Mac Mini Won't Start after RAM upgrade

Hi, I just tried upgrading my RAM from 1GB to 2GB on my Intel Core Solo Mac Mini. When i hooked everything back up it wouldn't start up. So I replaced the original RAM and the same thing happened. I get to the gray apple screen with the gray spinning wheel and then it just shuts off. What could be my problem? Are their any solutions?

Welcome to Apple Discussions, though I suspect the circumstances could be better!
It's not unusual for 'bad RAM' to cause a system to fail to boot, but the disturbing feature of your problem is that when the previous memory is reinserted, the system continues to fail. What makes it worse is that you describe the system shutting off after failing to boot - that is not a common symptom of something simple like bad memory, and may mean that in the initial upgrade, something was damaged or dislodged, or not reconnected correctly.
I would open up the system again, and disassemble it sufficiently that you can reseat the original RAM which was working correctly prior to the upgrade, then check that everything is connected correctly internally, and the CPU heatsink is firmly attached. If that doesn't result in the system working, or at least in different symptoms such as being stuck on the grey screen but no longer shutting down, then I would look for an Apple store in the area and make an appointment at the genius bar for them to have a look - that would not bear a cost in the first instance for them to give their opinion.

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Mac mini won't boot after RAM upgrade.

Tried installing new RAM in my Mac Mini, 512MB stock to 2GB of Crucial. Followed the directions to a T, grounded myself the whole time.
Things I've tried so far:
1. Resetting the PRAM, no luck.
2. Holding option at start-up, shows no icon.
3. Holding shift, no luck.
4. Holding X, nothing.
How do I get it to accept a CD if it won't boot?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
You clearly have a problem, but you don't describe exactly what that is other than that your mini won't boot after the upgrade. What happens when it starts up? Does it attempt to start and hang up on the grey or blue screens, or does it start beeping at you almost immediately after you try and start it up, and also flash the power light?
If the former, then you may have dislodged a connector while working inside the system, in which case opening it up and checking that everything is firmly connected would be the first thing to do. If the latter, then the beeping/light flashing is the system telling you it has failed the power-on self test and the pattern of beeps/lights indicates why. In your case likely the system can't find workable memory. In that instance, opening the system and ensuring that the RAM is firmly and fully seated would be a good step, and if the mini continues to fail, then replacing the new RAM with the original to test that the system will then start.
It is not likely that anything had damaged your MacOS install in the process of upgrading, thus normally no reason to need to boot to CD as a result of a RAM issue.

Mac Mini won't start after installing OS X 10.6.3

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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.
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Hi
I recently upgraded my mac mini from 2gb ram to 8gb ram and noticed that when the mac goes to sleep and the tv ( through hdmi wire) goes into standby that the mac mini will not send a signal to the tv anymore to wake up the tv from standby when I need it too from tapping on keyboard or moving mouse. At first I thought it was because of a software upgrade on the mac mini but when I switched back the ram to 2gb the mac mini will send the signal to wake the tv . I am just wondering has anyone come across this problem and what the solution is . I hav already reset pram setting and the usual things that everyone has mentioned in other posts . This seems to be a major flaw in apple deisgn unless they have a fix . I am stuck with my 2gb ram now in the mac which doesnt even have any speed . the only way I can use the 8gb ram is if i turn the mac on and off everytime I want to use it , as this is the only way to wake the tv with the 8gb ram inside as it doesnt wake the tv from sleep. This totally contradicts what apple say in their manual aswell, they say not to power down your mac if your using it everyday just put it to sleep which wont help me in my case . So at the end of this rant my only two options are to continue to use 8gb ram and have to power on and off mac everytime to wake the tv or use my 2gb ram which makes the mac run really slow as 2gb is not enough but hey aleast my tv will come back on from sleep mode .
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Hi, no idea if this could affect it, but after the RAM install did you try thiese?
Have you done a PRAM reset, CMD+Option+p+r...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?

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Hello,
I have a Mac Mini here. It is configured to start at a certain time (say 1:00 AM). In the evening I shut down the Mac Mini and power off the socket where it is connected. In the morning I switch on the power socket and the Mac Mini is not starting.
When I do the same thing with an iMac everything works. The iMac will start because he missed the 1:00 AM.
I checked this with the current Mac Mini MC815D/A: here it works again!
So, what is wrong with my Mac Mini? I have this model:
APPLE #MAC MINI 2.4GHz (MC270LL/A)
Model No: A1347 (EMC 2364)
Model ID: Macmini 4,1
Can this be verified my some other user?
I use the latest firmware, and this behaviour shows up on several OSes (Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion)
Best regards
Matthias

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, then move these files to the Desktop.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.AutoWake.plist
(Then Trash the original of these last two, as "moving" them only copies them.)
Then reboot once more.

