Phone 28 months old. Suddenly will not turn on, black screen. Will not charge using various chargers and different cables. If connected to charger without battery fitted, nothing appears on screen. Do not think it was completely discharged before problem started. Please help! Thanks.
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Symptoms like this came up several times, there should be something in the search, did you try already? … Search results for 'Fairphone 3+ is dead, will not turn on' - Fairphone Community Forum
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See if there’s a Fairphone Angel in your neighbourhood ( https://angels.fairphone.community/ ). Maybe they can help you try with another battery or bottom module (their own 
) At least, I have done that for some people…
You may also want to attempt to clean your USB port with a pared down toothpick (don’t be tempted to use something metal, you may break something or cause a short). You’d be surprised of the amount of dirt can cake into such a little port.
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Thanks. Yes, I tried things lie taking out battery for 30 minutes(!), different chargers/cables, cleaning usb port. Still no luck.
… but you didn’t try a different USB port or battery.
I had a similar problem once (charged only extremely slowly) and - since there was no Angel in my neighbourhood - I bought a new battery AND new USB port. Turns out, the new USB port (or more properly named, bottom module) did the trick and my phone was as new again.
Since my phone was still in warranty, I even got the cost of the bottom module AND shipping cost refunded by Fairphone (I had a support ticket before I bought the hardware).
Ymmv, this may not be the solution, that’s why I said try someone else’s bottom module or battery.
Also, that’s why I became an Angel one-eye in the land of the blind, as it were. At least I’ve been able to help others troubleshoot their device.
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The phone will not power on without a battery, but will without a bottom or top mudule etc.
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I had a FP3 which also from one moment the other went OFF and i was not able to turn it ON again.
The Battery was charged and the USB port cleaned - dissassembled all and cleaned all connections - but nothing helped.
As i had a lot of Fotos and Data on the phone which i did not have backedup yet - i wanted to find a solution.
So i took apart the FP3 and studied the marks on the chips of the mainboard and found by searching the ICs in the web that a defective Qualcom Power Managment Chip PMI632 sometimes causes these issues in other mobile phones.
I ordered some of these PMI632 chips from aliexpress (10 pcs for 13 USD) and found another FP3 with defect mainboard on ebay for testing without risking my own data.
And indeed it really worked!
Now my FP3 and the one i bought on ebay both are working fine again.
I just replaced the PMI632 with a temp controllable hot air gun at 380 °C and preheating the motherboard to 160 °C on a heatplate for several minutes. Important is to use a good soldering paste (flux paste) during the process. Before doing this i watched a couple of youtube videos where they replaced the PMI632 or similar BGA chips. The ordered PMI632 have allready new solderballs attached so reballing was not needed.
The PMI632 sits under the upper shield next to the battery connector on the side of the PCB with the display connector. Be careful removing the cap of this shielding case and do not bend the thin metal sheet - because underneath are attached heatpad.
Some people also reported that it is possible to switch ON a dead FP3 if you slightly bend it.
Because these Power Management ICs get hot during charging, sometimes indiviual pins get a cold solder joints and so bending the mainboard in the right direction can temporarily reconnect the lose solder joint and thus fix the problem.
In that case it should not be necessary to replace the PMI632.
Instead it should help if you just preheat the mainboard to 160 °C, apply flux paste to the IC and then use the hot air gun so that the ball pins of that chip resolder.
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This is an update to my previous posts. I eventually managed to receive a quote for repair. I apparently needed a new motherboard, cost of 247.51 Euros. I reluctantly paid. My repaired phone then got lost in the courier system. After much frustration trying to reslove the issue, I finally received the phone (after it had been returned to the repair centre and despatched again; it’s a long story). I was offered a 20 Euro voucher (!!!) by way of compensation. Instead, I asked that the repair warrany be extended, which Fairphone agreed to. Overall, my experience was extremely frustrating. Why did the motherboard fail after 28 months? Were there a batch of Fairphone3+ sold with faulty boards? If so, why should we have to pay for repair, even if out of warranty? My phone is always kept in a protective case, so the charging port is never exposed to dirt (some people mention this). And why was the repair service so slow and difficult? I paid a lot for an ethical phone, but unfortunately I have been left so dissapointed that I will never recommend Fairphone and would never buy another one.
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Thanks for the details, I would be interested in the timeframe a bit (using a Fairphone 3 as my daily driver for almost 4 years now, knocking on wood) …
How long did this take from when you contacted support?
How long from when the repair center gave the phone to the courier (the first time) to when it got back to the repair center? (= How much time lost can we attribute to the courier system?)
And how long did it take all in all from contacting support to getting the repaired phone back?
The charging port is not a part of the core module (motherboard).
Totally agree. Very suspicious that so many fairphones 3 have stopped working at a similar time. One second your phone is perfectly fine and the next is dead. Very disappointing
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Mine is still very much alive… (though my bottom module has been replaced about a year ago)
Seems I have the same issue.
Can you sent me some spare PMI632 chips? I would pay for the shipping and the chips if the price is okay. Please make a quote
Do you have some photos of your repair?
Or do you have some documentation of the PMI or the motherboard?
Has anybody an idea how it is possible to inject the power externally into the phone to get it booting?
Most important point for me is to rescue my data, as most recent data has not been backuped yet.
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