Mini won't start up

our mini suddenly shut off by itself. There was no error message or anything unusual until it went black. Now it will not start up. There is no chime nor does the light come on. I have checked the powerbar that it is plug into and the powerbar is fine. I still feel it is probably a power problem.
Any ideas what to look at next?

As I said before, it seems most likely a heat-related issue. These systems are designed to go into protective shut-down if there is overheating.
You can test this to some degree by letting the system cool for a couple of hours and then trying to boot it. It should boot and run as normal for at least a few minutes until heat accumulates again and causes it to shut down. Booting within a few minutes of that should result in the shutdown happening almost immediately.
If that's the pattern you see (running longer if starting cooler) then it IS a heat problem. If the pattern doesn't match that, then it is likely something else, and could be almost anything, including a logicboard fault. You might be able to get it to run long enough to boot it from the original install CD when holding the D key down to get it into the hardware diagnostic software.
It may be telling that you've had the airport/BT upgrade done - since this may have caused the problem if the job was not done carefully and something like the CPU heatsink was loosened. I would be inclined to return the mini to the same service provider and ask them to check, making clear this problem has started since the work was done.
By the way, the PMU reset would not have caused any data loss. Aside from a crash or reformat, the hard drive will be fine.

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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.
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 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.

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. 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).

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?

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!

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 @#$.

HELP NEEDED ASAP! My iPod mini won't start up or charge

My mini which i purchased about a little over a year ago, won't start up. When i restart (menu+select), apple logo comes up for 3 seconds, and it dissapears with small "click" noise, and mini repeats this forever.
When i shift hold button on and off, the out of battery icon shows up, but i can't charge with power adaptor/car adaptor/computer (the charging icon won't show, and it repeats apple logo dispay i described above). i left it charged for 4 hrs, but it still shows out of battery icon.
I even opened up mini, disconnected the battery, and reconnected the battery again, but it just keeps doing "reboot attempt."
I've researched, and i tried reboot literally like 50 times, but it keeps repeating the above. i can't restore neither since computer is not recognizing.
and yes, i tried the battery drain for 24 hrs, and recharging.
The problem occured when i was listening to mini in my car, connected to car adopter. It froze momentarily (just for like 5 seconds) and then it began to skip the sound here and there (like damaged CD).
So i rebooted, and it won't turn on eversince.
I have the latest iPod update, latest OS, and iMac G5.
I've run out of warranty so i don't wanna send in for repair.
Somebody please HELP!!!
(and yes i've already checked the links
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61705
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60983 )

If your warranty is expired then they won't send you a new one. That's the point of having a warranty, once it expires then there's nothing Apple can do about it. They give iPods a grace period of 1 year to malfunction, if the iPod does happen to screw up and not a year old yet then Apple does replace the damaged iPod and sends the customer a refurbished one.
Since you have no warranty you can buy another MP3 player (from Apple or whatever other company you choose). Apple does not sell new minis any more, only refurbished ones which are cheaper than new ones actually.

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.

Mini won't start with firewire drives connected

to all,
please ignore the specs below. the computer i am talking about is the 1.66 Intel Core Duo, 1 GB RAM OS X 10.4.7.
as per the title, the mini will not start up if there is a FW drive connected. my wifes amacom flip 2 disk, the Iomega drive specially deisgned for the mini, or my lacie pocket drive. the screen shows the apple but the cog does not appear. it immediately appears after the drives are removed or powered down.
is there a solution for this? or do we have to live with it? or am i alone in experiencing this? there are no other operating systems alive on any of the FW drives to start from.

Hold down Apple-V right after you hit the power button. That will put you in verbose mode, so you should be able to see whatever is keeping the kernel from loading.

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.

Mini won't start + CD won't eject

My fathers Mac Mini (old, not intel version) isn't starting up, only flashing a question mark. We have tried a lot of normal trouble shooting steps but nothing helps. Just a week ago or so it functioned perfectly (as far as I know). It's not connected to the internet, so no virus, malware or any strange software can disturb it.
Start up with system-CD and pressing C, but this didn't help, only resulted in the CD now being stuck. It won't come out!
Started up holding the mouse button - nothing. (Also tested this with a genuin apple mouse connected directly to the mini - no cd popping out.)
Started up pressing alt/option, there are two arrows on the screen but no system to choose from.
started up pressing command s (for single user mode) - nothing.
started up pressing command d (for hardware test on the CD stuck inside) - nothing.
started up with command - option - shift - delete = nothing.
Resetting PRAM and later on resetting PMU - nothing.
But when I tried command - option - O - F, Open firmware - that succeded!
I wrote "eject cd", but after a while I got the answer "can't OPEN the EJECT device". I tried some other possible open firmware commands but nothing really helped the problems. (We didn't find any good source for info about what to write in open firmware on a mac.)
Tried starting up holding T (to see if the mini would search for firewire devices) (the screen was supposed to show a firewire logo or something) but nothing happened.
I think I now have told you most everything we tried. Many of the experiments above resulted in the flashing question mark, but sometimes we just tried again...all the waiting was quite a bit boooring...:-)
The screen works, the keyboard works, the mouse works. The mini doesn't work and there's a CD stuck inside. Any help or useful suggestions are very welcome. My father will check tomorrow if there is any warranty left so I won't open the mini up myself (rather not at all, I think, it's not as easy as opening a Mac Pro...:-).
MacMini (not intel), 10.3.x Mac OS X (10.3)

Does your mini make any sounds indicating it is trying to eject the CD when you hold the button down on a connected USB mouse?
If not, then it likely needs the attention of someone at an Apple store or possibly Mac user group if there's one local to you. More than likely given what you've tried, it'll need opening up and the CD removed manually.
If it does make any sounds that initially suggest it is trying to eject the disk, then it sounds like the slot in the case and the drive itself are slightly misaligned, and that as the CD is starting to eject, it is fouling against the inside of the case, and thus being pulled back in. If that is so, you may find that a thin item like a business card can be inserted in the slot about 1/2 inch, either in upward or downward direction (sometimes necessary to try both in order to determine if the disk is fouling above or below the slot) and used to help guide the CD out.
The fact you can boot into open firmware is a reasonably good sign, but the failure of the optical drive to read an original install disk and the failure to boot from an installed copy of MacOS on the HD, may also indicate serious failure.

Mac mini won't start, sound loop

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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.

Mini won't start up

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