NUC8I7BEH Intermittently stuck on "Intel NUC" splash screen

[BobW]

my NUC recently got stuck on the bios splash screen and the disk activity light showed no activity.  If I turn it off and then turn it on again it boots okay.  This happened today and about a week ago.  I updated to bios version 85 on 10/27/20 and the driver and support assistant says it is the current bios.  Both occurrences of the problem only occurred after it was turn off over night (normal procedure).  This NUC was bought and put in service in August 2019 and has not had any problems until now.  It has had several bios and driver updates  and is always kept up to date. Windows 10 was updated last night and came up okay after the update.  There was not Windows 10 update near the time of the first occurrence of this problem.

The boot disk is the samsung 970 evo 1Tb SSD and the samsung magician software says the firmware is up to date and the SSD is in good health.

Does anyone have any suggest of what the problem might be?  This is critical PC and I need it to be reliable.

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello BobW, 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.   

In order to better assist you, please provide the following: 

1. Run the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) and attach the report generated:  

• Open the application, check the "Everything" box, and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU will take you to the "Summary View".   
• Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".   
• To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save".   
• Use the option under the reply window to attach the report to the thread (Drag and drop here or browse files to attach).  

2. Can you reproduce this problem or does it happen randomly? 

3. Just for testing purposes, can you try the following? 

• Try using a different drive. 
• Try using a different RAM memory. 
• Try going to the BIOS with minimal configuration, remove any extra component, and leave just 1 stick of RAM. Try swapping between the RAM slots. 
• I know that it sounds crazy, but can you test a different video cable? We have seen cases in which the cable prevents the NUC to boot. 

Regards, 

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[BobW]

My replies are indicated with the arrow (>):

1. Run the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) and attach the report generated:  

• Open the application, check the "Everything" box, and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU will take you to the "Summary View".   
• Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".   
• To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save".   
• Use the option under the reply window to attach the report to the thread (Drag and drop here or browse files to attach). > its attached.

2. Can you reproduce this problem or does it happen randomly?  >only occurs randomly since bios version 85 (current) was updated to. Once this week and once last week.

3. Just for testing purposes, can you try the following? 

• Try using a different drive.  > I would have to buy a new drive
• Try using a different RAM memory.  > I would have buy new memory.  This G.skill ripjaws memory was on your hardware compatibiity list.
• Try going to the BIOS with minimal configuration, remove any extra component, and leave just 1 stick of RAM. Try swapping between the RAM slots. > I would need to have it happen consistently to know if this procedure would correct the problem.  So far If I power off and power back on it boots okay.
• I know that it sounds crazy, but can you test a different video cable? We have seen cases in which the cable prevents the NUC to boot. > I would have to buy a new cable.  This is a cable that converts HDMI to DVI on the monitor and has been working since august of 2019 with no problems.

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello BobW,  

Thank you for your reply. 

We are running in our lab the same NUC model with the latest BIOS and got no problems. Due to the fact that this cannot be reproduced easily, I will recommend you to try the following: 

1. To avoid BIOS corruptions, try a BIOS recovery using the latest BIOS version: 

• BIOS recovery instructions: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005636/intel-nuc.html  
• Downloads: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29959/BIOS-Update-BECFL357-86A-  

2. Also, try updating the Operating System (OS) to the latest version available: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/update-windows-10-3c5ae7fc-9fb6-9af1-1984-b5e0412c556a#:~:text=In%20Windows%2010%2C%20you%20decide,Update%20%26%20Security%20%3E%20Windows%20Update%20.  

In case you are still facing the same problem, then you can contact us directly for further help as it could be a hardware issue, feel free to reference this post once you contact Intel Customer Support: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html  

Regards,  

Sebastian M   

Intel Customer Support Technician   

Links to third-party sites and references to third-party trademarks are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, Intel® is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third-party endorsement of Intel or any of its products is implied.  

[LeonWaksman]

Hi @BobW 

After seeing the SSU report attached to your post, I can see the following:

• Your Windows is installed incorrectly and it is booting in Legacy Mode instead in UEFI Mode.
• You have quite old version of Windows (ver. 1909) instead of ver. 20H2

I suggest you to reinstall your system following my instructions:
1. Please prepare your installation media (you need 8GB – 32GB USB stick), using Microsoft Media Creation Tool. This will install version 20H2. 
2. Your bios should be set to default settings. Enter bios (press F2 during boot) and then press F9 (Y) to set defaults and F10 (Y) to save settings and exit.
3. With the installation media inserted into rear USB slot, power ON your NUC and repeatedly press F10 to get Boot Menu.
4. In this menu, choose UEFI option of you Installation media.
5. Follow this tutorial to continue with installation.
6. In para. 9 you may enter Product Key from the Microsoft Distribution you bought or click on the I don't have a product key and Windows will be reactivated automatically, since it was activated on this computer.
7. Skip on para. 14 and continue in para. 15. Important, do not format drive where you want to install Windows, rather delete all existing partitions from this drive, till you see one unallocated space.
8. Press Next and continue with the installation.

