Fellow Asus laptop owners, I could use some help

[Gummy]

Hello everyone,

 

After getting a new contract that required me to work out of town once again I figured it was time to retire my old and tired Razer Blade 14. I wanted OLED, touchscreen, and some pretty decent performance so after much research and comparison I settled for the Asus ProArt Studiobook with the Core i9 13980HX & 4070. First impressions, awesome laptop. Screen is absolutely stunning (minus the grid sort of look you get on white backgrounds which is apparently a thing on OLEDs with touchscreens), keyboard feels great, and performance was awesome capable of work during the day and playing games to relax in the evening. Here is my laptop:

 

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/laptops/for-creators/proart/proart-studiobook-16-oled-h7604/

 

After about a month of ownership I started to notice the hidden issue with the machine. I typically never let my computers go to sleep or hibernate. They are usually just always on, and then I can remote into them if I need. Whenever the display shuts off on the laptop, it seems to go into a low power mode. Easiest way I was able to test this was with cinebench. With windows hibernate and sleep disabled and the display set to always on I would do a benchmark. Then I would set my display timeout to 1 minute, do another benchmark, and come back to wake the display after 15m. The score is halved when the display is off. Also, within 30s of the display shutting off, you can audibly hear all the fans shut off. Running HWINFO reports CPU clockspeed dropping down to 0.4GHz when the display is off, and power draw is significantly less as well. However temperatures climb. Upon waking the screen the fans immediately scream to full power in an attempt to deal with the poor thing sitting there cooking itself to death at 100 degrees. I took detailed notes and videos and sent the laptop back to asus to get it fixed. They did a ton of testing and could not replicate the issue, which concluded my power cord must be the issue as that's the only thing that didn't change between my tests and Asus's tests. I bought a new power cord and the first thing I did when I unpacked it upon receiving it back from Asus was fire up cinebench and set the display timeout to one minute and test it. I was immediately able to replicate the issue.

 

Fast forward to today, I have reinstalled windows on three different SSDs. I have tried windows 10, I have tried windows 11, I have manually updated every single driver from Asus's website, played around in the BIOS. Nothing I have done causes this laptop to function normally with the display off. It is disappointing to buy a desktop replacement grade machine that doesn't exactly work as a desktop replacement. The only way this thing works normally is with the display set to always on, which isn't great for an OLED and someone who leaves their PCs always on. Occasionally on coming back to the machine I would find it sitting in the BIOS, I assume it overheated and rebooted to there while the screen was off if I forgot something intensive running at the time. Currently the laptop is back at Asus. They have once again reached out to me and said they have tried everything and could not replicate the issue and asked to send the laptop back. I asked them for a video (exactly like the one I supplied them, of cinebench running, display shutting off, and then fans shutting off). They sent me a video of the laptop running a benchmark. CPU clockspeeds stable 2.7Ghz-3.9Ghz and at 13% usage. Then they let the display timeout hit and the screen shut off. Their work environment was quite loud and I was unable to hear if the fans were running or not, but they waited two minutes and then attempted to wake the screen. In the video you see the tech wiggle the mouse - nothing happens, and then proceed to smash the space bar five times to eventually make it finally come back to life. The moment that screen comes back on you can see clear as day the CPU clockspeed is 0.4Ghz and temperatures are quite high. Within a few seconds clockspeed climbs to a more reasonable 1.9ghz (still way slower than before the display shut off) and CPU usage spikes to 100% usage.

 

This seems to be a common issue with Asus machines I've found documented here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/fan-is-turned-off-when-screen-is-off/1371b0ae-b9df-4183-9de6-075f9deb425e

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/rog-zephyrus-series/asus-rog-m15-gu502lw-overheating-when-display-on-sleep-insane/m-p/825024#post821397

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/rog-strix-series/asus-rog-strix-g512lw-fans-stop-on-screen-off-eventually/m-p/872498

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/rog-strix-series/asus-rog-strix-scar-15-g532lws-sleep-settings-speakers-loudness/m-p/855518

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/rog-strix-series/issues-with-new-laptop-strix-scar-17-2023-r9-7945hx-4080/td-p/921478

 

Spoiler

Affected laptops from linked threads:

asus vivobook pro (K6604JI)

Asus Zenbook XL

Lenovo Slim 5

ASUS ROG M15 GU502LW

Asus G712lw

Asus G732LWS

Asus Rog Strix SCAR 15 G532LWS

G512LW

G512LV

Asus M15 502LW

Asus ROG STRIX G15 G512LW-HN084T

ROG Strix G15 G512LW-HN038T

G712LWS

G732LXS

G532LWS

G834JZ

G733PZ Strix Scar 17

 

Anyone else with an Asus laptop, does your laptop function properly when the display shuts off? Run something intensive to get your fans running and change your display timeout to 1 minute and see if they continue running 60s after the display shuts off. Anyone else have any ideas on how to get this problem I have with asus resolved? They have currently tried to send me back the laptop three times and I have refused until they fix the issue, but I am starting to think this is a design flaw in my laptop, or a straight up lack of BIOS support to get the device to work properly with windows. 

