Also note that ever since the launch of Framework 16 pre-orders, support has been swamped with various requests. They are working hard to keep up, but their responses may be a bit slower than usual right now.
Rework Instructions for 11th Gen Mainboards to enable powering the RTC circuit from the main battery
Thanks for the responses. I’ll copy this over to the other thread. It looks like posts there gain more traction. But yes, to answer your question, I provided the requested information after receiving the initial automated email.
And I totally understand having delays, but 10+ days without a follow up is unacceptable, especially for a known issue and having all of the information provided. This appears to be abnormal from what I’ve read about Framework support response times so maybe there’s something else going on, but it doesn’t make matters surrounding this design flaw any less frustrating.
Monday 28th I sent the request.
Answer from support that they have ordered a module for me on 30.08.23.
No complaints here!
Hi @Will4974,
We did indeed receive your response with the requested information on August 22nd at 7:29pm PDT. Your order is in queue for handling today. Thank you for your patience while we worked through the backlog. Our apologies for the delays as we received a large influx of requests in a very short window.
Thanks for getting back to me. I’ve received the order confirmation and shipment tracking info.
The RTC Battery Substitute modules arrived today, I have updated both boards, and so far so good. I am no expert at soldering, but I did practice by doing the HDMI card re-work. I found this job to be substantially easier. Not simple, but the soldering was less challenging for me.
Thank you to everyone at Framework for coming up with this rework.
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The HDMI power saving rework?
If you did that one without problem, then you might be better than you give yourself credit for. Getting a wire on a QFN-40 with its 0.5mm pitch is not the easiest. 
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Oh, I wouldn’t say that I did it with no problem. By some miracle I managed to pull it off successfully. I have another one, but I haven’t yet worked up the courage to attempt it. I do think that picking up a pinecil soldering iron has made things easier for me.
Edit: the following in this post is NOT correct. Leaving it here for continuity, and I can’t figure out how to do strikethrough text.
One side effect of the change that I am still trying to sort out is that the post codes no longer happen. That is, the lights don’t blink out post codes on boot. If I hold down F2 to go into the BIOS, they do, but otherwise there are a couple of lights when powering on but not the typical post codes that I am used to. I could try pulling the substitute and reinstalling the battery, but I would rather not do so as the holder is extremely fragile. It doesn’t seem to affect anything in terms of the operation of the machine, but if something does go bad they are important when diagnosing things.
I have made the change on both machines, but one is on the 3.17 bios while the other is on the 3.19 version. No difference wrt presence of POST lights between the machines.
The POST and diagnostic codes are only displayed if the machine fails to boot beyond the firmware after ~15 seconds (source). This code hasn’t changed in about two years, and I do not believe that the RTC battery shim should have any effect on it.
FWIW: I have been running with the shim for a few months now (disclosure: I was one of the moderators mentioned above who tested this out) and have not observed a change in the diagnostic code behavior. 
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@DHowett - thank you for the clarification and education! I got used to seeing them as they would fire when I was entering my power-on password, which I never could do in time to head them off.
I’ll shut down the machine and see if they go off.
Edit to add - rebooted, and indeed the post code lights are firing when I don’t get my password entered in time. Apologies for the confusion.
Have a great day!
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Some options
<s> text </s> (or <strike> test </strike>) Strike-through
<del> text </del> Red strike-through
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Count me in as another with a broken RTC cradle 
Otherwise got it installed without too much trouble and boots fine now! Thankful to have a permanent solution.
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Have yet to attempt the soldering, wonder why you think the pinecil soldering iron makes a difference. (I will buy something, probably on Amazon).
Well, generally for soldering delicate electronics, you want a good, small soldering iron. if the iron is too large, you might apply too much heat or touch/damage things that you don’t want to touch. But if you don’t already have a suitable soldering iron (and practised with it), i definitely don’t recommend this rework.
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You are not soldering to a ground plane or anything, so the Pinecil (or anything else with electronic temperature control) should be more than fine! I would recommend solder with lead and as thin as possible if you don’t have a lot of experience (just take care you are in a well ventilated room and breathe out while applying solder).
Edit: I misunderstood what you wrote. I don’t recommend buying “something” from Amazon. You are working on a 1000$ laptop. Don’t cheap out. TS101 or Pinecil would be the minimum.
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Flux is probably also a good idea.
Honestly, these points are tiny enough and there is enough that can go wrong throughout the entire process that I strongly suggest against attempting to do this unless you have previous soldering experience. Not the best idea to have your first rodeo with a thousand dollar laptop.
I have yet to receive any followup from support since my initial submission back on August 10th. Fingers crossed…
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Johnathan, Well, I’m basically a writer, all my life… worked at CMP and ZD, among others along the way, do non-profit grant writing and gov consulting now in Brooklyn and Queens. I need this laptop on the road, as I spend a lot of my time traveling and off power plugs as I do this and that.
Can’t afford a new laptop at my age (I go back to teletype machines and punch cards and 360 computers), so I have little choice but to attempt this.
Much thanks.
Simon, TS101? I saw the post about pinecil. Am considering how to proceed here, so will take some time to figure this out.
Much thanks.
TS100 is the item that fathered the Pinecil. The idea of a usb powered electronically controlled soldering iron. TS101 is basically the upgraded version of TS100.
If you don’t feel comfortable maybe you can find a local repair shop that does board level repair. They should be more than capable to do it.
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