Hi there!
Disclaimer that I know next to nothing about fixing computers, I got interested in Framework with the hopes to learn, and the curves been pretty tough for me so far.
I’ve been corresponding with support for over a month, and we’ve come to a difficult crossroads. I’m a digital artist, and my year-and-a-half old Framework 13 (intel 12th, windows 11) has gone kaput - the power light turns on, the side indicator LEDs flash, but boot doesn’t go anywhere after that. We’ve tried, well, one months worth of troubleshooting. After all this time, support thinks it may be a mainboard issue. Their options for me are send it over to them for thorough diagnostic and repairs at an undetermined price, or take a chance on buying a new mainboard and pray I can fix it myself, if that is in fact where the issue lays.
The third option on my mind would be to grab a sparkly new Framework 12 - as an artist, the touchscreen and upcoming stylus look really appetizing to me, and I had been considering an upgrade here and there on my 13 for some time. The only thing is that I really want to be able to recover my files. Almost two years of work, drafts, and art program settings are locked up in my old laptop. With my current situation, would it be possible to just pluck out and slap in my familiar OS (is that the right word?) with all of my stuff in it into a new 12? If so, how would I go about it? I’ve been looking through the forums on info about this, and I’ve only found people asking the question when it comes to porting over memory from completely different computers with a bunch of technical jargon I don’t quite get. How would I go about this Framework to Framework, if I can? Would you recommend I get a DIY edition and fill it with all the parts in my old laptop that still work, or get a pre-built like I did with my 13, and just replace whatever parts would ensure I keep my old files, if possible?
My biggest goals are to make the most economical and long lasting choice, as well as waste parts as little as possible, while getting to recover my old files (and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way). Any links to external tutorials or explanations are also appreciated, as I haven’t been able to find quite what I need despite diligent searching.
Thank you for your time, looking forward to hearing yall’s feedback!
As a general computer rule with –as yet– no specific framework experience I think it is quite likely you would be able to just copy the whole disk image over to a new drive and get rolling. The caveat is that the physical form factor of the M.2 card in the FW13 is a longer version than fits in the FW12. That means you’d need another computer of some kind that took multiple M.2 card sizes to use in the copy operation. If your FW13 was operable there would be more options like putting the smaller card in the larder FW13 slot just for the purposes of writing, and first read out the drive to an image on an external storage device and then write it back to the new card. But without that device being operable you’d be stuck with the smaller slot.
An en external USB M.2 drive reader would be another option to connect to the FW12 and read out your old system…potentially even just imaging it over the old drive.
The full system image will probably work to boot as long as you selected the same general processor type (e.g. don’t switch from AMD to Intel or to a different family). There are likely quite a few driver differences, but those should be ironed out after some updating on the new system.
Which OS in specific are you using? That might make a difference to somebody answering in more detail.
Thank you so much for this tip, I hadn’t considered that the displays between FW12 and the rest could be too different! Definitely taking this into account going forward.
Did you happen to purchase your Framework Computer with a credit card? Some credit cards automatically extend the manufacturers 1 year warranty to 2 years. This has to be done through your credit card company though. It certainly would be worth the trouble if they would repair it at hardly any cost to you.
Like others have said the color display on the Framework 12 is limited, especially for color accuracy. You would be better off using an iPad or another tablet for free drawing. Plus the backlog on the Framework 12 is months out. They are not even through most of the early preorders.
Presumably your work is precious just like most everyone’s is. Do not rely on the internal flash drive for safekeeping of all your work. Get an external backup drive or subscribe to a cloud service or something to keep your work available for just such an instance. It is not lost in this instance but what if that was not the case? A $75 backup drive could have avoided all of it. This is just my suggestion though.
Let us know how things turn out and we are happy to have you as part of the community! Thank you for sharing your story!
An external drive for backup would be a great idea regardless of how you chose to go about this! I’d say if you need color accuracy I’d avoid the FW12 unless you already have a color accurate display you’re already connecting to. If you choose to replace the main board it’s possible to just pop in your old solid sate drive (SSD). You’d probably have issues with drivers until you get new ones installed, although I would suggest reinstalling the operating system (OS) anyway after you backup all your files. You don’t really want remanentes of the old system hanging around on your SSD.
