Removing the system board - what is the trick?

[KenTaylor]

I have a small, entry level Pentium processor NUC. Recently I updated the BIOS which fixed a couple of issues and of course caused another issue. That may be the subject for another post. At the moment I am wanting to try my universal fix all technique - disconnect everything from the system and pop the CMOS coin battery. 

Intel's documentation shows that the battery is on the processor (top) side of the system board. I have opened the case, removed the only two screws I can find which secure the board. While the board will move around a bit it certainly will not lift out.  I trust someone in the community knows the trick.

TIA,

Ken

[AlHill]

Why do you not provide the NUC model number?

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)

[KenTaylor]

Thanks Doc,

Because there are a whole bunch of NUCs the same size nominal 2" tall case. I would not expect the system boards to be installed differently.  If it helps here is the # BOXNUC7PJYH1.

Ken

[LeonWaksman · Accepted solution]

Hi @KenTaylor 

Although this tutorial shows how to remove board in NUC8i7BEH, however, the idea is the same.

Hope this will help you.

Leon

[KenTaylor]

Thanks Leon, an excellent reference. I guess I need to disconnect a couple more things and PRY. That said...

My upgrade to the ....0057 version of the BIOS fixed my surging power fan and unstable video. However, I found that I could no longer boot the NUC from my Clonezilla USB drive. This is a key component in my workflow. I install a version of Linux, update, configure, then take a snapshot of the OS to an external drive using Clonezilla. When I am done with that project  I may try a different Linux distro for some other experiment etc. I have a collection of ready to go Linux images which I can restore to the internal SSD on the NUC in just a few minutes. Provided of course I can boot the Clonezilla live image.

Clonezilla is based on an Ubuntu or Debian Linux operating system. I have tried both. Neither would boot the NUC. The NUC would boot from a base Ubuntu image on a USB drive.  Very strange.  I then updated the BIOS to ....0058 whchh came out just a few weeks after ...0057. Now the NUC will not boot at all. I have warranty support ticket open with Intel.  I suspect it may have to go back and THEY can pry the pieces apart if needed

Again thanks for the tutorial link. I will keep it handy once I get the NUC running again.

Ken