Framework 13th 11th gen powers off after short period

I have an interesting one, and is looking like a mainboard failure, but need outside advice before purchasing a replacement (Out of warranty).

Operating system: Fedora 40
Framework version: Early batch 11th Gen Intel, i5
Ram: 2x Crucial 16gb ddr4 3200 (From Framework)
BIOS: 3.19

Issue:
Starting on New Years Eve, sadly enough, the machine hard froze and shutdown. No update was done, and had been using the same bios for several weeks to my knowledge. Every subsequent reboot from then on the machine would hard reboot anywhere from 20sec to 10 minutes into its runtime. Steps I have tried:

  • Eliminated each ram stick, by only adding one and testing - Each was attempted several times, in each slot, no dice; same behavior.
  • Different OS, tried several versions of Linux (PopOS, Fedora, Debian) no luck, same.
  • Removed SSD entirely and went straight to bios - Same behavior. Machine will just shutdown anywhere from 20sec - 10 min.

It does tend to shutdown sooner the more I try. When I first was testing, I could boot into linux and fully load before it would hard shutdown. Towards the end of testing, it would usually not live for more than 20 seconds or so.

I tested the RTC battery - it shows very close to 3v when removed from system, but perhaps that is not its failure mode?

Any other troubleshooting steps I should take before dropping several hundred on a new mainboard?

Sorry to hear that.

Things that I can think of to try:

  • Reset the mainboard
  • Reset the bios to defaults
  • Power the machine from different ports as well as with a different USB expansion card
  • Try a different power adapter if you have one (in case your adapter is dying)
  • Replace the RTC battery
  • Repaste the CPU
  • Get an estimate from a third party to repair the board

Best of luck getting it resolved.

SSD and its firmware version? There’s reports of some WD drives dying, although that failure mode doesn’t seem to include being able to run for a short amount of time:

Thank you - I will work through this list and give it a shot. I have tried both the usbc cards, different expansion slot, for both booting and charging. they seem to function fine, but the machine still powers off. It also starts up fine with no expansion card, running on battery - but again, will power off after 20sec - 10 min. I cannot find a rhyme or reason for the shutdowns. I have tried to see if they are consistent time (stopwatch) but it seems random, but faster each time.

So, Even with no SSD installed, the issue still occurs. Just booting straight to bios, and it occurs from bios as well, or if I boot to an external Live usb.

If the SSD didn’t make a difference and with this in context, it sounds like something getting warm might be triggering this. Smells like a motherboard issue to me but what do I know.

BTW worth checking for this known sporadic issue (some power transistors going bad?):

Great point I have not considered. I will repaste for sure just to double check, but also see if I can find a hotspot on the board.