Display from FP3 buggy/flickering

It happened a first time in April 2020, for 1 day or 2, and the support answered asking for a video. As my phone started again working properly after emptying the battery and letting the phone without its battery for one night, I did not send any video.
This time (July 2020) I got absolutely no answer.

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@formerFP.Com.Manager @lorahaspels, sorry for mentioning you again, but aren’t 11 days a long time for an answer from the support team?

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Hi everyone,

I completely missed the first tag on this post. Apologies for that, and for your experience @NathalieR. Do you perhaps have a support ticket number to share so that I can check with my colleagues?

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Thank you: my ticket numbers are [#370524] on Tuesday
and [#372031] this morning.

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12th day without phone.

If I bend it (pressing really hard with my two hands), I manage to establish some electrical contacts between the display and the rest of the phone. For a few seconds.

However, after one day of this regimen, the touch part of the screen is out of order: when I try to enter my PIN code, each digit is entered many times, it is impossible to press each digit only once.

Still no answer from the customer support.

Hi NathalieR,

i had similar problems the last 4 weeks. Two weeks ago the screen than turned completley black. I conntacted the support team, however i only got the generic answers after about a week:

Blockquote
Step 1
To help you further and to improve our product quality, we would really appreciate if you could provide the following details:
Can you tell us which app/steps you performed before your Fairphone 3 showed this issue?
Step 2
Sometimes this issue can be caused by the operative system being corrupted. We suggest you refreshing the operative system of your phone.
Make a backup of your personal data.
Refresh your operating system by following the procedure of this article: Install Fairphone OS on Fairphone 3 using a computer.
Reset your Fairphone 3 to its factory settings. This will wipe all your personal data.
Step 3
Check if the behavior remains.
If it does, could you provide us with pictures or a short video to show us the symptoms?
Try to keep the video size below 20 MB. If the file is bigger than 20 MB, you can use our Fairphone Fileshare portal to upload your files. Please click here and follow the instructions.

I also tried the disassemble/assembling tricks, the battry removal and so on. So far nothing worked. Yesterday, out of desperation, i tried it once more and realized that on the display there is a small silver coverage. This coverage seems to secure an inner connector of the display. I pressed the silver coverage gently down and felt a small click. I assembled the phone back togehter and it worked (even without the screws keeping everything in place.). So the phone is now running perfectly again for about 24h. Probably this can also help you resolve your problem.

Cheers from Germany,

Moaxle

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Here’s the picture of the display module back side from Fairphone’s shop, which cover was it? …

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Hi,

i marked the cover in the pic below with a red circle.

I hope it will fix the issue for some of you guys.

cheers,

Moaxle

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Thank you Moaxle.
I got the same message, but it is too late for me: I cannot unlock the SIM card of my Fairphone any more, thus even if I connect it to my computer, I do not have access to my phone and I cannot perform anything (such as backing up my personal date or reinstalling anything).
I think the diagnosis is clear: the contact of the display is insufficient by far and the tactile screen is out of order. I expect a replacement of the display, I suggested it to the customer service but I got no answer so far.
I am not really reassured by reading that you are 4 weeks into this without any answer either.

Hi NathalieR,

i think you misread my post. I fixed the problem on my own without the support. You can try this solution as well (However it is not guaranteed that it will work). Remove the display from the phone using this guide and the tool that was in the original package:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG6OVPTnrK4]

When you have freed the display, gently push the marked silver coverage down (see my post with the figure #41). If this is the problem, you should hear and fell a small click. Then, reassemble the phone again with the given guide. Their should be no problem with loosing any personal data and you do not need to access your phone via the screen.

Concerning the support, i got a message after 6 days and send them a reply yesterday with the suggested fix.

Max

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For me, this solved it, my FP3 has been running fine for 3 days now. Great! Thanks a lot. I did not notice a click, but pushing the coverage helped.
I understand that the coverage probably lost contact with the display because of a shock. (It fell to the ground.) If this problem ever re-emerges, I guess it will help to put something (a piece of cloth?) over the coverage, to keep it pressed against the display - until, maybe, another solution will be offered, somewhere in the future.

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Hi @NathalieR, just following up on this. Have you received some assistance from our Customer Support team yet?

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Hi Siard,

good to hear that the solution seems to work. I think the proplem is comming from the connector beneath the coverage. I think a small non-conductive part like an anti-static foam or something similar between the connector and the coverage will help to keep the connector in place (even upon shock from falling etc.).

My phone also works fine since I fixed it.

This could also probably help to fix some of the issues related to ghost inputs on the screen and related.

so long

Max

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Perhaps you could explain it on these topics as well. Or perhaps copy your posts.

I made @Moaxle’s answer as solution here as well as it seems to have helped.

it works a few weeks ant one month ago start again to be fool.
this bug it’s a headheack
i removed the metalic cover and add some thin paper over the connector. and put again the metalic cover and put a thin paper again.
I don’t know what to do more and now i’m in foreign country and have no support.
:frowning:

Now we are in a low coverage 4g area and the problem is worth.
Maybe the problem came from the base-band something like that which take all the resources and make the phone like laggy.
how can i record the process usage, or processor consumption ?

Hi, It worked for me as well… I just got my Firephone 3+ four days ago, and the 3rd day started with the flickering, and when opened a support ticket I received an automatic response saying I’m going to receive an answer in 5 days!!

Luckily I found this post! Thanks, Moaxle!

In my case, I don’t know why the first time I did it didn’t’ work (in fact it was worse and the screen stopped working)
Then I disassembled the screen again and clean up the connectors with a bit of alcohol and it magically worked.

Now my phone works perfectly!

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I had the same problem twice already (new phone just for 2 weeks), both times problem started after the phone fell . First time some squizing, twisting and gently hitting it against the table, solved the issue. After the second time and reading this post, I opened it and pushed against the part marked in the picture above. It seemed to be in place however, and pushing it gave no click or something. But after assembing it again, it worked.
Hope I don’t have to do this every time the phone gets a minor hit :frowning: !

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