Framework 13 AMD AI 300 shuts off frequently in standalone mode without battery

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My Framework 13 (originally AMD 7040 Series) battery swelled up and needed to be replaced. It was pushing up the top panel of the chassis. Framework has placed an order for a replacement battery under the 61Wh battery extended warranty.

I’ve been operating the laptop (now AMD AI 300 Series) in standalone mode without the battery since removing it, awaiting the replacement. Ever since removing the battery, the computer has not been running stably and frequently shuts off or hangs at random times, usually immediately after doing something like logging in, opening a link or program, etc.

I switched the Windows 11 power settings to “Best Power Efficiency” and “Always use energy saver”. At first I thought this helped, but at best this only made it happen slightly less frequently and possibly not at all. I also thought it was only happening under Windows. But after using Ubuntu 25.04 for a while (which I dual boot), it also happened there as well. Now I can’t even boot into Ubuntu because it always shuts off immediately after entering my encrypted disk password.

I’ve been using the 60W Framework 13 power adapter. I tried using a 45W third-party power adapter briefly booting into Ubuntu and it shut off at the exact same moment after entering the encrypted disk password.

I ran a full memory test, which passed without error (and didn’t shut off at all during).

Sometimes it shuts off the power completely (the power button light is off). Sometimes the screen goes blank with the power light still on. Less frequently the screen remains on, but is frozen. The system is unresponsive and doesn’t shut down when pressing the power button. Holding down the power button to force it to shut off is required.

For a stretch one evening, it kept shutting off immediately after rebooting as soon as I logged into Windows. After this happened a few times in a row, Windows prompted for the BitLocker key and then entered recovery mode. Other times the system has run fine for hours before it shuts off.

It’s not clear what is causing the issue, but it started happening as soon as I removed the battery and have been operating in standalone mode with the power supply alone.

These are my system specs:

  • AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
  • 2.8K display
  • 128 GB DDR5-5600 (2 x 64 GB)
  • Qualcomm NCM865 Wi-Fi 7
  • 4 TB WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe
  • 2 x USB-C, USB-A, HDMI expansion cards
  • Windows 11 / Ubuntu 25.04 dual boot
  • 3.04 BIOS
  • 1.04 2025-07-21 Windows driver bundle
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You need a better power adapter. Try at least a 100w adapter, which I believe is recommended when running it in standalone mode.

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Where is this recommendation published?

When I told Framework support about this, they said that there were no known issues with operating the Framework 13 AMD AI 300 Series in standalone mode with the standard 60W power adapter.

The replacement battery hasn’t shipped yet (the order was placed last weekend). I might try to get a higher wattage power adapter if I can get one soon.

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I identified a 90W power adapter I have, which is through the USB-C PD on a monitor. While I was able to get it to boot into Ubuntu a couple times, it actually still frequently shuts off right after entering my encrypted disk password.

I also found that the USB-C display output frequently doesn’t work. The monitor doesn’t appear as a display option on either Windows or Ubuntu. After rebooting, I’ve been able to get the monitor to appear sometimes, at least in Windows.

I’m going to continue using this 90W monitor power adapter and observe whether it’s an improvement over the 60W adapter.

5

I got a 140W power adapter, which includes power draw tracking. (My replacement battery still hasn’t shipped!) While I have seen the computer pull just a bit over 60W a few times, it hasn’t been anywhere near 90W under normal use (which is when it has shut off). When stressing the CPU and GPU 100%, it spikes to about 77W, then settles at about 55W (+/- 2W). It idles at about 18W (+/- 5W).

That said, I haven’t had the computer shut off yet. So that’s a positive. Even with the ability to pull more power, I would expect the mainboard to limit the power draw in such a way to prevent shutting off if the power supply is unable to provide more.

6

This is an interesting topic.
The EC firmware limits the amount of power it draws from the psu, and dips into battery when that limit is exceeded.
Of course if you have no battery, what should it do? I don’t know.
For example, on a FW16 with dGPU, we have seen the peak draw of 450W ( for less than 1ms)
Maybe, when it tries to use battery, it just crashes

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The BIOS is set to standalone mode. So it knows there is no battery to dip into. I would think the circuitry would be able to prevent attempting to pull more power than was available.