ASUS Laptops - my experience

[Reverend Jim]

In the summer of 2022 I bought an ASUS laptop from BestBuy. It came with an internal SSD and an empty internal bay for a 2.5" drive. I didn't install a second drive until October and when I booted up it would not recognize the added drive. When I took it back to BestBuy the tech said that the problem was that the port that the drive connected to was corroded (very odd for a new machine). Because it was under warranty I had the laptop sent back to ASUS for repair. I also sent the added drive and cable with a description of the problem.

The laptop was shipped back within four days with a note stating "the customer's problem has been resolved. I am skeptical by nature so I got the BestBuy tech to boot the laptop in the store. We were both surprised to see that the drive was not recognized. To further test, the tech swapped my drive with a new SSD. This drive as well was not recognized and after a bit of haggling they agreed to take the laptop back and refund my money. My reasoning was that the laptop had a problem that ASUS was unable to fix.

ASUS did not make a similar unit at the time (I was unwilling to try another of the same) so I waited until December 26 and found another ASUS that had what I wanted. Unfortunately it did not take long for problems to start.

One of my requirements was a back-lit keyboard. The way it is supposed to work is for the back-lighting to be lit while the keyboard, mouse, or touchpad are in use, and for about 30 seconds after. Once the lighting goes out it is supposed to stay out until user activity is detected. Frequently, after timing out, the back-lighting does not come back on. I have to press Fn+F7 to cycle to the next back-lighting level (it goes low-medium-high-off). This is a pain to have to do in the dark or in low light.

The second problem was with the USB port on the left side. I have my mouse antenna plugged in there, and I would go through periods where I would get the disconnect/reconnect sound. Running a USB logger app showed me that the port was spontaneously toggling. Putting the antenna in the right side port did not show the same problem.

Because it was under warranty I again returned it for repair. The left USB is now working properly but the back-lighting is still timing out.

And yesterday a third problem arose. Unlike most laptops that have a dedicated power port, this unit has two USB C ports, both of which can accept the power cord. It makes sense. Since USB ports are powered, why not do double duty and use them for power/charging. In a pinch I can run on battery and have the use of all ports (two USB C and two USB 3). But now one of the USB C ports is getting flaky. I keep getting a pop-up indicating that I keep switching from AC to Battery.

Fortunately my warranty has not expired so it looks like it will be taking yet another trip back for service.

If you are considering an ASUS laptop I suggest you do some research to see how they measure up to the competition. My experience has not been positive.

[toneewa]

Some information left out is the actual name/ model of laptop, hard drive, and whether or not it was visible in the BIOS. Some features may have a power saving mode or power plan, even software controls. Create a new power plan, go to high performance mode. Update drivers and BIOS. Inspecting the controller's connection to the motherboard and port, e.g,. broken soldered pad, bad pin. Reinstall the usb hub root and host controller drivers. Cable lives matter. Excessive humidity can cause corrosion of connections, especially if you are near an ocean.

[rproffitt]

I've had a lot of their laptops at my brother's insurance office. We've been lucky with them.
OK, there is a "thing" about some models where you have to install a media/storage driver for some drives to show up. So far Linux shows such drives since that driver is baked into all the current distros I've used recently.
I can't offer much more without the full model number. For Intel based laptops I usually try the Intel RST. Example https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/720755/intel-rapid-storage-technology-driver-installation-software-with-intel-optane-memory-11th-up-to-13th-gen-platforms.html but this may not be the one for the laptop under discussion.

[Reverend Jim]

The previous unit was a Vivobook 15 X513EA-BH59-CB. The current one is a Vivoboox ASUS K350 2ZA BB51 CB. I'm assuming that the problem with the first unit was not a missing driver because both ASUS and Best Buy (Geek Squad) could not get it working.

[rproffitt]

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1044458/ notes the Intel RST as well. As to BB/GS, I've found them hit or miss on this area.
And on some models you "Disable Intel Volume Management Device (VMD) technology".

I'm of the opinion that such steps should be automatic and built into "modern" Windows.

