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Mac mini no sound after upgrade

W

wbe858

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 30, 2008
97
0
Greensboro, NC
So today i was upgrading my new mini and everything goes great (or so it seems) it boots up just fine and then i try and play a song..nothing, no sound at all the volume changer is gone and everything. I take it back apart to take a look to see if i just missed something and i see this little wire dangling from where the HD is but i don't know where it goes or if it has anything to do with my problem. So if anybody has any ideas about this let me know. :confused:
 
I had the exact same issue after upgrading hd and ram, and reattaching that cable fixed it. Difficult to describe where it connects, but check ifixit or another site with upgrade pics and you should be able to figure it out. Snaps back on easily. Good luck
 
Does anyone have any more information or pictures on this?

I got mine today, and before booting it up I decided to go ahead and upgrade the RAM. So, by making that decision I never got to hear if the Mini had sound initially. After the RAM upgrade I booted up the first time and got no chime, but my older mini would sometimes boot without the chime so I didn't think too much of it. But now that I've got things set up, I noticed I don't have sound at all.

Reading the above post made me wonder if I disconnected something on accident during the upgrade. So I opened it up again, and I can't find anything that is disconnected. There are 2 sets of wires (blue and black and brown and black) that run along side the hard drive, both are plugged in.. What should I be looking for?
 
wbe858 said:
So today i was upgrading my new mini and everything goes great (or so it seems) it boots up just fine and then i try and play a song..nothing, no sound at all the volume changer is gone and everything. I take it back apart to take a look to see if i just missed something and i see this little wire dangling from where the HD is but i don't know where it goes or if it has anything to do with my problem. So if anybody has any ideas about this let me know. :confused:
Click to expand...

I had this happen with my (previous-generation) mini. When I took it apart, there was a small ribbon cable that came unseated. Reconnecting it fixed it.
 
I've attached some pics if anyone knows what to look for. Everything looks ok to me, but I don't have sound. I tried the unplug everything for 15 seconds and plug back in trick, and also unplug everything for 10 seconds and plug back in the power with the power button down.

I can take more pics of specific areas if needed, and I have higher resolution of the ones I did take if anyone wants to see more detail.
 

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I still haven't gotten my problem solved yet so if anybody has any ideas as to what this is please share, and mine looks just like the pics everything looks connected i have followed every wire in the thing many, many times and im just out of ideas. Now one weird thing was at one point i had sound..for a very short time maybe a half of a song and then it quit out so i dont know what that means if anything. On tuesday im taking it to apple to see if they can find something wrong and at least tell me what it is. Now i dont know if the warranty is void after opening no one really knows from what it seems, and it looks like i might have broke something so that would in turn void it i think.
 
wbe858 said:
I still haven't gotten my problem solved yet so if anybody has any ideas as to what this is please share, and mine looks just like the pics everything looks connected i have followed every wire in the thing many, many times and im just out of ideas. Now one weird thing was at one point i had sound..for a very short time maybe a half of a song and then it quit out so i dont know what that means if anything. On tuesday im taking it to apple to see if they can find something wrong and at least tell me what it is. Now i dont know if the warranty is void after opening no one really knows from what it seems, and it looks like i might have broke something so that would in turn void it i think.
Click to expand...

If you look at the third and fifth picture, you can see a flat thin film connector wire (I have no idea what it is called). That rectangular end sits in a female mate on the main board next to the fan...you can sort of see it in the first photo. When you have the insides together, place your index finger over the end and gently push down until you feel it lock in place. This must be the sound connecting wires...because I had the same problem. good luck
 
penguy said:
If you look at the third and fifth picture, you can see a flat thin film connector wire (I have no idea what it is called). That rectangular end sits in a female mate on the main board next to the fan...you can sort of see it in the first photo. When you have the insides together, place your index finger over the end and gently push down until you feel it lock in place. This must be the sound connecting wires...because I had the same problem. good luck
Click to expand...
That was it! I had noticed when taking it apart that there was some tension on that wire, but at the same time I noticed the tension it popped off. Then I thought maybe it was a temperature sensor (obviously it wasn't) so I just let it sit there kind of loosely. Makes sense now in hindsight.

Thanks again, hopefully this is what is wrong with wbe858's comp.
 
sngx1275 said:
That was it! I had noticed when taking it apart that there was some tension on that wire, but at the same time I noticed the tension it popped off. Then I thought maybe it was a temperature sensor (obviously it wasn't) so I just let it sit there kind of loosely. Makes sense now in hindsight.

Thanks again, hopefully this is what is wrong with wbe858's comp.
Click to expand...

between that and several other miscues, I opened it up about 5 times! :eek:
 
if you are talking about the bronze ribbon cable in the back ive tried that many times and thats not it other than that im out of wires... and stickygreens wires i dont even have on the front of mine...
 
wbe858 said:
if you are talking about the bronze ribbon cable in the back ive tried that many times and thats not it other than that im out of wires... and stickygreens wires i dont even have on the front of mine...
Click to expand...

