ASUS Zenbook refuses to load Windows installer via USB

Hello! I've read a whole boatload of posts here, and tried a lot, but hit a wall with trying to help out a friend's software-janked but seemingly hardware-fine laptop. I'd like some outside opinions, just to know I'm not missing something.

The basic facts:

• The laptop is an ASUS ZenBook UX330UA
• The laptop would not boot into Windows 10 Home. An ASUS logo appears, the dots spin in a circle, but ultimately nothing happens after 5-10 minutes.
• Upon using a Windows Recovery USB and selecting that to , I would receive the blue-screen message that the BCD was busted, and that I should use Windows Recovery to fix it
• There is seemingly a recovery partition present on the SSD, but I cannot access it. I have tried F8, F9, getting there from BIOS, pressing Esc and looking for it in the list, but BIOS doesn't seem to know about it

What I want to do is boot up Windows installation somehow, get to the Repair/Troubleshooting tools, and run the BCD operations on this SSD that I've done with other friends' computers.

The big problem is that this ZenBook refuses to play nice with any USB stick, in any configuration I've tried. I've also tried burning a Windows 8 DVD (and Kyhi's Recovery Tools!) and trying to boot with an external USB optical drive, but the same result occurs: Initial drive activity/access, then the laptop shows spinning dots for a minute or two, then nothing.

I've read NavyLCDR's advice on making a bootable USB: Use Diskpart, make it MBR table, Fat 32 format, Active partition, copy over the Windows ISO files. I've done that with two different ISOs of Win 10, the March 2019 and the October 2018 versions.

The maddening thing is that an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS stick boots up perfectly fine, both in UEFI and legacy mode.

Here's what else I have tried, to the same results (except where noted):

• Turning off Fastboot in BIOS. Turning off Secure Boot. Enabling CRS (CRM?). Changing the boot order in BIOS. Using "Boot Override" in BIOS.
• Using Windows Media Creator on a variety of USB sticks (SanDisk 3.0 16 GB, SanDisk 3.0 32 GB, hand-out USB 2 8GB sticks, a 64 GB Lexar drive) to create a Windows 10 installer.
• Using Rufus to make a GPT/UEFI installer from the Win 10 ISO.
• Using Diskpart to make the forum-recommended MBR/Fat32/Active USB stick. One difference here: instead of the usual ASUS logo with the spinning dots, I get the blue Windows 10 logo ... but the same spinning dots, after a flurry of USB activity.
• Using a tutorial involving .wim packing to include Intel's chipset drivers for this Kaby Lake device in the Windows 10 ISO, and then booting that with an MBR/Fat32 stick
• Plugging in an optical drive to boot Windows 8 and try to get to those tools
• Using Boot-Repair in Ubuntu to try and fix BCD from a live USB (no dice)
• Plugging one of my MBR/Fat32 and GPT/UEFI sticks into a USB-A-to-C converter, then plugging that into the USB-C slot, and trying to boot from that slot

My main thought here is: The laptop "sees" the USB sticks/optical drive, and it will *try* to boot from them if I hit ESC or select them in BIOS. And it doesn't seem to matter about UEFI or Legacy, which I've set up both. Once it tries to boot Windows from USB, it just can't - maybe this laptop's USB 3.0 driver is somehow not present in the Windows install media? I've tried once packing the install file with Kaby Lake chipset drivers, but ... I have no idea anymore. Why will it boot an Ubuntu stick (in both UEFI and Legacy modes!) but not Windows 10?

thomaseg1 said:

Have you tried booting to where it stops then hitting the power button to shut down.
Repeat this process several times, It should bring up the startup repair menu.

Good call, and a missed starting point! Sadly, this doesn't bring up the repair menu. That might be a clue, however?

I came across this article in the process of searching for solutions to this issue. See if anything in the article helps you:

3 Ways To Boot An Asus From USB Or CD [SOLVED] - The Error Code Pros

hsehestedt said:

I came across this article in the process of searching for solutions to this issue. See if anything in the article helps you:

3 Ways To Boot An Asus From USB Or CD [SOLVED] - The Error Code Pros

Appreciated, but I've run through that page/list already. The ZenBook's BIOS isn't too tricky to navigate, and the options make sense, but even with fastboot off, legacy USB on, secureboot off, CSM enabled ... the USB devices start the boot process, but can't go anywhere, if that makes sense.

Sorry you are still having difficulties. I wonder if ASUS has any thoughts on this themselves.

Sorry, one more question:

When you create the FAT32 based boot media and you are trying to boot the thumb drive, you are specifically choosing the Non-UEFI boot option, right? To clarify, the BIOS should be presenting two boot options, a UEFI boot option and a non-UEFI option. I think you addressed this in your original post, just want to make sure that I understand it correctly.

hsehestedt said:

Sorry, one more question:

When you create the FAT32 based boot media and you are trying to boot the thumb drive, you are specifically choosing the Non-UEFI boot option, right? To clarify, the BIOS should be presenting two boot options, a UEFI boot option and a non-UEFI option. I think you addressed this in your original post, just want to make sure that I understand it correctly.

Indeed, I'm choosing the non-UEFI option. Though for good measure, I've tried UEFI from the list, too.

64 bit or 32 bit? Might want to try 32 bit Windows.

Although, with 8 GB RAM it should be 64 bit Windows.