NUC8i7HNK Not powering on. Makes chirping sound and blinks two white LEDs

[MBacz]

My NUCi78HNK stopped powering on all of a sudden. Instead, as soon as the power cable is inserted, the leftmost and middle status LEDs start blinking at approx. 4 blinks per second, and a faint chirping sound can be heard. When the power button is pressed, both the blinking and the chirping stop, but the machine does not boot, all LEDs go dark and the fans do not spin up. Further pushing on the power button yields no result.

The chirping is perfectly synched with the blinking, with both repeating every 0.225 seconds. I believe the sound comes from what looks like an inductor, next to the USB ports in the rear.

Things I tried so far:

• Disconnected all cables / peripherals
• Left the NUC disconnected from power for 24 hours
• Removed the 'BIOS jumper' and provided a USB stick with the BIOS image
• Removed SSD
• Removed RAM
• Disconnected both fans
• Left the NUC "chirping" for 20 minutes

Neither of these attempts change the behaviour in any way.

Attached: a recording of the chirping (zipped .wav file, 32-bit float mono), and a photograph highlighting the inductor(?) that I believe to be the source of the sound.

Any help and suggestions would be most welcome!

[Alberto_R_Intel]

MBacz, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support. At this point pretty much you tried everything that we recommend for this type scenario, based on the sound it seems to be that the Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i7HNK is defective. Please get in contact with your local Intel® support group in order to get the warranty options for your region: Chat support: http://intelsupportchat.force.com/icslivechat/ics_tech_processor_ww_english_Chat, For phone support, depending on your location, you will see the contact information on the links below: EMEA contact information: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support/emea-contact.html APAC contact information: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support/apac-contact.html LAR contact information: https://www.intel.la/content/www/xl/es/support/contact-support/lar-contact.html North America: Phone Number 1-916-377-7000, Monday – Friday 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Pacific Time). Regards, Alberto R. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation