Mac Mini HDTV problem

[falterego]

I have a first gen 1.25 GHz G4 Mac Mini that I have hooked up with a DVI-HDMI cable to my 42 inch Vizio. Everything runs great when I turn on the computer, and the signal is registering on my TV as 1080P. However, after about 10 minutes of being turned on, the picture starts getting a static like look. It gets worse and worse until the TV just says not supported, and finally no signal. Even after connecting through my VNC client and shutting down then restarting the Mini, I get no signal.

I've hooked up the Mini to a 17 inch Dell LCD monitor and have had no problems with a simple DVI-DVI cable, and I've hooked up my cable box to the same HDMI port to rule out that as the source. What I'm trying to figure out is if it's the DVI-HDMI cable at fault, or the Mini's graphics card. Like I said before, restarting the Mini doesn't fix the problem. The only way I can get a signal on my TV again is to wait 30 minutes or so. This is making me think maybe the GPU is getting too hot and needs to cool down. I've also tried running 720P and a simple 1024x768 like I run on the Dell LCD, but unless I wait 30+ minutes I get nothing on the TV.

If it's just the cable I'll return it and buy another one, but if it's the Mini I'm going to just ebay it. Thanks in advance.

 

[TrapOx]

Clean the dust out of your machine.

 

[KettyKrueger]

I have a first gen 1.25 GHz G4 Mac Mini that I have hooked up with a DVI-HDMI cable to my 42 inch Vizio. Everything runs great when I turn on the computer, and the signal is registering on my TV as 1080P. However, after about 10 minutes of being turned on, the picture starts getting a static like look. It gets worse and worse until the TV just says not supported, and finally no signal. Even after connecting through my VNC client and shutting down then restarting the Mini, I get no signal.

I've hooked up the Mini to a 17 inch Dell LCD monitor and have had no problems with a simple DVI-DVI cable, and I've hooked up my cable box to the same HDMI port to rule out that as the source. What I'm trying to figure out is if it's the DVI-HDMI cable at fault, or the Mini's graphics card. Like I said before, restarting the Mini doesn't fix the problem. The only way I can get a signal on my TV again is to wait 30 minutes or so. This is making me think maybe the GPU is getting too hot and needs to cool down. I've also tried running 720P and a simple 1024x768 like I run on the Dell LCD, but unless I wait 30+ minutes I get nothing on the TV.

If it's just the cable I'll return it and buy another one, but if it's the Mini I'm going to just ebay it. Thanks in advance.

Like you said, it could be the cable. Worse-still, could be the jack on the mini but seems unlikely as it's works on the Dell.

I could be wrong, but I think if the mini was running too hot it would just shut-down and not display visual weirdness.

Hope that helps!

 

[falterego]

Thanks. I'll be picking up a new cable today. Seems funny to me that it works just fine for a few minutes before any problems happen though. We'll see if the cable fixes it.

 

[falterego]

A replacement cable did not seem to fix the problem. I suspect that my older Mini is just not able to handle something so graphics intensive. Looking at eBay I can maybe get $100 for this since I don't have the install DVD, but I do have a keyboard and MM to go with it. Now I'm just trying to decided if I want to keep it to tinker with, or just sell it so I don't have one more thing sitting around that I don't have time to use.

Thanks for the advice on this. The Mac community is one of the many reasons I prefer this platform.

 

[TrapOx]

Your mini does not have a single problem with that resolution.

Take the shell off and clean the dust out of the machine like I suggested.