my pinephone melted

[norayr]

when charging. it was connected to pine64 charger. to its left port, which gives 5.3V.
i felt a smell of burned plastic, came to the phone, and found it like this: backcover melted, and type-c connector melted. it cannot be pulled out now.

glad it didn't explode.

well i guess i can buy a backcover, that's not a problem. but i am afraid that the charging module melted down and that cannot be repaired.
i even afraid of pulling out the usb connector right now. and i hope other modules on the board aren't damaged.
i have photos in the phone, at very least i would be happy just to save those, but no idea if i can connect to its internal storage and unlock luks somehow from outside.

it doesn't turn on anymore.

[traut]

Oh no! I’m glad you were there and smelled it before it could start a fire!

[tllim]

from photo, looks like there may be pin short in the USB-C cable. Change the PinePhone USB-C side board and cable in order bring the PinePhone back to function.

[norayr]

yes, i replaced the board and everything works fine.

[Zebulon Walton]

Wow, this just happened to me! I had driven to a doctor's appointment (regular checkup) this morning and used the phone before going in, hooked up to a USB port in the car. Everything was working fine. The phone powered up as usual when the USB power was plugged in and Mobian Phosh's charge indicator was on.

A little later after the appointment was done I needed to use the phone again, so hooked it up to a live USB port but this time the phone didn't power up automatically as usual. I thought maybe there was a problem with the port or the cord. The power button did turn the phone on and it worked OK but there was no charging indicator.

I tried a different USB cord and different port but that didn't help. However I then noticed that the cord was getting very hot where it plugged into the phone and the phone was heating up in that area as well. Remembering the "melting" post here I quickly disconnected the USB cable. As far as I can tell nothing got hot enough to melt or otherwise be damaged.

I have a spare USB-C board that has a bad vibration motor but otherwise worked when removed. So I will install that for now and just live without the tactile feedback. It looks like replacement boards are in stock in the Pine64 store so I'll order another to return the phone to full functionality.

[KC9UDX]

Now I wonder if the alleged vapist that tried to burn my truck down had a Pinephone rather than a vaping device. Last summer I left home with family for a few hours. Upon returning home, my driver's side window was open. I know I didn't leave it that way because it was pouring rain all day. Upon inspection the next day I found the USB-C cable for my phone melted and charred (badly). It was not a cheap cable, I have others like it; and it wasn't plugged into anything (except the cigar lighter socket).

Is this a common thing with USB-C? Or just a poor connection at the Pinephone (and still some kind of vaping thing in my case)?

[Zebulon Walton]

I installed my spare, used USB board but unfortunately the foil grid that connects the speaker broke off. The phone works OK otherwise but there is no vibration motor (messed up when I replaced the screen a few years ago) and no speaker, so no vibration or ringing for incoming calls unless I use an earphone. Power works OK though. I have a new USB board on order.

UPDATE:

Using a bright Tensor lamp, magnifying glass, and a 30-Watt WalMart soldering iron I was able to very carefully transfer the intact grid from the shorted USB board to the used one I installed. The speaker is now working! I can live without the vibration motor until the new board arrives.