ASUS Zenbook UX301LA

This page contains information specific to the ASUS Zenbook UX301LA. Some of it may also be applicable to similar models, depending on the specific configuration. You might also want to look at ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A.

Installation

The UX301LA and similar models come with Windows 8 pre-installed, using UEFI and a GUID Partition Table scheme.

Booting from USB

Boot the machine with the USB medium plugged in. You can try pressing Escape to get a boot menu and select your USB device. If it is not showing, then try booting while pressing F2. You will be booted into a BIOS menu. Go to Boot > Create a boot device and select your USB medium. You will have to choose a specific .efi file - for an Arch bootable USB it is /EFI/boot/bootx64.efi. Then under the Boot tab, change the boot device you just made to be higher priority than Windows Boot Manager. Make sure to save your changes on exit, and the system should reboot into the device.

Partitioning

Whatever partition scheme you desire, make sure to use parted if you want to keep any of the other existing partitions since fdisk does not support the GPT scheme already on the machine. If you want to use a GParted live CD/USB, you will need to run kpartx -a /dev/mapper/xxx_ASUS_OS as root where the is the node in /dev/mapper other than before you start the GParted application.

Installing Arch

See Installation guide.

If your machine comes with RAID 0 then add to your mkinitcpio HOOKS and regenerate the initramfs.

When you install GRUB, follow the instructions for UEFI Systems. Your ESP (EFI system partition) should be the first partition in your scheme.

Function Keys

All function keys except the backlight seem to work out of the box (as of Arch default kernel 3.12.7). To fix the backlight keys, add as a kernel parameter.

KDE and Keyboard Backlight

You may need to run the following command on login to fix keyboard backlight control. 

$ qdbus org.kde.kded /kded unloadModule powerdevil
$ qdbus org.kde.kded /kded loadModule powerdevil

Display

Check HiDPI.

Touchpad

xinput lists it as "ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad" but it works with a xf86-input-synaptics driver. See Touchpad Synaptics for detail.

Wi-Fi

See Wireless network configuration#iwlwifi

Battery Issues

Many have been experiencing an issue with the battery not properly charging under Linux. There is a thread about this on the Ubuntu Forums. Holding down the power button to do a clean reboot seems to be a workaround, but the issue has not been resolved yet, and those who have sent their laptops in for repair have reported that it did not resolve the issue.

Heat

As you have probably noticed, the UX301 family of laptops will reach 80° Celsius doing the most remedial of tasks, and upwards of 90° while watching videos. You may want to consider installing and configuring .

gollark: Why stop there when you could use Windows 3↑↑↑↑3, which is 3↑↑↑↑3/11 times more than Windows 11?
gollark: Windows 98 is 8.9 times more than Windows 11, so you should use it.
gollark: https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/426116061415342080/924004285048561674/Capture_2021-12-24-13-15-49.png
gollark: If that worked, then by induction only one person would be allowed to be unhappy due to bad things.
gollark: It's not like the existence of worse things eliminates bad things.
This article is issued from Archlinux. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.