internal SPI timeout on 3.2" HY board using published code example for servo laser control

The below code (as published on espruino.com) yields:

ERROR: INTERNAL: Timeout on SPI RX

whenever the touchscreen is drawn upon.
Have tried different setIntervals ranging from 10 to 100 touchFinc but with no change -any ideas?

this is observed with Espruino 1v39

var onInit = function () {
	  SPI1.setup({sck:A5,miso:A6,mosi:A7})
	  SPI1.send([0x90,0],A4); // just wake the controller up
	};

var touchFunc = function () {
	  if (!digitalRead(B6)) { // touch down
	    var d = SPI1.send([0x90,0,0xD0,0],A4);   
	    var pos = {x:(d[1]*256+d[2])*LCD.WIDTH/0x8000, 
	               y:(d[3]*256+d[4])*LCD.HEIGHT/0x8000};
	    touchCallback(pos.x, pos.y);
	    lastPos = pos;
	  } else lastPos = null;
	};

var touchCallback = function (x,y) {
	  if (lastPos!=null) { 
	    LCD.drawLine(x,y,lastPos.x,lastPos.y,0xFFFF);
	  }
	};

onInit();setInterval(touchFunc, 50);