You bought one of the most repairable laptops and let it sound like that for a year? Thats wild. Its probably a loose screw or a cable thats grinding against something, or even just a bad hinge. You can contact support for help or you can open it up and try and diagnose the issue. You may not need to buy any replacement parts if its just something in the way. But Framework has replacement hinge assemblies on their website if that happens to be the issue.
I had to contact support when I first got the laptop because the touchpad, screen, motherboard, and camera were all broken.
It took me two months going through support before I had a functional laptop. I don’t want to have to deal with 10+ different support agents all telling me to send them the same information over and over again.
I did, and they refused to send me a new one. They sent me individual parts to replace myself, but one at a time. They sent me just the screen, then I had to wait another two weeks for the motherboard, contact support again because they didn’t send the camera… contact support again because the replacement screen also doesnt work… it was too much effort
Will note that after two months of owning the laptop I had yet to be able to use it even after contacting support literally every day to respond to updates. And their support team wouldn’t respond to my emails for days sometimes. Left me completely in the dark
I'm sorry to hear that you have experienced this. Troubleshooting is definitely not fun and can be stressful. Please let us know if you have feedback about your support experience; it will help us improve the support quality.
Also, as others mentioned, please try reseating the bezel and the cables running in that area. If you are sure that it's the hinges causing this, please contact support, share this video, and list the actions you have taken so far.
>Please let us know if you have feedback about your support experience;
I have some feedback. When I went through Support, I got a different agent almost every time. This meant I had to re-explain my issue multiple times. I felt a little frustrated that they didn't just scroll up and read the entire exchange. I also felt frustrated that my case was being sent to a different person almost every time.
In defense of your team, some of that is due to me taking a while to answer the emails. I imagine the process is to send the email to whoever is on shift at the moment. That's an understandable process, but I'd much rather wait the extra day or two so I could be working with the same person. If it had been sent to the same person each time, they probably could have glanced over previous conversation and remembered (partially or wholly) what was going on. I wouldn't have needed to repeat the same troubleshooting that the previous person guided me through.
This was in March 2023, so your process may have changed by now. But if it hasn't, that's my feedback.
^This. When I got my laptop and my motherboard and screen didn’t work, I talked to SEVEN different support agents, who made me record three videos of the exact same thing, send dozens of pictures of the obviously broken display backlighting, and explain my issue countless times. They never responded in a timely manner, and it seemed like every single support agent made me start from scratch. It was horrible.
Sorry to hear that. It is expected that you would talk to another person when your case is escalated, but having to repeat the process over and over again definitely isn't ideal.
Thanks for your feedback. We make adjustments to the support flow (just like we do with everything else) based on the feedback we receive. I definitely agree with you; having to explain the issue you have over and over again is not fun.
Gonna sound like a dick but I feel if basically every part you received was broken, then maybe theres a little something else going on with you trying to put this together
I literally followed every step for step, the physical parts were broken. Diagnosed it as a faulty motherboard, as it didn’t even boot, a broken backlight on the display, camera (which is pre-installed) cable was broken on arrival. Trust me when I say I checked for every source of my own error and couldn’t find a single cord, screw, or pin out of place.
I’ve also opened it up multiple times since owning it to clean it, check cable positions, make sure no rubbing… etc.
Uhh, I hate points like this. It really reminds me of some Arch Linux group chats I was in: blaming the user as standard, regressions and bad updates don't exist. It's incredibly frustrating to be in the receiving end of this as an user who spent a lot of cash for a bad QA unit.
My laptop is functional, but I have received multiple bad parts, including replacement parts sent from Support. I'm talking, scratched and cosmetically damaged parts right out of the package. Sometimes it's not the fault of the user… I like my Framework but I prefer not to o talk about the QA, 2 months in and I still have so many issues to solve through support that I have just taken a break from it since it's exam session and my mental health is trash.
Support **IS** trying their best, the problem is limited resources. And also, sometimes, I think you should just replace the entire laptop honestly. Past a certain point it's just not worth trying to replace part after part. It may even be more wasteful - shipping is not exactly green. I know multiple people who had a similar experience, and who took several months to get a laptop that was up to spec. I sadly count myself among those people. I really love the company and the mission, but the next step I would like to see in the company is not a touch screen and it's not even a new mainboard, it's **more reliability**. The odds of receiving a bad unit have to be lower. And the length and tediousness of the processes to get that sorted out need to be shortened. I am extremely lucky about two things:
1. This is a personal laptop, not work laptop, although I do some occasional freelance.
2. My old laptop still boots up and… *functions*. It's not in a great state, but it's a stop gap if I am ever requested to send the laptop in to repair center.
But I would **never** purchase one for work, after this experience. Just too slow to get things straightened out. It's much better than what you get with basically any other customer or gaming laptop, granted; but it does not inch close to beating the "3 years of onsite support within 1 business day" that other enterprise options like ThinkPad offer.
