ASUS ROG GL753 SSD + HDD problem

[Berzezub]

Recently bought ASUS ROG GL753 VD and for more performance replaced DVD drive with SSD via caddy, but unfortunately got a problem. Computer wont turn off/reboot/go to sleep properly. It takes like 10 minutes to perform one of those operations. Basically computer almost turning off, but led lights and fan are still on. Only pressing and holding power button will help. Whenever one of the drives is removed - everything works fine. I never had such problems with other laptops, but unfortunately have it with asus rog. I spent all day smoking manuals and trying everything (re-flashing BIOS, switching hard drives locations, reinstalling windows, different version of drivers that causes such problems (such as GPU, MEI etc) but had no success. It seems that the only exit is buying and installing M2 SSD and putting DVD rom back.
Maybe someone encountered the same problem and has different solution for it?
Thanks.

[Berzezub]

Well. The solution was very easy (Thanks to my friend Lamanosov). There is a tiny switch on the caddy that causes that problem. (It could be two or three position switch, in my situation it was only two way). Just putting that switch in other position will make your laptop to switch off/reboot/sleep normally.
I hope it will be useful for someone.

[SebiM]

Berzezub wrote:
Well. The solution was very easy (Thanks to my friend Lamanosov). There is a tiny switch on the caddy that causes that problem. (It could be two or three position switch, in my situation it was only two way). Just putting that switch in other position will make your laptop to switch off/reboot/sleep normally.
I hope it will be useful for someone.

DUDE, THANKS A LOT !!! You are special ! I really need to thank you for posting this advice !
I was exactly in your situation... I didn't know what to do ; i tried everything ; Reinstalling OS, switching HDD's place... Upgrading BIOS... nothing worked!
You saved my life ! I will appreciate you forever ! Thanks again.

[Krasss76]

Hola buenas noches a todos,

Tengo un portátil Asus Rog GL753VE y me gustaría saber si se puede quitar el DVD y poner un disco duro.

Que me haría falta comprar para poder hacerlo y si merece la pena claro.

Si hay algún vídeo como manual seria de mucha ayuda.

Gracias un saludo a todos

[adrao]

Berzezub wrote:
Recently bought ASUS ROG GL753 VD and for more performance replaced DVD drive with SSD via caddy, but unfortunately got a problem. Computer wont turn off/reboot/go to sleep properly. It takes like 10 minutes to perform one of those operations. Basically computer almost turning off, but led lights and fan are still on. Only pressing and holding power button will help. Whenever one of the drives is removed - everything works fine. I never had such problems with other laptops, but unfortunately have it with asus rog. I spent all day smoking manuals and trying everything (re-flashing BIOS, switching hard drives locations, reinstalling windows, different version of drivers that causes such problems (such as GPU, MEI etc) but had no success. It seems that the only exit is buying and installing M2 SSD and putting DVD rom back.
Maybe someone encountered the same problem and has different solution for it?
Thanks.

I also have a ROG GL753VD that came with a 1TB 7200rpm HDD that felt was pulling back all the performance that this beast has inside! I upgraded it with a NVMe M2 Samsung EVO 960 and add another spare HDD I had at home with a low profile 9.5mm HDD/DVD SATA2 caddy adpater. The new drives were properly recognized in the BIOS. The BEAST was unleashed! Super fast boot times for Win 10 OS and all other apps, the laptop is snappy and fast, everything OK, even the sound cracking was fixed with the registry hack. BUT...then I had EXACTLY the same problem as @Berzezub. After replacing the DVD drive with a HDD/SSD SATA2 caddy and a spare drive (that was properly recognized in the BIOS and the OS), I started noticing that THE LAPTOP WOULD NOT FULLY TURN OFF; RESTART; SLEEP OR HIBERNATE: after doing a normal shutdown the OS would shutdown, the screen would turn off, the fans would spin down but not fully, the keyboard LEDs would remain lit and you can appreciate a NOISE, if you get close enough to the CPU/GPU a very weird but consistent COIL WHINING can be appreciated.

