NUC8i5BEH3 will not boot

[JamesM]

Hello

I have a brand new NUC8i5BEH. 

16 GB of RAM (2x8GB), 500GB NVM drive, and 2TB HDD, Windows 10 Pro. 

It was working fine, then a Windows Update happened, and since then - nothing at all. It will not boot. I see absolutely nothing on the screen at all.

I have tried many things I've read on here (power button boot menu, security jumper etc) but nothing has worked.

I have a couple of specific questions
- If I boot up my NUC without any RAM at all, should I at least a message of some kind telling me to install some RAM?
- Is this a common indication of unit failure with NUCs, and should I stop messing around trying to fix the BIOS and just send the things back?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

James

(For reference, here's what I've tried in more detail)

1 - Following the update, the power light came on, HD light came on briefly, and then it restarted. And restarted. And then restarted. There is no output on the monitor. 

2 - I removed all the drives, and tried it again. This time the power light stayed on for around 20 seconds, and then it restarted. Again, no output on the monitor. 

3 - due to a shipping error I actually have two units. I moved all the components over to the second unit, booted up, and this time, success! Welcome to Bitlocker drive recovery. Managed to get through this, the unit rebooted, and since then, nothing at all. This second NUC is exhibiting all of the same symptoms of the first. 

4 - I have tried using the power button to access the boot menu. Nothing on the screen. 

5 - I have tried booting up without the security jumper in place. According to the intel docs I should at least see a message telling me that no bios update could be found. Nothing on the screen.

6 - I have connected earphones to the headphone jack to listen for beeps during boot. No beeps. 

7 - I have tried it without any RAM at all. The power light blinks three times and then it reboots. Nothing on the screen.

[LeonWaksman]

Hi @JamesM 

1. First. I'll answer to your question - Yes, if you powering ON you NUC without RAM you should see the following blinking code from Power LED (Memory error): 3 blinks (3 beeps if speaker connected), On-off (1.0 second each) three times, then 2.5-second pause (off). The pattern repeats until the computer is powered off.  

2. If you see the above error, means that your NUC is alive and try the following:

3.  You may return to the last working configuration from Advanced Option Menu. This menu you can reach after booting from Window Installation Media USB. If you don't have one, use Microsoft Media Creation Tool, to create such USB.

4. Boot from your Windows 10 installation USB. 

5. Select your language preferences and click/tap on Next. 

6. Click/tap on Repair your computer at the bottom. 

7. Click/tap on Troubleshoot. 

8. Click/tap on Advanced options. 

9. Click/tap on System Restore (use a restore point recorder on your PC to restore Windows). 

10. If prompted, click/tap on an administrator and follow the instruction on screen. Select the restore point form the list. 

11. After few Nexts, click Finish confirmed by Yes - the restore will start. 

12. Your PC will now restart and perform a System Restore.

13. When the System Restore has completed successfully, click/tap on Restart.

14. Instead from booting using Installation USB, you may try to reach the Advanced Menu, using Windows Recovery Partition:

15. Press Power Button to switch NUC ON 

16 Repeatedly depress F8, you will see words: Please wait. Stop depressing F8, NUC will enter Advanced Option Menu.

16. Continue according to paragraphs 9 trough 13 above.

Hope this will help. 

Leon

[JamesM]

Hi @LeonWaksman 

Thanks for your reply. 

I did just try using the same windows USB stick that I used to install Windows 10 - but no luck. 

My problem is that I cannot get to the Advanced Option menu. I cannot get to any menu at all.

I have tried booting without a HDD or USB stick - surely in that case I should at least see the Intel NUC logo, with a message telling me that no bootable media was found? This is what I initially saw when I powered on the NUC with only RAM installed. 

Thanks

James

[LeonWaksman]

Hi James

 Do you see those three LED blinks when powering ON with RAM removed?

Leon

[JamesM]

Hi Leon

Yes, I see the three LED blinks with the RAM removed.

With the RAM back in place (and no disks) the LED stays lit for 30 seconds, then goes off for 5 seconds, and then repeats. There is absolutely no output on the screen via HDMI. 

James

[LeonWaksman]

Hi James,

That means that the NUC is not bricked. I would try to disconnect the power cable and the CMOS battery connector for some time (15 minutes at least). However, since the battery and the battery connector are located on the board upper side (the invisible side), the board need to be removed from the NUC case. You need to have some technical skills to do this. You have to disconnect also the antennas from the WiFi adapter. You may see some explanation videos on Youtube, explaining how to do this. I can't see clip showing your NUC, but it is quite similar.

One thing more, if your NUC is connected to TV monitor, please try to connect it to PC monitor and may be you will see the video output.

Leon

[JamesM]

Hi Leon

It's connected to a computer monitor. 

If this thing is not bricked then I would at the very least still expect to see the NUC boot up logo appear! To get absolutely zero video output out of a brand new device hints that something is amiss...

Thanks for trying to help, but since they're so brand new I might as well get them replaced rather than start to take them apart to mess around with the CMOS battery!

James

[LeonWaksman]

Hi James,

1. I understand and may agree with your decision. The question is how you will proceed with the third NUC?

2. BTW, did you tried to boot with only one SO DIMM at time?

Regards

Leon

[JamesM]

Hi Leon

1 - you mean the replacement NUC?

At the moment I can only speculate that the Windows update did something that affected the BIOS in some way, and that pending update did the exact same thing to my second unit when I moved the hard drive over. Or faulty hardware (RAM, HD) has done something to the NUC. 

2 - Yes, I  tried it with a single SO DIMM - no luck with that either. 

James

[LeonWaksman]

Hi James,

Thank you for your answer and please keep us informed how the problem was solved. The best way to replace the defective units is to return it in the place of purchase, but if you can't do this you may open an request for RMA on this page.

Good luck

Leon

[JamesM]

Intel have shipped replacements for both units, hooray! 

Now we'll see how the plucky little units fare, crossing the channel at Christmas time, during a pandemic, across borders slammed shut due to mutant covid strains...