Mac Mini has loud fan noise upon turning on stays on until it begins the boot sequence but turns off right after.

Question

Mac Mini has loud fan noise upon turning on stays on until it begins the boot sequence but turns off right after.

I have a 2012 Intel Mac Mini that just recently begun turning off while booting with loud fan noise. I recently upgraded it to an ssd and everything was working good after 3 days of not using the Mac I turn the mac back on and it makes a loud fan noise with the boot noise and when the Apple logo appears it turns off. The Apple logo is illuminated for half a second before turning off. I’ve tried different ram kits but that doesn’t work. All the connections inside the mac are secured in. Whenever the Mac did turn on the temps are at 39C so I know it’s not overheating and the fan is quiet when it did turn on. I’ve also tried resetting PRAM and SMC but the Mac won’t stay on long enough to let me do that. It’s a 2012 Mac Mini Intel core i5, 8GB of ram. Thanks

Posted on Aug 5, 2023 7:30 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 6, 2023 8:33 AM in response to den.thed

Picture is best viewed on a computer.

Small update, not a good one but this Mac is weird. So I have unplugged the SSD from the Mac and tried booting and fan goes to a high speed not max speed but high speed but no image on display then when it’s about to show a display it turns off. I was also watching a video on an ssd replacement and noticed that there was something missing on my motherboard than the one showed in the video the screen shot and picture will be put on this reply but I don’t know what it is for. Thanks

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

82,414 points

Aug 5, 2023 8:11 AM in response to Ihavemanyquestions21

Double check the SATA ribbon cable to make sure that it is firmly connected to the logic board.

I use to work on a whole bunch of those 2010-2012 Unibody Mac mini's. After having one or two SATA connectors come loose, I got in the habit of putting a small piece of thin foam tape on top of the SATA connector before replacing the cowling.

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Answer 3

Aug 5, 2023 8:31 AM in response to a brody

I also noticed that the light doesn’t turn on when you turn on the Mac just has a loud fan noise and makes the sound but doesn’t turn on I’ve also tried 3 different macOS versions but now it just won’t turn on without the fan noise

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Answer 4

den.thed

Level 10

82,414 points

Aug 5, 2023 8:38 AM in response to Ihavemanyquestions21

Hmm... maybe try one stick of the original Apple RAM in one slot and then the other.

I'm also somewhat curious as to,

what SSD did you use?

how you formatted the SSD?

and what macOS is installed on the SSD?

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Answer 5

Aug 5, 2023 8:44 AM in response to den.thed

So I have had Mojave, Catalina, and Ventura and they all have the same issue the ssd is formatted in APFS and the ssd I’m using is a Crucial BX500 SSD 128GB it has only stayed on one time for each install then never turned back on again

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Answer 6

den.thed

Level 10

82,414 points

Aug 5, 2023 9:02 AM in response to Ihavemanyquestions21

1) I would reformat and install only Catalina.

Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura only support the later models.

2) The BX500 is Crucial's budget SSD.

I suggest using a Crucial MX, an OWC Mercury or a PNY which is what I used in no less than 8 different Mac mini upgrades.

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Answer 7

Aug 5, 2023 9:22 AM in response to den.thed

I am trying to do that but now it won’t let me boot into the Mojave usb installer, it turns off every time it stays on for half a second now and don’t see the Apple logo anymore the connections are secure I’ve reseated everything. I’ve been trying for an hour now but it still doesn’t work I also noticed that the Mac minis light doesn’t turn on when trying to turn it on only the fan and makes the boot noise when it turns on then almost immediately turns off.

ALSO

i just realized that the upgraded ram was DDR3 and not DDR3L but now with the original ram it won’t turn on.

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Answer 8

Aug 5, 2023 12:21 PM in response to den.thed

Neither do I it just stopped turning on, makes a loud fan noise upon startup and turns off with no led indicator on the Mac itself. I’m not sure but thanks for trying and I will go to a technician to see if I can get it fixed but thank you.

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