mac mini late 2012 ir connector

Question

Level 1

10 points

mac mini late 2012 ir connector

Hi There I was wondering if I could pick someone's brains on something. I just bought a really cheap Mac Mini late 2012. All is working which is quite a finding. I decided to open the little beast to change its HD from a spinning one to an SSD and I found some mangled pieces inside. This little Mac has probably had a really bad drop in the past and it was seriously messed about. Still, all vital parts seem intact, and the machine is working. However, When I was changing the HD I noticed a loose wire.... Looking at pics on this site, I think that the loose wire belongs to the IR connector which is - I think, broken. Since I plan not to use the IR sensor, it will not affect the workflow in any way. The thing is, if I post a pic, can anyone confirm that the loose wire is IN FACT from a broken IR connector? Many many thanks for your help

Earlier Mac models

Posted on May 11, 2023 9:08 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

den.thed

Level 10

91,168 points

May 11, 2023 7:46 PM in response to Migsey

Yes that is the IR sensor and LED statice indicator light connection to the logic board and it has 5 wires.

(Black, Red, Black, White, Black)

It looks like the Black wire on the right side is broken off or burnt off of the connector.

If you are lucky, then only the IR sensor wire is loose and the LED indicator is still working.

Another thing that I notice, is how blackened everything looks inside of that Mac mini. I have a 2010, a 2011 , 2 2012 Mac mini's and none of them look as dark or burnt looking on the inside as the one in your image.

https://www.macpartsdepot.com/923-0251-a1347-infrared-board-with-cable-for-mac-mini.html?

https://www.amazon.com/Odyson-Board-Replacement-Unibody-2010-Late/dp/B01N6VJ0RM

Reply

Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

68,792 points

May 12, 2023 9:25 AM in response to Migsey

Make sure to wrap the end of the wire with electrical tape to keep it from accidentally shorting out on something unless you remove the sensor wiring completely.

That original 500GB hard drive is most likely worn out and/or failing. Before reusing it, I would highly recommend checking the health of the drive. If you can boot into macOS, then use DriveDx to check the drive's health. Any "Warning" or "Failing" notices means the hard drive should not be used. In fact if the "Load Cycle Count" attribute shows the Value below "030" I would avoid using the hard drive, definitely avoid the drive if that Value is "001" since the drive may exhibit odd behavior & have performance issues.

If you currently are unable to boot macOS, then it is possible to check the health of the hard drive by using a Linux boot disk. I can provide instructions if interested.

Reply

Answer 3

Migsey Author

Level 1

10 points

May 11, 2023 11:20 PM in response to den.thed

Hi den.thed

Thank you very much for your answer. Yes, God only knows hat this little machine has been through. The good news is that I am giving it a thorough clean and hopefully it will serve for a few more years. I will look into replacing the cable although the IR sensor I something that I have never used and I am not thinking of so its not a big loss but since I have t take it all apart to put a second hard drive maybe t is worth just to get everything fixed.

Reply

Answer 4

den.thed

Level 10

91,168 points

May 12, 2023 7:06 AM in response to Migsey

You're welcome.

I'm not sure where you are with the upgrade? I will say that it's not worth spending a lot of money on a 2012 Mac mini because it is 11+ years old and can only run up to Catalina.

Keep in mind that the 2012 Mac mini will run 4 or 5 times faster, if you put a 2.5" SATA SSD into it instead of an HDD. Plus you can alway pull the SSD back out in a few years and reuse it.

For example:

The following Black Magic screenshot from 2016, is of a 2.5" 480GB PNY SSD in one of my 2012 Mac mini's. As you can see the 490MB/S Write and 519MB/s Read speeds are 5 times faster than the 100MB/s speed of any 2.5" 5400rpm HDD.

https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS900-In https://www.crucial.com/ssd/mx500/ct1000mx500ssd1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZYQ84CM/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2012

https://www.crucial.com/ssd/mx500/ct1000mx500ssd1

Reply

Answer 5

Migsey Author

Level 1

10 points

May 12, 2023 7:26 AM in response to den.thed

Hello again

I am waiting - as I type - for a Crucial 1 TB SSD as all as the connector for the second drive. I will put the original 50o GB drive as a second drive purely for storage. That is the only upgrade I am doing as the little machine already comes with 16GB of RAM. I want this machine to run a specific piece of software that was optimised for 10.14.6 so I intend to install that flavour of Mac OS and leave it at that. All good so far. ;-)

Reply

Answer 6

den.thed

Level 10

91,168 points

May 12, 2023 8:15 AM in response to Migsey

Awesome, that sounds like a good plan.

In that setup I would put the HDD in the upper bay (closest to the top) and the SSD in the lower bay (closest to the antenna grill). That way the heat from the HDD would not effect the SSD.

Personally I preferred to just just install one or two SSDs into those Mac mini's and use any HDDs in external USB 3.0 enclosures. Keep in mind, that USB 3.0 is plenty fast enough for any external HDD.

The reason I always went that route, is because the Mac mini over-all, runs cooler minus any internal spinning HDDs.

Reply