UX31 Completely DEAD! Help.

I 've never used hibernate......

 

Yeah, that was my issue, too (I think it initially was the standby/hibernate). Got it back, all the data has been wiped by ASUS .

I would of backed it up, but it just wouldn't boot Not even a flicker of LED status lights. I considered getting another UX21 and swapping the SSD for the duration of a backup session, but that seemed like a waste of a new zenbook.


Whatever the cause is, this is my last ASUS laptop purchase. Twice burned, in a row, lol (admittedly, both of them - a n10j and the UX21E - were used by extremely heavy business travellers). This is even worse than our corporate fleet of thinkpads and HPs. Even our Sonys have fared better .

 

Way back in January, I reported on my dead UX31. It was in a coma, absolutely no blinking lights at power-on. Nothing. I tried all the resets imaginable, disconnected the battery, everything; still nothing. I was totally disappointed, I'd just finished completely reorganizing my data on the machine, hadn't yet had time for a backup, then - lights out.
Swiss customer service would not look at it under warranty, because the case had a slight ding at the corner, but that hadn't kept it from working before.
I just had to bite the bullet, and went and bought a second one, which by the way has worked great from day one.
I kept the old one around in a drawer, just in case I needed to cannibalize any parts. I took it apart, and tried to find an adapter to get my data off of the SSD, but nothing worked. It is supposedly SATA, but it is hard to find an adapter that size, the only one I could locate was the adapter for MacBook Air SSD's (to USB), and I tried that but it wouldn't recognize the disk.
Then, the other day I was walking by the old UX31 and pushed the power-on button, and to my amazement it did a recovery!!! I quickly grabbed an external disk and copied off all my data. It did all its Windows updates, and then it was time to re-boot. I breathed deeply... then...
Nothing. Lights out again. Coma.
Maybe I'll get lucky again in six months, who knows? Totally weird.

With hindsight, I think it is probably some kind of bug with the Instant On, Sleep, Windows Hibernation all mixed up. When it came back to life the other day, I probably should have thought to de-activate all of that while it was on, and use the normal power-on/off cycle.

Just for jeremyshaw, if you took out your SSD to swap it into a new ASUS you would invalidate any warranties on both computers. So go carefully!

Anyway, hope my painful experiences can be of use...! LOL

 

where I can find the S/N of my laptop? I haven't on the bottom and I don't have the box.
inside the pc I don't find it.
someone can help me?
thanks

 

If you don't see it in the bottom you have it in the setup.

 

yes , now I have it.

I understand this strangely death are a gpu problem:

when the laptop don't start and all the led are on , your laptop has a video problem and it go on trying to start.

I left it 30 minutes and when I came back it was very hot and it started normally.
I "BAKED" it like a reflow

of course, this is a degenerative problem

 

You meant, that if I turn it off now (after 2 weeks being on) it probably will not turn on anymore, even after waiting for a couple of hours as before, right?

 

Just writing in to confirm that the newest bios (212) does not cure the problem.

I wonder if anyone has resolved the issue without having to send it in?

This is more than a little annoying that they're still selling these with this defect.

 

Weird! This happened just now, after some weeks without turning the machine off it got rebooted, not sure how since Windows Update is disabled. When I saw the machine was at setup screen, clicked exit and after the POST it went to the Setup again, tried 3 times with the same result (loaded defaults settings, turned on POST animations and POST sound, save and exit with the same mentioned result). Finally pressed the turn-off button and then hit it again, this time the boot was normal (windows asked to enter safe mode, instead hit normal and booted in a couple of seconds). So far so good. Anyone knows what happened? The machine was plugged to the electricity with full charge when this happened. I didn't noticed since I was not using it at that moment.

 

Update: I restarted it after a while. It turned on as normal! Restarted 2 times after that with 0 issue. The only thing I noticed was yersterday night while being on, it turned of and went to setup blue scrren. Is anyone aware of what is going on?

 

Hi everybody. Here is my fix.
I got the same problem as everyone this morning : UX31 dead, only the power and caplocks leds turn on and off. Called Asus : they told me to send it to AsusRMA. Tried before a last resort : plugged in 2 external HDD to drain the battery (computer beeing plugged off of course) . It took about 5 hours, but eventually the beast was completely powerless. And then Miracle : when I plugged back in the power cord, it started!
But what can be done so that it doesn't happen again ?

