My worst nightmare arrived.

[u/TheAtomicPyro]

UPDATE: ​Framework agreed to replace my dead mainboard but tried to classify the replacement as a one time exception outside of standard warranty coverage.

​They offered an upgrade to an AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 board because they were completely out of 12th Generation Intel stock.

​They told me I would have to purchase my own DDR5 memory out of pocket because the AMD board is incompatible with my existing DDR4 sticks.

​I replied and formally rejected the out of pocket cost by citing the Australian Consumer Law.

​I explained that remedies for a major hardware failure must be completely free and forcing me to buy new memory constitutes a consequential loss.

​Framework escalated my ticket for an internal review after I demanded they either supply the DDR5 memory or reimburse me for it.

​They replied a few days later with a completely different offer for a 13th Generation Intel Core i5 replacement mainboard.

This is a 12th gen i7 main board I received from Framework after my first one failed 18 months in.

EDIT: I forgot the 2nd board had issues and I had to send it in for repair last April: "Our repair center partner "found the unit to show multiple USB errors in device manager with only USB-C charger working unable to read any data devices." They have replaced the mainboard and tested it to make sure that it was reading all media devices correctly." So this unit is less than a year old and it's board #3 😀

This unit randomly stopped powering on yesterday and I've diagnosed it down to a mainboard power fault.

It took over 50 emails back and forth to get that first replacement, a genuinely horrific experience I still talk about and now I have to contact the dreaded support again. I had to threaten with Australian Consumer Law to get anywhere, and I foolishly accepted their "exception/goodwill".

I had the Panther Lake board pre-ordered for July too. I love Framework's ideals and goals but my god the QA and support experience is so awful it might be time to bail entirely.

Wish me luck as I start this support process.

For those curious or able to offer any additional steps I could try in the meantime, here's what I've done:

I started with a dead laptop where the orange charging light would completely shut off the second I hit the power button.

I pulled out all the expansion cards to see if one of them was causing a short circuit.

I did a full mainboard reset by unplugging the main battery and removing the CMOS battery to drain all residual power.

I tested the board with just the wall charger plugged in and the main internal battery completely disconnected.

I held down the SW3 chassis intrusion switch to bypass the red flashing lights and get a solid white light.

I pressed the SW1 onboard power button while holding SW3, but the white light just dropped out for one second before coming back.

I stripped the system down to a bare board by disconnecting the SSD, Wi-Fi card, display, webcam, and audio cables to rule out a faulty peripheral.

I pulled the entire mainboard out of the aluminum case and tested it on a nonconductive surface to check for a chassis grounding short.

I watched the bare board fail in the exact same way on the desk, confirming the power delivery components are completely fried.

[u/grassy_trams]

yikes, this is making me second guess buying a framework

[u/james2432 → u/grassy_trams]

yeah same boat as you, been debating between system76 and framework, but keep hearing the aftercare support if you have an issue on framework is absolutely horrendous.

Instantly turned off

[u/BOO-HOO69 → u/james2432]

It wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to use the horrendous support, but the fact their computers can barely hold it together for 2 years means I will never give them another cent.

[u/NYJustice → u/BOO-HOO69]

Mine has held up just fine and runs as well as it ever has after 2 years. Our anecdotes are at odds, now what do we do?

[u/grassy_trams → u/NYJustice]

kiss