Got framework to repair my laptop - they just swapped all the broken components - butcher bill was 600$ on a 750$ laptop (400 for mainboard, 100 for input cover, 100 for labor). I could have saved 100$ by just ordering the replacement bits myself but eh.
I’d happily send my family to framework for repairs, latency was fine, customer support was fine. I was dissapointed they didn’t have repair capabilities for the mainboard which is the most expensive bit.
Apparently the default policy isn’t to send back the swapped out components, and they didn’t send them back initially, but I did ask for it, and when I poked them they sent them back in a second package.
@devryd
I did poke Rossman repair group, and dropped off my framework at their shop. I assume I was chatting with Louis when they said they were very excited to try and see how hard these boards were to repair but the shop had no idea but did take it. It sounds like he is certainly going to try fixing the dead board Hopefully we’ll get a video or something entertaining out of it.
Oof, that water damage looks nasty. I once had a thinkpad that had less corrosion on it after water damage but it was dead as a dodo even after ultrasonic cleaning attempts. I was lucky to grab one of only two mainboards in all of europe from ebay, and I was even more lucky the ram and ssd and such survived.
Sadly, they don’t have enough of the schematic yet to complete the repair at a reasonable price. I still support Framework for what they’ve done so far, but I hope we get more in the future.
In the video they tried to use publicly available subset of the schematics which is definitely not enough for the task.
I believe there was a miscommunication somewhere, since repair shops are now able to obtain full schematics, but apparently the guy in the video didn’t knew that.
If I were Framework I’d give them the schematics and kindly asked to redo the video
From that video it feels almost like Framework advertised themselves as a repair-friendly company but failed, which is actually not the case.
I think @Korvin is referring to Frameworks internal documents. I saw the video Louis did where he spoke about the current state of the schematics, the indication there was a “liability” concern.
This document is hosted on the Framework’s Github profile. Since it’s in public it will definitely not contain anything under NDA, which is like 90% of all high speed and proprietary interfaces of the mainboard.
Service centers should probably sign an NDA with Framework (or maybe even with Intel) to get access to the full schematics documentation that will definitely contain everything needed for the repair.
Even so, this is already light-years ahead of other vendors that don’t share their internals even with certified service centers.
Because Framework signed NDA with Intel and other organizations that gave them limited access to their reference designs and chip specs. Usually it is strictly prohibited to share such an information.
Basically that means that Framework is not allowed to disclose their full schematics to the wider audience since it would be treated as a violation of NDA, immediate pending lawsuits, etc.
Such practices exist even for tiny components, not to mention huge monsters like modern CPUs.
@c00w if you havent taken your mainboard back (assuming it was yours), maybe just tell louis repair group about the other schematics. There is a good chance, that they dont know about it.
@devryd - they 100% know about it - they have a seperate video about it :). They did mention they were having issues getting the schematics (I’m guessing that something in the NDA imperils their normal reporting or their MacBook repair business).
Ironically enough - this also shows why “schematics for repair shops only under a secret NDA” is not as workable as it sounds - high transaction costs (having to hire a lawyer to repair a laptop) and gag orders don’t work well in terms of getting repairs done.
@nrp has any repair shop successfully gotten the schematics + managed to do a repair of a main board ?
It’s also worth calling out that framework was unable to do repair of the main boards at all (and by default appears to violate nyc law by not returning replaced components) - which is very annoying - I currently think the framework laptop is less repairable than a MacBook mostly due to market size, which is definitely ironic. Hopefully someone will reverse engineer the board + this will get better.
From this video, it sounds like Louis has now requested the full schematics, received them, thinks they look good from first glance, and will be attempting the repair:
A Part 2 of the video is up using the schematics under NDA. Unfortunately, the water damage shorted the PCH and the board is a no-fix. Or at least not an economically viable fix.
Louis Rossmann signed the official NDA required that will allow him to get schematics from Framework. While this is certainly not ideal, it means that you will now have options to get your board fixed! Here’s to hoping that right to repair and industry pressure forces companies like Intel and Compal to stop restricting Framework’s abilities to publish schematics!
Final update: they got the full schematics, but on inspection, the CPU got fried by the water damage, and there was sufficient damage on the board that a full replacement is more economical than a repair.
It’s a shame, because I’m sure we were all hoping to get the first live repair on a Framework board, but having the full schematics was nevertheless a huge boon to them. They can’t show it, but Chris mentions the Framework schematics are far more complete and useful than the leaked Apple schematics they use.
Hopefully we’ll get a video or something entertaining out of it.
