XPS 18 "Ghost Clicking" Problem

Dell Technician came by today. He thought it was the touch screen controller so we tried replacing that. The issue seemed to be fixed but a few mins after he left the issue cropped up again. It seems to be happening less frequently now though . . . so bizarre!

I  have the same problem ..as soon as I turned it on out of the box it looked like someone touching the screen ..its bad ,,dell has took control of the pc and adjusted ,updated and factory reset twice .. with no improvements ..they are sending a tech out to replaced the lcd screen ....this is a replacement for the original I purchased that  had a wireless problem that two techs on site could not resolve ..ill update  on the ghost click problem after the tech comes to replace the lcd screen

Thanks for posting about the issue. Let me know how the LCD replacement goes.

I had a tech come onsite but he just replaced the touch controller and not the whole LCD. It seemed to fix the problem so he left without doing the full LCD replacement. Then 20 mins after he left the problem started happening again . . . ugh!

well he put in the new lcd and touch controller ..and it does the same thing in the same area of the screen ..he called dell and told them it was still ghost clicking ..dell customer service is going to send me out a 3rd pc ..I wish I cold disable the touch feature so I can use the pc while waiting ..if you are on any web site the pc clicks one stuff and renders the thing useless ...dell has been very nice but this will be my 3rd inside a month

Well it's certainly really bad news that it did not fix the problem. There is a way to easily disable the touchscreen though. With the touchscreen disabled the problem does not seem to occur.

Press the Windows Key, type in Device Manager, find the HID-compliant touch screen under Human Interface Devices, right click on it and select Disable.

Then you can enable it when you want to use the touchscreen.

It's definitely extremely stupid having to do this all the time. I'm waiting for them to send me a new one that hopefully doesn't have the problem . . .

thanks was able to disable the touch feature....I now can use this replacement pc  ..I will let you know how my replacement replacement pc   does ..hope your replacement works well too ..ok just got call from dell and they assured me the new pc will work properly when I get it ...3rd times a charm? we will see

glad to hear its fixed ...mine is too after all the part replacements, the 3rd computer fixed the problems ...3computers in a month. Dell customer service was outstanding I have to say though...I just didn't expect all the problems from a machine that I have only had about 6 weeks now...but im glad it is fixed.. the only thing is I paid extra for the killer wireless card and they sent me the Centrino

Mine unfortunately has the same problem. After some minutes of use I get ghost clicks on the right side both on top and bottom. I tried many things and also temporarily disabled the touchscreen, but now I think I found where the issue comes from: When I remove the back cover, the ghost clicks are completely gone! 

I opened it up right when I initially got it to put in a large SSD. Maybe I didn't do a good job closing the backsideagain. Sometimes the screws are hard to screw in and the top part of the back cover never totally aligns with the machine. Is there an official procedure how to close the machine? As I imported an XPS 18 to europe I can't get it to repair here.

I now attached the back panel with tape instead of screws and the ghost clicks are still fixed, so I conclude they do come from the force applied to the display by the back cover screws.

Hey, I've taken the back off my XPS18, and replaced. When replacing the back, make sure you place the top part first. There are small clips there to slide top into. Then feed the "legs" through the holes provided that are on the bk cover. Lower rest of cover and press cover lightly down all over. Mine went in easily. I agree screws are awful.

you know after all the problems I've had and are now fixed with the 3rd product ..I ordered the 100 dollar charge stand and it wont charge with the stand ...I took it to best buy to set it on the display unit and there stand wont charge it ..im not going to say anything because I cant bear to sit on the phone for hours until they say we have to wipe the machine again or do a refresh..ill just deal with it ..I have to say I didn't expect all the problems ..I have programs on from work that takes i.t guys to install  (adp) and its a hassle having them to keep coming out to install because of complete refresh that has not fixed any problems ..I like the unit just very disappointed ..these things aren't cheap..

Oh.. that's a problem I had as well. But at least it was somewhat easy to fix. I bought the i7 version with stand and after a few weeks it wouldn't charge anymore on the stand. That was extremely annoying because the dc connecter is terrible on this machine and just wants to break.

I turned out to be just a mechanical problem. The connector with the contacts that sit on the stand contact points got loose. it should be 100% firmly connected to the rest of the machine as the weight of the machine needs to push these down onto the stand to make contact. In my case I could push them in for a few mm which was enough to prevent charging.

When I opened the machine to swap the HD and trying to figure out what's going on with my touchscreen I found the stand-charging connector is attached to the frame with two extremely tiny screws and one was loose. It was possible to fix the problem by screwing it back in and applying rubber cement. I guess someone at the factory forgot to do that. A bit more massive screws would probably also be a good idea.

I also had issues with the first SSD I built in, a mSATA SSD from intel. It just died after a few days, but that's most likely not a problem caused by the XPS18. After that I sacrificed the mechanical HD (which IMHO should not live in a movable device anyway) and put in a Intel 840 Pro 2.5'' HD and it's working beautifully ever since besides the touchscreen issues which almost by accident now seem fixed for good.

Overall I really want to love the machine and still do even if I had lots of issues. When it works it's awesome and I want this form factor to survive. I'd love for it to have hdmi IN/OUT and USB connectors on both sides. It actually does have it on the inside, but the logitec wireless keyboard/mouse dongle uses the single usb. Maybe I'll drill a hole at some point and build in a small hub ;)

I am having a similar issue. The touch screen is going bonkers when I touch it. However this is happening icky when the unit is being charged. A technician came out and replaced the LCD screen and touch screen panel board to no avail. Any ideas?