My FP3 just stopped working a few days ago. Went black, no charging LED when plugged in, Battery was half full.
This seems to be a common problem. Maybe it is my selective perception, but there are more than a few similar threads in this forum.
Of course I do not have a 2nd phone, i am completely depending on my fp3, which just stopped working. A phone which was made to last. Why do I need software updates for 8 years, if the hardware just dies after 3 years?
Malte
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If you want to get it working again you could attempt a reflow as described in the following post (without any guarantees of it working):
There’s probably still a minority of devices affected, as people who experienced this issue have a much higher incentive to post here or contact support about the issue. For more reliable statistics about this we would have to hear from Fairphone themselves though.
Keep in mind that most of us do not work for Fairphone, so for any official responses you’ll have to contactsupport.
Still, I do not believe anyone planned for ‘sudden deaths’ to happen.
It appears the issue may be related to Qualcomm’s Power Managment Chip PMI632 as mentioned in the following post linked below. That’s something Fairphone could not have predicted when designing the Phone.
Either that, or simply the layout of the motherboard causing soldering joints to fail due to bending (which may be fixable with a reflow).
Unfortunately there will always be some issues that remain undiscovered before a device is released, as they take some time to manifeat themselves. But in a way things have gotten better with later models, simply because the FP4 and FP5 have an extended warranty of 5 years. Hence parts affected by such issues appearing after 3 years would still be eligible for free replacement.
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Ah hell. My FP3 has just totally died, runs my whole life (clients, banking, smart house power system from solar and charging the EV), cannot even find my login for here without it. Feck. Did everyone have to try new cable new battery etc etc first to find this?
I disagree that it is only a few. The fact that in all the latest cases posted here the motherboard stopped working just before the 3 years of the phone life indicates that there was a faulty batch that was sold to the people affected. Of course no-one thinks that they planned this but Fairphone should at least acknowledge the issue and apologize to the affected customers that bought a product because of the claims they made about F3 longevity.
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I am sorry to hear that you have also been affected by this issue. I completely understand your disappoinment on the brand
Mine died yesterday. No charging light, won’t turn on. Anyone had any luck fixing this?
Welcome to the Fairphone community.
Please read through the (few) posts in this thread, there is already advice and explanation.
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Sorry to hear that this has happened to you as well. I don’t think the advice of putting your phone in the oven is safe as it could overheat and catch on fire. I am amazed that this advice is
being given to people as sensible option
@mikiballester-When is fairphone going to acknowledge this issue with the motherboard of the F3 that they sold approx 3 years ago? I think it is only FAIR that the brand apologies to the people affected for selling them a product that did not meet their promises.
Please do NEVER put the whole Phone in the oven. Put ONLY the motherboard with the correct side up into the oven! As long as you only put the actual mainboard in there nothing should catch on fire though. After all its basicaly how SMD soldering works in the first place. (Something could still break, but it shouldn’t blow up in your face.)
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There is no user like that here who would be notified of your mention. The “-” breaks your intended reference in this case.
Thanks all for your help!
I was wondering whether replacing the bottom module had worked for anyone - or whether this issue usually requires something more. Correct me if I am wrong @Incanus, but there is no other fix listed than the oven one. I am reluctant to try this out.
I have had the phone over three years, so out of the guarantee. Trying to avoid ordering spare parts that won’t fix the phone.
There no word about the bottom module, more likely it‘s a chip on the core module that needs resoldering or needs to be replaced.
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Thank you very much!
I have the same problem. I was hoping that just the battery died. But all this topics in the forum make me think it is a general problem. 
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It seems indeed an genarl problem, if you reed the possibl solutions it would be the bottom module
But just that one module isn’t availble.
This is what I found on trust pilot, as rection one some one with an simular problem, it was post yesterday so it seems the modules will be on stock soon?
Hello Gilles, thanks for sharing your journey with Fairphone. We are truly sorry to hear about your experience. However, we could not find any case from your side with our support team. Please, know you can always reach out and we will be happy to assist you. The FP3/+ Bottom Module will be back in our webshop in the coming days, in the meantime our support team will help you further. We have opened a request and you should have received an email from our side. Best, Lorena
PS; time to time the moment I can’t restart the phone because of the battery is completely down (after af few start ups) I can’t recharge the phone will he’s off (just the indicataion led lights up)
They’re already back:
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I have just had the same issue 65%bat tried to open photos then black dead.
Sent a message to FP so will see what they surgest.
Welcome to the Fairphone community.
You posted here in a ‚Sudden Death‘ thread. So I don’t believe you have the same problem as Gerdi.V. Her FP3 is working, there is just an inconvenience while charging. The bottom module she mentioned has nothing to do with the sudden death problem some FP3 are showing.
Dear @Incanus
the latest problem I had was an charging problem I thought it was sudden death but will sharing feather it seems that it was en problem with the bottom module
I had posted in the wrong topic
Dear @BenRalli
What your experience could be the same I had have a few months ago (sudden a that phone), that I have been able to solve with this explanation
Hopefully it can fix your problem as well
Kind regards
I’m in the same boat as you- 3yr old phone from 2 yr warranty, debating spares vs repair shipment
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