9. After Windows installation is completed, download and install the Intel Chipset Software and the Management Engine Driver.  Reboot your NUC. 

10. Download and install the Intel Driver & Support Assistant. The IDSA will help you install all other Intel Drivers for your NUC. If you prefer, you may download all the drivers form the Intel Download Site and install manually.

Leon

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello BobW,  

Were you able to check the previous posts and follow our recommendations? Please let me know if you need more assistance.   

Regards,  

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[BobW]

Sebastian:

The problem has not reappeared since 12/2/20.  I have been holding the power button down longer on startup (1-3sec). I am skeptical that this was the problem.  Also I tried starting the NUC with the monitor off  and on but no difference.  I have run the PassMark Memx86 test for 3 hours and no errors occurred.

Your suggestion of the recovery bio may have merit if the problem occurs again.  This is the first time that I allowed the Intel driver and support assistance to install the bios and it got the normal success messages.  In the future I will  use my previous procedure of downloading the bios file manually and checking the md5 hash to verify that download occurred correctly before installing.  I wonder if your support assistance makes such a check?

Your suggestion of updating to the latest windows 10 is not appropriate unless you can identify a specific fix in latest version. Later releases of windows 10 are more unstable than 1909 according to the patch lady over at "Ask Woody".  Windows has become more unstable since they reduced the testing that they do.

Leon:

1. "installed incorrectly" --Absolute rubbish, Its a standard UEFI installion

2. I don't know where the SSU is getting legacy boot (incorrectly).  When I go into the bios boot priority screen  UEFI boot is checked and Legacy boot is UNCHECK.

The only legacy check mark is under devices and USB legacy is checked. It needs to be checked to support USB2.

Your suggestion to reinstall the Windows 10 would require that all applications be reinstalled which would take days to weeks of my time which is unacceptable and unnecessary.  I have be running Windows since version 3.1 and never had to reinstall any version.  If it was really necessary I would get rid of the stinking NUC.

If you are suggesting  this to naive users, you are unnecessarily wasting their time.  A better approach is to identify the specific component and replace it instead of suggesting that every thing be replaced.

Finally, you can mark this problem report as closed.

[neko_my_cat]

The whole thing is definitely a NUC problem and not a hardware / OS / peripheral problem.

I have had several NUCs (Skull / Hades / Phantom etc.).
On all three the problem suddenly appeared at some point regardless of OS / BIOS / hardware and also only on a cold boot.
- Bios update, Bios reset, remove periphery, nothing helped
- there were 2 variants hanging at the splash screen or afterwards black screen and eager blinking of the SSD and LAN displays.

Thus my interpretation as a amateur. Something is read in at the first cold start, and then hangs because usually the first splash screen (without the hints on the F keys) appears and nothing more.
If you simply disconnect the power and restart, the problem can be fixed temporarily - so it's unclear why it doesn't work on the first startup because the power isn't present before you turn it on.

Dear Intel support finally solves the problem, the web is full of this error message (for years!) and stop wasting your customers' time! The cases where your standard solutions help probably don't explain the catastrophic serial error in certain expensive models!

[AlHill]

So, @neko_my_cat , you joined just to post to a thread that is three years old?

I have 13 NUCS, and NEVER had the problem you describe.   There is something wrong with your configuration, and you are duplicating it on your other NUCS.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]

[neko_my_cat]

Yes the post is three years old - google a little and you will be amazed how many messages describe the problem even now.
(Didn't know that the age of a post is decisive for general problems - if it helps you I could create a new post )

To your hint, yes it could be due to the configuration
- which speaks against it:
- it occurs only at the first cold boot - as I described if I simply remove the power afterwards (so same situation as when I start the NUC in the morning for the first time it works)
- speaks from my point of view definitely against configuration etc.

But let's leave it since I'm apparently the only one, I'll probably have to live with it

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello BobW,   

Thank you for your update. 

We will proceed to close this inquiry as you mentioned we can consider this closed. If you have any additional questions, please submit a new thread and we will gladly assist you. 

Regards,   

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician   

[n_scott_pearson]

I have a lot more NUCs than Al - including the BE NUC - and I have *never* seen this phenomena either.

Yes, you should always create a new conversation; you should never to it by responding to a 3-year-old conversation. When you create a new Conversation, you are also creating a ticket with Intel Customer Support that can be tracked - and, where necessary, escalated.

Just saying.

...S