NUC8i7HVK Bios RTC time/ date issues

[TDean]

My hades-canyon has the latest 0059 bios. I t was installed the day it was avilable. In the past few weeks/months I've noticed that anytime I go into the bios my time is way off. I continuously have to enter the current time and now the date has started to also be off.

It's gotten to the point that every time I boot my PC, I have to go into the bios first to verify that the date is correct.

Which to say the least is anniying.

I then have to go into win 10 and change the time there too.

Is there anyway to factory reset the bios to its base level and then re-flash the bios back to 0059?

what would be the procedures for this.

Also I read that the RTC battery is good for 3 years. I've had my NUC now for at least 18 to 24 months.

Is it possible the rtc battery is going bad early?

Is this eligible for an RMA to have intel replace the RTC battery or is that the end user responsibility?

Or is this some kind of bios corruption?

I don't get any RTC error messages on boot.

Any help or assistance will be greatly appreciated. TIA

[LeonWaksman]

1. All the time your NUC is connected to Power Adapter, the CMOS battery is not important to keeping the RTC. If you don't get an error "CMOS battery low", probably your battery is good condition too.
2. The time in Bios is also set from Windows. Open Windows Setting Time & Language > Date and Time. Uncheck the Set time automatically and Set time zone automatically . Important - choose correct for your location Time zone . Click on Change - Set the time and date manually . Check the Set time automatically and Set time zone automatically . You may click on Sync now . Now the same time you should see in Bios too.
3. However, if you suspect that your Bios is corrupted, you may update it using Bios recovery from Power Button Menu method:
4. Prepare USB stick fully formatted to FAT32 (disable quick format option during format). Format your USB on Windows machine (rather than Linux or MAC). Save the Bios file HN0059.bio on this stick and insert it into front USB slot with amber color (NUC shall be OFF). You may use also one of the rear USB ports (do not use front blue USB port, since sometime the USB stick is not recognized during boot process).
5. Press and hold Power Button for about 3 seconds. Count 1001, 1002, 1003,1004. Release the Power Button. NUC should reboot into Power Button Menu. You should release the Power Button before 4-sec shut down override or when the Power Button LED changes color from blue to amber.
6. Press F4 and the recovery shall start (it can take up to 30 seconds for messages to appear on the screen).
7. When the recovery finishes, press on Power Button and hold it, until NUC switches OFF. Pull out the power cord. Remove the USB stick.
8. Replace the power cord and press Power Button to switch the computer to ON.
9. Enter Bios setting by pressing F2 during boot process.
10. Press F9(followed by "Y"), to set Bios to default settings. Press F10 (followed by "Y"), to save the settings and exit to O.S. Let the NUC fully reboot.
11. If before update, you have customized bios settings, you can enter again to Bios setting to change the necessary settings. 

Leon

[TDean]

I followed your instructions to the T and trying the F4 bios recovery simply does not function correctly. I have also tried the F7 bios install , both inside the bios and outside of the bios and they don't even work correctly. Also tried the .msi from within windows and it tells me it can't update itself with the same bios or something similar.

For literally months and months now I would periodically get the following:

Bios has detected unsuccessful POST attempt(s). Possible cause include recent changes to BIOS, Performance Options or Recent Hardware change. Press "Y" to enter Setup or "N" to cancel attempt to boot with previous settings.

In the past year I've seen this message at least a dozen times

I notice in the bios that there is a event log that logs events to NVRAM....

would it be possible to instruct me how I might be able to see the event log entries via the uefi shell. Perhaps this will provide additional info as to what is going on.

TIA

TIA

[LeonWaksman]

1. "For literally months and months now I would periodically get the following:" this is not result of update try? This you see for months?
2. You din't describe what you mean? what did you saw when "F4 bios recovery simply does not function correctly."
3. The reason of this failure in update and POST may be failed or not correctly inserted SO DIMM.Try to remove one of the SO DIMM and perform the recovery only with one. If still is not working, remove the first SO DIMM and insert the second in the other slot.

Leon

[TDean]

leon:

1. Yes this message has been appearing sporadically for at least 6 to 9 months.... maybe even longer. I usually just press Y and it opens up into the bios where I f10 and then it will boot past POST.
2. After doing the F4 I was assumimg I would get the normal messages where it shows that various blocks of the bios were being updated. Nothing like this happens . When I try to do the F7 bios update same thing. I usually would see that the bios was updating but it just ends....
3. The 2x memory hasn't been touched, other than inserting it 18 months ago when I bought this. I will check it to ensure that its seated correctly.

[TDean]

leon:

just turned it off.

made it to step 6.

