Unable to load graphics driver

[NNick7]

Using the Intel Driver and Support Assistant, it informs me that I need to update my graphics driver from 6278 to 6444. When I select update, I get the error message "The driver being installed is not validated for this computer" This also happens if I download the driver separately and click on igxpin.exe, which also attempts to install the same driver. I have a NUC8i7BEH, S/NG6BE833002FH. Attached is the saved text file from the Intel Graphics Setting pages titled "Options and Support". I hope you have some idea what is going on here? Thanks... Nick...

[n_scott_pearson]

You usually have to do the following:

1. From Intel's Download Center (https://downloadcenter.intel.com), download the 6444 (or later) driver package to your system disk. Don't attempt installation yet.
2. Completely disconnect system from internet.
3. Manually and completely uninstall the old graphics driver (from Apps and Features Settings scene).
4. Reboot.
5. Install the new driver package you downloaded earlier.
6. Reboot.
7. Reconnect internet.
8. Download and install the Intel Graphics Control Panel app from the Microsoft App Store.

Hope this helps,

...S

[NNick7]

Thanks for the answer to my question Scott. My only problem occurred on step #3. The old graphics driver cannot be uninstalled using Apps and Features. You need to use Device Manager instead. Note! Device Manager refuses to update to the new display driver even if you point directly to the downloaded latest version of the display driver. This necessitates using this rather awkward process. Also, the easiest way to disconnect from the internet is to temporarily disable the network adapter.

Otherwise everything else worked just fine. The Intel Driver & Support Assistant no longer tells me that I need to update the graphics driver. Lets hope that the next revision of the Intel graphics driver will overcome this problem... Nick...

[n_scott_pearson]

The new drivers can only be installed from EXE; you cannot install using the have-disk method. Intel set up the package to avoid this possibility being attempted.

...S

[NNick7]

Thanks again for the additional info Scott. So what is the general rule for installing device drivers on my NUC? I have had several devices updated with no problem. Though I do remember having trouble getting the Ethernet driver to update and having to do something similar.

I also notice that I have FORCED BIOS updates once in a while. Also yesterday Microsoft forced a driver update for my Realtek Audio, to driver version 10.0.171341. I needed to restart my system for this update, similar to getting a new Insider update. I was a bit freaked out by this, but let it go anyway. Using the Intel Driver & Support Assistant, I determined that my NUC Realtek driver did not change, and remained at 6.0.1.8569. The Assistant remained calm throughout the process. I dislike NOT having any choice in situations like this. I had no way of cancelling the forced Microsoft update. Cheers... Nick...

[n_scott_pearson]

General Rule? Mine is: if Driver or BIOS updates are made available on Intel Download Center, I install them. Driver updates may come in automatically via Windows Update as a result of Intel releasing then generally. Until they appear in the Download Center page for your NUC, consider them as not having been validated directly by the NUC team (though other parts of Intel do use NUCs in their driver validation). Understand that, since I (as a volunteer; I am retired) assist the NUC and Compute Stick team with NUC BIOS, driver and hardware validation, I test whatever they are about to or have released (yes, I have truly EARNED the "Retired But Still Working" T-Shirt that I have).

I have not seen a BIOS update for a NUC, Compute Stick or Compute Card being forced by Windows Update (were you using "forced" to mean you manually apply them yourself?). The NUC team does not release BIOS updates this way. I would be *pissed* to see this happening as I consider BIOS updates initiated from Windows (via the Express BIOS Update (EBU) methodology) to be extremely dangerous. Over the years, I have seen EBU updates cause BIOS corruption and even bricking. Unfortunately, because this happens so sporadically, the NUC team has never been able to prove that it was truly the fault of using EBU or to fix whatever it was that is causing this corruption (I only have a soft association built up over time; for all I know, it could have been a hardware issue in those particular units and thus had nothing to do with EBU - but still I don't trust EBU on my machines).

There have been so many issues with the Intel Driver Support Assistant that, to be honest, I gave up on it. You have to understand that, since I was part of Intel's NUC and Compute Stick development team (and Intel's Desktop Boards team development team before it) for close to 19 years, I have been manually installing BIOS (including some I helped develop) and driver updates for a long, long (long!) time.

Everyone in the industry is running around (like chickens with their head cut off) trying to get their driver converted over to this new model that Microsoft is forcing everyone to. Intel's Graphics drivers are the first to be released and the transition has not been clean (to say the least). Eventually all of the drivers will be re-released in this new model.

[Aside: It is actually amazing how many people have complained that the drivers are broken because the Intel Graphics Control Panel doesn't appear. In fact, with this new model, you are required to have supporting apps like this installed separately and thus a download from the Microsoft App store is required. My (conspiracy) theory on this particular issue? Microsoft did this not because of driver stability issues but more to force people to start using the App Store more - so they can make (more) money from it.]

