Is support picky about how/what you send back?
If you still have the 2 machines, does swapping the lid (with skin) from your old machine to the new chassis and new screen, change the amount of screen bleed?
Or another test, does the screen show bleed even when not in the lid, sitting by itself?
If the new screen shows the bleed regardless of being in a lid, yeah, that’s a pretty shitty replacement part that really shouldn’t have made it through QA.
If it’s the new lid is bent or mis-machined somehow how though, maybe you can swap back to the old lid which seems to not have that issue, at least judging by the last screen you had?
Good points I’ve definitely missed, though I’d say the only real fundamental flaw in the product itself (as far as build quality goes) is the spacer design, and maaaybe the thermal system. I have to believe the display is a QA issue and yeah, it’s not a good sign if the replacement parts are as bad as the defective parts, meaning either tolerances are really lax (maybe they actually think that’s ok?) or they’re just not testing enough. Either way, not great.
And I had not heard about the repair center. That is really unfortunate, and hopefully only temporary as they build their own repair pipeline. I guess I’m just optimistic that these are growing pains that are unfortunately experienced by the customers more so than the business, and most of these problems can be fixed by a bigger and stronger company and workforce, and the rest fixed by subsequent iterations of the design. Again, easy for me to say as I’m perfectly happy with my unit, but I think most of us, even those with bad experiences, still want this company to succeed.
As it pertains to the 16 specifically, whatever the true defect rate is, it just seems they weren’t ready for it. It’s not really surprising when you think about it, and I just hope we can look back on it in 10 years and say “oof, yeah that was rough, but look at it now!”
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Thanks for that video. I’ll use that one too. Currently I’ve been using this:
It can also be seen during boot up or sitting at the LUKS password prompt (Linux encrypted boot disk prompt). Before the OS loads, the screen seems to be at it’s brightest until after you type in the password and the OS loads.
Framework acknowledge my frustration and the multiple back-and-forth we’ve been going through. For that, I’m acknowledging that Framework is a company that stands by their products and customers by not giving up or gaslighting us by saying “that’s within spec” like a lot of the comments on YouTube (of the video I posted) as well as Reddit.
I never understand why people tend to feel personally attacked when someone talks negatively about a company or product. People like that seem to be against consumer (and in turn, their own self) interests. I kinda get this back in the day with the Nintendo vs Sega wars, but we were kids then and didn’t know better (us vs them). As we get older, I’ve noticed there wasn’t an equivalent Sony vs Microsoft war with fans (if there was, I didn’t notice it - maybe because I was was no longer in school but in the work-force).
But I notice this in Reddit a lot. It’s not just Framework customers, but also anything. I find this on Google (Pixels), Apple (iPhones and Macs), PCMR (mostly anti-Linux, pro-Windows), Visible (non-existant customer service, people saying that’s actually a good thing and if you have issues chat support can’t resolve, then you’re just an idiot and it’s not Visible’s fault). I just don’t get that there’s no sympathy for the person feeling like there’s no recourse to their situation - and that it must be their fault.
I don’t see it in this forum, thank goodness. As we are in this together to hope to see Framework succeed and improve as well. Part of it is addressing the growing pains and not sweep it under the rug and pretend nothing is wrong. To Framework’s credit, they are not sweeping my issue under the rug.
I specifically said my issue because I cannot speak to other customers. I hope they are also being taken care of and made whole as well.
To Framework’s credit, again, they acknowledge the multiple part swap and the long journey we’ve been on, but they are sending me out another replacement display. While I personally am aspirated at this point, I am glad they didn’t just give up. Yeah, it sucks to have to replace the display again. Yeah, I’m aspirated because it’s another case of “again?” and no longer having faith that a 4th display would help - but at least they haven’t given up. And because of that, I shouldn’t either.
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I don’t know if they were, but I figured I’d try anyways, and no, it doesn’t matter if the display was swapped to the different lid. Without screwing the display down, those bright corners are still there, just without the pinched bright marks (due to the bezel).
This is what I mean by I may eventually just give up and say this is the way it is. But only 1 display out of this may didn’t have the bright corners. They were still there, but I would consider it normal (as people say this is normal for LCD - I know what normal looks like and Display #2 was “normal”).
I ended up keeping the new chassis only because the spacers and touchpad fit better (less gap) than my old chassis.
I now have to see if dbrand will be willing to send a replacement skin - they don’t have to (and I don’t expect it), but I’ve read in their subreddit that people have luck with them sending it to them for shipping when a the product they are on gets swapped like in my case.
It was kinda tough to put on, so I’m not looking forward to it if it comes anyways, lol. If not, well, any scratches and battle marks are just reminders of my mistake.
oof, yeah, that’s not normal for a display.
If people are looking for ‘normal’ just go to youtube and find jarrodstech reviews of laptops, skip to screen bleed sections.
This is an $800 lenovo loq for example, this is in pitch black with a long exposure shot, and in this worst case scenario it looks much better than the video you have of the display in a lit room. Such a poor display shouldn’t have made it past factory QC honestly… at least for an OEM part. I could understand if this was an ebay buy or something.
If the lids aren’t the issue then, maybe you can tell FM you swapped the old lid to the new chassis to save the skin? I’d hope that’s something they’d accept, and at least you get to keep half the skin for now.
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Can you check both chassises for bending? Take a ruler and put it upon the short side. Does the light bleed out? Mine does that a lot. I am beginning to suspect that it’s not the spacers that are bent, it’s the weak structural integrity of this machine bending the chassis down over time.
Thanks for verifying my sanity, lol. Yeah, I would call THAT normal. My 2nd display was like this. Even though the bezel still pinched and caused glow where it pinches, I was able to work around it by putting in some postcard pieces in that area to fix it (not that I should need to, but at that point, I didn’t want to chance another bad display).
