Inaccurate touchscreens?

crunchewy

crunchewy

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I've had my white DS Lite for some time now and have been very happy with it, but recently I finally picked up the game Cooking Mama and was having problems playing the game when you had to move the frying pan forward and back by dragging the stylus. Then I noticed that when I had to move the temperature control left and right, it always placed the sliding control a bit to the right of where I placed the stylus. I then realized the problems with moving the frying pan forward and back were due to the fact that the touchscreen was out of alignment and even though I was right on top of the handle, it wasn't picking up the stylus as being there - it seems the game is very picky about stylus positioning.

I tried repeatedly to calibrate the screen, but it never seemed to help. To make a long story shorter, I have since found out that the only place on the screen where the calibration is accurate is at the far left and right edges. As you move toward the middle it shifts more and more to the right, then as you pass the middle it gradually comes back into alignment as you approach the other edge. It's not a huge amount off, but it isn't insignificant either, and it makes a big difference in at least Cooking Mama.

An easy way to check for this is to go into PictoChat and draw something on the left edge and the right edge and then in the middle. On mine the line I draw is always shifted to the right when I draw in the middle of the screen, and is spot on at the far edges. I've tried fudging the calibration process, by tapping to the left (or right) of the center calibration point to finish, but while this changes the problem it doesn't actually fix it.

Does anyone else see this problem? Are all DS's this innaccurate? Especially with Zelda coming out soon and relying on the touchscreen entirely, I'm thinking about buying a new DS Lite, but am worried I'll just see the same problem anyway.
 
Dunno. Mine's pretty accurate, but it sort of messes up when you get to the bottom right area of the screen. The screen's also a bit slanted, but I've seen a few Lites that were just like that.
 
Never heard of this problem, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

My DS works great, I've had it since May. I had one before and never had any problems on that one either.

This might sound dumb, but try using a new stylus? I remember my old one gave me issues, I swapped out the stylus, started working like charm again.

There's not any scratches or small divots in the small screen is there?

Try calling Nintendo otherwise and seeing if it's under warranty? IDK when you bought it.

Also, did you play alot of the games in CM where you had to draw circles really fast? I've heard that's not too great for the screen. Granted, only a minority of users have noted this issue and the majority report no problems, but its a possiblity.
 
In the options you can reset the calibration of the screen. Did you try that? I didn't read your post so if you mentioned it forget my response.
 
I had this very same problem with my old DS Phat. It likely has been around since I played Chocobo Tales (which I had some problems with, but I thought it was the game's fault!), and Planet Puzzle League also gave me problems, but I only realized that it was the DS itself when I started Hotel Dusk some weeks ago and had to use the notebook in that game. I also did the calibration check and played around with Pictochat and got the same results.

Try the steps here; if they don't work, your touchscreen may need to be replaced. Nintendo's repair info is here.

My DS was no longer under warranty when I started having my problems, and I've since bought a new DS Lite. Hope things go a bit better for you!
 
Yeah I had problems like this but my touchscreen wouldn't even calibrate. Had to send it in, but it was because I couldn't calibrate, not because the touchscreen was inaccurate.
 
I had this problem as well. No matter how many times I did the calibration, the top right corner was off. I sent it in and got it back very promptly with my warranty extended another year. Head over to nintendo.com and fill out a service request. They send you a UPS sticker so all you have to do is box it and send it free.
 
Thanks for the pointer to the info on troubleshooting the DS touchscreen. When I look at the screen edges it does look like maybe there is some dust/dirt in there, but I'm not exactly sure. Cleaning it as described is worth a shot, certainly. I might run out and pick up a cheap toothbrush at lunchtime and see if it works. Otherwise tonight. Mine is out of warranty, so if this doesn't work I guess I'll buy a replacement ($75 to get it fixed, not counting shipping and all the time without my DS doesn't seem worth it.)
 
[quote name='pete5883']Yeah I had problems like this but my touchscreen wouldn't even calibrate. Had to send it in, but it was because I couldn't calibrate, not because the touchscreen was inaccurate.[/quote]

It's perhaps worth noting that in my many times trying to calibrate, there were many times were the calibration process seemed to be having difficulty. It would make me go round and round tapping the same points several times. Hopefully cleaning the debris from the edges will do the trick.
 
I tried using a toothbrush as instructed, but couldn't seem to get it in between the display and case. In any case I tried just pressing on the display and then rubbing the bristles along the edge and it didn't seem to do anything. I then looked on the support site and I see now that the instructions for this are different for the DS Lite. In particular, they don't even say to try this toothbrush trick. That apparently only works for the fat DS.

Also, I can see now that something must be wrong because most of the time when I try to calibrate it makes me go through many iterations of the 3 calibration spots. I didn't count, but in one case it probably made me go round and round about 8 times. Obviously something is wrong. :( Sending it in for repair for $75 doesn't seem worth it. I should probably just buy a new one. Or maybe I should buy one of the $100 used DS Lites from GS/EBG, and test the calibration before making the purchase. I presume they'll let me open the box up and test the system out.
 
that is weird. I've never heard of that happening before, as I've never had that problem with my ds, which I've had for over a year now. I'm sure if you called nintendo, they'd let you send it in to get fixed for free.
 
I had the same thing happen to me when I bought an Enamel Navy one off ebay. The calibration was fucked up. I tried Nintendo's troubleshooting, but it didn't work. I didn't want to send back the DS because I got a good deal, so I swapped screens with my white one and sold the white one on ebay with a warning about the calibration. Some people don't care about the touch screen, so I was able to sell it for as much as a regular one.
 
[quote name='Ace Harding: Private Eye']I had the same thing happen to me when I bought an Enamel Navy one off ebay. The calibration was fucked up. I tried Nintendo's troubleshooting, but it didn't work. I didn't want to send back the DS because I got a good deal, so I swapped screens with my white one and sold the white one on ebay with a warning about the calibration. Some people don't care about the touch screen, so I was able to sell it for as much as a regular one.[/quote]

How difficult is to replace the screen in a DS Lite?
 
[quote name='crunchewy']How difficult is to replace the screen in a DS Lite?[/quote]

It's not very difficult. There are some videos on youtube and some guides on google under "ds lite disassembly" that can show you how to access the touch screen. If you're slow & gentle, you shouldn't have a problem.
The only tough part for me was tearing the colored plastic borders off the screens and swapping them (since I was replacing a blue DS lite screen with a white one). If you're swapping same-colored DS lite screens, you don't need to worry about this.
 
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