Can’t revive my Mac mini after power outage

Question

Can’t revive my Mac mini after power outage

yesterday my Mac mini 2013 running sierra was exposed to a power outage in my studio. The TV I used as monitor and the computer seem to be the only gear that was affected. After trying command+option+R, command+R and all the other boot shortcuts for a while with no luck, I decided to erase the internal drive while in target disk mode from another Mac mini (in recovery mode it won’t show me that option by itself). I erased the drive and I’m now trying to install high sierra from an external rebooted drive that I created with a high sierra installer. It shows me the disk but it won’t boot prom it either. Recovery mode appears but as soon as I start it, the computer restarts and goes to the apple logo again with not progress bar and the dies on me again. I have been trying EVERYTHING for days. Don’t know what else to do. Please help! 🙏🏼

Mac mini, 10.14

Posted on Nov 9, 2023 4:46 PM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

96,688 points

Nov 9, 2023 6:54 PM in response to CharlieStolen

There are no 2013 year model Mac mini's.

see > Identify your Mac mini model - Apple Support

The unibody models are 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020 and 2023.

If you can access it in Target Disk Mode, then it sounds like some type of a logic board failure.

As a last ditch effort before replacing the Mac mini, try running the Apple Hardware Test.

see > How to use Apple Hardware Test on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

96,688 points

Nov 10, 2023 8:48 AM in response to CharlieStolen

You can not install macOS on a windows NTFS format.

You need to format that Mac mini's drive,

"Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - GUID Partition Map" OS X Sierra or earlier.

or

"APFS - GUID Partition Map" for macOS High Sierra and later.

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

96,688 points

Nov 9, 2023 8:03 PM in response to CharlieStolen

Using the other Mac mini and TDM, reformat the Mac mini's drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - GUID Partition Map and then try Reinstalling macOS High Sierra.

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Answer 4

den.thed

Level 10

96,688 points

Nov 10, 2023 9:07 AM in response to CharlieStolen

Disconnect from Target Disk Mode.

Startup the Mac mini in macOS Recovery Mode.

If you can't connect to Wi-Fi, connect using an Ethernet cable.

Use Disk Utility in macOS Recovery to reformat the Mac mini's Internal drive.

Back out of Disk Utility, then select Reinstall macOS and install the offered macOS version.

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Answer 5

den.thed

Level 10

96,688 points

Nov 10, 2023 9:32 AM in response to CharlieStolen

Connect the Mac mini directly to the router using an Ethernet cable and start over.

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Answer 6

Nov 10, 2023 4:01 AM in response to den.thed

Thanks for the reply. I did that already. Erased first the volume and then the HD as such. Created a new NTFS name. Still nothing. It would boot from the high sierra bootable external HD. Sometimes it goes into recovery mode while pressing command R but once I put my WiFi network, I will reboot to the Apple logo, not showing me the menu is meant to. Happens the same.

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Answer 7

Nov 10, 2023 8:52 AM in response to den.thed

Sorry again! I meant APFS GUID partition map. That’s the default option right? That’s the one I chose following instructions I found on Apple support. As you can see, I am no expert on computers (I am a musician) and I’m trying to save my studio’s computer by myself as I don’t have a technician in the country I recently moved to.

thanks for all your help by the way!

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Answer 8

Nov 10, 2023 9:28 AM in response to den.thed

I tried this. The problem is, when entering recovery mode, it shows me the planet and lets me choose my WiFi network, but then in auto reboots to the Mac logo again and never shows me the menu where reinstall osx and disk utility appear. I ran a hardware test and that one finished ok saying my unit was fine.

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Answer 9

Nov 9, 2023 7:20 PM in response to den.thed

Sorry! Typo. I meant 2014! I ran the test with the boot shortcut. It didn’t show anything wrong 😩

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Can’t revive my Mac mini after power outage

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