 

Same problem here. Worked on it before going to sleep, shut it down (no suspending etc) and now nada, the 3 damn leds and after pressing the power button a couple dozen times not even the leds are on now.

I'm trying to get the battery to drain overnight by plugging a phone charger to the usb port. Hopefully by tomorrow the battery will have drained out. Might take more time though -- what could I do to maximize battery drain? Some kind of USB electric bulb would be great. Any ideas appreciated.

If it does not work I'll have to RMA it, bought it in US and now I'm in Spain, hopefully the warranty will apply and I won't have to send it there

I'm pretty pissed right now, this unit was expensive to me, all kinds of 4-letter words come to my mind.

 

Ended up attaching a USB hard drive to the powered port to drain the battery. Took a while. 24h later I plugged it and it did boot. Hopefully it won't show this behavior again. I'll have trouble trusting this device for critical stuff. What if in the middle of a business trip it goes bye bye? Sigh.

 

Hello guys,

Today i had the same problems reported before. (About turning on the UX31 (mine is i5 128gb) and the led of power and caps lock turn on (wi-fi random) and the machine stays stuck).

I did this to turn on: press the power button to turn off for at least 10 seconds and then try again. I keep trying this and then it just works...

I get this problem more often than never (i saw this before sometimes, but i thought it was because of the low battery or something like that).

What i did today: I had the 210 bios and flashed to the 212. Well, i turned off sometimes and till now, i didn`t find any problem.

PS: Just to note (idk if it`s matters), my POST is animated and sound enabled.

I`ll keep looking into this about the 212 and will keep the post updated.

Bye

 

Mine died again. Only booted a couple times in between!

Been trying that to no avail. How many times? Around 10, around 100?

If I can get it to boot I'll try flashing the new bios and report.

Yeah please do!

 

Well,

Today at morning, i'm at work and my zenbook is completely dead.
I cannot turn on in any way. Damnit!
I'm trying to turn it on without the charger, i'll try with the charger and tell here again. (I'm sure that there's battery since i've charged last night).

Edit: Well, seems that it only turn's on when connected to the power charger and try turn it on many times.
You need to keep trying.
I'll send it to RMA. Ashley, not the real RMA: i bought from the office depot in New York-NY and bought with the 2 year warrantly from the ensurance that they sold. I paid like $150 for that. They told me that, with this ensurance i just need to send it to the closest location to me (Currently i live in Brazil) and they'll look at it. After they look that there's exist a real problem, they'll send me a check with the full price of the product ($999 i paid for the i5 128gb) or they can send be a brand new one (refurbished? who knows...).
I'll call them at night, because i don't have the paper right now...

 

Thanks for the update sir. I will be trying to RMA mine.

edit: after another battery drain cycle it now boots. still going to rma it.

 

Hi everybody,
Here is an update on my laptop : No more failures since the first one. Maybe I did something right. So here is what I did :
- I immediately uninstalled these two apps from Asus (power4gear, and power options).
- I never do a Shut down. I only use the Sleep mode, and do a Restart when needed.

 

Hey guys,

Unfortunely, my UX31 is completely dead. I`ll receive a complete reimbursement from the newcorp.com because of the assurance i`ve made.
The ultrabook is perfect as i can see, but, unfortunely i had this problem and now i`ll get my money back =(

I`ll have to buy another one, but i don`t know which one yet...

Thanks

 

I am interested to know if anyone have obtained more info from Asus as to the true cause of this problem? Here is what has happened to me today:

A friend have a Asus UX31. Some month ago he had the problem this thread discusses. Suddenly the Asus wouldn't start start properly, just having a black screen and light on powerlid and caps lock. Turning it off and on didn't work. So he called Asus and got an RMA ticket and was even mailed the sticker for the post package. But then it suddenly started to work again, and as you might have guessed he didn't bother to send it away.

Recently he had many other problems with it. Windows saying that license isn't activated when it is pre-installed by Asus, he needs to run som CBT software that won't run on Windows 7 and 64-bit, but can't use Virtual XP, since it is Home edition etc etc.
So I decided to help him by reinstalling the laptop with a Windows 7 Pro edition. Yesterday I brought the laptop home, made a backup and then totally wiped it and made a new fresh installation.

