My Framework 16 with GPU module from batch 19 suddenly started smoking while I was using it. I smelled melting plastic and looked down to see very thick smoke coming from beneath the lower right quadrant of the keyboard.
I immediately turned the laptop off and disassembled it. I removed the battery and I noted minor damage to it that might just be cosmetic, but given the smoke I’m not at all sure. There doesn’t seem to be any obvious signs of fire but the entire inside is black so it might be hard to tell.
Submitted a ticket a short time ago but I wanted to see if this is a common problem people are seeing. Has anyone experienced anything like this with their Framework laptop? Am I overreacting?
Looks like a faulty battery to me. I’d take it out, reassemble the Laptop and power it on for a minute to make sure. If it’s not smoking anymore, a replacement battery should do the job. Otherwise there’s more testing to be done to determine the origin.
But in order to invoke your guarantee, it’s best to follow the orders given by the Framework support team.
It’s the first time I read about such an issue here, so I’d guess it’s not common.
I don’t really see damage in the picture, or charring, BUT what you are describing sounds very serious! I would recommend that you not use the battery any further! Lipo batteries are incredibly dangerous and are almost impossible to extinguish should they start on fire. Even if it was just the BMS, I just wouldn’t risk it.
The center of the photo shows that the down side(not the bottom of the battery)was blown a big hole
I think the black colored T shaped thing has risk of penetrating the battery during installation, I would recommend a redesign of this part on later batches
Like the others said. If the battery catches fire you can not extinguish it.
Just take it out and use the FW16 with just the Charger attached.
And if you are worried that the battery might explode. Store it in a safe place like a cooking pot with lid. Or more safe would be a bucket filled with sand and the battery in the midlle.
Thanks everyone for the comments, I’m glad that this is at least an uncommon problem. I’m still fairly confused because I’m not convinced the battery is damaged, there’s no telltale “ravioli” shape of the battery cells, but a small puncture from that T shaped piece is certainly plausible. Last night I chucked the battery in the bath tub with an auto extinguisher and it appears to have survived the night without self immolation.
I figure it’ll take support a while to get back to me due to their increased workload so I’m just going to wait until they tell me what to do. Thanks again to the community for jumping on this one, I really appreciate the viewpoints.
Was it black smoke? Sounds very much like a lithium battery failure. Be careful, that smoke is very toxic. Hard to tell in the picture, but the glare makes it look like the battery might be a bit swollen? Any amount of air/puffiness means the battery is failing…
Wow @Jack_D ! I am glad you caught it when you did. Very thick black smoke is a terrible sign. There are thermal fuses in the more modern packs too that may have blown to prevent a runaway cell.
Just like @Chr said, treat the battery as though it is compromised and do NOT put it back in the machine. If support suggests putting it back in to “test it out” ask them if they would like to buy you a new house or pay the burn unit bills at the hospital. (i.e. politely refuse to energize it or reinstall it)
That is not a little 5000mAH rechargeable cell; if it goes up it will be a spectacular fire that you will have seconds to escape from before it catches anything that will combust around it on fire.
Not all failed cells “ravioli” (great description BTW, I never heard of that but it makes sense) and puff out like the delicious Italian meal. Especially since the black smoke “escaped”; the puffiness is from the gases being trapped inside the packaging.
Hopefully @Destroya, @Matt_Hartley, or someone from Framework sees this and gets your ticket addressed right away. From an engineering viewpoint, they likely will be interested in getting the whole machine back including the battery. Though if they do, it will have to be shipped back ground as it is against IATA regulations to transport damaged batteries.
Your issue is the first I think anyone has reported on the FW16 models. Though an oddity, it is extremely rare with the better quality battery designs and manufacturing.
A safer place to store the pack is outside in the yard wrapped in a plastic bag a few times with a brick or rock on top. Maybe a few rocks on the sides so the brick/rock doesn’t press down on it further. This way if it does decide to eat itself alive, it will just burn by itself into dirt.
Kudos to you for not freaking out when it happened and blasting the forums in a panic.
If you have more pictures, it would be interesting to see what other damage was done.
Please take photos at different angles, looks like this part of the battery is punctured
For me it only happened once but that was due to me crashing my DIY drone into a rock, not related to computer. What I did is to remove the battery and put it in a cool, dry place. The punctured battery might take days if not weeks to fully stop it’s chemical reaction with air, after measuring the voltage dropped to zero I use a hobby charger and discharge the other cells of the pack, the dispose of the battery pack.
The BMS on a laptop battery should disable the battery if the temperature or the voltage of a cell is way off but as I explained above the voltage might decline over the course of days.
Although the smoke is likely from the battery, there’s a chance of other possibilities, wait for official support to conclude what the problem is and following solutions.
My ask from the community: if anyone else has a recent batch Framework 16 laptop, please have a look at these images and tell me if anything looks different.
Yeah the smoke burned the back of my throat for the rest of the night. I was a bit panicky but thankfully I was awake or else my house probably would’ve burned down. I’m pretty upset but as you mentioned these types of things are extremely rare. I just want a reply from support on this but they seem to be very backlogged. Still, I’d hope something like this would be a priority for them… we’ll see, it’s only been 24 hours.
The forbidden ravioli…
The battery is still in the original inverted ravioli shape, somewhat concave. The new images I’m uploading make that a bit clearer.
That was my initial thought but unfortunately we’re under wildfire warning in my part of California so I’m hesitant to put it outside with all the dry brush… My current setup is a smoke detector next to the bath tub, fire extinguisher bomb on top, fire extinguisher by the door, backup fire extinguisher at my bedside. It’s gonna be a fun few days until they get back to me with instructions and a shipping label to send it all back.
It looks like the cells are not puffed up or swollen. This looks like a good sign.
But I do not think they would provide a shipping label since there is still a obvious fire hazard. My guess is that you should properly dispose of the battery at a near recycling center and FW will provide a new battery.
Given the consensus is the battery failed it may be worth suggesting to Framewotk that the charging could be wrong and hence replacing the battery a) may not work, b) could result in a worse outcome.
It looks more like a blow out than a puncture. So why the blow out? The batteries are usually 50% charged before transit so the damaged happed after that ???
Personally I would consider and ask about returning the laptop.
Support is under a bit of a backlog due to the recent launch with response times being 3-5 business days. If you’ve received the autoreply, then you are in the queue and support should get to you shortly. Please don’t make additional support requests as that can delay the response.
If support suggests putting it back in to “test it out” ask them if they would like to buy you a new house or pay the burn unit bills at the hospital. (i.e. politely refuse to energize it or reinstall it) 
Kudos to you for not freaking out when it happened and blasting the forums in a panic. 
