[RESPONDED] Charging Problems: sometimes not charging or draining battery (bios 3.10)

Community Support
#1

Hi All,

I have a number of weird problems with charging my laptop (11th gen, Windows 11, diy edition). At times, when I plug in my charger, the light will not turn on, or flicker, or turn off after a few seconds. The laptop will not charge then. Worryingly, the charger itself will then stop working for a few minutes on other devices, too. After a few minutes, the charger will work again. So it seems that some sort of protection in the charger is triggered which resets after a few minutes. I have observed this behaviour with two different Macbook chargers (61 watts), so I think I can rule out the individual charger being the problem.

At other times, the charger works, but differently on the two USB-C ports I have. On one port, it shows that the laptop is charging, but the battery still slowy drains while using the laptop. On the other port, the laptop charges as usual.

This makes me think that there is something wrong with the USB-ports.

I have updated the bios to 3.10, installed the driver package, reset the motherboard as detailed in the support, and checked whether the battery and touchpad connectors are properly seated, but the problem remains.

Does anybody have an idea?

#2

Do you have an original charger to see if it works with them?

Do you have these issues since the beginning?

Do all of your chargers show the same symptoms?

Have you checked your power supply via a ampermetre?

#3

I had a lot of problems too. It was all due ti the USB C Ugreen cable 100W. Its somewhere on this forum

1 Like
#4

We’ve seen issues reported with Macbook AC power adapters. If you can borrow, or have access to a non-Apple power adapter that’s putting out more than 60-watts and report back, that would be a good first start.

4 Likes
#5

Thanks for the replies! I’ll try to get a hold of a different power adapter and test it with that. All other usb-c power adapters I’ve got here are below 60 watts.

To answer some of the other questions: I tested two different Mac power bricks that both work fine on other devices. I haven’t tested it with a multimeter yet, but I’ll look into how I’d do that. The problems have been there from the start.

#6

If you read the blog post announcing the framework charger, its rated for 60w, so to fix your problem, you simply need to use an usb-c charger pulling 60 w or more. If I can recommend one to you, im using this one, which is under 60 euros in my contry and works well since I had it, no issue at all.

#7

Thanks, I’ll look for an adapter like that! I should clarify though that both Mac adapters that exhibit the problems are 61 watts. So a new adapter would only fix the problem if there is indeed a compatibility issue with Mac adapters despite the on paper correct wattage.

#8

The charger provides a max of 60W nominal, it doesn’t ‘pull’ 60W

It ‘pulls’ whatever is necessary decided by the Framework PD protocol and given it is not 100% efficient if the demand is for 60W it will pull more than that to function.

So in the case of the Framework charger it can provide a max of 60W

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#9

Just as an update: I got a new charger (ugreen 65w), and used it for the last couple of days. So far, the problems seem to be gone. So it appears that the problem was indeed the old Macbook charger.

I’ll keep you updated in case the problem resurfaces.

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#10

I very similar had problems with the 61W (A1718) on my 11th gen so it does seem like it might be an issue with it and the Framework, at least 11th gen.

I’m not sure if it cause the problem but shortly after trying the Apple charger I noticed overheating/bad(?) MOSFETs. I encourage you to look for the issue described here [IN TICKET] Piece of mainboard partially melted. It might be an issue that only presents with extended high load so might be worth running some stress tests and do so with power on the left (right hand side MOSFETs are on the underside of the board) so you can easily see if the plastic shielding gets melted.

#11

Hi @Marius_Backmann,

Can you please let us know the model number of the Apple Macbook charger that you were previously using that was causing issues?

Thanks!

#12

Sure! It’s an A 1718

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#13

Hi @Marius_Backmann,

Can you do us a favor and see if updating to our latest BIOS beta (3.17) has any effect on the usage of your Apple A1718 charger?

#14

Updating now, I’ll test it and will let you know. It might take a few days to see whether I can reproduce the issue.

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#15

Just a heads up: I’ve updated the BIOS to 3.17, and for the last few days, I couldn’t reproduce the issue. Seems like the problem is indeed resolved by the BIOS update. I’ll let you know it it resurfaces, though.

1 Like
#16

Heya @Marius_Backmann!

Yep, we tried to reproduce on 3.17 with your exact Apple Charger model and were unable to find an issue, so we’re glad 3.17 is working for you! Please let us know if you run into any other issues.

1 Like