Bought a Mac Mini M4 in Dec. 16 mb Ram, 250mb SSD, 2 TB External. Sequoia 15.2-15.3. My Mac Mini will suddenly go solid black while using it. Lasts for about 2-3 seconds and is fine with no changes afterword. I upgraded to 15.3 and it still continues to do it, maybe 1 or 2 times a day. Not a real detriment to using it but...
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Mac mini
It does depend on the quality of the monitor, but HDMI is, first and foremost, a TV connection. And by quality, I mean cheaper monitors often limit HDMI to the original HD resolution of 1920x1080, regardless of any higher resolutions the monitor can support under a DisplayPort or USB-C Thunderbolt connection.
That, and over the years, I've seen far too many posts here by folks trying to use HDMI. Issues which disappeared when they used their monitor's DisplayPort option.
I have an EIZO monitor that allows me to use DisplayPort, USB-C or HDMI. Given the cost of these monitors, I know HDMI would work (with a proper high speed HDMI cable), but I'm still going to use a connection meant for computer monitors before I'd even consider HDMI.
Having an HDMI port is intended for video work. It eliminates the need for a break-out box. You use DisplayPort or USB-C to a monitor for your work screen in Final Cut Pro, Avid, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, etc., and a separate HDMI output to a reference monitor (TV) to see how color will appear on a TV as you simultaneously work in your video editor.
Hi i had the same issues, it seems to be related to the cables used, I purchased this from Amazon, and have had no issues since then :-)
Cable Matters 48G 8K Unidirectional USB C to HDMI 2.1 Cable for MacOS, Windows - 6ft, Supports 4K@240Hz/8K@60Hz with HDR, Thunderbolt 4 to HDMI 2.1 Cable, Compatible with Thunderbolt 5 Laptops
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Using a one-year old M4 Mac Mini Pro (14c/20g/64 GB/1TB) connected to an LG 32UN880-B 32-in 4K display. This screen was purchased in Nov 2000 with my M1 Mac Mini. Using Belkin High Speed 4K HDMI cable.
Beginning with Tahoe 26.1, the screen will periodically blank to black lasting about 2s and then return to normal view afterward. Not very frequent throughout the day, but beginning to raise questions about whether it is this release of Tahoe, the mini, or the five-year old display. I have another display that I can swap to narrow the source of this issue.
Have a 6K 32-inch LG display in mind for a replacement if complete display fail, but holding off on that for now.
Try turning off Hot Corners.
Totally agree — HDMI on the Mac mini can be hit or miss. I’ve seen the same black-screen issue disappear the moment I switched to DisplayPort or USB-C. Even on higher-end monitors, macOS just plays way nicer with DP. If you can, definitely try a DP or USB-C cable… it solves this for most people.
Ella John
Founder SATXwraps
Exactly! We shouldn't have to burn a valuable port to mask the problem with the HDMI port that doesn't work reliably.
We shouldn't have to buy hubs or special USBC cables just to use our monitors. The fact is the HDMI port on the M4 Mini is out of spec or defective and doesn't work with a good number of monitors. Monitors that work fine on M1 Minis, or Windows boxes. Yes workarounds exist but this shouldn't even be an issue on a piece of hardware like this. If it was a on my Raspberry Pi I'd be more understanding, but not on my $800+ M4 Mini.
That's what USB C hubs/docks are for. OWC (MacSales.com) have a number of them to choose from. OWD is considered to be the premier hardware supplier for Macs.
Haven’t had the screen black out once since going 120 Hz. Will try some more and then increase to 240 Hz and see if the blackouts come back.
That’s 100% it, right? Sure, we could use one of the thunderbolt ports to do the video out, but we should also be able to use the HDMI port that came built in if we choose.
My reluctance to use USB-C is that it wastes one of the few TB5 ports on the back of my Mini Pro.
The monitor I have supports USB-C input, so the one that I have been using is USB-C to USB-C, from Apple. I will try and find the exact description and post it later.
There's another fix that only 2 users have claimed to work (me being one of them): that's the Zoom app. A user reported that removing it fixed it for hime. I had Zoom so uninstalled it with AppCleaner.
WARNING: If you use AppCleaner on an app that you have other apps from the same developer, like Adobe, you must be extremely careful checking all checkboxes and deleting. Some for those files may support other apps from the same developer and deleting them can mess them up. Adobe apps is a primary example. I know from experience. For singular apps from a developer it's safe.
That fixed it for me. It's an unlikely fix but if you have Zoom installed give it a try.
You might be #3.
USB-C to HDMI cable?
Which cable? Please include the referenced cable in your reply. It's not easy to track back.
I have been using an Apple USB-C cord for my monitor for months now with no issue. For testing purposes, I tried an HDMI cord recommended earlier in this thread:
10K 8K HDMI 2.1 Cable 2-Pack 6.6FT, Highwings Certified 48Gbps Ultra High Speed Slim HDMI Cord,Support 4K@120Hz 8K@60Hz, HDCP 2.2&2.3, Dynamic HDR,eARC,DTS:X, Compatible with Roku TV/HDTV/PS5/Blu-ray at Amazon.
It was slightly better that the 5 or 6 HDMI cords that I have previously tried and only blanking 4 times during the week long trial. I'm sticking with the C cord.
Mac mini M4 screen go black randomly
