The Asus ROG Ally MicroSD Card Reader Issue
A potential Asus ROG Ally MicroSD card reader issue could leave you with unusable storage if you don’t heed warnings, as the handheld device’s slot may stop recognizing some cards after repeated use. The problem has been raised on the Republic of Gamers Discord, with an Asus representative confirming that it could be caused by thermal stress on the device.
“We have received reports of the SD card reader on the ROG Ally malfunctioning under certain thermal stress conditions,” the Asus rep says. “Internal testing has also confirmed this issue.” The issue has reportedly been found through internal testing and was announced on the Discord server, although we haven’t seen a public announcement from Asus about it yet.
Some MicroSD cards inserted into the device’s MicroSD slot are failing due to the heat generated by its components, meaning that you may suddenly find that the card is unable to be mounted or read by the device. While some have been able to recover the cards on a PC, others have reported permanent damage.
Users on the ROG Ally Subreddit Discord have expressed frustration with the issue, with one user stating that their reader is no longer functional. Another user managed to resolve the issue by using a USB reader, while some have found that enabling Core Isolation in Windows Security settings has restored functionality to their MicroSD cards, suggesting a potential software issue.
Asus says that it plans to release an update that fine-tunes the fan curves to improve reliability and alleviate the issue. However, this solution may not be conclusive evidence of a fix, as the issue doesn’t occur on every device and not every ROG Ally device is affected by it.
Asus also points out that using the internal SSD for storage instead of relying on a MicroSD card is a better option, which we’d agree with. If you do plan on upgrading the internal SSD, you might want to take a look at our best ROG Ally SSDs list, as the Ally is one of the best Steam Deck handhelds to date and can take a larger capacity drive than 128GB.
Update: As of April 17, Asus has released BIOS version 1.4 for the ROG Ally, which claims to resolve issues related to the MicroSD card reader. You can download the update from the Asus ROG Ally support page.
Asus ROG Ally MicroSD card reader problems
“We have received reports of the SD card reader on the ROG Ally malfunctioning under certain thermal stress conditions,” an Asus rep says.
Featured image: Asus.
