Using two 4K 60Hz screens on my Intel NUC7i7BNH

[RvanR1]

I do have a intel NUC7i7BNH and am using it with two LG27UK850W 4K screens that run in 60Hz. One is connected via HDMI to the NUC and the other one I have tried with HMDI via a converter to the TB3 port as well as with a USB-C TB3 cable. Both solution work BUT when the monitors go into power save mode it is Russian roulette of both screens will get back again. Most of the times only one screen comes up and to restore the second screen the only solution is to shutdown the PC or to hibernate it. This is really annoying! I have searched for a solution, but did not find one yet. I did read that even older versions of the NUC have this problem. I do hope there is a solution by now!

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello RvanR1,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

To better assist you please provide us or help us to confirm the following: 

-Have you updated the Thunderbolt™ 3 DCH Driver for Windows® 10 for Intel® NUC? If not please find the driver at the following link.

-Have you updated the Thunderbolt™ 3 Controller Firmware? If not please do so, you will find the driver at the following link and the instructions at the following link.

-Have you updated the HDMI Firmware? In case you have not, please find the driver at the following link and the instructions here.

-Also, let me know if the issue persists setting both screens with the following resolution/refresh rate: 2560x1600 at 60 Hz.

-Finally, if the issue persists after the troubleshooting above, please run the Intel® System Support Utility for Windows* and share the results with me. You will find the tool at the following link.

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[RvanR1]

Hello Esteban, thank you for coming back to me:

As to the first three bullets: are these being verified when I run the Intel Driver & Support Assistance tool? I run this tool regular to make sure all drivers are up to date for my NUC.

As to bullet 4: my screens are native 4K and I don't want to run them on another resolution. If this is a test to lower the performance, then I can answer that it is not performance based. It seems to me that the computer does not see the monitor that is connected to the USB-C port (most of the times) of the HDMI port (sometimes).

As bullet 5: I will do once I have clearance on the bullet's 1 to 4 and when I have followed them based on the answers as mentioned above.

Thanks,

Ronald

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello RvanR1,

Thank you for your response,

The Intel® Driver & Support Assistant (Intel® DSA) does not verify/update either or the mentioned drivers/firmware; so, please follow the instructions to update them. Also, I understand that your displays are natively 4K but for testing, purposes please set both screens with the following resolution/refresh rate: 2560x1600 at 60 Hz and let me know if the issue persists.

By the way please remember that if you want to use 4K on both screens then you will have to use 2 different 4K standards (4096x2304@60 for Thunderbolt/USB-C and 4096x2160@60 for HDMI), you can verify this information at Table 7. Multiple Display Configuration Maximum Resolutions of the NUC TPS (Technical Product Specification).

Finally, could you please provide me with the model or part number of the USB-C adapter been used?

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[RvanR1]

Hi @EstebanCh_Intel​ I will check the drivers and firmware and make sure that I have the latest versions. As to the maximum specs for two 4K screens. 4K is for the HDMI the maximum that I use and for the Thunderbolt/USB-C 4K is below the max so that should not be a problem and in fact it is not indeed. The problem is that really often only one screen is waking up from sleep. Most of the times it is the screen that is connected via HDMI, but it sometimes is also the screen that is connected through USB-C. As to the USB-C connection/adapter I have used a native USB-C to USB-C cable supplied by my monitor and later I bought a CLUB3D USB 3.1 Type C to HDMI 2.0 UHD 4K 60Hz Active Adapter (CAC-2504) that I am using now. This does not make a difference. I will keep you updated on the results after verifying/updating the suggested drivers and firmware and running at a different resolution of 2560 x 1600.

[RvanR1]

I started with the first step (installing Thunderbolt 3 DCH driver for Windows) and got stuck: I did uninstall the existing Thunderbolt software however I don't see the other devices category and as such I also don't see the Base System Driver. Furthermore I am not able to install the  Thunderbolt Control Center software from the Microsoft store and why is this only available from the Microsoft store. I would prefer to download it and then install it, but not from the Microsoft store. Anyway this is the first step and I am not able to complete it. Please advice.

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello RvanR1,

Steps do not necessarily need to be performed on sequence so if you cannot install the Thunderbolt™ 3 DCH Driver for Windows® skip it and continue with the rest of the troubleshooting.

