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Random Black Screens

Throw my 2012 i5 mini into the mix...I have had 2 black screens since I bought it new Oct 31st...

HDMI>DVI on a Dell U2311H...First black screen was when the mini was complete stock...

I have added a Samsung 830 SSD as the main boot drive and used the stock drive as storage and upgraded to 8GB of crucial RAM...

The second black screen was last night and the only thing I noticed both times was I was watching a youtube video with chrome as the browser...
 
Wasn't there a poll in this thread (or another thread, I suppose it may have been lost if the threads were merged)?

Anyway, how about a poll with these options below. -Could we add it to the OP, or in another thread?;

HDMI - With Issues.
HDMI - No Issues.
TB - With Issues.
TB - Without Issues.
TB to Adapter (Not HDMI) - With Issues.
TB to Adapter (Not HDMI)- No Issues.
TB to HDMI Adapter - With Issues.
TB to HDMI Adapter - No Issues.

The idea being is that it appears that the 'workaround' is to run via the TB output, (with an adapter if need be). -But this is not 100% effective however, as there have been posters to say that they still get the issue.

To make it simpler we could scrub the blue coloured bits? Or maybe just keep it HDMI and TB only?

However it seems that the people with issues via the TB are running to HDMI, so making the poll simpler may no identify the problems clearly?
 
CHAOS STEP said:
Anyway, how about a poll with these options below. -Could we add it to the OP, or in another thread?;
Click to expand...

I'm afraid it's three separate issues:

1. Recurring black screens
2. Blurry/pixeled fonts (underscanning ?)
3. Awful colors including far too bright whites

While moving over from HDMI to TB (using the TB -> HDMI adapter cable) proved to be a workaround for problem #1, the other two are still unsolved.
 
adonis3k said:
Anyone go back to 10.8.1 to see if it fixes the HDMI prob?
Click to expand...

I have read several reports which say that all versions of the 2012 mini is having issues, even 10.8.1.

In fact it's not just the mini that is having problems, Macbook Pros (on 10.8.2) and even iPads with iOS 6 are having HTML issues. Who knew Mountain Lions didn't like Hi-Def :)

----------
MrXiro said:
FYI I exchanged mine 2 weeks later and my new one has yet to have black screen issues with 2 different monitors (have had it for 11 days now).
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, you are using HDMI? :confused:

----------
spookle said:
mac...nificent, thanks for your reply in #456

Hopefully they will sort it out and I can then buy a new i5.
Click to expand...

Yeah let's hope it pans out to be correct. Fingers crossed :)

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Woyzeck said:
While moving over from HDMI to TB (using the TB -> HDMI adapter cable) proved to be a workaround for problem #1, the other two are still unsolved.
Click to expand...

It is not clear if people with #2 and 3 tried to create a new monitor profile, which usually resolves those issues.
 
Just an update:
I've used my mac mini a bit more since posting. At first I didn't know I could use a mini display port cable on the thunderbolt port lol. Now that I know I tested it and haven't gotten any black screens or white noise screens.

Then I plugged the hdmi to dvi adapter and got the bug again. This was running some cinebench. It only happened once (using hdmi adapter) and I was unable to reproduce it on the hdmi or mini displayport cable.
 
Spoke to an Apple tech on Wed. and he said he would get back to me on the issue. It sounds like they're getting a large influx of complaints about it, so hopefully we'll see a resolution soon.
 
I spoke to them today as she said this is the first she'd heard of it. I promptly asked for a refund.

I have bought a 2011 2.5GHz dual core with radeon instead. Maybe not as much processing power but, like my last one, there shouldn't be any screen issues!

I will be keeping an eye out in 2013 for another one probably once this episode is over.

Sam.
 
This same thing happens to my 2009 MacBook Pro every once in a while with an external monitor. Only happens once every month or so but similar symptoms.
 
I returned the 2012 mac mini i7 twice for the hdmi issues.
The first one blanked out or went snowy regularly.
The second one it only occurred a couple times every other day.

It's been a week and 2 days with this my 3rd one and I've had no issues at all.
I tend to tax the gpu / cpu a quite a bit with 3d apps / blender / unity / zbrush and a few games like portal 2. Dual monitor setup and 8 gigs of crucial ram.

The only real difference in the way this one is configured would be that it runs 10.8.1 while the other 2 ran 10.8.2.
 
I have a week left to return my Mini. I'm leaning towards keeping it unless the problems get worse over the next six days. I'm thinking I'll spring for AppleCare too, since that will hopefully motivate them to be more helpful, and because I'd like to keep this thing long-term and eventually turn it into a dedicated fileserver to serve movies and music to my AppleTV.

Rob
 
Returned my BTO 2012 MM 2.6 yesterday at the Apple Store in Palo Alto due to blank/snow screens at least 3x/day on HDMI and HDMI-DVI. Really wasted a lot of time trying to set up, load software, etc. for a home office, but luckily learned about this issue on the forum. Would have stuck it out, but not convinced it's not a HD4000 hardware issue because Win/Linux platforms still have this issue since being reported on the Intel forum in June.

Bought a refurb 2011 MM 2.5/Radeon on ebay, no problems so far.

Second dud Apple product in a row for me. In 2011, luckily returned a 15" MBP after one week after it had the infamous dead logic board issue, (now under class-action suit). http://tinyurl.com/dxxjm7w

Will I have averted another product under a class action by returning the MM?

Antenna-gate > Map-gate > Blink-gate. What's happening in Cupertino?
 
Last edited:
hasenpfeffer said:
Poking around the intel forum seems to suggest you may be able to work around the issue until an official fix is released by removing all but 1 of the memory modules. It would be interesting if someone could try this and report.
Click to expand...

It was tried towards the beginning of the thread. Basically it just makes your VRAM almost nothing and causes other slowdowns due to only running a single module. Not worth the hassle.
 
I just got my second black screen, which for me is a full-on crash. Got home from work, tapped the shift key to bring the screen on. It paused for a moment longer than usual. A second tap and it came on. I went to Skype to msg somebody, started to type, and BAM. TB Display went black, 2nd screen on HDMI went all screwy looking, and it was dead. I know it was because I tried to ssh into it from my 11" Air and couldn't.

Rob
 
Those with HDMI issues (black screen or flicker ONLY) could you post your Intel graphics chip Revision ID and ROM revision numbers? There may be a hardware element to this HDMI problem after all.

You simply click on the Apple menu (in the upper left hand side of your screen) > About This Mac > More Info > System Report > now look on the left hand side - under Hardware > Revision ID and ROM Revision? :confused:
 
Mac... nificent said:
Those with HDMI issues (black screen or flicker ONLY) could you post your Intel graphics chip Revision ID and ROM revision numbers? There may be a hardware element to this HDMI problem after all.

You simply click on the Apple menu (in the upper left hand side of your screen) > About This Mac > More Info > System Report > now look on the left hand side - under Hardware > Revision ID and ROM Revision? :confused:
Click to expand...

I found it under Graphics/Displays:

Revision ID 0x0009
Device ID 0x0166

I didn't see a ROM Revision.

Rob
 
This is my data
Model Identifier: Macmini6,2
Boot ROM Version: MM61.0106.B00
SMC Version (system): 2.8f0

And about the graphics:
VRAM (Total): 768 MB
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device ID: 0x0166
Revision ID: 0x0009
 
Last edited:
Identifier MacMini 6,2
Revision I.D 0x0009
Boot Rom Version MM61.0106.Boo

Hope we are getting closer to a solution.

Alan
 
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