Unlock of a brick fairphone 4

Help Fairphone 4
1

(edited)
Hi all

I tried to flash my fairphone with CalyxOS all was happy days untill i relocked the bootloader :frowning:
Been emailing back and forward with fairphone who says i need to do one of the following
Option one - Send your phone to our repair centre at your own cost.

For more information consult our repair price list and FAQ on our website.

The repair centre will diagnose and provide a quotation. If rejected we will:

  • send the device back (we will charge between ā‚¬15 - ā‚¬19 for Assessment, shipping & handling costs);
  • or recycle it for free.

Option two - Try to repair the phone locally. (how to find a danish repair shop ?)

I kind hope to avoid this : contact FP support
send your device to the repair center in France
receive a quote of ~ 600 ā‚¬ (price of a new phone)
complain to FP that the repair center does not do its job properly
wait 5 days
receive a new quote for 30 ā‚¬

To find a repair shop near you can consult the [forum]

Any ides on where to contact in order to get my phone unlocked ? Or do i have a brick for building my next house ?

I hope some here cant point me in a way i can get the phone unlocked kind a sad to waste 579 euro

2

Hi @Bricked

First things first as an reaction to the title and your words:
If you brick your device by yourself on your own responsibility: Why do you expect that ANY manufacturer/repairshop/etc on earth will do this for free?

If you take a deep breath, relax, and share some information about which instructions you followed to unlock, flash and finally relock your device then maybe someone here will help you or provide you some information about repairshops, options, alternatives at your location.

But please donĀ“t blame others for things you messed up by yourself and on your own.
[irony]I call this ā€˜apprenticeā€™s premiumā€™ ā€¦ [/irony]

Maybe next time: RTFM carefully (!) before you start flashing ā€¦

Best
DonFnord

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Contact Fairphone support and send it to repair center to get it fixed.

4

Hi @DonFnord

Where do i ask for anything for free ???

I stated i wanted to BUY a new module ! to replace !!!
And when u read stuff like this on the forum
ā€œsend your device to the repair center in France
receive a quote of ~ 600 ā‚¬ (price of a new phone)
complain to FP that the repair center does not do its job properly
wait 5 days
receive a new quote for 30 ā‚¬ā€

The gets you really hyped about their service !

And who do i blame for my fault ??? i blame that i cant BUY a new module OR support cant point to a repair shop when they stated it CAN BE FIXED !!!

Quate ā€œThe good news is that we can fix this in our repair centre in Franceā€
Email from support

I still belive this is really bad service that they dont give a quote to repair the phone and a service location.

And the whole PR stunt on this is Right to repair phone is a joke this i far from right to repair !

If i hurt u feelings i am sorry but i still feel like its fake PR and should be "un"fairphone since they claim to be something the not are (i cant but a new part !)

@AlphaElwedritsch
I have emailed the support asking for a price and a location and they told me to go to the forum.

5

You (possibly) didnĀ“t brick ā€œjust a moduleā€, you (possibly) bricked your core(-module) with what you did.

Everything -except the core module- can be replaced/exchanged. This information is also available here in the forum.

Maybe someone else got a good hint for you - IĀ“m out of this ā€˜discussionā€™

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@DonFnord I am not here to flame u or fight u if u dont like me humor or lack of it - sorry.

Here is what i did
I unlocked the phone as stated in this guide https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405858258961-FP4-Manage-the-bootloader

Then i downloaded the CalyxOS and flahed the phone with this May 2022 Security update - Fairphone 4, OnePlus 8T, 9, 9 Pro

All worked as a charm i could reboot the phone connect to wifi and all was happy days until i said ohh u better lock the bootloader again and bang stuck in fastboot. Emailed to support and now here i am all happy about my brand new phone.

7

I neither get why you think you could blame Fairphone for this or why the phone would be unfair due to this.
Also it seems you only read the old reports around the 600ā‚¬ Quote and not the most recent ones, as this issue seem to be obsolete.

If you are stuck with a locked bootloader that cannot be unlocked again, no a repair shop would not be able to fix this.So whatever you told Support, there is a big misunderstanding somewhere

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@yvmuell

I only blame fairphone for bad support ! yes i seen that they state in their warranty quate ā€œ4.2.12 Damage caused by the installation of a Third Party Operating System. An example of such damage would be if You modify some Android partitions when You flash a Third Party Operating System, which makes it impossible to go back to the official Software version provided by Fairphoneā€

End of the day my statement above came AFTER i emailed support for help and was and still are willing to pay for a repair ! and support point you to a forum to find a repair shop:

9

@yvmuell This i my whole communication with their support

I think i been quit clear about what i did
May 3, 2022, 13:12 GMT+2

Hi
I unlocked my phone and flashed it with CalyxOS after flashing the phone CalyxOS was working fine hense the flash was ok but when i locked the bootloader
it will only boot in to fastboot what to do from here ? if i try to unlock the boot loader it says flashing unluck is not allowed ?

