Giving life to my old Asus Taichi21 and Asus Zenbook UX32A

Hi Folks,

First off this is just a post wanting to share my experience of upgrading my old Asus Taichi21 and Zenbook UX32A i3 Laptops. Both Laptops work just fine but they are showing its age.

The Taichi21 is mine while the Zenbook is my wife's. Both are still in good condition and haven't had any issues since we got them back in 2013/2014.

For Specs:
Zenbook: https://www.cnet.com/products/asus-...3-3217u-windows-8-4-gb-ram-500-gb-hdd-series/
Taichi 21: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-Taichi-21-Convertible-Ultrabook.85572.0.html

There aren't many useful information floating around so I hope this may help someone. I'm pulling from several resources here

Goal: upgrade the HD memory and ram of the laptops

The Asus Taichi21 only has 128 ssd hard drive space which isn't much nowadays (your talking about 2020 here). The 4gb RAM is not upgradable as its soldered in the motherboard.

I wanted to upgrade the Hard drive space from 128gb to 1tb. So I did my research and it turns out the Asus Taichi requires a special adaptor from a M.2. Sata to an 18pin adaptor. You can purchase an adaptor in Amazon or if your living in the Philippines like myself, I purchased it here: https://shopee.ph/product/70532003/1443665078

I purchased an M.2 1TB WD Blue 2280 size, something like this https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-1T...rds=m.2+ssd+1tb+wd+blue&qid=1580464357&sr=8-1
Dont get a PCIE, but the SSD M.2.

I was able to use both adaptor and the 1TB to replace the Asus Taichi21. I asked a professional to do it but you can check online tutorials to do it yourself. The layout for Taichi 21 and 31 is pretty similar. https://www.myfixguide.com/manual/asus-taichi-31-disassembly/

Happy to report the new 1TB fits perfectly inside the Taichi21 ( I was worried it wouldnt fit. To be on the safe side, I placed some electrical tape so it wont hit the aluminum frame (which it wasnt hitting but I couldnt be sure when it was closed)

I can confirm bios detects the new 1TB HD.

Now installing windows is alittle tricky, the bios may not detect the usb stick you have placed in your laptop. To fix it, go to this thread here and follow some examples: https://superuser.com/questions/507...a-boot-option-does-that-mean-the-machine-cant

I followed this steps

1. Enter the BIOS setup menu by pressing and holding F2 key when powering on.
2. Switch to "Boot" and set “Launch CSM” to Enabled.
3. Switch to "Security" and set "Secure Boot Control" to Disabled.
4. Press F10 to save and exit.
5. Press and hold ESC key to lunch boot menu when the notebook restarts.

After installing Windows, i undid all the changes in BIOS. Now to install the Asus Taichi21 drivers, I had to search for the drivers. You can find all the drivers in this handy website: https://www.notebooks-center.com/drivers-laptop-asus-taichi-21-1212.html

I downloaded and installed the following:
1. Latest Bios Utility and Bios version to fix outer panel
2. ATK Package (should contain most drivers)
3. Power4gear Hybrid and Close lid
4. Taichi Display Control

Happy to say my taichi21 works with both inner and outer monitors plus its now running with 1tb ssd space.

With the Asus ux32a, its alot simpler. The 2GB RAM is removable. Im still looking for the part but it should be at DD3 1666mhz (not confirmed yet). In theory based on some threads, you can upgrade up to 10gb (2gb internal and 8gb dd3)- Will confirm once I got the part and have it installed.

The SSD I purchased a 500 gb 2.5 ssd sata. Something like this: It fits perfectly: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-50...eywords=2.5+ssd+blue+wd&qid=1580467253&sr=8-3

In case you will have problems again with BIOS not detecting USB to install windows 10, please above with the Taichi, they are pretty much the same.

