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2012 Mini randomly shutting down and rebooting

J

Jaze

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 5, 2001
56
2
Title pretty much says it all. If I'm not using the computer, the thing seems to randomly shut down and reboot every hour or so. Sometimes, if the computer is sleeping, when I press on the keyboard or trackpad to wake it, it shuts down instead of opening up. It's never shut down while I'm using it.

This is a replacement Mini - I returned the first because of the snow screen issue, and because it was randomly shutting down.

This is the midrange model, upgraded to 2.6GHz, with 1TB Fusion drive. I upgraded to 16GB RAM with Crucial chips; I re-used the chips in this replacement.

I don't know if this means anything, but in the Energy preferences panel, I selected the "Start up after power outage" option, so now the thing reboots up after shutting down. I don't know if that means this is a power issue, but I feellike it would be weird for the same issue to develop in two new computers, particularly when I haven't seen others reporting this.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
This may be unrelated, but sometimes I have problems getting the BLuetooth to connect; with the same wireless trackpad and keyboard, this wasn't an issue with the original Mini.
 
Jaze said:
I don't know if this means anything, but in the Energy preferences panel, I selected the "Start up after power outage" option, so now the thing reboots up after shutting down.
Click to expand...

Don't select that.
 
I have now un-selected it. Any particular reason?

----------

I should add that it was shutting down and rebooting *before* I selected it.
 
Well, I do recognize that this isn't right. But I'm wondering if there's anything obvious here that I should do before I send it back in again. Could this be the RAM I added? I had this problem with the original machine, and transferred the same RAM into the new machine.

Because I seem to be the only one reporting this problem here, I'm thinking it might not be the machine itself.
 
Well, I certainly have the display problem, except that on my screen it manifests as snow, which resolves after I turn the unit off and on again.

But the bigger problem is the shutting down and rebooting, which I haven't seen reported here.
 
Jaze said:
Well, I certainly have the display problem, except that on my screen it manifests as snow, which resolves after I turn the unit off and on again.

But the bigger problem is the shutting down and rebooting, which I haven't seen reported here.
Click to expand...

Aside from the obvious, try putting the original ram back in and resetting the pram, if the problem persists try reinstalling the OS, short of that I'd take it back and get it replaced.
The restarting thing sounds like is could be a memory issue.
 
Jaze said:
Well, I do recognize that this isn't right. But I'm wondering if there's anything obvious here that I should do before I send it back in again. Could this be the RAM I added? I had this problem with the original machine, and transferred the same RAM into the new machine.

Because I seem to be the only one reporting this problem here, I'm thinking it might not be the machine itself.
Click to expand...

"The RAM you added" can of course cause all kinds of problems, including random shut downs, including random crashes or shut downs when you are not using it. I'd try without the RAM, because clearly if the RAM is the problem, then exchanging the Mac will not fix it.
 
Jaze said:
Well, I certainly have the display problem, except that on my screen it manifests as snow, which resolves after I turn the unit off and on again.
Click to expand...

The display problem (just noise on the screen, nothing can be recognised at all) does suspiciously sound like the HDCP chip in your computer and the HDCP chip in your monitor disagreeing with each other. Two possible reasons: Your Mac's HDCP chip doesn't work properly, or your monitor's HDCP chip doesn't work properly. In the second case, a new Mac won't solve the problem.
 
Thanks, all.

I've popped the new RAM, put the old RAM back in, and... I can't get the wireless trackpad to pair with the computer. I'm charging up the batteries now. I'll pick up a new USB mouse later - this is ridiculous.

The whole thing is ridiculous, really. I'd been waiting for a new iMac, and that's been endlessly deferred, plus I think it looks kind of iffy, so I spent $2000-plus on a loaded Mini and fantastic 27" NEC monitor recommended for colour-critical applications (in my case, photography). THe monitor IS amazing, but the Mini has let me down at every turn. I'm hoping it's the Crucial RAM I added.

We shall see. Someday.

Oh,and that's the first time I've seen or thought of "Gnasher" in probably 20 years!
 
Well, running with the original Apple native 4GB RAM now- Bluetooth finally connected. So far so good.

Let's see how the day goes...
 
Jaze said:
Well, running with the original Apple native 4GB RAM now- Bluetooth finally connected. So far so good.

Let's see how the day goes...
Click to expand...

Send ur ram back, try some corsair vengeance if you can get a refund.
I've seen a lot of reports of issues with the crucial ram unfortunately
 
So far, so good. Came home to find the machine apparently off; thought, oh no, here we go again; one click on the trackpad, and I'm back in action.
 