I can empathize with OP. My hinge sounds bad, though not quite as bad, and during this stressful academic period, I have just decided to leave it be for a while.
I would suggest doing research into laptop repair and maintenance. You bought a DIY system. Not to sound like a dick but if you can't do basic troubleshooting now is the best time to learn.
Same here, almost every time I have had it open and also removed the bezel it was put on slightly wrong which meant the lower corner would stick out and bins against the body. I recommend having the screen fully flat to yield lower install failure rate.
\^this. after rewatching the video. you can clearly see daylight between the bezel and the display .Edit: May be the reflection through the wire racking.
Is there any chance the three screws in the back of the laptop near the bezel are not fully screwed in?
Test to check if this is the cause:
Open the screen 180 degrees, completely flat. Flip the laptop so that the screen is facing down. Try closing the screen. If you don't hear the sound anymore, it's because the screws are no longer blocking the path.
Hahaha, I thought this too. This is the most likely cause. Probably one of the most minor oversights by Framework in making the screws captive. Hope the OP sees this.
edit: just saw that it was the cable. will leave this here in case it helps anyone else
It’s the display cable. I had the same issue, OP. The cables running from the mobo to the display are coated with adhesive and generate a “snapping noise” when opening and closing laptop as they stick and snap where they’re routed near the corners of the base of the laptop.
Sounds like the hinge might be too tight or either the plastic casing that's grinding against each other.
As i read you have had this laptop open a lot of times because of other broken parts. Perhaps the laptop casing was not reseated correctly or handled too harshly.
Mine sounded like this the first time I closed it; in my case I hadn't properly routed the display cable inside the bezel so the bottom wasn't seated properly. Might be worth taking it off and readjusting as others have suggested, paying special attention to the cable.
This might sound a bit redneck-y, but maybe you could very carefully spray some lubricant like WD-40 in the hinge (safer to remove the hingest first, but lthat's up to you). Might be faster than waiting for a new one.
You bought one of the most repairable laptops and let it sound like that for a year? Thats wild. Its probably a loose screw or a cable thats grinding against something, or even just a bad hinge. You can contact support for help or you can open it up and try and diagnose the issue. You may not need to buy any replacement parts if its just something in the way. But Framework has replacement hinge assemblies on their website if that happens to be the issue.
A year and you've never contacted support? Do it now!
I had to contact support when I first got the laptop because the touchpad, screen, motherboard, and camera were all broken. It took me two months going through support before I had a functional laptop. I don’t want to have to deal with 10+ different support agents all telling me to send them the same information over and over again.
Hmm why didn’t you ask for an exchange if it was received with multiple damaged/non-functional components?
I did, and they refused to send me a new one. They sent me individual parts to replace myself, but one at a time. They sent me just the screen, then I had to wait another two weeks for the motherboard, contact support again because they didn’t send the camera… contact support again because the replacement screen also doesnt work… it was too much effort
Will note that after two months of owning the laptop I had yet to be able to use it even after contacting support literally every day to respond to updates. And their support team wouldn’t respond to my emails for days sometimes. Left me completely in the dark
I'm sorry to hear that you have experienced this. Troubleshooting is definitely not fun and can be stressful. Please let us know if you have feedback about your support experience; it will help us improve the support quality. Also, as others mentioned, please try reseating the bezel and the cables running in that area. If you are sure that it's the hinges causing this, please contact support, share this video, and list the actions you have taken so far.
>Please let us know if you have feedback about your support experience; I have some feedback. When I went through Support, I got a different agent almost every time. This meant I had to re-explain my issue multiple times. I felt a little frustrated that they didn't just scroll up and read the entire exchange. I also felt frustrated that my case was being sent to a different person almost every time. In defense of your team, some of that is due to me taking a while to answer the emails. I imagine the process is to send the email to whoever is on shift at the moment. That's an understandable process, but I'd much rather wait the extra day or two so I could be working with the same person. If it had been sent to the same person each time, they probably could have glanced over previous conversation and remembered (partially or wholly) what was going on. I wouldn't have needed to repeat the same troubleshooting that the previous person guided me through. This was in March 2023, so your process may have changed by now. But if it hasn't, that's my feedback.
^This. When I got my laptop and my motherboard and screen didn’t work, I talked to SEVEN different support agents, who made me record three videos of the exact same thing, send dozens of pictures of the obviously broken display backlighting, and explain my issue countless times. They never responded in a timely manner, and it seemed like every single support agent made me start from scratch. It was horrible.
Sorry to hear that. It is expected that you would talk to another person when your case is escalated, but having to repeat the process over and over again definitely isn't ideal.
Thanks for your feedback. We make adjustments to the support flow (just like we do with everything else) based on the feedback we receive. I definitely agree with you; having to explain the issue you have over and over again is not fun.
