NUC9VXQNX boots to black screen after grub

[snav-jmob]

We have a NUC9VXQNX box which has Xubuntu 20.04 and the latest BIOS (the latest available currently, version 63) -- the system boots fine if we use a USB-C -> HDMI display dongle, but if we connect directly to an HDMI port on the system, the behavior is as follow:

- BIOS start-up screen is displayed

- Grub boot screen is display

- Linux attempts to boot but screen goes black and stays black and the system appears not to boot

Interestingly, we thought we'd found a workaround by forcing a network boot (from a disconnected port) prior to booting the internal drive this would:

- Show BIOS start-up screen

- Show network boot "discovering media" screen, display resolution would seem to go into a lower resolution mode

- Show grub boot screen, also in a lower resolution

- Successfully boot into Linux

Unfortunately the workaround doesn't not seem to work consistently.  Any ideas what's wrong or what we can try to be able to use the HDMI port directly?  Everything that we need works great once the system boots, but it would be nice to not have to use this extra HDMI dongle in our deployment of the system.  Thanks!

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello @snav-jmob

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

It is worth mentioning that for the Intel® NUC 9 Pro Kit - NUC9VXQNX, Linux Operating systems have not been validated yet and only Windows® is officially supported as you can confirm in the following links:

• Product Specifications
• Supported Operating Systems for Intel® NUC Products

Nevertheless, we would like to know if you could provide us with the following details so we can check this further:

1- Are you using the onboard HDMI® video port or are you using a PCIe discrete video card? Please provide details.

If you are using the onboard HMDI video port, let's try first to test by selecting it as the Primary port:

1. Press F2 during boot to enter BIOS Setup.
2. Go to Advanced > Video > IGD Primary Video Port.
3. Set it to HDMI. 
4. Press F10 to save and exit BIOS.

2- Have you tested with different HDMI® cables and with different HDMI® displays?

3- HDMI® display(s) brand and exact model:

4- Have you made sure if the system is running the latest Linux Kernel?

5- Did you review if the Linux distribution provides/includes the proper support/graphics drivers? For this, we recommend checking with the operating system (OS) vendor or Linux forums.

6- Just for testing purposes and to discard operating system issues, have you run/tested any other operating system on this device? Please provide details.

7- We understand that you are able to boot to the OS using a workaround. Could you please provide the following logs?

• /var/log/dmesg
• /var/log/kern.log
• An Intel® System Support Utility report for the Linux* Operating System.

Note: If using a PCIe discrete video card, please provide the brand and full model:

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[snav-jmob]

Hi @AndrewG_Intel , thanks for the response.  Responding to your questions:

1. We're currently not able to get the system to go in to BIOS using F2 (I'm unable to verify myself, I don't currently have direct access to the machine)
2. Yes, we've tested with multiple displays and HDMI cables
3. Unclear, I've used a Samsung display, my co-worker has used several different HDMI monitors
4. It's the latest version of the Linux kernel that Ubuntu 20.04 offers
5. This is a "pre-boot" failure scenario, display drivers usually come in to play once the graphical desktop is loaded, so I'm unsure how to validate this
6. No, we haven't tried an alternate operating system
7. Files have been attached

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello snav-jmob

Thank you for your response and for the logs. Please allow us to check this further and we will be posting back in the thread as soon as more details are available or in case additional information from your side is required.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello @snav-jmob

We are still working on this; however, we would like you to provide us with a picture of the BIOS main screen where the BIOS version and basic information are displayed. This is important to continue with the work and also to determine if there is a discrepancy with the Intel® SSU report. This is since we understood you mentioned the device was running the latest BIOS version "0063"; however, the report shows that the current BIOS is "0034" and we would like to verify this information with the picture.

Thank you in advance for your efforts,

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello snav-jmob

We are checking this thread and we would like to know if you need further assistance and if you were able to review our previous post? Is it possible for you to provide us with a picture of the BIOS main screen where the BIOS version and basic information are displayed?