Dammit all to hell! The Mini is shutting down again - and this after I'd written a sternly-worded letter to Crucial!

How do I reinstall the OS on this? It came with OS 10.8 pre-loaded.
 
I have.

Although at the moment I have no input access - the keyboard will connect wirelessly, but the computer finds the trackpad, then fails to connect. It's interesting - it identifies the trackpad as "JHMacbook Air Trackpad" - apparently at one point I used it with my Macbook Air. This persists even after I remove and replace the batteries. I don't know if it's a big issue, since it was connecting with it just fine earlier in the day.

Right now the computer is on - it's been on all night, the display lit up, with the "Cannot find a mouse or trackpad" error message.

I'm wondering if this could all be a BLuetooth issue. I'm going to go down to Apple and buy another USB wired keyboard and mouse this morning, and spend some quality time on the phone with Apple. If they can't sort it out by 3PM, it's going back to them - here, the Post Office closes at 4PM.
 
Jaze said:
I have.

Although at the moment I have no input access - the keyboard will connect wirelessly, but the computer finds the trackpad, then fails to connect. It's interesting - it identifies the trackpad as "JHMacbook Air Trackpad" - apparently at one point I used it with my Macbook Air. This persists even after I remove and replace the batteries. I don't know if it's a big issue, since it was connecting with it just fine earlier in the day.

Right now the computer is on - it's been on all night, the display lit up, with the "Cannot find a mouse or trackpad" error message.

I'm wondering if this could all be a BLuetooth issue. I'm going to go down to Apple and buy another USB wired keyboard and mouse this morning, and spend some quality time on the phone with Apple. If they can't sort it out by 3PM, it's going back to them - here, the Post Office closes at 4PM.
Click to expand...


Yes, send it back, you have more patience than I have. Hope all turns out well.
 
try double check your outlet. make sure it secure or plug into different outlet
don't use secure protect for a while. Just test it

We wondering if you have upgrade memory or hard drive ?
 
Well, as it turns out, the problem was... (drumroll)... my powered USB hub. I removed all the external drives I had attached, then added them back one by one. The weak link was my Medialink USB hub. Everything worked fine until I plugged it back in, then the exact same problem recurred.

Now I have to figure out how to handle the four drives, Wacom tablet and USB charging/connecting cables for my iPhone, iPods and iPad, and the CFC reader.

Still, at least the bloody thing WORKS! Time to put the extra RAM back in...

thanks for playing along at home!
 
I have the same symptom as yours.

My machine is Mac mini 2011 with ATI Radeon.

repeat random reboot, and difficutly boot to login page.

I had tried everything, replace Ram, Hardrdrive, Monitor, and even the OS system from El Capitan, Yosemite, Maverick to Mountain Lion. Nothing helped.

Today the problem was solved.

You can try to tear down the mac mini, and replace the Mercury Battery 2032 that came with the machine.

I replace it and than my machine became normal and stable again !

Good Luck !
 
@michaelwell

I've been suffering from this the last couple of weeks as well.

Same 2011 Mini with Radeon graphics.
Spontaneous reboots, in the beginning it could run a couple of hours before a reboot but now it barely manage to reach the login window.
Only way it was stable was during safe boot.
I ripped it apart and tried every hardware trick I know - short of replacing the battery.

I even began searching for pre-owned ones to buy.

Tomorrow I need to pick up a 2032 battery and try replacing it. :D
Cant get any worse.

Will post an update when its done.

Update:

Nope. Replacing the battery did not work for me. :(
So I'm off to buy a another one.

michaelwell said:
I have the same symptom as yours.

My machine is Mac mini 2011 with ATI Radeon.

repeat random reboot, and difficutly boot to login page.

I had tried everything, replace Ram, Hardrdrive, Monitor, and even the OS system from El Capitan, Yosemite, Maverick to Mountain Lion. Nothing helped.

Today the problem was solved.

You can try to tear down the mac mini, and replace the Mercury Battery 2032 that came with the machine.

I replace it and than my machine became normal and stable again !

Good Luck !
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
petterf said:
@michaelwell

I've been suffering from this the last couple of weeks as well.

Same 2011 Mini with Radeon graphics.
Spontaneous reboots, in the beginning it could run a couple of hours before a reboot but now it barely manage to reach the login window.
Only way it was stable was during safe boot.
I ripped it apart and tried every hardware trick I know - short of replacing the battery.

I even began searching for pre-owned ones to buy.

Tomorrow I need to pick up a 2032 battery and try replacing it. :D
Cant get any worse.

Will post an update when its done.
Click to expand...
 
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