Yes. They make M.2 SSDs in the 2230 module size The Steam Deck and other gaming handhelds (ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw) uses this size drive. They are more expensive at higher capacities, but available.
That said, I very much doubt that one could swap the M.2 slot used for the WiFi/BT with a storage drive without some hardware changes, even if the card fits. At the very least, the firmware would probably need to be updated to account for the different card type.
Most likely not.
The PCIe pins may not even be connected to the M.2 slot. Check the schematics if this is important to you.
The M.2 slot keying may be wrong.
PCIe may also open up the potential for a security compromise (the point being that the card that is currently in the slot runs untrusted, unauditable, blackbox code and hence must be denied unrestricted access to main memory).
So, in my current day to day life it’s common that one battery is enough since they last probably 4 hours or something (highly dependent on use). If I’m going on a longer trip I might throw one or two batteries in my pocket. If I’m traveling on a plane or train, I take them all.
The chargers i am using were $10 amazon junk. Originally I had 3 chargers since I had 4 batteries, but more recently two of them broke and I just have 1 charger and 1 spare librem 5 that I am using as a charger, which is admittedly quite silly.
I had been thinking that maybe I would take the 2 broken chargers and frankenstein them together into 1 working charger but generally they were probably not designed to be user-disassembled and are just cheap junk. So a better charger might be smart. But they really work. I just put the battery in there and slide the little metal slider to connect to positive and negative, and it charges up the battery. It charges a little bit slower than the battery does inside of a Llibrem 5 but that’s probably OK and honestly might be good for safety, I don’t know.
Thanks, I’ll look into getting one. Unfortunately I live outside the US and I only had the foresight to buy one extra battery.
I don’t know how to get another one (other than buying another phone) unfortunately.
I only see 2 pins, so it does not communicate with the chip on the battery or monitor its temperature.
There are multiple Kastor chargers on amazon and it is difficult to tell which one you have. Would you mind sharing the ASIN for it? (As far as I know, no one else has mentioned another charger that works with a Librem 5 battery.)
You can send your Librem 5 to Purism, then they can send it back with extra batteries to satisfy IATA requirements.
Preferably sent to Purism with the battery removed so that one battery could be included inside and one stuffed into the box. It’s just a workaround though. Hopefully one day the actual problem gets solved.
OK - I am impressed with the number and quality of responses. I needed to use my phone and had left the SIM in the S10 until last night when I determined I would throw it back in the L5 and see if I can try some of the suggestions.
The Phone still didn’t work with the mic and there were updates to apply. I applied the updates and not the phone will not boot, it lets me enter the decryption pass phrase, then get stuck in a loop where the screen is grey for a while, goes dark, the grey again for a while.
I was looking for instructions on doing a “Factory Reset” but had no joy finding instructions.
Would that be my next step to try or is there something else I can try there?
I am keen to get that SIM out of the SA10 again…
Please and thanks
There is no “factory reset” as such. You’ll have to reinstall the OS, aka “reflash” it. This will wipe everything from your device and make a fresh install.
Instructions, courtesy of @FranklyFlawless : Librem 5 out of memory on Boot partition - #26 by FranklyFlawless
If you’re not running a recent GNU/Linux Debian derivative on your computer, you’ll also need to make a bootable/live USB of one of those, boot into it on your computer, then complete the process of reflashing. (It won’t require actually installing anything on your computer, if you’re using the live USB.)
If you are running a Linux distro already, see if the package uuu is available in the repository, with sudo apt install uuu. If it works, then you can proceed. If not, then the live USB is probably the way to go, even if you’re already running a Linux distro.
Presumably, you tried rebooting and that didn’t correct it?
And the battery had adequate charge?
Thanks for this.
Indeed. Now you mention it, I had noticed at boot messages that /boot was running out of space. On my Ubuntu boxes I use apt autoremove - maybe I should have tried that on the L5, but now I can’t get to shell.
Thank you for that link, I’ll try it tonight.
Most appreciated.
Keep us informed in this thread if you require any technical support.
You know - I put this aside, time and other priorities took over.
I want to revisit this now, but rather than me do it, since I have a smashed screen and case, I would like to know if it would be possible to return the phone, have it factory reset with a new screen and rear case, at my cost.
Would that be an option?
Yes, contact Purism support:
Note that their availability to handle your issue may be affected due to a break at the end of December:
If you want to replace the hardware parts yourself, you can order them from the Purism shop, disassemble the Librem 5, then swap the damaged parts with the new ones:
So I found myself motivated to have a go at this tonight. The instructions here were simple, the desktop side went quickly and exactly as described, however, I cannot get the phone to turn on.
Would it be expected that leaving the battery in the phone 5 months would drain it completely? I plugged it into a USB C port on my Ubuntu Desktop, but it did not respond or attempt to charge, so I plugged it into a 5V 3.4A USB on a power bar. It this time buzzed the LED flashed a few colours (green, orange and blue if I remember correctly, I really didn’t pay sufficient attention I guess) and now it is solid red. It’s been plugged in a good hour and no change. If I unplug it the LED goes out. Plugging it back in and no buzzing or other signs of life other than a read LED. It doesn’t respond when pressing, or holding the power button.
Have I pooched my battery? I’ll leave it plugged in overnight and see if there is any change, but my initial excitement that I may turn my expensive paper weight back into a phone has somewhat dimmed.
I’ll report back tomorrow, since I was told to reach out here if I have troubles doing this. Hopefully with good news. Thanks @FranklyFlawless for the help thus far.
Try holding the power button for fifteen seconds, then release and rehold it for one second.
Thanks for the amazingly prompt reply!
Unfortunately that doesn’t change the behaviour. The battery does seem to be recognised as if I pull it the LED flashes red until I put it back in and it goes solid red.
If you want to reflash the Librem 5, I suggest using PureOS on a Live USB.
OK - happy to try it, but if the phone wont turn on how can I flash it? Would that not be a requirement?
I noticed a different behaviour when I plugged the USB into my Ubuntu box this time. Previously nothing happened, now the LED comes on red.
I wonder if having had the phone plugged into a higher power USB supply for an hour it has taken a small charge? I admit I am completely guessing here.
I very much appreciate the help in real time! It’s late and I think I will leave the phone plugged into the 3.4A power bar until morning and take this up again booting to Pure-OS.
Does it matter what version? Should I just use the latest?
Please and thanks
The Librem 5 is able to be reflashed without a functioning operating system. Use the PureOS 10.3 ‘Byzantium’ image for the Live USB:
https://downloads.puri.sm/byzantium/gnome/2023-06-14/pureos-10.3-gnome-live-20230614_amd64.iso
If you want to use your Ubuntu desktop instead, you can try figuring it out yourself or wait for @irvinewade to respond.