mac mini late 2012 have Snow noise in display

I would return the unit to Apple and demand a refund or a different unit (at no additional cost to you.)

The question I'd ask is whether or not this is actually an OS problem or a hardware problem. For example, if you put a Lion or Snow Leopard installation on an external drive and booted from it, does this problem still exist?

Hi, Starmanwt.

To get the resolution you want, 2560 x 1440, you need to plug in the usb cable.

That gives the DVI adapter the power it needs for the higher resolution. Plug it into the mac mini or a powered hub.

Hope this helps,

Scorpii.

Hello guys!

I got my unit very recently. I complained earlier about bad text and image quality. I took my little mini today to the store for memory upgrade. I got it from 4G.B. to 8G.B.

The display issue went away completely. I am even using the original adapter. Now, I own a set of two extra adapters of two different kinds.

I am not really sure if the memory upgrade is the cause of the issue fixing, however, I did complain about the display when I talked to them.

When I got back my unit home, the display did not work right away, however, after couple of trials it worked perfectly fine.

I am still not sure what is the cause of this issue. And this thread in this forum was WAY much longer than this. The admins perhaps decided to cut-it off?

Why this issue is on-going is not clear. How and why my issue went away after going to the store is not clear.

I went to the Irvine store in California for the memory upgrade. Pehaps you guys should take your minis to your local store and inform them about the mini issue?

b

Also, perhaps when someone adds a second monitor, the on-chip Intel HD Graphics 40000 might perhaps use more memory? If you check "About This Mac" and then click on "More Info...", you will notice a number next to the Graphics line. Mine it says 768M.B. and my screen is full 1080HD display. Perhaps if you connect two monitors to the mini, then memory needed by the graphic increases? - not sure at all. However, I would give the memory upgrade a trial or at least visiting the store. My display issues went away doing so.

If it's under AppleCare & you're within 50 miles, in certain countries they'll send out an AASP.

Unfortunately, that only applies to desktops, a.k.a. a heavy and large 27" iMac. Don't know if it would apply to a Mac Pro. They will ask you to carry a Mini or laptop to an Apple store (I've had to do both).

Thanks for the info. 🙂

There is no point in taking your mac mini in for repair since they do not have a fix for it. My understanding is this is a hardware issue and they are trying a software workaround to patch it up. Obviously this is not working so well for them. I should of read the mac mini forum before I purchased mine.

Luckily with the advice I got from a couple of our members here I was still able to return mine. I did love it and it served the function I needed but the flicker issue is just unacceptable.

The patch confirms they are aware of the issue:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1616?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

The complaints confirm they have no fix. I used mine on 3 different displays via HDMI as will as a screen share via wternet and a mac mini. The flicker is still there no matter what I do.

True, only a few had success with a Repair or even a replacement.. and Apple is probably thinking their stock is down due to having no iPhone 9GSX ultra-extreme. 😟

OzziesMAC,

Do you think they applied the patch to mine when I brought the mini to them? Because the display so far is working just fine. Just the way it should be! I am not sure what is going on. Perhaps Intel has an issue? I did notice some of the windows client desktops at work having a display issue and all of these units were using the Intel HD Graphics 4000. However, I wonder why on the following:

If the issue has no fix: Then how come mine worked out just fine?

Is it related to how we plug the mini into the wall? The mini has no grounding terminal, and the monitors do, is it the case that plugging in the mini-one way or another, and perhaps waiting for a long time before doing so has anything to do with this? They did not inform me of anything they have done to get the display to work. I'll be asking tomorrow about what they have done to get it to work and will let you guys know. If they have done nothing, then from an Electrical point of view, the hardware might be having a hardtime if the ground reference on the monitor(s) is different from that of the mini. To fix this issue: 1) Turn off your mini. 2) Unplug it from the wall and remember how the plug was plugged into the wall 3) Unplug ALL cables from it 4) Wait for a good long time with Mini off and completely unplugged (this should discharge all caps in the minis) 5) Plug in the mini back into the wall the OTHER way round (Mark the wall plug the way it was to reverse it in this step). These steps applies if I get to know that the team in Irvine, CA did nothing to the mini in order to fix the display issue.

=> I will be asking specificlly if they applied any firmware update, any hardware exchange, and/or nothing at all.

I will update this forum on this issue for sure.

b

O well, I just tried flipping the power plug and nothing really happened (it did not get bad).

I guess they applied the firmware update at the store.

I could not edit my previous post, but, I will ask tomorrow and post what they have done to my mini.

-thanks

b

I agree with you, I also think the problem is with the Intel HD 4000 graphics card. If you look around in google you will see other items that use this graphics card have the same or very similar screen flicker, snow or timing issues. The DL 1616 update did not help me at all and apparently I am not alone. If your did get fixed I would love to know what they did and why don't they fix all of them if they truly found a cure.

Hopefully I am wrong, but I am afraid that if you still have the same graphics card you will see the issue again.

You folks who have this snowstorm on the screen when waking from sleep state .....

what are you doing?

IN my case cycling display power has never failed to correct the problem .... recently it awoke with the snow problem twice in a row. Not good.

When the display does work its freakin A beautiful, high rez, great color etc.