Bizarre laptop behavior requiring reboot to fix.

[Madao]

Trying to figure out what the problem is, since ASUS rma is known to suck and may result in no fix/worse computer.

Ever since I got this G752VM it has done weird things. (but no bsod's or memory dumps)

At first: waking it on battery would make it shut off or reboot instead. (FIX: disable allowing the computer to shut off the wifi card)
This was corrupting programs (filezilla, chrome) or something, I know ssds lose some data in bad shutdown scenarios like that, so I ignored it. (it's possible a restart may alternatively have fixed it - didn't think to try back then)

After that, I'd play Titanfall 2 daily without any issues at all for like a month or two. I had originally installed Win10 in legacy mode(didn't realize the usb stick had to be gpt), eventually I reinstalled it in UEFI mode. No issues for like a week or two.

Then one day I decided to update my nvidia drivers and things went bad. I don't remember if I did it BECAUSE of the game crashing or for the sake of updating. Tried clean uninstalling that driver and using the previous one, but it made no change.

I started having issues with TF2 crashing or refusing to load (materialsystem_dx11.dll and dwm appcrashes simultaneously show up in event viewer). Whenever this happens, I've tried to repair the client, and run sfc -scannow. Reboot generally fixes the crashing.
Sometimes the client would download stuff, then work.
Just now (after all the previous sfc checks never showing an issue), sfc tried to fix things and failed (yet after a reboot, it reported no issue... despite me making no effort to fix what it didn't).

At one point, I did a windows update, and after rebooting or something it got stuck with "preparing your system, don't shut off" or something, I eventually just rebooted it. The screen was black after that, so I tried to reboot again: afterwards I was able to log in.

Once, Firefox would not load. I ended up reinstalling it since deleting the profiles didn't help. (I suspect a simple reboot would have fixed this as with other issues involving 'corruption' has...and in this case I think it was gpu related)

Origin hangs the system when trying to shut down, and so does something else, likely a system app. It takes the laptop a long time to shutdown for no evident reason, the desktop is basically instant. Laptop used to be nearly instant shutdown...

My workstation desktop, and even my old pc which had a bad board, ram, or incompatible with 10 never did any weird shit like this besides 0x12b BSoDs..they are/were perfectly behaved, until such point they crash (workstation doesn't crash, and it's a dirty install from the old pc).

At some point, I ran driver verifier to see if I could get it to BSoD and pinpoint a bad driver...nope. in fact, it did not exhibit any bad behavior at all for the 2 days it was on, just lower framerates.

Before you try to call virus: not likely. I'm not full on retarded, the install is pretty fresh, and have not had any such thing in years, and the only one in the last ~10 years was from a webpage when I had noscript off! Followed by a clean install because overkill and guarantees > rubbish, useless AV programs.
I duplicate all my desktop's programs pretty much, and the desktop behaves fine. Unless ASSUS is in the business of infecting their driver downloads or something.

At multiple occasions I have tried to run memtest/memtest86/windows memory diagnostic/prime95/intelburntest long periods, never issues... (and on that note, non-industrial memory testers suck ass and are useless, cant even detect manufacturer-verified bad ram that behaves borderline, ECC SHOULD BE MANDATORY IN ALL SYSTEMS if only for the LOGGING they enable!!)

My speculation:
-Not likely the ssd (Intel 600p) windows is installed on, since simply rebooting fixes the issue. SSD passes the long test, smart data looks fine, never any issues with chkdsk.
-Possibly driver issue or BIOS issue? Doesn't seem terribly likely...
-Bad motherboard
-Borderline bad ram (usually bad ram causes BSoDs..)
-Bad video card (dwm, Firefox uses acceleration, Origin probably uses gpu, TF2 uses gpu, but failing sfc until a reboot and failing TF2 integrity check both don't seem like the gpu would be related on the other hand...)
-spotty cpu? maybe the memory controller on it? back in the days before I realize OCing was retarded for retarded people, I'd see such bizarre behavior from a simple cpu-only oc and still pass tests (with performance reduction however)...
-horrid nvidia drivers? I see by googling a lot of dwm crashing seems related to either nvidia or MS bug...

Side note: I use Veracrypt. But it seems odd that the desktop IS fine and the laptop WAS fine, so I doubt it's that either.

What to do? RMA and pray I get a decent machine back? I honestly want to refund, but I can't. ASUS has terrible business practices and even worse RMA practices, I knew I should have just bit the bullet and bought a HP G3 or something.


-12-20-16 update edit-
Clean installed a different build of 10.



Already seeing the hanging on shutdown crap. Not looking good, will take a few days to see if the dwm/3d crashing starts up again along with the bizarre "files corrupted until reboot" issue.



I don't believe in randomly reinstalling Windows, it's a lot smarter than it used to be unless you're doing idiotic tweaks or installing junk like AV, and like I said I dirty swapped my old pc's ssd and it's rock solid stable 24/7 with new hardware...I've only seen one two drivers in my life wreak havoc just by installation, so it's not a common thing. (it was asus xonar/cmedia and synaptics generic driver)



And, well, it used to be stable. I checked reliability monitor before the reinstall, and it actually looks like this coincided with my UEFI reinstall where as the Legacy install was stable. So...BIOS issue?

