[UNSOLVED] Asus Taichi back screen (lid) not working AGAIN after windows 8.1 update 1

I brought my TAICHI in Dixons (nation consumer electronics store) at Heathrow airport. Definitely available in the UK and thus would expect to be supported.

Now its going to remain unused until the BIOS update arrives, I have neither the time or inclination to re-install, uninstall, set-up applications, transfer data etc, just to try and work out a way to circumvent the poor customer services of BOTH MS and ASUS..

I am not sure how this works but this time wasting fiasco has either been caused by MS not sending out the updates to a major manufacturer and getting the OK before pumping out via windows update or ASUS not applying the resources in time to test the update and take advanced action to mitigate and prevent us all from burning our valuable time in increasing frustration.

Ultimately as MS is the Monopoly (I can always easily choose another hardware manufacturer) and the delivery method (windows update) is under their control, it is largely up to them to enact the due diligence to ensure their actions don't cause their customers pain., rather then taking a punt on it at our expense.

It is a simple matter, issue compatibility lists with each update and if the target machine is not on it, program windows update to always make these updates user confirmed with a suitable warning, explanation and suggest action (contact your vendor).

Hopefully some thought and customer pressure will improve the mechanism eventually as I am certain that MS want to offer the best possible service to every customer and do not suffer the take it or leave it arrogance of other monopolies.

Besides suggesting to move flame wars to PM (to Dave et al), since these are not helpful to anybody, I'd like to add some information from the german Asus support.

I thought it would be helpful to raise a ticket myself so Asus would get as much feedback from disappointed customers as possible. Last Friday I described the problem and my findings and kindly asked for a solution like new drivers or BIOS. The mail was answered quickly, they did not even try to mention that 8.1 was not supported or that I would have to revert to 8. Instead I was told the development department in Taiwan was already working on the solution, which will most likely be a BIOS update, that it could take a few more days, and that I was added to the list to be informed as soon as the new version was out.

I think this was a decent response, as long as the update will be ready in a few days. On the other hand I would agree that it would have been a more professional approach for a manufacturer as large as Asus to work more closely with Microsoft, to detect problems like with the 8.1 U1 beforehand and have the fix ready when the updates hit (sic) the customers.

Anyway it seems we will have our Taichis back to full working condition in a few days.

BTW my current setup:

Taichi 21, BIOS 210, ATK Package 1.0.0030, Intel HD Graphics Driver 15.33.18.3496, Taichi Home 1.0.30 and CloseLid Utility 1.1.9beta. Most of the other utilities like ScreenShare or SplendidVideo de-installed to narrow down the problem.

Windows 8.1 U1 itself is running fine, but the backlight of the outer display does not turn on when the lid is closed, although the touchscreen is working (checked in bright sunlight). No [more] crashes of sunpluscaller.exe or reduced resolution on the inner screen. Opening the lid switches to notebook mode. Basically everthing works fine, just the backlight on the outer display is missing. ;-) I suppose I will only need to install the fix(es) and no updates to the current driver setup.

If you want to go to graphics driver 3496 you need to download the ZIP version and install via driver update, the EXE will complain about unsupported platform blabla.

-martin

Thanks Martin; that kind of reply is a lot more interesting to read than people's opinions about each other.

I can confirm that I have exactly the same behavior on the 31 at this moment with the same set up, only the BIOS version is different for the 31: 209.

What I'd like to add is that when I put Powerpoint (Office 2013) in presentation mode, the backscreen lights up and I can give a perfect presentation, while seeing the presenter mode on the inner screen. When I exit presentation mode, the outside screen stays 'alive' and I can use it as second screen, moving items towards it with my mouse. In that way, I did manage to present things to clients using my Taichi.

All in all, I manage my way around the defects a bit, but I can't wait to see and experience what the new BIOS will do.

I have sent a service request to the Dutch Asus Customer Service last week (VIP), but so far not a single response....