FW13 Touchpad issue

Community Support
,
1

I have a FW 13 that originally had a 12th gen Intel MB. I recently replaced the MB with an Intel Core Ultra MB; I also replaced the battery with the new 61WH battery. After the upgrade, everything worked as expected for several weeks.
One day, I picked the laptop up and, it’s hard to describe but, I felt something wrong… some flex or a click, IDK, to be honest, it just didn’t feel “right”.
After that, the touchpad is unusable. It requires extreme pressure to make it physically click and it detects clicks constantly… any touch registers a click, so all gestures register as a click-and-drag.
From visual inspection, I don’t see any physical deformation to the chassis… top or bottom. The battery does not look to be swollen. It does have raised ridges between the cell groups; I can’t remember if it was like that when I installed it.
I replaced the touchpad with a new one; same results.
If I don’t physically install the top panel (just the connector, but leave the panel off the chassis), the touchpad behaves as it should. As soon as I install the top panel (even without screws, just seating it into position) the issue returns.

Any suggestions?

FW13
Intel Core Ultra
Windows 11

2

First, talk to support.
Second, when you have the top panel off does it still require extreme force to click the trackpad?

3

Yea, I already have a ticket with support, was just checking here to see if anyone had seen this.
When the top panel is off the chassis (but connected) the touchpad works the way it should… it’s clearly a physical interference problem when it gets put onto the chassis.

4

yeah, the framework trackpad has come a long way since the beginning… try replugging your touchpad cable on both sides maybe??

5

Just coming here to say that for my FW 13 (13th gen intel) I have a similar issue with my trackpad. I have never disassembled the computer, but if I hold the laptop from one side the chassis deforms enough to engage the track pad. I believe this is just the flex in the chassis, which honestly is one of my few (yet major) complaints about this product. No solution to this, just a limitation that I’ve encountered. Good to know that adding a new battery may affect the tolerances with the touchpad.

6

talk to support, they should send a new one that doesnt have this defect