Q: Mac mini 2014 won't wake monitor via HDMI

Good news. I'm wondering if display port to DVI would work as well.

Even if by using DVI this ultimately works, what if I have only HDMI input (except analog D-Sub) in my monitor?

Same issue with a Samsung SyncMaster 2220wm.

Following El Morche's advice, I opened a support case, and I questioned why they have not reproduced this issue. The response was that there have not been other cases with this issue, so I would suggest everyone else start opening cases.  I was given a bunch of things to try (system reset, trying another monitor, etc.), but I pretty much know none of these will help. The fault appears to be with the new Mac mini not fully supporting digital monitors with only a dvi connection via the hdmi port.

If you were ok with lower resolution, VGA would probably work, but that is a pretty big compromise.  If you want to try cables, I wonder if an HDMI>DVI cable with a DVI>HDMI changer on the end would work. I could see where in theory this could work.

I will try the mini display port>HDMI coupled with the HDMI>DVI cable and see what happens.

What I've read here and other forums points to ditching HDMI on monitor end. So either HDMI to DVI or Display port to DVI. Those with TVs may be hosed unless they have a HDMI/DVI input.

OK, just did a little more testing.  I know the following things work:

Mini > HDMI port > HDMI to DVI cable > DVI port on monitor

Mini > Mini DisplayPort port > Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable > HDMI to DVI cable > DVI port on monitor

Now, let's be clear, I'm a cheap guy and my Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable is a $5 cable from Hong Kong (DX.com)  and the HDMI to DVI cable is a $10 cable from Rakuten.com.  Clearly any discussion of "sub par cables" is probably a dodge to shift blame by apple.

Now, for the real weirdness.  Understand that there are 2 types of "sleep" for the monitor, what I will call the "quick sleep" and the "secure sleep" (I don't know the real names....)   Quick sleep happens when there is no activity for ~5 minutes.  When the system awakes, it awakes to a desktop screen, no lock screen. If there is been no activity for ~15 minutes the system goes into the secure sleep where when it awakes, it opens to a lock screen.

In the second configuration, with the mini displayport adapter added to the chain, when it is in "quick sleep", the mouse will not wake up the screen, but the keyboard will wake up the display.  If the system has been out of use for long enough for the secure sleep to hit, either the mouse or the keyboard will work to wake the display up.  I find this to be a very weird, especially considering that I am using a Logitech combo KB/mouse with a unified USB dongle, so both of the peripherals use a single USB device to communicate. 

Regardless, it looks like the DVI option seems to be the key to getting the monitor wakeup to work consistently.

Done.

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Thanks. That is great info. Gives me more confidence moving forward with a mini displayport to DVI cable.

I tried two other monitors, and the issue only occurs on the Samsung SyncMaster 2220wm.

Connecting the Mac mini hdmi port via the same hdmi to dvi cable to either a Dell 2208WFP or a Gateway HD Display LP2417, the display wakes up after sleep when the enter key is pressed on the Mac mini. All three monitors are 6+ years old, so I don't know if I'll get any support from Samsung if I inquire with them about this issue.

My Case number of some weeks is: 706826615

I have a Philips 234E that has only a D-SUB? in addition to HDMI. A converter that allows me to use D-SUB from the monitor to HDMI on the Mini works...badly. There is severe lag on the mouse making it almost impossible to use (it becomes possessed) and it is very glitchy but it does wake up! Plus I believe (but am not at all technical) that D-SUB will compromise the image quality. It's a no go all around for me and I'm gutted that I have no DVI port. But in a way, I shouldn't have to and am keen to get Apple to pay attention to the fault on the 2014 mini. If anyone else has case numbers please let us know so they can stop telling us that a) this forum is 'speculation' as one advisor told me and b) it is not just a problem related to Philips.

Thanks!

btw, my case # 721838139

If Apple is telling you this is "speculation" I would seriously ask for the full name and the employee number of the person on the phone.  They are either not taking the customer seriously or they know there is a problem and they are trying to not take responsibility.

There is no possible way, with the number of replies here, that they are not aware of the issue.  I'm 99% convinced that they do know about the problem, but don't have a fix just yet and they aren't going to publicly admit that they have a problem until they have a fix that they can point people to.

The reason I can say with 100% confidence that this is a mini issue is that I have 2 HDMI cables and in HDMI only mode, neither monitor would wake up.  But when I switched out one monitor cable to DVI, the other HDMI cable was able to wake up the second monitor.  So clearly there is an ability of the HDMI cable to send the wakeup message, it just can't do it if both cables are HDMI.

Thanks edtguy and iashton for the case numbers. I will quote them in my next call to Apple with my on-going case. Hopefully this will give my argument some more justification that it is not a problem exclusive my set up. I will of course continue to update this forum with any interesting solutions or comments they suggest.

I 100% agree with what you have said, Austinbike, but this issue has already consumed too much of my time that complaining further, via a written letter to Ireland which is standard, is just too much :/

Here's to hoping I get somewhere soon by playing ball. Happy New Years!

My case id 722154855.

I've got also the following link as a possible solution:

Mac Mini (late 2012 and later): Doesn't wake display after sleep - Apple Support

For me this workaround doesn't work.

I may have been premature in declaring victory in some areas.

The HDMI> DVI cable definitely works on the main monitor, all the time.  However the second monitor (through the mini displayport adapter) is having a hard time waking up. I have tried this with HDMI (2 different cables) and with an HDMI>DVI cable and am still having problems.

However, it is clear that the HDMI>DVI cable works well.  Unfortunately, with only one native HDMI port, this only solves half the problem.