FP2 Won't turn on or charge - See first post for troubleshooting

I’ve had my Fairphone for about 4 months with minor hiccups, but still generally a fan! Newest hiccup: I plugged in my phone last night to charge, and when I woke up this morning, it was completely dead. It wouldnt turn on, and even when I plugged it in, no lights came on and nothing happened, no charging screen. I first tired a few different cables (all of which had worked before) with no luck. But, I found a solution!

I pulled the battery and plugged the phone in without the battery. It turned on and started looping the Fairphone start screen turning on and off. Then, in one of the on cycles, I put the battery back in and it continued to boot as per normal. I got a message saying ‘optimising apps’ before it proceeded to the normal home screen. The battery indicator shows 98% so I don’t think it was a battery problem. All is working peachy now!

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I’m having the same issues as mentioned here. Is there anyone in Boston with a healthy battery that’s willing to help me check whether my problem is with the phone or the battery somehow? Thanks.

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I’ve tried that as well - no battery with recharger on. It will probably reboot indefinitely if I let it… it reboots right after the initial boot screen with Fairphone on it. Putting the battery back on goes briefly into the screen where it shows the battery recharging but then it goes off again and the red light blinks.

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My advice is to keep trying that. @Kate_Bottriell apparently found the same solution as the one I mentioned above and you guys have the same symptoms as my mom’s fp2 showed. Maybe it’s a matter of timing. I would try to find out more specifically, but as I fixed the issue, I obviously can’t :stuck_out_tongue:
Just try a little more and vary the timing for putting the battery in…
Good luck,

Moritz

My Fairphone 2 arrived 20th May. It will not switch on at all. I tried charging with numerous different cables, trying with and without SIM, reinserting the battery, holding the battery in place, pressing the on button without the case… The only response is that a red LED comes on when I plug in to charge. I sent a request to zendesk on 22nd May and I have not yet received any reply at all. I don’t know what to do, I can’t call Fairphone as my network will not allow the number. I have done my best to be patient but my old phone is broken and I am really struggling now after almost 3 weeks with no response at all! Apologies if this is off-topic, I just don’t know what else to do but post here…

Please post your request number in the following topic. You’ll usually get a response within a day.

Possible solution: leave your phone off for a day or two or more… just let it go. Stop trying different tricks. In theory the battery will be absolutely drained. Put the charger back on. It might come back to life. It will go through the optimising apps screen (mine had 152)

I pretty much gave up on trying different things. Filled out a support request. Ping in social media (and here) asking for extra battery to test in my area. No one turned up. Figured I’ll put this whole thing aside and give time for support to get back to me (usually they take forever :wink: and it is usually me pinging them again about it). Decided to give it a try for the heck of it. Left the charger on. Left the house. Back in a couple of hours. The green light was on, so I turned it on.

I haven’t done any extensive tests i.e., I don’t know how long the battery will last. I’ll report back if anything unusual. I literally just have this phone come back from the dead so decided to share with everyone. :slight_smile:

Unfortunately, this didn’t work, but something else worked: FP2 Won’t turn on or charge - See first post for troubleshooting

Argh… not recharging again. It went on for almost a day then when I tried to recharge again, it wouldn’t recognize it.

Repeated the same process as earlier: FP2 Won't turn on or charge - See first post for troubleshooting i.e., let the battery completely drain (off for 2 days). Plug back in. It recharged completely. I unplugged the usb/micro cable, plug it back in, it does not recharge!

What could be at the root of this problem?

Oh, this is just getting more interesting by the second. The screen went to sleep (or at least seemed like it). I couldn’t turn it back on… so it rebooted. I got this:

Android system recovery (3e)
r4275.1_FP2_gms54_1.3.6

Volume up/down to move highlight:
enter button to select

reboot system now
apply update from ADB
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
reboot to bootloader
power down
view recovery logs
apply update from sdcard

E:Can't open /dev/block/platform/msm_sdoc.1/by-name/misc (Permission denied)

Briefly looking this up… There is a related thread here: [HOWTO] ✏ Compiling Fairphone Open OS / Rooting . I didn’t change the factory settings. Only did out of the box FP2 OS updates.

did the trick. it booted eventually back in. Still not recharging. My laptop is not detecting it either.

I was able to recharge by first turning off the phone. After full charge. I turned it on. Plugged it back in… it recharges and my laptop picks it up as well. unplugged and plugged again a few times… it seems to work. For now…

I think this battery is busted. It is down to 92% already!. Just posted my message less than 5 minutes ago.

D’you know what, that worked for me! Phone died suddenly yesterday and wouldn’t charge, I was just about to try taking the whole thing apart or buying a new charger but I thought I’d try this first, glad I did. It restarted straight away and is now charging happily. Thanks!

Hello, since yesterday my FP1 got a black screen. So the phone is working as some people tried t call me and it was ringing. I already took everything apart but it doesnt help at all. The LED is off when I am charging the phone and I cant connect it to my computer. Anyone got an Idea?

I moved your post here, where we discussed this issue before.
You battery is probably deep-discharged and or your cable/charger is not fully compatible or functioning.

Take out your battery and let it cool down for > 1/2h. Put it back into the phone and plug
it in without booting. The Led should blink and then go from red to
yellow to green. Turn on the phone.

If this didn’t work (LED won’t turn to yellow or doesn’t light at all), try many different cables and chargers. You’ll need a high quality data cable (4 threaded).

Hey there, yes that could be… I left it the whole night cool down… Nothing working. I ordered a new baterry, will see what happens when I get this!

I have been very happy with the FF2 until yesterday when I installed the update for OS 1.4.2 I think. THe phone restarted and installed apps fine, but then I ran down the charge last night while out. I have been unable to re-charge the phone, as soon as it starts to charge, it starts to boot itself up, and uses up the small charge it has and dies again. I have tried taking out the SIM card (I don’t have an SD card) and no difference. The phone is totally unusable as I am unable to charge it to de-bug it with any of the re-boot solutions posted here. Any advice or suggestions would be great as I can’t use it at all the moment thanks

When you plug in the phone what does the LED do?

If it is red or blinks than your battery is deep discharged. Take it out and let it cool down for 30+ minutes. Then put the battery back in and plug in the phone. Let it charge without booting (normally it shouldn’t start booting if you simply plug in).

If the LED is not lighting up than your charger/cable is not fully compatible or is broken.