CF-18 Touchsreen problem

I have a strange hardware problem with the touchscreen of my Australian CF-18. At certain times the pointer starts to stick at a random place around the middle of the screen. When I touch the screen the calibration has an offset and the pointer just want to go to this place where its stuck. Its never the same spot though...

When I bend the screen with some force the pointer gets free again, but after a while it just starts over again. It seems to get worse when the machine gets warmer.

I'm sure its not a driver problem, as I did a clean install and the problem is still there... I also did clean the edges of screen with no result...

Are there any tricks to solve this, or is the touchscreen gone? Thanks!

Michael

 

With the Australian models it is hard to tell... They've already lived 3 lifetimes from what I've heard.

You may have an issue with something in between the touchscreen and LCD. Someone last week had that issue with water.

You may have an issue with something being stuck between the screen bezel and the screen.

You may have an issue with something being stuck under the edge of the touchpad.

You'll want to read a few pages back in the forum as the search engine sucks here if it even works. Read and ye shall find!

 

Yup, I already went trough all the threads. I've been reading about many similar problems, but i didn't see any solution in the case the things you mentioned didn't provide a solution.

I just opened the screen and found out that on one side (near the pivot) the seal between the glass plate and bezel is broken/lose. I also noticed that when I push the touchscreen on this side, the colors of the LCD deform. Just like when you push a regular laptop LCD. I guess the touchscreen panel deforms too while its being used, which could give some nasty signals to the controller.

Do you have any idea what kind of seal is between the glass plate an the bezel? It looks like it is glued or vulcanized. How difficult is it to get the touchscreen out of the bezel, and more important... how difficult is it to get it in... before I destroy it permanently... I guess, that when I get the glass plate properly connected to the bezel again the problem will be solved... I hope....

Sad thing is that this is a very good aussy laptop. It doesn't look like it had an hard life. Last two months I've been using it extensively in tablet mode and just got my Sierra 850 UMTS card to work with the internal antenna. Besides that, I just upgraded it mentally as my main machine and best friend!... I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK TO MY OLD CF-27!!!...

 

Its a like double sided foam tape. Check on the exploded view of the cf18 for part no. Its cheap and you can order that from heartlandsi. it is also the same materials used on all panasonic fully rugged toughbook.

Used extra caution on removing the TS plate glass. There is chance that you can break it easily and damage the ts circuitry.

ohlip

 

Mine had exactly the same symptoms. It ended up being some debris around the edge of the touchpad. I ended up using a piece of thin, flexible plastic to clean it out

nine

 

be careful when you remove the touchscreen from the beze because one side of the screen like to unadhere from the other side before it come off the bezel. that double-side foam tape ain't no joke. Yeah go ahead and ask me how I know all this..... it happened to me, but luckily it wasn't one of my personal units, or at least it isn't anymore

Dan

 

Hi Guys, thanks for all your input! Till now I did not have much progress with it. I disabled the touchpad, but the problem is still there...

It a shame that I don't have any heartlandsi nearby. I guess they won't ship international. I just send them an email. I called Panasonic Netherlands too last week and they only sell "cosmetic parts" like pens, rubber covers etc. They send their laptops for repair to Cardiff in the UK..At least that's what the guy on the phone told me. It seems they don't expect costumers to open their laptops themselves and don't supply any internal components...duh! Also my remark about the laptop coming from aus didn't do any good....

I'm indeed a little scared to remove the touchscreen from its bezel. I guess pushing it out won't be a good option. I assume I'll go into a huge depressive state if I hear the screen cracking under my fingers.... I won't survive.... But cutting the seal open form the outside with a small surgery knife looks like a good option. Before I proceed I try to score a new seal, cause the laptop is at least complete at the moment.

Meanwhile, it seems like I have to do a lot of Ebay scanning for bezel and touchscreen sets.... I saw one going a couple of days ago, but unfortunately I didn't have any problems at that moment....