[Reverend Jim]

Took my laptop in to Best Buy ths morning and they said it would have to be shipped back to ASUS for repair (again). The good news is that it's still under warranty and I have a spare laptop. The bad news it that it's also an ASUS, but at least it's an older one from before they started making (in my opinion) crap.

[toneewa]

USB-C ports can wear out, and become loose after 6 months of use. I've heard there was a dip in quality from ASUS. I haven't experienced it myself. I have 2 monitors from them, 1 has over 73,500 hours and ~98% uptime. Ironically, I was looking at this ASUS Vivobook when someone was looking for a "cheaper" laptop. I like reading those 1-star reviews. They went with something else. To me, ASUS is known for their motherboards, gpus, monitors, and being $200+ overpriced of the competition.

[Reverend Jim]

USB-C ports can wear out, and become loose after 6 months of use

Seem like bad design to me. As for the price, the ASUS models I bought were both the best price that met my specs.

[toneewa]

Indeed, I recommend to anyone that has USB ports to use the magnetic plugs for mini and micro USB ports. I see you could have the Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, so I'm sure it did cost little more. That would check one of my boxes. 144hz+ would be another. I don't need bloodshot eyes from 60hz. If you are a DIY fixer, you can also replace the TB4 ports, if it were ever out of warranty.

[Reverend Jim]

Got my laptop back from Best Buy this afternoon. I checked the power cord connection at the store and it was fine. I wish I'd checked it further because I started having problems as soon as I got it home and powered up. First of all, they replaced the motherboard so when I got it back it had been wiped and reset. First thing I noticed was that the touchpad no longer worked. I tried my wireless mouse but when I tried to install the driver I could not connect to the internet. Also, the Bluetooth would not pair to my hearing aids.

First attempt to fix was to reinstall the Macrium Reflect image I took prior to shipping it out. It couldn't find a place to install the image.

Next attempt was to try resetting to factory. I've done this before and while it is a pain to have to reinstall and configure all my apps I figured I'd start from a known (to me) state. Trying to reset to factory failed and I could no longer boot into Windows.

No problem (he thought naively) as I can just boot into my Windows 11 USB install media. This worked to the point where I was asked "where do you want to install it" as it did not recognize my SSD. Diskpart did not recognize the SSD either. Incidentally, the touchpad did not work in the Windows PE environment either.

Next attempt was to boot into kbuntu from USB and run the partition manager. Sure enough, my C drive was showing as unallocated even though I had never deleted it. I allocated a C partition and formatted as NTFS then boot back into my Windows 11 install USB.

Which still could not see my SSD. So back to Best Buy where the tech confirmed with a Windows 10 USB installer that the drive could not be seen.

So this is my last day of warranty and Best Buy is having another go at it. If they can't fix it I am going to insist they take it back and refund my money.

I thnk my next laptop will be a Dell.

[toneewa]

If the power connector was replaced with the motherboard, then your charging cord is suspect. If they setup your PC with Windows 11, there's a good chance a GPT partition was used instead of NTFS (outdated). Imaging back to this would fail. Always check in your BIOS to see if your drives shows up there. If you're setup in UEFI mode, instead of Legacy (& vise versa), I can see that causing you troubles. You'll have to setup your WiFi again, even if you have to use an ethernet cable. From the sound of it, I wouldn't doubt they forgot to reconnect the touch pad.

[Reverend Jim]

When I got it back they had replaced both the motherboard and the power supply and I checked in the store to verify there were no power issues. I suspect you are correct about them not reconnecting the touchpad as that was not working in Linux either. As for GPT vs NTFS, I have never formatted to anything but NTFS, and when I originally got the laptop everything was formatted NTFS so if they changed that then bad on them. I will make sure to check that at Best Buy before I take it home when they get it back. I think I will boot from my imaging USB and do a complete drive image before I try anything else.

RE BIOS, it's been years since I had any reason to go into the BIOS. I'm assuming, since it is a very new model, that it uses UEFI. I have five laptops (I never throw anything out that still works) and only the oldest, Dell Latitude, uses legacy as far as I know.

