mac Mini won't boot from new internal SSD

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Level 1

4 points

mac Mini won't boot from new internal SSD

Recently, my platter hard drive failed, causing my Late 2009 mac mini to not boot properly (would stall on the Apple logo screen with a loading bar stuck around 95%.) In verbose mode, every process returned an error of "Too many corpses being created."

I purchased a new SanDisk Ultra II SSD to replace it with. I created a bootable USB drive to reinstall El Capitan onto the new SSD. After installing, when I turn on the mini, I get the chime and a solid white/gray screen with no Apple logo or any other message. I ended up removing the new drive and booting from the USB with no internal HD installed at all. I successfully installed El Capitan on the new SSD with it in an enclosure and connected via USB.

My problem: When I connect the SSD internally, I still get the gray screen. If I take it out and connect it via USB, it boots normally. I also put an older HD into the computer internally, and it booted just fine, so it isn't the logic board or the internal SATA connector. Also, when the SSD is installed internally, I am unable to reach the Startup Manager or any other function. It just sits there with the gray screen. The computer won't recognize any other bootable media (specifically the USB stick with the install media on it.)

Any thoughts?

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Nov 13, 2016 7:19 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Nov 14, 2016 5:29 AM in response to mschirma

- Try resetting the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

About NVRAM and PRAM

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

However, it may be that that specific SSD is not compatible.

I had no problem with a OCZ SSD in my late 2009 Mini

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Answer 2

mschirma Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 13, 2016 7:36 AM in response to lllaass

Thanks. I should have mentioned in my original post that I'd tried both of those. On the last boot, I let it sit for about 15 minutes and eventually got the prohibitory sign, which is more than I've seen on any previous attempt. I'm thinking that maybe you're right about the drive not being compatible.

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Answer 3

Nov 13, 2016 11:51 PM in response to mschirma

Late 2009 Mac Mini has SATA II, 3 gigabits a second, interface.

Sandisk Ultra II has SATA III, 6 gigs a second.

Get a SATA II SSD...

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2009

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Answer 4

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Nov 14, 2016 12:47 AM in response to mattwithcats

The OCZ SSD that I used in my late 2009 Mini was SATA III and worked fine so the SATA III vs II is not the issue.

mattwithcats wrote:

Late 2009 Mac Mini has SATA II, 3 gigabits a second, interface.

Sandisk Ultra II has SATA III, 6 gigs a second.

Get a SATA II SSD...

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2009

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Answer 5

Nov 14, 2016 1:45 AM in response to lllaass

Check your interface speed, I bet the drive downshifted to SATA II..

No mention on Sandisk web site about SATA II compatibility of Ultra II's...

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Answer 6

Nov 14, 2016 3:54 AM in response to mschirma

FWIW, have you tried totally erasing and repartitioning the SSD

and put the clean drive in the Mini, then install OS X from an external

install DVD/USB thumb drive?

Also, FWIW, I am using 2 of the Ultra II in two newer Macs of mine

without any issues. They are all SATA III Macs though, so perhaps

there is a II vs. III issue on older Macs.

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Answer 7

mschirma Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 14, 2016 5:29 AM in response to mschirma

Thanks everybody for the responses. After Illaass suggested the drive itself potentially being incompatible, a little web searching did indeed show others were having similar issues specifically with the SanDisk Ultra II. I ended up exchanging it for a PNY CS1311 SSD (also SATA III), popped it in, and it booted up like a champ. I appreciate the help.

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Answer 8

K Tilford

Level 1

116 points

Dec 24, 2016 2:39 AM in response to mschirma

I've got a SanDisk Ultra II 480GB in a 2009 MacBook Pro which is very similar to the 2009 Mini. I'm having issues with random panics since installing the SanDisk SSD. I've filed an incident report with SanDisk, but no meaningful response so far. This appears to be a real issue, an incompatibility of the SSD on some level. On my most recent panics, I saw these words in the panic verbose log, "Too many corpses being created" which is the Google search that led me directly to this posting. If I'd known the SanDisk was incompatible I never would have bought it. I'm having about 2 panics per day over about 5 hours use per day. It's not a horrendous problem, but it's like Chinese water torture, it just needs to end. I can't believe SanDisk is unaware of this issue. For models other than the Ultra II there are special Macintosh firmwares available. They need to provide special Mac firmware for the Ultra II also. I have tested my RAM by booting an Ubuntu Linux DVD and running memtest86+ over night with zero RAM errors. I believe my panics are the SanDisk Ultra II SSD, but have no solid proof of this yet. Less than half of the panics produce a panic log, and the panic logs don't seem to help, they're usually a "Kernel trap" or "initproc exited", although one panic log did seem to point toward the SSD perhaps, it said ""vm_map_delete" followed by a bunch of memory addresses, and then ""hole after 0xffffff801b8cf820 at 0xffffff81129fd000" which appears to be a virtual memory error on the SSD.

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Answer 9

Dec 24, 2016 3:19 AM in response to K Tilford

FWIW, the SATA3 specification allows for SATA2 backward compatibility.

However, the specification is written in a way that does not require manufacturers

to be fully backward compatible, i.e. they are not obligated to backward compatibility.

I can attest that the Ultra II drives do work quite well in SATA3 Macs.

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