New Nook touch screen stops working

[NookMommy3]

I've had the new Nook since Saturday (6/4).  Today I was reading in the Barnes and Noble store when the touch screen stopped responding.  I could use the page buttons, I could use the Nook button (but then do nothing with the menu it brought up).  The power button worked.  I took the Nook to the employee at the Nook desk and she just reset it.  Said it was due to the heavy usage in the store.  That to reset it if it happened again.

It happened 3 times in the last hour in my house!  I am the only one on our network.   It's a bit annoying to have to reset the device 3 times an hour.  On top of that it loses where I am in the book. It has gone back to the place I was YESTERDAY.  Not where I was earlier today, or 10 minutes ago, but yesterday.

So, what's going on?

[mpclemens]

NookMommy3: Today I was reading in the Barnes and Noble store when the touch screen stopped responding.  [...]  I took the Nook to the employee at the Nook desk and she just reset it.  Said it was due to the heavy usage in the store.

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Wha? Unless everyone in the store was using your Nook, I don't see how "heavy usage" would affect the touch screen at all. If you were trying to run a WiFi intensive operation, maybe, but then it happens at home, too? Nope, not believing it.

I'd restart and resent the Nook and if it recurs, call customer support. That's not right.

[cbtengr]

It sounds like the problem is in your Nook,  I haven't had that happen yet.  You're still in the 14 day return period, I'd go back to the store and see if they'll exchange it.  If they say no, I'd ask for a refund and see what happens.

[Andromeda208]

If you were in a B&N why didn't you just go over to a Nook person and ask them what's up? 
Can you help me please, my new nook is acting funny.  Sorry miss read you post.

[MarkinStLouis]

I got mine on Friday, and this happened to me last night.  I touched the screen to turn the page, and it highlighted the word I touched and showed that word at the top of the screen (it was also highlighted).  From there the screen did not respond to any of my touches.  All of the buttons worked.  As I flipped pages, I noticed the highlighting I mentioned earlier did not go away.  Anyway, I had to turn my Nook off and back on again for it to work properly.  I've only used it a little since then, but haven't had the issue yet.  If I do, I'll post again later.

[krarnst]

I purchased the new nook last Saturday, June 4. I am experiencing the same problem with my touchscreen not responding to touch. The buttons to advance pages continue to work, but when turned off it goes back to page when touchscreen last worked. This problem has happened 4-5 times in two hour period. This is occurring when wi-fi is turned off. I think I will return it and replace during 14 day return period. 

[detayls]

This has happened to me too.

The battery on mine got down to 72% last night and the touch sensitivity seemed to get much less.  I was having to double-tap to get a response.  After a restart (power off and on), it seemed a tiny bit better but still not as good.

This morning I recharged my Nook and the touches are being seen again.

I fear we are seeing a power issue with the IR sensors. The engineers were probably asked to lengthen battery life at the cost of the IR hardware.

Hopefully they can fix this with an update.

[Big_Dave_H]

This is disturbing to hear.  I may have to investigate. 

[Treun]

I also had a problem...bought the Simple Nook Saturday and it worked fine until this morning (Tuesday) when the touchscreen suddenly stopped responding. The nook button and on/off buttons worked, as did the page turn buttons. Tried to reboot, but a screen pops up where you have to touch Cancel or Power Off...BUT since the touchscreen is unresponsive it can't be powered off. I let it set a couple hours and tried it again...it's working again just fine. We'll see if this is a recurring problem or a one-time event...if it happens again I will bring it back and exchange it, on the assumption that the device I have is defective.

[keriflur]

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Treun wrote:
 Tried to reboot, but a screen pops up where you have to touch Cancel or Power Off...BUT since the touchscreen is unresponsive it can't be powered off.

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You can power it off by holding down on the back button until it turns off completely.

