I just got my 2012 Mac Mini yesterday (mid range model) and have already noticed three instances where the video would blink out for about a half second, and then come right back. This happend twice already when I'm connected to a Apple 23 inch LCD monitor via the included HDMI-DVI adapter and once when I'm connected via HDMI to my Samsung LCD TV. Anyone else noticing this happening on their Mac Minis? Thanks.
Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
Concur with AC, this is likely a hardware problem in the GPU logic itself (not firmware, manufacturing defect, nor OSX related). The issue appears to be very reproducible-- 5-10 minutes after wake, blank screen. The problem surfaced on Win/Linux PC's in June-- no fix from Intel in two releases of MRC code. Fast forward 5 months, Mac Mini's on OSX show same problem. No fix from Intel, no fix from Apple. So, it's not O/S, not mobo, not manufacturing, not firmware-->> it's HARDWARE related to a faulty HD4000 GPU. This issue was also present in the HD3000 GPU, and Intel still has not fixed it in the HD4000.
I worked in the chip industry as a supplier to Apple (not Intel), and every version of silicon we released had issues. The game is this: you hope your customer doesn't find out the issues that don't have a workaround in firmware, because then you start a very expensive process -> redesign the chip, spin it, test it, manufacture another run at the foundry, and fab and replace new mobo's--> a process that costs millions. Everybody remember Intel's Sandy Bridge chipset design error issue found by Tom'sHardware that Intel first tried to brush off, then was forced into a recall that cost $700MM?
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6030
Everyone is foolish to think Apple or Intel will admit this is a hardware issue because EVERY Mini out there will require a new mobo with a redesigned GPU. Intel is probably pushing Apple and the other OEM's to hold off until they can get Haswell out in the spring. Apple is in danger of becoming the Dell of the 2003-05 era, by continuing to sell faulty hardware with a known cap issue claiming their mobo's weren't affected. http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/dell-tried-to-hide-bad-cap acitors-problem
If you can live with the issue, keep your Mini, but its resale value will fall when this issue becomes well-known. I returned my 2012 Mini 2.6 after 10 days and bought a 2011 refurb Mini with Radeon GPU. No problem. Wake up folks, return it, and save that hard-earned cash to buy another day. Good luck!
Found this (although it's probably old info to most of the people here):
Intel Reports Fix Coming for Flickering on Monitors Connected to 2012 Mac Mini via HDMI
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/11/28/intel-reports-fix-coming-for-flickering-on-m onitors-connected-to-2012-mac-mini-via-hdmi/
Makes me a bit nervous about thinking waiting for the discrete graphic board option might be unnecessary?
Hi
Like many others I was experiencing flickering (so now and then, about 2 seconds) and/or coloured snow on my Mac Mini 2012 i7, connected to HDMI. Luckily my monitor (HP LP2475w) has a display port. I bought a mini-DP to DP cable (€ 14.00) and connected my monitor to the DP, which solved the problem.
When connecting a second monitor (to the HDMI port) this does not effect the good working of the HP LP2475w connected to the DP. However the flickering and snow is much worse on the second monitor, than it was when only a single monitor was connected to HDMI. After some time the snowing even remains until I unplug and plugin the monitor again. Morover, the Mac Mini gets very warm then. Therefore I now work with one monitor again, on the DP.
I thought this info could be useful. Maybe a question of overload?
Best regards,
John
I just spoke with Apple and they are aware of the flickering issue using the HDMI port. A fix will be released with 60 days. They suggested to hold off purchasing the Mini if possible until after the fix.
As others have mentioned, I think your problem is different than what most are experiencing. I'm on my 3rd mini and the first two behaved similar to what you are describing, very frequent black/snow screens, usually only fixable by unplugging the video cable. You should see about exchanging yours for another. If you bought it someplace other than an Apple store, try taking it to an Apple store and exchange it there. Not sure if it mattered, but my first two were from BB, then I took it to an Apple store and they swapped it with the one I currently have.
Update: There might be moments when the flicker is gone for even up to 5 minutes (approximately) but so far it has always continued after such break and again with 3-15 second frequency. Also to be honest the "mac mini (late 2012) + mini displayport to dvi + dvi to hmdi + hdmi connection" combination flickers couple of times when connecting or booting up, but after that I haven't seen a single flicker in use. So only with HDMI connection.
woodmeister50 wrote:
daBowmore, are you turning things on in any particular
sequence? Had some odd issues (sometimes video) with a 2010
Mini with a Yamaha if devices were not turned on in a
particular order. Try powering the display (wait for it to intialize),
power up the Yamaha, and then boot the Mini.
If this makes no difference, do the same thing but when booting
the Mini execute a PRAM reset.
