JeremyC9

Q: Mac Mini Late 2012 hard drive upgrade.

I7 2.6ghz 16gb ram...

Had Fusion drive from new, found that once 128gb ssd was full there was no real benefit to fusion. I decided (possible foolishly) to do an upgrade.

Installed 500gb Samsung evo 850 ssd, wd 1tb for storage. (no fusion)

Did clean install of El Capitan with bootable usb drive. All good so far except noticed mini getting hot, exhaust fan not running !

took off cover, checked connector, it was properly seated, spun fan and it continued running.

All then seemed fine completed install and  got replacement fan as precaution and fitted it.

Over three weeks a couple of other weird events, two or three times at boot, progress bar would get to half way, display blank out and nothing more happen. Force shutdown , restart and all ok again.

 

The exhaust fan has stopped when the mini has gone to sleep a couple of times, restarting has solved sometimes. Have reset PRAM numerous times.

Over last three days fan has stopped at boot several times, resetting SMC seems to resolve the issue. All connectors are good. I have monitored with Imenus and more recently THPro, when the fan stalls it is reported to be running at 650rpm!

 

I have searched about this problem, one person found that removing original drive on mac mini stopped fan altogether, replacing it with the original 'apple drive' and and the fan works fine! that does not make sense to me but the Samsung made drive that was the 128gb ssd part of my original fusion was firmware coded to say it was 'Apple'

The Evo 850 does not report a temperature through smart I don't see this would cause such issues though?

 

Not sure where I go with this, I could replace the original 'Apple drives' and see what occurs, at least I could forget about a possible gross over heat. Should I reinstall and make a fusion drive (can't see this would make any difference)

I took all static precautions, took my time replacing the drives and it went smoothly without any hitch..

If anyone can suggest anything I would be very appreciative.

Sorry this post is so long!

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), Storage outgrown!

Posted on Feb 22, 2016 12:33 PM

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Q: Mac Mini Late 2012 hard drive upgrade.

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  • by lllaass,Helpful

    lllaass lllaass Feb 22, 2016 2:59 PM in response to JeremyC9
    Level 10 (189,795 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 22, 2016 2:59 PM in response to JeremyC9

    - Try resetting the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM

    Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

    About NVRAM and PRAM       

    - Try starting in Safe Mode

    OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?

    - Boot to Recovery and repair the startup disk

    OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

    - If it is repairable reinstall the OSX

    How to reinstall OS X on your Mac - Apple Support

    - If you do not have a backup use disk utility to restore the internal disk to an external disk so you can try to recover data.

    Then format the startup disk and do a fresh install of OSX


    I installed an SSD in my 2012 Min and retained the HD and it works fine

  • by JeremyC9,

    JeremyC9 JeremyC9 Feb 22, 2016 11:52 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Feb 22, 2016 11:52 PM in response to lllaass

    Thanks for your guidance.

    I have tried all of your suggestions other than reinstallation.

    As the fan is not always starting as soon as the power button is pressed I can't see how the os can be influencing the problem? but I really don't know. I have not had the fan fail to start if I reset SMC (pull power and wait 15 seconds etc etc) I have the latest firmware so am not able to replace it.

    If you think reinstall of OSX could solve problem I will give it a shot.

     

    As an aside I ran apple hardware test, error 4HDD /11/40000000:SATA (0,0)

    Disc utility can't find a problem with ssd with first aid. I wonder if this error is because the firmware is expecting to find drive with apple name in firmware?

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Feb 23, 2016 1:02 AM in response to JeremyC9
    Level 10 (189,795 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 23, 2016 1:02 AM in response to JeremyC9

    As I said I have a non-Apple SSD I my 2012 Mini and have no problems so that is not the problem.

    However, Apple hardware test says something is wrongs with STAT (0,0)

    Is SATA 0,0 the SSD?

     

    Is there a firmware update available for the SSD? Go to Samsung's support site.

    Also some other users have report problems with the EVO 850's in a Mac

  • by JeremyC9,

    JeremyC9 JeremyC9 Feb 23, 2016 12:32 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Feb 23, 2016 12:32 PM in response to lllaass

    Hi IIIaass, Thanks again.

     

    Yes SSD is SATA 0,0 but disk utility does not find an issue with the drive and all apps are working fine, the drive appears to be working great.

     

    I have just checked Samsung site and there is no firmware for 850 yet.

     

    When I get a little time I will refit the two original apple drives (as it was fusion) and just see if the problems disappear, if so I guess there is a conflict between Samsung 850 evo and MMini  2012.

    I'll report back after a week or so!

     

    What other make of SSD would you recommend?

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Feb 23, 2016 12:35 PM in response to JeremyC9
    Level 10 (189,795 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 23, 2016 12:35 PM in response to JeremyC9

    If the 850 works fine just leave it

  • by JeremyC9,

    JeremyC9 JeremyC9 Feb 23, 2016 2:15 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Feb 23, 2016 2:15 PM in response to lllaass

    Hi again and for your thoughts.

    The 850 works fine but the problem of the fan not always starting up when the mini switches on is not good.
    I don't see how an ssd could make this happen (especially intermittently) but I've read a post of someone who had a similar issue and replacing the original drive cured the problem. I know it's not a two minute job but I will sacrifice the time just to see if the original drives make the fan behave again. If not then I guess something got broken when I did the swap...