My FP3 completely died yesterday

I would appreciate any pictures you could upload here.

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For a minute I was worried you’d mean to go beyond Step 11 :hushed: but then I realized what you actually mean is what happens in between the 1st and 2nd photo of Step 10 – that looks “more doable” :+1:

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I want to remove this black shield which according to the ifixit guide is where the processor and the internal memory is located, to check for any hidden moisture

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haha no, but i am trying to figure out how they managed to undo the “spring contacts” that they mentioned in the guide for removing these smaller shields. I think these small little dots in the metal maybe come unclipped or something? I’m trying to find answers before I start trying to pry things apart. I do not want to damage the shielding, which seems to happen in the videos I have watched so far.


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Where in the guide is that, I see spring contacts mentioned

we discover a bunch of spring contacts, which connect to the fingerprint sensor,

but they are on the main shield which is already removed.

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I pulled off the biggest shield on the motherboard today to check for any hidden moisture or humidity. These shields come off easier than i thought, just takes a bit of prying from a small flat head screwdriver and they pop out of place. It is very thin metal though, just have to be careful about bending or ripping it. Appears there is thermal paste here, the white stuff, i dont know what these components are. Any ideas?

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Started cleaning the individual models, using a fresh toothbrush (in fairphone green!!) , and 91% alcohol. The bottom module was particularly dirty, and I had been having issues with it, it would only accept one side of any USB-C cable to work for charging or internet. The top module was also dirty, from debris entering the headphone jack.




pics above and below are the sides of the bottom module board (before cleaning)


dirty bottom module !!! (2 years of dirt)

I like how the headphone jack on the top module (above) can be completely cleaned, you can push debris all the out of the bottom to get it nice and clean again.

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shiny clean fairphone 3 modules !!

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Absolutely brilliant pictures, Thank you for the detail. I’m going to put a link to my ‘Topic’ to yours.

Thank again and I hope you manage to achieve a working phone.

:+1:
:crossed_fingers:

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Nice cleaning job! I hope it actually helped. My main concern is that the moisture lead to some amount of corrosion on components that even cleaning can’t fix any more. So most importantly: Did it work or did I just miss that piece of information?

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thank you !! :grin: I hope to revive it

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thank you :slight_smile: I hope so too! I am going through as many parts of the phone to check for corrosion and clean gently with the alcohol. I actually have not seen that much corrosion, and no trapped moisture, but i am trying to move slow and be thorough before attempting to power on the device again.

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hi, arriving late to the party and just caught up. I hope news are good?

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hi !
I’m currently trying to follow the “Fairphone 3 unbricking guide” and it is taking me a while to figure out how to follow it

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looks hairy! Best of luck with that, i’ll help in any way i can :slight_smile:

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thank you !! I’ll be posting updates on any progress

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The most important item of equipment is definitely the cup of coffee. :coffee: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

More seriously, if you’re on to that, things are looking up! I take it the phone can now be switched on, even if it needs unbricking ?? :+1:

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UPDATE ! … maybe this is some good news, or maybe it is bad. Pics below. Anyway, I started following some of the steps from the FP3 unbricking guide, and decided to try using the resistor on the points labelled in the picture, L and K on the fairphone 3 board. I followed the directions and for the FIRST TIME my computer finally recognized that there is a device connected through usb, which is the board of my fairphone 3. This is exciting, i thought the board might now be able to get any power. So next, I have to research how to access the phone files if that is even possible. Some users on different online forums are saying this is an indication the phone is in EDL mode, so my files might be lost. Unsure yet, but I am happy to see that the board is at least getting power.


connecting the fairphone3 board through usb to laptop


hooray! Windows finally sees the fairphone 3, but is calling it “QUSB_BULK”

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Another Forum epic (whatever the result) in the writing …
Good luck !
:+1:

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Searching for ‘QUSB_BULK’ i found threads on other devices pointing to mmc corruption. Check it out, here an example: [FIX] Pixel 3 QUSB_BULK_CID:xxxx_SN:xxxxxxxx | Page 2 | XDA Forums.

If that is the correct symptom, the phone would be stuck because the bootloader does not find an OS to launch.

Good luck!

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