Previously:
"Zenbook UX325EA stopped working and interrupted my work. No prior warning. Now it won't work on battery or AC power. BIOS date and time information doesn't stay at the set value. So CMOS battery problem(?), but where is the battery, what kind is it and how do I replace it?
Does anyone have any information about this?"
Got answer:
"Based on your description, it is possible that there is a fault with the motherboard. We would recommend that you take your laptop to a repair center for further inspection."
Well...
I live in Finland.
The nearest Asus-approved service center is in Helsinki, about 170 km away.I found information on the internet that a faulty battery could be causing the situation I experienced. So I tried to buy a new battery from Asus. Asus said they don't have spare parts.
I ended up buying the battery elsewhere and got it with a couple of days' notice. I also bought a tool kit to open the screws and the case.
Replacing the battery was easy even though I had never done it before.
The machine started up immediately, but Windows wouldn't start because the boot program couldn't find the hard drive. So I opened the bios and noticed that there was the correct information about the hard drive.
Not knowing what I should have done, I decided to try reinstalling Windows 11. That didn't work either. The installation program couldn't find the hard drive. I found information online about the need for the RST driver. I got one and installed it on the same USB stick as the Windows 11 installation package. After a little searching I found the right driver and now I have Windows installed. Great - now everything is fine again.
I happily used my Zenbook and reinstalled all the programs I needed.
Several pleasant days passed like this, until one day I had to use the computer on battery for a longer period of time. When the battery still had about 30% power left, the Zenbook suddenly turned off without warning.
I connected the charger and after charging for a longer period of time I restarted the computer. The computer started but I only got a blue screen with a message that the boot disk was not found?
After a few retries I gave up and decided to reinstall Windows again. The installation was not successful because the installation program could not find the hard drive. Well, the RST driver will probably have to be reinstalled...etc.
The Zenbook works now, but for how long?
After those events, I realized that the first time it probably wasn't because of a faulty battery, but because I used the battery too much, to about 30%. Why does the Zenbook go crazy at that stage?
Well, I don't go crazy anymore. Now I know that my next devices won't be Asus products.
