Bricked Mini 2014

[Roman78]

I've a problem containing a bricked Mac Mini 2014. I installed OCLP and Somona. This worked fine. Last week I updated OCLP to the latest version and updated Somona to the latest version. After the update of Sonona, the machine went black.

Now the machine turns on, the power led ist burning, and the fan is running slow. After a minute or to, the led switches of for a second. Thing the machine makes a reboot. this continues forever.

The display is black and i get no chime sound. I did a NVRAM reset, but no changes (or the reset did not worked) I Used a USB wired keyboard. I removed the SSD, but also no success. Also pressing the -ALT-key to get a boot menu does not work.

What can i do?

 

[Ben J.]

You could try to boot while pressing and holding 'option-R' key, and if you are connected to the internet you might be able to install over the internet. If you can get it to boot this way, it might be a good idea to use Disk Utilities in the recovery options first to erase the disk first.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

You can use macOS Recovery, your computer's built-in recovery system, to reinstall the Mac operating system. Reinstalling macOS doesn't remove your personal data.

support.apple.com

 

[FirDerrig33]

I've a problem containing a bricked Mac Mini 2014. I installed OCLP and Somona. This worked fine. Last week I updated OCLP to the latest version and updated Somona to the latest version. After the update of Sonona, the machine went black.

Now the machine turns on, the power led ist burning, and the fan is running slow. After a minute or to, the led switches of for a second. Thing the machine makes a reboot. this continues forever.

The display is black and i get no chime sound. I did a NVRAM reset, but no changes (or the reset did not worked) I Used a USB wired keyboard. I removed the SSD, but also no success. Also pressing the -ALT-key to get a boot menu does not work.

What can i do?

Have you tried resetting the NVRAM again by chance? I had a similar issue with my Mac Pro and I thought I had bricked it but I just kept resetting the NVRAM multiple times. then I disconnected the display with DP 1.2, tried again and then got the boot menu to come up. then used the included recovery tools to repair the drive and then it was fine.

for clarity, I have a Mac Pro 5,1 with an AMD RADEON Sapphire HD GPU with a 27" ACD w/miniDP and an Acer XF243Y 23.5 "gaming" display. as long as I had the Acer display connected, I didn't see the boot screen. once I disconnected that, then reset the NVRAM again and tried the boot selected, it displayed on my ACD.

I don't know if that information will help but I hope it does. it turns out the 2014 mini is a pretty good machine and supports AVX2 so Sonoma shouldn't have been a problem.

 

[Roman78]

Nothing would help. I tried 'option-R' and NVRAM-Reset multiple times, but there is no changing in behavior. It turns on, the LED is burning and nothing else. I feel the CPU is getting warm, so there is some sing of something.

 

[Fishrrman]

Try this:
a. power down, all the way off (pull out the plug if you have to).
b. hold down "command-option-R" and KEEP HOLDING THOSE KEYS DOWN while you press and release the power on button
c. DO NOT LET GO OF THOSE KEYS!
d. you can let go when either
- you are asked for your wifi password
or
- you see the spinning globe.
e. after a while, the internet utilities should load.

Can you try this and see if you can get that far?

 

[Roman78]

Sorry for my late answer. Just got some time to test it out.

It won't change anything. So it turns on, the LED and FAN are on, after a minute or to both turn off for 3 seconds nd starting again. This repeats all the time while I pressed "command-option-R".

 

[haralds]

Have you tried Command-R to get into Recovery?

 

[Roman78]

Yes, tried that already. Still the same.

 

[Roman78]

I just dismantled the mini and noticed that the CMOS-Battery was down to 1.7 volt. I replaced the battery, but still no success on booting.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I just dismantled the mini and noticed that the CMOS-Battery was down to 1.7 volt. I replaced the battery, but still no success on booting.

A working Mac Mini 2014 (2nd hand) is sold for about 100$ where I live. Probably much cheaper in your neighborhood.
Do you think all your time struggling with it worths less than 100$?
I would just buy another and move on.

 

[Roman78]

Nope, I'll never buy any Apple product again! This one is from my Work to give support on home office, so I will not give any support on Apple users in home office again... this is fine....

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Nope, I'll never buy any Apple product again! This one is from my Work to give support on home office, so I will not give any support on Apple users in home office again... this is fine....

Then it'll be easy to deal with.
You can consider it a hardware failure. Period.