Fairphone 3 unbricking

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@walamana: I just went out of the very same situation in which you are. The USB-EDL cable will not be helpful in this situation. You really need to disassemble the whole phone. If you are not used to do this kind of things, I recommend that you start that when you are not in a hurry, count 5 hours ahead of you. Before starting, make sure you have read and thoroughly understood every single step here below. If one step does not work, don’t even try to move forward, it will not work and probably lead to a cascade of new problems. If you have any doubt/problem, ask in this thread, people will help you. Don’t follow instructions blindly, make sure you know what you do at each time and why you do it. I hope not to scare you: it is really not that complicated, but it is quite long. Do as follows:

  1. First relax. Open the phone as if you wanted to change the SIM card, make sure it is disconnected from USB and the battery is away
  2. Prepare close to you: a screw-driver like the one provided (or the one provided), a Torx screw-driver of size T5; if you do not have a star-shaped screw-driver, a very small flat one will make the job; prepare also a small box/glass/cup (where you will put extremely small screws you don’t want to lose); a 1KOhm resistor; make sure you are working on a clear surface, without any kind of textile or any stuff carrying electrostatic charges
  3. Prepare all the stuff you will need on the computer: clone https://github.com/bkerler/edl and unzip https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=4349826312261722607 in the same folder. Make sure you have Python >= 3.7, qcserial is not running (stop ModemManager if you have it, and killall qcserial), make sure you have followed the installation instructions on the README, and then try to run ./edl.py --help, just to check that all Python stuff is all right; finally prepare on a line the command ./edl.py wl unbrick --loader=unbrick/prog_emmc_firehose_8953_ddr.mbn, that you will not yet execute, and on another shell execute watch -n 0.1 lsusb, which will inform you in live of the plugged USB peripherals; in order to get information about new plugged devices, you might prefer the more verbose sudo dmesg -w, which will provide more detailed information and report all kind of events
  4. Remove all 13 screws from the back
  5. At this point you have to remove the display, best is that you watch the official video https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001041206, and keep in mind that it is more difficult than what it looks in the video; don’t force, rather see how they proceed in a more clever way here: https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/WW6DNwFaZxDLFQWG.huge. Please take note of the plastic tool used in the picture. If you have long nails, that can also do the job, but NEVER USE A METALLIC STUFF, never use a screw-driver or a knife for separating delicate components!
  6. Now that the display is out, you will see a relatively big metallic plate; it is covering the main board. Touch it with both hands (in order to prevent electrostatic discharge later on to the board that is below), and remove the two smaller black screws that keep this plate where it is
  7. Remove the metallic plate, and carefully disconnect the main board underneath from the modules around
  8. At this point you managed to extract from the phone the main board; further remove the bottom module (the one with the USB plug, you will have to remove 4 additional screws)
  9. Reconnect the bottom module to the main board
  10. Identify the two pins labelled L and K on https://github.com/k65onyx/fp3-notes/blob/master/images/test_point_labels.png
  11. Plug the USB cable to the bottom module (but not yet to the computer), sit comfortably, in such a way that you can hold single-handed the resistor between the two pins, so that one leg of the resistor touches L and the other leg touches K
  12. With your free hand plug the USB to the computer and then remove the resistor
  13. Now check on the shell where lsusb was running that your phone appears in EDL mode (it will say EDL at the end of one line, if that is the case)
  14. Now that you have your phone in EDL mode, go to the EDL shell on your computer and press ENTER to the command that you prepared; if all went well you should see the progression of a variety of images been flashed on your phone
  15. Run ./edl.py reset, disconnect the USB, very carefully reassemble the bottom module first, then the main board (be very careful, make sure it is really completely in, and all the plugs are properly connected to all the modules around) and put back the metal plate
  16. Now you will properly observe the display, check for its connector. You will observe that there are two holes for two screws, around the connector; you will plug back the screen, and put back only these two screws that you have observed: before reassembling the whole lot we want to make sure that all is fine indeed
  17. With Vol- and Power pressed at the same time, plug the USB from the phone to the computer; in the lsusb shell you should now see a Google device; also with fastboot devices you should see your phone appear; if this is okay, you can move forwards
  18. Reflash properly your phone with fastboot, reboot, and check that all works
  19. Put back all the missing screws and
  20. Well done, your phone just resurrected :slight_smile:

NOTE: you need a lot of patience and confidence, and if possible someone experienced next to you. You might have to repeat these steps. Think that at this point FP3 is almost unbrickable in a definitive way, but it is not unbreakable, especially when you start removing screws. So the slowest and more careful you go, the best. Don’t hesitate to take pictures of what you do to help you reassemble. If you don’t find an experienced person to help you, ask any friend to be next to you carefully watching what you do and let that person take the pictures (four eyes often see better than two).

Good luck!

EDIT: the suggestions/corrections of k4y0z in the next post are now accounted for in the above instructions

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