ASUS Rog Strix G512LW: Fans stop on screen off, eventually overheating notebook

[Fireblade_92]

Hello fellow ROG'ers. I decided to split off my discussion about an issue, which I had reported in another thread.
(https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?120543-ASUS-ROG-STRIX-SCAR-15-G532LWS-Sleep-settings-speak...)

I have a quite similar issue concerning fans not working, albeit in a slightly different scenario. Notebook model is G512LW.

My screen off/standby settings are 5/30 minutes. Inbetween the screen turning off and standby kicking in, the fans completely stop and the notebook heats up all the way until it force shutdowns.

I tried to contact ASUS support, which sent me an Armoury Crate patch. Installed the patch, which broke pretty much everything else so I had to reinstall ROG Live Service Package, AC Service, Armoury Crate app itself and eventually Windows, rinse and repeat, before I could get the patch to install without breaking things like, for example, itself..

Result of the patch:
1. The notebook now not only shuts its fans off on screen off, but standby mode doesn't even work as it should anymore (at random times, the notebook comes out of sleep mode for no reason AND with disabled fans..)
2. The patch partially broke MyASUS. (Update: Actually, the problem is with Armoury Crate Service, as a restart of the service restores functionality)

On the second support request, ASUS asked me to return the notebook. Because no new BIOS is available. I'm sorry, say that again please? Did you just tell me to return a perfectly functional computer which has a software/firmware issue?

I need that computer for my IT job. What about, try to fix what you broke a few weeks ago, ASUS? You had a scenario in which everything worked, you're a computer tech company, and I can't be one of only 3 people having this issue, right?



Follow-up 2020-10-04:

After experimenting with downgrading/upgrading BIOS for a bit, I think we can exclude the BIOS itself as being the culprit. Some strange things happened when doing so, though.

I followed the mini guide at https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/commen...eb2x&context=3. Results:

1. Downgrading the BIOS is as EZ as upgrading it.

2. "Go to control panel, go to system, go to system protection, go to hardware, click on device installation settings, and then click no." <-- After following this step, in Device Manager, the firmware was successfully set to be 309.

3. The downgrade did nothing, but caused one logged error:
"Het stuurprogramma heeft een controllerfout gevonden in \Device\Harddisk1\DR1."
(Roughly translated: "The device driver reported a controller error in \Device\Harddisk1\DR1")

4a. Because the fan sleep issue was not solved, I re-applied BIOS 310. Because of step 2 in this post, the device driver firmware was not automatically upgraded from 309 to 10.1.2.310.
4b. When restarting after step 4a, I opened Armoury Crate and saw that the CPU speed, temperature, memory speed, .. could not be retrieved, but the GPU monitoring showed up correctly. I'm not sure if this could be related to the issue?

5. When manually updating the device driver firmware to 10.1.2.310 by using Windows Update and restarting, CPU information showed up again and the HDD controller error from step 3 did not happen anymore.

6. However, the original issue (fans and RGB turn off on screen off, notebook overheats) remains the same.



Also, since the latest ASUS software updates, I had to create a script which restarts the Armoury Crate Service 1 minute after logging into the computer. I found out by accident that this solved another issue with the current software.

The reason for this, is that since the latest update, hotkeys seem to have stopped working on startup (no FN + hotkey functionality, no Energy Profile on-screen indicator). But what is curious is, that after restarting the service, the on-screen profile indicator shows up again and all hotkey functionality is restored.

I'm not sure how all ASUS components like ROG Live Service, Control Interface, Armoury Crate etc. intercommunicate with each other, but I'm pretty sure something is quite off in the way it does at this moment.

Hope some of the information is useful. Can someone from ASUS maybe help us this way instead? If a log file needs to be generated, I'll gladly provide one.

Thank you very much in advance.
Best regards

[JossiCat]

godest wrote:
Sounds like you got about the same response I did from Asus service rep. Yeah, having to do stupid work arounds for such a simple feature/thing is retarded when you spend 2000 dollar on (20 000 sek for me in sweden) a high end laptop. I wont be supporting Asus either. Thinking of giving MSI a chance when i build my next machine.

I'll be buying MSI after this. I only purchased this laptop because of the storage expandability because I like to keep my files separate from the OS drive and the possibility of some video editing this year where I would be well away from my desktop computer. The gaming aspect was just a coincidence. If I'm going to play any serious games I have a decent enough desktop system for my needs.

