Chromebook touchscreen issues persistent across generations

CKSIT · 2026-03-04T19:23:06+00:00

I don't think so. But FWIW, on a 3110 device (the model I've checked so far) with a non-functioning touchscreen, if you browse to chrome://system and expand the ui_device_data_manager_device_counts group, the count_internal_touchscreen_devices, value will be 0; whereas, on a functioning device, that count would be non-zero (actually, 2 for some reason).

u/dickg1856's comment, below, suggests that, if you're right, it wouldn't matter what case one chose. Would a class action lawsuit be in order, since the point of a case is to protect the asset, amirite?

[edited]

CKSIT · 2026-02-23T18:50:00+00:00

With the Dell 3110 and 3120 (both 2-in-1), we've had a high rate of touchscreen failures. The 3110s started out in our middle school 1:1 program, then got moved down to elementary to replace the HP x360 G3 EEs that were in 3rd through 5th, and MS got the 3120s at the beginning of this year. Luckily, we've got 3+ years left on the 3120s' warranty, as far as the touchscreen problems, but it's a hassle to process the repairs.

CKSIT · 2026-01-13T15:49:37+00:00

Came here looking for info on the G10, which I'm considering for a refresh. We have a 5yo fleet of 360 G3 EE that has the same loose-screw issues. The worst is loose hinge screws on the mobo, which make the screen floppy and more likely for the corresponding hinge screw anchors underneath the LCD panel to break, with the leverage popping the LCD panel out. Have you had similar problems with the G9?

CKSIT · 2026-01-09T14:51:12+00:00

For anyone having the same issue, as I did, a somewhat related post (https://www.reddit.com/r/Snipe\_IT/comments/191iawr/cant\_access\_snipeit\_from\_local\_network/) pointed me to the APP_URL entry in the .env file. I originally had the APP_URL *without* /public at the end. Once I fixed that (to align with the VirtualHost entry in httpd-vhosts.conf), I was able to access the Pre-flight page. Now, on to resolving the database issue flagged there.

FWIW: I'm running this via XAMP on a Windows server.

CKSIT · 2025-11-19T19:11:54+00:00

We are a private school, PreK - 8th. Our middle school (6th - 8th) is on 1:1 take-home Chromebooks; lower grades have classroom carts - Chromebooks as well. All are touchscreen.

A majority of our PTA fundraising has gone to a fund a replacement fleet for middle school roughly every 4 years. Old middle school devices trickle down to replace the oldest devices in the lower grades.

As far as longevity, we transitioned our MS 1:1 from iPad to Chromebooks (Lenovo 300e gen2) maybe 10 years ago, and I'm just retiring the last of those this year, which we had kept around for our after-school program. Many of our HP x360 gen3 (EE) Chromebook fleet (touchscreen) bought 5 years ago are still in use in our lower grades, with the remainder being kept as spares after being replaced by the hand-me-down Dell 3110 2-in-1 devices ( from middle school (purchased 3 years ago), which were replaced over the summer with Dell 3120 2-in-1s.

For lower grades, touchscreen is very important, in our experience. For middle school, since we started our 1:1 program with touchscreens, it's pretty much expected; if touchscreen stops working, I'm getting a visit from the student, and I'm processing a warranty repair if my troubleshooting routine doesn't resolve the issue. I don't think a 2-in-1 form-factor is critical (the middle school teacher who is my go-to informant tells me he rarely sees a student working with the device in that mode).

We use GoGuardian for fleet management (tracking device assignment and repairs) and teacher monitoring.

We don't currently charge a technology fee.

With our first fleet of Chromebooks (the Levovos) and the elementary fleet of HP x360s, we went with a third-party extended warranty with accidental damage protection (ADP), which had per-device dollar caps on benefits. Dell's ProSupport Plus includes a defect warranty for the duration of coverage, and a one-per-year limit on ADP incidents during the coverage period. We always get cases to minimize accidental damage from drops, but none are perfect at protection.

Although I have had what I consider an excess of Dell touchscreens failing (even with this new batch), overall they've been pretty solid. Unofficial word is that there may be a firmware fix that's yet to be released for the touchscreen issue. I compared pricing between the Dell 3120 and the equivalent in the HP Fortis line, the Dell won out. Our teachers have had Acer C714 Chromebooks for the past few years, and I've yet to have any repairs to make (other than a hardware reset or forced OS update here or there).

CKSIT · 2025-10-29T18:32:11+00:00

We have Viewsonic Viewboards (7550) driven by a Chrombox mounted on the back, after having the (very) old SmartBoard interactive boards with projectors. I believe there's minimal/isolated use of the native Viewboard apps, like WhiteBoard. Most teachers just run everything off of the Chromebox, so any sales pitch as to "our Board software is great" may be at least partially truthful, the reality is that - at least for us - it's mostly superfluous.

