*** ASUS Zephyrus M (GM501) Owner's Lounge ***

Hey everyone,
I'm wondering if anyone has any info on how the fans on the GM501 work?
I've purchased and installed a replacement fan which is on the right side of the laptop when you are looking at the screen, but the right fan still does not seem to spin under any circumstances, even under heavy load.
As a result of this, the chipset can end up overheating if I am playing something like Path of Exile. Is there any way for me to be able to determine why the fan isn't working given that I have already replaced it? I've also reset Windows so I'm wondering if it has to do with the motherboard connector or something. If so, does anybody know if I can do anything to get a mobo replacement or RMA or something given that I've replaced the M.2, removed the battery and modified the heatsink with thermal pads?

Thank you so much for any help!


(Also, for anybody reading this that is not an owner of the GM501... don't buy a Zephyrus. ASUS support is awful!)

 

It could be a blown fuse on the fan's power connectivity if it doesn't spin at all. Try using a volt meter to measure the pins briefly with extreme caution if this is what you want to confirm.

 

Thanks for the advice. Do you know of any guides that could show me how to do that? Doesn't have to be for GM501 but you mentioned measuring it with extreme caution and this is my first time trying this.

EDIT: To add, do you know of any utilities that I can use which show both fans RPM? I can only see the CPU fan's speed in the BIOS.

 

Does anybody know how to make it so gsync is enabled by default instead of having to reboot when you want to enable gsync from optimus? I've gone through all of the BIOS and found nothing.
To add, has anybody flashed a custom BIOS? I've used AMIBCP to modify the BIOS but I'm not sure how to turn the resulting file into UEFI so that I can use EZ-FLASH utility for it. Any advice/thoughts?
Thanks for the help guys!

 

Hi everyone
At first excuse me for my English,
I have a gm501gs with gtx 1070
Since i have this laptop I couldn’t catch enough fps from my machine,
Always around 60 in best situations,
In the games like gta v or nfs heat of i turn off g-sync mode i have just 30 fps and with g-sync mode ~55
Fan in overboosted mode
I didn’t use throttle stop and these things
For example in nfs heat with high graphic mode i have 100% cpu usage and 40% gpu usage with 90 degree celsius,
How i can catch more fps?
I think there’s something wrong

 

Are you sure your GPU is running those games? Also what settings are you running them on?

 

How i can know that?
The graphic settings are on medium or high mode
Without g-sync I can’t arrived ~30 fps and with g-sync mode on around 60

 

check Nvidia control panel to see if it's your GPU running those games. On medium or high you should have over 60fps on GTA V to be honest, I don't really know what it could be. If G-sync is on I think that the GPU has to render the games anyways so I'm not entirely sure what's up. Contact ASUS and have them be awful to you if you'd like

 

Thank you for your response
It’s for more than one year I’m using this laptop,
In the game with medium or high settings i have 100% cpu usage and 30% gpu usage
But when i put everything on ultra i have around 90% cpu and 90 gpu but the fps stay around 30,
I thought boost of my cpu is disabled but I checked in on task manager and it’s on ~3,95 Ghz
I did undervolt my cpu yesterday it was good for thermal but the fps didn’t change

 

New .314 bios, for those interested.

 

Anyone tried out the new BIOs? Any reason to install it or a reason to not install?

 

Still the same, more or less. I guess these bios updates are just small improvements "under the hood" for overall system stability.

 

Hi everyone
Can i use a coolpad for a better temperature?
Anyone can advise me a type of coolpad to use?

 

They all have good reviews, please see below link.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=notebook+cooler&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

 

What thicknesses did you use for your thermal pads?

 

Does the cooling pads work with this laptop? Have anyone tried it? My temps are going crazy up to 93/96 for cpu and gpu and I'm abit afraid of repasting and voiding the warranty.

