FP4 got wet due to leaking tea thermos bottle

[Eva_NL]

Hi everyone,

Last Friday I found my FP4 at the bottom of my wet backpack. That morning I put a thermos with 250ml of hot tea (clean but hot water I am afraid) in my backpack but had not closed it properly. I don’t know exactly how long the phone was in there. It could be around 30 minutes. When I found my phone the screen was black. I was on the train and tried to turn on the phone (unfortunately). Only that evening I took the phone apart and let it dry that way for days. At first glance everything seemed to look dry. Except that there were still drops visible at the cameras (if you look from the outside). Those are gone meanwhile.

Does anyone have a suggestion on what to do?
The phone still ‘vibrates’ when turned on.

Thanks.
Cheers, Eva

[Meaghan]

Please follow this How to handle water damage

Good luck

[Eva_NL]

Thank you for your quick reply.
Yes, I read that and as far as possible, did what I could do according to the information provided there. Yet, the phone does not work…

[urs_lesse]

When you turn it on, does it vibrate just once or does it keep vibrating again after some seconds (as if it is in a bootloop)?

It might be worth checking if another FP4 display works on your FP4.

[Eva_NL]

It vibrates just once, when I turn it on.

Do you still think it might be worth checking it with another FP4 display?

[urs_lesse]

Yes, I think it’s a good sign that it vibrates just once when booting. Bootloop would have been worrying.

However, it’s not guaranteed that it’s just the display that is defect.

If you don’t know another FP4 owner nearby, you might want to check if there is a Fairphone Angel in your area:

The Fairphone Angels Program and Map (Local support by community members)

The discussion and questions about this topic are located here Fairphone Angels are active volunteers in your area that offer their expertise to assist you. Most Angels cannot offer all services and as volunteers, they’re not always available. So don’t be mad if they don’t answer in time Consider opening a topic on the forum to receive help from other members for non-local or complicated issues. The Customer Service team from Fairphone is also there to he…

[urs_lesse]

One more idea: When I disassembled and reassembled the FP4 for the first time, it behaved the same way as yours – apparently normal booting indicated by vibration, but the display stayed black. Eventually I figured out that when I had pressed the display connector back into the FP4 core/midframe, I had not positioned it 100 % correctly. As a consequence, the tiny metal “teeth” in the little metal rectangle at the every end of the connector had gotten bent. They were no longer standing vertically. I was only able to re-establish the connection (and make the display work again) after I had carefully straightened the bent “teeth” again.

[Eva_NL]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience! I decided to order a new display and hope for the best… and Yes…! My FP4 is working again as it should! Thanks a lot for your help!!