Q: Mac Mini (2012) HDMI losing sync (blank screen/snow)

Unfortunate news: I just got a snow display for about 4 seconds on the THUNDERBOLT PORT using thunderbolt-->dvi adapter.  I have a monitor with 2 inputs, vga and dvi that can be selected on the front panel of the monitor (Lenovo LT2252p).  The mac mini is on the dvi input, another computer on the vga input.  I have been switching the monitor back and forth between the two inputs.  Just recently after running the computer for about 8 hours, I switched the monitor back to the dvi port and got the snow display for about 4 seconds.  This is in addition to the black screen/snow issue this mac mini has on the HDMI port.

AlMacAl, I saw this behavior on Mac mini 2009, when switching between vga and dvi modes on the same monitor. The connection from the Mac was DisplayPort to DVI(the mac has no thunderbolt). I think this does is another problem than these random blackouts that happen without user intervention.

I just received a new late 2012  2.5GHz Mac Mini from B&H Photo. From reading the forum I was aware that some people were experiencing this problem, but decided to order one anyway hoping these were isolated instances. NOT!

With the Mini turned on for less than five minutes I had my first blank screen followed by snow. I wasn't even through set up! It was as if the Mini went to sleep with a black screen. I hit the space bar and the screen came back with snow. Nothing I tried got rid of it so I hit the power button and it reset. Several times after that the screen would black out and then come back without the snow, so I contacted Apple Support and spent one and a half hours troubleshooting. The support tech was very helpful, but as others here have indicated he told me he was not familar with the problem. He spent a lot of time looking into it and talking with his supervisor, but in the end it was clear that Apple is not openly acknowledging they have a problem with the new Mini. He said if it continues to let them know and they could set up an appointment with the genius bar, as if they're going to know something tech support doesn't. Since it is an intermittent problem he indicated they would need to have it for a few days to troubleshoot. Finally, he told me if I was not happy with the Mini for any reason I could return it within 14 days.

That same evening I got the black screen and then snow so I just turned off my monitor and went to bed. This morning when I powered on the monitor the screen was back to normal with an error message telling me I had not properly ejected a disc...what? I saw this message a couple of other times when all I'd done is shut down the monitor or unplugged and replugged the HDMI cable. Don't know if others are seeing this error, but it seems pretty consistant, not that it makes any sense.

By the way, I have been using a mid 2010 mac mini for 2 years and the new one was installed with the same perripherals and cabling; the only thing different in my system was the new Mini.

I am pretty disappointed with Apple letting a new product out without proper testing. Obviously this problem is so pervasive that even in a day or two of testing it would have been easily spotted. What's up with their quality control?

As I write this I'm doing a secure erase of the hard drive and will be reloading OS X. I have already received a prepaid UPS mailer from B&H for the return. Clearly this problem is likely to be much more involved than a simple firmware fix. More likely it will require replacing the logic board once they admitt they have a problem and come up with a solution. Perhaps then I'll consider another one, but for now I'm taking advantage of the 14 day return policy.

Honestly, I am surprised no one else has mentioned returning theirs. Seems to me that's the best way to get Apple's attention.

I am Brazilian, I bought the Mac Mini 2012 and am experiencing the same problems of loss of sync. I've tried to contact Apple Technical Support, and apparently, no one there is aware of the problem. Unfortunate that Apple, even receiving multiple complaints about the same problem, has not appointed a team to conduct tests and try to identify the problem, even if it is late. What I expected from a company with high quality standards, is to acknowledge your fault, position itself and its customers about the actions that are being taken for its solution. -1 star for Apple.

Steve may be squirming in his grave. Wake up Apple!

Seems as they did not use the hdmi->dvi adapter while testing, only the thunderbolt port.

Similar to the iphone 4 antennagate.

Another friend told us that he had problem(black screen) with thunderbolt cable too!!!!!!!!!! The problem exist with every cable....

I can see the problem (2-3 seconds of black screen) only on the HDMI port (using the HDMI -> DVI adapter). On TB with mDP -> DVI adaper no problems seen so far (display: Dell U2410).

Remark: using a HDMI->HDMI cable results in very bad picture, so I didn't test this configuration for a longer time...

With HDMI toHDMI i have no problem with colours!Only with black screen one time per day...

HDMI to HDMI with colour problem at the beginning, but it could be fixed after calibration.

I've got the same problem, but only when running OSX, I also run windows 7 under bootcamp and no problems. Does anyone else have problems under bootcamp?

Hope this is simple software issue.

I actually wanted to buy a new Mac mini and use it as a central media server connected to my TV via HDMI.

Does anyone know an equivalent windows computer (ready to start)?

I'm running dual screens under bootcamp -- OS-X Mountain Lion and Win7-64.  I get snow or blank screens with both OSes.  This only happens on the HDMI port, not the Thunderbolt port.  So, I use the TB output as my primary display.

OSX seems to blank/snow a lot more frequently (maybe once every 10 minutes) where Win7 is probably once every 30 minutes.  Not sure why, but it's not pointing to the operating system.  It may be pointing to how the driver interacts with the OS.

I hope this gets fixed soon.

have the same problems with my 2012 mac mini and hdmi sync to my reciver. So bad! What do you think go back to the store and get a new or could Apple fix this by a fix?