 

Intake is usually located on the bottom and exhaust on the rear, so the coolers will definitely help moving the airflow.
As long as you proceed with caution and care, you will be fine.
Warranty is only void when something is physically damaged, cleaning your system does not constitute a void on the warranty under normal circumstances.

 

Yeah, thanks for the answer but we are on Zephyrus M topic so "usually" doesn't apply here. Intake is on the bottom and exhausts are on the both sides. Thing is intake is kind of covered by a plate that is lifted while opening the laptop so the air comes in from the back mostly. Also if you want to repaste Zephyrus M you have to remove the warranty sticker from the heatsink. That does not necessareily means warranty void but depends on the country for some reason.

 

The cooler helps to provide clearance for the system so it would have more clearance. The company cannot enforce the warranty sticker but they use it for temperament detection. Which country are you in?

 

Austria

 

You don't have to worry about the warranty-void sticker because it is illegal in Europe.

 

So what would you recommend when "repasting", pads (which ones) or thermal paste?

Also laptop heats up to 50, 60 degree celsius on the top, so i was thinking of some thin radiator with liquid colling/fan that i could put on top (though not sure if that is intake too). I'm pretty sure that would help but can't find anything like that on the internets

 

At idle? Or during gaming?
Repaste is fine, what's your choice with this?
Regarding thermal pads, you may have to check and evaluate on those first before making changes with them. Like what components are they are, etc.

 

Almost 2 years using this laptop already. Time Flies. Still a great laptop for gaming (1070 never fails to impress me).
Temps is still manageable, IDK my ambient temps but I was 40-60 when idling and 80-90 c when gaming (after undervolting).
I've re-pasted mine with IC Graphite (for CPU and GPU) and some thermal pads for VRM (too lazy to open it again), so far so good.
I also managed to get dual boot Ubuntu with all working, even in G-sync mode.
Type C is awesome also, I can run G-sync over it to connect to another G-sync monitor with a DP dongle.

I just get annoyed sometimes after restarting my laptop, my undervolting got reset idk why. Is this thing happen to you guys?
And also, my CPU never go to base clock, it always floating around 3.5-3.9 GHz even on idle in Windows 10. Is that normal?

 

Hello guys, I just got this laptop 3 day ago and registered here, really impressed with the machine! Specially for the £760 I paid for it

However I wanted to upgrade the ram to dual channel, and to a faster one if possible (crucial 3200mhz kits are really cheap tbh), but I read posts like these saying there's no XMP or memory tuning whatsoever in the laptop... which is really sad.

Now my question is, if anyone has tried upgrading their RAM and had a look at clocks and timings afterwards, do you just get 2400mhz cl19 if you change the sticks no matter what? Like say I got a 3200mhz cl16 kit, or a 2666 cl16 one, would both of them run at 2400@cl19? So I'd be better off getting another stick of the same OEM model the laptop already has so it at least runs at 2666@cl19...?
So strange. I was expecting it to at least run at 2666 but I'm not sure after this post:

Cheers guys!

 

@FFuge:

From what I know, GM501's CPU, motherboard and BIOS, can only support ram of 2666mhz max. You can surely try, but I think that 3200mhz ram would not be recognized, or rather, they would still operate at the lower frequency of 2666mhz.

If you want dual channel I suggest you to buy a 2x 2666mhz ram kit from Kingston/HyperX or Corsair. I personally mounted 2x16gb 2666mhz from HyperX, and no problem whatsoever, they work perfectly fine in dual channel.

 

Hi! I know it's been awhile but do you have/know of any viedo on YT on how to tear down Zephyrus? I used to have one but can't find it anymore.

 

Hi guys. So after reading this topic thorougly i've decided to disassemble my zeph without any video. With some patience, touch and guitar picks, removing the bottom cover went really smoothly. Now the best part. First thing I've noticed was damaged heat sink in 2 places, one of them look pretty brutal. Next is a thin aluminium plate just under the heat sink that should stick to MB but is bend upwards on the corner, and last but not least - I've found extra screw stuck inside the back of the casing around the area where the battery charging led is. Damn know I'm not suprprised why my temps are going 95/90 on load.

