I have a workaround. It involves running a script at login that changes the display resolution twice.
Download cscreen from http://www.pyehouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cscreenIntel.dmg and unpack cscreen to somewhere convenient, like /usr/local/bin.
Open up a terminal and find out what the allowable resolutions are for your hdmi monitor using cscreen. For me it looks like this:
/usr/local/bin/cscreen -v
DisplayID Index Depth Width Height Refresh
21541882 1 32 1366 768 60
21541882 2 32 1280 720 60
21541882 3 32 1920 1080 60
21541882 4 32 720 480 60
21541882 5 32 640 480 60
21541882 6 32 800 600 60
21541882 7 32 1024 768 60
21541882 8 32 1024 576 60
21541882 9 32 1344 756 60
Make a shell script somewhere that runs cscreen twice, first with a resolution you *don't* want, and then with the resolution you *do* want. For example lets call the script hdmionhack.sh and put it in /Users/MyUserName (replace MyUserName with your user name):
#!/bin/sh
# hack to fix hdmi blank screen at login
/usr/local/bin/cscreen -s 1 -d 32 -x 1366 -y 768 -r 60
sleep 10
/usr/local/bin/cscreen -s 1 -d 32 -x 1280 -y 720 -r 60
Make sure you use correct values for your monitor! Make the script is executable and try it out from the terminal command line:
chmod a+x /Users/MyUserName/hdmionhack.sh
/Users/MyUserName/hdmionhack.sh
You should see the display resolution change twice (but only once if you picked your current resolution for the first one in the script).
If that worked then you need to make the script run on login. So make a text file called /Users/MyUserName/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.loginscript.plist (replace MyUserName with your user name in the filename *and* the script) with this as the contents:
!!!!!!!
For some reason Apple Communities won’t let me post XML in my message. You’ll have to look up how to put a bash script in a launchd login configuration file on you own. (The script is the one you just made)
!!!!!
Reboot your machine. You should see the gray boot screen with the apple logo and the progress bar, then the screen goes blank for a couple of minutes, then the display will change resolution twice and you should see your desktop.
I am very new to mac os, I just got this old mac mini recently. Let me know of any improvements to this procedure and if it works for you or doesn't.
This is a pretty ugly hack so I can't wait to get the real fix from Apple.
If you try it and don't like it or it doesn't work you can just remove these files:
/Users/MyUserName/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.loginscript.plist
/Users/MyUserName/hdmionhack.sh
/usr/local/bin/cscreen
Good luck!