FP2 Screen stays black when pressing the power button

Hi,

I searched through a lot of topics and comments but I couldn’t find the exact problem I have.
My screen stays black when I press the power button, but when I put pressure on the edges (with my thumbs) the screen appears. Only I can not use it. It doesn’t react. I used to be able to use it (after I did that thing) but not anymore. Then the screen fades out.
Also sometimes the power button just works for no apparent reason and the touch screen works too. But that doesn’t happen very often now.
Shutting the screen off works all the time.
Once I brought my phone to a repair service. They cleaned it and it worked for two days. Then I had the same problems again.
Do you have any ideas?

Hi,
first look if your system is up to date. (Apps->Updater)
Then check the settings -> Display. Maybe your display brightness is to low when you press the power button. (That’s often my problem, but so i can save some battery power).

Did you already remove the display by yourself and clean the contacts ?
What is the first thing you see, when the screen appears ?
And how is your phone locked ?

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It could be that the motherboard is slightly bent and therefore the contacts don’t close tightly. We had one such case here in Austria and had to conclude that the motherboard was beyond repair.

To be sure, try to find someone else with a FP2 and test this behaviour with their modules. Maybe there are #fairphoneangels close to you.

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Thank you for your answer!

I already cleaned the contacts. I just don’t really know what I should clean and how. A cleaning guide would be nice. I searched for one but didn’t find anything. But the thing is, cleaning seems to help only temporarily.
My phone is up to date. Brightness is also fine.
The first thing I see is my usual screen. So I see how many messages I have and updates.
My phone is locked via PIN.

Thank you for your answer!

Yes. I hope this isn’t the case. How did this happen in Austria? Did the phone fall down? Or was it bent from the start? My phone had a lot of problems, but until a couple of months ago you could use it most of the time.
There are unfortunately no fairphoneangels near me.

Last resort only if your FP2 is out of warranty and you have tried everything else suggested before:

Unscrew the whole board out of the white plastic tray using a fitting Torx screwdriver. Attach a small piece of cardboard (not too thick) in the space in the tray that sits right on the back side of the contacts (see the metal rectangle with a missing top right corner in the right hand half of the picture). Screw it together and see if the piece is sufficient to gently push the contacts together again.


Picture source

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Hi urs_lesse,

thank you for your answer! I didn’t see it before.

I will try that if it again stays black for a couple of days.

I once had a similar case with a µATX mainboard exactly where the CPU socket was. The heat sink was fixed with spring locks to the board and within time the pressure and thermal shift caused the circuit board below the CPU socket to bulge.
I could not believe the thing was still operational. I never had seen anything similar to this and would consider the pcb being of low quality.

Since there are a few spots in the FP2 with fine needle contacts under pressure suffering of such effects may turn out as a lifetime limiter. This brings the often mentioned camera errors “cannot connect to the camera” and others into my mind. :thinking:

Hi @Desperate, I have the same problem. Did you try the solution of @urs_lesse ?

Otherwise, do you know if it is possible to buy a new motherboard ?

https://www.vireo.de/fairphone/zubehoer/8632/fairphone-2-core-modul

Thanks @AnotherElk. Wow 275€, it’s expensive, I might as well buy a full fairphone and resell the screen of the old phone…

Now there’s a thought Fairphone might like :slight_smile: .

Hi,

i tried this solution and put the piece of cardboard where @urs_lesse said. I also thried another position suggested by someone in another topic. But both times it didn’t work. I gave up and now I’m using another used fairphone which I also had to repair already. But if you have two fairphones it’s much easier.

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