Mac mini won't power on, fully boot

my mini only powers up if i unplug-plug in, but dies before it fully boots once i push the on button

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Mac mini won't power up, any suggestions

My Mac mini won't power up for more than a couple of seconds, I've tried disconnecting the power supply for 24 hours and it still won't power up. Any suggestions?

I just fixed mine today after 3 previous failed attempts to fix. While this probably will not be your solution, it is worth a shot. I too had a board that would not power, NOTHING. With a volt meter I could confirm that the Power Supply was good, and was also delivering voltage to the Mother Board at the connector.
The root cause in my situation:
The SMC reset button on the Mother Board was stuck in the depressed position (i.e. a short).
The Fix:
Pry SMC Reset button off the board with a very tiny screw driver or other such tool. It cleanly popped off the board.
The pads will remain, allowing you to still reset SMC in future if needed by just shorting them the old fashion way.

Mac Mini Won't Power On -- power light on, nothing else

I will ask this again, since noone bothered to respond to my question before.
I applied the SMC reset many times. This time it happened I did not put the Mac to sleep -- I shut it down last night. This morning the problem is back and the reset no longer works.
This is a brand new Intel Mac Mini, which marks the third Mac that I bought that doesn't work properly straight out of the box that I bought. I must be an idiot for expecting quality out of Apple. Genius bars at local stores have their reservations booked up and won't accept any new ones.
What I'd like to do is -- either someone point me to a permanent solution that I can apply myself or I'd like to walk into an Apple Store and swap the Mac for a brand new one that works.
Any thoughts ?

This is (almost) strictly a user-to-user support site, and though very rarely an Apple staffer may post helpful information, it is not as a formal contribution from Apple, but merely as another user trying to offer some assistance.
Unfortunately in your case, while there have been some reports of similar behavior in other Mac minis, there has not been any clear solution found - which is why I suspect you haven't had any helpful responses. The SMC reset procedure has been suggested for this in the past, and has occasionally worked, as it appeared to do for you that one time, but generally it appears not to have helped. Indeed, the fact it didn't resolve the problem in your case after that first time suggests that it may only have been coincidental that it seemed to have worked.
There are really only a couple of possible causes as I see it. Faulty memory can cause the sort of failure to boot you describe here, and could also be complicit in wake from sleep issues too, and it's possible an external device could be causing problems too. You might try and boot with nothing connected to see if that helps, but in the broadest sense this sounds to me like a hardware failure. Macs (not just Mac mini models) do occasionally suffer wake from sleep issues, often the result of peripheral devices, but this would not be expected to also affect system boot up. Indeed, should never do so.
Typically, if done correctly, an SMC reset either works first time or not. Doing it multiple times means it isn't the solution - as you have found. It may be that your system is suffering a dead internal battery (some Mac models simply fail to boot with symptoms similar to yours) with then internal battery fails, but all in all I think Apple need to look at this problem and try and resolve it, because even if there appears to be a solution in some user-initiated procedure such as an SMC reset, unless the actual fault is known, there can't be much confidence the problem will not return at some point.
Please let us know what Apple say - I suspect they'll have you run through the usual array of troubleshooting tests, and then want to start replacing components such as the logic board, but it will be interesting to know what they decide.

Mac Mini won't power on. No light, no sound, no nothing.

I left for vacation a couple of weeks ago, and shut down and unplugged my computer and peripherals. Everything was working fine. When I returned 12 days later, I plugged everything back in, but the mini won't respond. At all. Nothing. I bought a new power adapter and tried that. Still nothing. I have also tried resetting the SMC (which is really just unplugging everything and then plugging it back in). Still no response. Any ideas? Thanks for any help.

Did you get this fixed? Mine did the same thing. I unplugged it for 2 weeks and now it won't turn on at all. I have had to replaced the airport card twice, the logic board, the optical drive and just recently the hard drive... and now it won't turn on! There better be a good reason it doesn't want to work now!

Mac Mini won't boot after failed XP installation

Recently upgrade HD to 320GB 7200 rpm and 3GB ram. Running 10.5.8 fine.
I tried to install Windows XP through Boot Camp, but wasn't successful, I terminated the installation. Then Mac Mini won't boot up. When powered on, you heard the chime, then grey screen showed and stayed. Tried starting with "C" (boot from CD), "OPT" (boot option), "T" (target), and reset PRAM. None of them worked.
What should I try next?
Thanks
Message was edited by: Yijian Cao

If you install XP on Bootcamp, your startup disc will be changed to XP Windows partitioned you did. To restore your startup disc back to Mac OS, make sure your Mac is turned off. 1. Plug the power back and press the power button ON. When you hear the power On sound, press and hold the ALT key on your keyboard until you see the hardrives. 2. Select the HD that says MAc OS, then your mac will boot back to Mac OS.
Let me know if you have more problems, maybe I can help.
Abel