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[RvanR1]

As step 1 did not work for me I went to step two being to update the Thunderbolt 3 Controller Firmware. When I tried to do this using both FwUpdate.exe and FwUpdateTool.exe with one of the two I heard the sound that Windows 10 makes when new hardware is found and after that I did find under device manager a Base System Driver in the Other Devices category. After that I was able to perform Step 1 and that is to update the Thunderbolt 3 DCH Driver for Windows 10. I was also able to install the Thunderbolt Control Center software (available on the Microsoft Store) so step 1 finally was successful completed and I also rebooted my NUC. But step 2 being to run the file FwUpdateTool.exe does result in this error: "Error: 0x208 SDK_SERVICE_NOT_FOUND Thunderbolt(TM) service doesn't exist". Searching on this message shows that step 1 first the DCH driver needs to be updated, but that is something I already have done. So please advise what to do. And maybe one advice: is it possible to look into this procedure and make is so that it is either working flawless or preferably that these driver and firmware updates are being picked up by the Intel Driver & Support Assistance?

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello RvanR1,

Please update the HDMI Firmware you will find the driver at the following link and the instructions here. If the issue persists after that please set both screens with the following resolution/refresh rate: 2560x1600 at 60 Hz.

Also, please run the Intel® System Support Utility for Windows* and share the results with me. You will find the tool at the following link.

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello RvanR1,

I would like to know if you need further assistance? If so, don't hesitate to reply to this post so we can continue with the assistance.

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[RvanR1]

Hello Esteban I have completed my testing and hereby the results:

Step 1 -> DCH drivers updated and no effect;

Step 2 -> controller firmware update is not working and therefore not updated and also no effect obvious;

Step 3 -> HDMI firmware was already on the latest release. I have updated it nevertheless, but no effect;

Step 4 -> running the screens on 2560x1600hz was at the beginning looking better (hence my long testing period), but that turned out not to be the case. Also with this resolution one screen would not wake up and then the strange thing occurred that the other screen was displaying 4K whereas the resolution was set to 2560x1600 at 60Hz

Step 5 -> I have run the Intel System Support Utility. Can you let me know how to share the output with you? Via this forum has not my preference as I don't know what information is included in this output.

Hope we can solve this as it is really annoying that this is occurring a lot of times in a day. I then hibernate my NUC, restart it, enter with F2 into the Bios, saven the bios with F10 and then the PC boots with the two screens working again. If I do not enter into the Bios it occurred that the problem still persists and that is why I go into the bios when I start-up from hibernation again.

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello RvanR1,

The report generated by the Intel® SSU (Intel® System Support Utility for Windows*) contains information about the BIOS, graphics drivers, OS, network, etc. If you do not feel comfortable uploading this information to the thread, I can send you an email to the email address associated with your account; so, you can provide us with the results of the Intel® SSU.

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[RvanR1]

Hello Esteban, Yes please do so that I can answer with the outcome of intel SSU. Thanks, Ronald

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello RvanR1,

Thank you for providing us with the Intel® SSU report.

After looking at the report and checking that everything is up to date also that there are no issues reported, I would like to recommend you to try disabling the hibernation of Windows just for testing purposes, let me know if the issue persists.

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[MLevi]

Hi RvanR1,

To share a file here, you can click onto the paperclip icon and follow the instructions.

[RvanR1]

I enabled Hibernation to solve the issue without having to do a reboot to get my two screens online again so I can confirm this is not the cause of this. How are we going to solve this? I have seen quite some poste that suggests that this is a known issue for a lot of Intel NUC's. Hope this can be resolved with driver or firmware updates.

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello RvanR1,

After the troubleshooting performed and checking the case with the engineering this seems like a hardware issue. I will send you an email with further details.

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi RvanR1,

I work with Esteban and I am just doing a quick follow up on pending issues and I have this one on my list.

I see that case #4367264 was created to resolve this issue by working directly with the local support and most likely have this unit replaced.

If you need further assistance please give us a call, here is the "contact us" information https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html#@6 make sure that you select the right region and when calling in please provide the case number mentioned before.

Regards,

Ronny G

[RvanR1]

Hi Ronny G, Local support informed me to replace the NUC. I had to send in my old and the expectations were that I have to wait for months as there was no replacement NUC available. For me a no go and in fact sending in then old one in a no go for me as this is the PC I work on whole day. For me a very disappointing experience and I will probably not buy another Intel NUC in the future. I already had my NUC replaced twice due to issues caused by Intel. These replacements b the way were correct where I did receive the NUC first and then after switching the SSD could work again. I did then send in the broken NUC and that worked just fine. Although I think that the NUC should be working just fine and that there should never be a reason to send it back. Regards, Ronald

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi Ronald,

I can see that on the internal case notes and I am really sorry for the inconvenience, I wish I could do more to help you with this but I also have to follow the company warranty procedures.

Regards,

Ronny G

[RvanR1]

Hi Ronny, In the meantime I exchanged the SSD of my NUC7i7BNH to another NUC7i7BNH and I still have the same problem. As such it does not seem hardware related to me. Best regards, Ronald