Mac Mini 2012 video blinking out

Hi guys. I've had a new Mac mini for about 10 days now, the i5 base model. Bought it from John Lewis, which is a retail chain here in the UK. I also bought a Dell U2412M, from Amazon. I'm using the Apple-supplied HDMI-DVI adapter, and the Dell-supplied DVI cable. So far I've had no problems with snow, blinking or washed out colours. The Mac was pre-installed with 10.8.2, and I've not yet done the 10.8.3 update. I have a Displayport cable on order, and will try that when it arrives and post back. I'm not sure what the Mac firmware revision is. Where can I check this? This is my first Mac. Made the switch after a nightmare with a new Windows 8 PC which went back within a week.

Richie

Same for me, I had no problem using the HDMI-DVI adapter with OSX 10.8.2. The problem was with the HDMI-HDMI connection without adapter. This has been corrected with OSX 10.8.3.

I have the same question that you concerning the Mac firmware revision.

I've installed the EFI firware update and now upgrade to 10.8.4. From time to time, it still has the flicker issue.

for example. when resize iphoto windows or watch video.

you can't always reproduce, but it is very borining. I use HDMI-DVI adatpor, and I've tried with 2 different monitor. both has this issue,

I just got a mac mini server (macmini5,3) from my friend as he got a new mac pro as the replacement.

He didn't have problem with it because he only use VGA to connect to monitor (minidisplay->VGA).

Now i got it i tried to connect it to my Dell S2340L monitor with direct HDMI -> HDMI connection.

The first time the machine boot the mac mini cannot show screen correctly, with snow, but switch off and on the screen solve the issue.

LATER AND LATER I fouind that once the monitor shows the screen correctly, there is no problem for whataver doing...playing game....watching video....no flicking. but if the screen/monitor goes to sleep, or being turn off and tring to switch on again, there is a problem. Sometime It will show snow and flicking with snowing screen, sometime it will just show the correct screen but then switch to a black screen....

i have to keep switching the screen off and on to make it correctly shown,,, it is annoying , and the worst case is i have to swicth it about 6-7 time to make the screen OK again.

I have already setup the monitor's default connect to HDMI, but not solving problem.

OS:10.7.5

I hope Apple solve the problem soon.

Go to OS X 10.8.3 and it should work fine.

My issue with the screen going blank only happens on the PC side of Bootcamp. It goes one minute and then blanks out. It acts like a screensaver. If I hit the spacebar the screen always comes back. I have turned every thing I can find to NEVER and I cannot seem to get rid of the problem. Apple had my computer 5 days and said they could not replicate the problem. That was because they refuse to run anything in Windows mode.

Has anyone else had this issue on the PC side only?

Here is my system configuration.

Radeon 6630M graphics card

Intel I5 at 2.5 Ghz

64 bit windows 7

16 gigs of ram

Ntt make sense if i need to pay for a new os and the server tool for just solving this problem...

You are not alone. I still have the blanking issue on my late 2012 10.8.4 mini.

2.3 GHz Intel Core i7

4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB

OS X 10.8.4 (12E55)

Walterfromdallas, I also have the same issue on the PC side. 2011 Mac mini with Radeon graphics using an HDMI to HDMI cable connected to a Dell U2410. I will get random black screens and a horizontal flicker maybe 10 pixels high that flashes on screen and goes away in random locations. Annoying and not happy.

I was never in the market for a Mac Mini but circumstances led me to buy one last week.

I was already smarting from a known manufacturing defect in an Apple model of laptops. I had wanted to wait for the next refresh release of the MacBook Pro to replace my current nearly 3 years old MacBook Pro mid-2010. After non-stop kernel panic due to a manufacturing defect (motherboard replacement needed) on the laptop causing data AND lots of time loss, I had to take it to Apple where David (genius bar) at the Brandon store was great to deal with. It is about a week and I am still waiting for the repaired laptop back.

To tide me over in that time I bought a Mac Mini i7 for $850. And it will be the first Mac I have had since 1984 that I will be taking back for a refund.

I am SHOCKED at how slow and pokey it is. It is literally more sluggish than the 3 year old i5 laptop in several areas. e.g. If I hit Command-Space and the first characters of an app it always nearly instantly appears in the top right of the screen. With the NEW i7 Mac Mini even with NO apps running it misses the first few characters after I hit Command-Space. I literally have to do Command-Space, wait 1 second or more, then type.

And from Day One I have the flickering screen and pixels bug across the display. I even thought it was my monitor or cable so tried it on a different one, and got the same results.

Since it is within 14 days of the purchase, this is definitely $850 I want back and will be returning this Mac Mini this weekend. What a huge (mini?) disappointment.

Imran

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I am not seeing the Spotlight problem you are having. When I press command-space I can start typing immediately. That doesn't help you but I don't think it's related to the video problem.

As for this video problem, yes I still suffer with it several times a day. With the number of threads on here and my messages to Apple's feedback page it is quite obvious Apple has washed their hands of this problem. There is a very faint hope that Mavericks will correct the problem but I'm betting against it. I suspect an unfixable hardware problem likely due to some race condition and Apple will not do the right thing and recall the mini. Continuing to sell a defective product tells you a lot about how Apple values their customers.

While I decided to give Apple more time than was allowed in their return policy hoping they would come up with a permanent fix for this problem, I will never, ever make that mistake again. I will work the next computer hard after I first buy it to shake out any defects. If a single glitch appears, it goes back to the store. Apple has proven beyond doubt that they cannot be trusted to stand behind their products. Their support is capricious at best.

You are right to return the mini and make sure they know why, for all the good that will do future customers.

Sorry your not happy with it. I replaced my Mac Pro tower with this unit and a Drobo. The screen flicker was driving me crazy on an old Apple LED Display. I moved it over to a 24'' Thunderbolt monitor and could not be happier.

I put 16GB of RAM in it for a little over $100. That much RAM on a MAC Pro would set me back 1,000 USD.

I'm betting your issue is one of a large monitor and only 4GB of RAM.

I really love my Mac Mini since hooking it up with a Thunderbolt Apple Display. It runs circles around my old Mac Pro in all areas except video. My Mac Pro had two high end video cards on it. ;-)

I sold my old Mac Pro for 1K and got this to hold me over until I can buy a Darth Vader trash can. =)

Cheers

Mac mini

Late 2012 SSD HD

Processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

Very unfortunate indeed!

My MacBook Pro early 2011 still works excellently. And the same thing for my Mini 2012 since update 10.8.2.

I must say that I had previously returned a first Mini and I added memory on both devices.

Thanks, Tom, sincereus and klmorin. Sorry you had similar problems. We should not have to spend extra $200 to add upgrades to a brand new latest CPU type i7 computer bought from Apple for $850 (not including keyboard, mouse, etc. that we already have to pay on our own for), just to be able to get it become at least as responsive as a 3 year old Core 2 type laptop.

Add to my experience the latest experience, a new one, a Mac Mini hang with no apps running, simply doing the first Time Machine backup...

9/7/13 3:49:14.967 AM fseventsd[54]: SLOWDOWN: client 0x7fc53d809600 (pid 213) sleeping due to too many errors (num usleeps 11)

Avoid the Mac Mini, folks.

Ah, good ol' Time Machine. A computer's backup software should be second in reliabiliity to the OS itself, yet TM has a plethora of problems. When TM fails it usually does so silently so you must keep an eye on that tiny icon in the menu bar to see if TM has failed again. That's as much as I'll say about that because it's not the subject of this thread.

Given the number of problems your mini has I'm starting to wonder if you have a lemon, although that could be hard to distinguish from a "good" mini. 😉