I thought the storage becomes faulty since I upgrade it but I tried using the original storage but I got the same result.

Here’s my situation: after plugging in the power, the Mac mini’s light keeps glowing on and off. When I press the power button, there’s no chime or response—just the same pulsing light. The dock station connected to my Mac mini isn’t turning on—there’s no light on my mouse.

Here’s the thing I have tried.

1. I hold the power button to turn it off. Then I press it after again. I can hear the chime and there’s white light glowing for a while after a several mins the light will turn to blinking red.
2. I have successfully “revive” the original storage but still the same result.

#

1. Also I just found out that the dock station slot I use to connect my Mac has a blinking light, which means it’s having trouble maintaining proper conductivity. The other slot works fine. Also only the mouse is connected to the dock station so believe I'm not overloading on it too.

⟐ Commented dicembre 12, 2025 at 16:40 GMT-7

The startup-disk choice resets, Mail and Music/TV libraries rebuild or vanish after path changes, and data seems lost. After sleep, the SSD randomly disconnects; Spotlight and iCloud loops rebuild indexes endlessly. FileVault, TRIM, and Thunderbolt power management make things worse, causing freezes or corrupted mounts. Cloning is nearly useless—only a clean migration gives stability.

From my testing and countless reports online, external booting on Apple Silicon is still technically possible but feels deliberately neglected by Apple and gets more fragile, slower, and frustrating with each macOS release.

⟐ Commented novembre 18, 2025 at 22:55 GMT-7

• Sometimes it reaches the desktop before crashing, other times it crashes during login.
• I’ve reset PRAM/NVRAM, booted in Safe Mode, and run Apple Diagnostics (no hardware issues).
• Disk Utility shows no errors, and I’m currently attempting a macOS reinstall without success.
• The issue started after the upgrade, but I don’t have full details since this is a client’s machine.

Any insights on next steps? Would a clean install or T2 DFU restore be necessary?

Thanks in advance!

 Chris Leeds

Independent Apple Specialist

Well Connected Life

⟐ Commented agosto 30, 2025 at 9:53 GMT-7

Would replacing the Logic Board of the Mac Mini A2348 bypass the Activation Lock? I keep finding contradicting answers so any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated!

⟐ Commented luglio 28, 2025 at 18:35 GMT-7

I tried to power on my mac mini A1176 today after it's been in the garage for a couple of years, the white front LED comes on and stays solid, but there are no other signs of life - no video, beeping, flashing LED, fans spinning etc. So far I have tried:

• Multiple displays and cables.
• Strip all parts down to and including CPU.
• 18.2v off the PSU on my multimeter.
• Replaced PRAM battery.

No matter what I do to this machine, I get nothing apart from the solid LED light. I can hear a really really quiet high pitched whine coming from the CPU though. Any suggestions will be gratefully received!

⟐ Commented giugno 06, 2025 at 7:00 GMT-7

I’d like to replace all the screws needed to open the device and reach the SSD area.

Does anyone know the exact screw sizes? Is there a full replacement set available, or do I need to buy them separately?

Thanks in advance!

⟐ Answered maggio 27, 2025 at 15:13 GMT-7

⟐ Answer edited maggio 22, 2025 at 4:30 GMT-7

⟐ Commented marzo 28, 2025 at 14:00 GMT-7

⟐ Answer edited marzo 20, 2025 at 5:16 GMT-7

⟐ Answer edited marzo 01, 2025 at 13:36 GMT-7

⟐ Commented febbraio 10, 2025 at 10:46 GMT-7

⟐ Commented agosto 19, 2024 at 8:07 GMT-7

I would be happy to post a 'technique' article showing people how to access and test the power supply in this model if someone can help me determine their proper output values and connector pins.

⟐ Commented agosto 15, 2024 at 16:09 GMT-7

⟐ Commented giugno 03, 2024 at 17:02 GMT-7

Thanks!

@vogelek23 wondering if you can assist? A couple of years ago you helped me identify a couple of components on a 2014 mac mini board. Thanks!

⟐ Commented maggio 29, 2024 at 12:30 GMT-7

⟐ Commented marzo 21, 2024 at 16:11 GMT-7

The optical drive ("superdrive") is an

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H:

Firmware Revision: 3AHB

Interconnect: ATAPI

Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)

and is shown by the system as "grayed out".

I want to replace the drive with a second HDD, but hesitate to buy the parts before knowing why it shows this problem!

I need to know the bay wiring and controller interface are okay...

All help would be appreciated!!

Thanks, Craig

⟐ Commented febbraio 23, 2024 at 7:24 GMT-7

However, the Mac I picked is pretty old, but it was also on the shelf with a good config (2.3 Quad i7/16GB/240GB SSD) so I went with this for testing and potentially the final "server" I setup for a while. I'm thinking of transitioning the server setup to a M1 Mini with 16GB/1TB in the future due to how old this Mini is, and the OS maxing at Catalina.

Is there any reason to do this with a M1, or should an old 2012 Mini be plenty?

⟐ Commented febbraio 03, 2024 at 2:07 GMT-7

I have question about a Mac Mini which I recently got from a friend.

As I turn the Mac on the boot sound chims and the fans as well as the CD Drive turns on. But whatever I try, I can’t get any video signal out of it. I tried different Cables (I even used different mini Displayport to HDMI adapters) and also tried to use my TV as a screen. None of it worked.

Any idea what I can do to still use this old piece of hardware?

Best regards

Valentin

⟐ Commented dicembre 18, 2023 at 12:57 GMT-7

any help wold be greatly appreciated

thanks

Leigh

⟐ Commented novembre 16, 2023 at 9:31 GMT-7