The title pretty much says it all. I just got my AMD framework 13 7840U, inserted my Crucial DDR5 5600 MHz ram dimms and a 2 TB SSD, and turned it on. After plugging it in with the included charger and waiting almost an hour, I reseated the SSD, RAM, battery, and mainboard, but still only getting a black screen and the power button blinking in sets of 4.
There is no light from the side LEDs except for when the top cover is open and I’m guessing that’s just to let me know that the top cover is open.
Really looking for help here and any advice is appreciated.
Can you try using only one DIMM to boot? Sometimes one of the two DIMMs is faulty and doesn’t allow it to boot. Also, make sure to contact Framework Support to see if they can help you with the issue.
Congratulations on your Framework Laptop 13 AMD model and welcome to the community. On rare occasions, only 1 of the two DIMMS allows the machine to boot properly. Like what @Elliot_Lu said, there have been cases where one of the two DIMMS are bad as well! I do not remember off the top of my head which slot is preferred with just 1 DIMM; I want to say slot 1. Someone can correct me if they know the answer.
FYI, it is ok to fire up the machine without the keyboard screwed down so you are not having to play the disassemble/reassemble game every time.
There have been instances where both DIMMS were actually fine but the machine would only boot fresh with one of the two installed; then after it booted fine the 2nd DIMM was inserted and it recognized the pair normally. Be sure to contact support and let them know so they can start a ticket with what is going on.
If you use an external usb keyboard you can test without the top plate connected. There is a mini power button on the main board.
Remove the ssd and just try with one ram chip first.
Once you get something to actually display you can put the rest together.
Also, double check display cables. Both at the mainboard and top cover ends.
With USB-C power correctly connected, the side LED on the side where the power is connected should be showing orange for charging or white for charging completed but power still connected.
What I don’t know for sure is how much of the rest of the PC has to be working to get the side LEDs to show correctly.
Oh sorry for not including that! The charge LEDs are working accordingly, I meant there is no error code flashing when I attempt to power on the system
Thanks for the suggestion!
I just attempted to boot with a dimm in slot 0, slot 1, and both and still nothing.
Framework support was contacted before making this post, but I’m guessing they were low on staff for the weekend and only got a reply this morning from them.
The laptop cannot display anything on the screen unless at least some RAM is present.
Without the RAM, it will only get as far as flashing a pattern of LEDs about 20 flashes once after power on.
The pattern of LED flashes lets you know what might be wrong.
I know this. It is a 2 dimm kit (2X32gb) so I removed the dimm in slot 0 and attempted a boot and experienced the same thing. Power button blinking in groups of 4 and neither of the side LEDs blinking.
Framework support is going to be the best avenue to find the root cause. You have tried some of the basic steps we suggested.
You mentioned the screen is black, as in does the display backlight doesn’t even come on or it comes on and just sits there blank. (Might need to be in a darker room to see if it lights up) If it is a dead display you never would have seen if it booted successfully.
The four blinking on the power button is a new one for me. I do not recall hearing about that.
If you really want to narrow down if it is a mainboard issue (and have an HDMI or Display port expansion card) you could carefully take it out of the laptop, set it on something non conductive and just plug in the power and display (using the back left and right on each side) only use 1 DIMM, no SSD.
When you first power it up it may not do or show anything because it is not expecting to be in standalone mode. Wait a good 60-90 seconds or so to see if anything shows up on screen.
Then press and hold the power button for at least 20 seconds until it powers off. Wait 20 more seconds once it is off then try powering it back on. If the display comes up then at least the board is getting through the POST.