Is anybody aware of an externally visible hibernate indicator?
The Asus Zenbook makes the side power light “breathe” like the power button on the Framework does. However the power button is not visible while the laptop lid is closed, so I need to open the laptop to be sure it was asleep, thus waking the laptop…
Is there a software control whereby the side LEDs might be controlled with regards to sleep? Or would this need to be altered in firmware somehow?
The Framework Laptop does not wake from hibernation by lifting the screen. If you are lifting the lid and your laptop is powering on then it was either still active or is resuming from standby.
If the laptop is hibernated then it is effectively shutdown, and the whole point is to use no power. Causing a led to flicker would just be counter-productive to that end.
However causing the led to flash on the side during standby would be a welcome toggle-able option that the firmware could maybe expose.
If laptop turns up opening the lid it usually means it was on sleep mode. Idk if its possible to use software to control the LEDs, try checking bios if any option exists.
Note: Since going to sleep is a matter of software, it is not guaranteed that the machine is asleep when the lid is closed. This can be a problem when putting a still-on-machine into a laptop sleeve for transport. I’ve gotten to TSA before and realized my laptop was still running (and quite hot) due to some mistake preventing sleep.
Just played with it a little. If I put it to sleep with the lid open (via start > power > sleep), the LED will fade in and out regardless of the lid position.
If I close the lid to put it to sleep, the power LED turns off like you said. If I open the lid (with wake on open lid disabled) the LED fading turns on and remains on even after closing the lid again.
I imagine this isn’t possible, but I’ve always been fond of how the Chromebook Pixel 2015 took the approach of keeping it’s external LEDs off in suspend unless physically disturbed (i.e. knocking on it). Always felt whimsical to knock on my laptop to see if it was in suspend.
I really do like this on other machines and think it would be great.
Another cool feature if the Framework has an accelerometer (might not - more commonly found in laptops with spinning drives to park the head during perceived free fall) would be a “tap to check battery” function like found on the Google Pixelbook 2017. I’m still waiting on my Framework but from reading, I’ve seen that the LED charge indicators can flash different colors to indicate POST codes. I’d love to be able to tap/lift the FW while closed and get a battery level indication
I feel this can be achieved with a firmware update and use of the existing side LEDs…
Power connected, charged and active = LED solid white.
Power connected, charging and active = LED solid amber.
Power connected, charged but sleeping = LED pulsing white.
Power connected, charging but sleeping = LED pulsing amber.
No power connected and sleeping = LED pulsing amber.
No power connected and active = LED off.
The above will also work for when the laptop is mainly used when “docked” as the LEDs play the same role.
This should be present on BOTH sides (not just the side the power is connected to, as might as well use both available LEDs and it’s handy to glance the status from either side.
If anyone knows the official place to suggest firmware/BIOS additions/changes, please let us know here.
There is currently an external indicator of charge state via the small LED in between the expansion ports.
There is also an internal indicator of the suspend state via the light around the power button.
But, when the lid is closed there is no way to see if the laptop is suspended or powered off.
If the external charge LED was able to slowly pulse when the laptop is in a suspended state, this would resolve the issue.
I have had a search amongst the forums but can’t see anyone else suggesting this. It seems, to me, that this is something that could be implemented via a BIOS update.
Came to the forums for exactly this. Seems there are a few threads on it already, with the following being the result of some merge?:
Regardless of how many threads there are already for this, I find that this is a rare thing I’m missing on my brand new framework 13 coming from a thinkpad (that pulses the dot on its “i” when suspended). The simple knowledge that it’s peacefully suspended instead of powered on with the lid closed is great, there doesn’t seem to be a current way of determining that…
I’m glad it’s not just me. And thank you for digging out the other thread (my searching must not be as good as it once was).
I’ll add my thoughts to that one too.
I feel this can be achieved with a firmware update and use of the existing side LEDs…
Power connected, charged and active = LED solid white.
Power connected, charging and active = LED solid amber.
Power connected, charged but sleeping = LED pulsing white.
Power connected, charging but sleeping = LED pulsing amber.
No power connected and sleeping = LED pulsing amber.
No power connected and active = LED off.
The above will also work for when the laptop is mainly used when “docked” as the LEDs play the same role.
This should be present on BOTH sides (not just the side the power is connected to, as might as well use both available LEDs and it’s handy to glance the status from either side.
If anyone knows the official place to suggest firmware/BIOS additions/changes, please let us know here.