I’ve been running ROCK on an Intel NUC for about 4 years now. In the past 8 weeks, the system has been crashing regularly. In December, only about once per week. Has been getting more frequent, and this week it is nightly. This week happens while listening to music every evening. When I check the app, it shows unable to find my Roon, would I like to load a library from a backup. I’ve been forcing the NUC to shut down with a long power button push, then a restart. Each time the system comes back online. Any suggestions? I’m extremely computer challenged. I was able to put this together only by following the very detailed instructions from Roon. NUC output is to a Schitt Modius DAC and then to my amplifier. The NUC is hard wired Cat 6 to the router. Thanks.
If you haven’t cleaned the fan assembly, I’d do that now. Thermal cut-off will turn off the NUC to avoid damage, so this is a possibly / likely cause.
iFixit have videos explaining the steps needed to remove and clean the fan.
I just recently completely disassembled my NUC in order to move it into a fanless case. What I found was that, after about 2 years of operation, there was a lot of dust to be found inside the fan/heatsink assembly which would have been seriously impacting airflow.
This dust is not visible until the fan assembly is removed. On my NUC, had I just been cleaning the device, I could have left the heatsink in place. However, if your NUC has been used continously for four years, it may be worth removing the heat sink and replacing the thermal compound as well. It is generally considered a good idea to do this every 5 years but if you are removing the Fan assembly, the extra effort is relatively small and it will potentially save you having to repeat the disassembly in a couple of years time.
If you do remove the heatsink, clean off all of the old thermal compound and replace with a very small amount of a good quality compound like Artic Silver or Artic MX4. I would not recommend the “liquid metal” type thermal compounds because they are a lot more difficult to apply and the consequences of getting it wrong can be catastrophic even though, in principle, better cooling efficiency can be achieved (they have a somewhat higher thermal conductivity).
This is, imho, standard computer Maintenance, like changing your oil in a car. Even fanless systems should update thermal compound after years, again imho.
@Rugby
I have to admit I haven’t done this yet with my fanless Akasa case machine. But just wondering if this also applies to the Nucleus variants, I can’t remember a single recommendation from Roonlabs about this?
IMHO, yes, it does apply to Nucleus variants.
The turnkey nature of the Nucleus does not alter the fact that it is just a computer (using standard computer components) and all computers are subject to such issues.
There is unlikely to be any official recommendation on this - just as there is no such recommendation on any other off the shelf computer that you may purchase.
@Wade_Oram
Thanks for your detailed explanation, I’ll keep it in mind. I just hope it won’t be too much of a hassle.
The trick is not to rush. Give yourself plenty of time - especially if you have not done something similar before. If a component does not separate relatively easily, you have probably missed a fixing screw!
To remove the board completely on my NUC I had to ‘attack’ it from both top and bottom (the bottom unscrews and the top can be gently pryed off using a pry-tool or, with care, a small screwdriver or a thin bladed knife). I think that you will have to remove the motherboard, the fan and the heatsink as one assembly and then take off the fan assembly , and heatsink.
Use a system for holding the screws that you have removed so that you know which screws are used for which purpose. If you feel that it is not obvious take notes and/or photographs as you disassemble the NUC so that you can refer to the same notes/photographs for re-assembly.
When removing the motherboard/heatsink/fan assembly, be careful not to damage the WiFi antenna leads. These clip onto the motherboard and can be gently prised off.
I am quite used to doing such things but it still took me the best part of an hour to transplant the motherboard (without fan and heatsink) into a different case. To strip down and rebuild the NUC in its original case will likely take at least as long and, if you are not confident, quite possibly a lot longer - If you have not done such things before, I would leave 2 to 3 hours for the job.
If you remove the heatsink, when re-attaching it put a small (2mm diameter) blob or thin strip in the centre of the lid of the processor (there may be two separate contact points) then put the heatsink back in place but do not anchor it with the screws. At this point, you can gently slide the heatsink around in small cricular movements while applying a little pressure in order to spread the thermal compound around the whole processor lid surface. This also squeezes out the excess compound and makes sure that the compound providing the thermal compound is as thin as possible - the thinner the better. However, it is better to have a little to much than to have air pockets or gaps in the coverage.
When finished, make sure you have a keyboard and monitor connected when you first power it on and enter the BIOS where you will be able to see the processor package temperature and the fan speed. If this temerature gets too warm (more than, say, about 10 Celcius above ambiant), then turn the NUC off and re-do the thermal compound. With this in mind, it may be advisable to do this before the motherboard/Heatsink/Fan assembly is put back in the case unless you are very confident.
This may help.
There are a few self adhesive foam pads (covered in mesh, that need careful removal and storage. It’s a good idea to note where these go.
Lifting the board is slightly challenging, but requires no force, just gently lifting from the Ethernet connector.
The Wi-Fi cables can be gently prised off, but are small and fairly difficult to reconnect, especially with thick fingers. Again, avoid excessive force; when aligned correctly, they easily click into place.
When I did this first time, the fan was a little noisy afterward from dust ingress, so I used compress air (from a can) to sort it.
Thanks again, Wade! I’ve already assembled a NUC without having to remove the motherboard. And I now have one in a fanless case, which someone else made for me, thanks Adam! I just checked, it was 2 years ago in December. I think I can give it at least 2 more years?
However, I have a second 8i7 in reserve that is still running with a fan and I think it needs some serious cleaning because it is getting hot.
I printed out your detailed instructions and thank you again for the effort you have put in. I can well imagine that others can also benefit from it.
@mjw
Thank you too for your help! I have to admit that I’m somewhat horrified by the whole thing ;))
No such pads in my NUC11TNHi7. I guess it depends upon the NUC variant.
Thanks for all the info on my original post. Sounds like the likely solution. But I’m massively intimidated by the disassembly. I just took the bottom panel off and blew out the case with compressed air, that was easy. But getting to the fan is a whole new level for me. I just watched one video on the process and I hate to admit how far out of my comfort zone that is. Thanks again.