Mac mini won't boot anymore

My Mac mini won't boot anymore. It's been running fine for months.
It's running Leopard Server 10.5.2 Build 9C31
It starts to boot, I get the first spinning gear with the gray screen, then the blue desktop blinks, then a second spinning gear on a gray screen and it appears to hang (the gear stops spinning).
I booted off the install DVD, ran disk utility, repaired the HD, repaired the permissions: the behavior is the same.
Safe mode doesn't work (same hang as above).
Single user mode does work.
I can connect to it via Server Admin while it appears hung.
The last few lines of the system log are:
May 15 18:38:58 server emond[67]: SetUpLogs: uid = 0 gid = 0
May 15 18:38:58 server emond[67]: SetUpLogs: opening /Library/Logs/EventMonitor/EventMonitor.error.log
May 15 18:38:59 server kextd[23]: writing kernel link data to /var/run/mach.sym
May 15 18:39:09 server KernelEventAgent[59]: tid 00000000 received unknown event (12)
May 15 18:39:20 server kernel[0]: display: Not usable
May 15 18:39:20 server com.apple.KerberosAutoConfig[126]: Kerberos configuration is up to date
May 15 18:39:20 server com.apple.ATSServer[125]: FODBCheck: New annex file created
May 15 18:39:21 server ARDAgent [130]: ******ARDAgent Launched******
May 15 18:39:21 server com.apple.KerberosAutoConfig[132]: Kerberos configuration is up to date
May 15 18:39:22 server ARDAgent [130]: call logout from LoginLogoutProxyCallBackFunction
May 15 18:39:22 server com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.RemoteDesktop.agent): Throttling respawn: Will start in 9 seconds
May 15 18:39:24 server loginwindow[58]: Login Window Started Security Agent
May 15 18:39:29 server servermgrd[53]: servermgr_calendar: created default calendar virtual host
May 15 18:39:31 server ARDAgent [146]: ******ARDAgent Launched******
May 15 18:39:32 server ARDAgent [146]: ******ARDAgent Ready******
May 15 18:39:33 server mdworker[109]: (Error) SyncInfo: Boot-cache avoidance timed out!
May 15 18:39:54 server Python[47]: CGImageSourceCreateWithData data parameter is nil
May 15 18:39:54 server com.apple.wikid[47]: Thu May 15 18:39:54 server.jeff.carpenter.name Python[47] <Error>: CGImageSourceCreateWithData data parameter is nil\n
May 15 18:39:56 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2 - bad packet received. length: 1440, packet status bits: MII error
May 15 18:39:56 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2: 00000000,00000001 sk98osx sky2 - - sk98osx_sky2::replaceOrCopyPacket tried N times
May 15 18:49:54 server kernel[0]: serialnumberd 194 FSWRITEDATA SBF /dev/dtracehelper 13 (seatbelt)
May 15 18:49:54 server kernel[0]: serialnumberd 194 FSREADDATA SBF /dev/autofs_nowait 13 (seatbelt)
May 15 18:49:54 server kernel[0]: serialnumberd 194 FSREADDATA SBF /usr/sbin 13 (seatbelt)
May 15 18:55:12 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2 - bad packet received. length: 23, packet status bits: MII error
Any ideas?

Yes, it's been running Server since I purchased it.
I doubt the serial number is in use elsewhere: I purchased the 10-user version at a retail store in a sealed package and I've only installed it once.

Mac Mini won't boot up.

Mac Mini won't boot up! Just getting blank white screen, any ideas why? No apple, just a blank screen. It worked fine last night.

Have you tried booting into the Recovery HD by pressing/holding COMMAND+R at system start or the Option/Alt key and choosing Recovery HD to boot into?
If you can get into the Recovery HD, open Disk Utilities and Verify Disk. Repair if necessary.

My Mac Mini won't start. The Power light blinks continusly (not pulses)

My New Mac Mini won't start up. I bought it online from J&R a week ago. My monitor says "no input detected" and the power light blinks. I recently fed it the gray mac os x install disk one, which it won't give back. Holding the mouse button when it turns on doesn't have any effect. So now i can't put a disk in or start it up.

Welcome to the Apple discussions.
No video with the power light blinking once per second means either bad or no memory. See this Apple note: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303083 . Specifically, below is from that note:
If the computer detects no SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory, also referred to as RAM) or the RAM installed does not meet the appropriate specifications, the screen will remain black but the power LED on the front of the computer will blink once per second to signal the error. This error condition may be due to physically damaged RAM, installing the incorrect type of RAM, or not having RAM installed.
Has it ever worked since you got it? If not, you should call J&R and tell them they sent a dead on arrival system, and ask for a replacement (ask them to send a will call tag or prepaid label to send the non-working machine back).

