Hey everyone,
I’m seeing a weird behavior with my FW13 AMD (7840U) on BIOS 3.05 when using high-wattage power banks like the Anker 737 or the UGreen Nexode 200W. Instead of the laptop “sinking” power from the bank, it seems to be “sourcing” power to the bank.
The Symptom: When I plug the bank in (at ~30% laptop battery), the charging LED on the side of the Framework stays off. However, the display on the power bank shows it is receiving 5W–15W IN from the laptop. Essentially, my laptop is trying to charge the giant battery bank, which is… not ideal.
Current Setup:
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OS: Ubuntu 24.04 (Kernel 6.11)
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BIOS: 3.05
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Expansion Cards: USB-C in both back slots.
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Cables: Tested with the official Framework 100W cable and the 140W cable that came with the Anker.
Temporary “Fixes”:
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The “Double Plug”: If I unplug and quickly re-plug the cable, sometimes the handshake resets and it starts drawing the full 65W.
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Power Bank First: Turning the power bank on before plugging it into the laptop seems to help the PD (Power Delivery) negotiation recognize the bank as the provider.
Is anyone else seeing this “handshake loop”? It feels like the AMD PD controller is a bit too aggressive about offering power to external devices. I’d love to know if there’s a way to force a port into “Sink only” mode via the terminal or BIOS.