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Brand new MacMini - "pink screen" distorted video on day 1

B

Beliblis

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 31, 2011
241
11
Hi,

I received my new i7 MacMini yesterday. At first, everything seemed fine. All I've done so far is:
1) Start up machine / go through setup procedure for the system on internal hard-drive
2) install system on external hard-drive (I had purchased a 1TB m2 SSD + enclosure)
3) Start up from the external hard-drive and install the latest Wacom driver
4) Restart

This is where problems started happening:
1st restart: the "white Mac on black background" was "pink Apple logo on magenta background", then shortly after that all I could see is random horizontal lines which look like a GPU problem (I know... the MacMini only has an onboard-Intel GPU). Kind of reminds me of the GPU problem I had on my 2011 MBP at the time...

2nd restart: no more "pink Apple logo on magenta background", but straight to the "random horizontal lines"

I've tried rebooting from both the internal hard-drive as well as the external one. (And the last time I could successfully reboot was from the external hard-drive, so this shouldn't be the source of the problem I guess...)

Every few restarts, I get taken to a screen (which looks perfectly normal, with readable text, no pink/magenta whatsoever). That screen says something about a forgotten FileVault password. Though I remember my password perfectly well...

Besides all that, I also have a high-pitch sound coming from the MacMini. I think I read about that somewhere, but can't remember. (Though if this sound is considered 'normal' I don't think I'd be happy with it on the long run... my office is fairly quiet, and I'd prefer to not have this kind of 'tinitus' noise).

Will do some more trouble-shooting later tonight, but wanted to check if any of you had any suggestions?
Will try different monitor cable / different monitor / unplug all peripherals etc...

Many thanks for your help & advice!
 
Yes, it can happen with everything, especially electronics nowadays.

Some things can be "fixed" with software updates, but if there is any hardware fault, like RAM, logicboard etc. than your only option is to bring it back to the store and they should test it.
 
OK, thanks.
What's the procedure for this nowadays? I live in London, so luckily have a choice of Apple Stores. But I remember (quite a few years ago) when I had problems with a G5 tower, I had to book an appointment with a "Genius", and the times lots were fairly concise (15min or so)... luckily, a MacMini is a lot more portable than a G5, but still...

What's Apple's policy? Since the machine seems to be more or less "dead on arrival": am I eligible for a straight replacement, or will they try to fix it? TBH I wouldn't mind a new machine, not just because of time but also because of the coil whine (how common is that coil whine / what's my chances of getting one without coil whine?)
 
I would always go after the video cable before I'd suspect the computer. Reseat both ends. Try another cable. I'd even buy a new cable.
 
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chabig said:
I would always go after the video cable before I'd suspect the computer. Reseat both ends. Try another cable. I'd even buy a new cable.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he can try that. If the new cable wont make any change, he will know, what to do.
 
What is the make/model of your display?
What kind of connection ports does it offer?
Which one of them are you using?

Try a different cable.
Try a different port on the back of the display.
Try a different display.

It may take more than one "attempt" to get it right.
Apple knows about the problem, but I don't think they (as yet) have an idea as to how to "fix it".
 
Fishrrman said:
What is the make/model of your display?
What kind of connection ports does it offer?
Which one of them are you using?

Try a different cable.
Try a different port on the back of the display.
Try a different display.

It may take more than one "attempt" to get it right.
Apple knows about the problem, but I don't think they (as yet) have an idea as to how to "fix it".
Click to expand...

The display is a iiyama XUB2792UHSU-B1 (brand new, arrived same day as the Mac Mini).
Connections: HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI
I was using: HDMI (with the original HDMI cable that came with the display)

I will of course try my old NEC screen (which I was running on my old 2012 MacMini, via HDMI-to-DVI), and some other cables. Not looking forward to lifting that old heavy thing back down from the loft tonight...

I'm looking at purchasing a eGPU in January, though... probably a Sonnet Breakaway/AMD. So if I'm already having problems now, then I fear things may get worse. (I've done some research on http://egpu.io and it seems eGPUs are not as straight-forward as one would hope).
 
I would avoid using the HDMI port if possible… especially if you only have one monitor. I’d get a USBc -> whatever connector fits your monitor. That’s what cured the problem I had with my DELL2407WFP monitor where my i7 Mini wouldn’t display anything when it was attached via HDMI.

In my experience the HDMI port is not well supported while booting.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mini-dell-2407wfp-doesn’t-work.2213823/

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...mac-mini.2215045/?post=28052394#post-28052394

GetRealBro

Edit: FWIW my i7 Mini boots and runs fine, if my BenQ 1440 is attached via an HDMI (mini) to HDMI (BenQ) cable. So I’m not saying that the HDMI port is all bad. But it does seem to have issues with some adapter cables and some monitors.
 
