Ally Z1 Extreme 2023 - Unable to boot from any media

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ROG Ally Z1 Extreme Won’t Boot Any OS or Media - Full BIOS Access but Nothing Loads (Extensive Troubleshooting Done)

Short video showing the issue

I’m dealing with a frustrating issue on my ROG Ally Z1 Extreme: it has full BIOS access (I can navigate everything and even successfully updated to the latest BIOS), but it refuses to boot any operating system or installation media. It either restarts or hangs when trying to load an OS.

What happens exactly:

  • Cannot boot the already-installed OS on the internal drive
  • Cannot boot from USB media, including:
    • Windows 11 installer (created via official Media Creation Tool)
    • BazziteOS bootable USB
    • GParted Live bootable USB
  • If a USB has a GRUB menu, I can reach the menu just fine, but selecting any option to load/install an OS causes an immediate restart
  • ASUS Cloud Recovery downloads all files successfully, but fails to boot into the recovery process (restarts instead)

Troubleshooting I’ve already tried:

  • Updated BIOS to the latest version
  • Reset BIOS to defaults
  • Toggled Secure Boot on/off
  • Toggled Fast Boot on/off
  • Removed all Secure Boot keys, then restored to factory defaults
  • Disconnected the battery, held power button for 3+ minutes, reconnected
  • Tested with a known-working spare battery
  • Correctly set time/date in BIOS
  • Removed the internal M.2 SSD entirely and tried booting from USB → still fails
  • Replaced the M.2 with a known-working drive → no change
  • Swapped in an M.2 from another working ROG Ally running Bazzite → sees GRUB menu but restarts when trying to load the OS

At this point I’ve ruled out the SSD, battery, most BIOS settings, and boot media corruption. I’m starting to suspect a hardware issue but I wanted to check here first in case anyone has seen this exact behavior and found a fix.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Any last-ditch ideas before I give up Happy to provide more details or photos if needed.

I am unable to RMA i got this off eBay plus its now 2026 and these 2023 devices probs not in any kind of warranty from asus now.

Please see attached video for a quick look at whats going on

Thanks in advance!

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It’s been a few months, have you had any luck resolving this issue? Mine has just hit this same hurdle this last week, and I’ve tried all of the same steps including known good drives.

Hope it worked out for you! Hope it will for me too lol.

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Me too.

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Unfortunately it seems from eveything I learned the device was effectively bricked at this stage I was never able to get it working. Did you find anything as it’s been some time since you posted that reply apologies for my delayed response