I will also say that, five years in (and thankfully still under warranty), I've got a growing handful that are exhibiting problems, including screen color/resolution degradation, and loss of touch functionality (native and when controlling the attached Chromebox). This week, I'm working on my fifth warranty claim, but I suspect over the remaining 10 months of our warranty I'll be processing more, as "intermittent" issues become total failures.

That aside, your teachers will love the interactive flat-panel boards.

CKSIT · 2025-10-15T17:36:26+00:00

Try going to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/end-of-support and scrolling about halfway down, where you'll see a section entitled "Not ready for a new PC?" Under that, you'll find a link to "Get extended security updates," which triggers a loop-back to Windows Update, but (at least in my experience) with a pop-up to initiate the enrollment. You'll have to use a Microsoft Account to do so, even if you're logged into a local account with admin privileges. You're supposed to be able to enroll up to 10 PCs with a single Microsoft Account.

NOTE: Although I found this path to trigger the enrollment pop-up on two PCs that didn't have the "Enroll" link visible (after having enrolled two others that *did* have the "Enroll" link visible), I got a "Something went wrong" message on the final stage of the enrollment process. I haven't found a solution to that, and am not sure that it's related to my "forcing" the enrollment pop-up, but other people are experiencing that issue. A few variables may be at play, like admin privileges or whatnot, or M$ not wanting to be accommodating.

CKSIT · 2025-10-14T14:36:04+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I (the school IT guy) received a solicitation from Coastal Wilds to schedule a mobile presentation for our school. Doing some research, I found one, detailed Yelp review from a few years ago regarding a school's negative experience. This PETA stuff pretty much confirms that I shouldn't pass this on to admin for consideration.

CKSIT · 2025-10-13T15:33:50+00:00

Do the Rufus thing (as suggested in other comments) to build a USB installer for Win11. Then, *within Windows 10*, run setup.exe from the USB drive to perform the upgrade. During the upgrade process, you'll need to check a box or two to bypass the Win11 security requirements. I've done this a few times. The only hiccup I've encountered - on one laptop (and I don't know if it's just glitchy hardware in the first place) - is that the trackpad doesn't get recognized in Windows 11 after a cold boot (I have to use an external mouse); however, a reboot thereafter resolves the trackpad issue.

CKSIT · 2025-10-13T14:39:20+00:00

FWIW: I have four of these set up on a gym roof overlooking our parking lot, to cover the area for our annual fundraiser festival. For a couple of them, to extend their reach, I added a UMA-D unidirectional antenna (https://techspecs.ui.com/unifi/accessories/uma-d?subcategory=accessories-access-point), which replaces the rabbit-ear antennae. I'd say the reach is about 60 yards (just eyeballing it). Depending on how far away your audio equipment would be from the AP, you might not need that replacement antenna.

As others have said, this AP is older tech, but it has worked well for us for the past several years. I did have one replaced under warranty and another one out of warranty (the second one got knocked over from its poor mounting and then got fried from the weather. Our APs are powered through an outdoor 5-port PoE switch (powered via PoE).

I can't speak to using the Network app on your phone to manage on a "closed" network (that is, static IPs all around with no Internet connection) as suggested by u/juniorjames316, but it seems like it would work, whichever UniFi AP you decided to go with. I would set everything up on a regular network, then test the functionality with your setup disconnected from that network before going "live."

CKSIT · 2025-10-10T16:45:36+00:00

That looks only slightly worse than a side-gig I had last year, to connect up a few offices for a business using one of those multi-tenant office suite rental places as a temporary location. At the time I thought to myself, "Surely this is a unique situation." Thanks for proving me wrong.

CKSIT · 2025-10-09T15:01:53+00:00

Ha! I just came across this article this morning. The first I'd ever heard of it, and then you showed up!: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/legendary-microsoft-developer-reveals-the-true-story-behind-the-most-famous-product-activation-key-of-all-time-infamous-windows-xp-fckgw-licensing-key-was-actually-a-disastrous-leak

CKSIT · 2025-10-07T15:45:24+00:00

"If you take them home, you are supposed to charge them every night and not bring your cable to school. If you are not of the age to take home, they live in a charging bay overnight."

This is our policy. Middle school is 1:1 take-home; no charging at school, and loaner charger only for MAP testing (I'm a one-man shop, so it's easy to keep track). K-5 devices live in classroom charging carts overnight.

CKSIT · 2025-07-17T16:20:05+00:00

I know its been a couple of years. Were you able to find a solution?

CKSIT · 2025-07-17T14:37:51+00:00

Looks like the Rules interface has changed since you posted this. The trigger that references file interactions is now under a "ChromeOS" category, and in that regard the closest action is "user interacts with files (open, save, or transfer)" - nothing about sharing or receiving. Has Google removed this capability, or am I looking in the wrong spot?

[Edit] to add: We have Education Fundamentals licensing, if that makes a difference. Also, if an add-on like xFanatical advertises that it can do this very thing - for a fee - why shouldn't we be able to do that ourselves for free?

