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?

It's a long shot but I had this problem when I first bought my Mac Mini and the PSU had somehow locked up. I disconnected it from the mains for 30 seconds, then re-attached it. I'd already checked my physical connections (keyboard / monitor etc) to no avail. I never dreamed it would be the PSU but it was.

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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.

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.

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.

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?

Mac mini won't start - no grey screen

Hi, my mac mini mode A1176 has stopped working. One night it was fine and the next morning it wouldn't talk to me!
The power light was still on but no video output and screen sharing has stoped - I'd left it being controlled from another mac.
It doesn't respond to the keyboard or trackpad but does turn off if you hold the power button down. Pressing the power button again makes the power light come on and the external firewire drive boots up. I can't hear the internal drive start, there is no startup bleep or grey screen with spinny gear. It won't take a cd or dvd either.
I've tried reseting the SMC and the monitor works fine with another computer.
I've searched this and other support sites but can't find a match for these symptoms.
Anyone got any ideas before I start pulling it apart?
Thanks

Depending on the age of your Mac mini it might be able to be repaired if you want to spend the money.
At work we had a first generation Intel Mac Mini, and I had a similar issue. Couldn't do anything with it. I cracked the case, wiggled the connectors, the RAM DIMMs, etc. Eventually just gave up on it, pulled out the hard drive and mounted that in an external USB hard drive chassis. Then migrated that disk to an iMac that ordered shortly thereafter. We got that machine back in 2006, so there was no chance of getting an approval to have it repaired and I wanted to run Lion on my desktop. That first gen Intel iMac was a Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo) and could not be upgraded to Lion. So it worked out for the best.

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.
Then I'd shut everything down, disconnect the cables, and boot the the Mini from the Leopard disc and do a clean install. Then I'd bring the relevant data files back from the external drive.
(The actual details might vary slightly.)
(I see Nick had the same simultaneous thought -- though he expresses the process more clearly than I.)
Message was edited by: Boece

Mac Mini won't start with scheduler after power loss

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.

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.

New mac mini won't start up...

I just got my new mac mini today and it won't start up. After some research I discovered that the icon on the screen is telling me to put batteries in my mouse. There are batteries in my mouse. I shut it down and restarted it again, making sure my wireless keyboard and mouse were turned on. That didn't work. Then I tried turning them on after I started the computer. That didn't work either. I'm sad.

I have had the same issue (new Mac Mini, client OS, new wireless keyboard and trackpad ... connected using HDMI cables through my receiver to my TV).
First I got stuck on a spinning doughnut right out of the gate. Phone tech support told me I needed a wired keyboard. While I didn't like the idea, I went down to the apple store to buy that and they told me there was something wrong with the Mini and to bring it in. Today I did took the unit in; they discovered a faulty harddisk and replaced the unit without much hassle (nice).
Before leaving the store, I told them what phone support had to say about requiring a hardwired mouse and keyboard for setup. They told me it used to be necessary but that is not so nowadays. I happily left the store expecting no other issues.
Now here I sit. My trackpad is recognized but my keyboard is not. I can't get past the nearly indecipherable screen showing me how to power up these devices for discovery and pairing because it doesn't recognize the keyboard. And since I don't have a wired keyboard anywhere in my house, I'm looking at my 60 minute roundtrip to the apple store. sigh
I'm most upset about that part. If they'd simply set my expectations that I need a wired solution for setup, I wouldn't like it but at least I'd know and wouldn't spend endless time wasting gas simply to get to step 2 of setup.
I've been a big fan of the iPhone an iPad but I have to say that Windows PC setup (while a tad slow) is MUCH more straightforward than this. At least I have some workaround options that get me moving. Works out of the box, my @#$.

2007 Mac Mini Won't Start

Hi All
I have a feeling the boards gone on this but I thought I'd run it past everyone.
Power the mac mini and no chime and no video but constant white light. Originally the fan came on an the cd that was still inside tried to spin and a wired mouse flicked it's red 'ball' light on briefly. There is no ethernet at this point (being that I plugged into a hub an no light displays on the hub).
Since then I have opened up the case I replace the internal battery and hard reset the smc with the switch on the board. I also removed the cd having to open the dvd drive up to get it out.
Try a boot and again we get a constant light no chime and no video. Although the fan has now stopped running.
seems like a boot rom issues for what I can gather and I don't know if these issues can be repaired save buying a motherboard. Or why the boot rom (if that's what it is) would just die.
Incidentally after the above I did remove the ram and the hd/dvd and power on to get the power light to flash which tells me the board manages to test for ram.
Just wondered if there was anything I could try before the BIN
Cheers
Steve

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.

Help! my Mac Mini won't start up!

Hi,
Bought my Mac Mini (server editino) a week ago. Been playing with it & so far so good.
But tonight, I went 'Log off administrator', it thought about it for a while and the screen when blue and flashed every now and then. I forced shut down by holding down the power button at the back.
Now, it won't start up at all. When I push power button, I hear the chime & I get the white screen with the Apple log with the spinning thing at the bottom. It stays here forever...
I've tried reseting the PMU and the SMC. No difference.
I've also tried doing a remote reinstall from my other MAC. The Mac Mini picks up the remote DVD drive but then when I click on it, it does the same thing... spin spin spin...
Any ideas guys? thanks in advance!!

ok, on my 5th attempt at doing a remote install it actually worked... I'm in the process of reinstalling Snow Leopard Server now... fingers crossed...
can't believe I killed it within 1 week!

My brand new Mac Mini won't start up

the light comes on, but thats it. No sound, no program. It did work for about an hour. What happened? I tried everything...Take it back.
Opinions please.
SP

Having the same issue with my brand new Intel Mac Mini. Happened earlier this week for the first time it went into sleep mode and wouldn't wake up (the light came on, but no chime, no video) - even after shutting it down and trying to boot it up again.
I called tech support and they had me reboot the bios by unplugging it, pressing and holding the power button and plugging the power back in then releasing the button. After that I pressed the button and it came on - when I turned it on again the fan came on full tilt. I called tech support again they had me unplug it for 3 minutes then it came back on again and seemed fine.
Today it happened again - I was able to get it rebooted it but called tech support anyway. I am very concerned that a brand new machine is acting this way. While working with tech support it again became unresponsive. After trying a few things I was connected with another product specialist that agreed that their was a problem and has arranged to get me a new machine.
I am very disappointed as this is my first Mac experience, but hoping it is an isolated issue. Tech support seemed very responsive and I am happy with Apple's response thus far - although it would be nice if they would send the new Mac overnight!
Anyway since others are having a similiar issue I was curious if there are any common threads to our experiences? If you have a chance list your specs - might see something interesting.
Ok here are mine:
- Mac Mini Intel Solo Core
- Upgraded the RAM to 1 Gig (Ordered it this way)
- Upgraded to the SuperDrive (DVD Burner)
- Using a KVM (Also have a PC on the same KVM)
- Acomdata 160 GB Mini Pal Hard Drive / Ports
- iPod dock connected
- USB Camera cable connected
- Keyboard and mouse are USB wireless PC based
Anyway post your specs if you are having an issue - maybe we will see a trend.
Guy
Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.5)
Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Mac Mini won't start up. RAM issue?

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