Tried your suggestion
Tried with reseting the PRAM
So at least for me this boot sequence did not change anything.
Same setup doesn't have problems with:
So it is just Mac mini with HDMI cable for me.
No, don't panic, if you read the article thoroughly, you will understand that this problem only occurs when you place a USB3.0 device (such as an USB3.0 external harddrive) directly on top of your mac mini, and start transferring data. (That's why I said "under some circumstances")
Or in the words of the article:
"the further away from the Bluetooth antenna the USB 3.0 device is, the less severe the interference."
So if you put your USB3.0 devices at a safe distance from the mac mini you don't have a problem.
If you insist on wanting to do that anyway, the shielding can be fixed following OWC guidelines.
Returned my first one 2 weeks ago, then ordered another once EFI update was confirmed. Came with 10.8.1 but now on 10.8.2 with EFI update and have not experienced any HDMI flickering issues.
However, colour (yes I'm a Brit) is still washed out - when using HDMI - HDMI - have tested on my 2 pc monitors and 40" HD TV.
I get around this with monitor by using HDMI - DVI (am using thunderbolt - dvi for second monitor) but it doesn't fix my TV issue. Means that it's still not an option as an HTPC.
I am convinced this is an issue with the Mac Mini HDMI output, as my MacBook Pro Retina, via HDMI - HDMI gives a perfect picture on monitor and TV.
Best test I've found is go into Finder Cover Flow view, then open any other window and move it over the file listing - the altenate row shading suddenly appears in the drop-shadow of the front window.
At least the flickering's been addressed, hopefully the white balance will be next....
Tom Sheppard wrote:
Am I unlucky to get two minis with the same problem?
Unlikely. Something doesn't sound right. You're not hot swamping these cables in/out while the mini is on I hope. That could fry either the IC in the adapter/cable or mini. If you're driving all that way to get your adapter tested then if it were me I'd ALSO bring that monitor with me so more through bench testing can be done at the store. It's hard to diagnose something like this online or over the phone. In one case I've seen similar issues and it ended up as the cause was a bad ground in the persons A/C outlet. If everything tests out OK at Apple then when I got home I would set everything up on a totally different wall outlet (double check by turn the circuit breaker off). Best of luck in tracing down the problem.
My TB port died when the Mini went to sleep as well, so I then tried disconnecting/reconnecting it to no avail (didn't think it would be bad to do so with it switched on), but in any case, if it was already dead, then the damage was done. However, several days later I decide to try it again and it decides to work.... for a day, then die again (after I had disabled sleep entirely). I try all sorts of things (different cable, using my brother's calbe/monitor) and cannot get it to work. Then, when I went to wipe the disk to return it for a refund, the TB port decides to work! I was also experiencing the blackout screens and the snow so I have no handed it over to TNT who are taking it back to Apple for a refund. The Late 2012 Mini is jinxed, unfortunately. I'm now using my brother's Mid 2011 that I bought off him so he could buy an MBP 15" Retina. I might upgrade to a Mac Pro when it's refreshed in a few months' time, but something tells me I should wait for the mini-refresh after that when the bugs have been ironed out.
My first MacMini exhibited the grey noise and then the random blackouts. It was 'captured' by Apple and I was then sent a replacement. Which arrived about the same time the EFI 1.7 update did. So I applied the update and have had no further problems. I think the update pretty well cured it for everyone, these discussions were growing by a page a day at the height of the problem now there is just the odd post. Some people still have some problems but these may well turn out to be third party issues.
I would say you were pretty safe to get a new MacMini now and start getting some speed back into your life 😀
I got the upgraded CPU and went for the 'Fusion' drive and have to say I am impressed. I also upgraded the RAM to 16GB, but I went for the Crucial RAM upgrade much, much cheaper.
Hope that helps?
Phil
How I got mine working...
I had the problem with my Mac Mini (Late 2012) losing picture every few seconds (then it comes back and loses it again) when I routed its HDMI thru my Denon AV receiver then into my Pioneer TV. It did not have a problem connecting to my TV directly, only when thru the receiver.
I got mine working using a device called "Dr HDMI" which I happened to have anyway. Consequently, I think this is an EDID issue because that's what Dr HDMI tries to address.
Basically I put this device between my Mac Mini and my Denon AVR but I programmed it with the EDID of my Pioneer TV, not the AVR. Normally, the Mac will get the receiver's EDID (and show something like "DENON_AVAMP" in the Displays), but I now see "PIONEER_TV" even though the Mac is connected to the Denon AVR first. Essentially Dr HDMI is sending my TV's EDID straight to the Mini. This solved the problem immediately.