Anyway.

I replied to the tech guys email that said there was no fault. I can't blame him for the screw up of the guy at the front desk who didn't do his job properly.
He can only go on what he's told.

I pointed out that what the issue was and that I was not closing the lid or running an external monitor.

I Stated I should not have to buy extra hardware such as cooling pads and risers or have to implement a work around to have the laptop work as it should and is intended out of the box.
I also stated that if these laptops need such things it is irresponsible for the seller not to inform the buyer before the sale is finalised.
It's even more irresponsible for a manufacturer to be releasing such laptops without a thorough QC and QA prossess.

I reiterated what the issue was and that I will drive the 1 hour to drop it off again.
I seem to have got his full attention.
I'm dropping it off tomorrow.

[godest]

Well Asus clearly screwed up, but seems they are unaware or refuse to acknowledge this flaw. Having fans turn off when only the screen turns off is a recipe for disaster. Not even a cooling pad is going to be enough depending on what your running while going afk. I had mine reach about 90c+ while just idle when this happend, and another time it had turned itself off, refusing to start for a while because the cpu was so hot. Asus = amature hour.

[ivank88]

Couple of weeks ago i purchased two G712LWS and G732LXS for about 7000EUR to discover this problem on all 3 computers. This is highly disappointing, these were my first Asus laptops and im already considering returning them and getting something else. I've tried just about everything and i wasnt able to solve this. Only workaround is to shut them down or hybernate if i leave laptop for more than a couple of minutes, but thats just not an acceptable solution. Hopefully Asus comes up with a fix for this soon.

[Desani]

So I know this fix is not for everyone but I have worked with someone to has a laptop similar to mine.

They have requested a BIOS unlock in a BIOS unlocking forum which has exposed more advanced features in the BIOS menus with the potential to cause harm if modified improperly but you also get the ability to change the following:

With the unlocked BIOS, they now have full voltage control within the OS, so all settings are exposed to throttlestop and they can go beyond the -.80mV undervolt restriction. If you have purchased ram that has faster latency which requires the use of XMP profiles to work properly, they can now be selected in the modified BIOS.

But the big thing that I asked them to test with issues with sleep.

A new setting that has been exposed is the ability to disable S0 sleep from within the BIOS. This will disable modern standby inside of windows. After running with only S3 sleep enabled, there have been no more issues with the laptop being able to enter standby and no issues with the fans turning off with the screen off. They reported that they have been using the laptop with an external monitor with the laptop screen off on several occasions. I have done some reading on the new modern standby introduced by Microsoft and it seems like there are other laptop manufactures that also have issues with laptops being able to enter standby and stay in standby with S0 sleep. I am not sure who is at fault here for modern laptops not being able to reliability enter sleep with this new Modern Standby trying to keep store apps awake so that your computer can still receive notifications while in sleep but it is nonsense. While my computer is sleeping, I want it to stay sleeping and use as little power as possible.

So while this might not fix the problem 100%, sounds like if there is no issue entering sleep, there is no issues with overheating. Maybe in a future official BIOS release, we can have the setting to disable S0 sleep exposed for all of us to decide if we would like to use it.

[LunarKairos]

Desani wrote:
So I know this fix is not for everyone but I have worked with someone to has a laptop similar to mine.

They have requested a BIOS unlock in a BIOS unlocking forum which has exposed more advanced features in the BIOS menus with the potential to cause harm if modified improperly but you also get the ability to change the following:

With the unlocked BIOS, they now have full voltage control within the OS, so all settings are exposed to throttlestop and they can go beyond the -.80mV undervolt restriction. If you have purchased ram that has faster latency which requires the use of XMP profiles to work properly, they can now be selected in the modified BIOS.

But the big thing that I asked them to test with issues with sleep.

A new setting that has been exposed is the ability to disable S0 sleep from within the BIOS. This will disable modern standby inside of windows. After running with only S3 sleep enabled, there have been no more issues with the laptop being able to enter standby and no issues with the fans turning off with the screen off. They reported that they have been using the laptop with an external monitor with the laptop screen off on several occasions. I have done some reading on the new modern standby introduced by Microsoft and it seems like there are other laptop manufactures that also have issues with laptops being able to enter standby and stay in standby with S0 sleep. I am not sure who is at fault here for modern laptops not being able to reliability enter sleep with this new Modern Standby trying to keep store apps awake so that your computer can still receive notifications while in sleep but it is nonsense. While my computer is sleeping, I want it to stay sleeping and use as little power as possible.

