FP4 stuck in Recovery Mode + broken power button = can't proceed

[Elena_Motta]

Hello everyone,
I’m reaching out to see if anyone has faced a similar situation or has suggestions.

My Fairphone 4 is currently stuck in Android Recovery Mode with the message:

“Android Recovery
Fairphone/FP4eea/FP4
12/SKQ1.220201.001/TP2P
Impossible to load the Android system…”
(Use volume up/down and power to select an option)

The only available choices are “Try again” and “Factory data reset”, but here’s the problem:
My power button is broken, so I can’t confirm any selection.

This hasn’t been a major issue in daily use — I normally unlock the phone using the fingerprint sensor, and when the device shuts down, I’ve been able to force a restart by removing the battery, waiting, and then connecting it to a charger. That always brought it back to life… until now.

Unfortunately, the phone is now stuck on this screen, and I can’t select any option without a working power button.

A bit of context:

• The phone is 3 years old.
• I already contacted Fairphone support over a month ago but haven’t received any reply yet.
• I don’t mind doing a factory reset, but I do mind not being able to use the device at all.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?
Any advice on how to proceed — either with hardware repair or forcing a selection via PC — would be truly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[yvmuell]

Unfortunately I think there are no real options other than waiting for support. Did you ever dismantle the phone to see if any cleaning might help with the power button issue?

@Juan.Bianchi @Sarah27 @Alon_Brandt @Lorena_Medina anyone willing to help a real patient customer?

Fairphone Support no longer available

Knowing that I am not the only one waiting makes me feel less alone. However, I wrote to support 1.5 months ago because my fairphone cannot start. I stayed for 2 weeks WITHOUT any phone, then I activated another old one. After 3 weeks for my birthday my family gave me an iphone. I am sad: I love my fairphone and its philosophy, it has been with me for 3 years and in these 3 years I have advertised for it. I am also convinced that our society must learn to wait again and tolerate long times. I wa…

[Elena_Motta]

Thanks @yvmuell
Yes, I did everything I could think of, but nothing worked. Unfortunately the button is integrated into the central body of the phone and it is possible to act up to a point. I tried to clean the area of ​​the power button as best as possible. Also to solve the problem of the android recovery mode I tried to follow several ways, such as connecting the phone to a PC and trying to control it from there, connecting a mouse adapter directly to the FP…

Unfortunately these two problems occurred simultaneously and in a short period of time.

[Elena_Motta]

As I said in another post, before I got to this situation I broke the screen, I didn’t fix it right away and the power button became problematic. Then I fixed the screen, but the power button problem didn’t go away.
I don’t know if things can be related or if it’s just bad luck.