I WOULD HAVE TO PRESS THE POWER BUTTON FOR 10 SECONDS TO MANUALLY TURN IT OFF!

I TRIED EVERYTHING THAT AN EXPERT WOULD RECOMMEND TROUBLESHOOTING:
-Flashing the latest firmware BIOS from v302 to v303.
-My OS is Windows 10 Pro installed on GPT partition on the M2 SSD stick on UEFI mode with secure boot enabled and fast boot enabled / CSM support disabled on the BIOS. So I tried:
-Disabling Fast Boot on Windows and the BIOS;
-Disabling Paging file;
-Disabling hibernate and sleep on Windows;
-Uninstalling apps, clean user profile & reseting Windows
-Running in safe mode only loading system drivers (signed by Microsoft)
-Formating the drives and doing a clean install of Windows 10;
-Trying with the default Windows drivers that are downloaded from Windows Update after first boot.
-Installing ASUS official drivers provided in the DVD that came with the laptop;
-Installing the latest ASUS updated drivers from ASUS support website;
-Trying different versions of Intel Management Engine drivers;
-Trying different versions of NVIDIA drivers and different profiles on NVIDIA driver settings;
-Trying different energy profiles on Windows:
-------If turning off HDD after 1 minute or never had an effect
-------If turning on/off hybrid shutdown and adjust accordingly the fast boot option in the BIOS and in the OS
-------If tuning on/off USB selective suspend setting

None of the above solved the Shutdown/Sleep/Reboot problem.

My drives are all new and pass all the S.M.A.R.T. tests and Checkdisk tool for errors. I also tested the RAM to see if it might be faulty and passed all the tests and are not corrupt.

My guess is either it is an energy management issue or device controller not working properly and allowing the laptop to power down or enter other energy states like suspended/sleep/hybrid sleep/hibernation or even reboot without holding down for 10 second the power button.

The problem is consistent and reproducible and should be treated as a priority by ASUS support team.

My laptop specification:

Intel i7-7700HQ
2x Samsung 8GB DDR4-2400 (M471A1K43BB1-CRC)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 4GB GDDR5
Storage #1 NVMe PCIe3.0x4 M2 SSD Samsung 960 EVO 250GB (upgrade via free M2 slot)
Storage #2 SATA2 HDD 7200rpm 1TB (OEM HGST brand)
Storage #3 SATA2 SSD Kingston VS300S3 120GB (upgrade via HDD/SSD caddy)

PD:

I dont understand the solution offered by Berzezub. What tiny switch are you referring to? I cant find any on my caddy, motherboard or hard drive. Why would there be a switch in the caddy? What is it supposed to switch? On/Off? Can you send a photo? Thankyou anyways for pointing out the problem.

[adrao]

Berzezub wrote:


Well. The solution was very easy (Thanks to my friend Lamanosov). There is a tiny switch on the caddy that causes that problem. (It could be two or three position switch, in my situation it was only two way). Just putting that switch in other position will make your laptop to switch off/reboot/sleep normally.
I hope it will be useful for someone.

adrao wrote:


I dont understand the solution offered by Berzezub. What tiny switch are you referring to? I cant find any on my caddy, motherboard or hard drive. Why would there be a switch in the caddy? What is it supposed to switch? On/Off? Can you send a photo? Thankyou anyways for pointing out the problem.

Thankyou Berzezub!

You were right about the problem, it had to do with the SSD/HDD caddy and not a driver/bios issue. I had to search really hard to find the switch. I never realized there is a power switch on the controller board of the caddy (bought over amazon) until I unscrewed the board and had a closer look. Mine has 3 positions like you mentioned. It works flawlessly with fast boot enabled Windows 10 boots in under 5 seconds. It hibernates and sleeps properly and I stopped getting log entries on the Windows Event Log with critical power failure and windows not shutting down properly.

I attach some images to illustrate this simple solution to other users that are thinking about adding another hard drive with a hdd/sdd caddy to any laptop really...