No messages ever appear. Instead it seems to power off. reboot, I see that the light on the usb stick is flashing meaning to me its being read, the blinking stops , and PC reboots itself again for a 2nd time, the usb starts flashing again like its being read, wait for 5 minutes and the blue power button is on....the green power led is on and the skull on the top is on...... I have to press and hold the blue power button to power it off......and then press it again to start the POST process for it to boot up.

[TDean]

update: under evenet logging it says: Flash Update Failed(18)......I assume this means I tried to flash update it 18 times and it failed all times

[LeonWaksman]

Hi @TDean​ 

1. I'm sorry for the delay in my answer. I was out of my desk.
2. If the recovery goes as suppose to go, you should see the normal messages showing different block boeing flashed. In your NUC this process is not happening. It could be because there is problem with one of the SO DIMM ( you have errors during post ), or there is a problem to read the USB stick.
3. Try to using other USB stick. Ensure that it is fully formatted in Windows. Insert it in one of the rear ports.
4. Before starting the Bios recovery set Bios to default settings (as per description in para. 9 and 10 in my post above).
5. Did you set correct Time Zone and other Date/Time parameters in Windows Settings (see para.2 in my post above).

Leon

[TDean]

Leon, sorry it's taken so long for me to reply. I've been testing my NUC out and here's where I am at:

1. Push the power button to power on
2. Intel Nuc Black Screen appears for a few seconds
3. NUC powers itself off where the lights go out completely
4. NUC powers itself back on to Intel NUC Black Screen

In the upper left hand corner I get : "Bios has detected unsuccessful POST attempt(s). Possible cause include recent changes to BIOS, Performance Options or Recent Hardware change. Press "Y" to enter Setup or "N" to cancel attempt to boot with previous settings.

1. so I press "Y"
2. The Bios opens up
3. I press F9 to reload defaults...
4. I set the time to the current time
5. I press F10
6. the NUC at this point goes back to #4 above UNLESS I do the following:
7. During the boot after pressing F10 and the bios closes, it starts to boot back up so I do the following:
8. Press and Hold the Power button IN until it shuts off
9. Physically remove the power plug from the NUC for about 5 to 10 seconds then plug it back in
10. This results in the disk activity light and the ethernet light Flashes WHITE for a split second, then blank
11. I then press the power button and it boots right up...
12. Reset the time in Windows

This is the only sequence that will result in it booting up.

If I don't do 7 thru 12, it just continuously goes thru steps 1 and 4 like a Post boot loop or something.

While up in win 10 1909 latest version everything in it works fine with no issues and I keep it on from say *am to 11Pm at night and then do a shutdown/poweroff .

I performed the steps you asked me to and there is no flash even with every usb device disconnected with only the usb fob for wireless mouse/keyboard and displayport monitor. I created a new USB flash drive, copied a new downloaded copy of HN 0059 to it . and the screen just goes blank

where you never seen any of the normal flashing text, then it restarts itself into the post boot loop....

When it is turning itself off and on I can hear a loud Click, almost like a switch being turned off and on....

IS it time to RMA this?

TIA for your help and assistance on this.

Terry D.

[LeonWaksman]

Hi Terry,

1.  You didn't write if you have checked to work with only one SO DIMM at time. This should be done in order to verify if the problem is not caused by failure in SO DIMM. Test each SO DIMM first in bottom slot and then in the upper slot. If still your NUC can't past the POST, go to para 2 for SSD test.

2. Power ON your NUC with SSD removed. If still you see the message "Bios has detected unsuccessful POST attempt(s). ..." - the problem is in NUC hardware and it is time to ask for RMA, However, if you see only "A bootable device has not been detected", the problem is in your SSD.

3. This is the page to check your warranty coverage and to issue RMA.

Leon

[TDean]

hi Leon.

I performed step 1 by using 1 sodimm in first dimm a then dimm b.....then switched them back and forth between the two dimm slots and the put the 2 back in together:

result: system posts and boots normally..... No more post boot sequence as described in last reply.

step 2: I received the A Bootable device has not been detected...

system seems to be post booting fine now.

The only difference from before and now after is I disconnect my external usb dvd/cdrom

My uefi bios system time still needs to be set everytime I boot. And in windows. I have set time auto and set time zone auto both off.

so there's some progress.

TIA

[LeonWaksman]

Terry,

1. So, now you see that your NUC is working as expected and the problem was in SO DIMM which was not correctly inserted (sse para.3 in my second post, 12 days ago).
2. Now set time in Windows, following exactly my instruction in para. 2 from my first post (important is setting manually the correct Time Zone).

Leon