The screen turns off and on when my FP3 is slightly bent

Help Fairphone 3
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16

Hello again :wave:

First of all, thank you very much to everyone for your suggestions and advice. It is often said, but it is true that the best thing about Fairphone is this community.

This morning I went to buy a brush with metal bristles to clean the contacts (the ones in blue in this picture), and I proceeded to clean the contacts of the screen of my FP3 as follows:

  1. Dip a cotton swab in isopropyl alcohol and wet the contact area to be cleaned.
  2. Gently scrape the contact with the metal bristle brush.
  3. Wipe with a dry cotton swab the debris.
  4. Repeat several times the same process on the contact until it shines more or less uniformly.
  5. Clean another contact.

The truth is that the cotton swabs came out quite stained, and although I scraped some plastic around the contacts, I imagine that is not a problem. Now the contacts shine quite a bit brighter than before, as you can see in the picture:

comparation
comparation1920Ă—1878 356 KB

I also checked to make sure the pogo pins looked good, and indeed they all seem to be in perfect condition:

pins
pins1920Ă—1094 240 KB

When I finished, I let it dry and blew with a compressed air tool to remove any debris. I also slightly “lifted” the metal “tongues” on the core module that are supposed to make contact with the areas I cleaned, just in case it helps.

When I reassembled the FP3 and turned it back on, the screen remained very, very dark. Upon bending it slightly, it started flickering a lot (even without touching it, when picking up a certain position; this was happening to me before as well). After several minutes of bending it and squeezing it in various ways, it seems that finally the screen stayed on permanently despite bending it. I took the opportunity to check the screws, which seemed firm and tight.

I haven’t been able to test it for more than a minute, but I regained hope that it might work again. Tonight I’ll turn it back on and put it through some “stress” trying to bend it. If it still works, I’ll carry it in my pocket tomorrow next to the old cell phone I’m currently using, to see if it will hold up in a “real environment” before I put the SIM back in and transfer my stuff back to the FP3.

Thanks again. I’ll keep you updated - wish me luck! :crossed_fingers:

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