NUC11PAHi7 crashing on first boot

[HansVledder]

All,

I've spend some days on finding the cause of this issue, without any progress so far. Therefore I decided to request your help. Please read and (optionally) weep.

- NUC11PAHi7 (most recent firmware)

- 16GB RAM

- Samsung Pro 980 NVMe M.2 SSD 1TB (PCIe 4.0)

- 65" Samsung QLED 65Q74A television on (NUC on HDMI4)

- HDMI-CEC on NUC configured to make the NUC power on and off when turning on and off the TV.

What happens:

- Turn on TV using its remote (remote checkbox on NUC is disabled).

- TV turns on and show its UI.

- Couple of seconds later the NUC's power button starts breathing.

- TV shows NUC's boot logo.

- NUC's power button turns black.

- TV starts looking for video signal and fails.

- Seconds later the NUC's power button starts breathing again.

- TV show NUC's boot logo.

- NUC loads Windows and presents login prompt.

By the looks of it, the NUC tries and then fails to boot the first time. When doing this same procedure with the TV already on, using the power button of the NUC exactly the same things happens. So, although I've researched it, it does not seem to be HDMI-CEC related, but nook related.

Does this issue ring a bell to any of you?

Kind Regards,

Hans Vledder

Josaire Technology Services

[LeonWaksman]

Hello Hans,

In your post you didn't mentioned what Operation System (O.S.) is installed on your NUC? The Intel NUC logo is generated by the BIOS and this is working.  Looks that the problem is in the O.S. installation.

Leon

[HansVledder]

Hi Leon,

Thanks for your reply. The OS on the NUC is Windows 10, fresh install, activated and all updates up to now installed. But please note that the NUC does not get to booting Windows before being turned off. In other words, no spinner when loading Windows on the first time. The second time it starts it gets beyond this point and actually loads Windows, spinner included.

--Hans

[LeonWaksman]

Hi Hans,

I'll give you some suggestions what you can try:

1. "... NUC is Windows 10, fresh install, activated and all updates up to now installed..."  Are Intel drivers installed as well? If not yet, you may download all drivers from the Download Page.  The first driver to be downloaded and installed manually is the  Intel® Chipset Device Software . Then the Intel® Management Engine Driver. Once  installed, reboot your NUC and install all other drivers (now the sequence of the installation is not important and/or you can use the Intel Driver & Support Assistant).

2. Reset BIOS to default settings (while in BIOS click on F9, followed by "Y" and then F10). Check boot now.

3. Try to boot from the Boot Menu. To enter the Boot Menu, click on F10 when you see the Intel NUC logo. While in Boot Menu, select your Windows Boot Manager and click Enter.  Is your NUC booting each time correctly?

4. While in Windows, click on Power Menu and then select Restart. Is your NUC restarting each time?

5. In order to get better information about your system, please download the Intel System Support Utility (SSU). Run the SSU scan (check "Everything") and save the results. The .txt file with the results please attach to your post.

Leon

Edit:

You can download and install the Samsung Magician Software and diagnose your SSD:

Magician Software

Magician Software Installation Guide.

Install also the Samsung Driver for your SSD.

[HansVledder]

Hi Leon,

Thanks again! Since I will be on-site with a customer of mine, I'll get back to you next Friday.

-- Hans

[HansVledder]

Hi Leon,

I found some time to follow your advise. With respect to:

1. Followed your instructions literally. When the NUC arrived and got its operation system, I ended up with no network. So I installed the NIC driver to be able to update and activate Windows. After that I used the Intel Driver and Support Assistant to get the system up to date. Result of this step -> no change.

2. Followed instructions literally, result -> no change.

3. Followed instructions literally, booted correctly every single time.

4. Followed instructions literally, booted correctly every single time.

5. Followed instructions literally, please see attachment.

After this I installed Samsung Magician, which indicated that the SSD's firmware was out of date. Installing the Express Driver didn't work. Probably because the SDD is not a Express device. It's regarded a consumer SSD. All in all no change to the issue I had, but then:

I decided to hook the NUC up to a regular computer monitor. After this the breathing of the power button LED was gone and turned to solid. Secondly, all of a sudden the disk activity light started working. I've never seen it work before. Since the monitor does not support HDMI-CEC, I was not able to turn the NUC on and off using the monitor.

Given the outcome of this experiment, I decided to rearrange the devices on the HDMI inputs of the TV. It now has the NUC on HDMI-1, a Microsoft Wireless Adapter on HDMI-2 and a Samsung sound bar on HDMI-3 (eArc). HDMI-4 (which btw shows a game console symbol on the TV) that I used to hookup the NUC to previously is now left unused.

From that point on the NUC behaves as expected, no long shows a breathing power button (solid now) when in use and does show disc activity. Turning on/off the NUC, either by turning on/off the TV using the remote or by using the power button of the NUC, works as a charm every single time. Issue fixed. But don't ask me what caused the issue. As far as I can tell it looks 'modern standby' related, given the breathing power button, but I am not sure.

-- Hans

[LeonWaksman]

I'm glad that the NUC is working now as expected.

Did you updated the SSD firmware?

"...Installing the Express Driver didn't work. Probably because the SDD is not a Express device. ..." You are right, I was wrong, sorry.

Leon

[HansVledder]

Yes, I like my firmware up to date. However, it did not solve the issue I had.

-- Hans

[Steven_Intel]

Hello HansVledder,

We are glad to know the issue is now fixed. Since the thread is now solved, we will close it. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.  

Best regards,

Steven G.

Intel Customer Support Technician.