Asus ROG Strix G18 (G814JI-N6083) – middle fan never spins

[danil4349]

Hi everyone,
I have an Asus ROG Strix G18 (G814JI-N6083, i7-13650HX + RTX 4070), win 11 24H2. The laptop has a triple-fan cooling system (CPU, GPU, and a middle SYS fan). The problem is that the middle fan never spins.

What I’ve tried so far:

• Updated BIOS to the latest (331).

• Completely removed and reinstalled Armoury Crate + services.

• Did a full reset via the power button.

• Ran heavy stress tests (AIDA64 + Prime95 + FurMark) → CPU/GPU get hot, but the SYS fan never starts.

• In MyAsus hardware test, the SYS fan also doesn’t respond.

Questions:

1. Is this normal behavior (maybe the SYS fan only runs in very specific conditions), or is this a defect?

2. Anyone with the same model – does your middle fan actually work?

3. Is there a way to manually test the SYS fan (via Armoury Crate, third-party tools, or hidden service menu)?

[Zalevskiy]

Unstable operation of the cooler may be a consequence of a firmware failure, but since 331 has a surprise (rollback is prohibited), the maximum you can do is reflash it again to 331 via EzFlash in BIOS and reset the EC by long pressing the power button for 40sec+ without a battery. There are more detailed instructions in the FAQ section.

The second possible option is a weak fan contact, it is worth disassembling and checking if this is true. But I remember how I had incorrect fan operation in firmware 324 and a rollback to 321 and then reflashing to 324 again helped me.

Considering that the warranty has expired, in the CIS countries they can read the BIOS flash drive with an SPI programmer, clear the ME Region and then the device will be re-initialized and correct the incorrect operation of the fans. The third option is to throw this amazing device, damaged by a closed firmware system with unreliable NVRAM storage, into the trash.

[ElectroStingz]

Hello,

is this a new laptop or something that you had for a while and was previously working fine?

In Armoury Crate the manual mode you should be able to control all 3 fan profiles / fan curves, if you set the sys fan to max RPM it should work.

Normal operation = should be active most of the time unless you are in the silent mode setting, so if it's always off something is probably wrong. It also doesn't do much, will help slightly with the Intel PCH chip (chipset) temps.