Introduction
After over a year of prototyping and experiments, we've been able to come up with a way to reduce system power consumption when an HDMI Expansion Card is present, by making the card pretend that it is not a display output when there is no monitor connected.
You can rework an existing HDMI Expansion Card to have this behavior by following this guide to solder a jumper wire internally and flash new firmware to it. Note that this requires advanced soldering skills, so we recommend that you only try it if you're familiar with extremely fine-pitch SMT rework and have the necessary tools for it. Damage caused by failed reworks is not covered under warranty.
Beta release: Note that the firmware and instructions are still in beta, so there may be further revisions. The firmware update tool from our supplier currently is only available for Windows. We're also running a beta test with 2nd Gen HDMI Expansion Cards with Batch 1 of 13th Gen that has a slightly different modification.
Parts
No parts specified.
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With the T5 bit in your Framework Screwdriver, remove the two fasteners holding the lid onto the Expansion Card.
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Hold the Expansion Card with both of your thumbs on the lid and slide the lid towards the USB-C plug. It will take a little force to get the lid to unlatch.
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Using the T5 bit in your Framework Screwdriver, remove the two fasteners that hold the PCB in. This will let you get to the underside of the PCB, where you'll solder the jumper wire.
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This is the hard part! We recommend using a 28 AWG solid wire about 7mm long, along with a microscope, tweezers, a fine tip soldering iron, a tiny amount of solder, and some soldering flux. It takes very little solder to make the connection.
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In the first image, you can see the two points that need to be connected. The right pad on the unpopulated resistor footprint, to the third pad on the IC.
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In the second image, you can see an example of a wire soldered into place. Note how little solder is used for the connection. Be extra cautious to not use too much solder, bridging to other contacts, but enough solder that the circuit is solid. Take a close look with a microscope to ensure the solder joint is good.
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Screw the PCB back into place using the two black T5 fasteners.
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Slide the lid back on, and screw it on using the two silver T5 fasteners.
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Now that you've completed the hardware part of the rework, you can reflash the HDMI Expansion Card with the new firmware. Note that we currently only have a Windows-based updater available from our supplier.
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Download the HDMI Expansion Card version 105 firmware here. Unzip it. With the HDMI Expansion Card plugged in, run Framework_HDMI_Card_3.0.16.105.exe. After the update completes, you can run Framework_ReadVersion.exe to confirm that both "Image 1 version" and "Image 2 version" state 3.0.16 build 105.
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We also recommend marking the card in some way to indicate that you've modified it, in case you have multiple cards in the future.
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With the rework completed and the firmware flashed, you can expect to see improvements in power consumption in different scenarios. Make sure you're also running the latest firmware on your laptop to see the full results.
With the rework completed and the firmware flashed, you can expect to see improvements in power consumption in different scenarios. Make sure you're also running the latest firmware on your laptop to see the full results.
7 Comments
I've been practicing my micro soldering skills and am getting close to being comfortable enough to give this a try. However, I have a couple of questions regarding this section of the guide:
Beta release: Note that the firmware and instructions are still in beta, so there may be further revisions. The firmware update tool from our supplier currently is only available for Windows. We're also running a beta test with 2nd Gen HDMI Expansion Cards with Batch 1 of 13th Gen that has a slightly different modification.
1. What are the chances that the hardware modification instructions are going to be revised? I'm ok with re-flashing the firmware at a later date, but having to undo and redo this soldering would be pretty lame.
2. What are the chances of being able to flash the firmware under Linux, as I'm not a Windows user?
1. Unlikely. This connects the MCU to the pin required for detecting whether there's a monitor connected. So there's no need to remove it in the future.
2. We'll release a Linux updater for it soon, and it'll be supported in FWUPD/LVFS a bit later.
Successfully implemented this on 2x HDMI expansion cards. Immediately improved battery runtime although I didn't attempt to make quantitative power draw before/after measurements.
The flashing tool seems to only operate on the first module identified. I had two modules installed and had to remove one of them to flash the other.
You could add a suggestion to the guide to ask a repair shop to do it, if one isn't familiar with the process.
That avoids eWaste and might also be a marketing avenue on top
