Nexus 4 Nav soft-keys not responding

Question

On my Nexus 4 (Lollpop), the nav keys no longer respond when it is in portrait mode, and the q key no longer responds when it is in landscape mode. Here is the bug report. This has been discussed at the Google Group, and Grigoriy Kraynov has brilliantly put together an unofficial fix, but it requires rooting the Android. (Correction: Maybe not rooting it, but definitely some dangerous digging around in the OS's innards.)

There are also occasionally ghost presses. (I configured my phone to show a white dot when there is a press, and sometimes there are a lot of them all together, usually in this malfunctioning area, without my pressing the screen.)

It's been called a hardware bug in the digitizer, but it looks to me like it's in the software layer -- why would one particular rectangle stop working?

Can anyone suggest a simpler way to fix this? It's hard to believe that Google would allow such a significant bug to go unfixed.

My workaround is to install the Button Savior Non Root app and an autorotator app (to enable 4-way rotate in every app). This workaround is more or less OK.

Answer 1

I used Nexus Root Toolkit on my Nexus 4 with Android 5.1.1. Here's what I did:

• Rooted my Nexus 4
• Launch → Fastboot Flash → Recovery→ Latest CWM
• It installs Quick Reboot app in your Nexus 4. Open it and "Recovery" will reboot your device in recovery mode. If it asks for root permission, grant it.
• Install zip → Install zip from sideload
• In Nexus Root Kit → Advanced Utilities (Click on Launch in NRK)
• Launch CMD Prompt
• It will show you the path of current location. Copy the correct UPDATE.zip (download).
• In your device, enter the command adb sideload UPDATE.zip.

That's it. Go back and reboot your device.

Enjoy!

Answer 2

https://github.com/gkraynov/nexus-4-navfix

Fix making Nexus 4 navigation buttons alive after enigmatic hardware issue

LRX22C (Android 5.0.1)
LRX21T (Android 5.0)

See Releases to download UPDATE.zip. Verify your build number carefully! Wrong builds will not work.

If you are not familiar with flashing zips on you phone, there is comprehensive Tutuorial, thanks RavanH. The root of issue

I had no believe on hardware-only root of issue. During digging inside touchscreen driver inside AOSP I've found deadzone processing. What does it mean? Immagine that you're typing a message and accidentialy clicks on navigation bar. This click could cause undesirable experience, but deadzone have some timeout after your last action and accidential touches should be ignored.

Unfortunately, Nexus 4 touchscreen could process deadzone in a wrong way after enigmatic hardware issue. This cause that deadzone locking locks same touch region forever. The easiest way to overcome this damn is disabling deadzone at all. It's exactly my script does!

I think that no deadzone is better than permanent dead area :D Automated solution

To fix your phone, just connect it via ADB (Developer Options - USB debugging) and

$ git clone ... $ ./all.sh

Flash UPDATE.zip via custom recovery. Enjoy!

Don't forget to save UPDATE_ROLLBACK.zip in a safe place. Once you see OTA update alert, flash rollback, update and repeat. Never try to apply OTA for patched files, rollback first!

Prerequesties:

Broken Nexus 4 (as on video)
Linux machine (tested on fresh Ubuntu)
ADB installed
Custom recovery (no root required)

N.B. If you still having problems, try to install the following packages on your system

I didn't make all what they say, i just flash de update.zip on cuatom recovery with root permision, i am using havê four days and didn't stop to work, i'm note an expert just a curious