Xperia Pro not sensing when slide out keyboard is used

[#1]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone may be able to help me out with this problem I've encountered with my Xperia Pro MK16i.

The home screen has always automatically rotated into landscape mode when the keyboard is slid out, now it doesn't any more.

I also noticed another strange behaviour probably related to this - when using slide out keyboard, it still brings up the on screen keyboard when I click on a text box for input. This has not happened before, and is very annoying.

I also no longer see the "A" icon in notification bar up top either when using the slide out keyboard (not in browser, messaging, gmail or in any app), it's as if the phone has no idea that the keyboard is slid out.

The keyboard works just fine though, I experience no problems with the keyboard itself. It's still just wonderful to use as when I first bought the phone.

It's just driving me crazy to have double keyboards every time I use text input. I can of course "tap down" the soft keyboard every time, but I should not have to do this.

I installed the available software update, hoping it may solve the issue. It did not however.

Neither did restarting the phone (and taking out the battery, sim card and sd card), or doing a factory reset.

Is there anything else I can do myself to fix this issue? I've looked through all settings now and I can't find anything that could fix this, since it worked fine out of the box, and resetting the phone made no difference. I'm just hoping it isn't a hardware problem since I really would rather not send it away for repair.

Phone has Android version 2.3.4 and build number: 4.0.2.A.0.58.

I'm grateful for any kind of advice or help in this matter.

Best regards,

Secubia

[gwhispererz]

Hi, it seems that most likely it is due to a hardware issue since both factory reset and software repair are not able to 'cure' this issue.

You should consider sending phone to the nearest SE Service Centre for repair.

[#3]

I had the same problem with two Xperia Pro but I didnt find solution for this issue. This issue seems like a common problem or a manufacturing problem in this handset.

If anyone has information to solve this issue I'm grateful if help us.

Thanks

[gwhispererz]

Hi, you should send it to your local SE Service Centre for repair.

[#5]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem - my Xperia Pro MK16a is unable to sense the presence of its keyboard when open, so the screen will not change to landscape and the backlight will not come on but the keys work.

Buyer preference for this particular phone is the availability of the physical keyboard and any problems with the keyboard should be top priority.

The  service centre visit I consider as not a practical solution because this phone has an international version but the service centre is not everywhere.

[#6]

Hi, Switch off the device and slide out the keyboard before turning it on. Keep the keyboard open until the phone is fully booted and start typing. You may need to try this a couple of times before it works.

The problem will again occur whenever the keyboard is put back in. I hope to see a solution from SE soon.

Regards.

[#7]

Hi, I had the same problem, but I finally could fix my handset.

To resolve the problem, I put a magnet in the sensor, right on the left side of de "Q" key of the keyboard. When I did this, the problem went away temporarily.

Then I opened the handset to pass the magnet near the sensor in the internal circuitry. When I close the handset the problem dissapeared completely.

I have to said that I didnt use a powerfull magnet, maybe due this I had to open the handset. Maybe using a powerfull magnet the problem can be resolve avoiding opened the handset.

[#8]

Hi

I still have not sent my phone to repair centre, I simply performed a few workarounds to be able to live with this issue (namely install LauncherPro to be able to rotate the homescreen to landscape mode, as well as turn off the on screen keyboard in settings), but your solution worked for me! 😄

I put a fairly strong magnet against the backside of the phone, until it stuck (I moved it around a bit while testing functionality) and when it was on the camera lense I noticed that I could press a key and make the keyboard light up again -which it hasn't since I first started this thread.

I disabled LauncherPro, enabled on screen keyboard in settings again, and tried functionality, and to my surprise it still worked! I restarted the phone, and everything still works. I am not enough of a technical person to know WHY this works, but I am most happy it does. I don't know what I did to cause this problem in the first place but I sure am happy right now just knowing problem is (at least temporarily) solved.

And if problem occurs again I know this is the way to go to get it working! How did you come to think of magnets anyway? 😄

Thank you, I am forever grateful. 🙂

[#9]

Hi, Im so glad that this solution works no only for me.

I bought my Xperia Pro in Octuber and after one month the problem appears. I sent the handset to repair with the seller (I bought my phone on www.mercadolibre.com) and he wasnt able to repair the phone. The seller changed me the handset to a new Xperia Pro. After that I dont know what I did but the problem appears again in the new handset.

Thats when I started to search in the web the solution, but the information was poor until I found something about magnets in this thread "http://talk.sonyericsson.com/message/143110". I started trying with a simple magnet and I noticed that worked. thats why I found the solution

I dont know what is the cause of the problem, now I know that Xperia Pro sliding sensor is very sensitive to the magnetic fields.

[HenriqueGO]

Worked Perfectly for me!

My problem started just after I accidentally passed a magnet near my Xperia.

Thank you ALOT for the fix