My daughter‘s Framework Laptop 12 (i5 CPU) does not turn on at all. We had an issue with left side expansion ports not working: It wouldn’t charge via USB-C on the left side but also the USB-A module would not work i.e. no thumb drive being recognized. The right hand side worked fine including charging. We swapped USB-C around to no avail. To cut a long story short, after reading another forum thread, I figured, disconnecting the battery in the BIOS might help by resetting the EC. Well, now it does not turn on at all as no power arrives in its circuits it seems. The power brick is fine, checked that on another device.
Perhaps physically reinstalling the battery could revive it? I am not sure how to undo the soft battery disconnect. Usually, the power adapter should do the trick, shouldn’t it?
Hi. I am just another user like you, and think you have a hardware fault. There are mainly just users like you here.
Best to contact FW support via their web site support form.
Regarding the disconnecting the battery from the BIOS setting. The disconnect only lasts long enough until you next plug a PSU back in. It is just a safety feature for shipping purposes.
So, if you unplugged and then plugged the PSU back in, it should have just switched on OK, and undone the BIOS setting.
Another possible thing to try is resetting the Embedded Controller (EC).
For that:
power off the laptop (not suspend).
Unplug the PSU.
Wait about 60 to 120 seconds.
This should power off the EC. (after the delay/wait)
Plug the PSU back in and press the power button (this should power on the EC again)
But, from your description, you were having problems even before you disconnected the battery in the BIOS, so most likely a hardware failure on the main-board, and thus the need to contact FW support via their web form.
Note, it is the Xmas holidays, so it might be a while before you get a response from FW support. They are all on holiday also.
Just a quick update: It turned out to be liquid damage.
Water (possibly) entered by the upper left USB-C port. That’s probably why the upper left USB-C module – when swapped over to the still functioning port on the right side – still did not work. Of course, my daughter does not remember when it happened. But the damage might have been done already way back in September when she first noticed charging would not work on the left side.
I must admit I did not recognize it when looking inside and probably wouldn’t have. I brought the laptop to a repair shop for a diagnosis and they found the corroded area immediately. I ordered a replacement board (USB-C module) and now the laptop is fully working again.
