Mac Mini 2012 video blinking out

holsapple wrote:

And as I said, before the EFI update it worked ok

That's not how HDMI works. Until you locate the problem do not use cables longer than 1 meter in the chain.

What version HDMI can the receiver handle?

What version are the cables?

How old is the receiver? (make/model)

Mixing HDMI versions greatly increases the chances of having issues with HDMI.

I stated all models in the chain in my original post – receiver is a 2011 Yamaha RX-810…

And, I used the exact same cables before the update and had no problem. It is an entirely new symptom – blackouts every 10 seconds – occuring immediately after the update. All other devices I use works perfectly on all hdmi ports/cables. The Mini works fine without the receiver. But I need the receiver and there is NOTHING wrong with it.

Hdmi worked just fine in this setup from the day I bought the Mini, several weeks ago, until an hour ago when I uptaded EFI fw…

An update on where I'm up to with this.

Summary so far is, I had the blinking out problem once every couple hours. Occasionally that blinking out would lead to snow which required monitor restart.

I had my brand new mac mini swapped out with another brand new mac mini by an apple genius. The new mac mini also exhibited exactly the same problems

I ended up changing to a Mini Display Port to DVI adapter and never experienced a single blink with that setup. But obviously that stopped me from using two screens, and also stopped me from connecting my mac to my hdmi TV.

I reconnected up the original HDMI to DVI adapter to my monitor today to make sure my mac was still experiencing the same problem. Within 10 minutes of power up I saw my first blink. Now having confirmed I was still experiencing the issue, I applied the firmware update 1.7 from apple.

So far after a period of about 30 minutes, I haven't noticed a flicker yet. Those who've had the problem instantly recognise that 30 minutes is no where near a long enough test to confirm a fix.

I will continue my staring competition/torture, err I mean testing of this display and I will report back my results once I've either got confidence that this is fixed, or when I experience a blink again.

I will also say that the washed out color problem remains. I freely admit that I haven't tried to calibrate this monitor at all yet, but really I shouldn't need to.

Finally, good luck to everyone out there who experienced the problem and are now trying this fix.

Well that seems to have taken care of the problem. Glad I hung on to the mini until the fix came around.

My Mac Mini worked fine for the first two weeks before the blinking out started to show. It seems that the frequency of blinking out is also related to the hardware temperature. Everything in that small box is depended on the i7 temperature and/or software load.

I have an i7 2.3GHz with a Dell U2731 attached through the mini display port and also applied the EFI 1.7 but that didn't change anything. And from what I read in the forums I do not expect a solution from Apple or Intel in the near future, this MM is going back.

My problem was solved by a PRAM reset in the Mini! The blinking every 10 seconds is definitely gone.

After HDMI update I have one blinking with MiniDisplay port -> DVI !!!! With out update firmware I don't have any problems with MiniDisplay port -> DVI, only HDMI have blink out. Apple !!! It is not funny!

I suggest you to make a PRAM reset as made by holsappleafter the EFI 1.7 Firmware update.

Anyway, I'm pretty confident Apple is investigating every issue and will provide a fix for everyone if they will found it is necessary. I'm waiting too.

Apple is going to release 10.8.3 in around 30 - 60 days after the developers test it. It will also address graphics. If I was still having problems with my MM after the installing the new firmware update then the first thing I would do is to find out what temperature my mini was just before the flickering started. I'd also note what programs were running at the time, and just previously to the flickering.

Since my mini was only affected using HDMI -> DVI adapter, I should be safe. Of course, I'm neglecting the Thunderbolt port that died because that was probably an unrelated problem (famous last words).

This time I'm going to be cautious. I'm not going to transfer everything over, but rather I'm going to use it for a couple of days to see if the blinking is cured.

I'm anxious to know how Apple intends to compensate buyers for all our wasted time. I will not turn down a retina iPad mini when it comes out next year. 😝

Of course the 10.8.2 update made no difference in the random HDMI video losses, but at least it unblocked the other Apple program updates that required 10.8.2.

Since Apple finally admitted there is a problem, I tried their new firmware:

About Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.7

This update addresses HDMI video flicker issues on Mac mini (Late 2012) computers and is recommended for all users.

So far, more than 24 hours now, I have not seen the video loss (black or snow screen) issue recur. I'm still using HDMI --> Apple adapter --> DVI --> new Asus PB238 DVI input.

After the EFI Firmware 1.7 update I also tried direct HDMI to HDMI (PB238 input) again, but the display quality is still poor. The color saturation is terrible and the edges of the text look jagged. On a the Lagom LCD test site I found a white saturation image that clearly shows the problem. On HDMI, none of the patterns above 200 are visible, but on the SAME monitor connected with HDMI to DVI adapter, all the patterns are clearly visible (except 254). I see there are already other threads on this topic, so I'll move to those for further discussion. And don't tell me to adjust the monitor or Mac OS X color settings, I've tried and just as others are reporting they don't help this issue. And I prefer to use HDMI over DVI because it carries the sound to my monitor without extra cables.

I appreciate the links to the Lagom site...

FWIW - my thunderbolt display scored very well

And I have a Samsung 2443BWX that I calibrated running from HDMI (via a monoprice active spliter). It also scored very well.

My HP2311x (other end of hdmi splitter) is also good looking. The 1.7 firmware improved images a little over the 1.6

I wonder if some of these issues are particular monitor/mini mismatches...

ivanlee1957 wrote:

I wonder if some of these issues are particular monitor/mini mismatches...

In a word, yes.

It's been a long time since I posted in this thread, but I was having random blackouts lasting 5-45 minutes at a time. It seemed to be the same frequency as the 1-2 second blackouts my wife was having but much longer duration. I switched back to the HDMI port after the EFI update and neither of us has had any problems since. I'm a happy camper for the time being.

Received my new MM 2.6 256 yesterday direct from the factory. It has the update built in and have no problems that I see with a 22 inch acer monitor using the dvi-hdmi adaptor and tried it on my 42inch panasonic plasma with no discernable problems. 10 second startups are unbelievable for me and then a 3 second lag for the wireless keyboard and mouse to connect up. Are there any test sites to give it a run other than my own visual to push the video as I thought the colors seemed fine to me.