Black Screen/Booting Issue After FPOS C.073 Android 13 Update

[USB-2]

@peci1

Are you sure even a PIN-less SIM would get unlocked without the phone being unlocked?

Yes. The phone should then be in the same condition as after entering the SIM-PIN. Would be sad if no one could call you, when your phone is in your pocket, and locked.
So SIM PIN means SIM is permanently unlocked.

Edit: To check, I have rebooted my FP4 and entered the SIM code. Then I gave it a call and it worked.
Other than my Samsung work phone. This I can only call after once logging on to the phone with the screen PIN. Maybe it’s my company’s default setting as an additional security feature. But it is not standard on the FP4. So, removing the PIN and calling it should make it ring, if it is alive after the update, only black screened.

[peci1]

I, of course, meant the initial unlocking after a reboot. My phone doesn’t ask for PIN, but does ask for screen password.

Whether you’re asked also for the SIM PIN, is given by “SIM Card lock” setting.

[USB-2]

@peci1

Whether you’re asked also for the SIM PIN, is given by “SIM Card lock” setting.

Yes, and if you unclick it, the PIN will be deactivated on the SIM card. So, if you do this on another device and put it back to a black screened FP4, the question is if it is callable after booting up.

But this is something only someone with an affected phone can tell us.

[ogghi]

I was having a look;
The phone seems to not boot, at least I can’t ping it’s IP which I usually can (I have pi.alert monitoring)

Also I thought to switch slot which does not work in locked status:

./fastboot set_active b
Setting current slot to 'b'                        FAILED (remote: 'Slot Change is not allowed in Lock State
')
fastboot: error: Command failed

Unlocking is not allowed…so not sure how to go on here! If somebody had the phone unlocked before it might work?

[ogghi]

And at the same time, when it’s stuck in the black screen ADB reports: “unauthorized”

[Devilicate]

Would the fix be Fairphone releasing the 2nd version of FP4OS running on A13 as an OTA Sideload update here, so we could Sideload it to get it running again or am I not getting something?

[yvmuell]

Black Screen/Booting Issue After FPOS C.073 Android 13 Update

I was in contact with the support and they will check, whether an OTA-file that can heal the problem will be made available in a duration, that it might make it okay to wait for it and use another phone(if available) instead of wiping all data.

[GunniMator]

I am hoping to hear something by tomorrow. But as the support cannot promise anything, i cant either…
But i can add info about my FP4.
I bought it around christmas '22 and i tried LineageOS. But i did not want to keep the bootloader unlocked, so i went back to Fairphone OS and stayed with that since that time.

Did anyone have this problem without having tried another OS on the FP4? I did not read anyone exactly stating that, although trULLAs post sounded like she just uses the FairphoneOS.

[soyatti]

same issue:
after the Android 13 upgrade and reboot:

• my FP4 starts
• displays Fairphone logo
• blue dot
• black screen, screen turned on, adb unauthorised
• after ~2 minutes - black screen, screen turned off, adb unauthorised
• after ~7 more minutes - screen turned off, adb shows no devices

[USB-2]

@soyatti

black screen, screen turned on, adb unauthorised

Almost needless to ask: before the update, USB-Debugging was activated, right?

[Lars_Hennig]

For me ADB-Debugging was active but I do not have such a problem wit not booting after the update

[dylanwhyte]

I just wanted to add that I’m experiencing the same black screen issue that’s described in multiple posts here. The phone was fine until the attempted upgrade to Android 13. Now it boots up, the Fairphone splash-screen shows for a second, then it’s just a black screen with backlight for about a minute.

FP4 from December 2021
Previously installed LineageOS, but for the last 6 months have been running the stock OS, boot loader, etc. from Fairphone, with default settings.
No changes to the phone, root not enabled.
Using Termux and Password Store from fdroid, otherwise all apps are from the Google Play Store

[soyatti]

i don’t remember wether adb-debugging was on or off.
is it possible to check it from ‘fastboot’, or from ‘adb sideload’, or from ‘adb unauthorized’ states?

my FP4 was baught on January 2023.
i previously installed LineageOS, but then changed it back to the stock OS.

[mde]

Update Oct 12th:
It very much looks like previous installation of a custom ROM causes some sort of screen issues, but does not brick the phone completely:

Black Screen/Booting Issue After FPOS C.073 Android 13 Update

Just a short summary for those not reading the whole thread and who got “bricked” phone after the update. The phone is most probably not bricked!!! From forum user reports, it seems it is only the display driver that fails. And it seems it only fails on phones that have ever tried installing another OS (even if they reverted back to FPOS and locked bootloader). If you don’t mind factory-resetting your phone, you can try to unlock the bootloader using a USB-C dock and reinstalling the system. T…

This also means that if you did not install a custom ROM on your phone in the past, you should not be affected by this particular problem.

Original post and overview:
I went though all the reports here and will try to sum up the information people gave about their phone setups to get an idea what those might have in common. Thanks @USB-2 for the idea!
(click the arrow for details)

Unfortunately, not a whole lot of reports include the relevant information. So I’m tagging those here in hopes that they might still add that information:

Overview of people/phones with problems and their setups

@Tuzzaman:
G33K2303: Divest OS according to this
M4rk: used custom ROMs (LOS), bootloader locked
@Martin_1964: open bootloader, no information on custom ROMs - please specify! according to this LOS as well
Munk: used custom ROMs, locked bootloader
GunniMator: used custom ROMs (LOS)
Devilicate: previously rooted and used custom ROMs, bootloader locked
urglas: used custom ROMs (LOS), bootloader locked
ogghi: used custom ROMs (LOS), bootloader locked
soyatti: used custom ROMs (LOS)
dylanwhyte: used custom ROMs (LOS)
Phk: used custom ROMs (LOS), bootloader open

Conclusion based on this spotty information: Most of people with the issue who reported back have installed a custom ROM at some point in the past! This would be 100% if we knew for sure what @Martin_1964 was up to. I guess you don’t unlock the bootloader just for fun.

To be clear: I’m not convinced that this is the whole picture, as at least some of the other posts could be read in a way that suggests absolutely no modifications at any point in the past. But the only way to be sure is if those people also reported back, so please do if you can!

[M4rk]

Chiming in: Yes, I did have Lineageos in the past installed. Since then I installed the stock rom and locked the bootloader again.

[mde]

Thanks! I updated the information above.

[urglas]

Same for me, I switched to LineageOS after I bought the Fairphone. After problems with my banking app, I went back to the stock Fairphone OS and lock the bootloader. That was 5 months ago.

[yvmuell]

Updated and made the post a wiki, so no need to comment first, making the thread less “bulky”

[Munk]

@mde

Yes I was using custom roms, but I moved back to stock and locked bootloader a while before this issue. I had gotten a couple of smaller updates before this.

Does anyone know if flashing a custom rom would resolve the issue?

[yvmuell]

Do you have OEM unlocking enabled?