In a previous post a month ago I explained that the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic’s screen goes fuzzy and scrambled when it gets cold, and that warming it up helps bring the screen back to normal.
A number of people from around the world commented on that post, describing the same problem. In my desperation I was often holding my phone over our kitchen toaster to warm it! (do not try this at home, you might fry your phone by mistake!)
I will be taking my phone to maintenance very soon, but in the meantime I would like to share with you an AMAZING way to bring your screen back to life. This does NOT solve the screen’s problem for good. It’s a temporary fix that allows you to use the phone (touch screen phone without screen = USELESS). Once the phone’s screen goes to sleep, you have to repeat the process.
Ok. So all you have to do is to unlock the screen (with the side sliding button) while a strong light is shining on it. For example, I use my table lamp for that. I just hold the screen to the light while unlocked, then I unlock it while it’s in the light and 90% of the time the screen switches on normally!
You can use the light in your car. If the sun is shining you can simply point the screen at the sun!
I even used the light from the screen of an iPhone. I stuck the two phones together, screen facing screen, made sure the iPhone’s screen was on and bright, and unlocked the 5800 using that!
IMPORTANT: energy saving lights and neons don’t seem to work. Halogen and normal light bulbs work very well.
My scientific explanation of this: the screen problem is a hardware problem. The screen is not getting enough electrical current to be properly switched on. The light shining on the LCD screen “excites” the electrons in the screen and give them that extra shot of energy needed to operate the screen normally.
Having a phone which doesn’t work properly is totally annoying. I hope this post helps some people until they get the chance to have their phones fixed.
Comments
32 responses to “Scrambled/fuzzy screen on your XpressMusic 5800? Just shine some light on it!”
Just had experienced this lately when I went to watch a movie in a cold cinema house and left my 5800 inside my bag and placed it below my seat. After the movie, when I checked my phone (after unlocking it) and gets a blurred screen as exactly shown on this post. I almost went to panic and decided to sell this phone immediately the following day. I’ve checked various sites with forums and discussions about it and surprisingly, I found the common culprit as to what may have caused this failure. It’s primarily the temperature effect. I placed my 5800 on warm surface and after a 2 minutes tried locking and unlocking it and glad to see the blurred screen in not appearing anymore. But I hope there’s a permanet fix for this. It’s just to odd for a phone to have this kind of problem. I will surely change my phone anytime soon
many many thanks your informations are sample and usefull
so did they fix it for you after taking it to maintanance
hahahahaha lolz its a point of weakness for This NOKIA SHIT company that they have designed nokia 5800 like this poorly i am dissapointed.
this blogpost help quite a lot, i’m experiencing the same issue. i bought the phone in march this year, and well ever since it’s been warm enough for it to work. but now as winter is near, the temperatures have dropped significantly, and the glitch is constant, and annoying! since i CANT USE IT ANY MORE OUTSIDE!! I guess warranty will cover this.
thanks once again for the post, this is probably related to OLED screens being a new technology.
I have the same problem. When you have the fuzzy screen, try locking your phone then before unlocking it, press the power switch button. You can only use this when you want to use the phone, but when you receive calls, it will remains blur
I also faced the same problem that screen got fuzzy as the winter season has set in. Most of the time screen shows exactly the same pattern as it shows in the Post. I simply rubbed my thumb and even tried a piece for rubbing to warm up the screen and then switching on the key-lock worked surprisingly. Screen became normal. I must say thanks to whoever experienced this problem and shares the solution with others.
Regards
You know, I live in Brasil and I faced your same problem, as looking at google ,you may see that this problem is happening not for few people, but lot of them. If this is Nokia hardware problem issue, they should take an recall because is unacceptable to have such problem in a cell phone that I paid for it and not so cheap.
We can start to press Nokia to solve this issue for one recall, or just they will lost future user forever, for me, this is the last time I will purchase nokia phone..
Shame Nokia, shame…
me too i am having this problem right now but i tried to lower the light sensor and now it’s ok. Through this it will also makes the battery life longer.
I started facing the problem a week back. upgraded my firmware to the latest 4. 0 version and set muy software to factory defaults, still no go and the screen is fuzzy exactly as shown in this forum. I am planning to take it to the nokia care center in bangalore, India where i bought this phone and will see if I can get it repaired
Hello everyone. My other post about the fuzzy screen problem (http://360east.com/?p=1175) got dozens of comments from people around the world. The 5800 is very popular and the problem seems to be happening all over the world.
I would like to report to everyone that I took my phone to a Nokia Care center in Amman, Jordan. They replaced the screen at no cost (phone was still under warranty) and now the phone is working normally.
This is a hardware problem, obviously. If you get this problem insist on Nokia Care to fix it (ie: replace the screen).
first restart your phone
after that change your wallpaper something pure white
I bought a new screen from ebay and replaced my faulty screen. It went well for the first 1 hour then it started to get blurry again. After searching for solution, I came across a website (can’t remember his name) that suggested to use magnet. So I bought some small neodymium magnets (3mm dia x 0.5mm thick) from MAGNET Export and put a few pieces between the words ‘NOKIA’ and ‘XpressMusic’. U can either put outside (but u might a very good double sided tape) or inside as I did. And so far it works perfectly well!! Good luck
There is one failsafe work around. If when you unlock the phone the screen is fuzzy, lock it again, and then press the power button on the top. When you go to unlock the phone again the screen won’t be fuzzy.
