Late 2012 Mac Mini Heat Question

[dmunz]

I have a Late 2012 2.3 GHz Quad i7 Mini. I’ve upgraded to 16GB ram and dropped in a Samsung SSD (256GB) for systems along with a 2TB spinner for storage. I’m perfectly happy with it but it has started to have some issues with heat.

I’ve started to get the Error 92 periodically with Time Machine and having the external drive I use disconnect with the associated “did not eject” warning. The 92 clears itself and the drive works fine once I plug it back in.

I started to notice the metal case feeling warm around the USB sockets. Nothing scientific, just warmer to my touch at times.

I have an external drive (for Time Machine), camera, Apple DVD and a USB microphone plugged in. The mini is connected to a LG Ultrawide 34” monitor at 3440x1440.

I have been running the monitor at a 50 Hertz refresh rate for no other reason that I thought more was better. For kicks, I reduced it to 30 Hertz. Since going to 30 Hertz, the eject and 92 errors have completely stopped.

Am I making a connection between the refresh rate, perceived heat and these error that is reasonable? Or is this just coincidence and I may need to look further to ensure I don’t have problems with Time Machine and my external drive?

If there is a connection, what are the downfalls of running at 30 Hertz? I don’t seem to be able to tell any difference. I’m on my computer most of the day with general office stuff (Word, Excel) and the internet through Safari. I rarely play games but I do stream some video from a couple of websites.

All things considered, I can probably keep using this mini as long as it is supported IF I don’t have some other issue that impacts the USB connections and/or my external drive.

Any help or thoughts are appreciated.

TIA
DLM

 

[Brian33]

Hi. I have the same Mac mini, but I run it headless, with no monitor attached (as a sort of server machine). I have several disk drives and a printer plugged in.

Am I making a connection between the refresh rate, perceived heat and these error that is reasonable? Or is this just coincidence and I may need to look further to ensure I don’t have problems with Time Machine and my external drive?

I use Time Machine but I am not familiar with error 92. I am curious where are you see this, and does it specifically relate to heat problems. