update: i did screen calibration and THAT worked well. and when i touch the screen, the backlight turns on.

i think the pressure sensitivitiy is really messed up or seomthing. anybody have a hack or a fix that'll make it work any time i touch it? obviously the actual movement works fine (as shown in the screen calib), its just that no buttons in Maemo work unless i get lucky (on some random part of the screen if the menu opens)