When I first got it in December 2022 I ran through the initial setup. All I had to do to connect to wifi was select my connection and enter my password. I can't see why that would change. Hwever, the replacement was done by Best Buy, not by ASUS so who knows what checklist they use.

[rproffitt]

"I allocated a C partition and formatted as NTFS then boot back into my Windows 11 install USB."

That can derail the usual Windows install. On today's PCs I start off with a blank, no partition drive, boot the Windows USB stick and once in a while need to add the Intel RST storage driver.

I maintain that Microsoft should update their installer to include this and to present reasons why it can't install to a drive with a single NTFS partition. Look at working systems and you find a lot of partitions other than the C drive.

[Reverend Jim]

Likewise...

Whenever I reinstall Windows, other than the times I've reset to factory, when it gets to the "where do you want to install to" I always get the installer to delete, then recreate the partition.

[Reverend Jim]

I got a call from Best Buy this morning to tell me my laptop was back. When I got to the counter I told the tech that I would not accept it until they showed me that it could be reset to factory. I'll leave out a few of the details that don't matter to the tale.

He powered up the laptop and showed me Windows 11. The touchpad was working. He went into settings and selected the reset option. After the usual restoring delay it finally reboot and displayed the screen that allowed me to pick a default keyboard, then the screen that gives me two options:

Troubleshoot this PC
Shut down

Neither of which is supposed to be shown on a reset to factory. He selected Troubleshoot, then something else (quickly) on the next screen and eventually Windows came back up with "Jim" as the user. I explained that this was not a factory reset, as a factory reset would not know my name. He said that he had put my name in when he did the reset before I got there.

I explained that this is not a factory reset. A factory reset would boot from the recovery partition and wipe/restore everything. When he tried the actual factory reset (shift/power) it failed to boot into the recovery partition.

It is being sent back to Toronto with the promise that if it fails to reset (in front of me) when it returns then they will refund my money.

As for the possibility of a missing driver, the Windows files in the recovery partition have all the necessary drivers as proven by the two times I did a reset on my own prior to the current slate of problems.

[Reverend Jim]

Sounds like a very bad recovery image

Possibly. But why didn't this show up when they did the reset prior to returning the laptop?

Imagine that you just bought a car (should be pretty easy for you). You and your wife take a drive in the countryside and at some point you drive over a nail and get a flat tire. No problem because you have a spare. But when you take out the spare you find that it is damaged and cannot be driven on. That's the situation I am in, except there is no way to examine the partition to see if it works. The only way is to try it out by wiping the exiting system.

So either they didn't do that in the lab (a test I explicitly requested), or something else failed between the lab and my local Best Buy. So either the lab tech was sloppy or the laptop is shit.

[Reverend Jim]

Got a call from Best Buy at 6:30 pm the same day. He informed me that the Windows system that the tech installed was not the OEM version for my machine. I asked why this should matter since I requested a reset to factory from the recovery partition. He said they couldn't do that because the recovery partition had been corrupted. So that's two things they didn't test before returning it. It also verifies that they didn't even try reset-to-factory or they would have noticed a problem.

Also, by not using the correct OEM version my laptop was likely missing custom ASUS utilities. I wonder if the diagnostic partition is also fubar.

[Reverend Jim]

At some point you are stuck with a clean install

I'm using my father-in-law's old laptop in the interim. When I inherited it I took out the old drive and put in a spare SSD. I didn't bother restoring the diagnostic or recovery partitions. It's quite peppy now. It's also an ASUS, but purchased before they started making crap. At some point, though, I'm going to have to open it up and clean all the cookie crumbs out of the keyboard. Not gonna happen until I get a working machine back from Best Buy. I already have a Dell picked out if it comes back still broken.

[toneewa]

I wouldn't worry about not having any ASUS utilities. You can always download them later, here. I consider them all bloatware.

Having the partition as an MBR and then installing a Windows image as GPT, is like going to replace your spare tire and finding out it has a different lug nut bolt pattern on the rim. No recovery partition is going to work from a previous Windows installation. Delete all and start over. Create a new recovery partition for the current Windows. Install all your updates, and create a system restore point, then an image. Allocating enough space for the partitions can help prevent running into problems.

