Bezel doesn't sit flush after motherboard upgrade

Ever since I upgraded the motherboard and replaced the top cover I have a gap between between my bezel and the top cover.

I tried to route the antenna cables like the hinge upgrade explains and it looks like I did but somehow one side of the bezel doesn’t click.

Did anyone have the same issue? Is it an issue with my bezel?

Thanks in advance!

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I couldn’t upload the second picture because I’m a new user.

Thanks for you reply amoun.

I tried the inside channel (through the hinge?) initially but because that didn’t work I mimicked the hinge upgrade guide. Unfortunately inside the channel didn’t work either, I still had the same issue.

Heyo! - Welcome to the community~ :orange_heart:

On the 11th gen info page there’s this picture. (Doesn’t matter, same chassis) It seems to be held down above the hinge into the top cover’s bottom right. Maybe try pushing it a bit inwards before putting on the bezel?

(Maybe check if your hinge is fastened down all the way on both the display and chassis too)

Hope this helps! :blush:

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This sounds like an issue I ran into replacing the top cover. There was adhesive at the bottom of the webcam ribbon cable gluing it flush with the cover. The problem was that this caused the webcam cable to route under the hinge like in your picture, which blocks one of the tabs of the black bezel. The solution was to unstick the adhesive of the webcam cable at the bottom of the top cover so it could rest on top of the right hinge.

I made a comment on the guide documenting this:

I’m going to be swapping in the 4.0kg hinge soon and can take photos of the cable routing if it’d be helpful.

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Thanks!
My webcam cable was indeed glued to the top cover. I managed to force it around the hinge but I’m not sure whether its still the cause.
How did you remove the adhesive? Did you use heat or just removed the glue?

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The adhesive was not very strong. I was able to lift it off carefully using a spudger.

Here’s a reference photo of the webcam ribbon cable position. I needed to lift the adhesive up at the bottom of the webcam ribbon cable so the black strip at the bottom could rest on top of the hinge where it screws into the top cover.

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Many thanks for the photo!

Part of the ribbon cable was definitely beneath the hinge when I forced it so I expect that the hinge is not completely flush and that may cause the issue.
I’m at work now but as soon as I’m back I will try it.

One benefit is that I disassembled the hinge and screen so many times, replacing the hinge with the 4.0kg will be a walk in the park :slight_smile:

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When I order the laptop imma instantly pair it with the 4.0kg hinge too! :blush:

But that’s still a while in the future, would you mind sharing your experience once you get them?

I like it. It’s stiff and firm, feels premium. Almost possible to open with one hand, and adjustable with one, but easier to open with a second hand stabilizing. As others have noted, it’s still possible for the screen hinge to bounce in very shaky environments. I think in practice this will be better for my use cases.

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I had a similar issue though not as pronounced. The cover closed completely but it was a little tight. This caused lots of false “Lid Closed” events during typing. I was able to take it back apart and test several different layouts of the 2 cables that you show sitting under the power button. When I got it right I knew right away because there was no pressure at all and all the poweroff/lidclose/sleep issues while typing went away.

I had a very similar symptom after mis-routing the webcam cable under the hinge. Although your picture of the routing doesn’t show that, I think I notice another difference between what ended up working for me and your pic: The webcam cable in your case seems to go over the antenna cables, mine ended up fitting well while doing the opposite. This is all at the point where both cables do the 180 around the hinge.

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The webcam cable is very flexible, and I think it probably fits in the hinge with either stacking order. I considered redoing the cable management to fix the order, but decided it wasn’t necessary. The most important thing was making sure the antenna cables lay flat, since they can block the input cover fingerprint reader.

I was finally able to fix the issue with the picture of chromakode!

I used a spudger to lift of the webcam cable. The bezel still wouldn’t align.
By attaching the bezel with the top cover in the normal 90° angle the bezel somehow ‘clicked’ and the issue is solved! Not sure why the bezel wouldn’t sit flush while mounting it in the completely open position.

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I second that! Thank you for the photo!
I did a swap of both the top cover (CNC) and the hinges on my 11th gen.
Afterwards I ended up with a stuck power button and some gaps in the frame.
With the photo as a blue print I re-routed the cables and got everything back to normal.
I also had to add some new double sided tape to those rubber antenna brackets as they had become loose super easily.

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In case anyone else has this problem. My bezel would not fit flush on the bottom left corner. I finally figured out that the cable that goes into the top on the left side had come loose and was sitting on the wrong side of the hinge. It has some sticky tape which is supposed to hold it, but that had come loose. It is supposed to be on the lid side of the hinge but mine was sitting on top of the hinge. That held the bottom of the bezel up and it would not fit flush. Was easy to relocate it once I figured out what was wrong. Little tricky to figure out since you can’t see in there when it is not fitting, all you can see is that it isn’t flush - exactly like Ismael’s second picture except the left side, not the right side.

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Exactly the same happened to me.
The quick start guide focuses on cables on the right side, so I didn’t think to check the cable on the left side at first, I thought the Bezel was just not fitting properly.
Opening and closing the lid a few times to try to find the cause damaged the cable (but the screen is fortunately working).
Adding a check in the quick start guide (like for the right side) would be useful.

Just wanted to say that had the EXACT same issue after upgrading my cover and hinges, and lifting the web cam ribbon cable over the right hinge completely solved the issue. Thanks so much for sharing.

Yet another shoutout, and thank you, to Chromakode. That image saved me.

I was battling the input cover and bezel, both refused to sit flush. Once I lifted the webcam cable over the hinge, everything clicked into place on the first try.

Wanted to share because I experienced this on a new FW13 pre-ordered with the new display, received this week. No mention of this on the official guide(s), but I have now commented linking Chromakode’s post.