I updated Bios to latest version (212), I installed all the latest drivers from Asus homepage for this laptop. Late in the night, I was letting Windows update all available patches and went to bed.
This morning I came back to the desk with the laptop and noticed that it had hibernated. But whatever I did I couldn't get it back to life.

I pressed the power on, and the LED lamp would turn on as well as Caps Lock led, but nothing more. Kept pressing power button so it turned itself off, and then turned it on again. Sometimes also led for wireless would turn on, but most of the time not.
I tried holding the power button pressed for 60 seconds and then start it - no difference.

Now I was getting worried. I did not know that my friend had already experinced this some month ago, so I had this creepy feeling that it was something I might have done. But from past experiences with laptops I reckoned that a removal of battery would do the trick. Carefully removing the back cover (good instructions with excellent pictures here: ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH72 13.3 Inch Disassembly and Teardown ) I disconnected the battery. No freaking luck! Same thing continue to happen.
Now I feel really bad. I actually missed to remove the CMOS battery, that might have done the trick but come on, that is not a solution you can do every time this happen!

So I assemble the laptop and in a bad mood start to turn it off, turn it on, over and over. And I'll be damned, suddenly it starts like it should and now functions like it should!

But how to prevent it once and for all from happening?

It obviously isn't solved by latest BIOS, because I did that upgrade yesterday and restarted several times after that, and problem happened this morning.
Can it be the Asus apps that deals with power, USB and "Instant on" as Patdewar aksk? If so, why isn't there a word from Asus acknowledging it?
Since my friend already has an RMA ticket for this, would you recommend that he send it to Asus, even if the laptop seems to be working for the moment?
All of you that have sent it for being repaired for this error, did it permanently help, or did you get the same problem again?
Have anyone at all been given any hint or feedback from Asus what the heck this error really is caused by?

Update as of 18 July:

My friend decided to RMA the laptop and have now sent it to Asus.
He called yesterday and talked to the repair center. They have decided to change the motherboard of the UX31. He asked if they could be a bit more specific about exactly what kind of component that is causing the problem. They said that they did not know problem solution on this deep technical level (!)
So, let's see if the problem has disappeared when he get the laptop back with a new motherboard. If this is the case, I guess it wouldn't help to update BIOS, remove Asus custom software and functionality - it is a hardware problem and everyone that experience it should get in touch with Asus as soon as possible and get it serviced before warranty runs out, that is my advice...

 

RMA'd mine and they also replaced the motherboard, according to the docs they attached. Seems to be working now, will report to this thread if it shows more problems.

 

Hi guys,

I'm from Brazil. I've bought my UX31 Series Ultra Slim (i7) in the USA and now I have the same problem descbribed by all of you!

However, the Brazilian Asus' technical support does not have the motherboard to replace the broken one (they say replacement is needed). On top of that, the guarantee of the laptop does not apply in Brazil (since I've bought it in the USA).

I've sent an email to Asus in order to try to obtain a new motherboard without success (yet).

Is there any place (preferably a website) where I can buy the motherboard that I need directly? No store in Brazil has this component (and if they had, the price would be ridiculous).

Thanks for the help!

 

FResende, still around here?

I have the same problem. But I'm not sure if I apply to the Global Warranty...Asus' techical support in Brazil, at least, said I was not covered here.

Have you fixed yours? Any tips?

I've sent my laptop to a repair store (not linked to Asus) - and they were not able to fix it without a new motherboard - and now I think that even in USA I wouldn't have a chance to use the warranty...

 

Bought mine in USA too and they honored the guarantee in Spain. Why wouldn't they honor it in Brazil Anyways it might be cheaper for you to ship it to USA and get them to fix it (still keeping the guarantee) rather than buying a new motherboard and replace it yourself. I'd call ASUS USA first.

 

Ohhhh god. I just bought a UX31E from Microsoft Store on a great deal $799 + xbox. They are shipping it to me now..... Hope they have fixed these awful QC issues. I am getting super worried reading these threads. If there's somthing wrong with the laptop i'll probably try to get an exchange. IDK what I would get at the same price though.... maybe Lenovo U310. =(

 

I wouldn't worry too much. Even if this thread is scary, to be fair it's still a very small % of UX31 buyers who got this problem. I'm upset it happened to me, but it was fixed pretty quickly so I'm not regretting my purchase.

