I can't use my fairphone 2 anymore (crazy touchscreen, reboots…)

Hi,

When I first got my fairphone 2, the screen was just a little oversensitive but it was manageable. From there it only got worse and worse. Now the phone is basically unusable and I will have to switch to another phone.

I have already opened a ticket on zendesk but from what I have read here it will probably be a while before it gets an answer.

The main problem is that the phone detects touches on the screen when there is none and doesn’t detect me touching it on some areas of the screen.
This results in things like the phone typing wrong pins at a very fast pace, opening apps, changing settings… and at the same time me not being able to unlock the phone when I want, type properly, or just use the phone in a normal way.

Most of the time I can’t answer the phone when it is locked because the icon doesn’t go all the way to the green phone on the right.
And now I can’t touch anything on the far left of the screen either.

When the phone is not typing by itself and I try to use the keyboard (in portrait mode), if I try to press “n” or “s” the phone acts as if the characters on the left and the one on the right are pressed simultaneously instead.

Also, the phone randomly reboots from time to time.

Looks like a contact-problem. Disassemble the screen und put it together as discribed here:

Photos of the contacts in Post 63.

Spielmops

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Thanks. I tried it just now and unfortunately nothing has changed.

I have same problem. Did you get anywhere with finding a solution?

This Is exactly the same problem I am having unfortunately. My phone is completely unusable at the moment. Has anyone found any solutions? My phone suddenly developed this problem out of nowhere. It had started to get hot much more regularly and now this and I’m stuck without a phone for work!

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i got the same problem here my screen the touch on the right side is just gone and he says I’m touching the screen but I’m not even near it so plzz help :frowning:

Hello all,

I have the same problem with my FP2. It detects touches where I do not type, and do not always detect where I type…
As a consequence, this results in not being able to unlock it, not being able to write a message, etc.
Does the problem come from the screen or the software version?

Please help me solve this problem quickly as it is very unconvenient.

Thank you.

Marie

Hi,
I’ve the same problem… My FP2 is going crazy!
I had the same unconvenient before update to 1.5.1 and now it’s back…
Please help us.
Nicolas.

If somebody have a solution???
Thanks.

I have the same issue people are describing above, dead column down the left side and phantom touch. I have contacted support but received no reply. I’m quite disappointed by the slow support. I expect my screen to be replaced, as this is clearly a manufacturing fault. An interesting characteristic is it seems worse when the weather is warm, or if my phone gets warm through doing a skype call after which a couple of minutes of being turned on it just starts getting phantom touch and the only way to stop it going crazy is to take out the battery as it won’t even respond the the hardware buttons on the side of the phone.

I have also tried, cleaning the screen, leaving the phone off for weeks, removing and replacing the screen. Nothing works.

Yes, unfortunately the support is overworked and has a huge backlog. Since they just hired more people that hopefully soon will change.
In urgent cases you’re better off calling them waiting for a mail reply.
If disassembling and cleaning the contacts didn’t help, it’s likely faulty hardware which needs to be replaced.

I too am having this problem, as described by Pandark in the first post. The temporary solution I’ve found is to remove the battery completely for several minutes, then it’ll be okay for a few hours only before it repeats the crazy screen behaviour and random reboots.
A solution would be good, or I’ll have to revert to a stand-by phone :frowning:
Thanks.

I shared the same problems mentioned above:

  • crazy/phantom touch
  • touch won’t work after wake
  • screen goes black and remains black when calling
    I tried to ignore these kind of bugs (and removed the battery to reboot it),
    but since the screen started to make only white noise at the weekend (like an old fashioned TV-screen without signal)
    i was worried
    and now, since the screen has turned completely black (the LED is on, it vibrates and it produces some heat, but nothing else),
    i’m kind of frustrated :frowning:
    I tried to contact the support - only to be directed to this forum.

The support is overworked and has a huge backlog. They recently hired new staff, so hopefully they will be able to respond faster soon.

Anyhow, I would try to disassemble the screen and clean the contacts, as this helped some users with display problems. If the issue with the display remains, you may have a hardware problem and need to replace it.


This is a different issue. With the latest software version you can recalibrate the proximity sensor, so it should work again. see first post for more infos:

Since I posted my message, I’ve taken the phone apart (screen off) and thoroughly cleaned all the contacts and dust from anywhere I could see it. It’s actually been working well for a few hours now. Fingers crossed, it’ll carry on working!

I already disassembled the screen, to look for any dust or corrosion, that may cause the ‘blackout’.
I understand that the some of mentioned problems are not caused by a dysfunctional screen, but by different parts (like proximity sensor).
I just wanted to emphasise, that with these minor bugs i still would use the phone and try to recalibrate it myself - the blackout of my screen now seems to be something that is not easy ignorable…

Does the screen permanently stay dark now?
Does the charging LED still work when plugged in? (I.e. Do you get a yellow or green light when plugging in and charging the battery?)

I am wondering if it is just the screen that stays dark, or if the phone is shut down and doesn’t boot (the latter could be a problem with the battery, which may need to be reset).
If disassembling the display and cleaning contacts didn’t get the screen working, but you think the phone itself does work/boot, then I would try to get a replacement screen (as I think the screen is malfunctioning in this case).

The screen stays black.
with and without power cable plugged in.
I only see a green LED with the power cable plugged in.
It vibrates when i use the on/off-button.
And it produces some heat.
I opened it some days ago, found nothing dusty or else, that would explain me a problem with the screen.
I am still waiting for the customer service to tell me what to do, but only got the advice to look up the forum. :frowning:
I really need my fairphone - it lasted only 2 months :tired_face:
This is not the journey i expected.
[edit: i will try a different battery]

If the LED shows green light when plugged in, it means the battery is fully charged. So it seems getting power for the device should not be the problem. ALso the device getting hot is a good sign that the CPU is working.
Since you already tried to reassemble the screen and it didn’t help, and considering your description of the malfunction, I am afraid but it looks like your screen may be defective.

Personally I think that at this stage, with the things you tried, I would get in contact with support, as it seems to me that you may need a need a new screen. Please also have a look at this post, regarding contacting support:
https://www.fairphone.com/2016/08/04/were-sorry-to-keep-you-waiting-an-update-from-customer-support/

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