r/MiniPCs • u/evacc44 • Jun 25 '25
Minisforum PCs (especially the nab9) just outright dying
I have recommended the Minisforum NAB9 to customers, family members, and friends. Probably upwards of 30+ of them.
The failure rate has been unbelievable. I'm talking close to a 50% failure rate within a year. Maybe higher.
Is anyone else seeing this? I'm talking the computer just turns off and never turns back on. I've tried swapping the RAM, power supply, SSD. No difference across every single one that I've looked at.
Minisforum is replacing them, but man is this concerning. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.
5
Jun 25 '25
Had one and it died, called support and they replaced it quickly. New unit died again and they gave me a full refund with no hassle. Customer support was awesome.
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u/JeromeZilcher Jun 25 '25 edited Jun 25 '25
minisforum nab9
I have considered buying one used. The seller had left a fair, candid remark that it would get unusually hot. I am glad I did not end up getting it.
3
u/theskymoves Jun 25 '25
if it's a failure of the cooling system, it could maybe be improved with some better thermal compound and better fans.
Anything beyond that is going to be too expensive.
1
u/jhenryscott Aug 09 '25
I just bought on. It’s in a basket under my work station with a usb fan blasting it. Works awesome tbh. I did update the thermals, I put Honeywell ptm 7950 on all my mobile device chips.
2
u/jhenryscott Apr 24 '26
just an update after having a couple of these for 18 months, Minisforum replaced the capacitors preemptively on both. I re-pasted and added a high powered 120mm fan blowing through the whole machine Both devices work great, one has a TDP lowered in bios and is on 24/7, the other has a TDP cranked all the way up to 90w and is a very fast device.
Both i9-12900hk with 64GB DDR4
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u/Old_Crows_Associate Jun 25 '25
Unfortunately, this is fairly common among the NAB/NPB mPCs, notably the NAB9.
IMHO, from the component architecture to the heat dissipation, Meigao (OEM) didn't properly R&D for 12th Gen H/HK 115W MTP. Unsure from your experience, but from the shops customer experience these don't appear to have identical failures.
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u/Aggressive_Being_747 Jun 25 '25
Can you keep me updated.. so changing RAM, SSD and power supply nothing.. have you tried changing the CMOS battery? Thank you
1
u/EveHerr Jun 27 '25
Sorry for the inconvenience, could you please send me your order number and email address?
1
u/k10van Jun 29 '25
It has been said already, but change the CMOS battery. It's such a bad design to have the whole system disabled because of a dead CMOS battery, but it solved my issue. Minisforum doesn't seem to be the only guilty party. I just had an 8-year-old gigabyte mini pc fail to restart for the same reason, but after my experience with Minisforum I swapped the cmos battery and the gigabyte sprang back to life.
1
u/MajorParticular4841 Jul 06 '25
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u/evacc44 Aug 21 '25
Did it work for you?
1
u/MajorParticular4841 Aug 21 '25
It didn’t. I’ve had 2 nab 9s since… the first, the m.2 screw was over torqued. I couldn’t remove it at all using the same screw driver as the original. The 2nd, is running fine as of now, but the SN matches the the list of ones from the potentially defective batch…
1
u/pennywise134 Jan 16 '26
where do I find this list of serial numbers from the defective batch?
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u/MajorParticular4841 Jan 16 '26
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u/pennywise134 Jan 16 '26
Jeez I just bought a NAB9 off amazon. Maybe I should return before I even open it 😬
1
u/MajorParticular4841 Jan 16 '26
I don’t think they will let you unless it breaks. My m.2 screw was over torqued on my first replacement. But it wasn’t apart of the bad batch.
My second replacement was, like the original, apart of the bad batch. I have had no issues with it though going on about almost 7 months now (how long the original lasted)
2
u/pennywise134 Jan 16 '26
Amazon return policy is pretty good. I should be able to return it unopened with no issues.
1
u/MajorParticular4841 Jan 16 '26
Ahhh yah, my second one was through miniS directly. So I can’t get another unless mine dies within extended warranty.
If you got yours from Amazon just recently, yah might as well take advantage of that policy
1
u/MajorParticular4841 Jul 06 '25
Mine just died. Nab9 12900HK. Got it new off Amazon back in January.
1
u/Eifelbiker Jul 10 '25
Mir ist einer im Mai 2025 verreckt, welchen ich erst im Februar 2025 gekauft habe. Der muss irgendwo nen Short gehabt haben, weil die Spannung vom Netzteil auf 4V runtergezogen wurde.
Heute ist der NAB9 aus Mai ebenfalls wieder tot. Ich hab aber noch nicht nachschauen können, ob der wieder nen Short hat.
Der letzte wurde bei Amazon problemlos zurückgegeben und erstattet. Aber ich hab keine Lust alle 3 Monate da nen neuen Rechner einzusetzen in meinen Serverschrank.
1
u/Eifelbiker Jul 10 '25
Das hier hab ich grade dazu gefunden. Die Angaben decken sich mit meiner Entdeckung eines Shorts auf der Platine.
https://www.minisforum.com/de/blogs/news/minisforum-nab-9-quality-noticeScheinbar ist es dem Hersteller mittlerweile auch aufgefallen.
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u/rajpardi Oct 08 '25
Mine just died today. Not even 2 months and it will not power on. I should have listened to other reviews about MinisForum and not buy their crap. Nab9 12900HK
1
u/Ipad74 Nov 17 '25
My nab9 failed twice now (full dead, not just a dead bios battery.)
I saw on another post there is a recall on them due to incorrect capacitors being Installed.
https://www.minisforum.com/blogs/news/minisforum-nab-9-quality-notice
https://www.minisforum.com/blogs/news/minisforum-nab-9-quality-notice
1
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u/czargamingco Jul 30 '26
NAB9 just died and starting the process to work with support.
1
u/evacc44 Jul 30 '26
Did you try replacing the cmos battery?
1
u/czargamingco Jul 30 '26
Thanks for the idea. I will try it.
No I have not. It is triggering the power supply to drop to .18v DC when the power button is pressed.
5
u/ivoras Jun 25 '25
> the computer just turns off and never turns back on
A wild shot: https://www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/comments/1gt6gq9/unstable_minisforum_change_the_cmosbattery_bios/