What dock are you using for your FW16?

Framework Laptop 16
21

Hi Stoke,
I’m having the same problem with the stock FW16-charger. When going through my dock, the CPU frequency goes down to ~0.5 GHz and the system is basically useless. I opened a ticket describing the problem which got escalated two days ago. I didn’t hear back about it yet.
Just tried out the setup with the FW13-charger after reading your post and it works perfectly. Thanks for the idea. Apparently, it has something to do woth the FW16-charger.

1 Like
22

Glad it’s not just me!

I opened a ticket as well, but I think they just chocked it up to the dock, but that conclusion isn’t consistent with my findings.

I also ordered a 165W PD 3.1 Charger to see if it has something to do with the higher wattages. Will check this weekend

I didn’t think to check frequency, but that checks out, I’m getting the exact same behaviour. Where usage usage increase in the histogram is where I plugged in my dock using the fw16 charger.

image
image357×625 33.3 KB

I’m not entirely sure it’s the charger, it’s possible it’s the laptop firmware/onboard pd controller. I tested the fw16 charger and my dock on my old laptop, and had no issues.

I did find this in the logs; I ran dmesg while disconnecting/connecting the charger.

Here is the output when connecting the 180w directly to laptop (port 1)

on connection:

[ +21.668225] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)
[ +0.190072] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: unknown error 256
[ +0.000006] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: con3: failed to register partner alt modes (-5)
[ +0.193133] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: unknown error 256
[ +0.000007] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: con3: failed to register partner alt modes (-5)
[ +0.392757] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: unknown error 256
[ +0.000007] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: con3: failed to register partner alt modes (-5)

on disconnection:

[Mar 3 08:36] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)

Here is the output when connecting the 180w charger to the usb hub which is connected to port 4.

on connection:

[Mar 3 08:41] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: GET_CONNECTOR_STATUS failed (-95)

on disconnection:

[ +4.072244] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)
[ +5.632111] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)
[ +5.631937] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)
[ +5.632088] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)
[ +5.633701] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)
[ +5.630944] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)
[ +5.631782] ucsi_acpi USBC000:00: ucsi_handle_connector_change: ACK failed (-110)
23

Just to confirm your issue:

  1. FW16 charger through the PD MFD hub you are using has this issue.
  2. FW13 charger through the PD MFD hub you are using does not have this issue.

both chargers attached directly do not have this issue.

I suspect your FW16 charger or hub is triggering a power renegotiation over and over. Which is something we will need to try and root cause to investigate further.

24

On my end, correct. No issue plugged directly to laptop, but issues when plugged in through the dock. I’m not the one with the fw13 charger though. I have tried a 65w and 45w charger, and they both work great with the dock. Will try 100w and 165w this weekend.

I’ve also tried on a cheap, no-name dock, and had the exact same behavour.

25

That’s exactly what is happening in my case.
Thanks @Stoke for the deep dive here!

26

Would be great if you would share which powerbank model it is which is working so well with the FW 16.
Thx! :slight_smile:

1 Like
27

Of course my bad I forgot to I include the model.
It’s this one :

2 Likes
28

I tried out a 140W 3.1 PD charger today, and had some interesting results.

This is the charger and I’m testing on fully updated Fedora 39. Used FW EPR cable.

Plugged directly into the laptop, the charger would not provide “charge” (I was seeing about 5w discharge with powertop which is less then it was when unplugged). I tried multiple ports on both sides of the laptop.

With this charger plugged into the dock, I saw the same behaviour with the FW 180w charger. 0.5 CPU freq, stuttering, increased CPU utilization.

Updated to include:

I just tried this 100w Anker charger with my laptop/dock, and have noticed no issues.

29

My understanding of the power button on the dock is that it’s proprietary and/or only works on Dell devices.

I’ve plugged multiple machines over the years into my Dell WD19TB and only my dell laptop will recognize and perform the power on/off behavior. To be clear, the power button doesn’t work on my FW16 either.

30

Agree on that.
I however have another problem I can’t understand.

  • I configure my session to use the external monitor.
  • I configure the FW16 BIOS to power on the AC on is provided

When the laptop powers on:

  • I see the screen asking my for the password to unlock the encrypted drive fine.
  • I even see the logging screen (sddm) fine on my external screen.

However, as soon as I log in, the external screen turns dark.
I have to unplug the USB-C from my dock, and re-plug it in for the external screen to show the session.

Anyone knows what is going one?
Using the Display-port adapter on the dock, and usb-c is plugged to position 1.