Phone does not boot, only vibrates in intervals

That sounds super frustrating @Blaise! Would you share what they asked you to do for analysis?

Yes, the problem was the same: interval reboots, red LED (even with charged battery), the Fairphone logo came up for a millisecond before the phone rebooted again.

When I pressed power and volume down, the phone went into dic:fastboot mode: the Fairphone logo show continuously on the screen and you can access the device via fastboot from your computer.

I did notice that if I took out the power, the device restarted immediately, although the battery was inside; this hinted at a bad connection with the battery for me.

But when I left the phone in the fastboot state for 10 min. or longer, I could disconnect the power without it rebooting. This seems connected to the battery, but just as you I tried this also with a full battery from another phone and there was no correlation; so empty batteries can be ruled out imho.

But when the phone stayed on in fastboot w/o usb connection, I rebooted by pressing the power button for 10 sec. and the OS came up just fine.


What I did to ‘repair’ this

Because I could access the phone with fastboot I was able to dic:flash the latest version of twrp to recovery partition on the phone, upload the latest OpenGAPPS and LineageOS zips and reboot into recovery.

In recovery I reinstalled LineageOS and OpenGAPPS and then, after a wipe of the cache/dalvik, booted into the system.

In the system I then updated all apps and from that moment on the crazy reboot pattern was gone.

What stayed was randomreboots while using the phone, but not the interval reboots. They were then fixed by putting a little piece of paper between the battery and the case.

This is what worked for me, but as the research pool in this case is ‘1’ and I did not have time to research properly what in the end fixed what, I can only hope it helps you.

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Thank you for the extensive write-up!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t help me, as I can’t even get as far as you did. The fairphone logo never comes up, not even for a split second, and when I press power and volume down, nothing else happens than the interval vibrations. I did connect the phone to my computer and tried to find it via fastboot nevertheless, but no devices were found.

Edit: My LED is never red except when connected to power with removed battery, which I see as expected behaviour.

sorry to hear your case is slightly different and my method does not help you.
I brought this topic to the attention of the techies at Fairphone support.
It seems this is a new problem they have no experience with so far.
They will investigate and I hope to hear back from them.

Btw: just to be clear: you have Fairphone OS, Android 6 with a recent update, correct?

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Isn’t this “simply” a broken main module?

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well, the different experiences made me believe it wasn’t simple.
But the people at support think you are right @paulakreuzer.

In their opinion there is no other choice then to replace the FP2… :frowning:

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Thank you all for all the messages, tips, etc
I can only hope that now the support acts quickly and actually handles the open request with this problem immediately.

Thank you so MUCH for your effort!

Yes, that’s correct, december update is installed. Sorry for the delay in answering!

I see, that’s sad to hear. What do I do now? They already have an open ticket from me, should I call?

Also, is there any way I could still make a back-up or at least wipe the data from the device before I sent it back? I do have fairly recent back-ups, so I’m probably just missing a few photos, so no biggie, but thought it couldn’t hurt to ask. I consider myself fairly tech-savvy, so a little tinkering doesn’t scare me. Especially not now where I know I have nothing to lose :wink:

Thanks for your message. But what could I share. I bought a FP2 in September. Received it after 2 month. Since the beginning the phone had frequently reboot problems (about 20 on day). I tried many solution as changing OS. After an umpteenth change from OS to Android, the FP2 stay on black screen. No reaction except vibration. I tried all suggestions which are on the support web pages (battery, screen, cover, etc.). Nothing happen. I write to the support: no response. I phone after 2 weeks : they send me a survey. I answered to all questions, took the pictures and videos they ask. Then no response until I phone two weeks later. It was on 22th December. They said the technical support will contact me. And now : no response since 3 weeks.

I love the Fairphone project. The idea is genius. But I spend much money on that phone. It doesn’t work. Now I had to buy a new one because I need it for professional and domestic needs. For me I resume my Fairphone experience to a failure: ecological, practical… I’m very despite and have the feeling that Fairphone laugh at the customers.

Blaise Guinchard

Hi all!

I also have this problem… I received my phone 2 months ago… (After having to let down my FP1 as it was not possible to have most spare parts anymore…). After 2 months of random reboots (probably 4G…) and bad connexion with the camera (and Fairphone support that I know is crawling under lots of messages but answering 1 month after my message), the phone froze this morning I don’t exactly remember when or why and after deciding to reboot it began the exact same scheme of vibrations every 2 seconds, no reboot, only orange/red light when plugged without battery, nothing else to do… I might try to take it apart, but prefer having support on the phone before (got a ticket today). Was just thinking that showing we are many to be in that situation might be useful…

Do you guys have heard what would happen now? It has been more than 2 weeks since the last message here. Do we know if a solution has been found? Will we get new phones? Or our money back? I am so sad of that situation. As Blaise, I love the Fairphone project, but so much money, more than I could afford, for such disappointment (if not worst…).

Best

DRR

Hi DRR, here are the most usefull informations. Regards.

Blaise

Hi Blaise,

Yes I’ve seen this before. Actually, thé few things that could help with pour no reboot ans vibrations in tempo problem don’t work…

I will call support thaïs week ans let you know.

David

I haven’t heard anything yet. Although I haven’t called them either.

Hello everybody

After a few phone calls and email, I was finally allowed to send my FP2 for repair. Fairphone then told me that they were checking the device and that it could take up to 15 days.
On my mail, that this takes too long and my phone has been broken for 4 weeks, I have received no response. Not even when I wanted my money back instead of the repair. But the day after this mail Fairphone told me the device was working again and they were sending it back.
In the meantime, I have received the device and it works. Whereby still sporadic reboots occur.
Due to the repeated very bad experiences with FP support, my wife bought a smartphone from another manufacturer yesterday. She was one of the first to buy a FP1. This decision was not easy for my wife because she is / was convinced of the idea. But the experience with the support and my FP2 which does not work really well and had to be repaired three times, it has finally brought to it.
I can only advise you to contact the support by phone and mail again and again to make pressure. In my last email, before I finally got the device in, I mentioned that I would turn on “Konsumentenschutz”

Threats don’t help. The real best way to get your support request handled fast is described here: contactsupport.

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Hi Paula
You are always very fast with good tips and references to support help. Only these did not help with my problem. The support simply ignored me several times.
For me, it’s clear that a next smartphone will not be a Fairphone anymore.

I had quite the same issue you all had, only I had my FP2 for almost two years and had lots of issues with different modules, except the motherboard…
It started with random reboots, then reboot loops, then what you previsously described: black screen with vibration and red light only when charging without the battery. Now it doesnt even vibrate anymore.

I contacted the Support team and my experience with them was good, only they want me to provide the proof of purchase, which I unfortunatly (all my bad) don’t have anymore. So I guess goodbye fairphone :frowning:

Anyway, it’s seems to be a recurrent issue (I dont know how many people had the same problem and didnt post on the forum), so I find it kind of sad that there is no option to buy the motherboard as spare part on the shop.
I know it’s not the thema of this thread but I wonder if the whole ecologic, fair,… stuff makes sense since I had to change many parts (under warranty) within the two years, to finally not being able to power it anyway after maybe 20 months.

If you bought your Fairphone directly from Fairphone:
go to the homepage of Fairphone
log in
Tap on the icon left from the shopbasket on the right top of the page
go to orders.

If you bought your Fairphone from a reseller:
go to the reseller and ask for proof that you bought the phone there.

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I experienced a very similar, almost identical situation to that described in the first post here by @ln2v.

I received my Fairphone 2 in October 2017, started experiencing frequent reboots shortly thereafter and noticed an improvement, though not complete fix, after the update. Then one day, shortly after charging (the battery was around 80-90% full) I pulled the phone out of my pocket and it was off. When trying to switch it on, it would vibrate in short intervals but I had no other reaction from the phone, i.e. no indication on the screen or anything. When plugging the phone in without the battery, the red LED would light up, and the interval vibrations would start again.

My phone was within warranty, and as the fault occurred within six months of receiving the product, the company assumes it existed on arrival (for more detailed information on this and your rights see FP2 Warranty). I have now received a new (replacement) device, though it took just over three weeks from the moment the phone broke to receiving the replacement.

Of the three weeks it took until I received the new phone, the diagnosis took one full week (five working days). Evidently if you don’t have a backup phone/solution, the situation is way less than ideal. My exchange with customer support was predominately via the website; I only contacted them twice via phone. Overall my experience with customer support was mixed. In short, they are helpful, though not as quick as I would have liked/expected in such a situation where the phone was dead.

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