My laptop 13 (amd 7840u, BIOS 3.20) won’t take a charge from the right back port (so the one closer to the power button), but it will take a charge from all of the other ports. This is unfortunate as that port is the one I use the most, and it doesn’t really explain itself because it suddenly stopped working while the laptop was powered on.
I tried going into bios → battery disconnect, and from there I was able to make it take a charge from said slot, but as soon as I unplugged it and plugged it back, it stopped taking the charge. Same thing can be said for when the laptop is powered off - waiting enough will make it take a charge from that port, but only if the USB-C is angled a certain way (like, manufacturer logo facing up on an Anker cable, despite me then being able to rotate the other end freely and it still taking a charge) but nothing ever truly survives the boot process - even in the bios screen, unplugging and then replugging from the laptop end makes the slot stop functioning.
I don’t know exactly why that is, and I don’t have much to go about, except that my laptop didn’t do fancy windows updates or anything like it I fear, anyway I am using windows 11 if that helps
oh btw i already tried all expansion cards off and plugging the cable straight into the mobo, gives same issue
i tried resetting the mobo by the chassis switch method, same issue
i also tried plugging another expansion card (hdmi expansion slot) it doesn’t work at all now
It’s one of the many bugs in Framework’s firmware/EC code. The FW16 amd-7040s have the same problem. For now, the only way I know to “reset” the port so it works again is the battery disconnect you already mentioned. Until Framework decides to fix this (well over 2 years with this issue and counting), that is all we can do.
It very much depends on the chargers you use. But it’s definitely a fault with the framework. I have a dock that can output up to 100w usbc and wall charger (also 100w) that both cause this issue on only the Framework16. All other devices past and present have charged just fine using these chargers.
So I guess another way to avoid it is to stop using any chargers that it happens to, but that should not be a resolution to the problem. Framework needs to fix it.
Ok, with FW charger, it works on back left port, but fails on back right port, and only works on back right port if plugged in a particular way up.
That is a hardware failure.
The same usb-pd firmware/software runs the back right and back left port. It is that that points me towards a hardware fault.
Usb pd charging is handled with a combination of usb-pd chip firmware and EC firmware.
The os is not really involved, except it setting charge parameters in the EC.
Now, the usb-pd firmware is very buggy so it might be a firmware bug, just doubtful in this case.
Bugs being:
sudo lsusb -v. Crashes the usb-pd chip firmware
ucsi reading of pdos resets the usb-pd firmware but does not affect charging success.
certain patterns of data crashes the usb-pd firmware
Usb-pd is usb power delivery chip.
There is a protocol whereby the device you plug in negotiates the power to supply over the CC pins of the usb-c cable.
It is quite a complicated protocol, so the usb-pd chip has to be quite clever, so has firmware or a small program running on the usb-pd chip (a little black component on the mainboard), so it can understand the protocol.
There is also another chip called the embedded controller (EC) that does various housekeeping and management task independently of the main CPU. The CPU runs the operating system. E.g. windows or linux.
For example, it is the EC that detects the power button presses and decides to switch on/off the CPU. The EC talks to the usb-pd chip for control purposes.
There are bugs in the usb-pd firmware that sometime cause it to not work as expected.
okay but this does nothing to help me, I don’t have the same problem you did and even if I tried… I am a Windows user, those things you pasted don’t apply to Windows
i physically disconnected the battery and - with the battery disconnected - the board would only receive power if i plugged the charger with the anker logo facing upwards. at this point i am not understanding if some traces are blown or not, but anyway, nothing truly survives the boot process- except that in this case the mobo gets to boot and function anyway, so i know that i could theoretically recycle this as a “desktop” with the power fed this way
Have you logged a support ticket with Framework yet? Go to this page https://frame.work/au/en/support then scroll down to the bottom and click on “Submit support request”.
They will get to it - but I have seen messages recently saying they have a little bit of a queue they are working through.
I did not, mostly because I am out of warranty and I don’t think I am on board with paying for a new mainboard if that need arises - honestly after three whole mainboard replacements in two years of warranty, having a laptop that breaks in some way after just shy of six months is getting on my nerves.
I really cannot do this anymore, hence I asked the community first
IDK what you are expecting contacting FW support to accomplish… in my experience, they’ll put you through an incredibly extensive process of documenting repeatedly that the problem is actually happening and not some user error / some unsupported configuration. At the end of which all they will do is send you “refurbished” replacement hardware, which is basically just someone else’s broken part that that person returned, sent instead to you for you to install on your own time. You’ll be trading one suboptimal behavior plus an incredible investment of effort, for just a different set of suboptimal behavior, until you give up and deal with the broken stuff on your own terms.
Well I didn’t know that this was the case and that you already gone through mainboard replacements. Were the other mainboard replacements due to the same issue?
It sucks that you’ve had such a hard time with it all.
And I know it is pain but logging it as a ticket does actually help as it creates a paper trail. This can potentially help if you decide to take any further action down the road (or if a group of customers get together to do so as a collective / class action).
I know that in Australia we have various Fair Trading departments (at State level) for consumer rights. If you have that paper trail it gives them something to work with to hold companies to account.
Here in the US, they are as I understand completely within their rights to just send “refurbished” hardware as a replacement when there’s an issue. A lot of the cell phone companies have figured out the same, and will employ the same dodge if your cell phone fails on you within warranty but you haven’t paid extra for the replacement plan (with pretty much the same predictable result).
Can you elaborate on the three mainboards failures? How did they fail? That is honestly a red flag that something else in your environment is causing these failures, not the motherboards. Could be dirty ac power, extreme humidity, toddler that likes laptops, etc. Who knows. But if mainboards keep failing on you, you should start looking externally to what might be causing it.