Mac Mini (late 2012) No boot, heavy fans after upgrade

mac-mini

Not sure where else to turn – just upgraded two Mac Mini (late 2012 models) to include 120GB SSDs.

The first one went fine – took the update and booted properly. Great.

Second one, after closing the case, connecting power and turning on, I get the power light and the fan progressively spins up until it is running like crazy. No beep, chime, or screen output. I tried putting the old hard drive back, but same behaviour.

I double checked every connection both before and after the problem so I'm pretty sure that's not it. My gut says I shorted the logic board (possible) – has anyone any experience with this or these symptoms? I have worked through Mac will not boot, and no display output.

Thanks in advance!

Best Answer

Were you ASD safe? If not there is a good possibility you had some static discharge that shorted the board or the memory.

Actions to take:
Does it let you reset PRAM? Try unplugging the Mac mini and holding the power button down for 10 sec. Apple and others may say you do not need to hold the power button down but I have found with some models or issues it help.

Check to see if HDD sensor is shorted/damaged. If none of this works the you will need to start part isolation or bring it to someone who can. i.e. Take out the RAM and see if you get an error beep.

Good luck.

Related Solutions

Mac – How to transform an Apple Mac Mini intro a reliable Ubuntu Server

First install rEFInd, and boot Ubuntu installer after.

Enable "Boot after power failure" by adding next line to /etc/rc.local:

 setpci -s 0:1f.0 0xa4.b=0
 setpci -s 00:03.0 0x7b.b=0x19

Install mac fan control:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mactel-support/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y macfanctld applesmc-dkms

For SSD tunning (you have to adapt to your config) here is my /etc/fstab file:

UUID=<...> /        ext4   noatime,nodiratime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
UUID=<...> /boot    vfat   defaults,noatime,discard    0   1

What is important to remember here:

/boot is the rEFInd partition, as you can keep all in the same place.
I added noatime,nodiratime to the / partition as this will lower the tear-down of the SSD.

Do noy add discard or ext4discard to the list of options because instant TRIM will slow down your SSD too much.

The optimal solution is to run TRIM in a daily crob job, by running something like:

 fstrim -v /

Other resources:

http://www.frozenindustries.com/2012/11/04/ubuntu-12-04-lts-on-an-apple-mac-mini-late-2012/

Mac Mini late 2012 second monitor resolution

According to this page on EveryMac.com the resolutions you want to run should be supported.

The problem might be the adaptor.

I would try a PRAM reset (restart while holding down Command-Option-P-R), or possibly an SMC reset, detailed in Apple's Support system.

If these don't work, I'd try a different adaptor.

Good Luck.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Mac – How to transform an Apple Mac Mini intro a reliable Ubuntu Server

Mac Mini late 2012 second monitor resolution

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