Hi,
had the same problem today; first the screen was totally dark, then, after I disassembled the phone and put it back together it was “noisy”.
Twisting and pressing did not help but cleaning the contacts with rubbing alcohol and pressing the pin-contacts did resolve the problem.
Thanks to @corvuscorax for mentioning this!
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That was helpfull, thank you.
All the other tips didn’t help; twisting dis and reassemble didn’t do the tric. But cleaning worked immediatly.
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Also had this problem twice now, first time it resolved by itself after a couple of restarts. Today I had to reassemble and clean to make it work again. Hope it works out for the next user to stop by here.
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Hello all. I had this issue once again (see my first reply from Dec’21). This time the twisting was not enough and I had to apply the alcohol cleaning as @corvuscorax described.
The cleaning did not work on the first try since I introduced more issues. The following happened after my first cleaning attempt: still original colored noise issue (temporarily fixed for a few seconds with twisting) and then the screen would be frozen, totally black, showing pixel fingerprints, not detecting touch or just showing a broken picture. After some patience and a second attempt, it worked, but only after I had screwed back all the screws to maintain the structure of the phone.
So my advice is to try to disassemble and re-assemble the screen and take the opportunity to clean the screen connection contacts with alcohol. Although, keep in mind to confirm if it’s solved only after it is completely assembled again. Small tip, taking out the screen was no where near as easy as shown on Replace the display of your Fairphone 3 | How to | Fairphone - YouTube (sec 1:08) but with patience you can click away one place at a time.
Yesterday, my Fairphone 3 with /e/ OS installed on it fell down and showed the same colourful noise image. I was unable to fix this by taking out the battery, which is why I followed the advice of multiple people here to take the screen out and clean the golden contact pins with alcohol.
After putting the screen back in, it worked fine again!
Also, I agree 100% with this theory:
I don’t know how long the fix will last but I’m just happy that it works for now and that this happened on a Fairphone, since any other phone could most likely not have been repaired (at least that easily).
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Had the same issue today. Yesterday the phone got a bit humid in a rainy day and got dropped a few times. The result was an unusable phone with noisy screen.
This fixed the problem for me: Take the screen out. Clean the golden contact pins with alcohol. Reassemble.
This supports @corvuscorax 's theory.
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I disassembled my fairphone 3 many times and cleaned it each time, tried all the tricks described in this post, but lately nothing helped. Then with the phone turned on I strongly tightened the screws that secure the connection between display and core module, it got worse… that made me think that maybe the problem is the opposite way around, maybe the pad contacts are too close to the ball spring-contacts? So I decided to unassemble it again, and this time I assembled it without the screws that secure the connection between display and core module, and guess, it worked! For now I’m happy, but if that is not enough I will try to add two small (0.1-0.2mm thickness) washers to distance pads and ball contacts further.
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Hi and welcome to the forum and thanks for your insight.
However it is not recommended to ‘strongly’ tighten screws especially as it can distort the modules as it seems you have discovered, but it increases the chance of stripping both the head engagement and the thread and even if it doesn’t do that it may make it difficult to remove the screws without damaging the heads.
The screws are to hold things in place not to force them together 
Seems you have done good job and thanks again for the ‘story’
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Just repaired/cleaned my Fairphone 3. Screen didn’t reacted anymore. Suddenly when I was typing. Shutting and restarting … nothing worked.
So I took the phe apart, with help of some video’s cleaned carefully with cotton swabs and pure alcohol.
I am proud of Fairphone and myself … it worked!
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Just a little update: As I said, I had had the problem back in June and was able to solve it by cleaning the contacts, and my Fairphone 3 has worked since then without any problems.
Actually, it fell down yet again, this time on asphalt ground, and after that the screen was still working but didn’t respond to touch input anymore (the physical power/volume buttons did work). Once again, I could fix this by cleaning the contacts with alcohol!
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If above tips did not help, follow disassembly instructions Replace the display of your Fairphone 3 | How to | Fairphone - YouTube until minute 01:18 . Lift the metal lid that is located on the display module next to (below) the display module connector (ball-spring connector). Removing that metal lid reveals the internal display plug. Check the connection of that plug. Check all other connectors of the mother board, Also, slightly bend up the metal spring connectors on the metal frame that covers the motherboard (not more than 0.5mm). Reassemble.
Note that any disassembly really ought to be suggested by Fairphone if the phone is still within the warranty period. The note to remove the metal screen would never be suggested by Fairphone, that is clearly an out of warranty personal issue.
Regarding the bending of the spring contacts on the screen:
Worth noting is that they contact to a ‘solder’ square which can become tarnished and have poor conductivity. Just removing the screen and replacing may not align the clean previous positions of contact so cleaning the ‘squares’ is an idea before replacing the screen ~ shine them up a bit
I have tried all the suggestions in this blog. Still I have the noise screen. The problem came today suddenly. The phone seems to work. But, before buying a new screen, what is the chance the main board is faulty?
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Saying you have tried everything actually says nothing in that no one can respond either to everything you have done ??
Well the odds are between zero and infinity.
Try and find a #fairphoneangel near you that may have a screen you can test with, but poor contacts are still the most likely option, unless you have some dampness ingress.
Did you note the colour of the damp|water ingress indicator ???
I took the phone apart minimal 15 times, cleaning the contacts, tightning and untightnig the screws, even taking of the screen connector, cleaning the silver grounding squares and lifting the litle contact on the main board. Not a single moment the noise disappeared. I did not check the ‘damp|water ingress indicator’ while I don’t know there is one. Where is it located?
Is there a list of Fairphone angels?
Thanks for the example. I see only one square and that is white. I send Angel ‘Almere’ (one of two in NL) an email, but no response yet
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What does “twisting thing” mean? I’m having the same issue.
Hold the bottom rigid and twist the top, however you may find it a more permanent solution to remove check the tightness of the screws holding the display module.
Lossen them all a little, then tighten around the contact for display not too tight. Then all the other screws, then the display a bit, then the rest so that they are keeping the module flat.
If that doesn;t work you may want to clean
the screen contacts, and pogo pins etc.
If you still have a warranty it’s always best to contact support officially before you dismantle etc.
There are posts on cleaning and dismantling. If you have a problem finding them say so.
All the best
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I had white noise problem and was all set to dismantle the phone and clean contacts but decided to try Audouin_Leo’s (above Dec 2019) twist idea. It works! Such a simple solution. Thanks.
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