Documentation for NUC10 LEDs?

[JessicaJ]

Hi, we've used the ring LED on the 7th gen NUCs as status indicators, but are looking at upgrading to 10th gen. Of course the 10th gen seems to have dropped the ring, but does seem to have a HDD LED (as well as an RGB header). The problem is, there is apparently zero documentation on how to address or check the status of these LEDs, despite them having a "SW Control" setting in the BIOS.

Is there some place where the ACPI calls are documented for the 10th gen systems? I would love to be able to get a hold of that, from there we should be able to figure out how to use the LEDs as we wish.

Thanks,

Jess

[LeonWaksman]

1. The Intel NUC models NUC10i7FN, NUC10i5FN and NUC10i3FN use the Aptio V BIOS core.
2. See the Power section in the NUC AptioV BIOS Glossary, to find the information you are looking for.

Leon

[JessicaJ]

Thanks for the link Leon, there was actually some useful info in there; however, the glossary only seems to mention how to change the mode of the LEDs in the BIOS (HDD activity, SW control, etc). I was unable to find any information as to how to actually address the LEDs to get their current state or change them.

I've had no luck with the intel_nuc_led module in Linux, nor with the Intel LED Manager software for Windows -- neither could detect any of the LEDs let alone get or set their state. This suggests that the address and/or ACPI methods have changed, and I need the documentation (if it exists?) as to the correct means of addressing the 10th generation LEDs. intel_nuc_led worked beautifully for us on the NUC7 series, but neither that nor any of the Hades Canyon forks can talk to the NUC10 LEDs.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

JessicaJ, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

I just wanted to check if you were able to find the documentation for the Intel® NUC LEDs, or if you still need further assistance on this topic?

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[JessicaJ]

Thanks Albert! I unfortunately haven't found what I'm looking for. Ideally I'd like the raw ACPI specs for addressing the LEDs (reading and setting), but we could probably make do with the appropriate WMI calls if ACPI specs aren't available.

We're using Linux, so ACPI is easier to deal with as there's an acpi_call module we can use; for WMI we'd need to borrow an existing project like the intel_nuc_led module and then tweak its values to match the new WMI calls and rebuild it.

[AlHill]

@JessicaJ​  A few weeks ago, I found a utility that should let you do this as it allows access to ACPI. If you like raw settings, both read and write, this may help you.

However, it is for windows. I have not tried it (yet).

http://rweverything.com/

Please report back your findings.

Doc

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello JessicaJ, I just wanted to check if the information provided by Al Hill was useful for you and if you need further assistance on this matter?

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[JessicaJ]

Unfortunately I'm still a bit lost. RWEverything is a great tool if you know where the bits you want to twiddle are located, but the crux of my issue is that there seems to be no documentation as to the addresses/calls/etc for the 10th gen LEDs.

There is a document that covers the WMI Interface for 7th and 8th gen NUCs, but this doesn't seem to translate well to the 10th gen systems. I loaded Windows on a 10th gen system for temporary experimentation, and I found the CISD_WMI Class, but NewGetLedStatus() and QueryLedSupportCapability() do not behave as I'd expect:

> $cisd = Get-WmiObject -Namespace "ROOT\WMI" -Class CISD_WMI > $cisd.QueryLedSupportCapability(0x0).Data.Bytes[0,1,2,3] | Format-Hex [...] 00 03 00 00 # 00h = no error # 03h = 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 # | +-- power button # +---- hdd led

there's no return value indicating the internal RGB header is available, despite it being shown in BIOS (and power, HDD, and RGB all set to "SW Control")?

Arguments seem to be big-endian, as adding additional arguments with the MSB being 0x00 results in no change (which would be expected since function(0) takes no additional arguments). However, when I try to query the LED color type for either "available" LED, I get

> $cisd.QueryLedSupportCapability(0x0101).Data.Bytes[0,1,2,3] | Format-Hex [...] 00 01 00 00 # 00h = no error # 01h = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 # +-- dual-color blue/amber > $cisd.QueryLedSupportCapability(0x0201).Data.Bytes[0,1,2,3] | Format-Hex [...] E2 00 00 00 # E2h = Error (undefined device)???

