Looks Like My A100 is Going to the Shop

[CarbonSink]

Touch screen is losing its ability to detect touches.

It was fine at first (September '11) but starting in October, it would not detect the swipe that unlocks the unit until it had been on for a couple minutes. Then in November it was doing that, but when it finally did allow me in, the bottom right part of the screen would always be acting like it was being touched (being held in landscape mode, home button on the right). This caused the Status display to come and go like mad. It would act like that for a couple more minutes, and then be ok for the rest of the day.

It seems to be related to the cold; the room it was in got down to about 60degF one night and it took over 10 minutes to register the unlock swipe (had to power the unit back on a few times) and then another 5 minutes for the bottom right corner to calm down.

Now that we're into December, if I leave the unit off for a few hours, it has to be warmed up all over again. It has gone from a minor annoyance, to a huge PITA.

I would have returned it weeks ago, but I love it too much!

I can't see that it is anything but a hardware issue but I thought I would post the problem and hope that someone has an answer.

Thanks,

CarbonSink

 

[jefflee74]

OMG, Mine is doing the same thing!!
I thought I was the only unlucky one
What are you planning to do
Can we send it back to Acer?

Should I call the customer Service??

 

[jbenham]

If you set it to require a password, you will not have to swipe to unlock it.

Sent from my Sony Tablet S using Android Tablet Forum

 

[Qutarpoundr]

I just want to chime in that I have the same issue and found this thread while looking online for a solution. It annoyed me enough to take the time to register and post/share my findings.

Mine is doing it at the same area mentioned by the OP. It will go nuts by itself or, if I tried to tap the "clock panel" area (lower right portrait), it will auto close the clock/settings panel. I stick my finger to the top and left of that area, and hold it there, it will do a double tap frenzy. Holding it there, I can see it starts to slow down the frenzy over about 1/2 to 1 minute until it registers the long tap and goes normally to the settings screen that allows you to add widgets to the homescreen. And after this, the screen is fine until I put it to sleep for a few hours. Any other part of the screen, it does not do this. On occasion, even after a long sleep, it will not do this and this is when I noticed it is usually when the room is quite warm.

There are not many ppl who complained about this problem as far as the google searches are concerned. There are a few references related to the oversensitivity of the capacitive touch screen. And rooting the A100 and enabling the part of the OS that allows you to tweak the screen sensitivity might fix it. Never tried it myself.

Initially I thought it was due to my screen protector, but I have sinced removed it and it behaves the same way. But what I have noticed (also mentioned by the OP) is that if you "warm up" the screen before turning it on from the long sleep, it will be fine. I live in the North Eastern US and my house is at around 60-65F.

Ways of warming it, I would put my palm on the screen and gently rub it for a bit. Another way was to hold it in front of my heating vent for a few secs. And a third way is the same old tradition to make Nintendo cartidges work... blow your own breath on it for a bit.

My own personal opinion is that is can be solved by software eventually. I did not bother calling Acer Support, cause experience tells me, doing such things will result in more aggravation and I will end up with some other refurbushed device that will do the same thing.

The following are my environmental conditions (hopefully we can all compare and pin down some commonalities).
Avg Room Temperature: 60-65F
Location: Boston, MA
OS: 3.2 (if any one who has the 3.2.1 update and lives in a cold part of the world and does not have this problem, please let us know)
Kernel: 2.6.36.3
Build: Acer_A100_1.018.05_COM_GEN2
I have the 16GB model that I recently purchased from Amazon in November.

I am hoping for a resolution in the supposed upcoming ICS or even an OTA 3.2.1 update, before going down the rooting and hacking path.

 

[jtmcmc]

I'm having the same problem (have to wait 1-2min to swipe to unlock after booting or waking from long sleep, then the "back" arrow in lower left corner goes nuts for another minute or two). Noticed it about a few weeks after getting it. I had only used it for checking email, playing a few games (mahjong, angry birds, wordzup) etc. No movies, photos, music, video chat.

I thought maybe it was a live wallpaper I had downloaded since it seemed to start shortly after that (I now think it may have just been coincidence) so I reset it to factory. It was ok for a few days but started doing it again. I have turned off the wifi, thinking maybe it was downloading updates when the problem was happening but that didn't stop it, either. I also turned off automatic update, background update, Google locate, cleared the cache, uninstalled games. Nothing has made a difference.

I'm not sure about the temperature issue. I'm in Texas and the tablet has been inside the whole time. Our house stays around 72-74. It has been rather humid around here lately (thankfully!).

In the interest of trying to help find a resolution to this problem, here are my enviromental conditions as well:
Avg Room Temp: 72-74F
Location: Central Texas
OS: 3.2
Kernel: 2.6.36.3
Build: Acer_A100_1.012.05_COM_GEN2
8GB model purchased at WalMart in November.

 

[jefflee74]

The best solution for now is to disable the lock screen
but it still remain buggy after few updates
I hope Acer will fix this eventualy
I am very disappointed

 

[dmtchico]

Not a REPLY as such, just chiming in with my two cents.

I am also having the same exact problem with my Acer A100, of after turning it on each morning or after it has been off/asleep for a few hours or so, the Status Notify pops up and down continuously for a minute or two, then its OK as long as I'm using it.