Small update: is the touchscreen seal of a CF-18N the same as the one on the CF-18D (I only got the N manual)? Part number should be K200-30-31.

Michael

 

They have the same sealing materials but they have different setup. If you have a touchscreen setup you must look for a touchscreen setup too not a digitizer.


ohlip

 

It seems I gonna need a lot of parts to fix this. Not only is there a seal, but also 4 spacers. For the one who's interested;

K200-30 DFWV84A0261 TOUCH SCREEN PANEL KIT
complete touchscreen assembly.

K200-30-3 DFHR3476ZA SPACER A
K200-30-30 DFHR3630ZA TS FPC SPACER (no idea what this is)
K200-30-31 DFHR3674YA TS TAPE
K200-30-35 DL3DV0180AAA TS PANEL 'Y
K200-30-4 DFHR3477ZA SPACER B
Are the parts needed to replace the touchscreen (touchscreen included). These are also in the kit.

I assume that the pieces in the CF-18NHHZXBM manual will be the same as my aussy CF. Is there any change the touchscreen itself is not compatible?

Next step is to get some prices......

 

if it's anything like the 29 lcd assembly that's a little foam and plastic spacer that goes on the sides of the lcd. I have yet to crack open a cf-18 lcd but I'd imagine the designs are pretty close.

Slap me if I'm wrong, or if you just feel like it. *Braces for impact*

Dan

 

So, I got a price.......

Including shipping the touchscreen kit comes around us$300,-. This together with the risk of destroying the new touchscreen while mounting it, makes me think there must be a much better solution........ get a new one....

 

hell i bought a cf-18 1.1 the other day on ebay for $250, I don't know if everything works but according to the seller it all works fine.

Can you not just buy the panel by itself and maybe the gasket too. I figure a good quality double-sided tape would be a good sub for that foam gasket material. Just a thought.

Dan

 

Yup, I was thinking the same. But I have strong feelings my touchscreen has died too. I found out (while reading the manual) that my aussy CF-18 didn't have any screen protector. Even the standard UV filter wasn't there anymore.

I have been poking on the bare touchscreen for two months with fingers, pens and all sort of stuff that shouldn't be used as stylus. Compared to my girlfriends CF-18, the screen has completely lost the "cushion" effect that a normal screen has.

My theory is that the thingy between the two touchscreen layers has lost all its flexibility and that the two meshes for X and Y touching each other at random. It would also explain why the problem is temporarily gone after bending the screen or gets worse when the screen heats up. Lol...I really have been thinking about this....

The price for the touchscreen kit is not so shocking; us$144. But the shipping part is! us$140,-...

I would recommend everybody who has an australian to get a screen protector asap!

 

You've mentioned that when you touch the screen or push slightly the lcd has a color mess up. It means the ts glass is too close to the lcd panel which is not right. The lcd panel and TS glass itself has an spacer whic is the double sided foam tape. When it is damage or missing on one side or maybe off a portion of it there is a posibility that the metal frame of the lcd and the touchscreen glass touch each other or with contact which is not supposed to. Isolate those two by any non conductive mat'ls and then test it again.

to DAN; I also think that this is also the problem of your cf-29 not probably damaged the insulator but with contact either to the LCD bezel or to the LCD metal frame.

ohlip

 

The thought had dawned on me that maybe the lcd assembly was bent or something causing one side of the screen to get excessive pressure on one side and not the other... didn't think about the little spacer foam behind it. I will check that out here soon and let ya'll know what I find.

Ohlip if you are correct (and I hope you are) you may be getting a super discount on one of my units. cross your fingers and toes

Dan

 

Okay, a small update. Its seams time is gonna be a healing factor. I left the touchscreen for a couple of days and the "cushion" feel is slowly recovering. Same time the sticking and jumping pointer problem is slowly disappearing too!

I guess the touchscreen isn't made for hardcore tablet use and constant dragging icons across the screen isn't a good idea for this type of screen...

But the solution is on its way... a nice Mk2 digitizer should arrive here soon...

Michael.