 

Cool, do you notice any of the other issues that some people have gotten? Like missing or over tightened screws, or faulty hinges?

I am not too worried about the touchpad issues because the drivers seem to have helped from what I've heard and the keyboard is not a huge deal to me because I may decide to carry an external keyboard with me.

 

I have an Asus UX31A ( looks like this one) which is dead..

Problems started when the screen stayed black sometimes and only capslock and wifi light was on. Some days later it died completely, so it doesn't do anything anymore. As it doesn't have any warranty I cannot send it back to Asus.

Does anybody know a company which can repair it or where I can get a new mainboard? Or does anybody have details about the defect?

Thank you very much

 

You're in the US? Call ASUS and have them RMA the unit. I got mine back in about a week. They did have to replace the motherboard.

 

No I'm in Germany, but shipping to US wouldn't be a problem. Asus told me that they are not sure if they can repair it, I have to pay 75€ for sure only that they look if they can fix it. Doesn't sound good to me.

 

Like everyone already said, the only thing you can try and do is hold the powerbutton for a few seconds until it sorts it out.. else could it be an os issue?

 

I already removed the battery for hours..didn't make a difference. Doesn't start without ssd either.
That's why I think the mainboard is broken and I need a new one

 

Count 1 more dead Ultrabook Prime. Same symptoms just got RMA and shipped it back, went dead and will not turn on. Asus helpdesk apparently does not see this as a common problem. A quick google search shows it to occur more often than would be uncommon. Thanks for posting all so I at least do not feel alone even though I am now lugging around a 17.3 inch laptop for work and may have lost all my work files since last back up. I will post update after I hear back from Asus.

 

Asus will never see anything as a common problem the best thing to do when your in warranty is to try and follow the warranty guide lines.. once you have void your warranty asus rep will only till that you will be charged for the repairs

 

I'm not sure if it's simply sheer coincidence, but when I couldn't get my UX31A-BHI5T11 out of the sleep mode that I had manually initiated last night, I tried a few things after finding this forum.

Unfortunately nothing worked and before breaking out the torx screwdrivers I tried two more things:

(1) Disconnected the USB hub. Zilch, zero, nada - still no response.
(2) With the USB hub still disconnected, I also disconnected the power supply in preparation to flip it over and start the battery disconnect procedure. I decided to tap the power button once, then held it for 30 seconds - STILL no response. I then pressed the power button twice in quick successio and BANG- it fired right up!

I would usually at least try to duplicate a process to validate it but I have a lot of queued up work to get done - and it's a busy week so I might not try this until next Friday. I'd be happy to hear if the quick succession power button press or a combination of the steps I shared might be of assistance or if it was a single fortuitous event.

This is TRULY a major PITA especially when this is your primary machine and you travel frequently. This should be officially recognized and addressed by Asus (if it hasn't been). These are sleek, beautiful and well-functioning machines. This user-validated and documented multi-year problem is a blemish on an excellent company that is producing world-class products.

Jeff

 

Mine also died a few days ago while i was using it. I have also experienced problems with it turning off when plugging in the charger. It is without comparison the worst laptop i have ever had and will sell it the moment i get it back from repairs. I have the ux31e i7 128gb sandisk version btw. Also wrote in the description that the keyboard is horrible but guess that is just how it is. I can not recommend to buy any other laptop enough

 

hi everybody,
My UX31E just dead this morning . i working on it and suddently pioufff nothing.
It's a motherboard. But waranty expired.
Does anyone can tell me how cost the mother board replacement with asus ?
thanks for your help.

 

I wanted to post here in case my experience can help someone else with the same issue. MY UX31 wasn't turning on, and the capslock light was stuck on. No warranty, but i sent it in anyway and ASUS quoted $814 to fix the motherboard. My last resort was to try resetting the solder by giving the motherboard 10 mins in the oven at 200 degrees celsius. after putting it back together it booted up fine, and hasn't randomly reset since! It won't turn on first time after a complete shutdown, so it's not perfect, but it's at least usable. There's plenty of info online about cooking motherboards so I would definitely recommend it if it's not covered under warranty.