I'd like to know your opinions on fighting with asus for this. I'm still on my 2 years (EU) warranty. Also the Void sticker is still in place.

Extra screw: https://imgur.com/KQ5FHRJ
Heat sink damage1: https://imgur.com/E0B1Lgm
Heat sink damage2 : https://imgur.com/BzgWftH
Bended aluminium plate: https://imgur.com/BcJ2yh4
Warranty sticker on: https://imgur.com/xq3gCMY

 

Sorry to hear that but in my opinion those damages definitely won't have any impact on cooling performance.
Repaste that thing and be happy might be the easiest way. Otherwise i would recommend the guarantee "way".

Edit: those temps are normal. Had similar one's before repasting.

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I know these damages don't affect my temps but when you see so damaged unit you start wondering what else is wrong with it and connect it to the temps Repasting and adding ram is what i wanted to do but when i saw these damages i decided to go warranty way before i take that void sticker off of heatsink. I mean you pay over 2000 euros for a piece o equipment that looks inside like it was refursbished and packed in a nice box.

 

True. Thats a shame but maybe just a "monday" product. But you should consider if it's worth the input and time for an guarantee case. Temps will be nearly the same after asus changed the heatsink to be honest and a repaste will still be needed.

Gesendet von meinem SM-G973F mit Tapatalk

 

Yeah, i assume it's gonna be struggle. Thing is i'm abit concerned about that thin aluminum plate thats under the heat sink. If asus will remove HS, repaste and put a new HS then i'm "safe". I can repaste afterwards. If i do that now and reveal more possible damages under HS then I'm f....d.

 

By the way, since we are talking about disassembling: do you have any idea how much is feasible to dismantle the fans? It seems easy to me, but I'm not entirely sure. The CPU fan is breaking and I was going to buy a replacement on aliexpress and replace it by myself, avoiding Asus assistance (especially in time of covid-19).

 

Definitely go the warranty route, and make sure you get all your receipts and stuff ready. You should ask for a replacement unit because this looks like a manufacturing defect. You don't know what else that bonus screw and whatever caused the rest of the damage might have done to the computer.

 

Hi i am new here.. but i did have my gm501gm since january 2019 and recently my gpu fan started vibrating and doing some grinding sound.. what i did was to put some sewing machine oil on it and now its doing good..no vibrations and sound.. have you tried oiling yours?

 

That's good. Silicone oil is recommended for bearing and wipe excess, is that what you had used?

 

Hi i just use the sewing machine oil i think its made of mineral oil.. i have read somewhere over the net that its ok to use this oil specially for moving parts.. currently also i dont have the silicone at home.. also i cant seem to remove the fan blade to expose the spindle.. so i just use a syringe to squeeze the little oil in by the gap of the fan.. also can i ask somebody here if it is possible to remove the fan blade from the motor from our fans? i want to do it hopefully to also clean the spindle and lubricate it properly..

 

Thank you very much for the reply.
It's not a bad idea actually, but I think the bearings are almost gone already, it will only make things better for a short period of time in the best case scenario. And a few months from now, I'll sell the laptop to buy a 17" one, so I'll have to replace the fan anyway, sooner or later.

Does anyone know if it is possible to detach and replace the cpu fan by ourselves? I mean this one.

 

Hey, that should be fine too.

You can if you can source just the fan, otherwise it usually comes in one assembled part.

 

I managed to find it on aliexpress, and this is the image.
As you can see, fan unit is sold with both the fan and plate attached. That was my concern, if that aluminum plate is detachable from the motherboard without special efforts and tools.

 

yes i know i need to replace it soon.. im just trying to hold it for a moment.. for you how many days will it take for the delivery?

