Pro 1 charging issue

[esme 14]

Is anyone else having an issue charging the Pro 1 ?

I connect the phone to the supplied charger via the supplied USB-C lead and nothing happens, if I remove the lead, rotate it and reinsert it the phone charges, occasionally.

Sometimes it takes several attempts at this procedure to get the phone to charge, then I've noticed that after a while the charge light will go out and the phone will stop charging requiring me to repeat the whole remove, rotate, reinsert procedure until the phone starts charging again.

Sometimes the charge light will come on but the Android battery indicator does not show any indication  of charging, the battery slowly declines despite the supplied charger being plugged in and the charge light being on and steady.

I have tried different USB-C leads and even a different charger which doesn't support the rapid charge feature and they all exhibit this issue.

I first noticed this problem about a month ago, it appears to be getting worse and I fear I will eventually get to the point where the phone won't charge at all.

I suspect the USB-C socket on the phone itself has worn so the lead isn't seating correctly, so there's an intermittent contact.

I emailed info@fxtec.com a few days ago but no reply yet, I received the phone on 8th October 2020 & having checked on the web site there's a years warranty so it's still covered.

Any suggestions ?

[Slion 1,201]

Yes, looks like your USB-C connection has a hardware problem. Hope you can reach F(x)tec support. Be warned though, it seems they have been rather useless lately. They may also have run out of spare parts. Alternatively maybe you can use someone like @EvilDragon to resolder the USB board.

Edited September 13, 2021 by Slion

[EskeRahn 5,460]

Sad to hear. But just to be sure, are you on stock Android or LineageOS? (Some are having charging-issues on Lineage)

[Doktor Oswaldo 904]

16 hours ago, Slion said:

Yes, looks like your USB-C connection has a hardware problem. Hope you can reach F(x)tec support. Be warned though, it seems they have been rather useless lately. They may also have run out of spare parts. Alternatively maybe you can use someone like @EvilDragon to resolder the USB board.

They stepped up their game again. Since a few weeks support is answering and sending out parts again. I got a new USB-Board a few days ago, which has brought me one step closer to revive my precious pro1.

[esme 14]

@EskeRahn Stock Android, I read through other threads, rebooting the phone has no effect on charging for me, it looks to be how the lead is seated in the socket or how the socket is soldered to the motherboard. If I get it just so it works but then the slightest thing will stop it being "just so" & it stops charging and the annoying thing is the charge light can stay on when this happens, the phone has a charge light & a black screen but when I check Android says the phone isn't charging any more and the percentage charge hasn't gone up.

So when I can get it to charge I have to keep checking to make sure it's actually charging because I can't trust the charge indicator

@Slion Yes, it does look like the USB socket on the phone is the issue

@Doktor OswaldoThat's reassuring thanks, still no email from F(x)tec, I'll give them a few more days before trying again

 

[EskeRahn 5,460]

Ah I see. Please note that their support mail system (zendesk?) works in a way collecting mails in the queue, so sending in a new mail pulls back the previously mail to the end of the queue.

[esme 14]

@EskeRahn Thanks for the tip

Still no response to my email

[esme 14]

OK bit the bullet & tried contacting them via the webform instead of my email lets see if they respond to that

If the warranty runs out before they respond to me & they start playing silly buggers, they're going to end up paying my lawyers legal fees too

 

-- EDIT --

Ah a request received email, thank you automated reply system

Edited September 20, 2021 by esme

[esme 14]

Still no response, I've even pinged them on twitter

[esme 14]

Well they got back to me, they wanted some photos of various angles, presumably they want to see if I've dropped it or let a small child use it as a hammer or something

So I've sent them 17 jpegs front & back from top & bottom, each corner from top & bottom, with keyboard open and finally each edge

Lighting a shiny black phone so you don't get glare and the damn thing is in focus is a pig btw

I was tempted to do the Dave Bowman quote from 2001 at one point ... "My god, it's full of stars" if you haven't seen it  😉

[Bob78 0]

Mine is the same 

[esme 14]

OK I think I've calmed down enough to finish this story

First off they managed to lose the jpegs I sent them, so I resent them

Then they said I needed to return the phone, which I did & they confirmed receipt a week after the post office said it had been delivered

Several emails & nearly 3 months later I received an update on Pro1-X shipping & was assured the USB module would be included in that shipment

Eventually, my partner managed to track down one of the directors on LinkedIn & we told them the tale of woe so far & threatened them with legal action if something didn't happen soon

I received a replacement phone within a few days

That was nearly 9 months after I sent it back, for a repair they were saying I could do myself in a few hours

The replacement looks like it has been dropped at some point as there's a chip in the "E" key on the keyboard, so I reckon the screen has been replaced, if anyone recognises that description, it looks like they sent me your phone, hopefully they've sent you a replacement too

However this one works, so I'm going to use it until it falls apart & then I'll be getting something different

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by esme
punctuation