List of HDMI issues in Mac mini 2012

My issue is similar to your last one.

My monitor goes in to power save or I switch the source to my laptop and back the screen goes blue and stays that way. I can ssh in to the mini but can't get the screen to come back without rebooting. I have removed plist files ant restarted the UIserver. Nothing has worked so far. I have a 2011 Mac mini with a Samsung monitor. I have used a straight HDMI and also a Mini DP to HDMI converter. This issue is driving me nuts. I have to reboot at least 1-2 times every day. It's ridiculous.

The crushing white is simple enough to fix by calibrating you monitors profile in OS-X. I have seen the change in colors when the monitor first starts from sleep, but no biggie. I have not had your other issue with the occasional black screen

Mine doesn't have the blackouts (so far). I bought it after the 10.8.3 update so maybe that helps. I'm not sure about crushed whites. But with the hdmi connection the general quality of the image on my monitor, especially for small text, is terrible. There are color artifacts along the side of many of the vertical strokes. My monitor is a few years old now, it's a Samsung, but the image quality is still excellent when I connect a non-Mac to it. I'll try the Thunderbolt-to-dvi for comparison when I'm back at the office, but it won't be until Wednesday.

I disagree that calibrating (advanced) helps. Ive tried it many times and it still doesnt look as nice as with my 09 mini. Loss of detail when zooming, can barely make out the blue on facebook/macrumors etc.

Plus the calibration assistant isnt really good. "Adjust until the grey looks like the background". What background?? I fiddle around but i cant get it right.

Is this just me?

Uncle Monty. what 10.8.3 update... not out yet .. only in beta mode...

cheers elo

channelinspire said:

My issue is similar to your last one.

My monitor goes in to power save or I switch the source to my laptop and back the screen goes blue and stays that way. I can ssh in to the mini but can't get the screen to come back without rebooting. I have removed plist files ant restarted the UIserver. Nothing has worked so far. I have a 2011 Mac mini with a Samsung monitor. I have used a straight HDMI and also a Mini DP to HDMI converter. This issue is driving me nuts. I have to reboot at least 1-2 times every day. It's ridiculous.

Click to expand...

I have the mid-2011 base model Mac Mini upgraded with 16GB Crucial memory. I use a 2011 model Samsung 23" LED Monitor/TV attached to the Mini via a HDMI cable and it works perfectly all the time and under all conditions. The colors are perfect, no black outs, no blank screens, no washed whites, it goes into sleep mode and resumes from sleep mode perfectly under every condition I leave the Mini in...from OS X 10.8.2 desktop with or without apps open...from inside a Parallels VM using Windows 8 and/or Windows XP and/or Linux...with or without multiple VMs open at the same time. It makes no difference what state my Mini is in but it sleeps and wakes, resumes or turns off the monitor/tv per the established settings.

One thing people should consider taking a look at is what type of memory they are using in their Mini or whether or not they have upgraded their Mini with compatible memory. Remember that the video memory is shared as part of the main memory on the system. The RAM timing is important and not having enough RAM memory can effect the stability of the system. There was another recent thread where another user narrowed down the source of many of his Mac Mini late-2012 model (running 10.8.2) video display problems to one or more of the RAM upgrade sticks he was using but when he used his stock RAM sticks the display issues went away and his Mini worked fine.

I haven't noticed any issues with my HDMI port. Right now I have it connected to a 15" 4:3 monitor using an HDMI to DVI cable (not the included Apple one). I keep a separate monitor/keyboard/mouse for testing purposes and when bringing a new machine into my network (use for transferring files, testing upgrades, etc.).

That's not to say these issues do not happen, just that I haven't seen any. I know there are reports that 10.8.3 in beta fixes a lot of these issues for those that do have these issues, but I can't speak to that as I do not currently have the issues and I am also not a developer so I do not have proper access to 10.8.3.

My monitor used to black out from time to time, but not since the EFI update a few weeks ago. I do however suffer from the 'crushed whites' issue. I have tried to calibrate my monitor several times and its better but by no means perfect. The problem seems to be that my Mini identifies my monitor as a television. You can tell if this is happening because you have an 'underscan' slider in the display properties box.

My Monitor is an AOC i2353, I would be interested to hear from anyone with the same monitor having the same problems.

sorry Elo, brain fart. I meant 10.8.2, the one that was released that supposedly fixed things.

The only issue I've noticed is random blackouts with the HDMI. I am completely up to date and have not changed the memory or anything. I've had this problem since purchase. grr

lamerica80 said:

Plus the calibration assistant isnt really good. "Adjust until the grey looks like the background". What background?? I fiddle around but i cant get it right.

Is this just me?

Click to expand...

Must be just you cause it works great for me. I have done this on 2 2012 Mac Mini's with different monitors and I could not be more pleased.

I agree that the calibration assistant leaves something to be desired. Too many things for the human mind to look at. It assumes that you have very good eyesight and/or have very good computer glasses, you are not colour blind etc etc... not tired...

Do not for get the lighting in the room you work in.. it affects the colors of your screen. For the work I do I calibrate towards the evening and do serious colour work when it it darker. Watch the backlight....

It is for these reasons that I bought DataColor SpyderPro to calibrate my screen. There are others like it........ easy simple.

there are other sites dealing with the issues of Monitors and colors

cheers elo