Can software cause a screen failure ?

[Golfer]

I have an iPAQ 5550 which had a screen calibration problem. It got to the point that if I did a hard reset, the system would loop during the 'align screen' menu page where you tap on the crosshairs to calibrate the screen.

Anyway, I sent my iPAQ for a repair and a replacement of the Touch Screen. On it's return, I restored from my iPAQ backup. However I still have the same problem !!! If I perform a hard reset, I can occasionally get through the 'align screen' menu. If I do a self test the screen calibration comes up with a Fail status.

Is it possible something in my software restore can cause a screen to fail, or is that only possible for a screen to fail because of a 'physical' problem?

Thanks in advance.

[Guest979]

Well, your question is a bit vague...

First, the sliding crosshairs are generated by a piece of software, which calibrates the hardware... so it's possible that merely the crosshair software has failed, and it's certainly possible that other software could cause that, assuming enough mistakes were made by the various programmers.

Second, are you asking if software can cause screen-failure-like symptoms, or if it can cause actual physical damage? Software can theoretically cause almost any symptom you (don't) want it to, but for software to cause actual physical damage, I would guess that Windows Mobile would have to be the absolute worst operating system written in the last several years, for that to actually happen... no comment. :) The only exception I can think of where not-too-bad code on a good operating system could cause actual hardware damage would be resource exhaustion - for example, messing with the display until the pixels die of old age, or whatever it is that pixels do...

[Andy Whiteford]

If you are having issues running the align screen calibration after a hard reset then your device most likely is defective. It would most likely be the touch sensitive membrane that is failing. A good test would be to go into notes and select drawing mode. Try drawing a few straight lines down the screen and see if you can do this or not. If you are getting broken lines, large gaps or the line shoots off in a different direction then the touch screen is pretty much the culprit.