PinePhone64 Troubleshooting

Pressing the on button does not activate the PinePhone

Open the PinePhone and check the back by using a notch on the bottom right side, and removing the battery with a notch on the bottom right. Remove the clear plastic above the battery that ships with the device. Slide the battery back into place.

If the issue persists, try flashing different software onto a SD card and booting off it. You can also try letting it charge for a while, or take the battery out and charge it separate from the device.

PinePhone registers as charging but doesn’t hold charge

If that does not work, it may be a clock speed issue, especially if you are running a modified PinePhone. Consider reflashing your running software, and/or reflashing with another distribution.

If it still will not charge, it is possible the charging port is bad. You may have to replace it.

The screen stays black or the backlight is on and no image shows

Check your PinePhone’s brightness.

To perform a hard shutdown, hold the power button down for 5 seconds.

This is likely a problem with the software of the device. If the issue persists after shutting it down and adjusting the backlight brightness, you will need to consider reflashing the device (possibly with different software).

When plugged in, the PinePhone does not register charge

Hold the power button for five seconds to force a hard restart.

If it still will not charge, check your phone’s battery. If the clear plastic sticker is still there, your PinePhone may not charge. If the problem continues, you may need to replace the port.

The PinePhone does not register incoming calls and your cell phone provider’s logo does register

There is a problem with the SIM card. Eject and reinsert the SIM card. If the problem persists, check the kill switch for the modem.

Try also setting up your APN and checking that the cellular data toggle in the interface is enabled if using Plasma Mobile. If you continue to encounter issues, try another distribution available for the device, and double check that your carrier is supported by it.

The volume buttons do not respond when pressed

If using headphones, check kill switches to see if headphones are turned off. If the problem continues, open up the PinePhone and gently clean the pressure pads.

The device can boot and store data on the internal eMMC memory or on a SD card. You may have corrupted or overwritten the internal eMMC memory, or removed or corrupted the SD card containing your data.

If the data was stored to the internal eMMC memory, you can easily access it by using a tool made for the PinePhone called jumpdrive, which will let you mount and access the device’s memory through USB with a computer.