see if that is any different. Why would a non OEM charger cause the screen to bug out?

 

[rugbyua9]

I just took a drive to lunch and did not have the problem with my OEM car charger (and no Oprah I was not texting while driving, maybe browsing the engadget site but not texting), so maybe it is just a problem with the two chargers I have at home. One is my OEM charger that came with the phone and the other I got off ebay. I'll try my old EnV 2 charger at home and see if that is any different. Why would a non OEM charger cause the screen to bug out?

When you buy non OEM chargers you have to becareful of the output of the charger. I brought this up with Cory (one of the mods here) because my ebay charger was having the same issue. Here was his reply to me on the thread (http://forum.androidcentral.com/droid-incredible/18367-car-chargers-nav.html).

I used this person's post as a guideline on how to do it. I was successful at the solder job, not so much in prying it apart and re-glueing it when I was finished. I might try this procedure again, on a charger that comes apart by unscrewing the a fastener at the tip of the charger, or just buy a non USB car charger. I would be surprised if your phone is showing AC Charging with the charger you described. If it is, it should me maxing out at 500mAh per the standard for USB hosts.

- Cory Steater

I have a ebay charger that plugs into a electrical socket for my truck. I have it plugged into an AC/DC converter which is plugged into my cigarette socket. It charges the phone nicely, but when plugged in, it freezes the screen to where I can use anything. I can still receive texts, emails, and calls but the screen won't let me open or answer anything. I use it for charging emergencies since it renders my phone useless when plugged in.

Any thoughts to why the screen freezes?

- Me

I had that happen with the USB output of a dual purpose Amzen battery only charger I bought from Fommy. The output amperage for the USB port said 350mAh. Needless to say, I never plugged my phone into it again and threw the thing away. If you're screen is freezing, I don't think you should continue to use that method personally.

- Cory Streater

Anyways, his reasoning for me was not rocket science. If the charger freezes your screen and its not OEM... then it probably isn't doing your phone any good and possibly could be doing something detrimental.

 

[MA2GA28]

I agree with the notion that you have voltage fluctuation issues in your home. Not a major deal in most cases, but could be what's causing the issues with your phones.

Have you tried your chargers elsewhere? Like a friend's house, or work? If your phone is fine on your car charger, I assume this may be your issue.

 

[musicman555]

@ rugbyua9: interesting, thanks for passing that along. did not know that could be the case.

@ MA22GA28: I have not tried any other locations yet like you and some others have suggested, but will do so tonight since it could be an issue as well. I guess it makes sense that my phone would be more sensitive to voltage fluctuations than a laptop or other larger devices if that were the case... worth a shot

 

[musicman555]

It seems that after trying my same charger in a different location that my apartment was mainly to blame. I never noticed any other electronic devices having any trouble there so there was no reason to suspect that would be the case. In another test I did confirm (again like many others have) that using a cheap third party charger that I got off ebay could cause a similar problem. The screen became unresponsive and the problem was alleviated when I switched to any OEM charger (my D Inc one and my Env 2 one as well). Thanks for the input

 

[rugbyua9]

It seems that after trying my same charger in a different location that my apartment was mainly to blame. I never noticed any other electronic devices having any trouble there so there was no reason to suspect that would be the case. In another test I did confirm (again like many others have) that using a cheap third party charger that I got off ebay could cause a similar problem. The screen became unresponsive and the problem was alleviated when I switched to any OEM charger (my D Inc one and my Env 2 one as well). Thanks for the input

If you are having high voltage in your house, just call the electric company. They have to come out and check and the tab will be on them. (it is over here)

 

[jmichaelsk]

could also be combo of LauncherPro and debugging

I have been playing with my samsung epic 4g with no problems except would not connect to computer via usb. Finally found out that it only likes usb that are on the Mother Board not headers(no front panel usb, only back of computer). Then tried some walmart AM chargers and had the screen freeze and took them back. Then I bought some off of ebay and had the same problem.

What I finally found out is that the touchscreen can shut down but the keyboard still worked. I originally tried the 12v chargers in a 110 to 12 adapter plugged into a suppressor, which I use all the time. It froze the touch screen. tried it in the car, no problems. Wall chargers still messed up, till I found a post about launcher pro, which I installed. So I cleared the defaults and home keyed to touchwiz. screen worked. Home keyed to stock android home and screen worked. Home keyed to Launcher pro and nothing.

I then went into settings and turned on usb debugging and screen worked perfect with home key going to launcher pro. The only thing I couldn't get to fix was plugging in to the usb port on the stand alone battery chargers. The kit I got had 2 dc, 2 ac, and 2 stand alone ac battery chargers with usb ports for simultaneous charging.

In conclusion,

using Launcher pro ? (possibly other replacement homes screens)
Disable Launcher Pro or enable usb Debugging in settings-applications-development

Hope this helps some others.

 

[t3hkender]

I am having the same issue with my week-old Sanyo Zio (Cricket). The phone comes with a USB cable and a wall block with a USB port for charging. It took about four days for the block to stop working entirely, so I plug the phone into my (Windows) laptop to charge. It charged perfectly fine from the wall, but the screen freaks out whenever it's plugged into the laptop. I've "Safely Removed" the device so that there would be no data connection or anything, but to no effect.

When the phone's battery level is low, if I plug it into the laptop, it seems to work fine for a while.

The charging block says it has an output of 5.1v, and I was under the impression that that USB from a computer was also 5.1v. The USB port works fine, I use it with other devices with no ill effect. Maybe there's a short in the cable?