FW13 Won't Boot - No Indicator LEDs, Power Button Light, etc

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I bought a Framework laptop 13 about 2.5 years ago, and it’s been great - for the most part.

A while ago, I started occasionally getting error codes while trying to boot. I was always able to fix these by just plugging my laptop in for a while. Eventually, though, it started giving a different error code and refusing to boot entirely. Popping off the cover, the chassis intrusion switch fell out. After taking the laptop to a local repair place to have them solder the switch back on, the issue remained. They swapped out every component they could think of, but eventually I ended up having to buy a new mainboard.

This solved this issue, but soon after installing a new mainboard (I believe the Intel 11th gen i5, could have also been the i7), I started having a new issue, where one of 3 things would happen when trying to turn the laptop on:

  1. The laptop turns on as expected
  2. Neither the power button light or the side indicator lights would turn on, even when plugged in
  3. The same as 2, except for when I plugged it in, the side indicator LEDs would turn on, and then it would work as normal

I tried changing which ports I was using and testing the charger with a different device, but since it always worked fine once on, I doubt these had anything to do with it. My temporary solution was to only let the laptop fully shut off when connected to power, and this worked great. Eventually, the problem also just fixed itself. I have no idea what I changed, it just would always turn on.

Then, I cracked my display. After buying and installing the new display, carefully following the replacement guide, it wouldn’t turn on, similar to the earlier issue. However, this time, it no longer does the thing where if I plug it in, it sometimes works. I changed nothing other than the display (unless I accidentally bumped something while installing it), so I have no idea why I’m getting this issue, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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This sounds very similar to a bug with older BIOS on this exact board model (11th gen i5/i7). It would happen when the battery was empty, which is consistent with a delay between cracking your screen and having it replaced before trying to boot again.

If you’re using a BIOS with version before 3.07, this may be the case.

Unfortunately, you can’t upgrade the BIOS if the system won’t turn on… you will need to fully reset the mainboard state.

Also check the Community BIOS guide, there is a section for the 11th gen FW 13.

Edit: as an additional detail, older HDMI and other modules will drain the battery faster that would be usually expected, leading to frequent complete draining of the battery. If you manage to reset the mainboard, consider upgrading some of your modules depending on what you have since initially getting the laptop, and upgrading the BIOS to the latest. Carefully review the changelog too.

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Resetting the mainboard worked to get it to turn on, thanks!

After getting in, I checked my BIOS version:

$ sudo dmidecode | grep -A3 'Vendor:\|Product:' && sudo lshw -C cpu | grep -A3 'product:\|vendor:'
    Vendor: INSYDE Corp.
    Version: 03.20
    Release Date: 06/03/2024
    Address: 0xE0000
       product: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz
       vendor: Intel Corp.
       physical id: 4
       bus info: cpu@0
       version: 6.140.1

Unless I’m mistaken, I am using the latest BIOS version (3.20), so I don’t think it could be the same bug as you mentioned.

I’ll leave this open until I get a bit more information on what’s causing this and how to avoid it in the future.

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Awesome ! Maybe you ran into another edge-case, hopefully now it will charge and suspend/resume normally.