UncleNUC Lab

Repair, Renew and Repurpose

Lab Setup

Working NUCs
Various SO-DIMM RAM sticks for the different devices
- A-Tech 8GB DDR3/DDR3L 1600MHz SODIMM 1.35V PRC3L-12800 2Rx8
- DDR4-2400 1.2V SO-DIMM
- DDR4-2666 1.2V SO-DIMM (10i7)
Various 19V power supplies (link)
- 5.5mm x 2.5mm x 15mm barrel connector
- 65W (19V * 3.42A) is the most common for older NUCs (example generic power supply)
- 90W, 120W for 10i7 and similar
- 230W power supply for some NUCs has a different for factor
- NUC9 series have discrete video adapters and have an integrated power supply
- Power powerful NUCs need higher wattage power supply
19V power supply with connector to plug into “internal power supply” 2 pin connector
- A NUC “internal” power supply is hard to come by
- Or make an adapter from the barrel connector to the molex connection
  - Velleman CD017-1 DC Jack to Screw Terminal, 2.5 mm x 5.5 mm
  - 5557-02R Molex receptacle
Spare CR2032 batteries with molex connector to replace CMOS battery (these last 5-7 years)
Various SSDs
- mSATA
- 2.5" SSD
- M.2 SATA
- M.2 NVMe
Wired USB keyboard and mouse (optionally use a wireless USB mouse)
USB to Ethernet adapter for NUCs with no LAN
Wireless cards
- Intel Dell Wireless-N 7260 Mini PCI-E WiFi Bluetooth card 300Mbps 7260 HMW Y74H6
Display cables and adapters
USB sticks
- Windows 10 installation USB stick
- Ubuntu 20.10 desktop installation USB stick
- BIOS recovery USB stick (many NUCs share the same .bio file)
Cleaning supplies
- Vacuum
- Canned air or blower
- ColorCoral Dust Cleaning Gel
- Electronics Contact Cleaner
- Plastics clean and shine
- Screws
  - NUC screws to replace missing screws (notebook screw kit works fine)
    - M2x3 ???? for M2 SSDs
    - M2.5 * 3 for mSATA SSDs (M2.5 * 4 works)
    - M2.5 * 5 for motherboard
    - M3 * 5 for 2.5“ SSD and HDD
  - magnetic screw cup
  - magnetic small Philipps screwdriver (I use this kit)
  - Multi-meter
    - Check CMOS 3V battery residual voltage (new 3.3 volt; drops down to 2.8-2.7V it is considered dead; 10% than nominal voltage should be replaced)
    - Check power on board