NUC BOXNUC7i7BNH crash and stuck on reboot

[RajPan]

Hello,

I have an issue with Intel NUC (BOXNUC7i7BNH). It keeps on crashing every few days and then gets into the "no bootable device found" promopt. Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del makes it boot up normally and works fine until the next crash. I have replaced the hardware, SSD and memory and this is still happening. 

Is there any way to make the NUC proceed to a normal startup after such a crash? The NUC is in a remote location so every time there is a crash, I have to make a trip just to press Ctrl+Alt+Del again.

Appreciate any suggestions.

[n_scott_pearson]

Do you have the latest BIOS installed?

Please download and run the Intel System Support Utility for Windows and have it save the report to a file. Then, using the Drag and drop here or browse files to attach dialog below the edit box for the body of your response post, upload and attach this file to the response post.

...S

[RajPan]

I have the Intel Driver and Support Assistant installed and it tells me the BIOS and other software are up to date.

Attached is the result from the support utility.

[n_scott_pearson]

Ok, let me check into this (it may take through tomorrow to get an answer)...

...S

[RajPan]

Thanks Scott. Much appreciated. 

[RajPan]

@n_scott_pearson Did you get a chance to look into this?

[n_scott_pearson]

I did. I believe that the graphics driver (6286) is responsible for this issue. It is very, very old and has never been updated to a later release due to the fact that customisations are required. Because this model has been discontinued, no versions of the later DCH driver packages were ever customized to support this NUC. It has been requested that an updated driver package be produced, but I have not heard of any progress with this request.

You could try manually upgrading the driver. This would involve downloading the new driver, uninstalling the existing driver, rebooting and then immediately installing the new driver. Note that, in the process of performing this upgrade, you will lose the customizations, but hopefully this may not affect you directly (I have done so without any issues). Here is a link to where you can download the latest DCH driver: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29904/Intel-Graphics-Windows-10-DCH-Drivers.

Hope this helps,

...S

[RajPan]

Thank you. I use this NUC to run background services and most of the time it is not even connected to a monitor. I will try this out this weekend and let you know how it went. 

[RajPan]

@n_scott_pearson I now have the latest Intel Graphics driver (27.20.100.8783), however instead of once every three days, I am now seeing crashes twice a day. It has gotten worse. I have attached the output from SSU. Any further ideas on this will be much appreciated. 

[AlHill]

I would update windows 10 to version 2004.  Or, wait a couple of days and go for 20H2.

[GregK]

try to disconnect all usb devices, then power up, connect them if system will boot.
if that helps , that means you have same case like me (i already have open case with intel support, they are working on fixture)
Downgrade bios to 0059 using jumper mode...
problem is with 0063 bios.

[RajPan]

Thanks @GregK.  I am on bios BNKBL357.86A.0083.2020.0714.1344 as per the SSU scan. 

[n_scott_pearson]

When you say 'crash', what exactly do you mean. Is it a BSOD? Is it a spontaneous reset? Something else?

...S

[RajPan]

After this happens, I notice that the NUC has reset and the monitor just has a single line of text at the top on black screen that says "No bootable device found." However a Ctrl+Alt+Delete then lets Windows 10 boot up fine. 

[RajPan]

Here is a picture.

[RajPan]

@n_scott_pearson, as the crashes have been happening daily and things gotten worse with the Intel Driver upgrade, I have rolled back to the Microsoft Basic  Display Adapter. Will monitor for a few days.

[RajPan]

Thanks @AlHill. I will do the 2004 upgrade and see if that makes a difference. 

[MRoss5200]

I see you have a 2.5" Kingston A400 480GB SSD and a Seagate 1TB external HDD. Have you tried using the system without these devices attached to see if you have the same issue? Maybe use an M.2 NVMe SSD instead of a SATA 2.5" SSD as your boot device?

Your document shows a  timeout issue. I wonder if one of these is causing the system to hang.

[RajPan]

The 2.5" SSD is my main boot drive. I removed the external 1TB USB storage and the problem was still happening. I have not tried M.2 SSD. Will that work better? I will need to buy one, clone the system over and test.

[Esteban_D_Intel]

Hello RajPan,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.  

I have a few questions for you about this matter:

• Just to confirm, I understand that you already replaced the storage device, memory however, the crashes still occurring correct?
• Have you tried just one stick of RAM? If not, please test one stick of RAM in each slot and let us know if no notice any improvement.
• Addiitonally, we released a newer version of the graphics driver. By any change have you tried version 27.20.100.8853 yet?
• Have you performed a fresh installation of Windows* yet?

Please let us know how it goes while working with the Microsoft* Basic Display Adapter.

Esteban D.

Intel Technical Support Technician  

[RajPan]

Hi @Esteban_D_Intel, my responses below:

1. Yes. I replaced my Kingston SSD with another identical unit and the problem still happened.

2. I had two Kingston 8GB SODIMM  DDR4 RAM. I replaced it with a new 8GB Crucial SODIMM DDR4 RAM in the lower slot only. The problem continued.

3. I had an older version of Graphics Driver and at the suggestion of @n_scott_pearson, I upgraded to 27.x.8853. This made the problem worse. Instead of a crash every 3 days, I was getting 2-3 crashes a day.

4. I have not tried fresh installation of windows. I cloned the hard disk when I replaced the SSD. I have a lot of software and configuration and fresh install will take a lot of my time. If Microsoft Basic Driver does not fix the issue, then I will first upgrade to the Win 10 Pro 2020 2H October release. After this also showing the same problem, I will perform a clean installation of Windows 10 and see.

Just checked and it has been 16hrs 15 mins on Windows Basic Display driver and no crashes yet. Fingers crossed.