Laptop 13 occasionally doesn't charge

Community Support
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1

I have a Framework Laptop 13.

Yesterday I started encountering this issue where it would stop charging with my USB-C charger.

It is a 60 watt charger and I first encountered the issue playing a game.

I tried doing an EC reset and it worked but now I have the issue again.
Within KDE the status constantly changes from “Charging”, “Not charging”, and “Discharging”
The charging light is also white, which usually means it’s done charging, but it is not. My laptop is at 20% and I have the battery charge limit at 80.

The usb-C expansion card I usually plug it into seems to also be coming out easier suddenly.
This is my main laptop so I’d really appreciate help with this.
I also posted this on r/framework, if this body text seems familiar.

2

I will ask the obvious, have you tried a different port, or expansion card?

I would also try with a different charger.

4

I have tried on a different expansion card, but the issue still seems to occur, and I do not currently have the means to try a different charger.

5

At the risk of being obvious, have you also tried changing slots? You could also try charging the laptop with a regular phone USB-C charger, just to see if it charges steadily.

6

Their exist reports of some units not charging on all ports ( only charging on one side off the laptop), I would strongly recommend trying all ports. You may also try without the expansion card, as the expansion cards connect directly into a regulars USB-C port on the mainboard.

If the failure remain contact support, describe the problem, and the steps you have taken to try and resolve the issue.

7

What make / model is the charger?

Some are not compatible with FW.

8

This is very weird, if the charger is underpowered, as long as the battery percentage is lower than the set limit, the charging light should remain red even you are discharging (load higher than charger)

Try using fw-ectool to diagnose the problem. What did you see?
Use $ sudo ectool battery command, If the battery is not charged. The Desired voltage and Desired current should show high values.
$ sudo ectool chargestate show, the chg_current should be positive, or zero if the charge limit is reached.
$ sudo ectool chargecontrol. should show Charge mode = NORMAL (0) if charging(or discharging if the charger is underpowered but still providing power), orCharge mode = IDLE (1)if charge limit is reached.

This is not a coincidence, 20% is the lowest charge limit that can be set in EC (40% in BIOS). There could be a bug in the EC program, try setting the limit to a different value like $ sudo ectool fwchargelimit 81

9

I’d like to add that this only seems to happen when the laptop is consuming higher energy, though it was fine before with this adapter.

10

What brand did you say the power supply is?