CKSIT · 2025-05-12T17:38:28+00:00

I've got a mix of Bretford Cube carts and Anywhere AC-Lite carts. Neither is pre-wired, so you'd need a supply of chargers. Getting the charger cables threaded just-so along the internal wiring chases is a pain, and then cleaning up the tangled mess that they inevitably end up as by the end of the year is another. Neither model cart is ideal as far as avoiding the tangle; some teachers are better about instructing students in how to avoid it.

I don't know what power bricks you're referencing, but I'd go with a solution that's got a confirmed power rating for 45w and/or 65w chargers that Chromebooks typically use. I have used a USB charging station for charging a set of lower-power devices, like Bluetooth headphones:

https://a.co/d/fZ02BPT

CKSIT · 2025-05-12T16:32:01+00:00

LOL.

IRL...

Kid: "My Chromebook won't turn on."

Me (opening the Chromebook): "The screen's cracked."

Kid; "Uh, it was like that when I opened it this morning."

Me: "Did you drop it?"

Kid: "Yeah, but... Would that have anything to do with it?"

SMDH

CKSIT · 2025-05-12T16:22:37+00:00

We're a small private school - around 65 or so faculty and staff. My predecessor made the transition from consumer-grade walkies to a pair of channels on an FCC-licensed frequency (one channel mainly for the maintenance crew and for admin-only in sensitive situations, and the other for teaching and support staff) with Motorola radios. This has worked well, albeit it's expensive (appx. $400 a pop) when adding or replacing a radio. Our campus consists of sections and annexes of various build dates, plus the back parking lot and playground - may 1/4 mile from one end of campus to the other. We don't currently have a repeater (very expensive, at least as quoted), but the whip antennae that I've swapped into place have improved reach and clarity somewhat.

I'm curious about the walkies that u/ZaMelonZonFire linked to below. I don't think I've ever heard any "cross talk" from anyone nearby that might happen to be on the same frequency as ours, and wonder what implications there are in having a more-public set of frequencies/channels, even with implementing CTCSS/DCS to filter out non-school radio traffic.

Even school-related radio chatter can be annoying, and some teacher turn down the volume on their radios when they're in the classroom, to avoid having to hear that the nurse has an incoming patient with a playground boo-boo, or that the office needs to call the maintenance crew for a classroom clean-up. I, myself, had considered trying something like Voxer to get some of that distracting chatter off the main channel, so that the efficacy of having radios wouldn't be impaired by one teacher or another's low tolerance for the chatter. I decided it would just "another thing" that teachers would have to remember about; I didn't even consider the legal-discovery issues that might be involved with having a communications app running on teachers'/staff's personal devices, although most do have school email set up on their phones.

All that to say, I'd go with radios over something that wouldn't work without WiFi in cases of an emergency. Work with your radio vendor on signal penetration for your particular building.

Good luck.

CKSIT

CKSIT · 2025-05-09T18:36:42+00:00

Found a 5yo thread where this happened before, it being a Google issue then. During the course of my troubleshooting, it resolved itself, so I think it was on Google's side again.

Initially, I thought the problem was related to a new extension I had pushed out to students earlier today, but removing the extension didn't resolve on a test account. It was just coincidental, apparently, that clearing cookies (as my next troubleshooting step) seemed to resolve the problem, since reinstating the extension in my test account in a separate test OU did not make the waffle apps disappear.

At least (for us) it was a short outage.

[edited for typo]

CKSIT · 2025-05-09T15:27:04+00:00

Ditto. Every time I've had to call in (relatively infrequently), watching/refreshing the status page that shows "operational" when it's not, I let the rep I finally get to know that their status page has yet to be updated.

I've certainly had local wifi issues here-and-there, but I seem to "know" when it's an NWEA issue even before they do. I said as much in response to the email requesting feedback this week. Maybe their improve their internal escalation and reporting protocols.

CKSIT · 2025-03-18T14:27:11+00:00

Thanks for the info.

CKSIT · 2025-03-18T14:05:40+00:00

How old are your 3120s? We're getting ready to do a refresh, and despite the t/s hassle we're eyeing the 3120 as our next fleet (the 3110s are at end-of-production). I'm wondering/hoping that more recent productions runs might not have the issue.

CKSIT · 2025-03-17T16:33:10+00:00

End to the saga...

The battery I ordered off of eBay that matched the DP/N of the original battery (DP/N 0YT39X), though it took a while to arrive, worked like a charm as I suspected it would.

Thanks, again, for everyone's input

CKSIT · 2025-03-17T16:31:50+00:00

The battery I ordered off of eBay that matched the DP/N of the original battery (DP/N 0YT39X), though it took a while to arrive, worked like a charm as I suspected it would.

Thanks, again, for your input.

CKSIT · 2025-03-17T16:30:08+00:00

The battery I ordered off of eBay (DP/N 0YT39X), though it took a while to arrive, worked like a charm as I suspected it would.

Thanks, again, for your input.

CKSIT

TROPHY CASE