NUC bricked, I'm in panic mode

[RolandT]

Brand new NUC10i7FNH has been crashing, freezing, not powering on when off and/or not powering off when on. Now I don't even get it to show the BIOS boot screen.

Note that yesterday it worked long enough for me to install Windows 10 but after yet another freeze no reboot possible. Removing power plug and waiting, plug power back in sometimes boots then again sometimes not. So a total unstable system.

Now I don't get it to boot at all, pressing power on I hear the fans spinning 3 times in a row and than nothing. Power LED is on but nothing on the screen.

Really need some help

[matbla91]

I think reason can be the same, because I have very similar issue:

https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/NUC5i3RYH-Freeze-Intel-Management-Engine-Windows-10/m-p/1198941#M75504

Hope somebody from Intel help us

[LeonWaksman]

Hi @RolandT ,

1. Do not panic, your NUC is under warranty. So, in worst case it will be replaced. Now, I'll try to help you:  

2. In this case, I suggest that you should recover BIOS using BIOS Recovery with BIOS Secure Jumper Removed method. In addition you should do this with a minimum hardware installed. I'll instruct you also how to reset the CMOS battery. 

3. 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 FN0044.CAP on this stick. Important : the USB device must contain a folder \EFI\Intel, which contains the FN0044.CAP file. Otherwise the recovery will fail. Example: D:\EFI\INTEL\FN0044CAP and insert it into front USB slot with amber color (NUC shall be OFF). You may use also one of the rear USB ports (do not use front blue USB port, since sometime the USB stick is not recognized during boot process).

4. Disconnect the Power Adapter and remove the NUC bottom cover.

5. Disconnect the CMOS battery connector (item "C", page 31, Technical Product Specification). Reconnect this connector after waiting 15 minutes.

6. Remove the SSD and the SATA SSD/HDD(if you have installed ). This is done to minimize the hardware configuration.

7. Remove the Yellow Bios Security Jumper. (page 41 in Technical Product Specification)

8. Reconnect the power adapter and power ON the NUC. Wait 30 sec - 2min. The Recovery process will start automatically and will end after 2 -5 minutes.

7. When bios recovery is completed, press and hold the Power Button to switch the power OFF, remove the power adapter and replace the Security Jumper (pins 1-2) .

8. Power ON your NUC and verify that you can see the Intel Logo. The NUC will not boot into Windows yet, since there is no SSD. 

9.  Reinstall the SSD and SATA SSD/HDD. Reinstall the bottom panel.
8. Power your NUC ON.
9. Enter Bios setting by pressing F2 during boot process.
10. 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.

11. If before update, you have customized bios settings, you can enter again to Bios setting to change the necessary settings. 

 

Leon

[RolandT]

Hi @LeonWaksman ,

At step 8, I powered on; and, it booted in a menu

F2 BIOS setup

F4 BIOS recovery

F5 Restore BIOS setup settings to the build time default

What do I select?

[LeonWaksman]

Hi @RolandT ,

1. With USB containing the bios file, the recovery should start automatically (with security jumper removed).  Was the USB fully formatted to FAT32 in Windows?

2. Power OFF your NUC, replace the USB into rear USB port, and power NUC ON. In case that the recovery will not start and you will see again this Menu, press F4 and se what happens.

Leon

[RolandT]

Hi @LeonWaksman ,

I did a full FAT32 format on my other windows 10 laptop. Copied the file in the indicated folder structure. No luck on any of the USB ports, I see the BIOS welcome screen and next I always go back to that "jumper" menu. Pressing F4, the screens goes black for a second and brings me back to that menu (nothing happened).

I tried 3 different USB sticks on all of the ports.

The download page has 4 different downloads with BIOS, I tried file FC0044.CAP and I tries the .RECOVERY.ZIP but that did not make any difference (I guess they are identical with .RECOVER.ZIP including the directory structure).

I also read instructions talking about .bio file? Is this .bio file inside the .cap file?

[RolandT]

Hi @LeonWaksman ,

I gave up on BIOS update and put the jumper back. re-installed Windows 10 to run some reports. I have the driver report and the Intel SSU scan.

My NUC is unstable, specifically shutting down/restart/booting up ; I never know what will happen. Looks as if the NUC does not respond well to changing power state.

Not sure if the driver of SSU report will point you at what could be my NUC's problem?

[LeonWaksman]

Hi @RolandT 

1. Sorry for the delayed answer. Well, you are now in better situation at least, since your NUC is booting. Could be that disconnecting the CMOS battery helped?

2. Any way your NUC is not working as suppose. In this case I would try to downgraded BIOS to previous working version. This may be done, without opening the NUC - from the Power Button Menu. However, the older BIOS file is not available in Download Center for download. I don't have this file either. Have you? 

