Framework 12 - confusingly unreliable touchscreen input

Community Support
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Framework Laptop 12 > Linux arch Framework Laptop 12

Hello folks, I’m struggling with a pernicious issue with my Framework 12. After an indecent where some water got on it the laptop is thankfully working fine however the touchscreen has become highly unreliable.

After the incident the laptop worked fine but then I started having issues first with the touchscreen not responding (and not being detected on boot up) and then with the expansion cards not being able to read microSD or even usb or hdmi inputs occasionally. I took the keyboard off, got some advice and cleared away the corrosion that had formed on the mainboard and the audio board using isopropyl alcohol and a glass fibre brush to scrape the corroded contacts and components clean. This has solved the issues with the expansion cards and now the touchscreen works sometimes, however it is still not functioning most of the time, often seemingly triggered by me adjusting the screen angle (which makes me think it may be a connection issue between the mainboard and screen. Idk :slightly_frowning_face:

I’ve scraped every inch of the mainboard to remove corrosion but it seems I cannot get the touchscreen to reliably work so I thought I’d see if any of you folks have advice on which components might be failing to cause this sporadic touchscreen failure?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide, Maxima

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That’s what water damage does, it slowly kills anything in its path. If you ever get a spill again you need to take the laptop apart and dry it as soon as possible. Vinegar is the best option to get rid of corrosion, let it sit till it neutralises the PH. Alcohol would just help evaporate any excess water under any of the chips.

Seems like you may also need to do some soldering if you’ve been scratching away the board.

Contact support, but I don’t know if they’d help.

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Hello, And I am sorry to hear you damaged your FW12.
Water damage is a pain to trace out and figure out what has failed but luckily for you it sounds like you have done most the troubleshooting and limited down to a bad motherboard.

You might get lucky and find someone welling their main board in the community market, or it might be worth reaching out to framework support and seeing if they can maybe help you.

Good Luck!

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Thanks folks. I’ll keep checking the marketplace. Any advice on how the touchscreen routes through the motherboard would be greatly appreciated so I can focus on those components.