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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

Itunes just won't start after the upgrade

I've upgraded my itunes, and done all the double checks I've found on this site. My itunes just will not start after the upgrade. It's frustrating to say the least because I can't even access my libary or edit my ipod. I've tried everything including uninstalling and reinstalling.. please help! I wanted to put my audio books on my ipod for a roadtrip tomorrow!

Thanks Katrina. I was able to find what I needed through the link that you provided.
To those that are having this problem, here's what I did to fix this issue:
+If I have a computer or device that does not work well with an AWD with the latest update, how can I install previous (earlier) versions of firmware?+
+1. Open AirPort Utility.+
+2. From the AirPort Utility menu, hold the Option key *(Control key in Windows XP and Vista)* and choose Check for Updates....+
+3. Select the specific firmware version you require.+
+4. Click Download.+
+5. Select your base station and choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu, or double-click on the AWD icon.+
+6. Choose Base Station > Upload Firmware.+
+7. Select a firmware version and click OK.+
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1218
I chose firmware: Airport Extreme with 8-2.11n (Fast Ethernet) 7.3.2 Be patient, as Airport Utility will report that it can't find the AEBS, but after a short while mine was back. I did not roll back my version of Airport Utility.
All appears to be normal and the iTunes library is rebuilding as I type this. Hopefully, Apple will figure out what's causing the problem with firmware 7.4.1

Mac Mini Won't Sleep after installing 10.4.6

My Mac Mini wakes itself up after just 1 minute of putting it to sleep mode. I've tried restarting my mini, and tried quitting all apps and disabling airport and bluetooth- but it still won't sleep! Anyone else experiencing this problem, I didn't have this problem with 10.4.5 and I've installed no other software since then...

This is for a Mac that won't sleep.
First, read things in Apple doc.#25801 on sleep settings.
USB devices and hubs often cause Macs to not sleep or wake quickly from sleep (notably HP printers and scanners, HP all in ones, and Cannon scanners). Disconnect all USB except for keyboard and mouse and try. If it sleeps, add one back at a time testing after each one to find the culprit.
If you've set your Mac to recieve faxes, it may not be able to sleep. It might also have a damaged preferences file.
If you use your Mac for faxing, open System Preferences. click Print & Fax, click the Faxing tab, and uncheck the Recieve Faxes On This Computer box.
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"I have had this problem with my IMac G5. It is surprisingly irritating. LaCie's Silverkeeper backup software was the cause. By default it gave itself permission to wake up the computer to check if a backup was needed. Do you have this or a similar program installed which has scheduled activities including wake-up permissions as an option?"
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DALE

Mac Mini won't start up - I have Leopard DVD, what can I do?

Hey friends,
I need some serious help. My brother's intel Mac Mini will not start up - it stays on the progress wheel interminably, until it goes to an error screen - and so I want to fix it using my Leopard install DVD. (FWIW, Tiger is currently installed on the Mac Mini).
What can I do to start the computer up with the DVD? I eventually want to Archive & Install.
Thanks so much for your help!

If it were me ... and if there is more free space on the external hard drive than there is "stuff" on the Mini that needs to be saved ... I would probably connect the Mini to the G5 with a firewire cable, connect the external to the G5, and startup the Mini in Target Disk Mode (which will mount it on the G5's desktop.) Then I'd rescue everything of value from the Mini's hard drive by copying it in small chunks to the external drive.
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Message was edited by: Boece

Mac Mini won't start up. RAM issue?

I recently got my father to switch to a Mac. He bought a Mac Mini that was declared DOA and returned. His new Mini just arrived, and now it won't start up. He hears the drive start to move and sees a green light, but then the sound stops and the green light flashes. He's got the Core i5 2.3 gHz with a 750 GB hard drive. I installed 8 GB of Crucial RAM, but he had to pull it out when the first machine was sent back, and he installed it himself in the second machine (I am no longer visiting him). Is it possible that the new machine is having a problem with the RAM, or that it was installed incorrectly? The screen is just remaining black. There's no startup screen or anything. Has anyone seen this before?

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