I wish there was a way for me to download and reinstall the entire OS from scratch, to see if that would fix it.
My suspicion is that during one of my MANY app download/installs, a power surge or static shock caused some of the OS to be overwritten and now it acts weird like this.

I have also heard that ICS is coming to the acer a100 early this year. I hope this fixes it, and if so, I will try not to be the cause of any static discharges when downloading/installing apps.

Luck to us, so far unlucky few.

 

[Qutarpoundr]

The lock screen does not make a difference. It is not any one particular app that is causing it. I had done a factory reset and it makes no difference.
I even ripped off my perfectly applied screen protector thinking it was the cause and still no luck. In fact, I would even go as far as to suggest keeping the lock screen enabled so that all those "auto taps" has a safe place to run amok until it is back to normal. Otherwise it will auto tap itself to oblivion when it eventually reaches the settings view. Or when an email notification shows up and it auto taps into it. It once had somehow auto replied a blank email on mine.

My device never had an update, it came stock with 3.2 with the build version as stated in my previous post. I am very curious as to what build numbers ppl have that do not exhibit this behavior. I am also surprised that jtmcmc has a slightly different build version than me. Making me wonder how many different build versions there are for 3.2. Either that or jtmcmc made a typo. But it will be unlikely ppl who do not have this problem will ever come across this thread...

3.2.1 is on the horizon for the US... ppl from other parts of the world are slowly getting that update since the begining of this month. If that don't fix it, I guess a call to Acer will be inevitable. ICS will be nice, but I don't have much faith in it being totally bug free on the first iteration. Heck, even the SDK is on version 4.0.3 now. Other than this auto tap issue, the A100 is pretty awesome.

 

[dmtchico]

For everyone's info:
I have the same exact OS, Kernel, and build as jtmcmc.
I bought my unit in Mid-Aug. 2011 at Walmart.
My problems of very rapid phantom screen taps began a little over a month ago (Nov 2011).
I live in N.Calif. and my house is over 66F.

My problem is very rapid phantom screen taps near the corners of the screen.
Which corner depends on the orientation of my device.
So far the only problem is that I have to wait for about a minute until the phantom taps quit.
Then I can use my device without further problems until after I restart it again after it has been off/asleep for more than just a few minutes or so.


Interesting possible related incident:
I installed the Amazon "free app of the day" 'Tasks N Todos' a couple days ago and it worked fine until I added it's supposed, 'Honeycomb optimized widget' to one of my screens. As soon as it was added, my unit went crazy very rapidly resetting my screen back to the Home Page so fast and continuously that I almost wasn't able to get to the Application Manager in order to uninstall the app. It took many many tries to finally get to the App Mngr.

I only mention this because the rapid screen phenomenon is kinda similar.

I hope this info. helps to document the acer a100 phantom screen tapping problem and that someone figures out how to fix it.

I wonder how many others are having the problem?

I wonder it one of the Administrators of the forum would start a sticky thread about it?

good luck to all of us acer a100 owners.

In the interest of trying to help find a resolution to this problem, here are my enviromental conditions as well:
Avg Room Temp: 72-74F
Location: Central Texas
OS: 3.2
Kernel: 2.6.36.3
Build: Acer_A100_1.012.05_COM_GEN2
8GB model purchased at WalMart in November.

 

[jtmcmc]

I double checked my build number and it was correct. As far as the differences, we found that the A100 from WalMart has a different model number than ones purchased elsewhere. Their model number ends with a "w". Other than that they are identical. We found this out while trying to get WalMart to pricematch and they were saying it was a different model.

Anyway...back to the main problem. I was skeptical about the temperature being the problem but was frustrated enough to give it a try. I have found that if I warm the screen ( I hold the tablet under my arm) for a minute or so, I don't have any problems at all! Go figure! It's been about 3 weeks now and I only have the going-crazy issue when I forget to warm it up. It's not an ideal setup but I figure it's a pretty cheap fix and I like everything else about the A100.

I hope this helps.

 

[jefflee74]

I Finally Called the customer Service and the technical support guy tried unsuccessfully to troubleshoot it
They asked me to send them back
and guess what I got back in a couple of days?
A brand new tablet!! and it works perfectly...for now
and it seems to be a newer generation as the packagings are different

so if your conia tab is still under warrenty
I suggest you do the same

 

[dmtchico]

I have had the 'cold screen' problem with my A100 for several months now.

In the morning I just warm the lower right (landscape position) corner of the screen with my breath or by rubbing it with the palm of my hand and it stops the problem of the screen rapidly self-touching itself everytime.

It's a little annoying, but since I have a self-fix, it's not worth it to me to send it off and be without it.

One question, how long is it gone for, when it is sent in for this fix?

Any reply will be appreciated.

 

[dmtchico]

I Finally Called the customer Service and the technical support guy tried unsuccessfully to troubleshoot it
They asked me to send them back
and guess what I got back in a couple of days?
A brand new tablet!! and it works perfectly...for now
and it seems to be a newer generation as the packagings are different

so if your conia tab is still under warrenty
I suggest you do the same

Please let me know how long "a couple of days" is.

Also, how far from you was the address that you had to ship it to?


I have some trips coming up in mid to late June 2012 and I don't want to be without my device when I go.

It would be nice to have the cold screen problem fixed for good instead of me having to warm it with my hands or whatever each morning.

Thanks advance for your reply.
/s/ dmtchico