today my phone fell from a chair, and switched off. It wasn’t really a terrible fall, and the phone is protected with the official FP6 protection cover. While the battery was loaded at least more than half, it doesn’t want to start up anymore. I have connected it with power. I have tried pressing the power button short and long, also in combination with the volume up, or with the volume down, and during 20 seconds. No reaction, no vibration and no screen signals.
I unscrewed and opened the back cover, and disconnected the batter for a few seconds, trying all combinations again, but no signal of life. Apparently nothing is broken, but nothing happens.
Note: I have the FP6, bought last September with the e/OS from Murena on it from the start. I had run the updates and it was up to date last week that I last checked.
Any help is appreciated. For the time being I changed the SIM to an old phone which allows me to survive only partially.
try the basic power/charging recovery steps (different cable/charger, battery reseat, charge with battery removed, long force-restart combos), then check the battery connector and USB‑C port for damage, and if the phone still shows no signs of life submit a repair/warranty request to Fairphone (or your Murena vendor) because the drop likely caused a hardware fault
If you send the phone in for repair, I hope you had been regularly backing up all your data.
Before sending it in, I think it would be worth disassembling all the modules, and putting it back together again, paying special attention to connectors. The shock may have caused a problem there that’s easy to fix.
I have disassembled the battery module and the usb connector module, reassembled everything as it was, and tried again the various poer on/volum up/down button combinations for up to 20 second, loading with different chargers, or even without the battery. But all to no avail.
Time to check with the support desk. And yes, I’ve got my data synced with my webservers, although setting up everything again on another device and then back to the FP6 once repaired isn’t going to be effortless. But it is a good practice to depend a little less on the phone for a while.
Well, my idea was to disassemble all the modules, including removing the screen. We don’t know where the connection problem is (if it is a connection problem, that’s just my suggestion).
As you suggested I have sent in my FP6 for repair, through Fairphone’s repair partner, B2X. And now I just got word from them, it is really worrisome, here we go:
The technical expertise of your product has shown that it cannot profit from the warranty for the following reason : Damage caused from a nonconforming Usage.
We propose you this quote.
Further information : OPENING: Any internal or external damage (worn screws, deformed cosmetic elements, incorrectly reassembled
product, etc.) resulting from the opening or attempted opening of the product by an unauthorised third party will invalidate the
manufacturer
So the fact that I first tried to repair the phone myself, simply unscrewing and reassembling it, has now voided the warranty! This is outrageous! This is what conventional anti-repair corporations do. But our beloved Fairphone? For it being the most repairable phone geared at self repair as much as possible?
And here is the repair quote they propose: 226 euro
Now there seems no way I can contact a human at Fairphone, only I can reply to the B2X company, which offers me to either accept to pay these 226 euros or get my unusable FP6 back. A phone I bought less than a year ago.
I don’t know, but hadn’t expected this turn of events. It reminds me of Cory Doctorow’s Enshittification process at big tech companies. But I don’t want to accept that Faiphone is degrading in this way.
Of course, they could say that my phone fell off a chair and that is my fault, and even though it was protected with the official FP6 protection cover, that voids warranty. If so, I may have to stop buying these expensive devices.
From a lightly disappointed fairphone user (with FP2, FP3, FP5 and FP6 devices for himself and partner)
You can contact humans, best using Chat hours where a human is available. However, @Fairphone_CM I would ask you to take this over and look into this.
However, since some time already its defined in their legal warranty documentation, that one should only open when suggested by support (check the exact wording). Still I’m wondering, what you broke by opening or if the fall is rather the cause, which would neither be covered? Definitely I would ask for more details, how you broke it by opening it.
Further information : OPENING: Any internal or external damage (worn screws, deformed cosmetic elements, incorrectly reassembled
product, etc.) resulting from the opening or attempted opening of the product by an unauthorised third party will invalidate the manufacturer
226 euros to get my phone back, because I opened it to try to see whether dissassembling some of the modules and putting them back in with special attention to the connectors could maybe save the burden to send it in for repair. I tried to save myself the hassle first of all, but also Fairphone to execute the warranty for a months old new phone.
And hassle it is; now I activated all apps and an e-sim on an old phone. And once I get the FP6 back, if I do, then I have to go through it again.
I agree with yvmuell that the voided warranty appears more likely to be due to “nonconforming usage”, which is typical administrative shorthand for “you didn’t use the phone correctly” and would include damage from a fall.
The disclaimer about opening is probably included in every repair quote outside of warranty and I would understand not necessarily applicable to your case. And it doesn’t say that opening would be the motive, but
Any internal or external damage (worn screws, deformed cosmetic elements, incorrectly reassembled
product, etc.) resulting from the opening or attempted opening of the product
They have identified necessary replacement of the main board (unfortunately the most expensive item of course), which could indeed have been damaged by the fall; and you stated yourself, that the phone stopped working when it fell.
So frankly, I’m inclined to think that this is just a case of bad luck.
Did you get in contact with FP support to clairfy this? Cordon is their contractor and they should be able to get details and proof what was damaged and why Cordon stated it was done by opening it.
Get in contact with support dont try to clarify this with Cordon let support do this.
Today I have contacted the Fairphone support chatbot called Tin. Tin: “I understand your concern. Opening your Fairphone 6 for basic maintenance, like replacing the battery or modules, does not void your warranty—your phone is designed to be repairable. However, if internal components are damaged during the process, or if unauthorized repairs are made, this can affect your warranty. The Repair Center will check your device and decide if the warranty applies.”
Then I found out how to contact the repair centre, Cordon Group. Let’s see what they say.
Did you try chat within human hours? If this did not change, check the homepage, its from 10-12h. If you did, try again and say you dont have ticket number already.
You need to talk to real support.
thanks @Fairphone_CM I replied to your DM with the ticket support number.
I mailed them last week, and this morning again adding URGENT in the subject line. The thing is they seem understaffed, see their reply.
Hello!
Thank you for contacting Fairphone Support team.
Your request number (also called ticket number) is #-----.
Have you tried to troubleshoot your issue with the help of our Troubleshooter? This tool can help you solve or repair your issue even faster!
Next to that, we offer a variety of [our community-driven forum](https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us>support articles to guide you in addressing your question or issue. You can also have a look at <a href=) for answers to a wide variety of support issues.
We are currently experiencing longer response times due to very limited capacity. We’re actively working to improve this by expanding our support team, bringing in outside help, and improving our internal processes. We are confident you’ll see real improvements very soon, and thank you for your patience!
Kind regards,
The Fairphone Team
Meanwhile, Cordon has given me the deadline to decide on June 28th or they will destroy my phone. I understand it, but that’s a time bomb.
