[Nexus 7 General] Clonetrone:
Hello, reader! If you are thinking that I made this story up: You are wrong. This is a very real and indeed VERY FRUSTRATING issue.

You can look it up on YouTube by typing "nexus 7 phantom touches". I am NOT here to post crap and lies. I am here to help. So please, if you are out of hope, tried EVERY SINGLE possible solution that was out there: RMA your device as soon as possible.

Hello, fellow Nexus 7 users!

Please read Edit #2 and Edit #4 after reading the story and a possible solution.

I was one of those who had a "phantom touch" problem on their Nexus 7 devices. Things like automatic typing and unresponsive screen are good examples.

I bought my Nexus 7 three weeks ago, and right off the bat it turned out that the screen has popped out from the left side of the screen. The screen was slightly lifted up over the bezel and creating a cracking sound when pressure was applied to it. I read about this problem on the Internet on how to fix it manually, but I didn't want to void the warranty, so I returned the device back to the shop for service. Two weeks passed, and I got my Nexus 7 back, with the screen fixed. That was the point where "phantom touches" started. Note: I updated my device from 4.1 Jelly Bean to 4.2 as soon as I bought the device and brought it home. I am a fairly new Android user, but I figured out things pretty fast. I am pretty sure it's a hardware failure, but magically somehow, reflashing to 4.1.2 eliminated the problem.

Now, how I fixed the problem (this may not be an ultimate solution, but it worked for me):

WARNING: Here you have to be very careful, because doing this might void your warranty AND if you royally screw up, you might have some problems. This is pretty easy, but just a note to everybody who will be attempting this.

You can also find in-depth tutorials elsewhere. I'm just telling here what I did.

1. I simply installed Asus Google Nexus 7 Toolkit v.4.0.0 to my computer and installed ADB and fastboot drivers. All these drivers can be installed via the Nexus 7 Toolkit, so no additional downloads are required.

2. Downloaded 4.1.2 Nexus 7 firmware. NOTE: Remember to choose 4.1.2, because the problems disappeared with the older firmware.

3. Unlocked BootLoader (this is the step which voids warranty, but can be easily masked up by locking BootLoader back to default.)

4. Flashed the firmware from 4.2.1 to 4.1.2

5. Locked BootLoader back.

6. Voila!

TLDR: The "phantom touches" caused on my device was Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean firmware's fault AFTER I serviced my Nexus 7. Read Edit #2 and #4

I hope I helped somebody who is just as frustrated as I was!

EDIT: You must enter fastboot mode in order to unlock and flash firmware. To enter fastboot mode: power on device while holding both volume buttons until Google logo disappears and fastboot mode turns on.

EDIT 2 (IMPORTANT): Confirmed that this is

not

a software issue. The reason for phantom typing is that my screen isn't properly aligned with the rest of the device (motherboard), so the screen is slightly bent, creating this particular problem. This can be TEMPORARILY fixed by removing the certain screws from the left side of the screen. The problems will eventually float up again.

EDIT 3: Finally found confidence to RMA my device. Asus agreed to replace the device, but instead they gave me my money back. Bought an iPad mini 16GB instead. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Android devices, but all this Nexus 7 mess got me all frustrated and I finally gave up. Asus customer support also told me that most of the early Nexus 7's are defect models with improperly aligned screens, causing this problem. And sadly, I had an early model.

EDIT 4 (IMPORTANT): Nexus 7 models starting with early serial numbers (Thanks to user Fotogravin for info) are

possibly

defect models. If there are no flaws, DO NOT RMA IT, but if there is, I suggest you RMA it as soon as possible.

Feel free to post on this thread. I'm actively following this thread to help out other people.

Last been here: 22.3.2014 (DD/MM/YYYY)