NUC6CAYH screen turns black for a second (VGA)

[SMeie]

Just bought a NUC6CAYH and installed Windows 10 Pro x64 a couple of days ago. A few minutes after Windows Update had installed the Intel graphics driver, the display connected through the NUC's VGA port started to turn black for a second or two every couple of minutes. During the Windows installation and before the box was connected to the Internet (and Windows was able to do updates), the problem did not exist.

To get rid of this annoying behavior, I started to look for updates and flashed the BIOS up to version 41 (from 38) and installed graphics driver 4849, which was just released a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, that did not solve the problem. I started searching this forum and found that many others are having the same problem. As outlined in other threads, this clearly is a Intel Windows driver problem. As others have tried, I installed Linux (Ubuntu 16.04.3) and I am not experiencing this annoying effect under Linux. So please fix this problem in your Windows driver - I specifically picked this box because of its VGA connector in support of my old monitor. It is shocking to me that a company like Intel is not capable to solve a driver problem that has been reported by so many so often for months.

[idata]

Hello arimatan,

Thank you for joining the Intel® NUC Community. I am sorry to hear you are having issues with the VGA connection on your Intel® NUC.

For testing for purposes, could you please test the following version https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26836/Intel-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-15-45-?product=883... Download Intel® Graphics Driver for Windows* [15.45]? Use this method for the installation: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005629/graphics-drivers.html Manually Install an Intel® Graphics Driver in Windows® 10 and Windows...

Regards,

Amy C.

[SMeie]

Hi Amy,

thanks for your advice. I installed the old driver version manually yesterday. Unfortunately, the problem persists. Only change seems to be that it occurs a little less frequent (which I didn't measure with the stopwatch, though). It's still annoying.

Regards,

arimatan

[idata]

Thanks arimatan.

Please provide your https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows- Download Intel® System Support Utility for Windows* report.

To attach a file, you must click "Use Advanced Editor" in the top right corner of the response box, then the "attach" option will appear in the bottom right corner of the response box.

Regards,

Amy C.

[SMeie]

Please find the requested file attached. Seems that Windows Update installed driver 4749 and replaced 4678 which I had installed manually upon your request. So far all three Windows driver versions I tried (4678, 4749, 4849) were affected. Linux, which is still installed in parallel, does not have the problem. Since the graphics performance on Linux "feels" worse, the Linux driver probably doesn't really use the hardware (just a hunch).

[idata]

/thread/119792 arimatan, thank you for the file.

Could you please send us a picture of RAM sticks you are using? Capture the RAM sticker, please.

Regards,

Amy C.

[idata]

/thread/119792 arimatan,

If you need further assistance let us know.

Regards,

Amy C.

[SMeie]

Hi Amy,

thanks for keeping in touch and sorry for the late reply. I have been and still am busy away from home and will have no phyisical access to my box for another 2-3 weeks. However, I made two screenshots with CPU-Z with detailed memory information from remote. Hope that helps. If not, please let me know what specific information of the label you are interested in so that I can make sure to take the photo right once I have the chance to do so.

Regards,

arimatan

[n_scott_pearson]

One of the other folks having this issue noticed that Windows had selected a wonky refresh rate for the monitor. After correcting this, the black screens stopped appearing. While you have a "bad" monitor connected, check what refresh rate is assigned. If it is incorrect, fix it and see what then happens. Let us know if this addresses the problem for you.

...S

[CHope2]

This seems to be a common problem with the NUC6CAYH. I have exactly the same problem with mine. In fact intel NUCs have been experiencing black screen problems since 2013. You will find many other people with the same problem on intel communities. No easy solutions as yet.

[SMeie]

Hi Scott, thanks for your advice. Unfortunately this is not the cause for the problem at least in my case. The refresh rate is set correctly set to 60 Hertz.

[n_scott_pearson]

Only other advice I can offer is make sure you are running...

1. On the latest (v42) BIOS (here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27348/NUCs-BIOS-Update-AYAPLCEL-86A-?product=95062 Download BIOS Update [AYAPLCEL.86A]).
2. On the latest (v15.60.0.4849) graphics driver package (here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26431/NUCs-Intel-HD-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-10-for-Int... Download Intel® HD Graphics Driver for Windows® 10 for Intel® NUC Kit NUC6CAYS and NUC6CAYH).

There have been some reports that upgrading to this 4849 driver fixed (or at least improved) this issue for some folks...

...S

[CHope2]

Yes BIOS 42 reduced the black screen rate from a few minutes to about every hour for me. An alternative solution is to buy a monitor with a HDMI input. The HDMI interface not exhibit the same problem.

[SMeie]

To Scott's point: I tried driver version 4849 (among others) as mentioned before, but it did no good.

I decided to not upgrade to BIOS 42 because some people in this forum reported it to extremely slowing down USB 3 performance. Instead, I decided to buy a new monitor with HDMI port and this has worked fine so far (no problems during day 1 at least). Which is kind of funny because a) I specifically chose this box because of its VGA port would prevent me from replacing a monitor that did not need replacement and b) Intel has proven to be unable to solve a problem that has been reported so frequently for many months.

However, I do not want to waste anyone's time anymore (including myself) and close this thread.

Thanks for your answers, and Happy Holidays to all of you.

[Chris_V_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

We have found a solution to the graphics flashing issue and the BIOS can be downloaded from here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27407/BIOS-Update-AYAPLCEL-86A- Download BIOS Update [AYAPLCEL.86A]

[SMeie]

I installed the new BIOS yesterday and it seems to work, thank you.

I know that this update slows down the USB 3 port, but right now this is the lesser evil as the connection via HDMI was affected by the flickering issue described in other threads. Still need to verify if the BIOS update helps here as well. I can't wait to get the next BIOS with USB 3 speed.