Yep, clearing of cmos and other tasks were tried by my friend...As noted, he's got decades of experience on all sides of deep hardware support (including not on

Yep, clearing of cmos and other tasks were tried by my friend...As noted, he's got decades of experience on all sides of deep hardware support (including not only consumer but also very much on vendor side, etc.)...and yet Framework flatly refused any replacement, repair, or refund. Quite horribly disappointing.