Hi, my Framework DIY Edition i5-113G7 is now 3 years old and it’s battery is working extrem badly. It keeps the power just for 90 minutes max. Additionally the laptop very often gets really hot, even if I don’t use it. So I think it’s a good idea to buy a new battery. But I can’t find an explication if my Laptop is a Framework Laptop 11, 12 or 13? I need this information not just only for ordering the fitting battery but also for the correct BIOS and Drivers Downloads. So I would be graceful if someone could help me. Best regards, henning 
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Welcome to the community.
You have a Framework 13, this model has the 11th generation Intel chip on it.
It originally came with a 55Wh battery but they have a newer model that is 61Wh.
If ordering the newer 61Wh battery it WILL need a newer BIOS from the original BIOS that shipped with it.
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Hi pkunk, thanks a lot for your fast and helpful response. I will order now the new battery and I will download the the fitting BIOS Update and the Driver Bundle: Framework Laptop BIOS and Driver Releases (11th Gen Intel® Core™)
Is it important in which sequence I will set the two steps: first new battery, than the downloads?
Last question: is there an explication, why my laptop warms up so extremely? Best regards, henning
Couple of things, check to make sure the fan is working when the laptop is getting warm. Second check the windows task manager and make sure something isn’t using lots of cpu even when idle. That might be the cause for it running so hot and the terrible battery life you’ve been getting lately.
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Hi turbo5546, thank you for your notes! The fan is working sometimes, when the laptop heats up, but in the most cases it doesn’t. I already thought it may be helpful to clean it from dust, but I hardly didn’t see any.
The windows task manager shows:
102 Windows processes
82 background processes
7 apps
using all together 0 – 42% CPU (changing every second) and 40% RAM (= approx. 6,600 MB)
I’ve no idea if this are many processes, but for me it seems to be a high amount. Should I shut down thoses processes? Best regards, henning
Windows is kinda noisy, it loves to run background optimizations sometimes, but it usually shouldn’t if you are “using” it at all. And it really should float around just a couple of percent usage when idle. Might need to look at the task list and see sort by cpu usage and see if something is consistently using a large amount of cpu by having it sort by CPU usage.
On the battery front you can try downloading a tool called hwinfo64 or hardware info 64. That tool will let you read the battery status and will show you wear leveling and fully charged capacity vs designed capacity to see if your battery is worn out. hwinfo64 can also read the temperature sensors for the cpu and let you know if it is running really hot while idle.
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Hi!
Updating the BIOS before installing the new battery would be my approach. I believe everything is cumulative on the BIOS updates so you should not need to update to an intermediary before updating to the latest BIOS.
You can always start a ticket with support and tell them what BIOS you have currently and if the agree that the latest BIOS is ok to update to or if they suggest doing a two step approach like one from a few years ago (if they made some big changes) and then migrating to the latest.
Support is the best resource when it comes to specific technical guidance as they have the most experience at it.
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Certainly replacing the battery with a newer battery is a good idea and updating the BIOS BEFORE you install the new battery is also a good idea.
If you are still running Windows 10, you might want to try booting up your PC by using one of the Linux distributions to see how your Framework would work with Linux.
Many Linux versions allow you to boot up your Framework and try running Linux on it without installing Linux on your Frameworks drive or making any changes to Windows. This allows Linux to load from a bootable USB flash drive and run in RAM making no changes to your computer but allowing you to try using Linux and seeing what it is like to use it.
Linux makes very efficient use of RAM and cpu power so you may find that your Framework works faster with Linux than it does with Windows. Even if you are using Windows 11, I would still give Linux a try.
Everything that most people do in Windows, including playing many Windows games if you play games, can be done in Linux. There is a great amount of excellent completely free software available for Linux.
You can go to the Distrowatch website to read reviews of different versions of Linux as well as to find links to the websites for the various versions of Linux. When you go to one of the Linux distro websites, you will find detailed instructions for how to download Linux onto a USB flash drive and boot up your PC to try using Linux.
The Linux distributions I would recommend trying include Red Hat KDE (which is one of the Linux distributions officially supported by Framework), LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition), or MX-Linux with KDE are Linux distributions which are easy for beginners to Linux, although most Linux distributions will probably run well on your Framework.
The Framework website has instructions on how to install Linux on Framework computers if you decide that you want to run Linux on your Framework.
You mean background de-optimization XD
The short battery life is more higher power consumption than low battery capacity. Switching to 61Wh is less effective than debloating
Hi Linux_Fan, thank for you for encouraging me to give linux a try! Actually I’m using windows 11 but you convinced me that Linux could be a better alternative, also by saving energy. Let’s see when I will have some free hours to start the experiment, which seems for me - as a not highly experienced person in technical issues - to be a little exciting …
thank you - I will look for a suitable hwinfo64-version for my laptop. Is it a big risk if I also try to shut down some of the mentioned 82 background processes on may laptop to save energy?
Depends, the easiest way is to use the task manager to look through your startup applications and disable applications you don’t need, Otherwise a large portion of them are key to windows functionality.
For hwinfo64 just get the latest version and it will work fine, it will at least let you check your battery health and determine if your battery is just worn out or if you have some application or applications eating battery life.
As for linux is does have it ups and downs, I’ve been running it for a little over a year and it has served me well over windows, but just know you will have to spend some time in the terminal from time to time fixing something once in a while. It is really best experienced as a secondary OS when you are first starting out and trying to learn.
Be careful just selecting and terminating background processes. It could have unintended consequences to Windows.
One of the utilities I have had lots of success with is Chris Titus’ utility.
To download it: Open a PowerShell (as Administrator) and type (or copy/paste) :
iwr -useb https://christitus.com/win | iex
Caution to use this utilty at your own risk, though it is highly customizable and does create restore points and can revert things back to their original settings if needed. (A proper system backup is always a good idea to have in place too!)
It is constantly being updated via GitHub and there are a number of YouTube videos about what different tasks do. Let us know how it turns out.
Hi, thanks to your encouragement I installed the HWinfo and so I learned more about my battery, especially that it has lost 10.000 mWh of his max loading capacity. So its Degree of wear (in German: “Verschleißgrad”) is at 18,3 percent (after aprox. 3 years of working)
Gerätename: Framewo
Herstellername: NVT
Seriennummer: 00D4
Eindeutige ID: 00D4NVTFramewo
Chemie: Lithium Ion
Nennkapazität: 55009 mWh
Voll geladene Kapazität: 44922 mWh
Verschleißgrad: 18.3 %
Hi pkunk, I stopped some background processes which seemed for me to be not essential. Some I could delete, some not, others gave me a warning. So I have the impression that system helps me avoiding serious mistakes.
I also downloaded Chris Titus’ utility an now I have to learn (using youtube) what to do with all this options “Install, tweaks, config, updates, Microwin …” For the beginning I started simply with installing the “ungoogeld” browser, just for trying out the possibilities. So thanks a lot to all of you for encouraging me, because it’s the first time for me to go a little deeper under the surface of my laptop, which is a nice thing!
Glad to hear you made some progress. His utility is the work of a lot of people on the Internet.
The two things I use the most are the Tweaks Tab. I click on Standard and adjust what I feel is best for my needs then click Run Tweaks.
The Install tab is great to get some core programs loaded without a lot of hassle.
It makes a quick job of doing some of the tasks I used to do by hand whenever setting up a computer for someone or myself. The fact it has a nice graphical interface is pretty fantastic.
The MicroWin is more for just creating a super small Windows installation if I remember right. Let us know how you are progressing.