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RobbieTT

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
564
803
United Kingdom
Does anyone have an explanation for the LED status on the Mac mini?

I have 2 x 2012 machines, both running HS, both with 500GB SSDs and both with 16GB RAM. The configurations are identical too...

But on one machine I get the steady light, the standby breathing light, followed quite quickly by no light when not being used.

On the other machine I get steady, breath and very occasionally no light. Almost exclusively when not being used the breathing light runs.

My Google skills can only find Apple's reference that no light = power off, when clearly this is not the case on my machines. Presumably this is a hibernate mode or similar?
 

minik

macrumors demi-god
Jun 25, 2007
1,980
1,344
somewhere
I believe this is normal. I have a late-2012 Mac mini and the sleep/power indicator light went away during hibernation. Not sure how much energy it will save for having the indicator light completely off instead of blinking. Since I connect the Mac mini to a TV without any keyboard/mouse, I often don't even know if it's on or not.
 

for this

macrumors 6502
Nov 18, 2014
402
154

RobbieTT

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
564
803
United Kingdom
The thread does explain it, along with the confusion therein. The 'hard disks to sleep' check-box may be the culprit or trigger on one of my minis.

Time for some experimenting and thanks for finding that thread.
 

RobbieTT

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
564
803
United Kingdom
Cycling the 'hard disks to sleep' box on the non-hibernating machine now brings it into line with the other machine. The LED being off in this state does seem counterintuitive but as both these machines are used as media players the absence of light when in standby mode works well - especially for the one in the master bedroom.

I do wish Apple would bring back an upgradable Mac mini as they were (and still are) great machines - especially the late-2012 model.
 
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