FP3 Display freezes! Display noise issue

Help Fairphone 3
34

The same thing happened to me now. I got the noise on the display but nothing else happens. Sometimes after taking the battery out and leaving it for a while it seems to boot and the unlock screen for the SIM appears, but only half of it. the other half is blue or noisy. if the display deactivates after a while, the noise on full screen reappears after activating the screen again.

i was looking at some pictures in whatsapp and turned the screen to view the pictures full screen. while rotating there were already some glitches, then the screen freezed in mid rotation and later showed the noise pattern.

there was a similar issue when i booted the phone for the first time. i thought i had an incompatible recharger in use. when i booted the phone without recharging it, it worked so i hoped that’s it. since then nothing like this hapened, until now. and i’m not able to use my phone at all. i got it in november. :frowning:

right now i’m really glad i did not send in my old phone to fairphone yet, because i have a backup. i did not expect that the new phone was so unreliable.

35

Hello everyone,
we had the same issue here yesterday, and after disassembling and reassembling the display according to the tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG6OVPTnrK4), it works again. Maybe there was a problem with the contacts between frame and display?

Anyways, as good as an exchangeable display may be, this problem is very annoying.
Best regards
sg2world

2 Likes
36

Hi there,
Found this topic as I was looking for the problem I had… which is the one described in this topic.

Before finding this topic here I did try to disassembling and reassembling the display, but it did not work. Then I tried again after reading this topic. It still did not work until I read @Audouin_Leo 's comment. I tried twisting it a bit and got rid of the problem… but who knows until when?

@RuthiB and @ugo did you get any answer from the support? what did they tell you?
I got my FP3 since end of Nov, wondering if it is worth contacting the support?
I would like to know the true cause for this… is there a component that I need to replace?

37

In my case, the screen is still ok since the twist manip…

38

Oh gosh, so many new people on this thread. Looks like this problem might be more widespread than I thought (hoped? :slight_smile: ) it is.

It seems though that support still don’t know what it is or how to deal with it yet.

@theyaman - I just got my phone back from “repair” yesterday. They said they couldn’t find a problem, and figured the factory reset sorted it out. This morning it already showed signs of “noisy screen” (if I remember correctly that’s their term for the rainbow pixilated phenomenon) and a bit of delayed response by the display…
I am now waiting to hear back from support, regarding their next move.

I did try @Audouin_Leo twist thing though - still a very small sample size (ie - it can be pure coincidence at the mo), but it seems that for me it snaps the phone out of a patch of “bad behaviour” and then it is working fine, but only for a while (like an hour or so). If this little twist really does help, it is not very promising re the phone’s durability…

1 Like
39

Hi there. I am back in the game. The display thing happened again today - also after the phone fell to the ground, but hours later and this had not happened the last time when the issue occurred.
As I was in contact with the customer support since the first occurrence the phone will now be sent back to the repair center.
For the moment reassembling the display helped, at least for the last 5 minutes. I will report back what happens the next few days until the return request arrives.

3 Likes
40

I have a theory for these problems (and some others)

Unlike most other phones on the market, Fairphones are meant to be disassembled easily. As this, contacts between components are “less solid” than in more integrated phones - where components are hard soldered together or using tight connectors.

In FP3 the motherboard is connected to the screen through a number of metal pads unto which springs press the counter-contacts. This, by design, is a setup that is vulnerable to having occasionally bad connections.

Over time the contacts will form a thin residue layer from dust that got into the device, moisture (not actual water but just the moisture that is normally in the air) and oxides that formed on the metal or on metal-metal interface. Some of this might already be there from manufacturing.

If then anything disturbs the contacts - for example the phone falling down, but just vibrations (getting a call), changes in temperature, or just normal handling, the contacts shift ever so slightly - from the spot where they had always been to a section of the pad that doesn’t conduct as well anymore.

Some of the time the spring force is enough to press the metal through the microscopic layer and create a good connection, but not always.

Some phone might have more residue, less spring force, or just bad luck, and you get outages like the screen or other periphery components failing.

This is the price to pay for a phone that can be disassembled without having to unsolder components.

But its also usually easily fixed, as the residue layer can be removed with the appropriate electronics cleaning materials.

In most cases, taking the components apart and scratching the contacts against each other slightly, so the pin heads scratch through the residue layer and get good contact again - or maybe cleaning the contacts with cleaning alcohol - is enough to fix the issue.