That’s a good point. I should check that out. Unfortunately, the other laptop chassis is already packed and ready to go.
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Try to check on the new one, it’s still good enough info. A friend of mine received his brand new unit less than a month ago and it came bent out of the box
Oh, that one actually looks pretty straight. Thanks!
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Yeah, it was pretty straight, I thought.
I hope this 4th display that’s coming will be the one. crossing fingers
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Slightly better? Just because the top right area is less noticeable than on the 3rd display (still noticeable).
So Framework responded quicker this time and asked me to send the entire laptop back for another evaluation. last time it was a little over a month before I got it back. I will hate the turnaround time if it’s the same again, BUT I hope this time around they will focus on the QA of the display. Maybe also pay attention to the input module spacers too (the right side is loose). I was just going to live with that if the display is good.
Like I said, this laptop feels a lot like 1000 paper cuts. If we’re replacing parts, I want to focus on the display, but if they are taking the laptop back, I’d like them to go over the entire thing.
As you have so much trouble, Framework should give you a replacement that has been well tested, a days use and testing of all of what is sent to you??? 
Cheers
At this point, I am hoping that’s what they are doing, but they’re not giving me any more info other than to send the laptop back.
I wasn’t going to say anything, but while the gap is better, the right input spacer is very loose and slides back and forth, which is annoying. It doesn’t matter if I swap spacers - it’s still loose.
Also, I am experiencing the same thing others are experiencing - random shut offs. It happened on the other laptop as well as this one, so now I’m wondering if it’s firmware-related. It didn’t happen when I was on 3.0.3. The old laptop was upgraded, and this one had 3.0.3, but like a good owner, I upgraded the firmware - but maybe I shouldn’t have?
I also noticed with the new firmware, it no longer respects the 80% battery cap. I leave mine plugged in and have seen it slowly charge up to 84%. Previously it didn’t do that.
Looks like there is a thread about the random shut offs here:
All of my trackpad spacers have been good, although they seem soft, I have put a small nick in one while it was out of the machine, laying around, didn’t think I subject the spacer to any unusual pressure. No biggie though.
Hasn’t happened to me (yet), either running Win10 or Mint, Ubuntu, MX Linux, Kubuntu, Manjaro. I’m on the latest UEFI firmware. Mainly use Win10, and I don’t game. I don’t run any of AMDs software, not sure if I’ve kept to only the drivers from Framework.
Every time I check, charge has been at 80%, but I would only check once every 3 days, maybe. I’d need to look at a log of charged level to know if the 80% level is being passed.
My battery is sitting at 86% right now, albeit the setting in BIOS being at 80%. It’s been connected to the dock and powered on for three weeks. Maybe needs calibrating?
I’m on BIOS 0.0.3.5 as reported by fwupdmgr get-devices.
Well folks, some updates. Since making this post, my laptop has further degraded. Two new issues:
- The chassis constantly makes creaking and clicking noises, especially the first 10-20 minutes after turning the laptop on and off. I believe it’s related to heat. It’s like a loud pop! that I am pretty sure comes not from any electronics, but the chassis or the hinge.
- Sometimes, removing the HDMI cable disengaged the expansion cards lock, and removed the card anyway. When it doesn’t, is still moves the expansion card enough that it protrudes from the laptop and may be pushed back in.
- I haven’t been able to verify this. Is this in my head, or has the screen started wobbling in some situations?
I have verified with a ruler that I am affected by the “Chassis bend” issues. Straight edge of a ruler lined up next to the depth of the laptop at the edges reveals a bend. Maybe it’s related.
Mainly looking for other cases. I am on tight deadlines right now as I am in the last mile of finishing university and hopefully smoothly transitioning from internship to full time job, so I can’t afford to be without a working laptop for now. But these issues are annoying me so damn much that I think I will absolutely try another support ticket. I have made a little bit of research and this is a common issue on MacBooks too, and in Apple land, the procedure is “talk about it to a genius in-store and walk out with a new laptop 10 minutes later”. I hope I won’t get the whole “but it’s a modular laptop!” shtick again because the more of these issues pop up, the more I wish I had bought a ROG Zephyrus as I had originally intended to.
FWIW, I was talking to a friend of mine who has the 16 to ask him a few questions. His unit does not display any of the obvious build quality flaws as mine does (and he said that, in my position, he would be absolutely furious), but he does get what he explained verbatim as “random, inexplicable crashes” under Windows 11.
I haven’t ever had my laptop shut down on me on Fedora, but I did have situations where I was forced to power it off myself due to GPU hangs multiple times.
Unrelated to my thread for sure, but the amdgpu stability on this APU has all but convinced me my next machine will be Team Blue and Green. I really like AMD more ethics-wise, but from my experience, it’s really reliable on desktops, and this is the third AMD laptop with bad software-related faults. It’s a shame because they make the better laptop hardware, but I am starting to wonder how much does it actually matter with the software to go with it is so bad.
The honeymoon is over, and reality is setting in. I am babying this thing and having so many quality-related issues, and the random shut off is very worrying.
I haven’t had any of these issues with my previous laptops, so I am no accepting that “it’s just the way it is” - and those laptops lived a rough life (actively used and moved around, lived in bags with other stuff inside, thrown around). My FW16 is just sitting in my room, rarely gets moved around. Mostly because I really don’t want to stare at that display right now.
I’m surprised to see something that bad. Mine is …
(tests with grey picture) … I can’t tell anything.
Let’s hope that Framework is able to get it all patched up after you send the whole thing in.
Do you have any … SSD expansion cards, or SD card reader cards?
It is not the way it is. Mine had been around for … 2 months?
While it also “shuts down from time to time”, I have narrowed it down to some form of driver problem during sleep. If I don’t sleep, I have no issues.
