Harmony Elite Touch Screen Issues

Harmony Elite/950 Touch Screen Issues

There have been a fair number of reports of the Harmony Elite and Harmony 950 not responding to touch. In some instances, this is intermittent and only certain parts of the touchscreen become unresponsive, like the Activities and or Devices 'button'. Some users have reported that the screen will only respond after multiple presses. In these cases, especially when the problem is intermittent, it can be difficult to determine if the cause is related to a glitch in the firmware or operating system, or if there is an actual hardware problem (or both). In March, 2022, Logitech released a new version of the Hub firmware and it addresses at least one of these common touch screen issues with the Elite. See below:

Harmony Hub firmware (4.15.307)This firmware update supports WebSocket API for Sonos, it will allow Harmony to control Pandora via Sonos.
This update also addresses the following:

Home Control rocker buttons stopped controlling Philips Hue light or Lutron Dimmer and LIFX bulbs brightness.
Unable to add Philips Hue or can’t find the Philips Hue bridge.
Unable to Control Lifx.
Ecobee is unable to pair/connect with Harmony.
Elite Remote screen freezes on the tutorial screen and the touch screen becomes unresponsive.
Other bug fixes.

If you are up-to-date on the firmware and there are still issues, there are a few things you can try to see if you can get the touch screen to respond, and there is also a test you can perform which is helpful in determining if the issue is more probably hardware-related:

Testing the touch function:

Without starting any Activity, place the Elite down on a table and allow the LCD to turn off.
Carefully, so as not to disturb the tilt-sensor, tap the screen in a specific area, like the top-left. Make sure you use 'soft tissue', like the ball of your finger and not your fingernail.
The expected behavior is for the LCD to turn on. If it did not turn on, then try tapping another area of the screen and continue this procedure, tapping various areas, including the Activities/Devices, until all areas have been tested.
If the LCD turned on during any test, allow it to time-out and turn off again and continue to test various sections of the touch screen. If the LCD turns on consistently when testing all areas, then the digitizer (aka touch screen) hardware is probably fine and the issue with the remote is related to firmware, software instruction, etc. However, if the LCD does not turn on at all, or only turns on consistently when touching some areas, but not others, it is more likely that there is a hardware flaw in the digitizer IC or ribbon cable.

This testing procedure is helpful since it eliminates many of the other issues, like communication lag, etc that can occur between the remote and the Hub and which can appear as a touch screen failure. For example, during normal use, some customers have reported that the touch screen does respond, they get a haptic response (buzz), but the command does not fire. This kind of symptom is generally not a hardware issue with the touch screen itself. So, assuming your touch screen's hardware is actually OK, what can you do to try to get things working again?

Always start with a power-recycle. On the Elite/950, this is done by pressing and holding the Off button at the top of the remote until the screen turns off and then back on again.
Some users have reported that changing the Touch Screen Duration on the Settings Menu has gotten things working again. In some cases, increasing the duration and then setting the duration back to the minimum improves the situation.
If there is no change, then doing a Factory Reset is generally the next thing to try. To do a Factory Reset you press and hold the Menu button (located above the Channel Up button) and the Off button together for 20 seconds. The remote screen will turn off, then turn on again displaying the image of a remote and a circular arrow. After several seconds the remote will be restored to factory defaults. If the unit is then placed into the charging cradle, it will generally re-sync with the Hub within 30 seconds or so, or you can login to your MyHarmony Account, USB-connect and Sync.
Some users have reported that removing the battery and allowing the remote to completely dissipate any residual charge (in the capacitors) has worked for them. To do this, you would remove the two small screws under the USB port dust cover and pull the cap off. Note that these screws can be very difficult to remove and easily stripped. You should use a #000 Phillips-head and press firmly while backing them out. Then, remove the two visible screws and, with your nail or thin pry tool, remove the 'soft touch' back cover by sliding up the sides so that the piece unclips. This will expose the battery, which can be detached. Leave the battery out of the remote for at least a few hours. Some users have reported success only when leaving the battery out for a full 24 hours.
In some instances, touch screen problems are caused by an issue in the Activity/Device configuration. If nothing seems to help, it may be worth deleting your setup on MyHarmony and re-doing it. One customer of ours had an issue where the touch screen was unresponsive most of the time, but when we programmed the remote here with one of our test profiles, the issue did not appear. Programming the remote with the customer's original profile resulted in the anomalous behavior returning!

If, after doing all of this troubleshooting, the touch screen is still unresponsive (or partially unresponsive), then only replacing the front cover seems to take care of the issue. The trouble there is that, since Logitech has ceased manufacturing of Harmony units, finding front covers for these controllers has become almost impossible. We rarely see them ourselves these days. Our advice to our customers who experience this issue (and are using a Hub) is to use the Logitech Harmony smartphone app to start an Activity and then switch to the remote to use the hard buttons - which should work once an Activity has been started. This, at least, will allow you some use of your remote.