 

hey i just notice that you order the gpu fan not the cpu fan? i thought you have the problem with the cpu fan?

actually i think you can just detach the fan and leave the heatsink plate then put the new fan.. i think its the same

 

If the fan dimension and specs are identical then it can be swapped. I believe the fan is secured with tiny screws so it can be detached.

 

Thanks all, I will order the fan then and try replacing it, and repaste the whole thing also with Phobya or Kryonaut.

Yes, I noticed it too but I think it is a mistake from the webpage, as in theory that specific image refers to the cpu fan, not gpu. As long as the image corresponds to the actual shipped fan, it should be ok.

 

Hi good day this is the zephyrus M fan maybe someone here know if the gold plate in the middle is removable? so i can service the fan? i can't seem to find any info on this on the net.. ( also is the size of the picture i uploaded is allowed? if so let me know i will resize it thank you)

 

Hello! I've had this wonderful beast for well over 2 and a half years and it's served me great so far with barely any issues. Used it for a wild variation of experiments and tasks and it never failed to serve me right. Unfortunately, my last endeavor of me trying to learn machine learning and training a neural net for object detection, this laptop's thermal performance has been really downgraded. Any semi-heavy load would get my temps up in the high 80's and if I do try and game it's definitely going to hit the 90's for sure. The max I've had it get was 97, with only one time where it gave me the BSoD (due to undervolting, but that's for a different time).

After researching for quite a bit about all its internals and what to expect in there, I managed to get all the tools and got to open it yesterday for the first time to remove the heat-sink in order to clean the stock thermal paste and put in some Kryonaut under the CPU and GPU and stick some Arctic thermal pads around some areas as well. Of course with my luck, I had to run into a couple of issues.

My first issue was regarding a stripped screw on my left fan I have tried a lot of different ways to try and get it out, but I won't try and risk drilling that close to the mobo to get through the screw head and pull the rest with a plyer (Did that to a stripped screw in the middle of the underneath chassis of a Lenovo Y50 before though)..

I'm wondering if it's worth just repasting the CPU and GPU without worrying about removing the fans and the other heat-sink over the VRAMs and next to it (the copper heatsink) to change the thermal pads as well.

Would like feedback from people who have tried repasting without thermal pads, thanks!!

 

Hi i just want to share what i did to my vibrating and noisy grinding fan.. i did this because i cant seem to pull the fan blade out to clean and oil the fan inside. i think many of us are having some noisy fans already. Using a syringe to put the oil (sewing machine oil is what i use) inside the fan.. lifting the blade a bit with my other hand to have a little gap to stick the syringe in. i uploaded a picture so you have an idea. also still if anyone here in the forum experienced removing the fan blade please let me know. thank you

 

Good day everyone..i am using this laptop for two years now with the gtx1060 6gb on it.. i need your help on deciding.. i am currently thinking of of getting a external gpu for it using the thunderbolt 3 connection.. i know it will reduce the performance of the graphics card maybe by 20%.. i am thinking if its worth it or maybe just buy a new laptop? but it will spend me a lot of money.. usually i game on this laptop with AAA games like COD warfare and battlefield and the likes. i just need your opinion guys if you are not busy thank you!

 

Just wanted to put this out there for anyone who faced the same problem I did.

If anyone is using Throttlestop or similar to undervolt the CPU, please be aware that BIOS version 315 (dated 7 July 2020) locks the controls that the program needs to actually apply the undervolt. This results in your system running hotter than expected, and no amount of repasting or cleaning the fans will help.

The only solution thus far is to downgrade back to version 314 (dated 13 January 2020), which will let the undervolt work again.

This is an Intel microcode thing, implemented to protect against the Plundervolt vulnerability. The issue appears not just in our model, but also across other notebook models and notebook manufacturers. Some notebook manufacturers have provided the option to enable those controls in their BIOS updates. To date, the BIOS for our model does not have that option.

 

Has anyone replaced the battery in this laptop? Difficult?