High Temperatures Cause SSD to Stop Working
Some mSATA solid state drives (SSDs) are running at higher than expected temperatures in the Intel® NUC Kits. High SSD temperatures can cause the following symptoms:
- SSD stops working
- Computer will not boot
- Blue screen error
The first step in response to high SSD temperatures is to increase the system fan speed as needed. The default value is set to a 40 percent minimum duty cycle, but can be increased to provide more air flow in the chassis. In most cases increasing the minimum duty cycle to 50 percent or 60 percent resolves the temperature concern. Refer to Cooling and fan control for information on increasing the minimum duty cycle.
In some cases, the fan speed adjustment does not resolve the issue or can increase fan noise beyond an acceptable volume. To fix the issue, Intel developed a hardware-based solution using a thermal pad. The thermal pad is placed between the mSATA SSD and the bottom of the chassis to improve the thermal performance.
This pad has been added to the Intel® NUC chassis in manufacturing. See the table to determine if your Intel® NUC Kit already includes it. The SA# is on the barcode label on the bottom of the chassis.
| Intel® NUC Kit | SA#s without thermal pad | SA#s with thermal pad |
| Intel® NUC Kit DC3217IYE | G80097-101, G80097-102 | G80097-103 and later |
| Intel® NUC Kit DC3217BY | G80090-101 | G80090-102 and later |
| Intel® NUC Kit DCCP847DYE | G80888-101, G80888-102, G80888-103 | G80888-104 and later |
If you are experiencing this issue and your Intel® NUC Kit does not have the thermal pad already installed, request one by contacting Intel Customer Support.
