Touchscreen stops responding after being in my pocket!

I was having the same problem... the phone is with Nokia at the moment, hoping it's going to come back with a new screen!
The Nokia Care Point thought it may have been a software issue, but reflashing V20 didn't solve it.

Glad to know I'm not the only one - it seems to be a bit more usable last 2 days but let me know the result you get, I've got a feeling I won't get anywhere until I can put v20 on and prove it's not a software fault.

Will do.
I took the phone to the shop on the 8th December, then they sent it to Nokia on the 11th... I'm hoping it's gonna come back soon - using a 2610 is no fun at all.

I found the screen worked fine if I had the phone in my pocket with the screen facing outwards, rather than resting against my leg... rather uncomfortable to have it like that, but at least the screen was usable when I got a phone call... being unable to answer the phone when it rings was getting rather annoying!

I've been trying that and it does seem to get rid of the problem - how strange!
Definitely suggests it's got to be a hardware fault though, would be a very strange software issue. Seems like I'll be taking the phone back into the service centre in the new year then 😞

Possibly heat saturation of the proximity sensor (which disables touch screen when you have the phone up to your face while in a call)?

When the proximity sensor is active, the screen is dark isn't it?
When my touchscreen is misbehaving, everything is visible - touching it just doesn't usually have any effect... or if it does - it registers presses in the wrong place.

That's exactly what happens with mine, sometimes it just goes crazy and starts selecting stuff all over the place when you try to press something, and it never seems to be anything specific that makes it start working again, it just fixes itself after a while.
I wonder if it's maybe something like condensation getting in from the heat of it being against a leg when it's so cold outside...would explain why it only just started happening as it got colder. The silver trim on the left hand side of my screen has some movement in it too which could indicate a loose seal?
If I could wrangle a new screen out of this under warranty it would be great as I do have a couple of little scratches on there from before I bought my screen protectors!

Do you use a Crystal or rubber case that is on the screen?

Take it off if you do.. It did exactly that when I had mine on and once I took it off, it became normal again.

Never going back to those cases again.. :P

All I have is a screen protector, it has been on for a good few months now so maybe it's worth trying it without for a while then putting a new one on and see if it has any effect. Cheers for the suggestion.

Mine isn't in any kind of case, and doesn't have a screen protector.

I think the layers of the screen are sticking together when there's constant pressure (when in my pocket), and they don't come apart straight away when the pressure is removed.

Can confirm removing the screen protector had no effect whatsoever - your sticking theory seems to make a lot of sense with the way it acts, will drop mine back to my nearest service centre in the new year and hopefully convince them just to swap the screen under warranty.

Got GPS and Lens fixed last week, v20 finally on yesterday, if I get this sorted then I might actually have the phone I wanted in the first place 😊

My N97 is back from Nokia - after it's FOUR WEEK holiday.
It's got a new cover on the front... other than that I don't know what they've been doing to it!
By tomorrow I'll know whether the 'pocket problem' has been resolved.

After having the phone back for a few days, I haven't experienced the touchscreen/pocket problem. It looks like Nokia have fixed it 😊

Good news 😊 I haven't had chance to go into my 'local' service centre, do you know exactly what was fixed to resolve your problems so I can try to speed my repair up by telling them what to do?

I did ask the guy at the care point what had been done to my phone, but he didn't know - Nokia apparently don't say what they have repaired.

Hopefully you'll get yours repaired quicker than mine!

I suggest that it is the touch screen, not the proximity sensor that is the problem. I covered the proximity sensor with several layers of tape, and this did not stop the problem. When I placed the phone screen-outwards in my pocket, the problem stopped.

I will have to take this to Nokia, and get it fixed along with the camera lens!

Side note: is it better for me to take the phone to a NCC than get three to send it off? Cheers.

Guys, for what it's worth.
I had huge problems with the touchscreen, to the point where I missed every call and even reboots did not help restore the touchscreen functionality.

Last Friday I finally backed up the phone to memory card, performed two hard resets, followed by a soft reset, *#7370#, and since then the phone has been working a treat - something which has surprised me a lot.

Might be worth a try before handing it over for repair.

I'm a bit dubious since just turning the phone the other way round stops the problem... that seems to indicate it's physical, not software.

Well, it's just happened to me!The other day, I noticed it was sluggish in responding, after being in my pocket for a while. Today, again in my jeans pocket, I got a text message, took the phone out and could not get it to show me the text - the touchscreen just stopped responding totally.

Re-booted the machine and that still didn't work ( fring of course automatically started and could not get that to quit ) , however, turning the phone around into landscape with keyboard open, made the phone responsive and I could get to the text.

But, I think it's worthwhile taking it to the local NCC, so will do that tomorrow. Might was well get them to replace the GPS and the camera lens screen.

BTW, there is only a screen protector on the phone, no case of any nature.

Seems like this is a problem that could start popping up with more peoples handsets - maybe the construction of the screen isn't good enough and once it's been under a certain amount of pressure it just starts sticking.

I haven't actually got round to taking mine in yet, the NCC isn't too convenient for me to get to - it is absolutely fine with a screen protector and case as long as the screen is facing outwards in my pocket, I've almost just got used to putting it that way and forgotten about the problem but am still planning to get it fixed.

