I have the dreaded grey screen on start up on my mac mini and nothing happens. It won't start from disc or safe mode. The only time screen changes is by pressing option key on start up but only get arrows appear and no menu icons Tried target mode to access using another computer and it won't have it. Any ideas anyone?
Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.5)
Have you followed the steps in this Apple note?
Hi BGreg
Yes, followed steps but nothing. Noted NVRAM and PRAM re-boot if failed, as it did, may indicate a logic board battery problem.
Just concerned that I can't access data to back up anything that may have slipped through the net. So annoying 😟
Ivor
If your logic board is shot, the data on your hard drive should still be intact, assuming nothing catastrophic happened to the drive. If you choose, you can remove it to be read by another system.
Thanks.
OK, that sounds like a plan. Should I swap the logic boards or the hard drives? Any idea where I can find a step by step illustration on how to perform this task? What are the pitfalls and what should I look out for?
Choose your model mini at ifixit.com for instructions for either logic board or hard drive.
OWC also has some good video'shere that may help. Scroll down to find your model mini.
You may want to pull the hard drive, and put it into an external enclosure or get a universal USB connector cable to ensure it's readable and not the cause of the issue, before doing a logic board swap. They aren't expensive. Although I haven't used this one, here's one example.
That's really useful and helpful BGreg. Thanks. I'll order the required components and I'll test the hard drive first as suggested. Then probably swap test the logic board battery and logic board. Presumably if the hard drive is undamaged I can re-install this into another mac mini to retrieve files before having to replace the logic board. Are they expensive? I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again 🙂
Dreaded grey screen on start up
