There is a virus root app floating about the web and even big companies ( P***w**ll in China being one of them ) are sharing it known as 'Asus Demo App' which supposedly roots the device in minutes.

It does not, it wrecks the mainboard even if you follow instructions to the T and no hardware/software reset gets things back to the way they were.

Symptoms include screen coming on every few seconds ,same with wifi even if switched off. All apps revert to 1 day, even if new ones installed.

In short, be careful which app source you are using to root your Zenfone. The fact I got it from a big company bypassed my normal virus checking habit.

Procedures found to Root a Phone sometimes comes with risks, especially if all of the prerequisites of a prior successful root are not in play.

how-to-root-the-asus-zenfone-5

theunlockr.com - Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014

The 'app' in question was NOT made to root all versions of the zenphone 5. It's a DEMO program meant to be used by phone retailers to turn a phone into a demo/display model and constantly reset the phone to factory new. Just because it 'rooted' some versions of Android if you installed it then froze it doesn't mean it was the perfect tool to use (even if it was produced by Asus).

I usually recommend people do a LOT of reading before attempting to root any device. Find out how many people report success, how many ran into issues, can the issues be isolated and mitigated, or if the outlined procedures and tools can only be used on certain Device Hardware or OS Versions.

For android users, I like to suggest checking out xda-developers. I'm more confident of procedures working if the device has a dedicated forum and many users reporting with feedback. In the case of the Zenfone I only found one topic thread with lots of replies on the xda-developers site ... ASUS Zenfone 5 and Zenfone 6 - All you need to know about

Not having its own forum doesn't bode well, it could mean that people are just going elsewhere to develop strategies to modify the device.

Research -- Read -- Take Educated Risks

Lol, it doesn't wreck the mainboard but you have to initiate a 'factory reset' to get rid of demo mode

Lol, it doesn't wreck the mainboard but you have to initiate a 'factory reset' to get rid of demo mode

Tried that, as has the ASUS service center. It has been moved down the line to another place to fix it. Wipeout ! No phone 10 days.