# Touch Screen Issues - ghosting/shadowing



## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

Anyone else have this problem? When I flip through the home screen or from screen saver to the home screen you can see the previous screen's image in the background - pretty much every word or detail. Looks like newspaper rubbed all over a plain piece of paper. I contacted Amazon and they sent a replacement, but that one is having the same problems, but worse. It even arrived with the keyboard burnt into the "plug in" screen. I took pictures and you can see them below.

Any idea how to fix this?? I don't want to have to return two kindles. But it is very annoying, and at times looks like the screen is broken because the previous screen had lines in the drawing.





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## me3boyz (Jan 10, 2010)

I was just going to ask this same question. I've set my screen to page refresh & it hasn't really solved the problem. Curious to see what others have to say. I got mine on Wednesday, but only just noticed it today.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

The way that the e-ink screen works, there are two ways it can change:

A full refresh, which causes the white-black-white flicker of the whole screen;

A quick refresh, which doesn't do the screen flicker and is quicker but can leave ghosting behind.

Amazon have designed the Kindle to do quick refreshes at certain times to speed the response up, this can result in ghosting. I believe that on the new Kindles they've done this more often, which is how they can claim they're "faster". This can result in more ghosting. 

It may be that the keyboard display is done with a quick refresh, which would result in what you're seeing.

On the keyboard Kindles, you can press Alt-G and it will force a full refresh. I've no idea how you do this on a Touch, sorry, no Touch's this side of the pond!  

Even a full refresh isn't perfect, there's still sometimes a little ghosting evident.

Most people see this to start with and it annoys them to a greater or lesser extent, within a few days you get used to it and ignore it.

Summary: some ghosting is normal, if the ghosting goes away with a full refresh, don't worry about it. If the same ghosting (the keyboard) is there all the time, this is a fault.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I heard there is a way to set it to do a full refresh on each page . . . .instead of every few page turns. . . . if ghosting is a problem.  

Try Home/Menu/Settings/ReadingOptions/Screen Refresh.  (Got this from someone else, it isn't an option via that route on the K4.)


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## me3boyz (Jan 10, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I heard there is a way to set it to do a full refresh on each page . . . .instead of every few page turns. . . . if ghosting is a problem.
> 
> Try Home/Menu/Settings/ReadingOptions/Screen Refresh. (Got this from someone else, it isn't an option via that route on the K4.)


I switched it yesterday to do a full refresh. I've noticed it's only the really dark items/words that ghost. I've not had any ghosting in the books themselves (that I've noticed so far). I don't think it's a defect, just the way e-ink works on the Touch. Eh, I'll live!


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

Is anyone else still having this problem? It has become worse the longer I've had my Kindle (a month) and is not only with the screen saver. My pictures are the original ones at the top of this thread.

And here is the replacement Kindle after using it for a month. Notice the "On" switch you can still see (after check that Page Refresh WAS on)




And here is the keyboard and faint menu lines after changing the name of the Kindle (ignore the smudging, I was trying to blur out my information)





I am not impressed. I am sick of having to troubleshoot this and return them. Has anyone figured out how to fix this Replacing them doesn't seem to matter. They are sending me my 5th KT and they have all had this same problem, some worse than others, or became worse (like this one).


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

That is noticeable ghosting, certainly, but let me ask you a question:

Does it happen when you are reading a book?

All the screens you've shown are menu screens, and I suspect that even with the "Screen Refresh" option set, the Kindle still doesn't do full refreshes within the menu - certainly the older K3's didn't so you can see ghosting and artefacts like these on the menus.

If it is there in a book as well, then clearly it is not acceptable. If it is there only in the menus, then I don't think you'll ever be able to fix it, nor do I think getting more replacements will help.

I think your only options are to live with it or give up on the Kindle.

All Kindles do this to some extent or another: it's inherent in the screen. It's a nuisance that in the KT you can't do an Alt-G to force a refresh of the current screen as you could on the K3. In the end, though, we all see it to a greater or lesser extent, and we all put up with it.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Morf said:


> All the screens you've shown are menu screens, and I suspect that even with the "Screen Refresh" option set, the Kindle still doesn't do full refreshes within the menu - certainly the older K3's didn't so you can see ghosting and artefacts like these on the menus.


That's correct - on the KT, changing the screen refresh option as Ann suggested only changes the refreshes while turning pages within a book, NOT on the home screen or within menu options.

My KT has the same ghosting when I close the keyboard on the home page. It's not noticeable when I close the keyboard within a book though. If this is how your Kindle behaves kuklachica, it sounds pretty normal. If it's something you can't get used to, maybe eInk/Kindle is not for you. If it's ghosting within books even after changing the setting to refresh on each page turn, then yes, it's probably faulty.


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## Tatiana (Aug 20, 2010)

My first KT had some serious ghosting both on the Home Page and in books (and other squirrely issues as it turned out).  Amazon replaced #1 KT for the squirrely issues and this new one has no ghosting whatsoever.


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

It does happen within in books as well, but it is harder to see since there is not much variation where lines are placed per page (unlike short and long names of collections, books, etc. on the home page). The ghosting looks more like dirty smudges behind the lines of text. 

I had a Kindle Keyboard for a year before the Touch. I had no issues like this. The eInk was great. I just hated the navigation. I love the navigation of the KT, but hate the screen.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

kuklachica said:


> I had a Kindle Keyboard for a year before the Touch. I had no issues like this. The eInk was great. I just hated the navigation. I love the navigation of the KT, but hate the screen.


If you've had a K3 for that long, you're certainly familiar with the e-ink screen and it's limitations, so it does sound like this is something worse. I really don't know what else to suggest if you're on your 5th replacement!

Maybe there are problems with a batch of them, and you keep getting them from the same batch; in which case waiting a couple of months and then asking for a replacement again might help.


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