When you to go to Troubleshoot this PC, and it gives you more options. They likely just hit Automatic Repair, and it rebooted. Booting from a USB or external DVD, will let you use the Command prompt. Here, you can delete partitions, repair, convert, or even rebuild your MBR. Useful tools are diskpart, reagentc, and bootrec. Accessing Reset to factory is under Settings -> Recovery.

Event Viewer might be able to give you some insight, what might be causing troubles, for future problems. Test your recovery partition or drive, system restore, system image, and factory reset, after they are all setup, to confirm they worked in the first place.

I have many TBs of data, dating back to the 90's. My least favorite backup was burning a DVD on 4x or 8x and it would only read on 1X because of the 200k+ files and folders. Good thing, molex connectors are still a thing, so I could use the 1x drive to recover files.

[Reverend Jim]

I consider them all bloatware

Something I may try on this laptop (old ASUS K53E) once I get my other one back is a fresh install from USB but selecting "World" as my region. I read somewhere a while back that if you select any specific region, bloatware for that region gets installed, but if you pick World then no bloatware. You just have to remember to set the correct region after setup.

Create a new recovery partition for the current Windows

This I cannot do as I do not have the tools, the knowledge, or the desire to create a pre-install boot environment. We had IT people at the office who specialized in that but it's not something I care to waste my time learning to do since I would likely never use that knowledge again. And at this point I'm probably losing skills faster than I acquire new ones ;-)

Allocating enough space for the partitions can help prevent running into problems.

I've seen advice like this before but typically there is no advice on how to determine how much space is enough. Fortunately, I have determined over the years how big my C partition should be to allow for extra apps. And there is always EaseUS if partitions need to be resized.

Booting from a USB or external DVD, will let you use the Command prompt.

I actually tried this as well, running diskpart.exe. It couldn't see the SSD either. I find diskpart gives me all the options that the GUI version lacks.

I don't expect consumers to be able to do all that.

At this point I don't give a rat's ass about most consumers, however, I do sympathize with the wasted time and expense they have to incur when they run into ths sort of problem.

Good thing, molex connectors are still a thing, so I could use the 1x drive to recover files.

Ever had to install Windows from 39 floppy disks? It was not fun, especially when disk 39 frequently had a read error.

@toneewa - it may seem as if I am being picky/critical about some of your suggestions. I'm just rambling and I appreciate your input.

[toneewa]

Ever had to install Windows from 39 floppy disks? It was not fun, especially when disk 39 frequently had a read error.

Not that many, I still have them. Highest was 6 for booting, so I could read a CD. I wrote on them, "BAD" if ever had that problem.

I actually tried this as well, running diskpart.exe. It couldn't see the SSD either.

While, in theory, all those tools should help you, seeing it in the BIOS is the first place it should be visible.

This I cannot do as I do not have the tools, the knowledge, or the desire to create a pre-install boot environment.

Atleast, take a USB drive and create a recovery USB with the Windows Create a recovery drive. You can still get corrupted user profiles. All your toubleshooting needs otherwise, can be found here.

rproffitt commented: I don't expect consumers to be able to do all that.

I once told the CEO of a company, it was better to buy a new computer than go through the steps and trouble of replacing the hdd, & reinstalling Windows on a dated machine. 600mhz. I later took it home as a gift, and did it myself. The manager enjoyed his fast, responsive, trouble-free computer. I still have that old PC. It really taught people patience back then.

[toneewa]

rproffitt commented: BTW, recovery drive failed me so many times that I carry no less than 2 bootable Linux sticks in my PC rescue bag.

I've seen in the past failures due to having more than 1 drive installed. Disconnect all other drives and devices. I too, have used Linux live bootable CD's to get files off a broken Windows. It was way quicker instead of trying to repair.

[Reverend Jim]

I too, have used Linux live bootable CD's to get files off a broken Windows.

I'm assuming the drive wasn't bitlockered?

[toneewa]

I'm assuming the drive wasn't bitlockered?

Nope, I don't use that feature. In my opinion, it's equivalent to using ransomware on your own stuff.