 

TLDR: Laptop runs in limp mode with display turned off, overheats. Asus can't replicate the problem, claims so, proceeds to send me a video of them replicating the problem. 

[Kilrah]

I have a 13" OLED zenbook and not having the issue, It's actually crunching BOINC tasks at full power with screen off right now, been for 3 days straight

 

I guess you did install the MyASUS app and tried to disable all the management things there?

[Gummy]

9 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

I have a 13" OLED zenbook and not having the issue, It's actually crunching BOINC tasks at full power with screen off right now, been for 3 days straight

 

I guess you did install the MyASUS app and tried to disable all the management things there?

Yep I played around in the MyASUS app but nothing in there seemed to change anything. Just puts the CPU at 0.4ghz and fans on silent shortly after the display shuts off no matter what settings / power plan / etc I used from what I could tell.

[Gummy]

Here is the video I sent to Asus, demonstrating how to replicate the issue:

 

 

Watch with sound, so you can hear the fans. At the start you can see I have sleep disabled, best performance power plan, and display set to shut off after one minute. With Cinebench running and HWINFO freshly reset on min/max/average values we can see my min clockspeed is 2.2GHz and my average is 2.7GHz. At the 1:29 mark the display shuts off, I then move the phone to the fans so you can hear them running. At 2:06 we can hear the fans shut off. Upon waking the display my new minimum clockspeed is 0.4GHz dropping my average as well down to 1.7GHz. Pretty straight forward video, pretty easy to replicate. Start an artificial workload, see if the fans keep spinning after the screen shuts off.

 

Here is the video I received from Asus, demonstrating that "everything is working fine" :

 

 https://youtu.be/vquNH-M8lRA

 

Ambient noise is significant in this video so I am unable to tell whether or not the fans shut off or not, but it appears like they do judging by how the CPU acts upon waking. We can see cinebench is running in the background but CPU usage is very low - 12% so I assume this is either the GPU or single core test. Clockspeeds good around 3.0GHz. Display shuts off at 0:20. At 2:28 we see the tech struggle to wake the display, first he wiggles the mouse (which should wake the display, no?) gives up on that and proceeds to mash the spacebar 5 times to bring it back. I would say this is another sign something is wrong. Should be absolutely instant to bring the display back on, shouldn't it, because the device is not asleep, only the display is off? At 2:35 we can see the display come back on and if you pause the video right here, the clockspeed is sitting at 0.4GHz, CPU usage then promptly skyrockets all the way up - another sign there is an issue here, and clockspeeds start to recover but don't even hit 2GHz before the video cuts out. 

 

Asus once again said they could not replicate my issue but are replacing the motherboard as a precaution. I personally suspect BIOS to be the problem here though but we will find out, I would like to find someone with the exact same model as me to test and see. 

[Gummy]

I have received the laptop back from Asus, they have replaced the motherboard however the issue is unresolved. The moment the display shuts off my power draw at the wall drops to roughly 40watts compared to the 150watts it was at under load, and shortly thereafter you can hear the fans shut off. HWINFO confirms CPU gets locked to 0.4Ghz with the display off as well. Asus returned the laptop without further testing as they claimed they could not do my tests with third party software . I demonstrated they could simply use the proart creator hub to set the laptop to full performance mode, wait for the display to shut off and then you can audibly hear the fans shut off. I did however take another video for them demonstrating the issue as seen here:

 

 

[Yone]

I got an Asus ROG Zephyrus a few months ago, and I'm having a similar issue.

 

When the laptop goes to sleep, the fans stop running, but the computer seems to be running to some degree, since it can get really hot. And when I wake it up, the fans kick on. This also sometimes happens when I have the lockscreen up and the screen turns off (even if it's not asleep). It only happens when the laptop is plugged in.

