GL703GS keyboard dead on Shutdown/Hibernation, apparently after some Windows updates

[hexaae]

The issue:
all of a sudden on 16 March 2020 I noticed that when I resume from Hibernation, the keyboard leds won't turn on, but keyboard still works and I can restore leds with ROG AURA Core... but at this point with led off after Hibernation, if I reboot the keyboard will totally stop working except Mousepad and Power button (it also keeps led turned off)! This persists even at BIOS and on next reboots!! Keyboard not working except mousepad and power button all the time.
To restore leds and keyboard I have to: Shutdown, unplug PSU, and press multiple times Power button...

I'm afraid it is a Windows 10 1909 issue after recent updates + ASUS software conflict of some kind. I tried to uninstall recent ones (got updates on 7, 11, 14 of March) but didn't help. Have no idea why this happened and hope someone has had similar issues and has a solution because ATM I can't use Sleep and Hibernation reliably anymore 😞

I tried also to disable ROG Armoury II (I use for Carry Strix mouse) and ledcontrolservice3 but didn't help:


These are my (left) Win updates:


To recap:
Hibernation or Shutdown now make keyboard leds turn off "forever" even with next reboots. When leds are off only mousepad and power button do work.
To wake up keyboard (and its led, have no idea why they seem connected now) at this point I have to:
- enter Hibernation or Shutdown with power cable
- unplug cable and press Power button to resume laptop using battery: this will wake up leds and keyboard will work fine.

No idea why... 😞

Gaming Laptop ASUS GL703GS (BIOS 310)
CPU i7-8750H (iGPU unavailable)
GTX 1070 8GB (non-Max-Q, 10DE 1BE1 - 1043 1011, GP104 A1, vbios 86.04.7c.00.24, Samsung VRAM)
Windows 10 Pro 1909
Desktop res: 1080p (1920x1080)
Screen: 144Hz + g-sync AUO B173HAN03.2 [AUO329D]
Audio: Realtek HD Audio (ALC295 chipset)
Hard disks: NVMe Samsung, SSD Crucial
USB Blu-Ray 4K drive: Archgon Star MD-8102P-U3YC-UHDB (Pioneer BDR-UD04)

[hexaae]

I'm afraid the tool I shared is just not suitable for G703GX unfortunately 😞
It is probably only for Gxx0xGS (e.g. GL703GS, GM501GS etc.).
You need an equivalent version of that keyboard fw update tool for your model (but they are almost impossible to find because are internal laboratory tools and even if you ask ASUS they will simply reply you have to send your laptop in RMA as they can't send you the tool directly)

[Scherbatsky]

hexaae wrote:
I'm afraid the tool I shared is just not suitable for G703GX unfortunately 😞
It is probably only for Gxx0xGS (e.g. GL703GS, GM501GS etc.).
You need an equivalent version of that keyboard fw update tool for your model (but they are almost impossible to find because are internal laboratory tools and even if you ask ASUS they will simply reply you have to send your laptop in RMA as they can't send you the tool directly)

I appreciate the insight, thank you so much for replying. That makes sense that the tool wouldn't work for my model. And the fact that ASUS would request that I send in my laptop is the exact reason I did so much work to try and figure out something that would fix the problem myself. I'm not sending my entire computer out for something like this.

Luckily, somehow, the problem fixed itself. I really can't explain how but after uninstalling Armoury Crate over and over again, leaving it alone, deleting keyboard drivers and performing restarts, etc., I had resigned myself to using a Bluetooth keyboard for a while. About a week ago, randomly, the laptop's keyboard flashed on and began working again. At this point I attempted to reinstall Armoury Crate to modify the RBG lighting (big mistake! but it was set to rainbow breathing and all I ever want is a red static glow) and the program froze, crashed, and the keyboard stopped working, though the lights remained on and stayed on after a restart. After shutting the computer down and booting it back up, the keyboard lighting stayed off and the keyboard remained dead. After approximately 15 minutes of use, using the Bluetooth keyboard once again, the laptop's keyboard again came to life. The lighting worked and the functionality returned.

So this time I completely uninstalled Armoury Crate again, and used OpenRGB to attempt to change my backlighting to a static red setting. This also caused my keyboard to stop working, again. So yet again, I shut the laptop down, and restarted the process. Again, after about 15 minutes, the keyboard came back to life and the lighting was set to a breathing rainbow lighting. I didn't try to change it this time. I just thought I'd leave it alone and be happy to have a working keyboard. Then, just a couple days ago, after having the lid of the laptop closed overnight, I opened it one morning to find the static red glow lighting had returned. I have absolutely no idea how that happened, but I have no idea how any of this happened. I'm just happy the keyboard is working.

[hexaae]

Just for the chronicles: it just happened again today 27 Oct 2023! A few minutes before there was Windows Cumulative Update KB5030310, but I didn't reboot because I went away... On my return the PC, after sleep + hibernation timeout, had dead keyboard once again (cyclical every ~2yrs?). Dead = not even F2 to access BIOS works at boot and even red power button led is turned off (but this one only still worked of course).

Once again my given solution and that Keyboard FW Update tool fixed the problem.