[RESOLVED] A plea for help

Framework Laptop 13 DIY Edition
1

I recently had a critical blunder, and my laptop has completely stopped functioning.

I spilled my water within my bag on a recent plane trip, and it got all up in the laptop (I picked it up at the end of the flight and it had to drain out of the laptop for a solid 15 seconds, it was flooded) I disassembled it completely and did my best to dry it out and then reassemble it. This did not work. I now have no life in the laptop except for the intrusion lights being on when the lid is open. The power button won’t light, and it won’t even give me the error code on the side.

I should mention, in tandem, last night (before the airplane flight and the flooding) I couldn’t get the laptop to boot. It would light the power button and give me error codes, which are as follows: white, green, green, green, red, green, green, green, green, red, red, green, green, orange, green, green, green, green, green, green, green, green. If I’m deconding that properly it’s a failure of the CPU to enter different power states and therefore a failure to boot, but it’s now secondary in the reasons my laptop isn’t working.

I noticed when putting the laptop back together that one of the pins on the battery connector had become bent enough that it wasn’t making contact, and the connector couldn’t seat all the way. I haven’t opened up the laptop in a while, so I’m really not sure when this happened, but it could be to blame for the failed boots (except that the laptop was working on Friday, so who knows). I bent the pin back and I believe that the battery is now making proper contact, but without the rest of the system functional I don’t have any way to test that.

The system will not respond to power delivery, and fails to do anything excepting the aforementioned intrusion detection lights, which blink red when the laptop is open.

I thought that maybe it was the CMOS battery, because I know people have had issues with it in the past, but it’s at 2.6 volts, which is probably enough?

The real reason for this post is to ask for help. I know something needs to be replaced, but I don’t want to have to buy anything more than what would get my laptop running. I’m looking for someone in the Salt Lake area who also has a framework laptop that could help me troubleshoot the issues by switching out parts. I know it’s a big ask, and not without risk of damaging the other machine, but I really could use the help.

I do have a pre-order in for a Ryzen mainboard, so if the mainboard or the RAM are the critical issue, I might be able to wait, but I would prefer to know before the Ryzen gets here if I need to replace anything else.

The “Late Q3” timing of the ryzen mainboard might also be strenuous, as I am going off to college in mid-september and really need a functional laptop at that point.

I know most people won’t be close enough, or maybe not willing to volunteer their framework as a tester for my dubious parts, but any input might help, I’m not sure what to do next.

1 Like
2

Is there a repair shop in your area that you could try? FW has committed to making schematics available to repair shops.

2 Likes
3

Just making sure: You did already contact the official Framework Support, right? Because I didn’t read that in your post.

The best way to move forward:

Turn your laptop upside down, place it on a towel or a microfiber cloth, and let the water drain out. Allow at least 24 hours for your computer to fully air dry for best results. Do not place your device in rice. You’ll create more problems if the rice gets stuck in and around the components of your laptop

4

Unfortunately you are not covered by the warranty. I second @Anachron’s advice to contact support and to avoid trying to power on the laptop. If there is still some water inside you might damage it further.

There is however a bit of hope that only the CMOS battery got fried in which case you can try replacing it but I wouldn’t try anything until you have contacted support.

5

First contact support, as others have mentioned. Only if they can’t offer help, would I go from there on my own.

But you should disconnect the main battery and remove the CMOS battery while you wait for support to advise you. Be careful to follow the guide on removing the CMOS battery because you can break the holder if you try to pry it out the wrong way.

What did you do to try to dry the components?

Boards with a lot of surface mount parts packed into a small space can take more effort to dry out. Water gets under chips and other components, surface tension keeps it there, and limited surface area actually exposed to open air makes it extremely slow to dry. And normal water contains minerals and other impurities that can leave deposits.

6

No! Do not do this, please! Rice doesn’t actually dry anything out, and the starch just gets into places it shouldn’t and makes things worse. You need to take it to a repair shop and/or contact support.

