Booting from USB on UX31A

Hi,

i just bought an UX31A laptop from Asus, but I have trouble booting from the USB device... the device simply doesn't show in the booting list (there's just the SSD containing Windows).

The USB ports work well once under Windows, is there an issue with the BIOS not able to handle USB3 Ports ? (since both ports are USB3) This seems strange because the laptop is quite recent...

Thanks for your help !

A.

 

It may be because of Instant On being enabled. This skips a lot of stuff during POST. If you have it enabled, boot windows and toggle it on the windows sidebar and then reboot.

 

Thanks for the quick answer,

I already disabled the fast boot option in the BIOS but it seems that it's not that you are talking about. I'm totally unexperienced with Windows (specially Windows 8 which I'm running) and I don't know what is the "windows sidebar"... it seems to be a widget ? Or are you talking about something else ?

Thanks a lot for the support,

Regards,

A.

 

Oh windows 8. I dunno, there is zero documentation for it on 8 but there is an installer here: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Apps_for_Win8/InstantOn/InstantOn_Win8_Z305.zip

Found via ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download UX31A

I assume it should be installed already if this is a brand new machine. The sidebar widget looks like this in win7:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- FAQ

Once you disable it and reboot you should be able to hit Esc at POST and get a boot menu.

 

Hi,

thanks again for the help. Unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem, the USB device still doesn't appear in the boot menu.

I think it has to be some issue with the ports being 3.0.

Regards,

A.

 

There is a Tip here about USB boot with that model https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ASUS_Zenbook_Prime_UX31A#Boot_from_USB_medium see section 1.3

 

Hi,

I found that when searching about the problem but in my case the device still doesn't show after the direct save & exit

Regards,

A.

 

Is there an option in your BIOS for secure boot? If so, try disabling it.

 

arminski42, did you ever get this to work? Did you try booting from any other USB drives?

 

if you're on bios 216 you can't install any other os on this thing!

It's not that the usb isn't recognized, it's a thing about secure boot and
csm and all the other uefi things, that keeps your thumb drive from being
recognized. Trust me, the computer knows that there is an usb stick, but
the bios in v216 is somehow locked down in a manner, that you can't install anything
else on it.
I don't know why they did it, but asus sure screwed up big time!!

 

This ^.

I used to own the P5A-7 asus board and faced the exact same problem till i switched to Gigabyte.

 

Actually it does work but it takes a sequence of steps as follows. I've only tested this on BIOS version 216:

1. Enter the BIOS (press and HOLD the F2 key when powering on the notebook)
2. Switch to “Boot” and set “Launch CSM” to "Enabled"
3. Switch to “Security” and set “Secure Boot Control” to "Disabled"
4. Press F10 to save and exit
5. Press and HOLD the ESC key to launch the boot menu when the notebook restarts

 

Allow me to try and summarise how after a lot of fiddling and even contacting Asus, I managed to boot my UX31a from USB.

1: Enter the BIOS setup menu by pressing and holding F2 key, then press the power key.
2: Switch to "Security" and set "Secure Boot Control" to Disabled.
3: Press F10 to save and exit.
4: Press and hold F2 key during reboot and enter the BIOS again
5: Switch to "Boot" and set “Launch CSM” to Enabled.
6: Press F10 to save and exit.
7: Press and hold ESC key to lunch boot menu when the notebook restarts.
(Please note the change of key that needs to be pressed during reboot from F2 to Esc)
8: The USB device will now be visible as a boot option.

I sure sure hope this helps someone

 

Hey guys!! Thanks a lot for the steps, it really helped me, I was going bananas because I did a BIOS upgrade just before installing the OS and since then I couldn't find the way to boot from the USB.... Kudos to you!!