Get nothing on screen after flashing BIOS on Intel NUC and rebooting to BIOS config

Roon Software Discussion ROCK
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Was getting S.M.A.R.T errors on Intel NUC (NUC8i3BEH) SSD, so bought a new SSD, installed it and then flashed the BIOS to the new SSD. That appeared to work as the screen showed things were “Done” and it kept scrolling. Didn’t see it actually end, but when I went back to the screen, the NUC was shut down. I assumed it finished correctly, so went to the next step which was to reboot and hold down the F2 screen to get to the BIOS config screen. But nothing came up on the screen. The screen said there was an Intel NUC connected to the HDMI port, but said there was no signaI from it. I tried over and over to shut down and reboot. No luck. Tried going back to pressing F7 on reboot thinking I would just start over and reinstall the BIOS but same result. Nothing on the screen.

I read another post that mentioned the BIOS config screen may need a higher resolution screen than the TV screen I was using. So I hooked it up to a high resolution second screen I use for my laptop. Still nothing on that screen. No matter what I do, nothing shows on the screen after flashing the BIOS successfully (I think).

I would be willing to start over if need be. But I can’t get anything to come up on a screen connected to the NUC. Any suggestions of what the problem is or how I can get back into the BIOS and config it or reinstall it? Thanks in advance for any help.

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Were you flashing the BIOS of the computer? If so, why? Changing a hard drive does not require a motherboard BIOS update.

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Per the instructions to installing ROCK, it says to flash the BIOS onto the SSD of the server where you will be installing ROCK:

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Are you sure that you downloaded and installed the correct BIOS version for your NUC8i3BEH? Please provide a link to the version you downloaded.

I’m afraid that if you installed an incorrect version there’s a good chance that you’ve bricked your NUC.

And as @Rugby says, updating the BIOS really wasn’t necessary in any case.

I’m also curious, you refer to the instructions for installing ROCK, yet a ROCK/NUC system does not report S.M.A.R.T errors AFAIK. How were you seeing these?

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No, the instructions do not. BIOS is stored in nonvolatile memory on the motherboard itself, not on the SSD boot drive. BIOS can be accessed even when no boot drive is installed. If you flashed a BIOS update to the SSD boot drive, you flashed the wrong thing to the wrong place. Regardless, a BIOS update was not necessary.

AJ

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I’ve said it before, but Roon really need to remove the BIOS update requirement and instructions. It’s neither trivial or necessary.

You’ll need to update your BIOS to the latest version for your NUC and then make a couple of changes to your NUC’s BIOS in order for ROCK to work properly.

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Those instructions were written awhile ago, when some of the earlier NUCs might have had issues that would be corrected by a BIOS update. I’ve argued for awhile that that step should be removed at this point.

Personally, I only do BIOS updates when absolutely proven necessary, because they run the risk of bricking the device if something goes wrong (like a power outage during the update) or is not done right, like by using an incorrect version for that hardware.

Depending on your hardware that might be a death sentence, aka “bricked”, or, you might have to work to get it recovered.

Some Intel NUCs come with a BIOS Recovery Jumper on the motherboard and I believe yours is one; you can tell by reviewing the motherboard manual for your NUC. You might be able to use that to recover.

Here is a video explaining the process. “Intel® NUC BIOS Recovery- Hardware Method - Product Support - Intel Sales”

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Thanks for the reply. And your mention of “bricked” was what I was hoping not to see, but had it in the back of my mind. To answer your questions:

Are you sure that you downloaded and installed the correct BIOS version for your NUC8i3BEH? Please provide a link to the version you downloaded.

I think I did. Here is a link to where I got it. I then selected the “BIOS and Firmware” tab and then selected “Download” to download the 0097 BIOS update. The actual BIOS file name is BE0097.bio.

I’m afraid that if you installed an incorrect version there’s a good chance that you’ve bricked your NUC.

With all I said above, looking at the BIOS link just now, for the first time I noticed that it comes from the Asus site and not directly from Intel. Could this be a different/incorrect BIOS than the one I would get for the Intel branded NUC with the same model #?

And as @Rugby says, updating the BIOS really wasn’t necessary in any case.

After I posted here last night, I thought about this. I haven’t flashed a BIOS since I originally built this ROCK server back in 2019, so not an expert by any means. But realized that BIOS resides on the NUC itself and not the SDD, so if BIOS was fine before I replaced the SSD, it should still be fine and thus no need to flash an update. As another poster mentioned in this thread, they should just take that part out of the instructions. I think it’s more of a thing like when you have an issue and, by default, support always tells you to verify you are on the latest and greates updates before doing anything. But not necessarily a true/good statement when it comes to BIOS.

I’m also curious, you refer to the instructions for installing ROCK, yet a ROCK/NUC system does not report S.M.A.R.T errors AFAIK. How were you seeing these?

About two weeks ago, the ROCK started randomly crashing and then getting this error:

IMG_7869
IMG_78691920×1440 107 KB

I looked it up and thought I might be getting corruption in some files, so I restored from a backup a few weeks prior. I thought it helped because, for a few days, it ran fine when previously it was crashing almost every night overnight. But then I got the S.M.A.R.T. error. Don’t remember the exact messages that came up, but it flat out wouldn’t get through a boot up and gave me the S.M.A.R.T. errors. When I looked it up, every search link I read said the drive was probably about to fail which is why I got a new SSD and went down the route of building ROCK over again.

Assuming I bricked this thing, I will try some recovery steps, but I know it is very difficult to recover from this, if at all. I have the new Nucleus on order. Did this when thinking at one point in this process that my NUC was finished. So I will keep that order out there, although delivery isn’t for another month+ at least.

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Yes, unfortunately I’m realizing that now. Since BIOS is not on the SSD, but rather resident on the NUC itself, there is no need to flash it again. They need to take that out of the instructions.

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I reviewed the video and will take a shot at what it says to do. If it doesn’t work, I’ve seen other supposed remedies depending. But this video looks like the best first shot at it. Thanks for replying with the link.

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I went through that video and it seemed that I got the BIOS installed. It painted out this screen over about two minutes:

IMG_7898
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I then did what it says at the bottom of the screen below “Recovery complete.”. But when I do all that and power back up, nothing comes up on the screen. Went through that whole process many times and tried different twists based on things I found while researching. I always got this far but then hit a dead end. Even tried putting the security jumpers back on pins 2 and 3.
I guess I may have a bricked the NUC, but this kept giving me hope. Oh well.

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The steps are.

  1. Remove Pin
  2. Restore BIOS
  3. Turn off NUC
  4. Restore Jumper to Normal state, never the 2-3 position. This must be done before it is turned on again.
  5. Close up case
  6. Turn on NUC.
  7. Tap on F2 key to get into BIOS.