M1 Mac mini display issue

Yes, at least for me. I have not seen them since installing 11.3b.

Before Pink squares were always there in the login process.

Scroll up a few comments and you’ll see someone has reported no issues whilst using displayport

I've had a similar issue when using two displays.

Purchased two new BenQ monitors, one connected via HDMI and the other via USB-C. If I have not connected I get the pink boxes, but also the screens flicker, the dock doesn't appear and other odd issues.

If I unplug the HDMI cable, all is fine on a single monitor. Then plug it back it and it's ok for a while but then starts to flicker and get the pink boxes on both screens.

Tried various different cables however the same thing happens.

In another post I'm following, some of the guys mention that they talked to support and Apple is looking into it. I was about to return my brand new Mac mini but now I'm going to wait. There should be an official solution soon. Nevertheless, we are having issues with different monitors, configurations, cables, and adapters, so it looks like Apple put in the market a machine that was not fully tested. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252072263

Well, kudos to the Apple team for taking this seriously. I got the call on time and they took some logs, and got my collection of videos of it happening.

Luckily on mine it happens consistently on the transition between the login screen and the desktop, and very rarely persists to the desktop. But at least it means tests can be run.

So far I know that it happens in safe mode and on the primary monitor (I changed today and it followed to the new primary monitor). It happens on both HDMI and USB C. I've got an old Dell on the HDMI and a new Dell on USB C.

The only other thing I could do is dig out an old LG monitor to round out my tests. :-)

I've had a similar issue to you. Pink artefacts often appear on the login screen for Big Sur. If a certain USB device is plugged into either port on the unit, the pink artefacts will often show and even flash on and off. I returned the first unit and the replacement does the same thing to a lesser degree. These issues shouldn't be occurring. Should have been picked up in the extensive testing they must have done before releasing the product.

This is my first Mac, and perhaps it will be my last. Tech support didn't have a solution or any reason why this was occurring. I can only think its either faulty GPU chips, a software issue or interference/poor component shielding. Hopefully with the videos and pictures I've sent Apple they can suss out what's going on and fix it quickly.

So Apple asked me to run the diagnostic tool, which you boot into before the OS loads...

It found no issues, but on the screen there were 4-5 little pink / white glitchy squares.

I feel like the fact it presented itself before the OS loaded, means it's possibly not a software issue; someone correct me if I'm wrong...

On the 2018 Mini the HDMI is busted after upgrading to Big Sur. Downgrading the OS fixes it again.

The HDMI chip in the M1 mini is the same one. So those problems could certainly be related.

That's weird. I'm not entirely sure that's related, but that could benefit from more exploration when there's time. I wonder if it's a cheap cable and/or and Big Sur's security tightening has something to do with it...? That's pretty weird.

I happens in only in the first screen you see at set up or after reinstalling the OS ( the magenta rectangles). The kernel panics random mostly just when I was on the desktop without doing anything.

I also had wired glitches in dark mode

I have the same problem. It happened after my display ended up splitting with a line about 4/5 to the right side. The screen would shakes and it's like the 1/5 of the right side of the monitor became what should have been the 1/5 of the left side as I would drag my mouse left and it showed up on the right. This issue has happened to me at least 4 separate times usually after the computer hasn't been logged in for a while. Today after rebooting it showed these pink squares exactly as you described and they went away quite quickly. I have seen the pink squares before.

I also cannot use the display over the HDMI port it only works via USB C to HDMI adapter. The Mac recognizes the display through the standard built in HDMI and the resolution is set correctly, however there is no signal and my display advises me the frequency is incorrect. This display works on my 2012 Mini and several other devices as well.

I'm still getting pink squares during login from cold boot on the primary monitor, but I haven't seen them persist to the desktop for ages now.

I have 2 monitors connected. 1 USB C, 1 HDMI. My wife's profile has HDMI as main monitor, mine has the USB C.

After the last update there are fewer pink squares, but that's because there's a much quicker transition from the password screen to login screen. There used to be a black screen, then login screen came back briefly with bar showing profile loading, before transition to black and into desktop. The pink squares would mostly appear during the brief glimpse of the login screen again. The latest update seems to have removed that middle screen and it's a fairly fast fade to desktop now, so there's less opportunity for the pink squares to appear.

Interesting observations about proximity to the monitor.

No pink squares now since swapping displays on Dec 19th.

However yesterday morning I installed Karabiner-Elements to remap my keyboard. The machine would not shut down at the end of the day, and on each shutdown attempt I saw a full-screen pink flash as others had reported. After uninstalling this software the machine returned to normal.

Add me to the list of users that have the pink square issue as well as bluetooth drops with my brand new Magic Mouse and Keyboard. I noticed the pink squares the fist time I booted up the machine but they disappeared as I went through the setup process. I see them come and go randomly normally on boot up. I am using an ASUS MX279 1080P/60Hz via HDMI 1.4 cable. This is quite disappointing since my Mac mini 2012 worked flawlessly for 8 years before I upgraded to this unit. Considering returning the machine and building a PC maybe try again when the M2 variant is released. I will give it another week to see if they release a fix for both issues if not it's going back.

So we know that the M1 Mac mini has a HDMI display problem when using 2 monitors. The issue manifests in different ways, including the port registering a device is attached but no video and random pink blinking pixels. We also know that Apple will replace the units but has no reserve so they just stick you at the end of a manufacturing que as if you are a first time buyer. Apple also is not acknowledging that this is a problem so we don’t really know if this is a hardware or software issue. Is this correct, or has Apple pointed to a known issue and solution? I’m just trying to determine if it would be better to just ask for a refund or wait for a replacement and hope it works as advertised.

Jochen84 wrote:

Because I usually put my Mini in sleep mode instead of shutting it down I hardly ever see the pink squares that only happen during boot for me.

However, a new (to me) issue is now starting to occur all of a sudden.

When waking from sleep I only get a screen full of noise (see the attached photo). I need to replug the hdmi cable to make it go away.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/aa9610ae-3dd5-4823-964c-fde8e79bdf48

Jochen84: I also had the screen full of noise issues sometimes, but on my 2018 mini. I would turn the monitor off and on again and that would do the trick.