I am so happy now… i was going to save up for nokia’s N900 or BB storm 2 as my main usage for a phone are simply to text, call and to watch my video or movies when in transit to and from work
I updated my Nokia 5800 Rm428 ( I had to change codes yet again to do so ) from v 40.2.xxx to 50.2.xxxx and now the blurry stuff is gone… it works under all conditions now…even air conditioned rooms
I can thus conclude it is more a software issue and not a hardware one that occured with version 40.2.xxxxx….came out. Thank you nokia:smileyhappy:
it’s a good idea, but it’s working on XM 5800 only
i have an SE xperia X1 And i have the same problem with my screen.
Just update your phone firmware to V50.0.005…… It works like magic, you don’t have to change your device screen… It’s a software problem and Nokia has made available the fix in the present update..
My phone didn’t had this problem for over a year ‘till the damp,humid and rainy weather kicked in…,now its back to normal a bit thanks to this post.still getting it the fuzzy screen every time it rains hard though.
I am in Zimbabwe and I just bought this phone,guess wat? I am having the same problem and the worst part of it ,there is NO Nokia Care in Zimbabwe so it means I have to give my phones to boons who are saying they can fix the problem ,but they have to change the screen
Should I change the screen and If I change the screen ,will the screen be nice like the original screen
Help
! GUYS
I had the same problem. Then after reading about a fix on here, I upgraded the software to the 50 something or other, by typing *#0000# and following the on screen prompts. No more scrambled screen and many other extra (good) features have appeared.
For those that think v50 software sorts this fuzzy screen problem out – it doesn’t! It only started happening on my phone AFTER upgrading to v.50. Hey ho.
An update on my post above – took my phone to a repair centre yesterday, got it back this morning and so far so good – they replaced the screen under warranty with no quibbles whatsoever – I would presume, from the fact that they didn’t try to blame me, that this is a known fault with the screen. So if you’re experiencing this issue – get it repaired!
Hi all,
it’s works with the trick of heat it and the chance to got it in normal unlock encrises (50%) but when it’s cold it can show the lines on the screen almost everityme (the chanse to see normal screen
I’ve experienced this problem on 2 nokia 5800 !
The first was RED, the problem was resolved only when the V50 upgrade appears, and it’s work very well after, without problems
The seccond one is the real problem (the Blue color), it have the same problem, i’ve update it to the las version 51.0.006 but the problem persist..
I had dis problem on firmware v40 and den wen i upgraded to v50 it was gone and i never knew it was gonna come back until now…so d firmware update only works for a while!
Latest victim of this problem. Upgraded firmware to latest version 52.0.007 which resolved the problem for 2-3 days only. My warranty expired just ten day back
. Can someone confirm that replacing the screen is the permanent solution of this problem?
i have the same problume i have tryed every thing on the phone to fix it but nothing is working the last thing im going to do is change the screen but will that work . i need to know bcz i will have to pay for that and i don’t have warranty any more that sucks. plz some one help me i love this phone its cool.
Heya alL. I’ve been usin a nokia 5800 since jan ‘10.And happened to drop it on hard surfaces 3 times and started to face this blurring prob. Evidently I thought that it is due to some severe damage that might be born under the screen after it. But having gone through all these forums, I feel better now as it is not my fault anymore:-)
So far I’ve been keeping my fon rather warm wid some handy apps in background viz. Nightstand and Pocketlock. The former switches the display on every 8 seconds or so and also I kept the light turn on time to the lowest possible 5 sec. in phone’s settings whereas the latter helps the burden of thrashing the side unlock key with recurrent trials. Anywayz Ima check my luck with firmware update from v21 to v50. The reason it doesnt work for everyone may be coz the RM version also. Best of luck to me:-) and needless to say, dont wanna throw my beloved fon. I juz luv this f**king fon lolz
so happy that my phone starts this crazy screen in it’s warranty time.
Hi All,
Thanks for the help
This really worked …. Shame to Nokia for having designed with such a junk design and implementation ….
Please let me know if i update the firmware it closes the issue or do i need to change the screen for a new one and if so what would be the cost of the screen as my warranty period has been expired ….
Thanks for the information once again …. bye …..
Hi guys
I think Nokia is not giving us any firm updates anymore what solve this irritating fuzzy screen problem
But I just read this on the internet
Maybe this will work?
http://yapsgsmsolution.blogspot.com/2009/12/nokia-5800-display-blurd-problem.html
I did not try it yet, but I’ve heard that a magnet wil work so after this message I’m gonna try it and let you know of it’s a solution or not!!
Good luck everyone
Tamara
EASIER SOLUTION.
Hey, people, U dont need no lamps or some kind of other shit. Just blow some air from your mouth on the unlocker and it works,despite the fact,that it sounds stupid. Really. Tried myself for about 10 times and it works perfectly.
Hi Guy!
Glad to know I’m not the only one in the world with the fuzzy screen problem…the software update does not help. Heating the phone is a temp solution. My 5800 worked well for 2 years. I guess we have to get the screen changed. And yes the fuzzyness comes when its cold.
Sid/India