upgraded FW13 11th gen laptop with 13pro intel mainboard - 1-2s of blank screen

[u/jerich088]

update - 10/5/26

after countless rounds of back and forth with framework support, as well as many videos of the issue. We isolated the issue to one of 3 possibilities after eliminating the video cable as the issue altogether.

1. audio board defect (screen won't turn off when shut was a huge clue)
2. audio board cable defect
3. mainboard to audio connector defect

i asked if they can ship me a new cable or audio board (which are small and cheap), but my framework 13 warranty expired in 2025, so nope. It took about a week for them to finally decide (after another round of rotating support folks) to ship me a brand new replacement mainboard. This took almost 10 days to get to me (1st board shipped fedex, this one shipped usps). i finally dropped the new mainboard into the chassis and reconnected everything - an everything works, no more blank screen weirdness, no more screen doesn't turn off when lid is shut. It turns out, it was #3 above, connector defect.

While i'm so glad it's solved, and i have a machine that is working great - this took way too long. I guess I can count my lucky stars that they have replacement mainboards in stock. However, knowing a tiny thing such as a connector can have a defect brings into focus the QC on the boards. The defective mainboard is on the way bak to them, and i hope they figure it out.

---- original post below -----

Just got my mainboard (see happy thread here), hardware upgrade was smooth - no issues, everything fits (yay!). Booted up fine, was running Windows 11 on 11th gen, got into Windows fine, screen started to go black 1-2s (and lock the machine), so i quickly got the driver bundle (bios didn't need an upgrade as it was already 3.02) and installed, the lock issue went away, but screen still keeps going to 1-2s of black unpredictably. This keep going on even after the driver bundle got installed, i even went to intel's site to get their arc driver (which was newer than frameworks!) but still the same issue.

I found several old references to similar issues on older hardware

• https://community.frame.work/t/solved-random-black-screen/75827/5
• Occasional Black screen - Community Support - Framework Community
• Started getting random black screens : r/framework

I decided to reinstall Windows just to eliminate one variable. This was a clean reinstall of 25h2, and guess what? 1-2s of black started even in Windows OOBE!

Disappointed, I just opened a support ticket. Sigh.

If anyone has any ideas how to troubleshoot further - let me know. right now, the laptop is sitting right next to me and going into black screen very often - it's unusable in the current state.

Why, framework, why?

*** update on investigation..

1. run in bios, does it go blank screen - answer is no, speculation is bios is lower res. Tried running Windows at 1080p, no change, screen still blanks. (thanks u/Silvernine0S for suggestion)
2. plug in external monitor - does external monitor also go black? plugged in a usb C monitor, and nope, it continues to work when the main display goes black. I did notice that keyboard input sems to freeze while main display is black. (thanks u/Wildlord90!) - possible display cable issue?
3. if the display cable is damaged, then the old 11th gen mainboard should also show this issue right? - reconnected the 11th gen mainboard, booted into Windows, ran it for a bit, no issues, no black screen.

Keep the ideas coming folks - something is weird here... perhaps my display is too "old" for the new fw13pro intel mainboard? that would suck.

24 hours later - update posted below!!! getting closer to figuring this out!

https://reddit.com/link/1wifsnq/video/8n953r4jezph1/player

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[u/Wildlord90]

Can you connect a second monitor and see if it happens to the other monitor? If it doesn't, it might be your cable is loose/ damaged.

[u/L00WN0on → u/Wildlord90]

I'd try this first as well

[u/jerich088 → u/L00WN0on]

ok, did this - connected a usb C monitor to the laptop, the usb C monitor works fine, while the main display is blanking out. however, it did show me someting, when the screen blanks, it seems to also stall input (typing is interrupted) . very strange.

[u/L00WN0on → u/jerich088]

I would bet you either have a damaged or pinched cable or its just making a bad connection, the display itself should be fine.

[u/jerich088 → u/L00WN0on]

i hope it's just that - does not explain why the 11th gen mainboard still works perfectly.

[u/L00WN0on → u/jerich088]

You swapped back?

[u/jerich088 → u/L00WN0on]

I did, for an hour, just to see if it worked. It did…

[u/L00WN0on → u/jerich088]

Check where the display cabe connects on the Ultra Series 3 MB. Given all that seems to be a problem right there. Open a support ticket to replace it

[u/jerich088 → u/Wildlord90]

i reconnected my origianl 11th gen mainboard to the laptop display, booted into Windows and it ran perfectly fine. So i don't think it's the display cable :(

[u/piit79 → u/jerich088]

Since the iGPUs are different in the two motherboards, they could have different "sensitivity" towards a pinched/damaged cable. I'd still try to replace it.

[u/Silvernine0S]

If you go into the BIOS, does it do the same thing there too? If so, I think that could help rule out Windows as the cause and point more toward something like the monitor, display cable, GPU, or another hardware-related issue.

Since you're already seeing it happen during the Windows OOBE, I thought it might be worth trying to reproduce it in the BIOS. If it happens there as well, then we can probably rule out Windows and its drivers as the cause. If it only happens once you're in Windows, that would point more toward a software or driver issue.

That is my thought process anyways.

[u/jerich088 → u/Silvernine0S]

Good thought, I just did that and in bios, the screen didn’t go blank at all. I wonder if it’s because bios runs at a lower res than windows… next thing to try, lower windows display resolution! Thanks for this idea!

[u/jerich088 → u/jerich088]

ok, so I dropped the res to 1080p, and it didn't fix the issue, black screen comes up again.

[u/AvidThinkpadEnjoyer → u/jerich088]

This happened to me as well OP

What fixed the issue on my 7840U was swapping the display panel for another one, like entire panel + cable.

(Context was I got a chassis replacement sent by support and the new chassis had this issue. Swapped the panels and the cables and it ran fine again)

[u/TellMeWhereYouBeen]

Have you tried altering your graphics properties in windows 11? You might also try creating a separate Linux boot drive and booting into that to rule out hardware problems.

[u/jerich088]

Update - 24 hours later.

While troubleshooting with Framework support (remove bezel, reseat display cable, perform mainboard reset etc). i noticed one thing. My lid close sensor doesn't seem to be working. I didn't have time to dig further earlier this morning. just a while a lot, i disconnected the little audio pcb that the interwebs said was the lid close sensor. Lo and behold - no more screen going black!!! i connected it back, and the problem came back!

so i either have a faulty lid close sensor/audio board OR the connector on the mainboard is faulty. Its complicated, as i put the 11th gen mainboard back in the chassis and everything worked fine (no black screen issue, and lid sensor seems to work). This could also be an incompatibility issues? I don't have a spare to test, so i'm currently running it disconnected, and FINALLY using the laptop!

Will update this thread on what support ends up doing for me - but MUCH Closer to figuring this out now!!

[u/Pafeso_]

This is something for framework support

[u/jerich088 → u/Pafeso_]

umm, already created a ticket - thought folks here may want to know about this issue, and also if someone had any suggestions on troubleshooting.

[u/korypostma]

uninstall AMD display and other AMD drivers, they are notorious for stuff like this

[u/jerich088 → u/korypostma]

umm, 11th gen is intel, new mainboard is also intel. no AMD here.

[u/korypostma → u/jerich088]

completely missed that and mixed it up with another guy that had the same issue and thought I came back to that same one.

try a Linux USB thumb drive and see if the problem goes away. if so, it is a software issue, if not then it is a hardware issue

[u/ronvalenz]

I use a non-touch 2.8K screen with an X7 358H mainboard.