 

A google search for "Zenbook bad cmos" brought up this thread. My ux31 is 2 years old. First it started not keeping time correctly. I thought the cmos battery was dead, then it wouldn't boot and I'd go through many sets of holding power 5 seconds to turn it off, turn it back on. Sometimes it wouldn’t come back on after many tries, but after waiting 15 minutes it would come on the first time. One time it went through a cycle where it would boot to the bios program repeatedly and not go to windows. Then the wifi would drop and I’d repeatedly have to reset the adapter. Then couple times it would freeze.
I have an old dell xp netbook that would rarely lock up, but pulling battery fixed it whenever it did. I can’t do that with zenbook because battery is not accessible.
After reading this thread (almost all 14 pages) I’ve come to the conclusion that the problem is not my cmos, but probably motherboard that many here have experience.
Luckily, I lost no data. I moved all my data to the cloud (onedrive) and already bought a new laptop. The zenbook, however continues to run with the only weirdness currently being the clock is wrong. I’ve given up resetting it to internet time.
So what I have is a cool backup laptop that continues to run (typing on it now) that has issues, but not worth fixing. I would have hoped to get a couple more years use out of it. My dell netbook refused to die. It sits on the shelf collecting dust, but still work and it even got me a $100 bucks off my new laptop due to the Microsoft xp trade up special.
I really liked my zenbook, but even though it’s thinner, lighter, faster, cheaper than the macbook air, none of that matters if it’s not working. Asus needs to work on their build quality, imho.
Besides replacing cmos, my next thought was to refresh windows, but after reading this thread I don’t think that would do anything. Only thing I installed was office, Norton, and fujitsu scanner driver. I’ll just continue to use this as a spare expecting it to die any moment.

 

Drama continues with my UX31. Just sitting I got the message "oops, google chrome has crashed. Restart?" Then the os crashes and restarts to the bios. Then I'm stuck in a loop of always restarting to the bios. Finally after a dozen tries it boots windows. I try repair, but it says it can't repair. Figured what the heck, last thing to try before putting it in the trash is to re-install from the hidden os partition. Turned it on pressing F9 to start recovery setup. It's doing that now rebooting billions of times as it installs each driver one at a time. We'll see if a re-install helps. I don't think it will because it's motherboard related as others pointed out.

 

Same problem as everyone else. Out of warranty. This needs a class action lawsuit.

 

I had the same issue of the notebook not turning on at all. I openend it and did disconnect the battery and the CMOS battery. It didn't change anything. When opened i could occasionally turn it on.
At least i found out, that if i put some pressure on the battery connector(internal connector to mainboard) when pushing the power on button the notebook fired up. So i put some layers of paper on it to get some pressure from the backplate when reassembled.

Works like a charm

 

Hi everyone. I've just signed up here to post a solution to this problem.

I'm a self employed computer tech, repairing all kinds of machines. I had a customer who thought that their charging port was broken as the machine wouldn't charge up.

Firstly, I tested the voltage across the charger. It was zero. I opened up the LED end and found a broken wire which I soldered back on. Testing the voltage again I found something I'd never seen before. The two bands in the charger are 2 different voltages (9.1v and 19.2v)

I connected it to the laptop thinking the job was done. Opened the lid to find the LED was lit on power, WiFi and Caps. The laptop wouldn't turn on. I held in the power button. All 3 lights went off and then nothing. At all.

My reasoning for this happening:
In order to make this laptop thin and light, ASUS have kitted it out with more powerful Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries. These batteries are miles better than standard Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. They are lighter and more powerful. However, there is a reason they are not used in laptops and other home electronics. They are more complicated to maintain.

A LiPo cell has a fully charged voltage of 4.2v and a nominal charge of 3.7v. They should NOT be allowed to discharge below 3.3v otherwise they can become unstable due to a chemical reaction that begins to occur in the cell. If they get below this voltage they need to be charged very carefully until they come back above the 3.3v threshold, then they can be charged normally again. When I opened up my customer's UX31 there were 4 identifiable cells in the battery. (14.8v when fully charged) Each cell was at 3.1v - below the threshold.

