ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 (2023) freezes on startup

[DomenicoDentice]

Help please.

I have just purchased the ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 (2023) and after a week or so started to freeze on Windows startup and a couple of times on shout down. All drivers were updated and also ran hardware checks as well as a memory diagnostic check. No problem here. The notebook works fine when it gets through the initial startup and can work on it for hours with  no problems.

Has anybody an idea on what it could be?

Many thanks!!!

[smithpoon]

Hi @Anbby_ROG . Thanks for providng us the initial findings. Is it possible to issue a bulletin to all users about this issue to ensure other users can take caution about it? Thanks.

[nietonchique]

I use both with and without an external monitor. The freeze always happens in the same way - immediately after logging in, or on the login screen. On Linux, the problem is almost non-existent.

[ARC7]

Solution found

Revert to:

NVIDIA Graphic DriverVersion V31.0.15.2866

AMD Graphics Driver Version V31.0.14001.24002

 

It is the Nvidia driver, but any other version except from the one above causes freezes, so grab that from myAsus/asus site along with the AMD one to be safe and do not update them for now, if Windows tries to update your drivers through Windows Update, use wushowhide.diagcab - http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/2/2/F22D5FDB-59CD-4275-8C95-1BE17BF70B21/wushowhide.diagcab...

 

I can tell with high confidence that this causes the issues or most of them, I have played around for days with the bios, chipset, windows versions, armoury crate and its components, screenxpert, anything, but those don't seem to be the fault.

 

This is also the reason why when using the latest drivers from Nvidia or Asus, the rate of failure is much higher if using an external monitor, since that forces a gpu switch right during or after boot, the same happens when putting and waking the pc from sleep, monitor off or anything somewhat graphics invasive, all of this works fine on NVIDIA Graphic Driver Version V31.0.15.2866, but on further version you're almost guaranteed to get a frozen laptop by waking it from sleep while plugged in to an external monitor.

 

@Anbby_ROG

[DomenicoDentice]

The drivers the laptop came in when new made the screen flicker. Especially when the 4090 was being pushed. (Real time rendering on the gpu) Are the drivers that you are recommending the same ones? Otherwise we have a different issue here….

I am still waiting for mine to come back from the centre and I wrote them about this. Let’s see what they will say.

[Jonnyrad]

I installed the drivers that Arc7 suggested last night and mine froze twice this morning buddy so it didn’t fix the issue on mine. 😞

[Anbby_ROG]

Hi @smithpoon ,

Thank you for updating us with the information. 
Please continue to observe the performance of your device, and if you encounter any issues, please feel free to let us know. Thank you.

[smithpoon]

@DomenicoDentice I received the call from their CS, he told me the technicians found no trouble after days of testing. They would like me to collect the laptop and try to demonstrate them how I use my laptop.

[DomenicoDentice]

oh, that is weird. Thanks for letting me know. Hopefully you`ll be able to do so.

[smithpoon]

@DomenicoDentice I am at the ASUS repair centre now, I am with my laptop and use it for about 15 minutes, it shows no abnormality till now, but will stay for another 15 minutes

[smithpoon]

15 more minutes are over, still no abnormality, I take back my laptop now