...S

[NNick7]

Again, many thanks for your extensive answer to my questions. I too am one of the ancient ones who grew up in a world of only 2 billion people, and is long forgotten. I cut my EE/Physics teeth in the days of amplidynes and programming using stacks of punched cards. Way before the first transistor, only vacuum tubes and toggle switches. Needless to say, I am very leery when I submit a problem to Intel support, and after a few iterations their only response is "Send your unit in for warranty exchange". My first problem was my NUC would simply not boot from an external USB key. I was trying to load Fedora 28 alongside my W10 Insider version on my brand new Samsung 970 M.2 drive. So I refused to send in my NUC and kept digging. Finally found out that my USB keys had poisoned entries in the UEFI NVRAM. Once these were cleared, I could boot Fedora 28 just fine and install it alongside W10.

My next experience was that my WiFi driver for the 9560 kept throwing restart errors due to "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz : Has encountered a conflict in resources and could not load." W10 Event Viewer log attached. This was after Intel support asked me to downgrade to BE0051, from BE0056 BIOS. So, again, I am not going to trade my NUC in for warranty exchange, but test to see if the same problem occurs for each new BIOS , W10 Insider version, and NUS WiFi driver updates that appear. I have faith in the hardware.

As for forced BIOS updates, all of a sudden one day, when I did a system restart, not forced by Microsoft, the BIOS upgrade screen appeared and I was updated from my original BIOS, that the NUC came with, to a version that was not advertised on the NUC BIOS update page. I was glad to see this new BIOS since I was trying to hunt down my USB problem, above. But I was quite surprised to see it forced upon me. Since then I have done several BIOS updates, both using a DOS USB key with the BIOS, and the Express BIOS once. No mishaps yet.

Yes, I hope the Intel Driver Support Assistant will become smoother in the near future. At the very minimum, it will tell you when a new driver is available. If the driver fails to install, then we can head for the hills and install the driver manually, remembering to reinstall any subsidiary programs, like the Graphics Control Panel. Cheers... Nick...

P.S. Sorry, I cannot attach the W10 Event Viewer log file. When I do, the window containing the log file show only a blank file icon, and "X" at the right end, and the "Answer" box does not work. If I hit the "X" at the end of the file window, my file is erased and the "Answer" box becomes active again. I changed the filetype to .txt and now everything works on your site, and the "Answer" button is active again. If you want to look at the file in Event Viewer, change the filetype to .evtx.

[n_scott_pearson]

My responses to your comments:

• Yea, I started on punched cards as well. Our county had a single IBM 1130 system (8K magnetic core memory and a 1MB (that's not a typo!) cartridge HDD) that IBM donated (I think instead of trashing 😉). Each of the secondary schools got to use it for an hour each day. Our school had only a card punch station. Each day, someone took a taxi to the school hosting this system, fed in the card decks submitted, collected the printed output and took a taxi back. It was not until I got to university that I worked on a CRT - but the supporting (HASP-based) terminal system was brand new and so unstable that a bunch of us went back to using punched cards because that was actually faster!
• I agree that ICS too easily falls back to doing RMAs.
• installation of either the 1803 and 1809 Windows Updates screws up something in the Bluetooth/Wireless stack on a lot of systems - but not all and not just those with Intel silicon. To get it working (again), you have to (with internet access disabled),

1. Manually uninstall the existing Bluetooth and Wireless driver packages completely.
   1. Reboot.
   2. Manually install the Bluetooth and Wireless packages again (and in this order).

• I don't understand you seeing a forced BIOS update. I will check with the NUC team but, as far as I know, they do not release BIOS updates through Windows Update - and if they did, it would absolutely force a reboot; you wouldn't see it occurring after a voluntary system restart. The process flow that EBU uses is as follows,

1. The .BIO file is validated, the included capsules are placed into system memory and then the system is forcibly rebooted.
   1. During the subsequent POST, the BIOS sees that the capsules are sitting in memory, decrypts, decompresses and validates them and, if everything is ok, installs them.

• The transition to DCH drivers is not going smoothly. In most cases, you have to do the following (with internet access disabled):

1. Manually uninstall the existing (non-DCH) driver.
   1. Reboot.
   2. Manually install the DCH driver.

• As far as I know, MS is forcing the installation of the Graphics Control Panel app to be done separately (and thus manually).

...S

P.S. Bad formatting is bug in the forums software 😣

[NNick7]

Thanks, yet again, for a solution to my problem. This time we eliminated the WiFi 9650 error of having to restart continuously. Using your instructions, I first downloaded the correct Bluetooth (20.110.0.3) and WiFi (20.70.0.5) drivers from the NUC8i7BEH downloads page, https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/126140/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC8i7BEH

Then do your custom dance, disable Internet, uninstall Bluetooth/WiFi drivers. Also removed Intel ProSet wireless software. Reboot, install correct Bluetooth/WiFi drivers. WiFi started up and connected immediately. No more WiFi restarts in Event Viewer. Hooray!!! Do you have your own website where you write about all your fixes?

I will go back and reply to the Intel ticket I had on the issue and tell them of my success. I signed off with them about a month or so ago saying that I had faith in the hardware, that I did not want to do a warranty exchange, and that I would keep digging. Thanks again for taking the time to patiently answer my questions… Nick…

P.S. I am no longer able to get into the NUC Community Web Site using Chrome Dev. Had to use Edge.

[n_scott_pearson]

I use Chrome and have had no issues. You may have seen a timeout cause by their servers, but a retry should have worked (well, once the timeout issues was fixed).

...S