Screen problem when USB tethered on PdaNet+

[jackmccarron]

Often (but not always) while I'm USB tethered using PdaNet+ to get internet on my laptop, my Razr Maxx screen goes crazy when I touch it. I have the option set to show the little white ball where I touch the screen (don't remember where to find that option), and when I touch the screen I now have MULTIPLE white balls appear on the screen and they activate whatever functions they land on! Usually the "extra" touch spots are about two inches higher or lower on the screen.

That plays havoc with the phone with multiple random touch commands happening at once. Another effect is that sometimes I don't even have to physically touch the screen - just hovering my finder 1/8 to 1/4 inch ABOVE the screen activates the "touch" or multiple touches.

All this disappears instantly if I unplug the USB cable.

Ideas? What could be causing this? How can I stop it?

I'm nervous about uninstalling/reinstalling PdaNet+ since I've paid for it. Will a reinstall from the play store still recognize that I have the paid version??

Thanks,
Jack

 

[GotnFX]

Often (but not always) while I'm USB tethered using PdaNet+ to get internet on my laptop, my Razr Maxx screen goes crazy when I touch it. I have the option set to show the little white ball where I touch the screen (don't remember where to find that option), and when I touch the screen I now have MULTIPLE white balls appear on the screen and they activate whatever functions they land on! Usually the "extra" touch spots are about two inches higher or lower on the screen.

That plays havoc with the phone with multiple random touch commands happening at once. Another effect is that sometimes I don't even have to physically touch the screen - just hovering my finder 1/8 to 1/4 inch ABOVE the screen activates the "touch" or multiple touches.

All this disappears instantly if I unplug the USB cable.

Ideas? What could be causing this? How can I stop it?

I'm nervous about uninstalling/reinstalling PdaNet+ since I've paid for it. Will a reinstall from the play store still recognize that I have the paid version??

Thanks,
Jack

All paid apps are tied to your Google email account and stays with it forever. No need to worry about having to pay for it again.. don't be afraid! Uninstall/ reinstall all you want!

 

[FoxKat]

Often (but not always) while I'm USB tethered using PdaNet+ to get internet on my laptop, my Razr Maxx screen goes crazy when I touch it. I have the option set to show the little white ball where I touch the screen (don't remember where to find that option), and when I touch the screen I now have MULTIPLE white balls appear on the screen and they activate whatever functions they land on! Usually the "extra" touch spots are about two inches higher or lower on the screen.

That plays havoc with the phone with multiple random touch commands happening at once. Another effect is that sometimes I don't even have to physically touch the screen - just hovering my finder 1/8 to 1/4 inch ABOVE the screen activates the "touch" or multiple touches.

All this disappears instantly if I unplug the USB cable.

Thanks,
Jack

This symptom is very common when using non-approved (i.e. Verizon or Motorola) charger adapters (Google "ghost typing"), since these lower quality charger adapters often don't do such a good job of filtering out the 60Hz ripple from the AC power, and can also allow RF (Radio Frequency) interference from other electronic devices nearby to infiltrate the 5V power source due to poor RF shielding, as well as some very crude power adapters can actually use methods of converting AC to DC that creates its own RF interference. In all cases, the interference creates tiny spikes and ripples in the 5V DC power, which travels through the phone's circuitry and interferes with the Capacitance Touch Sensor on the display such that it detects "ghost typing", as you've described.

However, I've not yet (prior to your post) heard this symptom while connected to a USB port on a PC or laptop. I am inclined to think that your power supply on the computer you're connecting to is failing, or the USB board that distributes the power to the USB adapters is corrupting the power source from that USB jack, or possibly you're not using a well-shielded USB cable (like the one supplied by Motorola). The reason it only happens sometimes could be due to the phone being nearly fully charged (when it's not acting strangely), and so it will not pull power from the USB cable, but then other times the phone is less than 90% charged (when it's acting strangely), and so it's now pulling corrupted power.

You may be led to believe it's PdaNet+ causing this, simply because you may not connect via USB often for any other reason.

If this doesn't happen when connected to another PC or laptop, by process of elimination you will have proved the problem is with the PC or laptop - not the phone or cable.

 

[jackmccarron]

Hey FoxKat - Excellent explanation. I've not noticed a correlation with power charge levels, but I'll now watch for it. I'll also try other USB ports on my laptop. I have multiple USB cables so I've lost track of which one came with my phone - any specific identifying marks you know of?

I also have several off-brand (Walmart) chargers that I use regularly, but I've never seen this ghost typing problem with any of them.

Thanks,
Jack

This symptom is very common when using non-approved (i.e. Verizon or Motorola) charger adapters (Google "ghost typing"), since these lower quality charger adapters often don't do such a good job of filtering out the 60Hz ripple from the AC power, and can also allow RF (Radio Frequency) interference from other electronic devices nearby to infiltrate the 5V power source due to poor RF shielding, as well as some very crude power adapters can actually use methods of converting AC to DC that creates its own RF interference. In all cases, the interference creates tiny spikes and ripples in the 5V DC power, which travels through the phone's circuitry and interferes with the Capacitance Touch Sensor on the display such that it detects "ghost typing", as you've described.

However, I've not yet (prior to your post) heard this symptom while connected to a USB port on a PC or laptop. I am inclined to think that your power supply on the computer you're connecting to is failing, or the USB board that distributes the power to the USB adapters is corrupting the power source from that USB jack, or possibly you're not using a well-shielded USB cable (like the one supplied by Motorola). The reason it only happens sometimes could be due to the phone being nearly fully charged (when it's not acting strangely), and so it will not pull power from the USB cable, but then other times the phone is less than 90% charged (when it's acting strangely), and so it's now pulling corrupted power.

You may be led to believe it's PdaNet+ causing this, simply because you may not connect via USB often for any other reason.

If this doesn't happen when connected to another PC or laptop, by process of elimination you will have proved the problem is with the PC or laptop - not the phone or cable.

 

[jackmccarron]

Hey GotnFX - Good to know that they remember we paid for apps.

Thanks,
Jack

All paid apps are tied to your Google email account and stays with it forever. No need to worry about having to pay for it again.. don't be afraid! Uninstall/ reinstall all you want!