After dealing with a bunch of no-boot issues while not plugged in and random issues like the clock being wrong I replaced the RTC battery with one from eBay that had a recent manufacture date. All issues are gone and it boots reliably while not plugged in now. The battery I removed had a voltage of 2.1 volts. I suspect it finally dropped below what the system would safely charge. The new battery had an out of box voltage of 2.7 volts. Throughout the last few years I had to disassemble and remove/reinstall the RTC battery a few times to get it to boot but that stopped working as a workaround. The battery I used is below. No relation to the seller, wanting to share in case it’s helpful for others.
I get this was a first generation product from a startup and it has it’s quirks. I dealt with the quirks because I wanted to support the idea behind Framework and still do. It would be a nice gesture to offer first generation owners a discount on an upgrade. Even a small discount like 5% would be a nice gesture for the customers that were the most passionate about backing Framework from the beginning and had to deal with the quirks and flaws like the RTC charging issues. Hopefully this is helpful info for someone running into the same issues. Also maybe food for thought if anyone that works for framework sees this. Cheers!
If you experience this issue after less than 8 weeks from the last time you charged the device, contact Framework support. They will send you a free replacement RTC battery regardless of warranty status.
Please do not replace the cell with one you buy online. The cells Framework provides have been validated by their manufacturing partner to be within spec. Cells that may be out of spec could cause damage to the board. Given that they will give you a free replacement, it’s not worth it to risk the damage.
Yeah, one would only know about it if they have been following this closely, or reach out to Framework Support. Here’s the link to the most authoritative post on this warranty matter (follow the link to see the full post):
Just finding this issue now on my 11th Gen which has been great until now. Trying all the things including putting in support ticket but haven’t heard back from support in more than 48 hrs. Also wondering why the RTC battery isn’t included in the marketplace for purchase. If I could just order one real quick and get it to test then maybe I wouldn’t even need to wait for support. Really struggling with this one.
Same here, my 11th gen has been my daily driver and plugged in daily for multiple hours. I’m kicking myself for not upgrading the mainboard earlier this year but if it isn’t broke why fix it. Now I’m waiting for a new mainboard (I ordered a new 13th gen) and hoping that will resolve this issue. Not sure if my screen will also need to be replaced since I saw another post where someone mentioned that too. Really sad that I didn’t stay active in these forums because maybe I would have gotten a clue about the RTC battery issue and could have prevented it with an upgrade.
Because I didn’t get a response from support on the RTC battery and questions and not really knowing if that’s the only issue I decided to go ahead and order the new mainboard to hopefully fix and upgrade. I’ve also ordered a ML 1220 which should arrive tomorrow so I’ll have a chance to test if that gets my 11th gen board back up and running. If it does then I’ll still do the upgrade if it doesn’t then I’ll have to wait for the new mainboard and see if that get’s me back up and running. That’s my plan for now.