I'm sorry…but did you feel it click in place? It needs to for it to work.
 
yea ive done that and still no luck...when i first put everything back together i missed that but when i went looking i realized it was unhooked and thought that must be it but it still didnt fix my problem...ive taken the whole cable off and re-seeded it and still nothing. So to answer your question yes it clicked on both ends...any other thoughts...oh and thanks to everyone for being so helpful. So another quick question if i end up having to take it to apple should i put the original ram back in and play it off since i dont think that is my problem but they love to find reasons to void a warranty or will they get upset and void the warranty if new ram is in there.
 
wbe858 said:
yea ive done that and still no luck...when i first put everything back together i missed that but when i went looking i realized it was unhooked and thought that must be it but it still didnt fix my problem...ive taken the whole cable off and re-seeded it and still nothing. So to answer your question yes it clicked on both ends...any other thoughts...oh and thanks to everyone for being so helpful. So another quick question if i end up having to take it to apple should i put the original ram back in and play it off since i dont think that is my problem but they love to find reasons to void a warranty or will they get upset and void the warranty if new ram is in there.
Click to expand...

This becomes a Karma thing. You could probably put the original parts back in, claim it's defective and get it swapped out with no questions.

And get bad karma.

Or you can just turn it in for repair and see if they end up sticking you with a bill for $200 when they find out you've opened it up to do your own upgrade and ended up causing the issue yourself.
 
If everything is connected though, there really couldn't have been anything that he broke when adding RAM.. right?
 
I mean if i broke something i broke it and its my fault and i will take the blame for that, but i dont know what i could have possible broke i have looked to see if anything looks out of place but nothing. Im taking it there tomorrow with my memory in there if they void it then i face up to it and pay it if not then thats good i dont have to spend anything. I just think that its weird on how it worked occasionally almost like a sound card was failing and that wouldnt be my fault could just be a faulty chip.
 
wbe858 said:
I mean if i broke something i broke it and its my fault and i will take the blame for that, but i dont know what i could have possible broke i have looked to see if anything looks out of place but nothing. Im taking it there tomorrow with my memory in there if they void it then i face up to it and pay it if not then thats good i dont have to spend anything. I just think that its weird on how it worked occasionally almost like a sound card was failing and that wouldnt be my fault could just be a faulty chip.
Click to expand...

According to Apple as referenced here: http://www.macworld.com/article/139336-2/2009/03/mac_mini_2009.html

"Apple’s policy has always been that as long as you don’t break anything in the process, you’re free to upgrade your Mac mini yourself. The company confirmed to Macworld that this is still the case."

So if Apple makes a stink, you could try this as an argument. Don't be afraid to hold your ground and ask to speak to a manager if need be. Worst case is you have to end up paying, but the warranty is not void just because you opened the case so don't let them use that argument. Let them know you took the upmost care in doing the upgrade. Just my 2 cents.
 
DanTheMan said:
According to Apple as referenced here: http://www.macworld.com/article/139336-2/2009/03/mac_mini_2009.html

"Apple’s policy has always been that as long as you don’t break anything in the process, you’re free to upgrade your Mac mini yourself. The company confirmed to Macworld that this is still the case."

So if Apple makes a stink, you could try this as an argument. Don't be afraid to hold your ground and ask to speak to a manager if need be. Worst case is you have to end up paying, but the warranty is not void just because you opened the case so don't let them use that argument. Let them know you took the upmost care in doing the upgrade. Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...


I'll be sure to try that if they do decide to fight me so thanks for everyones help on this, i have an appointment tomorrow to try and figure this out with apple. Hopefully they wont fight me on the fact that i upgraded it, since it did work afterwords but died shortly after.
 
You guys are the greatest! I just upgraded my RAM (what a pain) and had the exact same problem of no sound. It was the gold ribbon thingy that had come unfastened. Clicked it back in place an all is good! Thanks soo much guys!
 
Yea it ended up being the sound board going out...replaced it and it worked as good as new...however there were more problems later a hard drive, a firewire problem, they ended up replacing my whole computer for me after some hassle and a loss of my ram, which was a PITA to get back. All in all the sound problem was either that ribbon cable (which was most people) or the sound board (as in my case).
 
Hey so sorta on topic. Anyone know how to remove this sound board yourself? I have my mini apart and I can't figure it out. I need to remove it for a minute while I cut a little hole. I searched and searched but haven't found any service manuals or anything for the late 2009 minis. ifixit has a teardown, but for some reason they don't take this part out in the teardown :-(
 
l008com said:
Hey so sorta on topic. Anyone know how to remove this sound board yourself? I have my mini apart and I can't figure it out. I need to remove it for a minute while I cut a little hole. I searched and searched but haven't found any service manuals or anything for the late 2009 minis. ifixit has a teardown, but for some reason they don't take this part out in the teardown :-(
Click to expand...

I think there was one screw holding down the board. After removing it, it's just a matter of sliding it out in an angle. The screw is in between the mic and speaker connectors.
 
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