Why is my Mac Mini with an Apple M2 chip, 8 GB of memory that operates on the MAC OS 13.5.1 (22G90) shutting down and just showing snow on my monitor when I wake it up. It was happening every so often and now increasingly so.
[Edited by Moderator]
Hey, GrogMcPhotog.....
just a gentle reminder that we are all Mac users here same as you, no better or worse and none of us work for Apple, and Apple doesn't reply or post here, this is strictly a user-to-user forum....that being said, Grog, throw us a freakin' bone here...give us some basic info....eg what year, model number, specs, what monitor you're using and how is it connected to your M2 Mac Mini ? we need that info if we (or me) are going to try to help you out and maybe sorta solve/explain your problem.... Also, did you buy/do you have AppleCare+ when you bought your M2 Mac Mini...only reason I'm asking is that it would extend the warranty and coverage of your M2 Mac Mini from 1 year to 3 years, plus cover a bunch of other stuff that wouldn't ordinarily be covered, unless you bought AppleCare + within a month or so of you buying your M2 Mac Mini...Apple's standard warranty is 1 year. It also needs to be said that we aren't "on your dime" , that is, none of us here are getting paid or have a job answering questions... that's what Apple Support is there for....they have a 1-800 number, a chat feature and I think an email address, so you can contact them....that being said, there isn't much you can do, you could turn off your M2 Mac mini, unplugging the power cord/cable....going off, making and drinking a pot of coffee, having some pizza or a few doughnuts, doing something else that you needed to do anyways, then coming back, plugging the power cable/cord back in and starting it up....you can reach Startup Options and run Disk Utility by following this link from Apple and doing what they suggest, it is, after all, an Apple Product, right ? so-->Startup key combinations - Apple Support (CA) and this:Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon - Apple Support (CA) and this to get to Apple Diagnostics on an M2 Mac mini (one with Apple Silicon).Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support (CA)...if you have an Intel Mac (which you don't) then they've got you covered there, too) ...so run Apple diagnostics... could be something as simple as a bad monitor/video connector cable from monitor to M2 Mac.... swapping that out for a new one might fix that....maybe it could be adjusting the "Sleep/Energy Saver" settings....under "System Preferences".... simple, easy and free, at least...or it could be that part of your M2 Mac Mini is failing, hopefully not...anyways, run Apple Diagnostics, call/contact Apple Support and be nice and polite, helpful and informative with them, and you should be OK. As a quicker way to confirm that you do indeed have a problem, boot an appointment at your local Apple Store with Genius Bar and take your M2 Mac mini in for an evaluation, if you have a local AASP (apple authorized service Provider, they may also offer you this service too)....the one at the Apple Store+Genius Bar is guaranteed to be free though...I should ask you, too, if you have Time Machine running and set up, and are backing your M2 Mac on a regular basis....it's simple to use and setup, to get running and to backup your M2 Mac Mini....all it really requires is an external hard drive with the same capacity/storage size (or more) as your M2 Mini... I hate to break it to you, but all hard drives/SSD's can and do fail, usually without much warning if at all, and if you don't have a backup, then all your stuff could be gone for good, and I don't think you want that to happen, do you??
Anyways, I'm done with this post
John B
Hey, GrogMcPhotog.....
just a gentle reminder that we are all Mac users here same as you, no better or worse and none of us work for Apple, and Apple doesn't reply or post here, this is strictly a user-to-user forum....that being said, Grog, throw us a freakin' bone here...give us some basic info....eg what year, model number, specs, what monitor you're using and how is it connected to your M2 Mac Mini ? we need that info if we (or me) are going to try to help you out and maybe sorta solve/explain your problem.... Also, did you buy/do you have AppleCare+ when you bought your M2 Mac Mini...only reason I'm asking is that it would extend the warranty and coverage of your M2 Mac Mini from 1 year to 3 years, plus cover a bunch of other stuff that wouldn't ordinarily be covered, unless you bought AppleCare + within a month or so of you buying your M2 Mac Mini...Apple's standard warranty is 1 year. It also needs to be said that we aren't "on your dime" , that is, none of us here are getting paid or have a job answering questions... that's what Apple Support is there for....they have a 1-800 number, a chat feature and I think an email address, so you can contact them....that being said, there isn't much you can do, you could turn off your M2 Mac mini, unplugging the power cord/cable....going off, making and drinking a pot of coffee, having some pizza or a few doughnuts, doing something else that you needed to do anyways, then coming back, plugging the power cable/cord back in and starting it up....you can reach Startup Options and run Disk Utility by following this link from Apple and doing what they suggest, it is, after all, an Apple Product, right ? so-->Startup key combinations - Apple Support (CA) and this:Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon - Apple Support (CA) and this to get to Apple Diagnostics on an M2 Mac mini (one with Apple Silicon).Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support (CA)...if you have an Intel Mac (which you don't) then they've got you covered there, too) ...so run Apple diagnostics... could be something as simple as a bad monitor/video connector cable from monitor to M2 Mac.... swapping that out for a new one might fix that....maybe it could be adjusting the "Sleep/Energy Saver" settings....under "System Preferences".... simple, easy and free, at least...or it could be that part of your M2 Mac Mini is failing, hopefully not...anyways, run Apple Diagnostics, call/contact Apple Support and be nice and polite, helpful and informative with them, and you should be OK. As a quicker way to confirm that you do indeed have a problem, boot an appointment at your local Apple Store with Genius Bar and take your M2 Mac mini in for an evaluation, if you have a local AASP (apple authorized service Provider, they may also offer you this service too)....the one at the Apple Store+Genius Bar is guaranteed to be free though...I should ask you, too, if you have Time Machine running and set up, and are backing your M2 Mac on a regular basis....it's simple to use and setup, to get running and to backup your M2 Mac Mini....all it really requires is an external hard drive with the same capacity/storage size (or more) as your M2 Mini... I hate to break it to you, but all hard drives/SSD's can and do fail, usually without much warning if at all, and if you don't have a backup, then all your stuff could be gone for good, and I don't think you want that to happen, do you??
Anyways, I'm done with this post
John B
C'mon people.
In detail, what monitor and how is it connected to the Mac Mini?
Mac mini shuts down, visual output to display turns to "snow" with some colorful specks?