Another update:
Reboot on battery doesn't happen in UEFI mode...

 

[Ketchup]

If you are within the RMA period, there is no good reason to continue struggling with this unit. If I understand you correctly, and your post goes in sequential order, I would have started filling their form after the "waking it on battery would make it shut off or reboot instead). That can often mean that there is a short somewhere in the unit, and you would definitely want Asus to fix it while under warranty.

As for your other issues, it's too hard to say considering there is a possible hardware problem with this unit. Start the process with Asus and let us know what they tell you. And honestly, I wouldn't go too far past that "shut off coming out of sleep" part unless they ask for it.

 

[Madao]

If you are within the RMA period, there is no good reason to continue struggling with this unit. If I understand you correctly, and your post goes in sequential order, I would have started filling their form after the "waking it on battery would make it shut off or reboot instead). That can often mean that there is a short somewhere in the unit, and you would definitely want Asus to fix it while under warranty.

As for your other issues, it's too hard to say considering there is a possible hardware problem with this unit. Start the process with Asus and let us know what they tell you. And honestly, I wouldn't go too far past that "shut off coming out of sleep" part unless they ask for it.

Unfortunately this rebooting on wake seems to be a common issue with the Intel wifi cards asus installs on their G series - their forums are plagued with it.

After reading ASSUS horror stories and having my own as well, I'm hesitant to spend a fortune on shipping to have THEM damage it or send me worse machines (or the same one with no changes made).
Not to mention I don't think they will kindly let me pull the hard drive (base hdd it shipped with was wiped to use as storage only) which is not dysfunctional, even though pulling the hdd out on whatever they send me would take them like one minute..

Edit: and the post wasn't ENTIRELY in order, but close enough.

 

[Ketchup]

You would be correct that Asus would require original hardware for an RMA repair service, and sadly very few manufacturers pay for the consumer to ship the product to them.

Did you ever operate the machine with the original hard drive? and see if it has the same issue? If it's a problem a lot of people have. a firmware, BIOS, or driver update may correct. And Asus may be able to share this information with you if you give them a call.

 

[Madao]

The original hard drive took years to boot etc... only booted once to activate the W10 license.
I had/have anniversary/2016 installed which is basically the same build, which is not what it shipped with. It's possible it's an Anniversary-specific compatibility issue.

ASUS gonna pull the "updates void warranty" card again? LOL (if I knew about that stunt - I never would have bought ASUS to begin with...)

 

[Ketchup]

I am not sure what you mean by "updates void the warranty card again". Windows updates are necessary to keep Windows secure, and come automatically, even the anniversary update. Asus would of course know this, and this would have no bearing on your warranty coverage.

All I'm saying is, start things rolling with Asus, as this sounds like an issue their warranty would/should cover. See what they have to say, and go from there.

 

[Madao]

ASUS was giving people crap for upgrading to Windows 10...

 

[Ketchup]

So .... What OS did it come with? And did it have a problem with that OS? Did you install any Asus drivers after installing 10? Have you done any BIOS updates? What threads were you looking at about these issues?

 

[Madao]

Older W10 build. whatever was before Anniversary/2016 LTSB.

Current install only installed ATK, waiting to see how it behaves. Most of the rest is from Windows Update.

I've already seen some minor graphic glitch when booting and before I installed drivers/activated/rebooted start menu items wouldn't expand.

 

[Ketchup]

So "ASUS was giving people crap for upgrading to Windows 10" but you just said that it came with Windows 10, so I don't know what kind of case you are trying to make. It's technically all the same OS, whatever "version" it came with. If Windows update installed it, Asus would be obliged to support it if you are under warranty.

There have been four BIOS updates since Asus first released that model. Have you tried any of those? If you are insistent on not utilizing the Asus RMA, might as well.

 

[Madao]

I've had 3 different BIOS, and ASUS live update apparently pulled the last one without my permission. Maybe there was an issue flashing and that caused it? dunno.

While I'd generally agree it's the same OS and 8/10 drivers should generally be compatible, the pointer driver does not work and false installs (still shows as hid compliant device) in the anniversary build, so there's no scrolling on the side with the pad. Hence my logic. ASUS never updates their drivers.. ever. That's why I won't use their audiophile cards any more.

In any case despite noticeable oddities, I have not yet seen the Titanfall 2/corruption issues crop up so far where it used to happen every 1-2 days, maybe it was some sort of driver issue. Some boards are just funky - like my last first gen P67 Gigabyte was even after rma gave me a different board of same model, it had different odd behavior that persisted.

 

[Madao]

ASUS support replied, but basically ignored the corruption and focused on the reboot thing.
Their reply was wrong - it's not Intel MEI, it's the bios that caused the reboots. (Legacy + on battery = reboot, UEFI + battery = no reboot)

I had tried both *.1181 (Windows Update) and *.1184 (ASUS linked it) in Legacy mode and both had the issue. I'm on 1181 (WU) right now, no issue.

I wouldn't be surprised if 1184 is what was causing my corruption...so far Reliability monitor isn't showing any appcrashes.

Edit: I saw some possibly relevant updates to the firmware of the Intel 600p. I'm gonna assume that was what was going on...