I also encountered random reboots (which were actually IRQL bsod's, just so fast the bsod never displayed; confirmed via wer / minidumps) -- in an attempt to resolve that I uninstalled the amd adrenaline software.
I *think* that might have solved the brightness control issue, as I now have brightness control.
However, it did not help system stability. Did a complete 'fresh' / 'clean' Win 11 install... *sigh* ; I have learned that the uninvited software comes in the back door automatically as MS & OEM Asus have apparently arranged it as such. Uninstalled adrenaline again. Then one more time from the 'system -> apps', as it came back after uninstalling from control panel.
This also did not help stability. However, I fired up services.msc and was *shocked*, ___SHOCKED___, at how many services are installed and running by default. Between AMD / Asus / ROG / Armory Crate, I think I counted close to 20? (or more?) .
I disabled all of them.
With some trial and error I then re-enabled what *might* be the minimum services, to regain screenxpert and Fn-hotkey controls (including brightness) -- and this seemed to have a HUGELY positive impact on system stability / reliability. I've only had one bsod since doing so, and it was not the IRQL related, but power related (about 99% sure modern standby issue; modern standby suuuuucks; give us back suspend-to-ram, for all Win clients - modern standby is the bane of my corporate environment on non-Asus machines).
OK, so the reason why you probably read this far, the services that are enabled (all other amd / asus / rog services disabled) -- NOTE, this will make armory crate inoperative. So set it the way you want prior. If you want some control over boost clocks, do the registry edit to add the 'processor boost control' dropdown to the control panel power profile advanced settings...
Enabled services (and chime in if these can be disabled, or if there are others I should really enable and why?):
Asus App Service
Asus Optimization
Asus ScreenXpert
Asus ScreenXpert Host Service
Asus Update Service
Asus Numpad Service (havent used numpad yet... might try disabling?)
Prior to giving adrenaline the boot, and disabling all the above services, the machine failed to make it through a single PCMark 10 run. After, I have been able to do 8 runs back to back in a single session without issue, and have not had a random reboot / bsod while interactively using the machine.
Hope this helps someone else...
extra bonus rant, feel free to ignore:
Oh, and for the record, I think armory crate might possibly be a good candidate for world's worst application. I don't know anyone that likes it, and it literally took me like 20 'fresh eye attempts' before i finally figured out how to get to the 1% of the program that does useful stuff; fan curve control, cpu & gpu power tweaking and GPU OC. I'm a veteran IT guy going back multiple decades, and use Linux / BSD and other weird software all the time, and I literally spent over an hour and a half in the ****** thing, cumulatively, over a week, before I stumbled onto that 1%. Honestly, horrible design. Maybe I had continual brain farts for the week, being enraged at the bsod's, but Asus, please -- look at the open source alternatives that exist and take note. Useful, straightforward, and clean. *sigh* ok, I'll get off my soapbox now..
