Back / Home / Clear buttons not working.

[marcus_tee]

A few days ago i noticed that these buttons where becoming sluggish to respond, and now they don't work at all. I have had to resort to installing a third party 'Back Button' app. There is nothing wrong with the screen because the call handling, lock and camera buttons work perfectly - and they occupy the same positions on the screen. I have tried safe mode.

[Jonas]

Hi @marcus_tee, sorry to hear about this.

As you wrote, since the same area on the screen is working fine on the lock screen of the phone this does sound like it's related to software and not the actual display.

To make sure of this, run the touch screen test which you can find in Settings > About phone > Diagnostics > Test > Touchscreen. Are you able to remove the cloudy parts on the bottom part of your display?

If you are, try performing a software repair using Xperia Companion. This will reinstall the latest available software in your phone.

Do note that all data stored on the internal storage will be removed when performing the repair, so creating a backup using Xperia Companion before starting with the repair is advised.

Let me know how it went!

[marcus_tee]

Thanks for responding Jonas. Yeah i already did a touchscreen test but the actual fog doesn't extend to the very bottom of the screen. I'll try a repair next.

[marcus_tee]

Did a software repair and still no joy

[marcus_tee]

I'm actually shocked by how many people are having this issue reading through all the threads with still no solution 2 years on !!!

[pravi]

Yes!!  I agree with u..Sony software Support is soo bad regardless the device! Google (pixel range) and apple does best in this department ( iPhone 5s was released in 2013 with 7 and it still managed to get 10.3 _ 4 years of support) we can't expect more from Sony . It's better to stay away from bug hosted and performance cutoff updates. I thought Sony is back in business with xzp.. But the issues at phase release stages and this bad  software Support made me to cancel the order for xzp.

[Jonas]

Hi again @marcus_tee, sorry to hear that there was no change after the software repair was completed.

The touch test in the diagnostics menu is a bit lacking for this purpose, you should however get a better overview if you do the free drawing test in the service menu of the phone (I'm sorry that I didn't mention this in my previous post).

You can access this test if you go open up the phone application > type in *#*#7378423#*#* > Service tests > Touch > Free drawing test.

In your case, I'm really sorry but it does like it's related to hardware since there was no change after the software repair was completed and I have no been able to replicate this on 3 different Xperia XZs devices with the latest software installed.

I'd recommend that you get in touch with your Local support team so they can arrange a repair for you so the phone can be examined at an authorized service centre.

[marcus_tee]

What is strange is that the drawing test reveals the issue, yet the tap tests along the very bottom are fine...!? 

[marcus_tee]

I 

The plot thickens.... If I turn the phone on its side so that the bottom bar containing the back/home etc stays in the same place - the buttons rotate 90 degrees  and work perfectly! I took a screenshot just as I touched the back button so you can see it highlighted working. This cannot be a hardware issue. 

[pravi]

I can confirm this..unfortunately it's hardware issue!! Some part of the touch screen is dead!! Whatever comes into that part!! It won't gonna work!  One of my frns faced the exact issue with zr and service centre diagnosed the issue as a touchscreen digitaliser problem and advised him to change the display!