Catalina update bricked my 2018 Mac mini

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Level 1

8 points

Catalina update bricked my 2018 Mac mini

I did the update to my 2018 Mac mini, shut it down and unplugged it due to incoming storms last night. This morning it is a brick. No light, sounds, totally dead. I have to work from home and all Apple support did was have me try to zap the PRAM. I’ve been scouring the internet for help and I’m finding a lot of folks with the same problem. With everyone working from home due to COVID-19, Apple needs to fix this now! Tim Cook, please get on this!

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 13, 2020 11:59 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

a brody

Level 10

84,011 points

Apr 13, 2020 12:20 PM in response to gregg280

Do you have another Mac you can link to it via Target Disk mode and a data USB-C cable?

(note the power USB-C cable used by MacBook Pros will not work).

Hold the 'T' key at startup with a USB keyboard plugged in to try to get it into target mode.

If it brings an icon into the screen, then it is a matter of an incomplete update.

If it brings no icon on the screen, then there is indeed a really bad update. Double check of course the power cord is plugged into a known good power supply (test with a lamp), and the display is usable on another computer with the display cable.

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Answer 2

Kurt Lang

Level 9

62,082 points

Apr 13, 2020 12:41 PM in response to gregg280

As stupid as this may sound, did you confirm you plugged it back in correctly? We have two of these, and unplugged from the back of Mini, you have to push fairly hard to seat the plug again. It can feel like you have it plugged in, but hasn't really been pushed all the way in yet.

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