The WMI documentation I have says bit 0 (01h) in arg 0 represents the power LED, so the first response there is expected. However, bit 1 (02h) in arg 0 represents the HDD LED and the prior query indicated that it's available, but I get "undefined device"?

The documentation I linked is for 8th gen Hades Canyon NUCs, and seems to be an update of 7th gen NUC documentation (such as the apparent deprecation of GetLedStatus in favor of NewGetLedStatus, and the ternary LED brightness state of 0/50/100 stricken through in favor of a percent value. Given the unexpected results, I suspect that either I am interpreting arguments and/or responses horribly wrong, or that the NUC10's WMI and/or ACPI calls differ in subtle ways (which would also explain why the 8th gen LED manipulation software fails in both Windows and Linux). If the latter, why can I find no documentation that is relevant to the NUC10? Is all the WMI stuff the same between the 8 and 10 except the LED so no one deemed it important enough to document? Is there documentation internally that just hasn't been published either because it hasn't been approved yet or was just overlooked?

[Alberto_R_Intel]

JessicaJ, Thank you very much for sharing all that information.

We will do further research on this matter, but for us to be able to do that, please provide the SSU report for Linux, to attach the report, once you choose "reply" select the "clip" icon on the lower-left corner:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26735/

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[JessicaJ]

Attached is the SSU report.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

JessicaJ, Thank you very much for sharing the report.

We will do further research on this matter, as soon as I get any updates I will post all the details on this thread.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[JessicaJ]

Thanks for your effort Albert, it's greatly appreciated! Let me know what you find.

[JessicaJ]

Also, FWIW, I'll take anything -- an unapproved draft document, an internal memo (with legal's approval of course), heck, I'd be happy to get pictures of an engineer's handwritten notes scribbled on a series of stickies if it has the ACPI or WMI info I need for the 10th gen units.

In our headless use case, the HDD LED is the only reliable/consistent way to communicate system health to the user, so short of adding more hardware to the setup (which is bad for cost, reliability, and compatibility reasons) we need that LED. The rings on the 7th gen NUCs were glorious and worked very well for this, but sadly they've gone MIA.

[JessicaJ]

Hi @Alberto_R_Intel , just checking in -- any progress on this? I'll take anything the engineers have, even if it's not comprehensive like the 8th gen WMI data... right now we're flying totally blind, and the only documentation we do have is the 8th gen stuff, which appears to not work on the 10th gen devices.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

JessicaJ, You are very welcome, I just received an update on this matter.

First of all, let me apologize for all the lateness in providing the response and for any inconvenience.

In the following link you will find the documentation requested for the Intel® NUC 10 Performance kit - NUC10i3FNH, please verify it and let us know if there is anything else that we can assist you with:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000056864/intel-nuc.html

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[JessicaJ]

Thanks Albert, we're still having difficulty communicating with/controlling the LED, but I've passed the updated documentation on to some other engineers who might understand this better (I'm still relatively new to WMI/ACPI calls). If we have any further questions, should I continue this thread or open a new one?

Quick side note, there is a small typo in the revision history: it says "Jyly 2020" instead of "July 2020".

[Alberto_R_Intel]

JessicaJ, You are very welcome, thank you very much for letting us know about the typo and for sharing those details.

Perfect, it is great to hear that the information provided previously was useful for you and for your co-workers, we hope that all the details that you are looking for are available in there.

The case will remain open, we will follow up this case in a few days and then you can let us know if further assistance is needed.

Regards,
Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician
A Contingent Worker at Intel

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello JessicaJ, I just wanted to check if the information provided previously was useful for you and if you need further assistance on this matter?

Regards,
Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician
A Contingent Worker at Intel

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello JessicaJ, Since I have not heard back from you, we are closing the case, but if you have any additional questions, please post them on a new thread so we can further assist you with this matter.

Regards,
Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician
A Contingent Worker at Intel