So while this might not fix the problem 100%, sounds like if there is no issue entering sleep, there is no issues with overheating. Maybe in a future official BIOS release, we can have the setting to disable S0 sleep exposed for all of us to decide if we would like to use it.

Yeah It kinda sucks we have to use a modifued BIOS to get this to work, do you happen to have the links for it or where i can request one?

[JossiCat]

ivank88 wrote:
Couple of weeks ago i purchased two G712LWS and G732LXS for about 7000EUR to discover this problem on all 3 computers. This is highly disappointing, these were my first Asus laptops and im already considering returning them and getting something else. I've tried just about everything and i wasnt able to solve this. Only workaround is to shut them down or hybernate if i leave laptop for more than a couple of minutes, but thats just not an acceptable solution. Hopefully Asus comes up with a fix for this soon.

I was able to get a refund.
It took a bit of effort and stressed me out so much. But I want a portable PC AKA a laptop not an oversized pretend mobile phone because some moron at MS thinks we want our systems to wake faster.
It was pointed out that the issue is Modern Standby(S0 Low Power Idle) Network Connected and it becoming harder to disable.
https://borncity.com/win/2020/11/26/windows-10-v2004-cant-deactivate-modern-standby/
Someone at MS needs to be sacked for implementing it without ensuring we have the full ability to disable it.

I'm more disappoint in Asus because it's clear there is an issue yet they seem to be ignoring it.
The last Bios release was in July. That's plenty of time to get it fixed and besides their QA/AC should have pick up this issue by now.
I use Asus motherboards and have never had an issue other than one that was running a 4th gen i5 and had finally given up after years of abuse. Going on that experience and the reviews I thought I would give their laptops a try. Lesson learned here is most reviews are not worth a pinch and try before you buy.

So now it's back to the search for a machine that does what I want not what MS dictates. If only there was more publishers releasing games and photography software programmed for nix OSes and a there was great nix office alternative to MS, I'd personally just completely move to Fedora and be done with MS.

[RomaVicious]

i'm use this, and it's work - https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/h0r56s/getting_back_s3_sleep_and_disabling_modern/

[JossiCat]

RomaVicious wrote:
i'm use this, and it's work - https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/h0r56s/getting_back_s3_sleep_and_disabling_modern/

Was this for the G512LW and Win 10 202h?
If so it would be great for those who can't get a refund.

[RomaVicious]

JossiCat wrote:
Was this for the G512LW and Win 10 202h?
If so it would be great for those who can't get a refund.

My version PC - G532LWS, WIN 10 PRO 20H2

[ivank88]

JossiCat wrote:

It was pointed out that the issue is Modern Standby(S0 Low Power Idle) Network Connected and it becoming harder to disable.
https://borncity.com/win/2020/11/26/windows-10-v2004-cant-deactivate-modern-standby/
Someone at MS needs to be sacked for implementing it without ensuring we have the full ability to disable it.

I'm more disappoint in Asus because it's clear there is an issue yet they seem to be ignoring it.
The last Bios release was in July. That's plenty of time to get it fixed and besides their QA/AC should have pick up this issue by now.
I use Asus motherboards and have never had an issue other than one that was running a 4th gen i5 and had finally given up after years of abuse. Going on that experience and the reviews I thought I would give their laptops a try. Lesson learned here is most reviews are not worth a pinch and try before you buy.

Thanks for that Jossi, thats a really valuable info. Im on 20H2 so i was able to disable it with regedit entry. After reading thru this issue in-depth I can kinda see why MS chose to force S0 on in previous versions. I assume their intention was to force OEM's to support S0 properly so that users could get the full benefit of this feature, since obviously letting OEMs get to it on their own schedule was not working. Obviously not an ideal solution which is why they added control back in via registry entry.

That being said i still wish ASUS made a proper fix for this, and i hope they will. Unfortunately, returns seem out of question for me as i purchased laptops in Germany and i wont be able to travel back there for a while due to COVID situation. But ill definitely think twice next time.