Asus Zenbook Prime (UX31LA) shutdown issue

So I have a UX31LA with an i5-4200U and a Sandisk SSD (128GB). My problem is that once in a blue moon, and only when the laptop is in my messenger bag in sleep mode, I'll pull the computer out of my bag once I get home and the laptop will have shut down and turned back on, and will be quite warm. When I open it, the screen goes to the BIOS password prompt. So basically I put my laptop on sleep mode, close it, put it in my bag, and go about my day. At SOME point, it shuts down and turns back on and goes to the BIOS. It stays in the BIOS (well, in my case at the password prompt) indefinitely. I turn it off by pressing the power button and when it turns back on, it asks me for my BitLocker recovery key. All I have to do is shut down again and it starts up normally.

Computers often have shutdown issues but this one seems kind of unique and has happened about 7-10 times since I've been back to school (one month now). I figured it may have been overheating in sleep mode (which is highly unlikely, if not impossible), since It ONLY ever happens after I put my computer into sleep mode and place it in my bag for a while (1+ hour). This might just be a coincidence; while I DO use it around the house on battery, I suppose I don't use it often enough to conclude that it ONLY happens when it's in my bag. So far it's only ever happened after being asleep in my bag for a while, but I know for sure it only happens unplugged and while asleep.

What is going on? Thanks very much in advance.

 

It's possible something is waking the laptop up from sleep. I can see it overheating at idle while it's crammed inside of a bag, though that's a somewhat weak theory and only a minor possibility.

Have you checked the Windows Event Viewer for clues? Perhaps there's an issue with the power state and the laptop is malfunctioning when going into it.

 

I am curious to know why you don't just shut down the PC. Does it take too long to start up again? It has an SSD....

 

Yep I get a very general Kernel-Power (Event 41) "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

So it actually happened to me the other day while not in my bag, so I think I can eliminate that as a problem (it's not overheating in the bag). The other day I was waking it up from sleep and before I could type in my password, the computer froze and gave me a blue screen.

I'm not shutting down because I don't want to close anything I have open. For example for one class I use Mathematica notebooks a lot and between classes I work on the notebooks and like to keep them open so I don't have to navigate to find the files every time. I just want to have them open and ready to go again. Besides, I shouldn't have to shut it down--I should be able to put it to sleep for extended periods of time without fear of losing my data.

Is it possible the SSD is failing? These Sandisks were known for being crap. My last Zenbook had a crud SSD and was replaced by Microsoft Store. When my last SSD failed, it would boot only to the BIOS. WHenever this happens, it boots to the BIOS, but will boot back into Windows next time. I sure hope BitLocker isn't prematurely wearing my SSD down lol.

Any ideas here?

 

The laptop is doing it more frequently while in my bag now. Now I can't boot without it asking for my BitLocker recovery key. Even then, sometimes while I'm typing out my recovery key, it shuts down on me.

Recently I reduced the page file size for my computer. Would that have anything to do with it? Basically a while ago I lost about 8 GB of space and it was all page file stuff. My SSD is only 128 GB and that f'n useless recovery partition is sitting there, so I cleared the page file and reduced it. I figured with 8GB ram it wasn't needed. I"ll put it back up and see how it goes, but again if anyone knows what the hell is going on I would really appreciate some insight.

EDIT: I decrypted the drive and can no longer encrypt it. I have cleared the TPM and prepared it again with a new password and everytime I try to enable bitlocker i get an error saying "THe system cannot find the file specified". I'm really getting tired of ASUS' bull****. Constant problems.

 

I hate to have to agree with you on this:

That's true about certain Sandisk drives. Some of Sandisk's models are better than others, but the prevailing wisdom is that they're "cheap" for a reason. You may want to consider checking, or replacing, the drive before you attribute the problem to Asus' laptop!

And no, I don't think reducing the page file size would affect BitLocker functionality nor cause power state failures. Not at all.

 

How could I go about checking it? Use HD Tune? Anything in particular you recommend?

I would absolutely attribute it to Asus as they have decided to use low quality parts for their Zenbooks. This is the third Zenbook I've owned in less than a year and they all have problems. Every single one has had 3-10 dead pixels on the screen--not acceptable considering they all come with a 30 day zero dead pixel guarantee. This one has dead pixels too but I got tired of backing up and restoring and updating Windows over and over. The last one had a bung SSD and trackpad.

Also still trying to figure out why I can't enable BitLocker...

 

HDTune is a good utility (sorry for the late reply), as is CrystalDiskInfo and CrystalDiskMark. HDDSentinel is a fairly good program too.

I feel that the best testing procedure is to use known working and compatible parts, though that's often easier said than done. Hopefully one of those utilities will help, though.

 

Hey again, I ran HDTune pro (the health scan) and it came back good (I tested it on two occasions about 3 weeks apart). HDTune health section is all coming back as "ok" as well. I downloaded CrystalDiskInfo and it just says "good" as well. But the problem of restarting into the BIOS when put to sleep mode is continuing to happen. When I enter the BIOS after this issue happens, the SATA information says "SATA Port 0 Empty Empty Empty", "SATA Port 1 Empty Empty Empty", "SATA Port 2 Empty Empty Empty", "SATA Port 3 Empty Empty Empty", whereas under normal conditions (i.e., entering the BIOS normally), it says "SATA Port 0 Devices Type: Hard Disk Model Name: SanDisk SD... Serial Number: ...".

Still can't turn on BitLocker.

Is my SSD dying? If it is then I actually worry about how I'm going to put up with this for the next few years. I can't really afford a new laptop that often and I got this one with a super great discount because I was constantly having problems. Microsoft Store was kind enough to give me a big deduction and some freebies with the laptop so I stuck with it. This is the third one I'm on I think and the last one had a bung SSD. If this one has the same issue, how can I rely on the replacement for this one? I can't just keep replacing this under warranty and deal with the same crap. I went through Asus' complaint system and the guy basically said the only thing they can do is fix it under warranty (even though I'm on my third Zenbook now and showed him receipts for everything). If anyone has any advice as to what I should do here (in terms of dealing with Asus), I would appreciate it. Otherwise, I'm still curious as to whether or not my SSD is actually starting to fail.