I was at work in the middle of nowhere (very rural) and just couldn’t make a call despite full signal bar. Rebooted. Then a SIM-card fault symbol appeared. Took SIM-card out and wiped it clean. Turned phone back on - time and date were completely wrong. Reset time etc, still nothing. Rebooted - split second red symbol with exclamation indicating 0% battery or something. Phone went into boot mode. Reboot option wouldn’t work. Tried to shut down - warning saying no “OS installed”. Tried the reboot option again - no response. So now couldn’t get out of the boot (safe mode?). Phone froze with nothing responding. Took battery out and replaced and what joy, it has factory reset! All contacts, settings, apps - gone. Not great when I’m in the middle of Bodmin Mood and needing help.
So there’s a problem somewhere. My SMS back-up app didn’t work either.
Had problems ever since the Nougat update. Phone says “emergency calls only” despite still receiving and making calls and texts, phone switching to airplane mode in the middle of calls, random texts saying from unknown sender that are actually from someone in my contacts that I’m already in the middle of a conversation with etc…
Sorry for the rather slow response - I have Sloth genes.
Well, not really any better. Phone says emergency calls only, but still receiving and making calls and texts. And still randomly goes into airplane mode in the middle of calls - not every call.
I have an update pending from yesterday - OS 19.02.1 (nougat?) which is what reminded me of this post.
First things first, and this is me just spitballing, but have you tried reinserting the SIM card, or cleaning out the slot with some isopropyl alcohol? Best case scenario is that all of your issues are being caused by a SIM card that isn’t making proper contact.
Either way, I think doing the update would be a good idea; if there is something wrong with your system, an update can set it straight.
And before you upgrade, make backups of data you want to keep! These upgrades have been known to fail, and you may have to do a factory reset to get your phone going again. It happened to me, and boy, was I glad I had backups.
I recommend an app called oandbackup to update all apps and their data, including contacts, call logs, text messages, calendar, etc. You can back up to an SD card and then copy the data to a PC, or remove the SD card while you update. That way you know the data is safe. Hasn’t failed me yet.
Now, if the upgrade doesn’t fix your problems, try an intentional factory reset. If that doesn’t fix your problems, I think it may be time to take it up with Fairphone because it may be a hardware issue.
I have given the SIM card(s) a cursory clean, but not with an alcohol solution, so I’ll try it - when I get some (non-drinkable) alcohol.
Also, I know this isn’t truly on topic, but I found, by accident, a potential flaw in the phone design. I was carrying a load of groceries from my car, I had my phone in one hand and I must have had a finger on the power button - consequently, the phone went into safe/boot mode; Alright for me, but for some, that could be verging on disastrous. Has this been discussed elsewhere on the forum?