3 Likes
7

I am sorry, you are right. I was blindly repeating what I read online.
The correct one would be:

Turn your laptop upside down, place it on a towel or a microfiber cloth, and let the water drain out. Allow at least 24 hours for your computer to fully air dry for best results. Do not place your device in rice. You’ll create more problems if the rice gets stuck in and around the components of your laptop

1 Like
8

I haven’t yet contacted support, because that felt like a last resort to me, but I’ll go put in a support ticket.

It is really hot and remarkably dry here in Salt Lake, so I let the parts air-dry for a few hours, and used a towel and my air compressor to blow off and wipe off all of the deposits and water that I could see.

The laptop is currently put back together, with the battery unplugged.

9

Assuming support says it’s out of warranty, and they can’t offer any help, this is what I suggest Electronics Water Damage - iFixit

The isopropyl alcohol (also called isopropanol) will displace water stuck under components, but unlike trapped moisture, isopropyl alcohol evaporates very fast. It also serves to rinse off mineral deposits left by the water.

Isopropyl alcohol is available in stores as a First Aid antiseptic. 91% is commonly available in stores, though not every store will have 91 in stock. 99% would be better, but it can be harder to find locally.

Ace hardware seems to have 99% isopropyl alcohol at locations in Salt Lake.
Swan 99% Isopropyl Alcohol 1 gal - Ace Hardware

1 Like
10

Back again with some updates, because I’m getting annoyed.

I put in the original support ticket on July 10th, got passed from representative to representative for a couple days, then sent my laptop out for diagnostics and repairs on the 13th of July.

I didn’t hear back about my laptop until the 31st of July, because they were “under heavy load”, which is probably actually true.

They concluded that the mainboard needed to be replaced, and then there was some miscommunication in the exchange where I sent two emails in succession and only the 2nd one was read, but the conclusion was that I would buy the mainboard from the marketplace and they would ship my laptop back separately. That was August 4th.

Today is August 18th. It has been radio silent for two weeks. I sent an email this morning to inquire, so I hope I can get my laptop back soon, but this is bordering on unacceptable. I certainly won’t be sending my laptop off to Framework again if I can help it.

1 Like
11

Curious what they charged you for the diagnostics on your flooded laptop.

12

For additional context - we are slammed and yes, support will be slowed down as a result.

I have located the ticket, I will seek a status update. That said, we’re working through the queue with limited staff as fast as we can. We expect delays based on the above linked status of support.

13

@Luke_Oliver,

I’ve spoken with the appropriate team. You should be seeing a shipping number, likely first part of next week. But I have confirmed eyes on this and resolution inbound. Due to it being Friday here however, may not see activity until next week.

I have set a reminder to follow up Wed to make sure all is good. You will likely see a tracking number before then, but I am following up Wed to give a window of time.

1 Like
14

Thank you so much @Matt_Hartley, I really appreciate the update. I don’t leave for college for a few weeks, and don’t actively need my laptop until then, the radio silence with no end date was just bothersome.

I can appreciate the influx of support tickets for what I’m sure is still a very small team, the long time for support in and of itself isn’t really an issue, but I would have vastly appreciated some kind of update. A “we can’t get back to your ticket today, expect an update X day” or some kind of “the wait time might be a couple weeks” would have been perfect. I had none of that, which caused undue agitation on my end. It’s obvious in hindsight that your team would be swamped with Framework 16 orders and tickets there, but it hadn’t occurred to me that those would go through the same avenue as my ticket.

They actually haven’t charged me anything. I still kind of expect them to, but the original quote for them to replace the mainboard was just the price of the mainboard itself, so it’s possible they weren’t going to charge for diagnostics or labor at all.

1 Like
15

@Luke_Oliver Looked into this today, looks like you’re all sorted on the ticket. :slight_smile:

1 Like
16

@Matt_Hartley Yes! We finally got it all sorted. Thank you so much.

2 Likes