May 4, 2022, 10:57 GMT+2
Dear XXXX

Thank you for calling in. Iā€™m XXXX from the support team, we just spoke on the phone. It was very nice to meet you! :slight_smile:

As discussed, I have reached out to the tech team about your issue and will get back to you about this as soon as possible!

If you have further questions or remarks, donā€™t hesitate to let me know.

XXXXXX

FranƧais - English - EspaƱol - CatalƠ

ā˜† Fairphone || Buy a phone, join a movement!

I allso called in

May 5, 2022, 15:44 GMT+2
Dear XXXXXX

Thanks a lot for your patience.

Just to be sure, the issue happened right after flashing your device with CalyxOS. You have not tried to return to the original OS, right?

Kind regards,

XXXXX

FranƧais - English - EspaƱol - CatalƠ

ā˜† Fairphone || Buy a phone, join a movement!

May 6, 2022, 21:28 GMT+2
Hi XXXXX

Thank you for getting back
Here is what i did i used this guide FP4-Manage-the-bootloader to unlock the phone. Then i flashed the phone with CalyxOS i did the setup and rebooted the phone a couple of times (just to confirm the everything was ok)
then i was like ok now i can luck the bootloader again. When i typed fastboot flashing lock then phone booted said it was currupted and booted in to fastboot.

Then i asked the devs from CalxyOS about it and what to do. At the same time som other guy came with the same problem and he ha done the same as me.
The devs asked if i could unluck the bootloader again. That was a no it said ā€œflashing unluck is not allowedā€

best regards

May 10, 2022, 10:25 GMT+2
Dear XXXXXX

Thanks for your explanation!

Iā€™m sorry to hear your phone is unable to boot normally.

The good news is that we can fix this in our repair centre in France. We have access to special tools which allow us to install new software even on a locked device.

Since this happened due to a manipulation you performed, the manufacturing warranty on it has expired.

The costs involved might be covered by personal insurance, so I recommend you check that with your insurer.

In this situation, you have two options.

Option one - Send your phone to our repair centre at your own cost.

For more information consult our repair price list and FAQ on our website.

The repair centre will diagnose and provide a quotation. If rejected we will:

  • send the device back (we will charge between ā‚¬15 - ā‚¬19 for Assessment, shipping & handling costs);
  • or recycle it for free.

Option two - Try to repair the phone locally.

To find a repair shop near you can consult the forum.

Let us know what youā€™d like to do or if you have any other questions.

XXXXX

FranƧais - English - EspaƱol - CatalƠ

ā˜† Fairphone || Buy a phone, join a movement!

Correct me if this is a case of whatever i told support
I suppose i been transparent off what i did !

10

I was the person who wrote that. Looks like the repair centre got their stuff together and are no longer sending out quotes for new phones. Right now FP warns against locking your bootloader, Iā€™ve no idea, what third party providers are suggesting right now. If your bootloader is locked and you donā€™t have a working OS your only solution is to send it in, end of story.

At some point in the future there might be a way around it, but that is still a might

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@CransNeighbour

If i only knew where to send it :slight_smile:

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To the repair centre in France

13

Tell them you want to send it to their repair center and thats it.

And actually I have no idea what is bad about the handling by Support. It was nice, fast, offering solutions. The only I dont understand is that they told you to check for local repair.

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You ask Fairphone for the repair they send to a company called Cordon who then communicate with you.

As mentioned there were some cases where Cordon wanted to replace the ā€˜unworkingā€™ device but it seems complaints to Fairphone now mean Cordon are being more considerate and just re-flashing in with the default OS.

As indicated by Fairphone you have a choice to sent it, where they didnā€™t indicate, so it is they that would reasonably instruct you once you tell them what you want.

But sure you didnā€™t get a clear instruction presumably as you didnā€™t respond and tell Fairphone what you wanted to do

and you were put of by the previous comments about ā‚¬600

Otherwise your post was reasonable I see no reason why you had such a harsh reply

and by the way

welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

15

Forgiven and forgotten now that you turned your post & name less agressive.

Feel welcome! :wink:

I can only agree to @CransNeighbour & @yvmuell Ā“s comments.
Also from my experiences with flashing several devices IĀ“d say itĀ“s at least close to ā€˜brickedā€™ and needs an expert. Either one from the french FP support or at least someone who really knows how to fix it.

Take it as a lesson learnt. It also happened to me (and surely several others) on other devices in the past.

From my very point of view it is very rare that a support team of a manufacturer even offers help in case you replaced their basic and delivered system with something else.
I donĀ“t know any other manufacturer that offers such help after manipulating/flashing devices.

Fingers crossed for that they can help you and unbrick your device - and that itĀ“ll be within an acceptable pricing condition.

Keep us updated about the progress and final outcome!

Best
DonFnord

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