Obviously, I shouldn't have had to do that and I'm not suggesting to get a Dr HDMI or Gefen Detective, Apple should fix this in 10.8.3 hopefully, but I hope they can... It seems to me the Mini is not supporting many devices' EDIDs, especially from receivers. This means you may also be able to hack this with the "Overrides" files if you craft the right contents.
Chris
I posted re: dual monitor problems a few weeks ago after getting my late 2012 Mac Mini w/ Fusion drive.
Before I update my report, I would like to say that other than the monitor/graphic interface issue, the 2012 Mac Mini is a terrific piece of equipment. This is my 3rd Mini and the performance on this puppy is amazing. I loved the concept of the Fusion drive and have been thrilled with the resulting speed and performance.
Overall the Mac operating system (10.8.2) is wonderful software. With sufficient RAM (I have 8 Gigs.) I can set up multiple, task-oriented desktops and switch from one to the other seamlessly. All the apps I use can be open simultaneously. I added a 1 Tetrabyte HD as backup and was able to load thousands of my songs into iTunes and multiple thousands of photos into iPhoto on the Mac Mini HD with automatic backup via Time Machine to my 3-4 oz. backup HD. Really, compared to what was available 10 years ago, this equipment and its software operating system is miraculous and the engineering and design teams that have worked on this should be very proud of themselves.
That said ... I struggled from day one with this new machine in order to use dual monitors. I have two HP 22-inch monitors ... HPw2207 and HPw2207h (yes, the 'h' stands for HDMI). I don't know if HP still makes these monitors. They are especially useful because they can pivot from portrait to landscape mode in a couple of seconds.
I can dispense with further discussion of the HDMI version of the HP monitor because I have yet to get it to work with the new Mac Mini. 😮
Regarding the older DVI-ported HPw2207, I have found that it works good. No color or fade out issues have shown up.
I would say to those having such difficulty with their monitors ... they might try getting something like the HPw2207 which certainly is not as expensive in terms of time and energy as replacing a Mac Mini with a new computer.
Someone else suggested that the biggest problem when trying to use dual monitors with the 2012 Mac Mini is sleep mode. That is exactly what I have found! If I just let the system run and not use the Sleep Energy Saver option, I have NO problems with the monitors. On the other hand, if the system falls to sleep things quickly degenerate into a stupid and irritating game of hitting the right set of randomly chosen keys plus monitor power buttons to see what will wake up the system and both monitors at the same time. Really, it's amazing that this functionality wasn't tested and fixes made before the product went into production.
Anyway, that's my experience. I'm hoping that 10.8.3 will allow me to use the HDMI version of the 2nd monitor simply because it is a newer piece of equipment. If I could put the system to sleep after an hour and get it to come back to life reliably, that would be very nice too!
Given the large number of complaints about this particular problem and the remark by one of the Apple employees -- if accurately conveyed to this forum -- that "you can only display clean output through the Thunderbolt output port", I'd say that eventually there will be a class action to get these machines repaired or to compensate those who bought them thinking that the functionality of the 2012 Mac Mini was downwardly compatable to monitors that had been used with previous versions of the Mac Mini once an appropriate connection adapter was in place between the computer and the monitor.
Thunderbolt to HDMI does NOT fix it for me when going via the Denon receiver. Only the Dr HDMI device did, so my issue was the Mac Mini does not like the EDID returned from the Denon. When I fool it with the Pioneer TV EDID it works fine (just watched an entire film - 1.5 hours, never managed more than a couple of seconds before picture drop out before when connected to the Denon). I just don't want people to assume the Thunderbolt converter is always going to work, I suspect if you are going via a receiver it won't do a thing.
Hi
We tried the 27 thunderbolt monitor and it was perfect but with another hp 27 Inch monitor it's awful.
Anything to do with Hdmi is awful.
Only thunderbolt dvi adapter works like my previous 2011 model which you can buy of eBay. I only tried it with my Epson Projector and It performed a miracle.
Can't guarantee it will work for you. Seen Maybe go back to the Apple store with your monitor and try it with this adapter... Will save you from opening your new computer in case you sell it... I'm sure it will probably fix your problem as long as you have DV–I connection on your monitor... Let us know how you get on.
This was my
Hemingways, from my first hand experience, HDMI is poor especially with 27 inch monitors and projectors through any hdmi method including thunder bolt to hdmi, my smaller 19inch screen looks fine using hdmi to dvi.
My solution which also works for robertfromyuma is to use a Thunderbolt DVI which works perfectly with my Epson TW 3200 projector. I also have my smaller 19inch screen running perfectly from the supplied hdmi adapter.
It's been hassle figuring this out and i was tempted to return my mac mini to apple but Thunderbolt solution works for me. Please note that I have all the latest updates and firmware installed. Try our solution again on your new mac mini if you can.
Mac Mini 2012 video blinking out
