Solved Touchscreen interference issue, CONFIRMED--WEIRD!

[malberttoo]

Fluorescent lights. It was the fluorescent lights! Both offices confirmed. Lights on, touchscreen is almost worthless, lights off and it works perfectly.

If nobody else in the world is having this problem (I can not find a reference anywhere), we must have some AWFUL fluorescent lights in our office!

--Dan

That you managed to figure that out.... that is seriously awesome.

 

[sharpuser]

Dan,

Somehow I think this is where you work. Check out that wonderful lighting.

 

[Brian123]

I came under the same realization that something environmental was effecting touch on devices at my office. It became abundantly clear something was going on after testing a Surface Pro 3 replacement today. If I lifted the SP3 off my desk or away, within seconds scrolling using touch was silky smooth. Set it on my desk, then I experienced jerky, erratic and sometimes unresponsive behavior.

I started unplugging things one by one to see what could be causing the interference. Turned out to be an LED table lamp on my desk. Even when the lamp was off, it still caused problems. Probably because the AC cable ends with a small block, like a cell phone charger, with a red light that's always on.

Come to think of it, when my iPhone went crazy recently, where it dialed someone and then kept hitting the speaker button over and over on its own, it was right next to this lamp.

 

[eholbik]

My co-worker has the SP3 and he has this exact problem that only happens when he sits at his desk. The touchscreen stops working and the pen. If he moves out of the office or works from home-- works flawlessly.
We haven't figured out what is causing the interference.

Sent from mTalk

 

[leeshor]

This all reminds me of yet another similar story from a long time ago. Back in the days of monochrome CGA CRT monitors a customer called me to tell me the monitor on the server was doing the hula. I had to see for myself and sure enough it was. It was an electric clock that someone set on the counter by the screen. Anything pluged into power could cause a problem but especially anything with a motor, no matter how small.

 

[SurfacesArePrettyGood]

Interesting. I came across this post because sitting at a coffee shop right now, my touch screen and pen input have been completely messed up. Even when not using the touch screen, my cursor jumps to the top left corner of the screen every 10 seconds or so. It turns out that if I move my laptop two feet to the left, it goes completely back to normal. There is a metal pipe that leads to an electric outlet at the right edge of my table, so that's probably the source. Easy fix! So I guess moral of the story is if your Surface touch screen or mouse are acting weird, take it outside.

 

[sharpuser]

That metal pipe is not well grounded.
But you, @SurfacesArePrettyGood , seem to be.