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Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

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Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#271

Post by lopis »

artisinal wrote: post #136
lopis wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Each new Fairphone has pushed the boundaries of what a modular and repairable phone can be, but people must accept that it comes with a very significantly higher price (although in their case that's not only because it's modular, but also fairer wages, more ethical metals, etc). The average person is not willing to pay twice as much for a repairable phone.

And don’t forget about parts availability. I can get a new screen for a 15 year old iPhone on AliExpress. I doubt you will be able to buy Fairphone 6 parts in 15 years. A Fairphone is repairable right now but might not be in the future.

That's true. On the other hand, it's trivially easy to salvage and transplant a screen from another Fairphone. There's still people selling FP2 parts in the forums.

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#272

Post by testing22321 »

EastSmith wrote: post #244
SCdF wrote: post #17

I agree with their conclusion. I somewhat regret buying my framework laptop at this stage, because the answer to every fault is "buy a new component, from framework". I'm not sure I blame them for this really, but there is no competitive market of parts (or really any market at all), which means that the reality is that you're just locking your money to them. They also often have stock issues, so woe betide you if yo…

> In comparison to MacBooks ... I can buy 3rd party: RAM, SSD, WI-FI,random Expansion cards from the marketplace. I can open and clean and change thermal paste, etc. I've heard the display can be bought from alibaba, etc. I can't even open my Mac.

> change thermal paste

You know what’s even better than easily changed thermal paste?

A laptop that doesn’t need it changed.

Land Rover guys love to say how easy they are to repair, and forget to mention they need ten times as many repairs as other vehicles.

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#273

Post by bdavbdav »

SCdF wrote: post #49
anthonj wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My conspiracy theory is that selling parts is pretty much their main business case. A modular gpu using a new standard that is form-factor specific for only a specific model? Matte panel released a few months after the first 13.5 model was released with glossy panel as only option? It sounds a bit fishy to me. But maybe I'm just a bit too cynical .

> My conspiracy theory is that selling parts is pretty much their main business case. I think this is absolutely what you sell to investors. For it to be attractive to consumers though (and thus attractive to investors, since people actually need to buy the thing), there has to be a balance. They haven't even managed to conjure up a market for third party expansion cards, which feels like the lowest of hanging fruit.…

I think what expansion cards third parties are extremely niche (SDR) or have much better alternatives (to me, and I suspect most others If they thought about it, the 10gbE cards. Get a dock or two for the presumably limited locations you have 10gb infra and the need for it).

What most others have realised is that devices fit the 99% with USB-C, A and HDMI. Or, increasingly, just USB-C as everyone who needs one has a fleet of cheap dongles to provide just the right IO.

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#274

Post by bdavbdav »

akho wrote: post #196
anthonj wrote: post #12

I really don't understand how in 2025 a competent company can't implement a trival A/B flash update. Do they depend on some obscure contractor for the firmware and have no power here?

I own the "original" gen11 Intel Framework 13. This is a company that wasn't able to ship a working RTC battery, a touchpad that would register a click when a physical click happened, a screen hinge that would reliably hold the screen in an upright position, or a USB-A port that wouldn't consume a watt of power when unused. You expect way too much engineering from them.

Heh, I remember the “remove the USB A” debacle when I had my OG.

That thing really hacked me off generally. Coming from a MBP 2016 that sipped power, the battery anxiety was real (especially standby drain), and I spent more time than I’d care to admit tweaking tlp to be still a pretty poor drain.

Then the backlight would only work in certain positions.

Love the dream, but it got sold and replaced by a MBP of 2x the price. 4years later the MBP has been used and abused like a tool, dropped from my car boot while trying to carry it and a child, and is still fresh as a daisy. I worry that FW doesn’t fit into “buy once buy well”

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#275

Post by petterroea »

DANmode wrote: post #120
petterroea wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people I know don't own enterprise computers. They are pretty pricy and visually tame - not really made for consumers. To me, buying a framework is more about ideology than them being the best at everything. You can't expect them to be the best when starting out either. I am buying a future. I don't think any framework owner seriously thinks they are buying the most repairable laptop in the world or the most cos…

> They are pretty pricy Stop buying new. Great retired business machines on eBay daily.

I don't disagree, but consider that second hand machines are of unknown state, and often have no (or limited) warranty. Just like with a second hand car, there is a higher maintenance burden. How does an average joe know if a machine on ebay is great? If the answer is "they have to learn how to spot a good one", it is already an increased burden.

