Hello everyone
Sadly, last night my FP3 slipped from my hands and fell four floors. Quite the big jump and it landed on the top side. Managed to recover it this morning, and it still works!!! (Astounded, truly). The screen is obviously broken but the rest is working fine. Ran all the checks suggested by the check-up tool (screen, mic (1-2), ear speaker, loudspeaker, internet, Wi-Fi, and then checked other functionalities. All seems in order, just a bit slow but given the screen status i would say normal.
So far, the following are not working/are broken:
Screen
Headphone jack
Back cover
Earpiece speaker
Front camera
Can anyone think of anything else I should check?
Has anyone experienced something similar? What did they do and was replacing the pieces sufficient.
If not, would replacing the TOP module, screen, and back cover fix everything except the jack? Is there a way to fix the jack? (I know I can use bluetooth but i prefer wired headphones in general)
The audio (headphone) jack, the earpiece and the front (selfie) camera are all in the top module.
It can never hurt (and is easy) to make a simple check for bloating of the battery:
Take the battery out, place it flat on a really flat surface and try to make it spin. If it does not spin or stops again almost immediately, it’s ok. If it spins easily, it is probably indicating bloating and you should replace the battery.
On another thought, given – apart from the display – all technical malfunctions are in the top module, you might want to check if your existing top module is properly connected. There is a butterfly connector that needs to click into the module on the one end and onto the mainboard on the other end.
Thanks for your comment. You were correct and the top module was just disconnected. I put the guide back in place and now all is working.
Battery does not spin, but it does no longer sit in its slot firmly like it used to. If you remove the back cover the batter falls off. Any idea regarding that?
I just took the back off my increasing worn FP3 (dropped from hand height this morning) for the first time in a while, which I’m still using a lot despite having upgraded to a FP5, and took a look at the battery, having been prompted by this thread… It doesn’t spin at all with ‘Fairphone’ and the other text and images facing up, but it does spin a rotation or two with ‘Change is in your hands’ facing up. Possibly not ideal. It does still sit firmly in its slot though, which seems to be achieved only by the means of various plastic tabs which protrude around its upper edge and which mostly tuck into gaps in the plastic around the side of the slot, although two tabs to the top left and top right slot in under tabs which protrude from what I assume is the mainboard, while a couple of minimal tabs to the lower bottom left and right maybe also help it stay in place once it is seated. The battery connection itself probably helps keep it in place as well. I wonder if some of the tabs were damaged as a result of its four floor fall, hence its looseness?
Another quick update. Ordered spare parts (screen and back cover which was no longer sitting firmly), replaced them on the phone and everything was as good as new. However, I discovered my GPS was not working. Checked with the *#*#66#*#* test, with the GPS test app and nothing was working. @Antoine suggested dismounting and re-mounting the entire phone to ensure alignment. I have proceeded three times with no success. I then just removed the screws and started mounting them using the star tightening method, which ensures alignement and everything was working fine again.
Just in case this is useful to someonelse as well. The screw order DOES matter (especially if your FP has had a tough life )
)