[Treun]

keriflur: thanks, tried that and it works...couldn't look it up at the time, because with a nonresponsice touchscreen, you can't get to the manual. Didn't want to try it at the time, because I own devices where doing a long press would set it back to factory settings and I WASNmt willing to risk that. Since the Nook is working ok now, can't know whether rebooting would have resolved the problem. Hopefully the touchscreen won't go unresponsive again...

[suzatm07]

I had the same problem twice. I went to tap the screen to turn the page and it highlighted the last word on the page putting word up in a bubble at the top of the page and stopped working.  I had to shut it completely down to get it to start working again.  Needless to say I am not using the touch screen and am just using the turn buttons.  I never had a problem with my N1 other than with the memory card.  Now with the Nook 2 that I received Thursday of last week - I've had the touch screen problem and I can't download my new books that came out today.  I'm starting to regret the purchase.

[NWRogue]

Mine is doing the same thing, my wife's doesn't.  It seems to reset after the screen saver activates, or if I just leave it alone for 5-10 minutes or force a restart.  The demo in the store actually did the same thing while we were deciding on getting 1 or 2 of them.

I've had the swipe freeze problem and the problem with highlighting a word and it not going away.  Too weird.

Guess I'll take it over this weekend and see if they'll exchange it.

[MarkinStLouis]

Someone mentioned battery life. I'm not sure what it was when it happened to me, but I haven't charged mine since and it is currently at 78%.

[Larryb52]

 I don't think returning it is the answer as I have had this happen about 4 times since saturday , to me seems software problem. I called tech support & reported it. Hopefully there will be a quick software issue to resolve the problem. You can't have a touch device lose it touch capabilities...

[JohnMO]

This is starting to look like the first serious problem that B&N has with their new reader.  Check out the thread that I started (Touchscreen stopped working on Nook STR).  Others besides me are experiencing this "anomaly".

B&N better get on this quickly before the bad press starts.  To have the main selling feature of their brand new product (infrared touchscreen) not work right, will make new customers take pause before buying one.  It's also going to drive up returns for those that get frustrated.

Performing a soft reset (using the back button or the "n" button) may be the temporary workaround, but is definitely not a long term solution.

[VoraciousKL]

I've had my reader since June 4th. I fully charged it for 3 hours on the first day and am now down to 70%.  No problems with the touch screen, except as battery life dwindled, I did notice that you have to press firmly, with a hand on the back of the reader.

[ozillator]

I've also had a similar problem with the new Nook. I had only used it for a few days off and on, had it sitting in its box, and the next day when I tried using it the screen was stuck on the screensaver. I tried every which way to reset it, short of opening up the back panel and reseating the battery connector, but it was still unresponsive. I took it into B&N and they gladly exchanged it. They were not able to get it to reset either and were too cautious to try prying off the back cover to access the battery.

I'll update this if I have problems with the new one. Definitely seems like some firmware bugs in this and they rushed to get it out on the market too soon.

[SlaughterS]

You should not have to press firmly, or press at all.  The IR sensors are slightly above the screen.

I think there is a software bug.  The common theme seems to be,

"I went to tap the screen to turn the page and it highlighted the last word on the page putting word up in a bubble at the top of the page and stopped working...."

I suspect the bug is that many people accidentally highlight a word when tapping to turn a page.  I bet the software waits for you to do something with the highlighted word and does not register that you turned the page with the button, so it sits there several pages back wating for your response locking the screen until it gets one (or you reset)

[Terrapin80]

Just want to chime in that I have had this exact problem as well (about 5 times).  I would return/replace it, but this seems like a common problem.

To reply to SlaughterS, the system is not just waiting for us to do something.  When the highlighting works correctly, as soon as I raise my finger, the system brings up options for highlighting or adding a note and so forth.  When it freezes, it does not bring up this menu.  No touch works either on the original page or any other place in the system.  I wondered if maybe I left something (ie. fuzz) on the screen that confused it, but I do not see anything.  A hard reboot is the only think that fixes it for me.  I can go to screensaver, but it still refuses to acknowledge my touch.

I am 99% certain I have had freezing besides with highlighting, but that is the biggie.