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[snav-jmob]

Hi Andrew, sorry I wasn't able to check this thread for a while, I relayed your request to a coworker and he was unable to get the BIOS setup screen to load in order to collect the information.  I'm not sure if this is a temporary issue or another problem, I'll have direct access to the machine on Friday (2021-08-13) and will attempt to collect the information then.

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello snav-jmob

Thank you for your response and for the update. Sure, no problem; please take your time and we will be following up next week in case we won't hear back from you.

For any other inquiries, please don't hesitate to contact us back.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[snav-jmob]

Hello, I've been able to access the machine and I tried the BIOS update again, it looks like this time it took.  I was able to enter the BIOS and see the old version (34), then do an update to version 63 and confirmed that.

[snav-jmob]

We've also replaced the memory modules on the system (just in case this was causing an issue), we will monitor the system now and see if the problem reoccurs.

[snav-jmob]

Unfortunately we're seeing this issue again, the machine is still intermittently booting to a black screen-- power cycling the machine causes the issue to go away (temporarily).

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello snav-jmob

Thank you for your response and for the pictures of the BIOS.

Please allow us to review this further and we will be posting back in the thread as soon as more details are available or in case additional information from your environment is required.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[snav-jmob]

Hi Andrew --

In case it helps, I also ran a new scan of the system with the ssu tool.  (And FWIW, it also shows that the BIOS is now at version 63.)

Thanks,

-Jason

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello snav-jmob

Thank you for the latest details about the new Intel® SSU report.

We would like to inform you that we tried to replicate this issue by installing Xubuntu 20.04 on an Intel® NUC and we also made sure all updates were installed.

During our tests, HDMI was connected and we performed reboots and shutdowns. After restarts, no issues were found.

At this point, our recommendation is to try a Supported Operating System for the Intel® NUC or reviewing this further with XUBUNTU* Support or its community for additional details. Please refer to Xubuntu.org*.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[snav-jmob]

Thanks for attempting to reproduce the issue.

Since you where unable to reproduce the issue this implies that it might be a device specific issue (and we *are* able to reproduce the issue regardless of monitor and cable being used)... Also, I am inclined to think the issue is NOT specific to Linux since it occurs so early in the boot process (but obviously I could be wrong since I don't know exactly what's happening).

If we are able to reproduce the issue with Windows, would there be further assistance you can provide?  Is there an return/exchange process for faulty hardware through Intel?

In the mean time, I will see if we can reproduce with Windows, and/or I will contract our supplier to see if a return/exchange of the hardware is still possible.

Thanks again,

-Jason

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello snav-jmob

Thank you for your response.

If you are willing to try with Windows* operating system (OS) and the issue persists, it would be a pleasure to provide further support. If you think that there is a specific issue with the device that is independent of the monitors, cables, OS (e.g.: Issue also occurs on Windows) and you would like to review warranty availability, our recommendation is to contact Intel® Customer Support directly through phone or chat so our team can assist further (there is also the option for Web Ticketing).

In that scenario, for your convenience here is the "Contact us link" (click on "Intel® NUC"). Please make sure to select your country or region, to contact us within the local business Support hours, and to make reference to this thread.

Feel free to share any additional feedback in case you test with Windows® 10 or if you contact your supplier. Should you have additional inquiries, please don't hesitate to contact us back.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello snav-jmob

We are checking this thread and we would like to know if you need further assistance. Were you able to test the unit using Windows® 10? Or were you able to contact your supplier?

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[snav-jmob]

Hi Andrew-- I have contacted our supplier (Amazon), we're outside of our return window so we went ahead with a warranty claim and we're proceeding with Intel Support on that.  Thanks, -Jason

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello snav-jmob

Thank you for your response and for letting us know this information. We are glad to know that our team is assisting you with a warranty request.

Having said that, we will proceed to close this thread now. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored. It has been a pleasure to assist you.

Sincerely,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician