Please help. My FP2 keeps vibrating and won't come on

Help Fairphone 2
1

Hello,

I have a problem with my FP2. It started vibrating continuously. It will not turn on. It will not charge. It does it with the battery in and out. I have tried different cables. I ordered a bottom module (despite having a new one in March) that hasn’t fixed it. The battery is also only 6 months old.

Can anyone help?

Thanks
Kate

2

Hi Kate, and welcome to the forum,

I had this behavior some weeks ago, and the bad news for me was that unfortunately the most expensive part, the core module, was broken.

You could check if a fairphoneangel is near to you, to perform further tests with her/him:

Or you can go to a localrepairshop , but I have learned from my own case that this ride can be rather expensive. I have ended up finally with buying another used FP2.

Good luck!

4

Hello,

Thanks for getting back to me. This is really useful, thank you. I suppose I could sell my brand new bottom module and 6 month old module and battery to cover the costs! I will see if I can find a fairphone angel to help.

Thanks again,
Kate

1 Like
5

How long have you been trying to charge the battery? When a battery is fully drained, it can take hours to get to the level where it has enough power to turn on the phone, after which it’ll charge normally again.

Not saying this is your issue of course, but it’s a common one.

6

I thought it might be this but it was at about 80% when it turned itself off and started vibrating. It won’t charge at all now.

Thanks for getting in touch and trying to help!

1 Like
7

Hopefully it’s just a battery issue.

If you connect the phone to a charger with the battery inserted, does it behave differently from when you connect it without a battery?

For reference: for a functional FP2, it’ll blink the LED red if no battery is inserted, and it’ll either show nothing for a while and then a solid red LED when the battery’s fully discharged, or a solid red LED right away.

If your phone does the above, it’s detecting the battery and at least trying to charge it. If it shows the blinking red LED in both situations, your phone isn’t detecting the battery and we’ll move from there.

3 Likes
8

Hello,

Yes, it does.

No battery: Red light flashes on and off, it starts vibrating and flashing red almost in time.

With battery: No red light at all, just vibrating.

Does this mean it is the battery?

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

Kate

2 Likes
9

The vibration is unusual, but we’ll forget about that for now.

The difference means it’s at least noticing that the battery is inserted and it’s probably trying to charge it. That doesn’t tell us where the problem is, but it’s more hopeful than if your phone didn’t detect the battery.

Best case scenario is that your battery isn’t making good contact. Loose batteries are a fairly common issue in FP2s of a certain age.

Can you try to insert a battery shim to squeeze the battery tighter against the gold contacts? Just a bit of cardboard, tape or a bit of folded up paper will do, at least to see if it does anything.

It’s also a good idea to clean the battery contacts with some isopropyl alcohol or contact cleaner on a cotton bud.

3 Likes
10

Why do you propose to focus on the battery when the phone

? If the display stays dark and the vibration intervals are always the same, the failure seems to be caused by the core module, not by the battery.

11

You may be right about that, but I figure it’s good to exclude all other, more easily fixable issues first - try a shim before trying a new core module. I’ve seen some pretty weird behaviour in FP2s get fixed by a snugger battery bay.

1 Like
12

I’ve tried cleaning and using a shim. Neither works. If it’s the core module does that mean it’s terminal?

Thanks all.

13

While it could at this point still be a battery fault, seeing as you’ve already replaced the bottom module to no avail it’s very much more likely an issue with the core module - which could indeed be considered terminal. They’re usually difficult to repair and FP doesn’t repair them as a policy, it only replaces them. And if you’re out of warranty, that’s a pricy fix.

Before anything else though, if you can, see if there’s any Fairphone Angels near you that can swap out parts to see if your core module suddenly springs back to life with different modules. The odds of that working are small, unlike the dinosaurs, but also unlike the dinosaurs, extant.

If nothing works, feel free to shoot me a DM as I may be able to help you get a new core module for cheap.

2 Likes
14

Just a little note: the vibration is part of the cycle and expected. That’s what official FP support articles say, and I can confirm a functional FP2 does vibrate when plugged in without a battery.

It could be, that the contact between the battery and the core-module isn’t working properly, stopping it from charging correctly. But if a shim and cleaning the contacts didn’t work, it’s indeed probably the core-module.

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15

Hello,

Sorry I disappeared! Thank you so much for your help. I am still waiting for Fairphone to get back to me but it would appear to be the core module. I am thinking of buying a second hand Fairphone 3 as I have had a few problems with the Fairphone 2. Thanks again, I’ve been so impressed and grateful for all the help on here. :slight_smile:

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