Rog Ally Z1 stuck at charging to 80%

[Sergorov]

Hello. I hve installed updates to the firmware and Armoury Crate SE a few days ago, and since then my device will only charge up to 80%, no matter what I do. From what I read this is managed by the EC (Embedded Controller) settings somewhere in the firmware. The firmware version is RC71L342, Armoury Crate SE is at v1.6.8.0.

• The MyAsus app is installed, battery care mode is (and always was) off, so that should not be the problem. Just in case I tried to turn it on and off again, but that didn't help
• I turned battery care on and enabled "instant full charge mode". That didn't help either
• Following advice from another site I powered down the device, disconnected the charger and pressed power+vol-up for 20 seconds. This was supposed to reset the EC battery settings and remove any charging limits. But that didn't help.
• I downloaded the app G-Helper, which is supposed to help directly modify the EC settings. I set the charge limit to 80%, waited a few minutes, rebooted and set it to 100%, waited a few minutes again and rebooted again. That didn't help either.
• I didn't find anything in the ACSE settings or the Win11 settings that explains this behaviour.
• I checked in Bios but didn't find anything related to battery management, but there are plenty of obscure settings I would rather not mess with without knowing what they do.

My guess is that somewhere in the updated ACSE or firmware a new setting for battery care was added that keeps on overriding any other settings. Battery life on the ROG Ally z1 is pretty miserable already, so loosing another 20% is unbearable. Please tell me how I can remove the charging restriction.

[Falcon2_ROG]

@Sergorov 

It is recommend resetting the BIOS to default and reinstalling Armoury Crate SE for verification. If the issue persists, it may be due to a system malfunction. In that case, please back up your data and restore the system before checking again. Sorry for any inconvenience it may be caused. 

[Sergorov]

Ok, I tried the first part of the advice and reset the bios to "optimized defaults". Now the confusing part: I checled the update center for the version of Armoury Crate SE that was installed, and it is now 2.1.10.0, and when checking for updates it says "no update available". on the support page https://rog.asus.com/gaming-handhelds/rog-ally/rog-ally-2023/helpdesk_download/?model=rog%20ally%20%... the latest version listed is V3.2.11.2. Is that safe to install? Why does my apparently outdated ACSE not showing the update? I double checked that I am on the ROG Ally 2023 (RC71L) page for Win11 64 bit. 

[Falcon2_ROG]

@Sergorov 
Armoury Crate SE Installer version V3.2.11.2 is available for use on your device.

[Sergorov]

I tried to install it, but installation failed three times, due to undefined errors, which it tries to send to ASUS but it also fails at that, lamenting an unstable internet connection (though it is perfectly stable, being a wired connection at a speed of 250Mbit). It suggested to download the full installation package, which I did. But that link only gives me version 1.4.4.3 which is even more outdated than my current one. There is an installer for version 3.2.9.1, so not the latest one but almost. But that fails in the same way as the most recent installer. So effectively both installers are broken. Could you please see if you can get hold of an offline installer package for the latest Armoury Crate SE for the ROG Ally Z1 on Windows 11? Or at least verify if it even makes sense to install it, given that the both the built-in updater of ACSE and the MyASUS App claims 2.1.10.0 is up to date?

[Sergorov]

Armoury Crate SE claimed to have an update again, but after the update it's still at v 2.1.10.0. And the unnerving behaviour is also still the same, it won't charge to more than 80%, no matter what. I investigated, and according to several sources there is no built-in Windows 11 function that does this. So it must be one of the functions of the ASUS Bios,  ACSE or MyASUS. I already tried to reinstall both apps, where can I find unstructions to completely purge both of them, including all mess they might have left behind in the registry? I really don't want to reinstall windows and never update again just because some very brilliant engineer thought it was a good idea to force battery care mode on everyone regardless of what they pick in the settings. There must be a way.

[Falcon2_ROG]

@Sergorov 
It is recommend following the steps below to perform a system restore on your ALLY and then check if the situation improves. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Cloud Recovery in UEFI BIOS - Introduction