Feedback on how I (thought I) fixed USB-C port and torchlight issues

Hello!

I just want to give you a feedback on my experience in case it could help someone here.

For several weeks, I had difficulties to plug my USB-C wire into the phone: no charge or slow charge at 1st, 2nd or even 3rd plug, before the charge begins. Another (minor) issue I had was that the torchlight delivered a variable light and not a stable one (as I don’t use it very often, I don’t know when it began but I suspect that it was at the same time).

After trying external cleaning of the USB-C port (with toothpick, alcohol on a cotton bud and an air spray), I had no real result, so I decided to open the phone and clean it from the inside. And that was the good option!

I followed this guide to open and extract the bottom module: Fairphone 3 Bottom Module Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide. Then I carefully cleaned the module and the rest of what I saw dirty inside the phone, using alcohol on cotton buds and air spray, before reinserting the bottom module and closing firmly the phone with the screws.

A thin metal strip broke when I removed the connecting cable of the bottom module and I didn’t succeed in putting it back in place… but apparently that was not absolutely necessary as… everything now works perfectly fine again!

Let’s go for 6 years more with my FP3? :wink:

Well, I rename this topic by adding “(thought I)”, as the same issues are back after just a few days :sob:.

But I can deduct from the experience that these issues are probably linked to a default in the inside screwing/closing system, maybe due to the age of the phone and/or the heavy heat we had this summer…

I’ll live with this situation, but now I know how to do in case I need to fix it for a few hours :sweat_smile:. And if it becomes very painful, I’ll try a bottom module replacement (if I can find one)!