Mac – Bad Mac Mini 2012 passes AHT, but ASD shows several errors/failures. Logic board failure

apple-hardware-testerrorlogicboardmac-mini

I have a 2012 Mac mini running Mac OS X 10.8 that doesn't boot properly. Sometimes the USB ports don't work after boot and/or the Mac mini crashes after bootup. Graphics are not crisp when output from HDMI; instead resembling an old CRT TV.

Before I did a clean install of 10.8 via Internet Recovery, it had a kernel panic/boot loop.

So far I've:

  • Reset both NVRAM and SMC
  • Run AHT extended tests (without problems).
  • Found and ran the correct ASD, which consistently shows these seven errors:

FireWire Controller (test #20) – Reset PCIe Link Error Registers…
ERROR–12114 [Cannot find the PCIe capabilities register] — TEST
FAILED

FireWire Controller (test #21) – Read PCIe Link Error Registers…
ERROR–12114 [Cannot find the PCIe capabilities register] — TEST
FAILED

AirPort (test #8) – Hardware Register Check Test… ERROR–12100
[IOConnect error reading from PCI address space] — TEST FAILED

AirPort (test #9) – Wireless Module PCIe Root Port Hardware Register
Test… ERROR–12100 [IOConnect error reading from PCI address space]
— TEST FAILED

SATA:SATA PCI Register Test (test #1) – SATA PCI Register Test…
ERROR–12105 [PCI driver IOService open error] — TEST FAILED

Thunderbolt (test #30) – Thunderbolt PCIe Gen2 Link Width Verification
Test… ERROR– 11 [Can not get PCI Link Width] — TEST FAILED

Thunderbolt (test #31) – Thunderbolt PCIe Gen2 Link Speed Verification
Test… ERROR– 13 [Can not get PCI Link Speed] — TEST FAILED

Despite FireWire and Airport showing up in failures, the Mac mini works great in Target Mode and Wi-Fi seems to work fine too. Don't know what PCI errors mean practically, though I did some research about PCIe.

ASD for the EFI passed with no problems.

Do those errors mean this logic board is fried and I should sell this Mac mini for parts, as I assume?

The logic board is rather dusty and dirty, but doesn't appear to be a liquid spill. No idea if that could realistically cause a short.

Background:

I tried to upgrade my problematic 2009 Mac mini on the cheap by getting one on eBay. It was listed as powering on but not booting, but I thought I had a decent chance of making it work with a good HD, good RAM, and clean install.

Best Answer

This machine is toast. Short of putting it on a test bench, it’ll be hard for you to figure out what’s wrong with it, and from where I sit somewhere on the planet, even harder. This computer deserves a final resting place in an electronics recycling bin.