I have to plug my phone in to the second port, then unplug it to trigger the charger to actually work on my laptop otherwise the charging indicator just goes on and off and it doesn’t seem to charge.
I bought a USB PD GaN charger which is supposed to be the spec and I’ve had to do hacky work arounds for 3 months with no feedback until a beta bios update that doesn’t even address the issue.
Like guys- I love this laptop, but this and the random blue screens are a joke. At least tell us what’s happening- we’ve had nothing but silence until this update which hasn’t even resolved the issue. Clearly something is wrong with power negotiation because once I do this workaround I can leave the laptop plugged in by itself for as long as I want but if I unplug the laptop I need to do it over again.
Sounds like there might just as well be something wrong with the charger. After the update (which seems to make the Framework behave spec-compliant as far as I can tell), I wouldn’t blame the laptop without any proper fault analysis.
Be aware that other devices working on a charger doesn’t mean the charger is spec-compliant, it might just be spec-incompliant in a way that doesn’t break with some devices.
For example, when the current draw of the charged device increases suddenly instead of gradually (which is totally fine by the spec) the charger’s output might become unstable / shut off if it is not designed properly.
Also, taking a look at the charger (Satechi 165W 4-Port GaN) on Amazon, there are several reviews talking about the charger not being able to charge their laptop.
At least two reviews (one in german, one in french) talk about similar problems to you (charging laptop doesn’t work except when a phone is plugged in as well).
Other reviews also talk about only being able to charge when plugging in things in a specific order, etc.
I think the odds of all those people also having a Framework Laptop aren’t too great, so I’m pretty certain there’s just an issue with that specific charger model.
The recent bios update failed to fix the issue of this not charging. It in theory should be able to provide ample power, but when I plug it in, the laptop pings because I plugged something in, then a few tenths of seconds later, it pings like I unplugged something, then repeats this every second or so.
This doesnt happen with my partners Huawei charger which I’ve been having to use while this gets sorted out.
I’ve tried different ports and even removing the adapters and plugging directly into the usb-c port embedded in the laptop, but to no avail.
Can anyone recommend a charger on Amazon they have that works and I can replace this charger with? One than can charge the laptop plus a phone or something?
It works well with my Nintendo Switch dock, Pixel 7, and Raspberry Pi5 as well.
To be honest I have never heard of the Satechi company that your charger comes from until you posted about it. As already mentioned, the only real way to check for blame as to why that charger isn’t working is to use a USB-C PD analyzer like the OP did and inspect to see if the charger is failing when the framework is attempting to operate within the USB-C PD specifications.
that is simply misinformation and untrue. USB-C PD sinks have mandatory transient load behavior per the spec, see iLoadStepRate and iOvershoot. It is mandatory that USB-C PD sources handle “25% load step increments from minimum load to maximum load and also from maximum load to minimum load” at the iLoadStepRate (see Output Voltage Tolerance and Range).
My bad, then replace “suddenly” with “near the load step rate” (which is pretty fast to me, with 150mA/µs) and “gradually” with “over hundreds of milliseconds / some seconds” (like at least some devices seem to do). I didn’t know there was this requirement (honestly, I don’t work with the USB-C spec a lot, I’m a software dev and electronics hobbyist, not an electrical engineer specialized on USB-C), but that’s what I meant with “suddenly” and “gradually”.
The point still stands, a charger charging some devices does not mean it is spec-compliant, one might for example not work when current is increased anywhere near the load step rate, as lots of devices don’t do that as far as I know.
And even if that is not the case, there will be other factors on the charger side that could cause some devices to charge and some to not charge (the sudden vs. gradual current draw example was just an example for the general point).
I’ve been using Innergie C6 for many years with different devices, including my Framework, and I truly believe that this is absolutely the best charger there is (compact and has US/EU/UK plugs). Never had any issues with it.
Any Anker that can do 60W (or more) on a single port. Anker isn’t always the best, but it should be a safe pick if you’re not sure. I have the Anker 747 which offers up to 150W across multiple ports, up to 100W on a single port.
I’ve also used the Apple 67W usb-c adapter, and the Apple 87W usb-c adapter, they also work fine (even before the recent EC firmware update).
Something really weird is happening since applying the EC firmware update. Charging rate seems to be unstable. Looks like the laptop is reducing the charging rate periodically and then slowly ramping up to the maximum allowed (based on battery % full). This is slowing down the overall charging time considerably:
What charger are you using?
Looks like the charger is not able to deliver the energy for the system and the battery at the same time, what would explain the unstable charging rate.
I would assume it is a 60W charger.
Please do a side by side comparison of the “Charge Rate” the “Total System Power” and the “Charge Level”.
It could be like the others mentioned that your FW draws more power when the charging rate is dropping.
Also if you run a CPU Benchmark like Cinebench then you should see a constant charging speed.
Thanks all. It is a 100W charger, which prior to the update would be super stable, ramp up to 60W charge rate of battery (regardless of CPU draw, as the charger can provide more), and then progressively ramp down as the battery charges (which is normal).
Well that makes it look a lot weirder. At some states of charge it should easily do 50-60ish into the battery and have a bunch to spare for the machine. Are you using the same cable as before?
