Hey everyone, I’ve been self hosting a few things on a raspberry pi like board and wanted to upgrade to a mini PC. I got my hands on an old Intel NUC model D54250WYB but it had no memory or storage, not even an enclosure. I bought some RAM and a power supply but the SSD I was planning to use wasn’t compatible (physically) and I didn’t install it.

I tried powering it on but I only get a Standby LED when I plug it in. Pressing the power button doesn’t do anything as far as I’m aware. There’s supposed to be a second LED that turns on to show that the computer is ON. I have an Ubuntu installer USB that should work that I plugged in but nothing changes when I plug it in. Also, the board heats up when plugged in so I assume it’s doing something?

I was planning on temporarily using an SD card or USB until I made sure the computer works so I don’t spend money in vain.

My question is: Could it be that the missing internal storage is preventing the computer from booting? If not, could it be that something is shorted/doesn’t work anymore? Has anyone had experience with this model? From what I found it was released in 2013 so it’s relatively old now.

TLDR: Intel NUC without SSD storage but with only a usb won’t boot. Is it the missing SSD fault?

Thanks in advance :)

  • @[email protected]OPEnglish
    1•1 month ago

    Yeah I think my next attempt is gonna be to get a keyboard connected and mess around. But wouldn’t the computer LED turn on too even if it just boots to bios? Or does the power on LED typically only turn on when the OS is properly rubbing?

    • @CenzorrllEnglish
      2•1 month ago

      I would think that the power led would be on if there’s power going through the motherboard.

      Are you referring to the power led or the disk usage led? I think on my nuc the only other led is the disk usage one, which looks like a soda can. The power led is always on, but doesn’t indicate standby or operating as far as I’ve seen.

      • @[email protected]OPEnglish
        1•1 month ago

        There’s a total of 3 LED on mine, I’m probably seeing an extra one cause I don’t have an enclosure on it. I checked the manual and the only one that’s on is the “standby” LED that’s supposed to show that there’s power going through the board.

        The disk usage and normal “power on/off” LED are off. And I haven’t managed to get them to do anything so far.