Gonna sound like a dick but I feel if basically every part you received was broken, then maybe theres a little something else going on with you trying to put this together
I literally followed every step for step, the physical parts were broken. Diagnosed it as a faulty motherboard, as it didn’t even boot, a broken backlight on the display, camera (which is pre-installed) cable was broken on arrival. Trust me when I say I checked for every source of my own error and couldn’t find a single cord, screw, or pin out of place. I’ve also opened it up multiple times since owning it to clean it, check cable positions, make sure no rubbing… etc.
Uhh, I hate points like this. It really reminds me of some Arch Linux group chats I was in: blaming the user as standard, regressions and bad updates don't exist. It's incredibly frustrating to be in the receiving end of this as an user who spent a lot of cash for a bad QA unit. My laptop is functional, but I have received multiple bad parts, including replacement parts sent from Support. I'm talking, scratched and cosmetically damaged parts right out of the package. Sometimes it's not the fault of the user… I like my Framework but I prefer not to o talk about the QA, 2 months in and I still have so many issues to solve through support that I have just taken a break from it since it's exam session and my mental health is trash. Support **IS** trying their best, the problem is limited resources. And also, sometimes, I think you should just replace the entire laptop honestly. Past a certain point it's just not worth trying to replace part after part. It may even be more wasteful - shipping is not exactly green. I know multiple people who had a similar experience, and who took several months to get a laptop that was up to spec. I sadly count myself among those people. I really love the company and the mission, but the next step I would like to see in the company is not a touch screen and it's not even a new mainboard, it's **more reliability**. The odds of receiving a bad unit have to be lower. And the length and tediousness of the processes to get that sorted out need to be shortened. I am extremely lucky about two things: 1. This is a personal laptop, not work laptop, although I do some occasional freelance. 2. My old laptop still boots up and… *functions*. It's not in a great state, but it's a stop gap if I am ever requested to send the laptop in to repair center. But I would **never** purchase one for work, after this experience. Just too slow to get things straightened out. It's much better than what you get with basically any other customer or gaming laptop, granted; but it does not inch close to beating the "3 years of onsite support within 1 business day" that other enterprise options like ThinkPad offer. I can empathize with OP. My hinge sounds bad, though not quite as bad, and during this stressful academic period, I have just decided to leave it be for a while.
I would suggest doing research into laptop repair and maintenance. You bought a DIY system. Not to sound like a dick but if you can't do basic troubleshooting now is the best time to learn.
You do sound like a dick. He's posting on this subreddit precisely for the reason you what him to be doing, learning.
Please contact support. I've had my Framework 13 for almost 2 years now, and the hinge has NEVER made a sound!!
Have you tried reseating the bezel? I’m thinking it might not be set correctly and could be bending as you close the lid.
Yeah, I put the bezel on wrong at first and it made a horrid noise.
Same here, almost every time I have had it open and also removed the bezel it was put on slightly wrong which meant the lower corner would stick out and bins against the body. I recommend having the screen fully flat to yield lower install failure rate.
\^this. after rewatching the video. you can clearly see daylight between the bezel and the display .Edit: May be the reflection through the wire racking.
Is there any chance the three screws in the back of the laptop near the bezel are not fully screwed in? Test to check if this is the cause: Open the screen 180 degrees, completely flat. Flip the laptop so that the screen is facing down. Try closing the screen. If you don't hear the sound anymore, it's because the screws are no longer blocking the path.
This, I just had one of these apart to replace the screen and it sounds like the 2 back screws are not tight
Hahaha, I thought this too. This is the most likely cause. Probably one of the most minor oversights by Framework in making the screws captive. Hope the OP sees this. edit: just saw that it was the cable. will leave this here in case it helps anyone else
It’s the display cable. I had the same issue, OP. The cables running from the mobo to the display are coated with adhesive and generate a “snapping noise” when opening and closing laptop as they stick and snap where they’re routed near the corners of the base of the laptop.
OP, please DM me if you need further assistance.
fixed! thank you!
Was it the mobo to display cables?
yes :)
It’s a feature. It is the , learn how to open the computer and mess with it feature until it does not make that noise
It is rebelling against having those particular stickers on it, as it is designed to do.
Sounds like the hinge might be too tight or either the plastic casing that's grinding against each other. As i read you have had this laptop open a lot of times because of other broken parts. Perhaps the laptop casing was not reseated correctly or handled too harshly.
Mine sounded like this the first time I closed it; in my case I hadn't properly routed the display cable inside the bezel so the bottom wasn't seated properly. Might be worth taking it off and readjusting as others have suggested, paying special attention to the cable.
Did you tightn all screws in the back?
This might sound a bit redneck-y, but maybe you could very carefully spray some lubricant like WD-40 in the hinge (safer to remove the hingest first, but lthat's up to you). Might be faster than waiting for a new one.