In my opinion, this is the main cause of the problem. ASUS, I think, have recognised this problem and the computer is set up so that if the battery is below 3.3v per cell, it will not switch on, as doing so can cause serious damage to the battery - overheating and possibly causing fire. (If you want to see how bad a lipo fire is, search for it on YouTube!). If the computer goes to sleep, it continues to draw voltage from the battery. In this situation it could take the battery below 3.3v per cell, leading to the computer locking down. Plugging the charger in doesn't do anything because the battery is reporting an error to the computer, so the computer wont activate the charging circuit.

This is a simplified version of how lipo battery chemistry works - If you want to know more detail about it then search online. I have worked with lipo batteries for years though, as they are used for radio controlled cars, so I have a very good knowledge of them. The battery chargers used in the RC world recognise the complicated and delicate chemistry of these cells and are equally complicated with numerous settings. (I think the dual voltage output from the ASUS charger is their attempt at a lipo charger)

My Solution

In order for the computer to power on, it has to be forced to forget the battery warning. I therefore wanted to remove EVERYTHING that could hold this information. However, the RAM and the BIOS are soldered onto the board, so removing them isn't an option. I took the bottom off the laptop (10 x Torx 5 screws); removed the CMOS battery connection, removed the main battery which has a screw in the middle, between the two halves, and one either side and then I connected the charger. There was still nothing.

I then removed the SSD (there's a screw under the "warranty void" warning sticker) and plugged the charger back in. This time it powered on and lit up. WITHOUT shutting down, I reconnected the SSD and screwed it down. I then restarted the computer successfully. With the power ON and the computer ON I reconnected the CMOS battery and the main battery. The computer stayed on and the showed that it was charging the battery. The battery remained at 0% for over 30 minutes (remember, the computer is set to say that 3.3v per cell, the critical voltage, is 0% - this explains why it was at 0% for so long - it had to be above 3.3v to be reported as having any useable power). It is now at 47% which should be halfway between 3.3v (lowest safe voltage per cell for lipo) and 4.2v (fully charged voltage per cell) so around 3.7v per cell.

IN ORDER TO STOP THIS HAPPENING AGAIN I HAVE EDITED ALL WINDOWS POWER PLANS. THE OPTION TO SLEEP HAS BEEN REMOVED IN ALL PLANS. POWER BUTTON = SHUT DOWN. CLOSING THE LID = SHUT DOWN. LEFT IDLE FOR 15 MINUTES = SHUT DOWN.

I suggest you do the same as I am POSITIVE that leaving the laptop on sleep or hibernate is causing the battery to go below 3.3v per cell which is the cause of all the problems. I imagine the replaced "boards"are either new batteries being fitted with a voltage above 3.3v, or a motherboard with a better charging circuit. BIOS updates may help as they could stop the lockdown of the computer if the voltage drops too low, but I'm not sure if the computer is equipped with an intelligent enough charging system to safely bring the voltage back up. Either way, this is a problem ASUS need to address!

Anyway, that's what I think is going on!

 

Hello everyone, I usually don't join forums or post,I just read read read. I like all of you have experienced the DOA of this ultra book. I have read this forum many times and looked high and low for a cure disassembled this unit more time than I can count trying to fix it. I was going to pull the battery and remove the screen (my mom has the same ultra book and she breaks things) in preparation for the scrap heap. I decided to try baking the motherboard one last time. yes I did this twice before. done all the battery drains replace the thermo compound (thinking because some times the fan would come on with the cap and f2 key lights the cpu was getting to hot) I am convinced there is/was a manufacturing issue with the solder. this time I baked it for 15 min at 405 F it has been running for a week with hundreds of reboots(because I don't trust this thing any more) it is running strong and am starting to remember why I bought this ultrabook and forget all the frustration although I still don't trust it 100% yet I am slowly getting over its be-trail to me. Hope this helps someone. you have nothing to lose if the warranted is up. Good Luck! I know how frustrating it is these are not cheap.

 

Did you bake the motherboard with the processor on?

If no, how did you take it of? There is some silicone/glue holding it to the motherboard that I cant seem to get off. I tried baking it at 215 (since the max processor temp is ~220, and it did not soften the silicone at all. I cant get through it with a razor blade either.....