 

I've disabled auto sleep and hibernate, and I don't lock it (but kept it so the screen turns off automatically), and this mostly solved the problem. It occasionally gets hot with just the screen off, but not too hot that I'm worried about it (still cooler than when I play certain games).

 

I've found some people online having similar problems with Asus laptops overheating while asleep:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/m1q2e6/asus_laptop_overheating_in_sleep_mode/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUSROG/comments/loi380/for_those_that_have_sleep_issues_plugged_in/

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/my-laptop-fan-speeds-up-after-sleep/190f0400-bcbd-4831-886d-b6d476dfaa83

 

Some solutions are suggested in replies to those posts, but I haven't looked into them.

 

Do you have Modern Standby Assistant on?

 

 

[Kilrah]

This sounds like the usual S0 problems, but that's something every laptop from any manufacturer is plagued with...

[Gummy]

On 5/25/2024 at 8:07 PM, Yone said:

I got an Asus ROG Zephyrus a few months ago, and I'm having a similar issue.

 

When the laptop goes to sleep, the fans stop running, but the computer seems to be running to some degree, since it can get really hot. And when I wake it up, the fans kick on. This also sometimes happens when I have the lockscreen up and the screen turns off (even if it's not asleep). It only happens when the laptop is plugged in.

 

I've disabled auto sleep and hibernate, and I don't lock it (but kept it so the screen turns off automatically), and this mostly solved the problem. It occasionally gets hot with just the screen off, but not too hot that I'm worried about it (still cooler than when I play certain games).

 

I've found some people online having similar problems with Asus laptops overheating while asleep:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/m1q2e6/asus_laptop_overheating_in_sleep_mode/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUSROG/comments/loi380/for_those_that_have_sleep_issues_plugged_in/

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/my-laptop-fan-speeds-up-after-sleep/190f0400-bcbd-4831-886d-b6d476dfaa83

 

Some solutions are suggested in replies to those posts, but I haven't looked into them.

 

Do you have Modern Standby Assistant on?

 

 

You say your laptop goes to sleep and your fans stop running. Are you sure your laptop is actually going to sleep? I had this same problem and thought no matter what I did my laptop kept going in to sleep mode, even with sleep and hibernation disabled. Upon more testing I realized the laptop never actually went to sleep, all the activity lights keep blinking away, I can remotely access it on the network, etc. It just shuts the fans off and locks the CPU at 0.4GHz - which results in it getting quite toasty, especially if this happened while doing a render or something intensive. Sounds like we have the exact same problem, as long as I don't walk away from my computer with any intensive tasks running it does OK, fans still scream to life whenever I wake the display back up but usually its ok. If it does shut the display off running some intensive task its a 50/50 chance whether or not my program crashes, or the whole laptop crashes and I come back to it sitting in the BIOS. I found that thread about disabling modern standby assist in my researching for a cure as well and unfortunately it did not make a difference on my model. I will double check though later today and make sure. Did it work for you?

On 5/26/2024 at 12:44 AM, Kilrah said:

This sounds like the usual S0 problems, but that's something every laptop from any manufacturer is plagued with...

Really? I upgraded from a razer blade and it worked exactly as expected display on/display off just like any desktop would. And in all my googling trying to find answers to fix what I presume is just a bad BIOS from Asus it seems to be 99% problems with Asus laptops. 

[Yone]

12 hours ago, Gummy said:

You say your laptop goes to sleep and your fans stop running. Are you sure your laptop is actually going to sleep? I had this same problem and thought no matter what I did my laptop kept going in to sleep mode, even with sleep and hibernation disabled. Upon more testing I realized the laptop never actually went to sleep, all the activity lights keep blinking away, I can remotely access it on the network, etc. It just shuts the fans off and locks the CPU at 0.4GHz - which results in it getting quite toasty, especially if this happened while doing a render or something intensive. Sounds like we have the exact same problem, as long as I don't walk away from my computer with any intensive tasks running it does OK, fans still scream to life whenever I wake the display back up but usually its ok. If it does shut the display off running some intensive task its a 50/50 chance whether or not my program crashes, or the whole laptop crashes and I come back to it sitting in the BIOS. I found that thread about disabling modern standby assist in my researching for a cure as well and unfortunately it did not make a difference on my model. I will double check though later today and make sure. Did it work for you?

 

 

I'm pretty sure it is going to sleep, and I mostly fixed the problem by disabling sleep. It only rarely happens when just the display turns off, and it's not that bad when it does that.

 

I haven't checked the clock speeds, but I'm going to try enabling different sleep states or hibernation and seeing what that does.