Background:
Since the announcement of the Framework 13 Pro, I decided I wanted to jump in and get one. The trick is, I don’t have the full amount of money for one immediately, AND I don’t want the newer Framework 13 Pro main boards since they require the new RAM modules. Fortunately for me, Framework announced the older FW 13 boards will work just fine in the new Pro chassis with a BIOS update. I already have a 4 port USB-C to USB-A adapter, 16G (2x8) sticks of DDR5 SODIMM and a 1TB NVMe SSD, and the 7840U should more than meet my needs. To that end, on 19-June-2026 I ordered:
- 7840U FW 13 mainboard
- Cooler Master stand-alone case (so I can get some use out of it until the new Pro chassis is released)
- Intel AX-210 (non-VPro) WiFi card
- the Framework power supply (65W since the 100W was not available at the time of the order)
- 2x USB-C Expansion Cards
- 1x HDMI 3rd Gen Expansion Card
- 1x Display Port 2nd Gen Expansion Card
- 1x SD Card Reader Expansion Card
- CMOS Battery (later order - it was not very clear I would need to order this at the time of my initial order but apparently the AMD boards DO NOT have this built-in, but the INTEL ones DO)
- WiFi Antenna (later order - I forgot it on the initial order)
- Audio Board (later order - don’t really need it, but it was cheap, filled a hole on the case, and I MIGHT end up needing it later)
I plan to order the entire Framework 13 Pro chassis kit with screen and keyboard when it is available for purchase, expected sometime in the September 2026 timeframe as of this writing.
Issues I Ran Into:
I assembled the board into the Cooler Master case with my components and the expansion cards. I was aware beforehand that not all of the expansions slots on this mainboard are the same and spent A LOT LONGER than anticipated searching for the information on which ports did exactly what. I DID find this info and connected it thusly: Both USB-C ports on the left side, Display Port top right, and SD Card Reader bottom right. I plugged USB Adapter into the top ight and the power into the bottom left and got the rapidly flashing red & blue alternating lights. Pressing the power button on the case did nothing, and there was no output to the screen or indication that the keyboard or mouse were powered at all.
I went to the internet again and after a LOT more reading I learned that this means the system is not detecting an internal laptop battery and that the chassis may be opened - and that the 7840u may not be in “Stand Alone” mode. After a LOT of fiddling, I learned that:
- My case’s power button does not actually (despite feeling “the click”) fully press the power button on the board.
- My case does not properly hold down the chassis intrusion switch.
- I need to have the top left be power and top right be display port for this initial start up. After I got the system completely set up, it works as expected.
Taping down the Intrusion switch with the case lid off and pressing the power button briefly with the tip of my screwdriver every few seconds eventually turned it on and I was able to switch into Stand Alone mode and get into the BIOS. BIOS version on this new board was 03.05 from 2024 out of the box. A lot of the information that got me through this phase was from another poster in this Community (Godsran) in this post: [RESOLVED] Mainboard Standalone w/o Framework Laptop (AMD 7040; 5 7640U) - #6 by BigT
First order of business was to update the very old BIOS and get Power On, On Power working since it does not work correctly in older BIOS versions according to the release notes. I decided to do this in Windows because I had read of horror stories with this board getting bricked during BIOS updates, so the most readily supported method seemed to be the best way to go. I installed Windows and the BIOS and driver bundle for this board as downloaded from Framework’s support site and started the update process for BIOS 03.18. The Stand Alone instructions for this update indicate it needs to be done in 2 stages with a reboot in the middle to program the other PDC. The first stage completed fine and the board rebooted to the second stage where it prompted me to switch the power and video ports to the other side of the machine. I did the swap and on power up, the update resumed as expected… until it suddenly froze near the end. I let it sit for a while but it was completely locked up and the keyboard was non-responsive. I searched for this issue with Google again and found nothing on it.
Looking at a potential RMA anyway, I pulled the power cord and plugged it in again, and it went right back to the second phase PDC flashing and hung in the exact same place. I let it sit for over an hour and there was no change. On a hunch, I unplugged the USB Adapter with my mouse, keyboard and USB flash drive attached to it and restarted the machine again. THIS TIME it completed and rebooted back into Windows and I was able to plug the adapter back in normally.
After all of that, the machine is now on BIOS 03.18 and seems to be functioning perfectly. Plugging in the power cord now immediately starts the boot process, so I put the top cover of the case back on. I wiped the OS and installed Kubuntu 26.04 and there are no further problems thus far.
Now I’m just waiting on that sweet, sweet Pro chassis to be released 