3. I can see that your BIOS is updated to the latest version. Have no explanation why the recovery with Security Jumper Removed didn't succeeded and what is the menu (similar to the Power Button Menu), you have reach.

4. Since you can enter BIOS setting now, next time before you will try BIOS recovery, reset BIOS to default setting (F9(Y)) and disable Secure Boot. Then click F10 (Y) to save settings and exit from BIOS.

Leon

[RolandT]

Hi @LeonWaksman ,

My problem is the unstable behaviour.

I had already done the optimised BIOS settings after the first crash, but that did not fix my problems.

Any thoughts on why it is that unstable? I did a plain vanilla windows 10 install. Latest drivers/BIOS.

I do not have the older BIOS, Intel does Intel not offer the previous versions?

[RolandT]

It is a brick again!

I think my only option is to return it. Unless someone has a final suggestion?

[RolandT]

Hi @LeonWaksman ,

Just wanted to share the current status, knock on wood but the NUC is alive again.

What I do notice is sometimes (today it happened 2x) the screen going black. At first I linked this to my list of "booting issues" but I found it is a video problem. So suddenly screen goes black, no warning, no apperant reason. Looks like NCU crashed again. But I found that pulling out the USB-C cable and back in brings the video back. 

[LeonWaksman]

Hi @RolandT 

Thank you for sharing, As you know, other user has reported problems with BIOS update. Lets see how it will develop.

Leon

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello RolandT, 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.   

I understand that you are now having a different problem than the one originally reported, so your Intel® NUC works and boots but you are having problems with the display connected out of the USB-C port, is that correct? In order to better assist you, please provide the following: 

1. Report for Intel® Graphics Drivers, follow this link. 

2. What is the brand and model number of the monitor connected to this port? Have you tested a different monitor? 

3. From the NUC to the monitor, are you using any adapter in between or is it a straight connection? Please include the brand and model number of the cable and the adapter used (if applicable).  

4. Is this a single display setup? Or are you using more than 1 display connected? Please explain. 

Regards, 

Sebastian M.  

Intel Customer Support Technician.  

[RolandT]

Hi @Sebastian_M_Intel ,

Yes my problem is now occasionally the screen going black.

1. report attached

2. Monitor is LG 27UL850 monitor, direct connected via usb-c (cable came with the monitor), specs state monitor supports DP1.4

3. Have not been able to test with other monitors, "problem" is that it does not happen that often, sometimes I fixed it by removing the cable and reconnecting, but sometimes that does not help and all that works is pressing the power button to shut down.

4.  single display set up

[MRoss5200]

I see you have (1) 16GB SoDIMM installed. Do you have other DDR4 memory you could try with the system? Could be it doesn't like your memory for some reason. Also, wipe your HDD/SSD clean of data before installing Windows. Sometime you can get strange software issues if old drivers or software is left on the drive.

If you are doing a jumper recovery on FN, you MUST use the recovery CAP file in the root of the FAT32 formatted flash drive for it to recover when the yellow jumper is pulled. It must also be the only CAP file in the root for it to work.

[RolandT]

1. The memory is brand new (like the NUC), I don't have other options in house. But I was planning to add more memory later, maybe I should speed up that plan.
2. I removed all partitions and had windows partitioning the drive during install

3. That part still puzzles me... why that bios recovery did not work. But, it does not seem that this was needed. I think the cmos battery reset may have helped fixing the boot up problems.

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello RolandT,  

Thank you very much for the detailed information. 

We will proceed to check this specific behavior internally, please kindly wait for our response. We will post on this thread once we have an update on this matter. 

Regards,  

Sebastian M.  

Intel Customer Support Technician.   

[RolandT]

Hi @Sebastian_M_Intel ,

I removed all drives and next installed them back one by one and noticed that the BIOS does not always detect the drives. Now I have 2 disks installed yet only disk 1 is detected and not disk 0 (SATA not installed it says in the BIOS).

This could be the root cause of my problems if the NUC occasionally fails to see a disk, booting can be difficult. Would that make sense? Any idea why this happens?

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello RolandT, 

Thank you for patiently waiting. 

We noticed internally that you had several threads regarding this Intel® NUC 10 Performance kit – NUC10i7FNH, with several different issues. Therefore, an internal case has been created to provide you further assistance for your unit. Please refer to that internal case for more help and kindly wait for a response.

Regards, 

Sebastian M.  

Intel Customer Support Technician.  

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello, 

We would like to inform you that we are working directly with the community post originator to provide a solution. If your system is exhibiting the same behavior please contact Intel Customer Support directly or post a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored. 

Check this link for the contact us page: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html.

Feel free to reference this post if you reach out to Intel Customer Support. 

@RolandT, please refer to the internal support ticket we created in case you have any questions. 

Best regards, 

Sebastian M

Intel Customer Support Technician