Intel NUC problem?

[IBMJunkman]

Strange problem. System specs below. I have a TV connected via HDMI or DP.

Initially the display was rock solid. The problem is now the screen randomly stops displaying Windows desktop and shows a message about No Signal. The problem occurs using either video port, mini-HDMI or DP. To me this means the vid chip stopped putting out a signal.

The application running is Blue Iris network camera display. The app is running full screen.

Intel NUC i5-4250U
16 gb ram
Silicon Power SSD
Samsung EVO mSATA SSD
Win 7 Pro 64 bit
Intel HD Graphics 5000 mini HDMI and mini DP
Insignia 40" TV

 

[VirtualLarry]

Tried swapping the HDMI cable first? If so, then maybe the NUC might be failing, don't know. Or maybe, it's just crappy Intel iGPU drivers, as usual.

 

[IBMJunkman]

Used 2 different cables. One mini-HDMI to HDMI and one mini-DP to HDMI.

Drivers were apparently the Microsoft/Intel version 10.18.14.4264. The Intel site had 15.36.28.4332. I have installed them. We shall see.

 

[IBMJunkman]

Well, spoke too soon. Display just blanked again. Must be the video chip.

 

[IBMJunkman]

Just updated the BIOS. Will see if that fixes it.

 

[IBMJunkman]

Well, BIOS update did not fix it. Just got a blanking.

 

[sm625]

I think its a feature of Intel IGP. I have seen several intel graphics powered machines at my company have random issues with screens blacking for a few seconds. I have seen it happen out of the corner of my eye, several times, just when wandering around. I ask... how do you stand that? They just sort of deal with it because its only a couple seconds. I stuck a video card into one to fix the problem. Unfortunately the others are all notebooks and thus cannot be fixed. I dont know why people think its a good idea to replace desktops with notebooks or USFF PCs. It's not.

 

[IBMJunkman]

I think its a feature of Intel IGP. I have seen several intel graphics powered machines at my company have random issues with screens blacking for a few seconds. I have seen it happen out of the corner of my eye, several times, just when wandering around. I ask... how do you stand that? They just sort of deal with it because its only a couple seconds. I stuck a video card into one to fix the problem. Unfortunately the others are all notebooks and thus cannot be fixed. I dont know why people think its a good idea to replace desktops with notebooks or USFF PCs. It's not.

This is not a desktop replacement. Because of location I needed a small box. It is my music server and video monitor for my security cams. Not a critical problem. Just an annoyance.

 

[XavierMace]

Have you checked the event log?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Have you checked the event log?

This. If the GPU driver is crashing, reloading, and recovering, a temporarily black screen is usually the result. This will show up in the event log.

I've had it happen with OC'd GPUs and with bad driver versions. In a NUC situation, I'd assume overheating.

 

[XavierMace]

I've had it happen with bone stock clocked GPU's too, due to bad power supply or as you said bad drivers.

 

[IBMJunkman]

Well, since my Monday report I have not seen it happen again. When I do I will check the log immediately.

 

[XavierMace]

Would still be worth checking the log for when it occurred previously.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Would still be worth checking the log for when it occurred previously.

This

 

[IBMJunkman]

Checked the log. No events re video around the time of blanking.

Did discover something else. Every day at 10:15 I get the following. Once for each CPU. The elapsed time is about 24 hours. Which means it appears my machine is not running at full speed.

"The speed of processor 3 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 86399 seconds since the last report."

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Checked the log. No events re video around the time of blanking.

Did discover something else. Every day at 10:15 I get the following. Once for each CPU. The elapsed time is about 24 hours. Which means it appears my machine is not running at full speed.

"The speed of processor 3 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 86399 seconds since the last report."

Those will go away if you disable SpeedStep in the BIOS/UEFI. But then your NUC will eat more power and be more likely to overheat under load.

Out of the box, if your CPU is throttling itself for no apparent reason, it's probably because you aren't asking it to do anything particularly demanding and it doesn't feel like it needs to spin up to top speed.

 

[IBMJunkman]

Well, as mentioned earlier all this box does is run the Blue Iris video software to display my security cams. And once in awhile serve up some music when I tire of TV.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Well, as mentioned earlier all this box does is run the Blue Iris video software to display my security cams. And once in awhile serve up some music when I tire of TV.

Then I'd ignore it.

 

[IBMJunkman]

Screen just blanked. No log shows any event occurring at the time.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Screen just blanked. No log shows any event occurring at the time.

Well...

After you finish screaming and cursing, try creating an Ubuntu Live Thumb Drive. You don't need to install it, just use it to surf the web or whatever for a day or two and see if you get the same problem with a completely different OS loaded.

If it doesn't repeat, then there's something goofed with your OS - wipe the drive and reinstall Windows.