Any ideas on getting a NUC6CAYH to play nice with an 8265 WiFi card?

[bk109]

So, long story short - I've got a spare Intel 8265 2x2 to replace the stock 3168 card that shipped with the NUC. When it works - it works great, but after a restart it invariably isn't detected by the system and only a power cycle (ie unplugging the NUC for a bit) helps it get detected again. I've ruled out faulty hardware (the NIC is rock-solid outside of the 6CAYH) and I've seen others in the forum report similar behaviour. So, my question is - has someone succesfully gotten this NUC to work with newer internal NICs than the listed in the support documents and if so - how?

[AlHill]

Not saying that that 8265 cannot be made to work, but it is not on the list of tested/compatible products:

http://compatibleproducts.intel.com/ProductDetails?EPMID=95062

Doc

[bk109]

I know,I know, but I've noticed that far more often than not that such validation/compatiblity lists to be ... really incomplete (plus as there's no parts whitelist per-se here, in theory any 2230 E-keyed card should work regardless of vendor), hence why I'm checking out in here if someone managed to get an 8-series NIC to work inside this bugger (or rather, work AND survive past a restart) as unfortunately the 3168 seems to be just too weak for HTPC use as the same setup with a hardline to the nearest switch doesn't even flinch.

bk109

[AlHill]

Not that this helps, but I have a NUC6i7KYK that came with a 8260. If you want to know any specific settings, let me know.

Doc

[MRoss5200]

A couple of questions. Did you install the correct drivers (WiFi & Bluetooth) for the 8265 card in Windows? I assume this is running Windows correct?

Also, I was told that replacing a low CMOS battery can sometimes fix this issue. Another thing is the 8260/8265 supports vPro & MU-MIMO (Multi-User MIMO) which the 3168 does not. I believe the MU-MIMO requires a different antenna type to function properly. The other way to verify this is to use an external WiFi dongle to see if the issue goes away.

[bk109]

Right, as apparently I was unclear about it before (mea culpa and all that) let me preface everything by pointing out that just as the other user's experiences I linked to, the card isn't recognized by BIOS after a soft-restart, so it's an OS-agnostic issue.

Anyway - OS - Windows 10 1909 with the current driver versions as per Intel's own driver assistant with a secondary OpenELEC install (Problem is present regardless of OS used). CMOS battery isn't an issue (though ruled out, just in case), especially as the behaviour is only seen during hot restarts, so it shouldn't really be coming into play. As for the antenna type - uh, no, that's not at all the case I'm affraid. Basically speaking , the antennas are just that - antennas, targetted at a particular frequency band, so a dual-band antenna from a current laptop is functionally identical to one from an 802.11a/b-toting one from 200x-ish with the real difference coming from the hardware on the NIC itself, but uhh... that's beside the point (and again, that's not really my field - I'm more of a sysadmin/SRE).

"The other way to verify this is to use an external WiFi dongle to see if the issue goes away." Same goes for just admitting defeat and just running a pair of cat7's to the nearest switch ( If I'm going to be getting dirty, I might as well also attach the Onkyo too :D ) , but I'm rather more interested in why after a restart, UEFI suddenly fails to recognize the 8265, which was working up to the reboot :D

[MRoss5200]

Ok.

When you say the BIOS does not recognize the 8265 after a warm reset? What happens? Do the WiFi & Bluetooth check-boxes grey out or disappear? Does the system hang? When you boot into your OS, does the card disappear or is it just not detecting a network?

Could also be that since AY NUC is Atom based and the WiFi card specifically states Core processor in the data sheet, it may not work with that system reliably. Maybe try a 7260 or 7265 card being they are older AC MIMO supported cards.

[bk109]

"Is not recognised by UEFI" means exactly what it says on the tin - the m2 module suddenly isn't dected anymore and the slot is listed as "Unoccupied".

Also, not entirely sure which spec sheet you're reading , but for the full-fat (PCIE/USB, not CNVio) module the requirement is quite literally just to have an open E-keyed m2 slot. It's irrelevant, really, because in theory ( theory in this context meaning basically ANY piece of kit from any OEM that doesn't have a part whitelist) all m.2 WiFi NICs are interchangeable as long as they use the standard signalling as per the m2 specifications and not some vendor-specific abomination like AX201.

At any rate, this is becoming a moot point, because I'm just gonna accept my fate ... and run a hardline to the neareast switch as soon as the cable arrives tomorrow morning an' be done with this little project

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that BIOS ver 0066 is available at https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29319/BIOS-Update-AYAPLCEL-86A- and it addresses the following issue: Fixed issue when Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 module disappears after reboot.

Regards,

Ronny G

[Leonid_Firdman]

Thanks!

It worked for me!