People like you and I are happy with this, but the average person could not care less about computers and simply need something to send emails, do taxes, and browse the internet. They don't want that extra burden, they want something that is guaranteed to "just work".

Proper second hand refurbishment pipelines that are well known and trusted is something we should aim for and want, but I believe the current state is that people want new and want cheap new. What is wrong with wanting cheap + new, and wanting laptop producers to cater to this?

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#276

Post by _jackdk_ »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #270
_jackdk_ wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the ACL is fantastic. I have an AMD Framework 13 that had a fan bearing fail, which caused the fan to scream and spin up/down erratically. I had a long back-and-forth with Framwework support where they told me what I already knew (the fan bearing failed and the fan needed replacing) and that it was out of warranty (yeah nah, not in Australia). As soon as I mentioned the consumer guarantees under the ACL, I was…

Legendary story. Thank you to share. Another win for ACL! BTW: Loved this part: "yeah nah".

It helped that Apple had a page for their statutory warranty in AU, so I could point to the sticker price of both machines and say "look, Apple acknowledges the consumer guarantee for at least 24 months after purchase and possibly longer, and I have paid a similar amount of money for a Framework".

https://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/docs/statutory_warranty... (Page 2):

> Without limiting consumers rights, Apple will provide its own remedies equivalent to those remedies in the consumer guarantee provisions of the Australian Consumer Law at any time within 24 months of the date of purchase. For the avoidance of doubt, Apple acknowledges that the Australian Consumer Law may provide for remedies beyond 24 months for a number of its products.

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#277

Post by rldjbpin »

good writeup. a similar approached once saved my bacon when my laptop got bricked during the covid supply chain fiasco.

the programmer, especially with crocodile clips, can be used for other laptops with bios chips of the size. however, it is always nice to have info from someone else who has previously done this. while it took a lot of digging for the specific laptop i had, at least with framework we hope to see more high-quality writeup like this.

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#278

Post by SCdF »

omcnoe wrote: post #250
SCdF wrote: post #17

I agree with their conclusion. I somewhat regret buying my framework laptop at this stage, because the answer to every fault is "buy a new component, from framework". I'm not sure I blame them for this really, but there is no competitive market of parts (or really any market at all), which means that the reality is that you're just locking your money to them. They also often have stock issues, so woe betide you if yo…

We bulk bought a lot of Framework Intel 12th gen laptops to kit out our engineering team. Within a year many of these (>20%) started experiencing the "400 MHz bug" where the CPU is either intermittently or constantly stuck at 400 MHz, and the laptop starts to heat up like an oven. As far as I know there has never been any conclusive fix for this issue from Framework, or even an official debugging guide. It really sou…

I had a similar issue on AMD 7040, where it would lock too I think 800Mhz or something. It didn't get hot, it would just obviously be very sluggish until I restarted. The issue popped up a few times, but I think was ultimately fixed with a Linux change.

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#279

Post by SCdF »

testing22321 wrote: post #272
EastSmith wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In comparison to MacBooks ... I can buy 3rd party: RAM, SSD, WI-FI,random Expansion cards from the marketplace. I can open and clean and change thermal paste, etc. I've heard the display can be bought from alibaba, etc. I can't even open my Mac.

> change thermal paste You know what’s even better than easily changed thermal paste? A laptop that doesn’t need it changed. Land Rover guys love to say how easy they are to repair, and forget to mention they need ten times as many repairs as other vehicles.

This exactly.

My post was not a fiery indictment of framework, more that I am musing that perhaps I have been duped. Not because they aren't repairable (they are), but because I didn't consider that the quality would be so much lower than other options.

I genuinely don't know which is cheaper or better for the environment: buying a macbook that I change out every 8-10 years (this is how long they would last, based on prior experience), or I buy a framework and change out parts as they fail.

Re: Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

#280

Post by chronogram »

hojjat12000 wrote: post #108

It's interesting to read this. Because I recently had something similar happened to me and I had mixed feelings like the author here. I have the original Framework 13, but I have almost changed everything inside of it (motherboard AMD 7840U, wifi 7, ram 96GB, ssd, better hinge, the CNC shell, hdmi dongle v3, APU Fan, speakers v2, webcam v2). I still was using the original battery and it was at 60% health. So, I decid…

The original from 2021, so 60% health after 5 years? Coupled with how they don't have a bypass sounds to me like they don't have their battery in order. Your linked thread also mentions that it happens at 100% too, which would explain the extreme degradation: leaving it plugged in by default thrashes the battery without a bypass.
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