I have HDMI plugged in the back of the NUC to Samsung (4K) monitor (HDMI) and by default, it auto detects if the signal is from HDMI 1 or 2. The same HDMI cable works with a mac-mini.
The NUC8i7HVK is brand new. Installed components and first tried to install Linux Mint. Yeah, I know Intel doesn't officially support it on this NUC. Anyway, sometimes on restart there's nothing for the monitor to display. So I abandoned Linux thinking the OS is the problem.
Switched to install Windows 10 Pro. I didn't get a chance yet to install any specific intel drivers because after Windows restarted it doesn't display on my monitor most of the time. When it does show, it displays in a squashed format taking up a quarter of the top part of the screen, and the desktop is duplicated 2 to 3 times. I've attached a screenshot and that's the biggest it's ever displayed it lately and that's with the front HDMI connector. The back HDMI connector mostly doesn't display anything.
Most of the time the HDMI (front/back) does not display anything and sometimes I can get into BIOS with F2 and it displays that fine. So, I cannot get into Windows to install the drivers when I cannot see anything and other times it's completely ineligible (with the duplicated desktops). I set the date and time in BIOS, but I swore that one other time when I was in there it didn't keep the time set correctly. The NUC box says it was manufactured in May of this year.
Is there something wrong with the hardware of this NUC?
Should I flash BIOS again or go back to an earlier version?
HELP!
Things I've done:
Updated to latest BIOS (51) as the first thing I did.
Tried in BIOS having performance > Graphics between Auto and Enabled.
Ran RAM test (from USB) and it passed fine.
Tried another HDMI cable. I don't know if either cable is 2.0 certified. But the cable worked to install OS's.
Tried front HDMI connector.
Unplugged CMOS battery connector for 15 minutes and reconnected.
Powered on and off numerous times, most of the time no signal for the monitor to detect.
Nuc has:
BIOS 51 (10/24/2018) with F9 defaults set (Graphics enabled)
16GB Corsair (8GB x 2) - CMSX8GX4M1A2400C16
1 TB Samsung Evo 970 NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 (slot 1)
250GB WD Blue SSD m.2 2280 (slot 2)
Samsung Monitor model: U28E590D
USB Keyboard and mouse