asus rog flow x13 GV301RE constant restart Kernel Power 41

[drimago]

Hello all,

I got this rog flow x13 because it appeared to tick all the boxes i wanted but sadly it is a nightmare. I don't know who designed this laptop and then who programmed the software but there are serious flaws with both.

The major issue I have is the fact that when I set it in a standard GPU mode or optimized and the Nvidia card gets used a little too much, the laptop restarts suddenly. In the event viewer I get the Kernel Power error with event ID 41. Windows in its infinite wisdom cannot say more than that. This essentially means a sudden loss of power but not much else. From my tests this only happens when Nvidia card is in use. This leads to a lot of heat being generated in the F5-F10 keys region followed by sudden restart.

The weird part is that I don't remember it being an issue in the first weeks after I got it. It started to appear after some bios update. Yesterday I received the latest bios update 327 I think and I got 5 restarts. I have to say that the restarts seem to happen when the laptop sits on a table. There just isn't enough air intake nomatter what liquid metal bull****** was used for cooling. Physics cannot be bull******ed no matter what the marketing department says. If I lift the laptop on a stand the situation seems a bit better.

Other than keep it elevated is there anything I can do? I need to operate in standard or optimized gpu state because I use WSL2 and it will not start in Eco State. Ah just to clarify, if I keep the laptop in eco state, the restarts don't happen. So it is clearly tied to the nvidia dedicated card.

In case anyone asks, I have all the latest windows updates, went to myasus and it found some PD updates which I installed. I am up to date. Is there a solution?

[drimago]

yeah even in an elevated position, the laptop overheats and restarts. this makes it unusable. what is the point of cramming so many components that generate so much heat in such a small package? and why not make larger vent ports? wtf is this bull******.

[drimago]

ah just to add to the story: tried some cyberpunk on optimized GPU state. about 10 mins and no restart. laptop was boiling hot but playing. fans full speed. I guess this is normal behaviour. but then get this, I leave the laptop idle on desktop with just a browser open. one hour later out of the blue, bam restart. gaming or no gaming this is not normal behaviour. there is no info other than the kernel power event 41.

[drimago]

another update and warning to whoever finds this and has similar problems.

The sudden restarts started after windows sent the 327 BIOS update. So as a last resort I went on the ASUS website and downloaded version 325 and updated with the UEFI flash utility. Surprise surprise, laptop stopped rebooting itself for no reason.

What I suspect is the so called "optimizations" that ASUS does in their various BIOS versions are actually pushing the video card to squeeze yet another FPS or some other bull****** that the gaming crowd salivates over. This equipment is pushed to the max already. I wouldn't mind if this was done transparently in the BIOS in a way I could control and dial up or down to suit everyone's needs. But no, this is done with set profiles for no reason.

For such an expensive piece of kit the fact that BIOS is lacking so much info and possibility of control is a really really crappy move from their part. If I had a decent option I would have never bought this laptop. But apart from these gaming rigs, there are hardly any options with this kind of CPU, RAM, touch screen with stylus combo.

I really do not understand ASUS strategy here. It makes no sense. Oh and Armory Crate and MyAsus were made specifically to hog down this laptop. Flashy, slow and silly pieces of software that hardly work.

I am sure nothing will come of this

[Anbby_ROG]

Hi @drimago ,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing random restart issues.
I'd like to clarify if the random restart issue occurred after updating to BIOS 327 and was resolved when reverting to BIOS version 325. 
Can you confirm if you were using NVIDIA Graphic Driver Version V31.0.15.3645, which is validated by ASUS, while using BIOS 327? If you were using the latest version provided by NVIDIA, please try switching to V31.0.15.3645 to see if that makes a difference.
Additionally, have you tried using the turbo mode in Armory Crate to perform some tests? We hope to determine whether the issue you're facing may be caused by software. Thank you.

[drimago]

Hello,

Thanks for getting back to me. I can confirm that the problems started just after I got the BIOS update through the windows update system. Performed the updated and it started straight away. Around the same time NVidia Experience indicated that an update was available for the drivers which I also performed. I am now at 31.0.15.3734.\

If you are refering to Turbo fan mode, yes I have. It makes little difference. As I said, the reboots happen also when the laptop is idle. Even if there are no applications running in the foreground. Also when such an idle reboot happens (I have caught a few) the laptop feels fairly cool to the touch. When it happens under load it is boiling.

I will try to downgrade the video driver to the ASUS version and upgrade to 327 BIOS this evening. Is there something fundamentally different in 327 that is worth update?

[drimago]

sorry for the delay. I am having some admin problems and cannot perform the tests at the moment. I am hoping tomorrow evening I will have the time.

I will install the Asus approved drivers first, then I will upgrade bios to version 327 again using the UEFI interface. I will noy I stall Armoury Crate again since it is way too much bloat there for what it does. I can achieve exactly the same level of control ofer GPU states using G-Helper.

I will report back with the finding. Meanwhile I can confirm that the latest Nvidia drivers updated with the GeForce experience app work well with bios version 325. I have no restart issues.

[Anbby_ROG]

Thank you for your response. 
If you continue to experience restart issues with the ASUS-certified drivers on BIOS 327, would you be willing to assist us by recording an HWinfo log and noting the time when the issue occurs? This will help us further investigate and address the problem. 
We appreciate your cooperation.

[drimago]

ok so i had some time yesterday evening and installed the suggested nvidia drivers. then I upgraded bios to 327. sadly I didn't notice your reply in time or I would have recorded HWinfo. It took maybe 20 mins until the first restart. I was browsing at the time and had thunderbird, discord and something else also running. The GPU was in the optimized state and the fans were in balanced. As before there was no sudden increase in fan speed indicating that an overheating was taking place. As before, this is definitely not an overheating issue, which means it is not a cooling issue. The error in the event viewer was again Kernel-Power with event ID 41.

Because this is a laptop I use for work I cannot keep it in a state where sudden restarts occur so I have switched back to BIOS 325, but maintained for the moment the suggested nvidia drivers. If I have the time I will upgrade again to 327 and try to report back.

What is the correct procedure to record the HWinfo you need?

[Anbby_ROG]

Hi @drimago ,

If possible, could you please enable the log recording function in Armoury Crate and record an HWinfo log simultaneously? When the restart issue occurs during normal usage, please make a note of the time it happened and the software you were using at that time.
Additionally, I'd like to confirm if you have added or modified any hardware devices, such as memory or hard drives. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

【Here is the file path for the log file for your reference】 
In Armoury Crate ""Settings"" and check ""About"" page, If clicking App Diagnostics ""Record Log"", the Privacy Policy Statement will pop out. Once user agreed statement, the Armoury Crate will start to collect problem log  and you can click ""Generate log data"" to generate the log file with encrypted (ASUS log file).