CF-74 Touchscreen inoperative

Hi,

I am new to the forums and have searched this, but it seems like the other posts involved discovering that your CF-74 is still under warranty, which mine is not. It is a CF-74CCBAXBM with BIOS ver 1.00L14.

My touchscreen just quit working a few weeks ago. Since my computer had a lot of junk on the HD, I figured reinstalling the OS and starting fresh couldn't hurt; however, the touchscreen still doesn't work. Under the BIOS I noticed that there isn't a touchscreen option, just an option for the touchpad. I could swear there was one before, but I am not seeing it. In the device manager it is showing up as being functioning and on USB port 0, but it isn't working. I am fearing a hardware failure, but am curious as to why I can't find the option in the BIOS.
I am going to dig out my multimeter this weekend as well, where is it best to check the voltage, on the back of the screen, or on the PC board? I am assuming the back of the screen is easier to get to. Are the any common faults with these?

Thanks
Pete

 

You never stated, so I assume you loaded all the Panasonic drivers in the correct order? I know mine did not work when I first set up the new hard drive, but I finally got it to work. I also seem to remember that it was one of the drivers not associated with the touchscreen that did the trick. Keep trying, it will work again if you had it before. Make sure you print out the driver install sheet and follow.

 

Another common cause of failure is junk lodged betwen the screen surface and the bezel that surrounds it. Either that or the same thing with the touchpad. If you are taking it apart... Look for small white block fuses or green fuses and check or continuity. Do you hvae the schematics and board layout diagrams? That would help.

I am baffled too why it doesn't show up in the BIOS.... Is there a BIOS upgrade available? I am not familiar with the 74 as I only work on the fuly rugged models. But they are all pretty similar.

 

Hi Toughbook,
I saw on a really old post that you had some 10/100 and modem cards for sale, still got any, or know who has?
cheers!
[email protected]

 

Can anyone say "hijack"?

 

I did reinstall the drivers, although they were pretty much all already installed from the recovery disk it seems. I followed the order on the install sheet from Panasonic, although that was just alphabetical order. I managed to forget to dig the multimeter out of the storage locker, so I will wait until Monday to check voltages.

I also have the front frame off and there isn't anything stuck in there, so that's not the problem. I am still mystified as to where the option in the BIOS went. Does anyone know where in the menus it is? I recall that it was somewhere around the Touchpad and Display options, but I don't see it anywhere.

Thanks for the help.

 

Touchscreen should be located on the Main tab between touchpad and display. You have the option to set it to "touchscreen mode", "tablet mode" or "auto".

 

Hmm, here's what my BIOS main tab goes:
System Time
System Date
Touchpad [Enable]
Display [Internal LCD]
Display Expansion [Enable]
CD/DVD Drive Speed [High]
Expansion [Auto]
Current Status: Normal Temperature

I'll have to call panasonic tomorrow.

 

Well, I haven't had a chance to call Panasonic yet, but I found the multimeter and it's showing ~5V across two of the pins. I guess it could still be a hardware problem but the BIOS doesn't seem right so I am going to pursue that for now.

 

Got a hold of tech support today -- they said that a hardware problem is the only thing that would cause the touchscreen option to disappear from the BIOS setup menu. Is that true? I really don't know too much about the BIOS, but it makes sense to me as I can't see any other reason why the thing would disappear. I suppose if the voltage is getting to the PCB on the back of the screen, it's either that PCB or the touchscreen itself.

 

i would say its the touchscreen and just send it into panasonic and let them fix it

 

I would, but it's out of warranty and I think the money would be better spent on a new battery. I can do without the touchscreen, although I am proud of myself that I still haven't lost the original stylus!

 

what is the first 2 of your serial number

 

First two are 6D

 

Pete... Please email me at rickkirby(at)aol(dot)com... I think I may have a work-around for you...

 

Just to close up this thread for any other CF-74ers with screen issues, here's what I found:

1. Since I have 5V on the USB pins on the PCB on the back of the screen, the issue is probably the screen itself.

2. According to Panasonic, the touchscreen option on the BIOS menu disappears when there is a hardware problem, so that explains why it's not on my computer.

3. Beyond the three year warranty, there's no coverage on the screen.

I didn't explore replacing the touchscreen as I never used it all that much anyway and don't care to sink money into a 3 1/2 old (though still good) computer, so I can't tell you what a fixing it would run.

I was a little disappointed with Panasonic's tech support. The three times I called I got three different answers as to what it might be and while I know troubleshooting over the phone can be tough, what really ticked me off is when I asked how to take the back off the screen panel, their response was to offer to sell me a $250 PDF of the service manual. They could have just told me about the screws behind the rubber bumpers on the front of the screen. Oh well, it's not like I'm the original owner that paid through the nose for this thing . . . oops. I think a used CF-19 is next for me.

Hopefully others have better luck. Thanks to all those that offered help and tips.

 

Good informative post

My two cf-74 mk-1's have failed touchscreens (no longer showing the option in the bios)
The only positive thing is the screens will stay cleaner

Alex

 

Before you give up on this I want to ask you if you are sure that you ever had the touchscreen show up in the BIOS? I seem to recall that Panasonic uses several different types of touch controllers. On the newer toughbooks they use a USB controller which shows up as a HID device in windows and this type of controller has no BIOS control. Also in most cases even if you were to completely disconnect the touch panel from the controller the device would still show up as functional either in BIOS or Windows device manager. I would suspect that in your case the problem is the controller and not the panel. Does the device show up in Windows device manager?

 

I don't remember if mine showed up
When I have time I will look in the reference manual ,as I remember it describes the bios screens
Unless someone here with a mk-1 could look if it shows in the bios
I will look in device manager as well to see if its listed as a usb HID

Alex

 

I could swear it was in the BIOS at one point and the Panasonic tech support guy knew I had a mk1 and said "if the option isn't in the BIOS, then it's a hardware problem." Anyway, it does show up in device manager under HID and is functioning according to that.

 

Don't take Panasonic tech supprt as gospel, they will only tell you enough to get you to send in the unit for $$$repairs. Can someone with a 74 and working touchscreen please look in their BIOS to see how or if theTS shows up?

 

The touchscreen will show up in bios, however if its not there then either a connector failed or the touchscreen is bad, which is my bet

 

So while scraping at some crud on my screen a minute ago, I noticed that I was also highlighting the text on the website behind the crud. I restarted and looked in the BIOS . . . still no touchscreen option. No idea why it works, I poked at it a bit a week ago and it wasn't working. I haven't done anything to the computer since other than installing google earth and updating flashplayer. Whatever the case, I am now.