Hi all! I’ve found myself having to replace my mainboard (Framework Laptop 13, 11th Gen Intel) since the four USB ports along the sides seem to be completely non-functional (I’ve reset the BIOS, and reset the mainboard itself, but I still get messages in the terminal such as “Device not responding to setup address” and “Unable to enumerate USB device” every time I boot). After some back-and-forth with Framework Support, they advised me to simply get a new mainboard - which I’m not terribly happy about, but I’m trying to think of it as an upgrade.
However, this means I’m going to have an otherwise perfectly good mainboard just lying around not doing anything for lack of a few USB ports. I’m thinking that it might be fun to incorporate it into some sort of custom device as a first-time DIY hardware project - maybe a simple tablet or mini-PC that I could use as a no-distractions word processor, or perhaps something that I could use to play old PC games once in a while. (On my current machine, I’m using Zorin OS, a relatively versatile Ubuntu distro, and would probably continue to use it on whatever I end up building.)
I’ve looked at a few such builds so far, but they all seem to rely on the side USB ports to connect displays, keyboards, etc. Is there any way that I could instead use the existing connectors for the display, webcam, input cover (which I seem to remember are somehow connected to the USB bus), or even attach some kind of USB hub to one of the connectors I’m not planning to use - say, the webcam?
This is all pretty new to me as I’m mostly an artist, not a hacker, but I’m interested to hear what people think. What, if anything, can I attach to this mainboard that doesn’t involve the side USB ports? I’m open to ideas!
To preface this, I have no clue if any of this is actually feasible, but I do have two thoughts.
You may be able to find someone to take a look at your board, and potentially fix it. Although if all 4 ports died at once, maybe not. But it’s worth a try.
I do think you’re on to something about using the keyboard / touchpad connector for more than just input.
You could get a M.2 USB 3 or USB C controller to interface devices with your mainboard and use the built in display. I’m sure a case could be made with a touch screen display and USB ports on the sides. Or you could use a M.2 SATA controller M.2 card and mount the mainboard in a PC case (Framework Micro-ATX Mainboard & Battery Adapter by greytrimble | Download free STL model | Printables.com) but I’m not sure how you’d get display with your USBC ports not working and how you’d power your SATA hard drive.
Yes, definitely! I’m trying to get a hold of somebody locally who can at least look at the board and give me a second opinion - as you said, best-case scenario, things work again and I don’t have to buy a whole new board
Mini-server is the first use case I can think of. Set it up while still in your existing laptop casing, then just remote into it using software such as TeamViewer or other. It’s what I plan to do with my motherboard once I upgrade ( running server for Valheim/Minecraft/assetto corsa…). You might find that it’s nice or necessary to have an ethernet port though for wake on lan or something, so you might be back to square one ( but I think WiFi card to ethernet conversion cables exist???)
Edit: and if you’re not into games, the same principle could be used to have that machine be your own kind of “cloud storage”. Photos/videos backups for example.
I’ve definitely considered this for network storage or something similar! Although I am currently talking with a local person about the possibility of repairing the board, and he advised against using a piece of hardware on which components have already failed for something that needs the reliability of an NAS device (and the speed of the USB 3 ports)… but that likely won’t stop me from tinkering if I have to splurge on a new mainboard and end up with this thing just lying around
