Question Asus Vivobook BIOS issues

[rubytook]

Hello, I've been helping a friend solve performance issues with her Asus Vivobook and I've come across a peculiar issue and I would like some thoughts from peers, as it were.

Her laptop model is an Asus VivoBook 15 X540UA. This is what she paid for, and this is the model number on the bottom of the laptop. From disassembling it, it also is the X540UA on the inside (only one upgradeable memory slot). However, the computer 'thinks' it is the X540UAR.

I have never seen anything like this before. In the BIOS, it states that it is the X540UAR. The electronic user manual is for the X540UAR. MSINFO and several other hardware detection programs show that it is the X540UAR. As far as I can tell (and this is not readily available information from Asus so it's mostly guesswork) one major difference between the models is that the X540UAR has dual channel memory with four slots: two empty slots and two 4 gb modules installed; and the X540UA has single channel memory with two slots: two 4 gb modules installed (one is sautered to the motherboard).

I have now determined that her performance issues are due to CPU thermal throttling . On one hand, the laptop is poorly engineered and inadequately cooled, so that could be the whole cause right there; but I do know that many settings for throttling and power states, etc, are in the BIOS. The only way I can get the X540UA BIOS to flash is to edit the BIOS file. (See longer story below.)

So the question is: should I try to edit the X540UA BIOS file so I can flash it, or should I just suggest a vacuum cooler to her and leave it at that?

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Longer BIOS story: when I realized that the internals didn't match the current installed BIOS, I went and found the most recent BIOS file for the X540UA and downloaded it. Unfortunately, the X540UAR got about three more BIOS upgrades than the X540UA, so the date on the correct BIOS (for the X540UA) is earlier than what is currently installed. When I tried to do EZ Flash 3, it told me it wasn't a 'proper BIOS'. After looking it up, I realized it didn't like it because it thought it was a downgrade. So I made a bootable thumb drive with AMI's DOS flash utility and converted the file to a ROM file. Sadly, that didn't work; eventually I tried AMI's Windows utility and got a message that 'Secure Flash' failed (I don't remember the exact message off the top of my head atm); I went back to Asus's website and found that the BIOS file for the X540UAR is a different size than for the X540UA, and that was probably my problem. At this point, I determined the only way to flash the correct BIOS would be to edit it so it was the same filesize, which I was leery to do. Since things seemed to be running 'fine' with the X540UAR BIOS, I left it with that installed.

Sorry that was so convoluted. I hope I managed to be clear enough!

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Previous owner might of swapped motherboard (if these are similar layout) or forced modded X540UAR bios for it (no idea about of reason, might be to unlock "advanced" tabs or similar)

Its this motherboard : https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000049000660.html ?
Look 4th pic this is motherboard model , might be under sticker too check yours closely.

You cant do much else than just downclock or undervolt within the operating system but if you want to actually solve thermal issues you need to disassembly and clean the heatsink / fan and apply new thermal paste. I suggest thermal grizzly kryonaut, use isoprophyl alcohol 90%+ to clean carefully heatsink and gpu / cpu die from the thermal paste before applying new one.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

You can see the motherboard id in this video at 16.00min just above ASUS logo

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjujgQF_M-U

 

[rubytook]

Previous owner might of swapped motherboard (if these are similar layout) or forced modded X540UAR bios for it (no idea about of reason, might be to unlock "advanced" tabs or similar)

She's the original owner, so no possibility of that.

Its this motherboard : https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000049000660.html ?
Look 4th pic this is motherboard model , might be under sticker too check yours closely.

That looks absolutely right although that particular one has 8 gb memory on board; the description says for i5-7500U, but her processor is the i7-8550U. Claims to be, anyway, coudn't check with the heatsink on. (It is also what she ordered with the computer). I can't say for sure because she had to take her computer back; the shelter in place order has made things tricky. I used to take pictures when I took a computer apart, and I really wish I had with hers. Should've listened to my insticts.

You cant do much else than just downclock or undervolt within the operating system but if you want to actually solve thermal issues you need to disassembly and clean the heatsink / fan and apply new thermal paste. I suggest thermal grizzly kryonaut, use isoprophyl alcohol 90%+ to clean carefully heatsink and gpu / cpu die from the thermal paste before applying new one.

I did clean the fan as well as I could; if it were my laptop I'd have bought a new fan after looking at the one in there, regardless of the fact that it still works. Not put together with screws either, so couldn't easily take it apart to clean the blades.

Thanks for the brand rec; I have some left over from building my desktop but it's several years old and I don't know how long the stuff lasts. Since it's not my computer, I'm a little leery of changing the thermal paste. A lot of people online tell you not to mess with it because it's usually not the problem . . . although I do have confidence in my ability to re-apply it properly.

Either way, she lives 3 hours away. There is one possibility for getting it back in my possession; her sister's husband really wants to get out of the house, he might be willing to meet up with me to hand it over.

In the meantime, I might try giving her instructions to undervolt. Reading about the Kaby Lake R chips makes me not want to mess with the clock speeds too much.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

There is a really big change they will mess something up if you try to help her to undervolt. You need to set the program to run from every boot and not every setting work for every chip etc.

You can ask her to download hwinfo (open as administrative rights) to see more about what cpu and other specs she has.

When you disssembly the laptop just look for youtube video for the model you have and watch closely, always remove battery / battery connector to motherboard as first thing, after that your safe.

If your going to change thermal paste you can "open up" the fan, usually these things have really small screws and (look under tape too) you can take it apart for better cleaning, DONT change the oil inside the fan this will make it more likely to dysfunction very soon.

Isoprophyl alcohol , atleast 80% is best for cleaning the heatsink (part which touches cpu / gpu die) and the cpu/gpu die itself, just dip some clean cloth or q-tips to alcohol and gently take every visible thermal paste off the die, you can use more force on the heatsink obviously. Let it dry for a min and then apply thermal paste to shiny gpu/cpu, there are videos how much to use.

I always use either Noctua NT-h1 or thermal grizzly kryonaut as thermal paste, kryonaut is slightly better
. When you screw heatsink back in tighten the screws little by little from each side you can use medium force for final tightening. Good luck

 

[rubytook]

Oh, I know how to disassemble and reassemble it, no problem. Annoyingly, it's held together partially with plastic clips, so I am aware that it can only take so many more disassemblies before some of them inevitably break. I'm trying to help her get a full 2 years out of the laptop but I don't think it'll make it long past that.

HWinfo is installed already and I have the report saved to my computer; I have access to all the specs. Unfortunately it's not correct about what motherboard is inside, so I can't trust it 100%, however I do believe the i7-8550U is the actual processor.

I don't have the fan in my hands now, but I looked very carefully when I had it out and as far as I could see, there were no tiny screws or tape for them to hide under. Plastic snaps, possibly glue. I could use a spudger to scrape dust off the blades and then blow air on it again, I suppose.

What I've got on hand is Arctic Silver but I will take your recommendation into account if I need to order a new tube/unit. Thanks for the input and good luck wishes

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Arctic silver is fine, no need for new thermal paste.

You might need to straighten those metal clips on the fan seeing in pic 1 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Asus-X540U...op-CPU-Cooling-Fan-13NB0DE0T0101/223564962139

There is some kind of mechanism to it. If you cant get it open without breaking it just hold the fan in place with something and use compressed air, then move it around a little bit and again. Dont let it spin out of hand too fast since that can break the fan if your using air straight from compressor.