Asus addresses stuttering issues plaguing its gaming laptops — beta patch released for ROG laptops, final fix due in October

ASUS ROG Zephyr
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Asus has begun rolling out beta BIOS updates to address widespread stuttering and performance issues on ROG laptops. The company confirmed September 26 via X.com that it had identified the root cause of the bug and will release finalized firmware beginning in early October. The first trial updates will be available for select configurations of the 2023 Strix Scar 15 (G533ZW) and 2023 Zephyrus M16 (GU604VI).

The BIOS updates arrive after weeks of user reports detailing consistent system-wide issues, audio crackling, and input lag on ROG notebooks. Asus initially said it was investigating the problem, but has now confirmed that engineers have “isolated the issue that causes stuttering and performance interruptions.” According to a statement shared by ROG North America, the company has begun posting beta BIOS versions for the affected SKUs, which will appear on official support pages “in the coming week.” Asus has stated that installing the beta will not void warranty coverage. Expand the tweet below to see Asus's statement.

Reports of the problem began to surface earlier in September, with ROG laptop owners describing repeatable system-wide stutters occurring every 30 to 60 seconds under idle or light load.

A detailed investigation published on GitHub by user Zephkek attributed the issue to BIOS-level ACPI interrupt storms and improper power cycling of the dGPU. Windows performance traces and LatencyMon logs revealed elevated DPC latency associated with ACPI.sys, with a single CPU core consistently experiencing high load. The bug appeared to affect multiple laptop generations from 2021 to 2024, including high-end models such as the Scar and Zephyrus.

The company has not yet provided technical details about the root cause, although it now states that it has implemented a fix in the trial BIOS builds. The beta BIOS for the Strix Scar 15 and Zephyrus M16 is not currently available on Asus’ support site at the time of writing, but affected users are advised to check periodically throughout the week. Asus states that it expects to start rolling out finalized firmware updates for other models in early October.

Users who choose to install the beta BIOS should back up their settings and review the relevant change logs. While Asus has guaranteed that warranty coverage remains intact, test firmware can still carry risk and may not be as stable as the final release.

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Luke James
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Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist.  Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.