NUC12DCMi9 not detecting external drives when plugged into thunderbolt ports

[california168]

My NUC12DCMi9 is running Windows 11 Pro, with the latest chipset driver and thunderbolt drivers

I have now tried 3 SSD enclosures:

- Cable Matters 2.5" SATA USB C enclosure

- Cable Matters dual 2.5" SATA USB C enclosure

- OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual Mini USB C enclosure

All of them are tested with both a Samsung 840 SSD and an Intel SSD.

When I plug them into any USB A port or the front USB type C port they are detected and work without issue. They are supposedly back compatible with thunderbolt ports

I have been able to plug in a plain old USB drive with a USB A to C adapter into the thunderbolt ports and can use that USB drive without any issues. When I use that same adapter with these 3 enclosures they do not work

Any ideas? Thanks!

[Steven_Intel]

Hello california168,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

I am sorry you are having issues with your Intel® NUC12DCMi9. I will be glad to assist you.

Please provide the following information:

• Were the enclosures able to work before? If yes, was there any hardware change or driver/OS update before the issue started?
• Are the enclosures showing up in Device Manager, or are they not detected at all?

As well, please make sure of the following:

• You have the latest BIOS version (0056) installed (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/721828/bios-update-edadl579.html).
• There are no pending Windows updates.

Look forward to hearing back from you.

Best regards,

Steven G.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[california168]

thanks for the reply

1) The enclosures work on all non-thunderbolt ports on this NUC. I do not have another computer with thunderbolt to test them with. additionally this is a new NUC that I just purchased the past 2 weeks

2) The enclosures do not show up in device manager when connected to the thunderbolt port. They do show up and work normally on all non thunderbolt ports.

3) My BIOS is the latest version 56, I made sure to update and test again before posting

4) All windows updates are installed

I saw some people mention in the past there was a "legacy" option for thunderbolt devices in the BIOS but it does not appear that this current BIOS version has that setting

Thanks!

[n_scott_pearson]

Just a thought: If these are Thunderbolt-compliant enclosures, you may have to authorize their mounting. Have you checked to see if they are appearing in the Thunderbolt Control Center?

...S

[california168]

I'm not sure if they are thunderbolt compliant. They are USB c enclosures that claim to be compatible and are from reputable companies. I took a look at the thunderbolt control center and they don't pop up in any of the tabs

[n_scott_pearson]

Were you testing with external power or only bus power? Were you using the two TBT ports at the same time? The dual enclosures may need external power in order to be used.

...S

[california168]

two of the enclosures have the option of bus power and external power, and in those cases I tried both with the same result. The other thunderbolt port was not in use

[california168]

I should state that I just noticed on the thunderbolt control center the "controller driver version" is N/A for some reason.

when i go to device manager i do not see "thunderbolt" under system devices, but if I choose to view by "drivers by type", I see it as oem39.inf (see attachment)

[n_scott_pearson]

Within Apps and Features, what version of the Thunderbolt Software does it say is installed?

...S

[california168 · Accepted solution]

So I actually looked up some reasons why the "controller driver version" would be showing as "N/A" and people were suggesting to uninstall the drivers then re-install. If you read the fine print on the driver on the NUC12DCMi9 page, it states that Windows 11 comes with TB4 drivers already installed.

I went to device manager to uninstall all 5 INF files included with the driver package, and rebooted, and somehow it works now. I guess it was probably that there were 2 sets of conflicting drivers.

I now see thunderbolt controller in device manager and my thunderbolt device manager shows 2 ports and now shows version 1.41.1193.0, and my drives are working.

[n_scott_pearson]

Glad you sorted it out.

...S

[Steven_Intel]

We are glad to know you found a solution, thank you for taking the time to share this fix. Hopefully, it will help other community members experiencing similar behavior.

Since the thread is now solved, we will proceed to close it. Please keep in mind that this thread will no longer be monitored by Intel. Thank you for your understanding.  

Best regards,

Steven G.

Intel Customer Support Technician.