ASUS Zenbook UX430/UX530 - ArchWiki

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< ASUS Zenbook UX430

This article or section does not follow the Laptop page guidelines.

Reason: Some missing sections, such as the function keys section. (Discuss in Talk:ASUS Zenbook UX430/UX530)

Device | PCI/USB ID | Working?
--- | --- | ---
Intel |  | Yes
GPU (nvidia) |  | Yes
Ethernet (via USB) |  | Yes
Wireless |  | Yes
Audio |  | Yes
Touchpad |  | Yes
Webcam |  | Yes
SD-card reader |  | Yes
Bluetooth |  | Yes
Fingerprint reader |  | Partially
Ambient light sensor |  | Partially

ASUS announced UX430 and UX530 models. Since these models share almost the same hardware (the only difference is screen size and discrete NVidia GPU), this article covers hardware specific configuration for all UX430UA, UX430UQ, UX530UQ and UX530UX models.

## Configuration

### Secure Boot (option)

In order to boot any Linux operating system, navigate to BIOS, then hit `F7` or click on Advanced Menu, then the Security tab and set Secure Boot to `Off`.

If the aforementioned Secure Boot option is a menu rather than an on-or-off option, click on Secure Boot, Key Management, then Reset to Setup Mode and confirm in the dialog.

### Video

See Intel Graphics and Hardware Acceleration. For models with discrete Nvidia graphics card, also see NVIDIA Optimus.

### Audio

See PulseAudio.

### Touchpad

See Libinput.

### Fingerprint sensor

Note: This is likely not going to work at all. See Talk:ASUS Zenbook UX430/UX530#Fingerprint Reader.

The fingerprint sensor is supported since Fprint v0.99.0, even through it is supported it does not work reliably. This is due to the fingerprint small sensor[1].

### Ambient Light Sensor

The Ambient Light Sensor should work on UX430UQ[2] and UX430UNR[3].

### Battery charge threshold

See Laptop/ASUS#Battery charge threshold.

## Troubleshooting

### Microcode

During boot you might get the message `[Firmware Bug]: TSC_DEADLINE disabled due to Errata; please update microcode to version: 0x52 (or later)`. See Microcode to resolve it.

### Nvidia issues with Bumblebee

It is likely that it is one of these issues:

- You used a power management application (especially Powertop). See bumblebee#Broken power management with kernel 4.8 for more information.
- You suspended your laptop and resumed, and are now unable to start your GPU, see Bumblebee#Failed to initialize the NVIDIA GPU at PCI:1:0:0 (Bumblebee daemon reported: error: [XORG] (EE) NVIDIA(GPU-0)).

### Headset Microphone

You may encounter an issue where your headset microphone is not being detected. To fix this, use `model=dell-headset-multi` as explained in Advanced Linux Sound Architecture#Correctly detect microphone plugged in a 4-pin 3.5mm (TRRS) jack.

### No sound after Windows reboot

There seems to be a bug in the firmware that prevents the embedded sound card from working in Arch after Windows has been restarted. The sound system works, and you can hear sounds from, say, wireless headphones, but the embedded sound card either plays no sounds at all, or plays sounds for a couple seconds before quickly "fading out" to silence.

Unlike some other models, suspending and resuming makes no difference. Instead, following are the known workarounds:

- If you haven't exited Windows yet and plan to boot into Arch next, do a Windows shutdown instead of restart, and then boot into Arch.

- If you're already booted into Arch, do an Arch shutdown/poweroff and then boot back into it (an Arch reboot won't work).

As a general rule of thumb, if the sound card isn't working, boot into Arch via a complete shutdown (as opposed to a restart) to fix it.

NOTE: From the workarounds above, it might seem correct to generalize that rebooting is the problem and a complete shutdown is the fix, but it's not entirely accurate, and hence a false general conclusion. For example, if you're running Arch with working embedded sound card and you do a reboot back into Arch, the sound card still works.

### Suspend

See Power management/Suspend and hibernate#Changing suspend method.

### Fan always active

See Fan speed control#NBFC.

## Tips and tricks

### Power saving and performance

As advertised by ASUS, both laptops are capable to last up to 9 hours on battery. In order to achieve this, see:

- BIOS update - It is generally recommended to update BIOS, as it usually brings performance, power-saving and security features.

- Power Saving - List of general recommendations to increase battery life.

- Improving performance - List of general recommendations to increase performance.

- SSD - Tips and tricks for Solid State Drives. Both laptops ship M.2 SSD by default.

- Undervolting CPU - Decrease voltage for Intel CPU (reduce battery drain, reduce heat and therefore - reduce fan speed)

### Extract Windows 10 license key

The laptop comes with Windows 10 preinstalled and the activation key is hardcoded into the firmware. If you replace Windows with Linux, then hardcoded activation key is useless. You might want to extract it and use somewhere else (e.g. virtualized Windows 10):

    # grep -aPo '[\w]{5}-[\w]{5}-[\w]{5}-[\w]{5}-[\w]{5}' /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM

Note: Microsoft online support confirmed that the code is valid, but because you are unable to activate it (Windows fails to activate and asks for another code), they offered 2 options - replace activation code with another one for 40$ or contact OEM (ASUS) about this issue. ASUS confirmed, that in order to "use" this activation key, you need to bring this laptop to repair service so they can "restore" system using ASUS OEM Windows 10 image. They do not provide this image for download.
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