[Reverend Jim]

I always disable it as well. That's yet another thing I have to remember to undo when I get it back.

[Reverend Jim]

I called Best Buy Friday morning to ask about the status of my laptop. I was told the average wait time was one minute. Fifteen minutes later I was told there were eight calls ahead of me and would I like to leave my number for a callback. I did so and after two more hours of waiting I called the local Best Buy direct. I was told my laptop would be ready within the hour. I was told that as per my instructions (reset to factory must work) they were doing a final test.

At two o'clock I went down. I was shown a laptop with Windows running. I told the guy that I had to see him reset to factory in front of me. He did so by going through Windows Settings. I had already explained to him (I dealt with the same guy through the whole process) that I have to be able to do a basic reset in the event that Windows won't boot. I had to go to another machine to look up the instructions and show him. He had wanted to do F2-power up which gets you into the UEFI/BIOS.

So finally he did F12-power up which presented the reset-to-factory option. Once it cycled through and got to the Windows config I gave him the thumbs up. Before I left he said "I didn't realize what you meant by factory reset".

Sigh.

So back home to finish the Windows setup and do the (seemingly) thousand and one tweaks that really should be default like disabling the multi step context menus that present only some options with "see more options" at the bottom. Or downloading Winaero tweaker so my desktop icons aren't spaced four inches apart, etc.

Everything was fine until it came time to install Logitech Options+ to enable my wireless mouse. It used to be that when you waanted to install an app you just downloaded the app and installed it. When you download Options+ it just downloads a stub. Running the stub starts a process to download the actual app.

Running the installer (which I downloaded fresh) just ended up in an infinite loop of

1. Oops. Something went wrong. Check your network connection (actual message)
2. Automatic retry in 60 seconds

Thinking that the Logitech site might be having a problem (everything else on the site seemed normal) I just let it retry all night. Come morning it was still trying.

I was able to get into a chat session with Logitech Support. Their first suggestion was to disable my anti-virus software (I had already tried that). The next suggestion was to download a fresh version of the installer (which I had already told him I had done). The third suggestion was to uninstall the app and re-install it. He was unclear on the part where I said "I was not able to install it". After many other such useless suggestions it finally decided to download. I suspect that in the background someone had said "shit. The download is broken" and fixed it while I was chatting.

So it downloaded and installed. One of the great features about the Logitech wireless mouse is the ability to configure the mouse buttons on a per-app basis, even to the extent of programming smart actions (basically multi-step macros). When you run Options+ and log in to a Logitech (free) account, it automatically backs up settings to that account in the cloud. At least that's the way it is supposed to work.

Imagine buying house insurance and then having a fire that destroys your house. No problem because the insurance company promised to rebuild it. Except they only rebuild three of the twelve rooms you used to have.

That's how their backup/restore works. Of the twelve apps I had configured, only three of them got restored. And of those three, some of the custom settings were missing. I'll mention that the tech said I should try downloading the backup file from the server and restoring it from the local file. I told him that for more than two years I have been asking Logitech to allow this capability and they repeatedly said it could not be done. There isn't even an ini file on my computer that can be copied as a backup like most other apps I have to configure like VLC Media Player.

Sigh.

Final comment - I reconfigured everything manually. With luck (I don't seem to be having a lot of this lately) I won't have to do a rebuild any time soon.

[toneewa]

Sounds like you got it all squared away. One reason I don't want to ever do a Windows reinstall is the compilers, libraries, and other software configurations. I've done 1 since 2015 for myself, with Windows 10. I also expect since, NAND flash SSDs wear out, it'll happen sooner or later. Only 37% life of drive remaining. Best of luck!

[Reverend Jim]

Since getting the laptop back the rear USB/power port has started acting up again. I've adjusted by glueing a clip to the lid so that the power cord does not move when plugged in. Three screws have fallen off the bottom and I have replaced them with my own screws that I can tighten without the need of a special ($$$) tool. The rubber feet have fallen off the bottom as well. The rubber pads on the left and right of the inside of the screen (spacers for when the lid is closed) have fallen off. In short, this ASUS laptop is, in my opinion, a complete piece of shit. At least the insides are still running.