 

Same problem. Obviously a design fault that Asus are in denial about, personally I wouldn't buy another product from this company no matter how aesthetically appealing it is.

The problem as I understand it is the keyboard. I have disconnected the battery, tried powering direct via the mains charger, tested the charger and battery etc etc. There is an on button under the keyboard power on, which disconnects. New keyboard is required, Asus charge top $$$$. I'd suggest ebay or whatever.

Asus - poor on customer support

 

If your unit is under warranty, they will cover any warranty issues including defects. If it's beyond the warranty coverage period then they cannot do anything for it.
Things can fail because of wear and tear.

On the other hand, eBay definitely has cheaper notebook parts.

 

Twice now my UX31 was completely dead, removed the bottom, disconnected the battery which by the way is fully charged. attached the power cable and it turned on. reassembled it and connected the battery and it is fine .... for now. I have the 213 BIOS and read somewhere to update the bios which would be to 214 but appears to be just for Win 8 compatibility

 

@RSD1982: Thank you so much for your solution to the "UX31E Completely Dead"-problem!!!!

I´m from Germany and a proud owner of an Asus Zenbook UX31E-RY008V. I had the same problem as described in this thread. My Zenbook showed the problem 4 weeks ago for the first time (September 25, 2015): it was at about 50% charge and I shut it down to load it. After loading (not fully), it wouldn´t turn on, it just showed the three lamps (power, F2, caps lock), nothing else. No power-on self test, no operating system.

That happened in the early afternoon, but in the evening my husband managed to start the notebook again. But it was strange, he needed to push the power button for quite a long time before the system started. Then the notebook worked fine for about two weeks ( I actually didn´t really use it, most of the time it was switched off). After two weeks (October 1, 2015) it showed the same problem again: again at about 50% charge and after working on it in battery operation, I shut it down to load it. After loading (not fully), it wouldn´t start. Same problem again, but this time we couldn´t manage to start my Zenbook, it remained dead. Didn´t matter how often I tried to turn it on, only the three lamps went on and stayed on. Nothing else.

So I decided to give my notebook to a technician. He checked a lot and told me it must be the mainboard. But he wasn´t equipped enough to help me on. So I decided to send it in to Asus for repair. They checked my notebook again, made a C-mos reset and told me that my mainboard was broken and had to be changed. But that was really expensive: 522,00 Euro (around 580 Dollar) so I decided not to let it be done.

Today I received my notebook back from Asus, in an unrepaired condition! Even the accompanying letter said: "Notebook can´t boot, was carefully tested before sent back to owner". I was happy to have it back, so I unpacked it, let it acclimatise for some time because it was quite cold when it arrived by post this morning. Without any hope, I sat down on my couch and pushed the power button, knowing that nothing would happen except for the 3 lamps lighting.

BUT:
my Zenbook started without any problems!!! I couldn´t believe it. We immediately plugged in the power cable and tested the system: everything okay! We installed Windows-updates and started it all over again, it worked every time (while plugged in!).

This evening I used my notebook in battery operation for about one hour. At a charge of about 50% I shut it down, and 15 minutes later I wanted to turn it on again (because I´m so happy that it is back working!!) but the same problem again: it wouldn´t turn on. I plugged it in immediately and left it for about 5 minutes then I tried to start it (still plugged in) and it worked: it turned on fine and everything worked perfectly again.
When plugged out, it doesn´t turn on when it it at a charge of about 50% or less, so I think that your solution to the problem is right: some of my battery cells seem to be broken, and when it is only at a charge of about 50%, the Lipo cells seem to fall beneath 3.3v and so the notebook doesn´t turn on. My notebook is 4 years old so I think the battery isn´t in the best condition anymore. I will have my battery changed soon since I´m convinced that the battery and the complicated Lipo cells are the problem.

Well, I just post this because I already found your text here in Notebookreview three days ago, when my Zenbook was still at Asus´. I wanted to find out about other users who have the same problem. I read your post with great interest and I found so many similarities that I even printed out your explanation and solution because I was somehow sure that my mainboard isn´t the problem but something else.

Thank you for explaining the problem in such clear words! You have helped me a lot!

 

@EdenCC Will you let us know what happened after you changed the battery? Thanks!