Fingers crossed it can be sorted without being at Nokia for weeks - the only spare phone I have that will take my 3 simcard is my girlfriends old Sony Ericsson piece of crap - which is purple 😞

I had a similar problem, tried to upgraded firmware, format and reinstall. None of these work, it solved the problem for few hours then it was back on again.

Eventually i took my phone to the Nokia Care Centre, they took my phone for 2 weeks. It stated in the document that they have replaced my touch screen. it has been working fine since. Hope this helps

So much for my theory on Hard Reset for the cure.
I've just handed my handset in for repair after it got to the point where only the power button worked.
After the original reset everything worked great for about 2 weeks, then gradually it got worse and worse until the touchcreen refused to work, red/green/silver buttons stopped working, and even the keypad would only work on rare occasions.

It's now with NCC so hopefully a replacement will be on it's way soon.

On a side note:
Since I was leaving it in anyway I asked to get the lens cover repaired and was told I'd have to pay for that and it was my fault for getting dirt in it. I explained that it was a design fault and he said he'd tell the guys but not to be surprised if they charge me for it!!!!!!!!!
I don't think so..... but that's an argument for another day

Kevs wrote:So much for my theory on Hard Reset for the cure.
I've just handed my handset in for repair after it got to the point where only the power button worked.
After the original reset everything worked great for about 2 weeks, then gradually it got worse and worse until the touchcreen refused to work, red/green/silver buttons stopped working, and even the keypad would only work on rare occasions.

It's now with NCC so hopefully a replacement will be on it's way soon.

On a side note:
Since I was leaving it in anyway I asked to get the lens cover repaired and was told I'd have to pay for that and it was my fault for getting dirt in it. I explained that it was a design fault and he said he'd tell the guys but not to be surprised if they charge me for it!!!!!!!!!
I don't think so..... but that's an argument for another day

Absolutely right, it IS a design fault, and is well documented. Which rock have these people been living under for the last 6 months? Virtually any NCC will now know that the GPS AND the Lens Cover is a major desing fault and are being replaced free of charge all over the country. Idiots. Grrr.

I finally got into the NCC in Newark yesterday...really unimpressed!
The phone wasn't actually showing the problem at the time, because I've kept it facing outwards for so long it takes a while to stop responding after I turn it round again. Anyway the guy took aggges to actually understand what I was explaining, then he kept just saying that it was pointless replacing the screen as it would just happen again and that it was somehow my fault for keeping it in my pocket! I said that was absolutely ridiculous and surely as a phone the inability to keep it in your pocket made it unfit for purpose at which point he said that was up to me to take up with the retailer (3).
Anyway I ranted on a little bit at him and he ended up also saying that because there was a dent on the phone near the screen area where I'd dropped it then no screen repair would be covered by warranty - I said that was also ridiculous as it clearly had nothing to do with the problem but he wasn't budging.
Oh - he did offer to sell me a 5800 case with a hard front which didn't fit very well in order to relieve some of the pressure from the screen but my point is that I'm not looking to pay for an inconvenient workaround, I want my phone fixed so I can use it like anyone would expect to be able to.
I've talked to 3 and they seem to be happy to take it and fix/replace the phone but it would mean sending it off for up to 2 weeks.

Really pissed off with the NCC and will be sending a complaint to Nokia about them because of the fact the guy was basically saying that I was mistreating the phone by keeping it in my pocket. Idiot!

^ That's disgraceful. It seems like any excuse not to do the work, they will take. I've yet to contend with this for my broken screen (I guess all of us dropped and dinted our phones coincidentally, then?).

So, some two weeks later my N97 arrives back from Nokia with a new screen - not a lot of information as to what was wrong or what was done, work note states "cover replaced" so I'll have to leave it at that.
Checked the lens cover before I left the shop and it was still scratched so asked about getting it replaced in-store and I was told not under warranty again.
Back to the old story of design fault, etc and asked the lady to check with the engineer and low-and-behold he was aware of the issue and offered to replace it within an hour under the warranty.
I also asked if they would update it to v21, but that was one step too far.

So with the phone back, I restored contacts and bookmarks from the backup and restored everything else manually - the thing is working almost perfectly!!!!!!!

I've hammered the maps 3.3 and it's been working perfectly - surfer dude has been keeping me on the right track, my right not his right, lol
Music player, camera, browser, and even a few calls and not a crash in sight and that's without v21.

Let's hope i finally have a phone that will work without crashing and requiring TLC to get it through the day.....

Glad it's fixed for you, and good work on getting the lens sorted too! Let us know if the screen problem comes back - it seems the fix has worked for everyone so far but it took a while to crop up so I'm still worried that it'll simply reappear because their screen design isn't up to scratch.

Despite my last post moaning about my local NCC I had another screen based problem on Saturday (see the thread about blinds effect) which left it useless so they have now sent the phone to Nokia to fix that with an extra note saying about the unresponsive touch issues so I'm keeping fingers crossed for a fully working phone hopefully by the end of next week!