Amazon Fire tablets use the FireOS operating system, which is a little bit different to other operating systems. The touchscreen on a Fire tablet can all of a sudden stop working, stops working every now and then, or there are dead spots on the screen. Below are some things to try if the screen on your Fire tablet is not working properly or at all.
In general, first hold down the volume down and power button at the same time until it restarts, or the screen goes black. If the screen goes black press the power button to turn it back. After that, check accessibility features are not accidentally turned on, explained below.
There are various shortcuts that can accidentally enable the accessibility settings. When these are enabled the touch screen wont work normally, and instead only specific types of swipes will work such as a two finger scroll. Refer to this article from Amazon, which shows how to enable and disable the accessibility settings.
Provided the restart explained above, and the touch screen accessibility settings are disabled, then it indicates an issue with one of the hardware components such as a screen digitizer, which needs to be repaired by a repair technician. You should contact Amazon support to have it repaired or replaced.
Reasons Why Your Fire Tablet Is Not Responding to Touch
There are a limited number of reasons why a tablet is not responding, and it’s a matter of trying each of the different troubleshooting steps one by one until you identify why it’s happening. Here are the 5 reasons the touchscreen on a tablet is not responding to touch.
Overall, your tablet needs to be restarted, the firmware or OS needs to be updated, you need to factory reset your tablet, or a component has failed such as the screen digitizer and it needs to be repaired by a repair technician. For Windows tablets, the drivers can also need to be updated.
It’s worth noting that there is a quick fix, which doesn’t solve the issue but will get your tablet working temporarily. Almost all tablets have a micro USB port, except for Apple tablets which have a lightning connector. You can plug a micro USB to USB adapter – or lightning cable to USB cord – and then plug in a mouse and/or keyboard into your tablet.
That way you can use your tablet until you fix it. But, to do each of the troubleshooting steps to fix it, you don’t need to do this.
And you can use the physical buttons on your tablet, such as the volume button, and the power button. Here are each of the steps, ordered from easiest to do, and most likely to fix the problem.
1. Do a soft reset on your tablet
Restarting a tablet closes all the open apps, and restarts the operating system on your tablet. Restarting electronic devices like tablets is a well known method that fixes a large percentage of issues, is easy to perform, and doesn’t take very long. So, this is the first thing you should try.
On most tablets you can restart it by holding down the power button until it turns off. If you’re unsure how to soft reset your tablet, then look for the specific instructions for your brand of tablet using Google. For example, search for ‘how to reboot a samsung tablet’.
Then follow the instructions from the manufacturer. How to do it is almost always also explained in the owner’s manual for your tablet so you can refer to that as well.
2. Update the firmware and operating system (OS)
It’s widely reported online such as on Reddit forums that a particular update can cause the touchscreen to stop working. And is caused by a bug with a specific update. Typically, this gets found by the software developers that create the operating system updates.
Or, after a few days enough people complain that the developers patch the update within a day or two, which solves the bug. To update the operating system (OS) on a tablet when the touchscreen is not working you need to use a desktop computer or laptop.
You download the software to connect your tablet to your computer. This varies by tablet manufacturer.
For example, on an Samsung tablet you download Samsung Kies or Samsung Smart Switch. Whereas, on iOS tablets such as an iPad you use iTunes on your computer.
3. Update the touchscreen drivers – Windows tablets only
Drivers are special types of software for each of the different components on electronic devices like laptops, and tablets. Behind the scenes they communicate information between the operating system, and the components – in this case the touchscreen. If they are out of date, they can cause conflicts behind the scenes on a tablet, and can stop the touchscreen from working.
They are fairly easy to update. Go to Device Manager by searching for it in the Start Menu. It will bring up a list of all the components on your tablet, such as the camera, motherboard, and touchscreen. And you right click on the touchscreen from this list and then select ‘update drivers’.
4. Factory data reset
A factory data reset is recommended if you’ve tried all of the above steps and it’s still not working. However, it’s the last step you should try because it will wipe everything on the tablet. Deleting everything on a tablet will reset all the settings and apps to the default, and fixes a range of software conflicts that can occur with apps or the operating system.
Which causes the touchscreen to not work properly or not at all. Before doing this step, you should copy anything you want to keep to a desktop computer, or an SD card.
5. Needs to be repaired by a technician (issue with the digitizer)
If you’ve done all of the steps above then it means there is a physical issue with the touchscreen on your tablet. It needs to be repaired or replaced by a repair technician. If your tablet is covered under warranty then it’s possible the cost of the repair will be free of charge.
But, if the damage is found to have been caused because the tablet was dropped or water got into contact with it (non-waterproof tablets only). The electronics for the digitizer can have failed, there is a loose connection, or is cracked or broken. To fix this the cover on the touchscreen needs to be removed, and inspected.
Contact the manufacturer first to find out how best to get it repaired. They can also let you know if the repair is covered under warranty or not, and where to get it repaired.
Copyright article owner is ReadyToDiy.com for this article. This post was first published on February 4, 2023.
General Fix For When Fire Tablet Is Not Responding to Touch (How to Fix)
The touchscreen on a tablet is very convenient to use, and should work 100% of the time. In rare cases, the touchscreen on a tablet will stop working all together, will only work on certain parts of the screen, or stops working randomly but then start working again. Read on to learn why this happens, and how to fix the touchscreen on a tablet that is not working.
In general, first restart your tablet, then update the firmware and operating system (OS) using the computer software for your tablet. If you have a Windows tablet, reinstall the drivers for your tablet. Finally, do a factory reset, and if it’s still not working contact the manufacturer.
At a high level, there is either an issue with the software on your tablet, or one or more of the components on your tablet. Each of the troubleshooting steps you should do when the touchscreen on your tablet is not responding are easy to do. I have covered these in detail with step by step instructions, so please refer back to the top section of the article.
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ReadyToDIY is the owner of this article. This post was published on February 4, 2023.