ASUS zenbook13 unlock?

[Spider1211]

Hey guys, recently repaired a laptop that came in dead. Once board issue was fixed, device boots but display freezes after windows logo rotates a few time.

I need to hard reset but it will continue doing the same thing. On next boot it goes into "startup repair" but nothing much.

I though the drive might be running on legacy, but here is where am stuck. I am unable to access BIOS menu. Pressing F2 then booting only displays ASUS boot logo and freezes there.

I tried accessing BIOS (UEFI) through "Startup repair" but its asking for a bitlocker recovery key. Same thing goes for trying to reset the laptop (data is not important). Customer said they never set any password. I tried cleanME (just in case) but no change. Tried removing drive and accessing BIOS but still freeze on asus logo.

Tried BIOS obtained from web search but not working. Tried ASUS Ezflash, but no luck.

Is there anyway to unlock this thing? As mentioned, data is not important.

Grateful if anyone can help. Please find attached BIOS dump from device.

[SMDFlea]

Post a picture of the white/green sticker on the motherboard, it will have a barcode/QR code on it.Its usually near the ram/ram slot .Post the model number too, such as UX333FA

[Spider1211]

Thank you for prompt reply, please find attached requested picture.

Model number (as read on bottom cover): UX333F

[SMDFlea]

Try this one.Hopefully you`ll get access to the bios settings.

[Spider1211]

@SMDFlea, thank you for the file but unfortunately not working. Now it only boot to ASUS logo and stays there, nothing else. No windows loading, no startup repair. No BIOS menu/setting either.

[Spider1211]

Originally Posted by Spider1211

Is there anything else I can try?

Is there anything else I can try?

[SMDFlea]

Originally Posted by Spider1211

Is there anything else I can try?

Will it boot and go into bios with the SSD removed

[Spider1211]

No, tried that also. It only boots to asus logo and freeze there. Pressing F2, etc has no effect either.

[SMDFlea]

Originally Posted by Spider1211

No, tried that also. It only boots to asus logo and freeze there. Pressing F2, etc has no effect either.

Try this new one,if there`s no change then i`m almost certain the problem isn`t with the bios.

[Spider1211]

Thank you, will try it tonight and update accordingly.

Quick question: does EC has anything to do with encryption/lock (bitlocker as seem to be the case here)?

[SMDFlea]

Originally Posted by Spider1211

Thank you, will try it tonight and update accordingly.

Quick question: does EC has anything to do with encryption/lock (bitlocker as seem to be the case here)?

No it doesn`t.

[Spider1211]

Tried the 2nd file you provided, still same issue as 1st file unfortunately. It only boots to ASUS logo (both with and without drive connected). Original BIOS atleast shows windows loading/recovery menu.

Hardware wise everything seems OK. Do you have a known good working BIOS for this model?

[Spider1211]

UPDATE:
The original BIOS is actually OK. I reflashed the original BIOS but this time booted from a known working UEFI drive and it actually loads windows just fine. So am guessing the other drive is in legacy.

Still have no idea why the BIOS menu wont show thought. Trying to access BIOS on boot even using known good drive still freeze on ASUS logo and requires hard reset.

Any idea regarding the BIOS menu issue?

[SMDFlea]

Your bios was merged with the UX333FA bios update and ME cleaned.The 2nd bios was from another site with ME cleaned and your dmi added .No idea why it isn`t going into bios menu,there`s still a problem somewhere .

[Spider1211]

I doubt the issue is hardware related since its working fine with a UEFI drive. Would be interesting to figure out what it could be. Is there anything you would like me to test while I still have the device? I'll a few things on my end, will report back if there is any positive outcome.

[RethoricalCheese]

You can probably access bios when you enter Windows recovery settings and choose "UEFI Firmware settings" from there.

It's usually stuck on logo when it is in UEFI mode and can't find any devices to boot from.

I've seen a bunch of devices which could not enter BIOS menu. Samsung laptops had faulty BIOS, most laptops just have a faulty keyboard and a couple devices I couldn't really figure out. They would enter bios settings using windows recovery.

[Spider1211]

Thank you for your reply.

Tried accessing using "UEFI Firmware settings" in recovery but no luck, it reboots but stuck on asus logo.

I have an ssd from another laptop that is on UEFI, when I try it on the Asus ot boots normally and I can use the PC just fine. Tried accessing uefi setting from windows settings but again would restart and stuck on asus logo.

Tried booting from uefi windows installation usb but wont work because of secure boot. I get the violation error.

Edit:
I also have a similar model donor board, I tried swapping the BIOS chip but no luck there either. Still same issue. Would have tried to flash EC but its bga type and I dont know the keyboard pinout.

I tried a few things in FIT without much luck, although disabling bootguard made the laptop boot faster when using the uefi ssd (before it sometimes would get stuck or jittery windows loading logo and when using windows for the frist 5mins or so).

[RethoricalCheese]

Try disconnecting keyboard. Probably will not help but worth a shot.

[Spider1211]

Tried with no luck unfortunately. Anyways, laptop has been returned to shop now. Thank you guys for your help.