+ <li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch0">“Repasting” with PTM 7950</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch1">Semi-long term review</a></li><li><ul class="tocnode"><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch2">Disassembly reveals …</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch3">Other early adopter issues</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch4">How well did it hold up?</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch5">Random rants</a></li></ul></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch6">Contemplating upgrades</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch7">RTC

+battery substitute module installation and upgrades</a></li><li><ul class="tocnode"><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch8">Troubleshooting the modded

+laptop</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch9">Other upgrades</a></li></ul></li></ul>

+<p>Updated 2023-11-27: Added stuff on the RTC battery replacement module

+installation and part swap.</p>

+<h2 id="tocanch7" class="tvis">RTC

+battery substitute module installation and upgrades</h2>

+<p>The battery module was sent out the day before US Thanksgiving. I

+also decided to treat myself with the aforementioned matte screen

+upgrade and a proper Chinese keyboard, which were sent out on the same

+day.</p>

+<p>Following the official guide linked above, the installation was

+pretty straight forward. I don’t have stellar soldering skills or very

+stable hands, but here are a few photos from the installation plus my

+commentry.</p>

+<table>

+<tbody><tr>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-rtcmp.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-rtcmp.jpg"></a> <br>RTC battery

+substitute module packing. Unassuming.

+</div>

+</td>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-rtcmi.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-rtcmi.jpg"></a> <br>The module itself.

+</div>

+</td>

+</tr>

+<tr>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-rtcmt.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-rtcmt.jpg"></a> <br>After soldering. I

+applied a <em>little</em> bit too much solder.

+</div>

+</td>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-rtcmf.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-rtcmf.jpg"></a> <br>Final position.

+</div>

+</td>

+</tr>

+</tbody></table>

+<h3 id="tocanch8" class="tvis">Troubleshooting the modded

+laptop</h3>

+<p>Unfortunately, as things usually are for me, it didn’t go right after

+this point. Immediately after finishing the mod the machine still

+refused to turn on with the AC adaptor unplugged. It could boot with the

+adaptor plugged in and stay on after unplugging it while the laptop is

+running. Unplugging the machine with it turned off would erase all CMOS

+data. This was the exact same behavior exhibited before I performed the

+RTC battery modification.</p>

+<p>So I had to start the troubleshooting process. The power wire to the

+RTC battery substitute module measured 17.5 V to ground when the machine

+was powered on, so I didn’t mess up the soldering <a id="n4" href="#note4" class="note">[4]</a>. The outer ring of the module measured 3.2 V to ground,

+so the module itself is good. Neither values changed when I turned the

+machine off or had it unplugged after that. At this point pretty much

+all hardware faults that I could think of have been ruled out.</p>

+<p>Then I remembered that my machine is on BIOS version 3.17, while the

+latest release was 3.19 for this motherboard. So I decided to give that

+a shot. I quickly grabbed the update from their website and installed

+it, and voilà: the machine was able to turn on without the AC power

+attached once the BIOS has been updated.</p>

+<p>I still felt a bit iffy with my installation though, so I decided to

+go through the official installation guide again to make sure I followed

+everything – and of course I did not. There is apparently a specific

+orientation requirement for the module (a working one is shown in the

+second picture of step 3 in the guide). So I adjusted mine to match the

+picture for good measure, which resulted in the final installation photo

+shown above. There was also a comment under the official mentioning the

+module orientation issue.</p>

+<table>

+<tbody><tr>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-rtctv0.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-rtctv0.jpg"></a> <br>3.2 V present on

+outer ring of the module with the computer powered on and plugged in.

+</div>

+</td>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-rtctv1.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-rtctv1.jpg"></a> <br>17.5 V going into

+the module with the computer powered on and plugged in.

+</div>

+</td>

+</tr>

+<tr>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-rtctv2.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-rtctv2.jpg"></a> <br>3.2 V still

+present when the machine is turned off but remain plugged in.

+</div>

+</td>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-rtctv3.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-rtctv3.jpg"></a> <br>3.2 V still

+present when the machine is both turned off and unplugged.

+</div>

+</td>

+</tr>

+</tbody></table>

+<p>By now I have the RTC battery substitute module fully working as

+Framework intended. However I couldn’t help but notice that this still

+doesn’t give the laptop the normally expected behavior according to the

+schematic of the module and a statement from Framework themselves, both

+of which can be found

+<a href="https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/RTCRework">here</a>. For a

+normal laptop one would expect when its main battery runs out it would

+still be able to keep time and the BIOS configuration. However with this

+modification being essentially just a voltage regulator (NCP718) and

+having no significant energy storage at all, the machine

+<strong>will</strong> lose all CMOS data once the main battery cuts out,

+which functions more like a normal laptop with a dead CMOS battery. But

+I guess it’s probably better than losing CMOS data even with a fully

+charged main battery…</p>

+<h3 id="tocanch9" class="tvis">Other upgrades</h3>

+<p>I actually performed these part swaps between soldering the battery

+module thingy in and the troubleshooting process. But that didn’t really

+matter because these upgrades went pretty smoothly without any drama.

+There were a lot of screws to undo and screw back in though (25 black

+ones and <strong>48</strong> silver ones?? I couldn’t really keep track

+of the number.) <a id="n5" href="#note5" class="note">[5]</a> These screws are pretty annoying to

+handle because they have incredibly short shanks and are incredibly easy

+to strip. With the official screw driver they easily stick together and

+the ifixit screw driver couldn’t reliably pick them up. The sheer number

+of them only added to the trouble I had to go through to replace my

+perfectly working keyboard with one that has additional legends on the

+keys that I will barely look at. Is it really worth the trouble? (Yes…

+if it had a trackpoint goddammit!)</p>

+<table>

+<tbody><tr>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-scr.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-scr.jpg"></a> <br>The screen. Wanky

+Apple-esque packaging.

+</div>

+</td>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-scp.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-scp.jpg"></a> <br>Screen unboxed.

+Apparently the newer 13 inch AMD model comes with this type of screen.

+<br>(which is objectively superior btw)

+</div>

+</td>

+</tr>

+<tr>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-kbp.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-kbp.jpg"></a> <br>Keyboard unboxed. I

+can type Chinese using bopomofo at like 3 ch/min and I barely remember

+anything about Cangjie.

+</div>

+</td>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-ksc.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-ksc.jpg"></a> <br>National guild of

+screws. Nobody will get this reference.

+</div>

+</td>

+</tr>

+<tr>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-scc.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-scc.jpg"></a> <br>The screens side by

+side. Original screen on the left. The matte screen actually looked very

+good for what it is.

+</div>

+</td>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-scb.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-scb.jpg"></a> <br>Back of the screens.

+Original on the left. Both made by BOE.

+</div>

+</td>

+</tr>

+<tr>

+<td>

+<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">

+<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fw-kbb.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fw-kbb.jpg"></a> <br>The new keyboard

+with backlight on. Fun fact: practically all computers sold in mainland

+China come with a standard US ANSI keyboard.

+</div>

+</td>

+<td>

+</td>

+</tr>

+</tbody></table>

+<br></span><span class="TText"><a id="note2" href="#n2">[2]</a>: Their

+run Gentoo. Now laugh at me as you wish.<br></span><span class="TText"><a id="note4" href="#n4">[4]</a>: Even

+admittedly it looked pretty bad as all my soldering jobs have been so

+far.<br></span><span class="TText"><a id="note5" href="#n5">[5]</a>: So many that they actually forgot to circle

+out two of them in their official guide. Multiple comments under the

+guide already pointed this out, but Framework hasn’t modified the guide

+at the time of writing.<br></span></div>