[TouchPad Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] TrinityTrip54:
Confirm the adb route works without root!

A long time since the original post and answers, but I thought it should be noted that this method works well. Thanks silvake.

My Mecer tablet stopped responding in the top 2-3cm after many years of loyal service. Could have been a drop or simply age. It is still useful and wish to give it to someone in need. So searching around and several different sites yielded some results. Note this is not a mainstream device so rooting was not an option nor attempted. Indeed drivers and any info is sparse for this device.

For anyone attempting this, I will outline my method and steps.

1. Enable USB debugging. There are many tutorials. Settings->About->Build number(tap x 7); Developer Options->USB debugging

2. Connect device with USB Cable. Give permission on device. You will need to make sure that windows installs drivers. At first windows failed to install all drivers. Not sure how it managed, but it connected eventually.

3. Download adb: https://android.izzysoft.de/downloads.php. I used https://android.izzysoft.de/downloads.php?file=adb-binaries-windows-29.0.4.zip. Decompress to desired folder. Open cmd to the folder.

4. Run adb.exe with 'adb devices' and confirm device is listed. First attempt showed:

D:\Downloads\Apps\adb-binaries-windows-29.0.4>adb devices

* daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037

* daemon started successfully

List of devices attached

0123456789ABCDEF unauthorized

I had to give permission on the device. Reconnected USB.

D:\Downloads\Apps\adb-binaries-windows-29.0.4>adb devices

List of devices attached

0123456789ABCDEF device

Success! Device is now connected.

Next get the current display stats:

Type 'adb shell'

Confirm connection. Mine showed: root@800P31C:/ #

Type: ‘dumpsys display | grep mBaseDisplayInfo’

Below is the capture of the operation:

D:\Downloads\Apps\adb-binaries-windows-29.0.4>adb shell

root@800P31C:/ # dumpsys display | grep mBaseDisplayInfo

mBaseDisplayInfo=DisplayInfo{"Built-in Screen", app 800 x 1280, real 800 x 1280, largest app 800 x 1280, smallest app 800 x 1280, 55.84 fps, rotation0, density 190 (190.0 x 190.0) dpi, layerStack 0, type BUILT_IN, FLAG_SECURE, FLAG_SUPPORTS_PROTECTED_BUFFERS}

This is not really required but helps to determine the current stats to make a guess on the number of pixels to adjust the screen by.

Next is the command to adjust the screen. The 4 numbers are the coordinates. Since mine was the top area I adjusted only that.

Type: wm overscan 0,50,0,0

The update is live and you should see the screen drop 50 pixels from the top.

This was not enough for me so repeat until the pull down of the status bar starts working again.

Here is the whole list to adjust the screen until everything is working again:

D:\Downloads\Apps\adb-binaries-windows-29.0.4>adb shell

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,50,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,70,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,80,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,100,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,200,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,120,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,140,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,150,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,160,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,170,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,180,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,190,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # wm overscan 0,195,0,0

root@800P31C:/ # exit

So I had to move the screen 195 pixels down until the dead touchscreen area was excluded.

Screen is obviously smaller but the frustration of having to rotate the device 180 to be able to pull down the status bar is removed. Much worth it.

Now a child in need of education can still learn and we have saved the device from landfill and reduced the carbon footprint.

You might have to adjust the pixel density to compensate for the loss, but I left it untouched. Your results will vary so I cannot assist.

Excerpt from another site:

"Additionally decreasing the density through the settings (Display & lights > screen > LCD density) or the wm command helped compensating for the lost display area:

wm density 360"

Hope this helps someone as it helped me.

T