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...
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
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.
@Brian Hartmann, it sounds like the only difference between our setups is that you're driving your main/left monitor with a Thunderbolt cable connected to an external Thunderbolt hub?
I have tried both HDMI and Thunderbolt cables on both monitors with the same, periodic blackout results on the main/left monitor (never on the right one). However in my case the Thunderbolt cable is connected directly to the Mini.
Above my pay grade as to why a hub in the mix would change things, but I'm glad it's working for you. I guess I need to come up with a good excuse to add one now. 😉
That's true will try to make a post. I already contacted the Apple support but their advice of reinstalling MacOS didn't fix the problem and now i am thinking of trying DFU reset because i think that something was messed up on the software i hope so
And... I jinxed myself. 3 times this morning within 30 minutes. To be clear, i'm utilizing a thunderbolt cable on the USB-C port on the display to the Mac Mini M4. I've tried other cables, no change/correlation that I can tell. I *DID* have a backup in progress at the same time, which gets to my theory of traffic handling on the ports could be an issue - even though the drive handling the backup is on a different port (and not fast either, so it should not be maxing out the bandwidth on the ports). But i'm just grasping at straws about what could be causing it.
Same here on Mac Studio M4 Max. Worked fine for a month. Havent updating anything. It seems only to happen just after booting. Using two 5k Asus monitors at 60Hz. It would be scary if this is a bandwitdh thing.
One monitor HDMi and the other USB-C. Both with the ASUS included cables. It cant be a cable issue.
Same problem with my new Mac Mini M4. I'm up to Sequoia 15.6 and it still happens. Tried different HDMI cables. No help. Seems like it is a Mac Mini thing, or Mac OS thing? I hope an OS update can fix it. Otherwise are we looking at a lot of recalls or repair?
Will try that. Should be here tomorrow.
FWIW, there are two different Anker 8K cables. I went with
B08MZYQ43S
Anker HDMI Cable 8K@60Hz, 6.6FT Ultra High Speed 4K@120Hz 48Gbps Ultra HD, HDMI Cable Support Dynamic HDR,eARC,Dolby Atmos,Compatible with PlayStation 5,Xbox Series X,Samsung TVs
mainly because it had more reviews and slightly higher rating.
I ended up buying the hdmi cable you referenced, because I was having the same issues. After 2 weeks of no issues, the screen blackout came back. I also lowered the screen refresh rate to 120 from 144 when I installed the new cable. I have an Acer curved monitor and also a PC attached to it as well as the Mini, but the PC never had any issues, even at the highest refresh rate.
Any ideas?
Had monitor connected to an older Mac Mini, worked fine, and has fixed cable, can’t replace.
Does not have a Display Cord. Somebody else was also having blackout issues that replacing the unit didn’t help.
I have the same issue. Plus, occasionally, when waking up the Mac the monitor wakes up but the screen remains black. Only way to get it working is to unplug and plug the HDMI cable.
Why?
Beats me. Not a major issue…yet.
FYI - I was replying to Kurt's message asking why he suggests not to use HDMI.
Got you. Did it again when performing a random act.
Mac mini M4 screen go black randomly
