Gray, Transcluscent Dots ("Ghost Bubbles") Appear On My Screen Without Warning

Question

Have you ever noticed that when you use your surface book as a tablet that a gray, translucent cursor appears under your finger? I think that's normal. It's supposed to show you that your screen recognizes your touch. But have you ever been haunted by them?

In the last 24 hours, those "gray dots" have started appearing, without warning, in a straight line across my screen. One moment, I'm surfing the web looking at cold-brew recipes, and the next I'm face-to-face with a nightmare. *GASP!* When they appear on my screen, my mousepad and touchscreen are effectively inoperable. The machine believes that I have something like 12 fingers pressing on the screen in a perfectly horizontal line. When I tried to mess around with it by tapping with my own fingers (that were, quite obviously, not previously pressed against the screen), the gray dots - or "ghost bubbles" - disappeared and reappeared instantly (...like a ghost). I tried to just work around it with a wireless mouse, but the system really didn't like that as it began to zoom in and out of the page I was viewing on my web browser. Is my surface book possessed?

I called the Microsoft helpdesk (warning: the voice menu is obnoxious, and you have to fight with it to finally reach a human being (if you're still following along, I am now battling the supernatural and artificial intelligence (Stephen King - call me!))) and worked with three different technicians. All three did their best - they tried rebooting my system back to before a recent Windows update, uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, and even updating me to a new Windows OS. On the final try I thought that we finally had it. But alas - within 12 hours, the ghost bubbles were back.

I've only found some temporary fixes:

1. Putting my tablet in standby for a moment, and then reengaging with the machine. But this bought me maybe five minutes - enough to save what I was working on and shut down.
2. Shut down and restart. Sometimes, I got an hour. And others, I got about ten minutes before they reappeared.
3. Disable the touch screen driver (Device Manager --> Human Interface Devices --> right-click HID-compliant touch screen --> left-click Disable device). This is not the perfect fix, as I can no longer use the touch screen. But at least I can still use my computer without hoping and praying that the ghost bubbles never return.

If you are a computer tech, or an exorcist, please help.

Answer 1

Have you ever noticed that when you use your surface book as a tablet that a gray, translucent cursor appears under your finger? I think that's normal. It's supposed to show you that your screen recognizes your touch. But have you ever been haunted by them?

In the last 24 hours, those "gray dots" have started appearing, without warning, in a straight line across my screen. One moment, I'm surfing the web looking at cold-brew recipes, and the next I'm face-to-face with a nightmare. *GASP!* When they appear on my screen, my mousepad and touchscreen are effectively inoperable. The machine believes that I have something like 12 fingers pressing on the screen in a perfectly horizontal line. When I tried to mess around with it by tapping with my own fingers (that were, quite obviously, not previously pressed against the screen), the gray dots - or "ghost bubbles" - disappeared and reappeared instantly (...like a ghost). I tried to just work around it with a wireless mouse, but the system really didn't like that as it began to zoom in and out of the page I was viewing on my web browser. Is my surface book possessed?

I called the Microsoft helpdesk (warning: the voice menu is obnoxious, and you have to fight with it to finally reach a human being (if you're still following along, I am now battling the supernatural and artificial intelligence (Stephen King - call me!))) and worked with three different technicians. All three did their best - they tried rebooting my system back to before a recent Windows update, uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, and even updating me to a new Windows OS. On the final try I thought that we finally had it. But alas - within 12 hours, the ghost bubbles were back.

I've only found some temporary fixes:

1. Putting my tablet in standby for a moment, and then reengaging with the machine. But this bought me maybe five minutes - enough to save what I was working on and shut down.
2. Shut down and restart. Sometimes, I got an hour. And others, I got about ten minutes before they reappeared.
3. Disable the touch screen driver (Device Manager --> Human Interface Devices --> right-click HID-compliant touch screen --> left-click Disable device). This is not the perfect fix, as I can no longer use the touch screen. But at least I can still use my computer without hoping and praying that the ghost bubbles never return.

If you are a computer tech, or an exorcist, please help.

Hi greensfcbook,

Thank you for sharing your experience here in Microsoft Community. I understand the difficulty of being unable to use the device properly. This is most likely a hardware issue since you already reset the device. Nevertheless, let us first confirm if the issue is present in the UEFI settings. To make that happen, please the steps below:

Go to Settings> Updates & Security> Advanced startup> Troubleshoot> Advanced options> UEFI firmware settings> Restart

The steps above will open the UEFI page and see if the issue is visible. If in case the issue visible, it means that it is relatively a hardware issue.

Please let me know how the issue progresses by responding to this thread.

Best regards,

GeraldAldrin_T

Microsoft Agent | Moderator

Answer 2

Hey Ghostbuster Gerald,

Thank you for you help!

But I need further assistance. After I went through your directions and selected Restart now my computer began to close all my apps and shut down. Next, it opened up a blue window with a bunch of options, and I wasn't sure what to do next. Please provide further direction.

Also, if by "see if the issue is visible" you meant that I should get to that blue window and see if the ghost bubbles were on that screen, then no - the ghost bubbles are not visible on that blue window. But recall from my original post that the ghost bubbles were no longer visible when I disabled my touchscreen driver. My problem is not a constant one. The ghost bubbles only appear when my touch screen driver is on.

Answer 3

Hey Ghostbuster Gerald,

Thank you for you help!

But I need further assistance. After I went through your directions and selected Restart now my computer began to close all my apps and shut down. Next, it opened up a blue window with a bunch of options, and I wasn't sure what to do next. Please provide further direction.

Also, if by "see if the issue is visible" you meant that I should get to that blue window and see if the ghost bubbles were on that screen, then no - the ghost bubbles are not visible on that blue window. But recall from my original post that the ghost bubbles were no longer visible when I disabled my touchscreen driver. My problem is not a constant one. The ghost bubbles only appear when my touch screen driver is on.

Hi greensfcbook,

Thank you for the reply. It appears to be a software related issue since the issue is not visible on the UEFI screen. Have you tried updating the device by going to Settings> Updates & Security> Windows update> Check for updates ?

You may try uninstalling and reinstalling the touchscreen driver by opening Device Manager> Human Interface Devices> Right click HID compliant touch screen> Uninstall> Restart

Since it is also appearing on the display ( intermittently ), You may also uninstall and reinstall the display adapters by opening Device manager> Display adapters> Right click the current driver installed> Uninstall > Restart the device

Please let me know if the above troubleshooting mention above able to fix the issue.

Best regards,

GeraldAldrin_T

Microsoft Agent | Moderator