The contacts are definitely both the most likely and most easily self-fixable culprit for most electronics problem on the Fairphone. These issues now overwhelm support, and are likely the reason most manufacturers don’t make their phones repairable in the first place - soldered contacts don’t go bad. But at least in this case you usually CAN fix it yourself :slight_smile:

12 Likes
41

Greetings to you all! (Just joined the community…)

I dropped my phone this morning, and although the screen has no visible damage, all I can see now are black and grey dots (see picture):

IMG_20200111_074600
IMG_20200111_0746002336×4160 2.94 MB

Does that mean the display is broken, or could it be another part?

Best regards and thank you in advance!
George

1 Like
42

Greetings Bolotie, and welcome to the community!

I am not a FP3 owner yet but the distorted image on your phone reminds me of my display issues with my FP2, which ultimately ended up rendering it useless. It had to do with the display–>motherboard connection, and many others experienced the same degradation of the connection over time. My advice would be to disassemble your phone and reassemble it, making sure that every module is properly attached to the core unit.

5 Likes
43

I moved the posts of your topic here to avoid duplicate topics, please have a look around here.

1 Like
44

disassemble your phone (open backcover, remove battery, unscrew those 13 screws as described in https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fairphone+3+Teardown/125573 with the little screwdriver that came with the phone and take the screen out.

then look for physical damage. is anything bent or warped or broken physically?

if not, the shock of falling probably just caused some connectors to no longer connect properly. try to clean the contacts, make sure the springs work, then reassemble. with a bit of luck it will work again.

4 Likes
45

Thanks @corvuscorax, that makes a lot of sense!

Pardon my ignorance, but can you say what might be considered ‘appropriate electronics cleaning materials’? I figure it would be good to make sure I have some, or at least know where to get it so that if and when things go wrong, I can deal with them straight away :slight_smile:

46

It works again!

Disassambled and then reassambled it after some cleaning - no change. Then I tried the twisting trick from @Audouin_Leo and the pixel error is gone! I’m so happy and thank you all for you help!

3 Likes
47

“appropriate” depends on who you ask. Personally I’ve been using a clothes for glasses cleaning or a piece of silk (they don’t fluff or lose fibres) - with a little bit of cleaning alcohol on it, then rubbed of the contacts with it.

You want to avoid anything corrosive, and anything that would leave residue. So no acids, no soap, no water, and especially nothing oily (oils and fats are great insulators - including fingerprints - so you certainly don’t want those on the contact metal).

So pure ethanol or some other cleaning solvent (Methanol, Propanol, …) would probably be best.

8 Likes
48

Hi there,

after I have successfully solved my WIFI-problems thanks to helpful members of this forum (thanks again!) this is the next problem I experience :see_no_evil:

The display is noisy and I cannot reassemble the modules because one of the screws seems to be stripped. I cannot unscrew it without considerable pressure and I really don’t want to try “at all costs” because I don’t want to void the warranty.

I asked the seller to change the phone but he wants me to reset it before I return it. I tried to google a solution but haven’t found anything useful. Does anyone know how to reset the phone without using the display?

BTW I haven’t opened a new topic for this because I thought other people with this specific problem might also want to reset their phones.

Thanks!

1 Like
49

you can use the fastboot bootloader to factory reset the device, but it is still an interactive process (select correct option using volume buttons, confirm with power button) so you’d have to do it blind. unfortunately i cant give you the exact sequence because my phone is unlocked and the bootloader behaves slightly different then. but you could ask fairphone support about how to do that.

1 Like
50

Ciao, mi hanno detto di inviare il telefono a Cordon electronics. Cosa che ho fatto. Mi hanno restituito il telefono senza alcuna nota. Credevo lo avessero cambiato. Poi ho visto che aveva il codice imeii uguale, quindi ho capito che era lo stesso. Speravo che me lo avessero almeno aggiustato. Invece tre giorni fa è tornato lo stesso problema. Probabilmente non avevano fatto nulla, ma è una mia opinione.

51

This worked for me too. Pfffff. But it will take some time to gain back my trust and proudly tell people I do have a Fairphone…

5 Likes
52

My english is not good, hope you don’t mind.
The connection between display module and main board by pogo pins.
If your phone had dropped to ground or knocked…etc,
part of pogo pins would have a little gap leads to disconnected between them.

I suggest you unscrew all screws, take off display module, click pogo pin several times to reset it and clean connector, then reinstall display module and phone.

According to information that I got, screen will turn to normal again.
If not, you can asked the seller for repair or otherwise.

Hope you can get best result.

3 Likes
53

Was the problem already solved?