BIOS Update 47- and then it all went wrong....

[ABail]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forums and to the Intel NUCs in general.

I bought a Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK recently and have been very impressed. Up until yesterday it was all working wonderfully.

And then, I decided to update to BIOS Version 47!

After the sucessfuly update (it did display a success message) the machine wouldn't boot and I struggled to get into the BIOS. From what I could see in the Intel data the flashing LEDs seemed to be indicating a memory issue perhaps? So at that point I tried to roll back to Version 40 (I know version 44 had a few issues). The memory is Corsair and off the compatible list (32 GB in total).

That left me in a state where the machine would start, flash the power and Skull lights for a couple of seconds, then power down and repeat the cycle over and over again. I've not been able to get back to the BIOS recovery or BIOS menu to get any more info. The BIOS recovery process described on the Intel site doesn't seem to be working either (holding power for 3 seconds doesn't take me to any recovery menu).

After a few more power cycles things seem to have got worse- I now get two white LEDs (HDD and Network??) when the power is applied, I can see the LED on my memory stick flash once and then nothing. The power button doesn't light and wont respond.

Can anyone offer any helpful suggestions on how to recover this situation?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Andy.

[LeonWaksman]

Hello Andy,

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005532/mini-pcs.html

Follow those steps to recover bios from Power Button Menu:

1. Prepare USB stick fully formatted to FAT32 (disable quick format option during format). Format your USB on Windows machine (rather than Linux or MAC). Save the Bios file HN0047.bio (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27992/BIOS-Update-HNKBLi70-86A-?product=126143 Download BIOS Update [HNKBLi70.86A]) on this stick and insert it into USB slot (NUC shall be OFF). On the same page you will find bios previous versions.
2. Press Power Button for about 3 seconds. You should release the Power Button soon as the power led changes color from blue to amber. Alternately, the system will emit three short beeps from the PC speaker or headphones, if installed, then stop. If you see the LED color change or you hear the beeps, release the Power Button - NUC shall reboot into Power Button Menu. NUC will reboot into Power Button Menu.
3. Press F4 and the recovery shall start (it can take up to 30 seconds for messages to appear on the screen).
4. When the recovery finishes, pull out the power cord.
5. Replace the power cord and press Power Button to switch the computer to ON.
6. Enter Bios setting by pressing F2 during boot process.
7. Press F9(followed by "Y"), to set Bios to default settings. Press F10 (followed by "Y"), to save the settings and exit to O.S. Let the NUC fully reboot.
8. You can enter again to Bios setting to change the necessary settings.

Note:

If for some reason you have difficulty to boot into Power Button Menu, you shall recover your Bios using Security Jumper method https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005532/mini-pcs.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005532/mini-pcs.html

Leon

[ABail]

Leon,

Thanks very much for your quick response- really appreciate the help.

Step 1 was fine- no issues there of course.

But I'm not getting past step 2. The power button is not showing any color at all. When I press it it is not going blue even- let alone changing color to amber.

All I'm getting is two LEDs (first two to the right of the power button- which I think are HDD and Network activitity?) which briefly flash white when I plug in the power supply.

I'm hoping it's not a hardware issue- but not quite sure what to try next?

Any other ideas?

Thanks again,

Andy.

[LeonWaksman]

Hello Andy,

1. I'm not suspecting memory error yet, however could be that one of the memory modules is not sitting well in his slot. Try using just one memory module at a time, swapping it between the upper and lower memory slots. In the same time remove the SDDs from the NUC and as I've suggested already, try to operate NUC only with one RAM module at time. You can reach the Power Boot Menu and execute the recovery process with one memory module only.

2. The Power button LED is not illuminated, but can you hear 3 beeps when you hold this Power Button? Naturally, you have to connect a headphones or speakers to the front jack.

3. As I've have already written in my previous post, you can try to recover bios with the Security Jumper removed. If it works, the recovery process starts automatically after powering the NUC On (with the security jumper removed).

4. If any of this will not work in my opinion, you should issue RMA in order to replace this unit.

Leon

[ABail]

Leon,

Thanks again for your help.

I tied moving RAM modules around- unfortunately it made no difference.

No no sounds with a headset plugged in at all.

And and leaving the security jumper off didn't help things either.

Im afraid it looks like it has died. I'll look into an RMA.

Thanks for for your help.

Andy.

[LeonWaksman]

Andy,

One more idea (although with low success possibility). Please disconnect Real Time Battery connector and leave it disconnected for 15 minutes. Reconnect it again and try to operate your NUC.

Leon

[ABail]

Leon,

You are a superstar!

That solved it nicely.

After waiting 20 minutes or so it all booted up nicely- even BitLocker in Windows 10 is happy (which I was surprised about given the security jumper changes). So everything working nicely now and running on BOIS version 47.

Thanks once again for all your help.

Kind Regards,

Andy.