Mac Mini won't start and constantly makes disc ejecting noise

My Mac Mini won't start. It was working fine, then just locked up and won't start again. When I push the start button it just makes this repeated disc ejecting noise from the DVD drive. It doesn't make the chime noise or display anything on the monitor. I've disconnected the optical drive, but it didn't help. Then it just doesn't start at all. I thought that if I would disconnect the optical drive, that it would ignore it and just boot off the hard drive, but nothing happened. The power light comes on. Then, if I hold down the power button for 10 seconds it shuts down. The fan operates. It just never attempts to boot up. I can't put in a system DVD because the optical drive is just in eternal eject mode.
If you have any suggestions let me know. Thanks.

I have the same situation.
I think the drive thinks it has a disc to eject or part of the mechanism is stuck and can't return to it's resting position. I was going to disconnect as you tried but now I think I'll try to disassemble the drive to see if there might be some debris jamming things up.
Please let me know if you solve the problem.

My Mac Mini won't get past the initial startup screen with the Apple logo. What can I do?

After a long distance move, my Mac Mini won't startup past the logo screen. What can I do?

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a startup failure is to secure the data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
     a. Start up from the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.
b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, boot from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
c. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
d. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a startup failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Start up in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you start up in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 10. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the startup process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select the startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then restart as usual.
Step 9
If the startup device is an aftermarket SSD, it may need a firmware update and/or a forced "garbage collection." Instructions for doing this with a Crucial-branded SSD were posted here. Some of those instructions may apply to other brands of SSD, but you should check with the vendor's tech support.
Step 10
Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 11
Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 12
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a startup failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 13
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Mac Mini won't start after installing OS X 10.6.3

My Mac Mini won't start after installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3. When I turn it on, the Apple logo appears and the initialization line starts to fill, but it suddenly stops. It does that again and stops at the same point, but this time it shuts down. What should I do?

If you are coming from 10.5.8, hopefully you backed up your important data first. Your mini will need at minimum, 1 GB of RAM to install Snow Leopard and at least 5 GB of storage remaining on your boot drive.
I treat 10.6.3 as a fresh, full install over a 10.5.8 system. That means I choose Disk Utility from the Installer's menu and repartition the boot drive as a single partition, Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) format, and use the GUID partition scheme from the options button. At this point, while still in Disk Utility, I would verify the drive under First Aid.
Then I turn the installer loose, and reboot into a working 10.6.3 system, ready for the software updates that take the machine to 10.6.8.
So, following the above guidelines, reinstall 10.6.3.

TS3824 2011 mac mini won't go past white screen with apple logo

My Mac mini won't move past a white screen with apple logo in the center. What should I do?

Hi ..
If you have v10.7 Lion installed, use Lion Recovery to repair the startup disk if necessary, or reinstall the Mac OS X.
If you are running a prior Mac OS X, boot from your install disc, run Disk Utility. The startup disk may need repairing > Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
And try Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM

Mac mini won't start up. Grey screen with apple just freezes.

Mac mini won't start up. just get a grey screen with the apple and it freezes. Please help.

Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
If 10.7.0 or later...
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partitirion & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.

My mac mini won't start up!

My mac mini won't start up but it will turn on, staying at the gray apple logo screen and nothing else.
I came home yesterday and it wouldn't 'wake up' from 'sleep' mode so I turned it off and tried to turn it back on. There's a netflix cd in there that I also can't get out. My friend suggested i slip a piece of paper in there and that it will eject, but this isn't working (maybe I'm doing this wrong?)
help! thanks.

I have the same problem. In addition, the same happens when attempting to boot from a DVD. I was able to boot it up in Target Disc Mode, and even erase the internal HD entirely, but I still cannot boot from DVD to reinstall the OS. I have tried the SMC reset, but to no avail. Also, while I can reset the PRAM, I cannot reset the Open Firmware. Any suggestions?

2010 Mac Mini won't sleep

Hello, everything was working fine until I accessed my mac mini from my old iMac G4 to share some files. Now my new Mac Mini won't sleep. Here is what I have done. Ejected the Mac Mini on the iMac. Turned off the iMac, stopped sharing everything on the Mac Mini including files, my printer and iTunes media and reset the PRAM. Still the Mac Mini won't sleep. It's set to it's defaults of 10 minutes to sleep the monitor and itself but only the monitor goes to sleep after the 10 minutes. Very frustrated...

Hello Euchre and thank you for replying. I have unchecked all the boxes within the "Sharing" options that I checked some time ago. When I did that, sharing was automatically turned off. Still I am having the issue. I'll try putting the monitor at 9 minutes and the computer at 10 to see if that works. I'll be back. Thanks again, Ed

Mac mini won't power on, fully boot

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