Cannot turn off NUC8i7BEH and sound problem

[SMatt19]

Hello,

My NUC8i7BEH suddenly started having the following problems last week:

1) Stop recognizing external speakers (fortunately I was able to connect those same speakers via Bluetooth instead of cable)

2) Sound gets messed up or delayed from time to time depending on the application I am using. For example, all sound effects from Windows skip the first half second or so while in other applications the sound is fully reproduced but delayed.

3) Cannot restart or shut down anymore. Instead NUC stays ON but showing nothing on screen.

I tried to solve the problem updating to the latest BIOS and also installing the latest Realtek drivers, however it didn't work.

Probably because it cannot restart so there is always a restart pending. 

Checking the device manager, there are warnings in the following devices:

- Firmware > BE0078

- System Devices > Intel(R) Smart Sound Technology (Intel(R) SST) Audio Controller

The message in the firmware one is:

This device cannot work properly until you restart your computer. (Code 14)

Click Restart Computer to restart your computer.

The message in the Smart Sound one is:

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

The device is not in a valid state to perform this request.

I have read the recent problems regarding the BIOS BE0078 but I am not sure if that is my problem.

I remember that after I bought the NUC over a year ago, I also have the problem of not being able to turn it off or restarting it. At that time I thought it was somewhat related with the fact that I have it connected to an eGPU.

Unfortunately I don't remember what I did to solve it then.

Any ideas?

[Leonardo_C_Intel]

Hello SMatt19

Thank you for posting in the Intel Community.

·       What changes were done to the systems when the issues started?

·       What is the behavior of the Intel® NUC when you try to restart or shutdown the Intel® NUC?

·       Have you tried completing a hard shut down on the unit?

Regards,

Leonardo C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[SMatt19]

Hello,

No changes were done before just before the problem started, at least not manual ones.

I checked Windows Updates and also there seems to be none at that date (May 17th).

It is possible though that the restart problem appeared when I installed BIOS BE0078 because the problem I first noticed was the sound one and installing that BIOS was me trying to fix that problem.

When I restart or shutdown the NUC, looking at the monitor everything seems fine. Windows follows the standard Restart/Shutdown routine, then the monitor loses signal as usual. However the NUC stays on (LEDs are on and I can hear the fan still working).

Regarding the hard shutdown question, yes. Since the problem started my only way to really shutdown the NUC is to hold the power button until it turns off.

I remember that when I had this problem the first time after purchasing the NUC (the power problem, not the sound one) I ended up solving it from Windows and not from the BIOS.

I think that the fix was a setting related to the power consumption but this time, after messing with the Power Options menu, I have not being able to solve it.

Maybe if I somehow am able to finish the BE0078 installation properly I could perhaps also properly install Realtek drivers and have both problems solved. No idea how to achieve this though.

[Leonardo_C_Intel]

Hello SMatt19

I would recommend testing the following:

·       Try completing a BIOS recovery (https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/mini-pcs/BIOS-Recovery-NUC.pdf)

·       Test the system with minimal configuration (one stick of RAM, one SSD, display, mouse, and keyboard.

·       Test the system with a different SSD and OS (clean install)

This behavior seems to be more related to an Operating System (OS) power management issue, therefore it is recommended testing a clean OS in the system.

NOTE: make sure you have a back up of the system data before completing the clean installation of the system.   

Regards,

Leonardo C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[SMatt19 · Accepted solution]

After testing different things with different hardware connected, I finally found a solution.

I had a graphic tablet connected to the front orange USB port of the NUC. Changing it to a different port solved the problem of not being able to shutdown/restart the computer.

I still had problems with the BIOS and audio drivers but now being able to restart the computer allowed me to reinstall the BIOS BE0079 and the latest Realtek drivers successfully (before it was failing because of the required restart).

Now the OS recognizes my speakers again and the audio of all applications seems to be synced.

Also the 2 warnings messages in the Device Manager are now gone.

The only problem remaining is that when I shutdown the computer, the eGPU remains on for some reason. It is not the first time I have this issue though.

I will look into this on my own since I don't think it is related to any driver.

Thank you for your help.

[Leonardo_C_Intel]

Hello SMatt19

I am glad to hear that your Intel® NUC is working properly I would recommend staying on BIOS 0078 (latest BIOS) for the Intel® NUC8i7BEH

Regards,