Inspiron 13 7000 (7347) Touch screen problem

I have similar problem with my Sons new 13" Inspiron 7000.

Have been having random touchscreen issues where the screen randomly develops mind of its own and starts zooming in and out of web pages erratically etc.

I have been in touch with Dell Support who recommended calibrating the touchscreen running dell diagnostics etc.

This seemed to fix it initially but as its such a random occurrence I was sceptical.

Sure enough, today it started again.

With my experience in IT and also having had a good number of laptops etc I firmly believe it to be a hardware design flaw. My findings are as follows:

Many 2 in 1 laptops have a very rigid hinge, but not this one.

The screen is hinged in two places and the lightweight nature of the laptop means the screen is very flexible in daily use.

When closed, looking from the back at the laptop with the screen on top and the base at the bottom, there is a visible curve in the laptop screen.

I think there is some connection between this and the issues we are experiencing.

When carrying the laptop from room to room while in laptop mode i.e. screen part open, the screen flexes if you carry it with your hand under the base, cupping the screen. As soon as we pick up the laptop this way (The safest way to carry such a device) the touchscreen goes crazy and we see the vertical line of touch instances occurring.

THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!

I am taking this up with Dell again and will in all likelihood request a complete refund as I am sure no amount of remote access and driver updating etc will cure it.

The screen back should have been made of inflexible aluminium to reduce this issue.

If Dell really test laptops while opening and closing the screens hundreds of times, they obviously don't perform this test in a real world scenario.

I recommend anyone with this issue who is reading this, post a reply here and together we will get something done about it.

Good to know there are other folks with this issue.

Thing is, various Dell users have been reporting ghost touch issues with various different Dell touch screens for years.

BTW as I type this, the ghost touch started.  I flexed the screen by hand and the ghost touch immediately went away!  first time I've tried that...  obviously there is a design flaw.

Sad thing is the laptop is generally quite nice. Sure it's not a Toshiba Portege Z30T but it's almost 1/2 the price.  It is still not an entry-level laptop.  But I cannot stomach this sort of behavior. Will try to see what I can do about getting a return.  I'm also in IT and I've had many Dells over the years (all of them have had problems!) and I dread dealing with Dell support..

Here's another report -

answers.microsoft.com/.../36b05703-f2ba-429a-9534-3da24a16d3dc

the guy included a screenshot. In his case the clicks occur horizontally while in my case the clicks are vertical. But the symptom is exactly the same.

I have had the ghost clicking several times now today, and in all cases flexing the screen by hand banished it.

I have the same issue.

It happened a bit more regularly initially (a week ago), but it rarely happens now. Will keep monitoring it to see how it goes.

One thing I found helped was cleaning the screen. Not sure if that was actually the cause, but it did help. I'll try the bending the screen thing also to see if that helps. If it persists, I'll have to return it.

I purchased 20 of these Inspiron 13 7000 series.  After 2 weeks one will not boot and two have the ghost touch issue.  It is so bad that we can't use the two with the ghost touch because it zooms and clicks all over the screen if you bend and flex the screen it will go away.  Then 5 minutes later it will come back.  I am tempeted to return all 20 for a refund.  I am calling dell about this issue now.

I just found that if I go into device manager and disable the touch screen the issue stops.  Not a permanent solution but at least I can use these laptops for training now.  I don't really need the touch screen anyway, just thought it would be a cool feature.  Dell has a major quality issue with these laptops. 

Yup I also found that (1) disabling the touch screen makes it usable;  (2) flexing the screen when the ghost touch happens, often banishes the poltergeists.

I was all set to trry to arrange a return, but the notebook works well otherwise, and I don't want the hassle of re-installing all my software etc. PITA.  And I tell myself "if I got the Mac Pro Retina I would have no touch screen anyway."

Still a suboptimal solution however. I think this is what Dell is hoping for, that people grit their teeth and don't initiate a return.

I have that issue also with the same laptop that I gave to my daughter-in-law.  She is NOT tech savvy and was unable to trouble shoot or even describe when it happens.    I searched Dell support for a fix but could not find one.  In fact, I thought that I had the only one doing it.   Is Dell looking for as fix or just brushing this off because " it doesn't happen to everyone"?

Same issue here with the ghost touch screen problems.

Add me to the list. I think it is a touchscreen hardware issue because I am able to re-create the problem by pressing a bit on the backside of the screen or just moving the screen. As others have also said, when the ghost touch happens, just flex the screen a bit to make it stop. I'm very disappointed because it seems like a very nice laptop/tablet when it works normally. Guess I am returning this for a refund. Disabling the touchscreen is a partial solution but it defeats the purpose of getting a tablet laptop.

If any of you folks are successful in doing a return, would appreciate if you get back and describe the experience with Dell.

I'm on the fence about it because I can tolerate the problem - for now - by being very careful about not touching the screen, and flexing it if the ghost touch returns.

But it's obvious this is a hardware issue, maybe a ribbon cable getting flexed. So it will get worse over time for sure..

Now I'm on the fence because there aren't any notebooks in this price range with the specs that I want - except maybe the new Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro.  And by specs I mean the combination of HD (or higher) IPS screen, backlit keyboard, weight, and price.  Plus the hassle of dealing with Dell for the refund, reinstalling all my software, etc. etc.

Before I learned of this touch screen issue, about the only thing about the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 that I didn't like was the comparatively miserable battery life.

But this obvious flaw obviously means it would never be on my short list.

Is this issue on the 1920x1080 screen also or only the standard lower resolution model??

Mine is on the 1920 by 1080 touch screen.

RECEIVED MY LAPTOP BACK FROM REPAIR TODAY

REALLY FAST SERVICE!

In fact they probably didn't have much time to look at it apart from reinstall Windows 8!

Imagine the anticipation of opening the laptop and switching on........ only to find it has the EXACT SAME PROBLEM

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

So I telephoned technical support and went Thermonuclear on them!

Result is that a Dell Engineer is calling to replace the whole screen tomorrow.

I had demanded a refund as have reported this issue since shortly after receiving the new laptop. They avoided the easy way out of giving a refund in favour of the surely more costly option of sending an engineer.

How much is that going to cost them in labour and parts etc? 

I will report back after the engineers visit tomorrow.

Really not liking Dell at the moment.

Good luck to all of you having the same problem.

PS Apple would instantly replace a laptop in these situations as they value Customer happiness.