Dell Latitude 3120 Touchscreen Going Berserk

CascadeHush on 30/08/2023 - 11:26
Last edited 30/08/2023 - 17:06

EDIT 2: Dell were very helpful and are organizing a technician to replace the screen. The entire experience was exemplary, probably helped by the fact that I assume the original owner had some kind of extra coverage.

Thanks everybody for your help.

Original Post
Every couple of minutes, the touch screen on my Dell Latitude 3120 (convertible laptop) goes berserk, repeatedly registering screen taps in the bottom left and top right corner.

This results in the start menu appearing and disappearing and reappearing rapidly, and depending on what program is load other screens being opened and closed. This can happen for anything from a couple of seconds to over a minute, and then it stops and will be okay for a couple of minutes before starting it's bizarre dance again. Sometimes it happens over and over again for half an hour, but then the system will run fine for several hours. However it does seem to be happening more and more frequently. I'm using it as a media playback device whilst I do stuff on my desktop.

I can tell it's registering a touch response, because I can see the pale circle appearing and disappearing rapidly. If I can press my finger in that same spot, I can make those ghost taps stop for a second, but they start up again when I remove my finger. I was able to get the touchscreen calibration tool to run once, but it blitzed through the process itself and then continually registered false touches on the left hand side of the screen for several minutes and I had to use the power button to force the screen to lock to make it stop.

Eventually the system settled down long enough for me to disable the touchscreen in device manager and at least I can use the laptop again, albeit without the touchscreen. Since it's mainly a media device I would rather be using it in tablet mode so I'd like to fix the actual problem.

Any ideas how to fix it, or is the touch panel toast? I got it second hand so no warranty.

EDIT: Turns out it is still under warranty, but has changed hands a few times (I got it off a guy who got it off a guy who got it off…). So we'll see, that shouldn't matter, but it is Dell we are talking about.

Computing Computer Dell Laptop

Comments

    • CascadeHush on 30/08/2023 - 12:39

      Surprisingly affordable, thought picture of the screen is cracked and I can't tell if they are selling the whole assembly or just the digitizer.Probably more trouble than it's worth although part of me wants to try just to see if I can do it :)

  • geekcohen on 30/08/2023 - 12:22

    Dirty screen? I had this in the past and I would shut down the laptop, clean the screen and then it would be okay again. It was early on when touch screen laptops were a new thing so I guess the technology was new.

    I don't have the problem now on newer machines.

    However, being 2nd hand, might be a faulty screen.

    • CascadeHush on 30/08/2023 - 12:32
      +1

      Yeah I gave it a pretty good clean, thanks though. I didn't want to make my post too long with all the things I tried.

  • jv on 30/08/2023 - 12:33
    +1

    goes berserk, repeatedly registering screen taps in the bottom left and top right corner.

    Someone might be ghosting you.

    • CascadeHush on 30/08/2023 - 12:35
      +1

      I wouldn't rule it out

      • jv on 30/08/2023 - 12:38

        Have you tried an exorcism?

        • CascadeHush on 30/08/2023 - 12:41

          You wouldn't believe how busy the exorcists are these days…

  • bargaino on 30/08/2023 - 14:57
    +1

    So we'll see, that shouldn't matter, but it is Dell we are talking about.

    Dell can be a pain, but they don't care if you are the original owner, or have a receipt. I assume you put the asset tag into their website to check status?

    • CascadeHush on 30/08/2023 - 17:04

      I did. I had pretty low expectations but after going through the usual troubleshooting steps, they are organizing a technician in a couple of days and I should have it fixed by early next week. Apparently it used to belong to a school (makes sense, it's basically a student special) but other than that she didn't push the issue over ownership at all.

  • NoradIII on 30/08/2023 - 15:42
    +1

    https://dl.dell.com/content/manual36462134-latitude-3120-lat…
    If you're feeling adventurous, open the back cover, disconnect the battery connector and follow the manual pg42 step 4 & 5 to disconnect the eDP cable. Swing the black plastic flap open and check the copper contacts on the eDP cable for corrosion. Follow pg47 step 4 for the LCD side and make sure both ends of the eDP cable are seated properly and snugly when you reconnect them. If it still happens it might be an issue with the LCD itself so you will have to replace it.

    • CascadeHush on 30/08/2023 - 17:07

      Well I am close to the ocean here, and it was a student laptop, so it wouldn't surprise me.

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