Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Mini 2010 (dead?)

S

Stellaz49

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 4, 2013
6
0
Hi, I have a 2010 mac mini which has been fantastic. At xmas I put an OCZ Vertex 4 in it and no issues nice and fast. The original drive got put in an external case formatted and encrypted and i moved my iPhoto and iTunes gubbins there.

A week ago the external drive password popped up which was odd because it was stored in my key-chain. I the noticed the drive was called +---...---+ and not "Mac HDD". so i unplugged it and I can see the partitions on my windows PC. Mac wouldn't recognise it. Yesterday I switched it on an it would not boot. Tried several times and nothing, it chimed the first few times but now doesn't and no longer shows any output on the monitor.

Help... it seemed to not boot when anything USB was plugged in.

I have tried resetting SMB & PRAM etc but no joy? I am proficient with Windows but not had any experience with macs going wrong.

Also are there any utilities that will let you pull utilities off the time machine usb drive I had plugged in?

Many thanks in advance!
 
Stellaz49 said:
Hi, I have a 2010 mac mini which has been fantastic. At xmas I put an OCZ Vertex 4 in it and no issues nice and fast. The original drive got put in an external case formatted and encrypted and i moved my iPhoto and iTunes gubbins there.

A week ago the external drive password popped up which was odd because it was stored in my key-chain. I the noticed the drive was called +---...---+ and not "Mac HDD". so i unplugged it and I can see the partitions on my windows PC. Mac wouldn't recognise it. Yesterday I switched it on an it would not boot. Tried several times and nothing, it chimed the first few times but now doesn't and no longer shows any output on the monitor.

Help... it seemed to not boot when anything USB was plugged in.

I have tried resetting SMB & PRAM etc but no joy? I am proficient with Windows but not had any experience with macs going wrong.

Also are there any utilities that will let you pull utilities off the time machine usb drive I had plugged in?

Many thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

let me see what you did.
you have 1 booter the ocz vetex 4.
you have a time machine external drive
you have an external drive with music encrypted no less.

You do not have a external clone of the booter

do you have snow leopard and the oem discs or are you running lion and or mountain lion?


if the above is true you need an external boot drive in lion or mountain lion or snow leopard. same os as the internal ssd is.

plug in the external booter

press the power button to boot the machine while your finger is on the options key of the keyboard. the mini will ask you to pick your boot drive. pick the external booter use it to boot the mini. if you do not have any clones of you internal booter drive shame on you.

but you can still fix the problem. buy this see link


http://www.amazon.com/Aluratek-Exte...34680&sr=8-1&keywords=aluratek+hdd+duplicator


pull the internal ssd out put it in the source slot. put in any 2.5 inch hdd just the same size as the ssd or bigger copy the ssd to the hdd and then boot with the copy on hdd connected to the mini and no other hdds connected to the mini. you can use the same enclosure and it will boot via the usb cord. it will be slow but this should work. ocz s u c s for reliability once the copy works you can rma the ssd
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Firstly sorry for the delay in response and thanks for taking the time to respond, really appreciate it.

Your understanding of the set up is correct. I have SL disc and a USB ML OSX booter that I made also.

I have removed the drives and reformatted them using a borrowed MAC. Using the borrowed MAC I have been able to restore backups to my drives and also install clean OSX (ML).

The problem I have is that when I start the Mac Mini I don't always get chimes or screen output, there is no firmware password I checked.

If I switch off for 10 seconds and then on and wait for 5 before powering up I sometimes do get the chimes.

I have replaced the BR2032 battery on the logic board also as a precaution.

A clean hard drive with ML installed on loaded several times then just hung and then drive could not be recognised after that. Internet recovery hangs after about 15 mins on 3 occasions. Booting from the ML USB OSX installer stick gets so far and then hangs - the fan then comes on full speed.

I have tried the original 2 drives (SSD & HD) and a third brand new HD - all show the same problems.

I have changed the RAM for the original but its the same. I have tried the hardrives plugged into the DVD port but no joy.

What could this be? Logic board? Power? I am at a loss and don't think apple would touch it or advise as its over 2 yrs old and been fiddled with.

I am Windows savvy but this is my first Mac and its been fine until now.

Thanks again for any advice!
 
Stellaz49 said:
Firstly sorry for the delay in response and thanks for taking the time to respond, really appreciate it.

Your understanding of the set up is correct. I have SL disc and a USB ML OSX booter that I made also.

I have removed the drives and reformatted them using a borrowed MAC. Using the borrowed MAC I have been able to restore backups to my drives and also install clean OSX (ML).

The problem I have is that when I start the Mac Mini I don't always get chimes or screen output, there is no firmware password I checked.

If I switch off for 10 seconds and then on and wait for 5 before powering up I sometimes do get the chimes.

I have replaced the BR2032 battery on the logic board also as a precaution.

A clean hard drive with ML installed on loaded several times then just hung and then drive could not be recognised after that. Internet recovery hangs after about 15 mins on 3 occasions. Booting from the ML USB OSX installer stick gets so far and then hangs - the fan then comes on full speed.

I have tried the original 2 drives (SSD & HD) and a third brand new HD - all show the same problems.

I have changed the RAM for the original but its the same. I have tried the hardrives plugged into the DVD port but no joy.

What could this be? Logic board? Power? I am at a loss and don't think apple would touch it or advise as its over 2 yrs old and been fiddled with.

I am Windows savvy but this is my first Mac and its been fine until now.

Thanks again for any advice!
Click to expand...

was the borrowed mac a 2010 mac mini?

if not the os won't load correctly. you need a 2010 mac mini build of the osx snow leopard, lion or mountain lion all can work on the machine,
but using a friends mac that is not a 2010 mini may not fix your problem.

I have a working 2010 mac mini if you want more help send me a pm.
 
philipma1957 said:
was the borrowed mac a 2010 mac mini?

if not the os won't load correctly. you need a 2010 mac mini build of the osx snow leopard, lion or mountain lion all can work on the machine,
but using a friends mac that is not a 2010 mini may not fix your problem.

I have a working 2010 mac mini if you want more help send me a pm.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind offer. I phoned someone in the know and it would seem I have a power issue. I need to test the power supply, would explain why the external failed then the internal. Also explains why its temperamental on start up as i don't always appear to have keyboard power!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back