I installed the ATK drivers and it was all good to go.
From the slow 2.5 HD to a fast SSD. Big improvement in speed.
Installation guide of HD can be found here.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Asus+Zenbook+UX32VD+Hard+Drive+Replacement/52270

Drivers can be found here:
https://www.notebook-driver.com/asus-ux32a-laptop-drivers-software/


Hope this helps people

 

Hello harkoliar,
many compliments for what you were able to accomplish with your two beloved Asus champions!
I live in Italy and own a Taichi 31 since 2014, I would'not change it with any other notebook, its two screens make it unique (at least, until now) and I do really exploit this feature very much .
Unfortunately, the native o.s. of my Taichi 31 is Win 8.1. and I'm still stuck to it because Asus Italia declared the Taichi 21 & 31 to be not compatible with Win 10.
Of course, I would need to upgrade to Win 10 for several reasons, but I fear to loose the capability of switching between the two screens, i.e. I fear the Asus Close Lid sofware won't work with Win 10.
Now from your post I see you installed Win 10 on your Taichi (in addition to a new 1 Tb HD!) and you are "Happy to say my taichi21 works with both inner and outer monitors"...

• Please, confirm that I have properly undestood and that on your Taichi with Win 10 you can still switch between the two screens - both manually (via the HW side button or via the SW Close Lid) and automatically (closing/opening the lid).

Thank you very much for a reply.

 

Hi there
Short answer to your question yes it works on windows 10 for my Asus taichi 21..I believe it should work on your taichi 31

How to get it working requires two things
Update the bios
Uninstall the latest windows 10 drivers and install the taichi drivers, mainly video card drivers.

Personally installing windows 10 fresh rather than upgrade would be my preference.

I did a fresh install windows 10 when I changed my hd as it's better than spending time trying to clone my files my old hd

Here is some photos and a small video I took to tonight with my taichi 21 showing the lids and the hd upgrade. Touchscreen on outside panel also works

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AqBWh-uaXcEKyaE8sYT7MdGorDFSdQ

Hope it helps

 

Another thing
You should make sure you use your taichi 31 drivers
https://www.notebooks-center.com/drivers-laptop-asus-taichi-31-1213.html

 

Thanks a lot for your very useful reply.
I confirm I’m extremely interested in the o.s. upgrading, a bit less in mass storage increase. But probably a new HD on which trying a fresh install of Win10 could offer the best security for the original 250 Gb HD on my Taichi31

I’ve carefully examined the Notebooks-Center site and I am impressed to find on it the drivers for Taichi-Win10, while in the past I was informed by Asus Italy that such drivers would have never been released.
Then I checked the actual BIOS on my T31: its version & date (v. 209, 2014/05/12) are the same available on n.-c. site…(!?) So I made a check on Asus Italy site and found out that it actually shows what you can see in the attached image (T31 BIOS v. 210)

As I noticed that the file size of this Asus supposed_to_be T31 BIOS v. 210 - 2018 for Win10 is identical to that of v. 209 - 2014 on the Notebooks-Center site, I called Asus I. to get some clarification: they told me only that the BIOS driver v. 210 of 2018/07/19 “ probably in 2018” was assuring compatibility of Taichi with Win 10 v. 2018, but today there is no guarantee with later versions of Win10….
1) What do you think about this BIOS v. mismatch?
Anyway, the outcome you got and documented is as clear as the path to accomplish it (in my case, by a professional which I need to involve).

As far the HD is concerned, can you confirm this:
2) its replacement should be the first step, in order to secure it while messing with BIOS & Win10 on the new one...

To minimize risks of unexpected accidents I’d buy the same HD and the same adapter you found. They are available on Amazon Italy, here:
https://www.amazon.it/Blue-Unità-Stato-Solido-Interna/dp/B073SB2MXT/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_it_IT=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&dchild=1&keywords=WD+Blue+3D+NAND+500GB+Internal+PC+SSD+-+SATA+III+6+Gb/s,+M.2+2280,+Up+to+560+MB/s+-+WDS500G2B0B&qid=1592768939&s=pc&sr=1-1&th=1

https://www.amazon.it/NGFF-Adapter-Card-Asus-Zenbook/dp/B01ARB054M
3) Please, confirm they both seem to be OK (probably I’ll buy the 500Gb HD because it’s more than enough for my needs).

Thank you very much.

 

Hi Brazos,

Yes those HD parts looks same to mine. As long as they work, they should be compatible with the laptop.

Regarding the bios, I suggest you go with the one on asus website as they seem to be more updated. Again I would suggest getting a professional to upgrade the bios for you.

From memory, there is an asus software you can use via windows to upgrade your bios. Once that is done, you can upgrade your HD and reinstall windows.

Make sure you already have a windows usb installer before you swap HD (or get it via a different computer)

Remember the asus bios you have to enable USB boot logging as mentioned in my previous post before installing windows via usb

Hope this helps.

Thanks



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