Lost my rear USB-C ports

Framework Desktop
1

Twice this week I’ve lost both rear USB-C ports. Lost as in no response when anything was plugged in

I resolved the issue the first time by reinstalling the latest FW Desktop drivers. The second time I wasn’t so lucky; reinstallation didn’t work

They are both working again, now. I’ve reinstalled the FW Desktop driver once, the chipset driver seperatley again, and, while rebooting, the weekly beta channel Win 11 drop installed (26220.7344)

Dropping this into the chat just in case others see the same issue

Probably returning my framework desktop
Framework_tool as a diagnostic
2

Ok, third time. Rather annoying. Is anyone else finding their rear USB-C ports fail under Windows 11?

I’ve attempted to get them to work by reinstalling the driver pack. Three attempts without success.

Is there a verbose switch for the driver installation package that will pipe the outcome (success, failure, error message) of the installation to the screen?

When the ports fail ..

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And when the ports are working …

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3

Four tries reinstalling the driver pack and no luck. Reinstalled the BIOS and the ports are back. Very odd!

4

Maybe try linux to rule out hardware/firmware issue?

5

I looked at my Win11 USB drivers and they’re all provided by MS, rather than AMD.

On the release notes for 7.11.26.2142 chipset drivers, which support AI MAX 300 Series, AMD USB4 CM Driver is listed as not applicable for Windows 11

Is your TB5 hub bus powered? Wonder if this is related to the external drive power issues other folks are reporting.

6

That’s a great idea @sun Thank you!

I’ve set up dual boot to Ubuntu so that I can check the ports there the next time they fail under Windows.

7

It’s difficult to isolate drivers from the Framework package. In addition to the chipset there are crosecbus and storage drivers which are part of the mix

I have the AMD Adrenalin drivers installed but will uninstall that entire package now and rely entirely on Framework’s drivers

No. It is powered by an external brick

8

There is one additional thing I’ve noted. I use a Shokz dongle and headphones. After a while I hear very load static and have to remove and replace this dongle. I thought the dongle might be faulty so have purchased and replaced the old with new. Same issue. So far I cannot recreate this issue when using the front USB port

9

There are similar issues discussed in this thread

And reported on Framework GitHub here

EDIT: and here and here

10

This sounds like the USB C power issue that I have seen and documented in the BIOS 3.04 thread. Basically the device bugs out when it failed to get enough power from the rear USB C ports.

11

Sure, could be

What does “bugs out” mean? When mine drop they are no longer visible in Windows device manager … I have screen shots in my thread

12

I mean the device will start malfunctioning first (in my case my HDD making scratching sounds) then fully cut off. The devices will disappear from the OS. The only way to bring them back is to unplug and reconnect them.

13

That’s slightly different to my experience. Firstly, disconnecting and reconnecting will not bring the devices back. Secondly, I don’t get the “scratching” sound nor any prewarning that the devices will drop.

That said, both ports do drop from the OS as I’ve noted in the Device Manager screenshots. And I can’t get them back easiy. Disconnecting and reconnecting doesn’t help nor does rebooting. Reinstalling drivers seems to bring them back sometimes. Reinstalling the BIOS also sometimes works.

Edit: Just because I see somewhat different behaviours does not mean that you are on the wrong track re power @sun. The Framework Desktop is a desktop but Strix Halo is mobile (as @rjones suggests) so all ‘mobile’ related assumptions are worth checking to ensure they are applicable to ‘always plugged in’ reality.

14

I was referring to your headphones having loud static.

Yes I agree. BTW in my case I was comparing to my Lenovo Thinkpad T14 laptop with AMD Ryzen AI 350 apu which is as close as you can get for a non strix halo cpu.

15

I’m not sure if the issue was Framework USB-C or Shokz bluetooth dongle related. I have a new Shokz dongle and so far (although with extensive testing) I haven’t seen the static issue resurface

16

Does the new dongle have or not have the issue? Earlier you mentioned the new dongle has the same issue:

17

The one time it did occur might have been a furfy. As I said, I haven’t extensively tested so I’m unsure as it only happened that one time.

I’ll test it on a Teams call next week

18

I bought a new external 10Tb LaCie d2 and have connected it directly to the USB-C rear port (with the new USB-C cable and drive power supply). I had some time trouble free but yesterday the partition table on the d2 became corrupt again making the drive unreadable. This is the 2nd time my new drive partition table has become corrupt on the FW Desktop; the 5th time overall if I include the previous LaCie d2. :unamused_face:

19

I am still having the same issue i.e. intermittent loss of my rear USB-C ports. Is anybody else seeing the same problem?

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20

Listing some potentially related issues purely for cross-reference purposes

There are related issues for 13 and 16 laptops, too:

Github:

Periodic loss of USB ports - Desktop · Issue #158 · FrameworkComputer/SoftwareFirmwareIssueTracker

USB-C Problems with USB-PD cycling every second · Issue #78 · FrameworkComputer/SoftwareFirmwareIssueTracker

Lost my rear USB-C ports - Framework Desktop - Framework Community

This link points to a newly created Github issue that acts as a point of collection for issues relating to the ones described in this post