Mini shuts off since upgrade

[illegaloperatio]

I have a 1.25 mini that has been running perfect without issue until I upgraded the hard drive and DVD drive last night. I did this upgrade all in one shot and since then it just shuts off. I had a real tough time getting Tiger to install on the new hard drive because of this issue. I really believe its overheating as it feels really hot and it never shuts off cold.

I have taken this thing back apart and reinspected everything, including the fan. All seems well and put together. What could be causing this? The upgraded hard drive is a 120 gig Samsung at 5400 RPM. I can hear the fan coming on and staying on after a length of time.

 

[Apple2Mac]

When you reeasembled it did you make sure to reconnect the very small black cable in front? it is below the DVD drive and next to the speaker...

 

[illegaloperatio]

When you reeasembled it did you make sure to reconnect the very small black cable in front? it is below the DVD drive and next to the speaker...

Yes I just made sure this was connected nice and tight, problem persists.

 

[Apple2Mac]

When the machine is running can you feel air blowing out the back heat vents, is it cool, warm or hot, is it just barely blowing out, kinda blowing out, blowing out like a tornado?...

 

[mrgreen4242]

Sounds like a fan/heatsink issue. The system will just shut down if the CPU gets to hot. Have you run the Hardware diagnostic CD yet?

 

[illegaloperatio]

When the machine is running can you feel air blowing out the back heat vents, is it cool, warm or hot, is it just barely blowing out, kinda blowing out, blowing out like a tornado?...

The air actually feels faint coming out the back and cool, doesnt feel hot at all like I suspected. Only the aluminum housing feels hot. What makes me suspicious that it's an overheat issue is the fan will come on at all, it never used to do this. Just sitting idle and not doing anything it will eventually kick on then eventually shut off.

I will run the diagnostic CD in a while

 

[Apple2Mac]

Get the program Temperature Monitor
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
Tell us what all your system temps are, I don't think your experiencing a heat issue....

Did you upgrade the memory at all?
Did you take the logic board out? did you unplug the processor at all?...
You may want to consider getting TechTool Pro

 

[orangezorki]

Sounds very much like it's overheating. Having only built one cheap PC myself, I'm obviously an expert, but these are a few things I'd look for:

1. If you had to remove the heatsink, I'd take it off again and replace the thermal compound.

2. Is there anything in the path of the airflow?

3. Check that everything was reconnected, I hear that it's very possible to disconnect the wires for the fan or the thermal sensor.

Hope this helps - It would be a shame otherwise - I bought an almost exactly the same model for my Mum at the beginning of this year, and I was really impressed that despite the low price and simple specs, it's just as beautiful and well designed as any other Mac.

David

 

[illegaloperatio]

Update to this: It's not overheating like I thought. It never goes above 140 F max.

I replaced the old hardware and the problem persists. I learned how to reset the mini and this helped alot. At first I thought I had it fixed, but it still does this just now it seems to take longer.

What happens is this, after a length of time this things just turns off and turns right back on pretty rapidly. Usually on the 3rd shut off it shuts all the way down and I have to power it back on. HOWEVER, about 40 percent of the time it goes into some sort of energy saving mode instead, where the LED in front slowly pulsates. Therefore a light tap of the power button brings it right back.

I have all the power savings stuff turned off so I dont know why its doing this.

I hope this helps someone help me. I am desperte to try and get this working I just spent a ton of cash on it.

 

[Chrome Studios]

I had the same problem, and found the answer.

I just put a 160GB drive into my mini and had the exact same problem. It is a heat issue that the mini is very sensitive to. Ignore the temperature reading you got, it's heat. When you upgraded the drive you had to pull the fan. When you put the fan back in, did you make sure the hole in the side of the fan's housing was aligned with the plastic duct work that runs the length of machine and exits the back vent? I screwed it back in so the fan was unable to eject any heat. The symptoms were identicle to your's. I just properly reinstalled my fan and it all works great now.

 

[Cave Man]

Also, double-check to make sure you didn't unseat the ram sticks. Shutting down is a symptom of such.