Last edited:
I'd try (no particular order):
- HDMI (mini) to DVI (display)
- USBc (mini) to displayport (display)
- USBc (mini) to DVI (display)

On my 2018 Mini, I use HDMI (mini) to DVI (display, Viewsonic 27").
The display ALWAYS "goes black" during bootup.
BUT
It ALWAYS "comes back" after a second or two.
 
So, I got to the bottom of this... kind of:
1) Start up machine via HDMI = screen goes weird/pink/purple with lines
2) Disconnect/Reconnect HDMI cable = purple screen with white Apple logo
3) Wait to enter FileVault password (still on pink/purple but readable)
4) Boot procedure continues, and shortly before the OS Login screen comes up, it switches to black

That said.... I now have another 'problem' in that I want to downgrade to Mojave (for software/driver reasons), but can't... I got my external drive set up as an installer drive with Mojave on it. It appears in the "Startup Disk" selector, but I can't select it because "The bless tool was unable to set the current boot disk.".
Probably because Catalina was already out when my Mac was manufactured, right? :oops:

Will start a new thread for that one though...
 
My new MacMini 2018 has the same problem. Have tried two different cables and three monitors. I'm running off the HDMI port. It's dumb and shouldn't happen to a new device, but it sounds like there's not much that can be done about it.
 
Pink/Magenta screen is a common problem on Macs, and indicative of MacOS not reading the EDID from the monitor correctly. It then sends a YCbCr signal instead of RBG, and the mismatch in color space shows up as pink/magenta.

To fix, google "force rgb mac" and/or "override EDID mac".

As a short term fix or test, if your Iiyama can be switched to YCbCr on the HDMI port, then that should also fix it. I still recommend the EDID override as a long term fix, for the best quality.
 
@ActionableMango
Sounds like a solution, and makes sense. However, apart from the screen colours being "purpled-out", the picture is also completely random/with lines. Which means it's probably be more than just a YCbCr/RGB problem.

I've ordered a USB-C to HDMI cable, so this should solve the problem for now, but I will certainly look into the EDID override fix.
Yesterday night after work, I did several restarts (trying to downgrade from Catalina to Mojave), and the "unplug/replug HDMI-cable" fix always worked.

At least I now know I can save myself the trip the the Apple Store, and therefore go ahead and replace the 8gb RAM with the 32gb modules :)
 
OP wrote:
"I've ordered a USB-C to HDMI cable, so this should solve the problem for now"

It might solve it.
Then again, it might not.

I suspect that having Filevault enabled has something to do with it, as well.
 
Beliblis said:
Yesterday night after work, I did several restarts (trying to downgrade from Catalina to Mojave), and the "unplug/replug HDMI-cable" fix always worked.
Click to expand...

I can't promise you EDID is the problem. However, plugging a monitor into the computer forces it to poll the EDID again, so this fits.

You can also troubleshoot by booting up in Windows or Linux. Those operating systems don't have a problem reading EDID as bad as MacOS does, and so they will look correct if EDID is the problem. On the other hand, if they look the same, then you know there is a hardware problem (computer, cable, adapter, monitor). Simply booting up with a "recovery" or "installer" USB thumb drive will work--you don't actually have to install anything. You will have your answer if the recovery or installer application looks pink or normal.
 
Just to summarise for future readers / put this to bed: I managed to get everything working now by attaching my screen with a USB-C cable. I've also disabled FileVault (for now) to see how everything goes. Rebooting from my external hard-drive now works every time.
I did notice, though, that the boot procedure is somewhat different to my old 2012 MacMini: I have a Wacom tablet attached, and the on/off light on that tablet is a good indicator for what's happening: when I power up the 2018 MacMini, it takes about 15-20s for the Wacom tablet to blink a few times. Then the MacMini boots up: sometimes without signal to the screen, so no Apple logo boot-up progress bar is visible; sometimes with signal to the screen (=Apple logo/progress bar visible).
Either way, as soon as the log in screen comes up, everything's fine.
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Just to summarise for future readers / put this to bed: I managed to get everything working now by attaching my screen with a USB-C cable. I've also disabled FileVault (for now) to see how everything goes. Rebooting from my external hard-drive now works every time.
I did notice, though, that the boot procedure is somewhat different to my old 2012 MacMini: I have a Wacom tablet attached, and the on/off light on that tablet is a good indicator for what's happening: when I power up the 2018 MacMini, it takes about 15-20s for the Wacom tablet to blink a few times. Then the MacMini boots up: sometimes without signal to the screen, so no Apple logo boot-up progress bar is visible; sometimes with signal to the screen (=Apple logo/progress bar visible).
Either way, as soon as the log in screen comes up, everything's fine.
 
Since the latest Apple update I haven't noticed the issue. Anyone else noticed a difference?
 
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