"checking media presence" message during boot after latest driver update

[SJo001]

I have a NUC 7i5BNK with Windows 10. After I did the Intel update of bios and drivers today, now at boot or after hibernate, there is this message on the screen "checking media presence" and then "no media" and then it boots alright. Everything is great, but this strange message is certainly new to me. What is this all about and how to remove this annoyance from the boot process? The NUC works alright.

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello SJo001, 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.   

So we can have more information about your system, please provide the following: 

1. Run the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) and attach the report generated:  

• Open the application, check the "Everything" box, and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU will take you to the "Summary View".   
• Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".   
• To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save".   
• Use the option under the reply window to attach the report to the thread (Drag and drop here or browse files to attach).  

2. Do you have any external storage device connected while booting> E.g. external USB drive, extra HDD, etc.  

3. Disable network boot in the BIOS: 

• Press F2 during boot to enter the BIOS 
• Got to Advanced > Boot > Boot Configuration. 
• Disable Network Boot from Boot Devices. 

Regards, 

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[SJo001]

Hello Seb

For #2 no externals

For #3 I did that yesterday. I looked in the UEFI boot list and did not find the M2. Just two Ethernet lines. Hmmm. So I disabled network boot. Why not seeing the SSD? I do not know.

After that, no media greetings as before. Straight from  NUC display text to my windows boot.

So that removed the media greeting. I also report that I do not see the F2/F7/F10 text lines pooping on screen. F2 works as before but not visible anymore. Maybe this is also a new feature of new bios?

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello SJo001,  

Thank you very much for the information and your feedback, we are always working on providing improvements and fixes through our latest updates.

After the latest changes that you made, is your drive still not being recognized in the BIOS? Can you provide a picture of the Boot Priority pane on the BIOS?  

The F2 prompt can be missing during boot for the following reasons: 

• POST Function Hotkeys are disabled 
• Secure Boot is enabled 

You can try accessing the BIOS with the F2 key guessing, or use the power button menu method: 

1. Make sure the system is off, and not in Hibernate or Sleep mode. 
2. Press the power button and hold it down for three seconds and release it. The power button menu should display. 
3. Tip: If the system boots to the OS after trying this procedure then you didn't hold the button quite long enough. If the system simply shuts down after trying this procedure, then you held the button too long (longer than 4 seconds). 
4. Press F2 to enter BIOS Setup. 

POST Function Hotkeys are disabled: 

1. Go to Advanced > Boot > Boot Configuration. 

2. In the Boot Display Config pane: 

• Enable POST Function Hotkeys Displayed 
• Enable Display F2 to Enter Setup. 

3. Press F10 to save and exit BIOS. 

Secure Boot is enabled: 

1. Go to Advanced > Boot > Secure Boot 
2. Disable Secure Boot. 
3. Press F10 to save and exit BIOS 

Regards, 

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[SJo001]

Hello. Indeed secure boot was checked. When I disabled it, now I can see the hotkeys displayed like before.

As far as boot priorities, I tried screen capture but I could not find a way to actually write the bitmap to SSD. The capture works but the file saving does not or I miss how to do that (never done that before).

So I can tell you it checks UEFI boot and after that writes there is no boot drive. But certainly it does boot quickly into Windows in spite of drive not visible in the recently updated bios.

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello SJo001, 

Thank you for the update.   

Are you using the camera icon in the upper right corner to take a screenshot within the BIOS? (check the attachments) that should go directly to the C: disk, in case that feature does not work, use a cellphone or similar to take a photo. 

Is the driver detected under the SATA Devices? Go to Advanced > Devices > SATA and check if it is shown, please let us know about the outcome. 

In any case the system is indeed recognizing the drive since it is booting from it, you can try 2 things to check If the BIOS recognizes it: 

• Try carefully resetting the drive and make sure the drive is fully inserted into the M.2 slot and the screw is secured to the stand-off. Check the user guide in case you need any help: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/mini-pcs/nuc-kits/NUC8ixBEK_UserGuide.pdf 
• Check with the manufacturer of the drive to see if there is any firmware update available for the drive. 

Regards, 

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[SJo001]

The mechanics of M2 are good. SATA section certainly shows my Samsung NVMe SSD. (We waited 20 years to get direct PCIe connectors for storage so no sense in not using NVMe.)

The boot priority section does not show the drive, sorry. But we are good anyways, so this is just an academic discussion.

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello SJo001,  

Thanks for the reply. 

In this case since the BIOS is having a weird behavior, the best you can do now will be just try to reset the BIOS with a BOIS recovery, which is the latest step I like trying personally, In case you would like to try it follow these steps: 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005636/intel-nuc.html 

Please open the link and try the BIOS Recovery by Power Button Menu steps. Also, you can use the BIOS Recovery by Security Jumper steps but the Power Button Menu should work, and it is easier to accomplish. 

Regards,  

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician   

[SJo001]

I am certainly not going to reset any bios, ever. But I want to correct some data - I took the M2 from a 7i5 and placed inside 8i5. So I am working on NUC8 and not NUC7. I flipped the M2 around. I hope that gives you some epiphanies. The NUC8 works like a charm.

I am happy to be able to capture bios screens. The issue is in using bios file explorer. Once I selected a folder with pictures and created a filename.bmp, I was delighted to find it. Caveat -- the file explorer feature is dangerous and could lead to entire drive destruction. It must be revamped to allow for C:/ addresses and some text help about using it.

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello SJo001,   

Thank you for your reply and also the suggestions regarding the BIOS snapshot. 

Just to confirm, you swapped the drive with another one locate in another NUC, however; that did not work either, is that correct?  

If that is the case, as mentioned before, based on what we have done it clearly shows the BIOS can be defective. To fix it, the only way would be a BIOS recovery. 

Otherwise, you can get your unit replaced if it is still under warranty, contact us directly through our different support methods: 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html 

Regards,  

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[SJo001]

Everything works well. All I did is take an Nuc8 and plug there an M2 from Nuc7. Now I use the Nuc8. Then I did the Intel updates including bios. Everything is fine. I had some bios issues with verbose media checks that we fixed already thanks to you. The bios SATA shows the drive. The boot order does not. We still do not know why but it is no reason to try any type of aggressive ideas whose nature is dubious to begin with. How to get the drive to the boot order? I have no idea. Do I really care? not really. Is this something Intel can fix? I have no idea so far. Maybe switching to legacy boot and then back to UEFI will do it?

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello SJo001 , 

Thanks for the update. 

As per the testing we have made, there is no more workaround rather than thinking the BIOS is faulty. You can try checking Legacy Boot and changing back to UEFI Boot, however; that may not work. 

If you feel this is a minor problem and you can live with it, that is fine. Also, you can keep checking the download center for newer BIOS versions that can help you with this:  

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/98414/Intel-NUC 

Please let me know if you need further assistance, and if not; we can close this thread and leave it available for other peers that can find this useful. 

Regards,  

Sebastian M   

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello SJo001 ,  

Were you able to check the previous post with the information provided? Please let me know if you need more assistance.   

Regards,  

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[Sebastian_M_Intel]

Hello SJo001 ,  

We have not heard back from you, so we will close this inquiry. If you need further assistance or if you have additional questions, please create a new thread and we will gladly assist you.  

Regards,  

Sebastian M  

Intel Customer Support Technician