I preordered a Librem 14 when it was coming out several years ago, and I have had a fantastic experience using it as my daily driver (running Qubes OS) since then. Excited to see the Librem 11 announced last fall, I preordered it as well. Unfortunately, my experience with the L11 has been less than fantastic. It doesn’t charge—I have plugged it into multiple outlets and into my L14, and the battery percentage keeps going down. It started at around 70% when I unboxed it, and now it’s down to 0% and won’t turn on. So unless this issue gets resolved, I spent $1,000 on a completely useless device.
I emailed Purism support on February 29. I got a response on March 4 asking me for my order number (which had been in the initial email) and asking whether I was still experiencing the issue. I responded the same day in the affirmative. After that, I never heard back. I sent a follow-up email on March 19 but still got no response. Then, reading on this page that complaints with support can be escalated by emailing hr@puri.sm, I sent an email to that address on April 2 explaining that I had been unable to receive support. No response to date (April 18).
I’m starting to get afraid that, if I decide to activate the warranty and return the device, I won’t be able to get in contact with Purism in order to do so and I’ll be stuck in this situation.
Has anyone had similar issues before, either with a Librem 11 that doesn’t charge or with unresponsive Purism tech support? Any suggestions for addressing either or both of these?
Plugging it into the Librem 14 will not charge, the Librem 14 cannot supply 12 V.
What charger(s) are you using with the Librem 11? The provided charger only supplies 12 V from the top port, be sure you use that one. Librem 11 requires 12 V, at least 2.5 A (30 W).
I’ve shared this report with support so we can check what happened. It would help to know the email address that you contacted us with though, or order number, etc., so we can locate the right emails. I know there have been instances where our replies were getting flagged as spam, etc., but I don’t want to guess too much about this case until we’ve checked on it.
I have tried various chargers, but mostly the top (USB-C) port of the provided charger with the provided USB-C-to-USB-C cable.
My order number is #######. The email address is the same one used in the order: #######. (I did wonder about getting flagged as spam, but as mentioned I did get one response back, and I have DKIM set up with that domain.)
Putting the personal info and answers to @jonathon.hall 's questions publicly here on the forum in a reply anyone can read, instead of in a direct message, is probably a bad idea. If you click on the name of a user, this Discourse forum software has a direct message function.
Question: For the Librem 5 there are some useful commands that will diagnose what the USB-C negotiated power parameters were, if any. Do equivalent commands exist for the Librem 11?
It may also help to update the Wiki documentation that you link to with the full specifications of the supplied charger.
Based on the supplied information I don’t think that we can rule out that the supplied charger is faulty. Are you in a position to verify whether the supplied charger can power anything? I understand that USB-C is a minefield of incompatibility so that you may not have any other device that you can test with, never mind about having a USB-C power meter. If you could demonstrate that the charger was DOA then you might receive another charger rather than have to send the Librem 11, which would be less hassle for everyone.
In case anyone else ends up looking at this…it did turn out to be a faulty charger. Thankfully I happened to order an additional charger from Purism in the same order, so I am able to run the device now.
Thanks to @jonathon.hall for the help and for nudging tech support to get back with me via email.
That is odd indeed. If I had ordered a spare charger, that would have been the first thing I tried. Well, maybe after I checked voltage on the suspect charger. However, I’ve never needed to order a spare charger, but I have ordered spare batteries. Maybe the OP meant he ordered a spare battery? This is confusing.
OK, not too much of a pile-on, guys. Sometimes with troubleshooting we overlook the best possibility.
Not everyone has the necessary equipment to check voltages or, in my case, I would also have used my USB meter that sits between the charger and the device and tells me what’s going on with the negotiation, voltage, current etc.
Indeed, @irvinewade is correct here I forgot that I had ordered a spare charger, and when the provided charger, my iPhone charger, and my Librem 14 itself all failed to charge the Librem 11, I concluded it was a problem with the tablet. But apparently the second and third options don’t have the right specs to charge the tablet, which I didn’t realize until @jonathon.hall pointed it out. Then I tested the L11 charger with other devices and realized that was the problem, and then I remembered the backup I had originally ordered.
I forgot that I had ordered a spare charger, and when the provided charger, my iPhone charger, and my Librem 14 itself all failed to charge the Librem 11, I concluded it was a problem with the tablet. But apparently the second and third options don’t have the right specs to charge the tablet, which I didn’t realize until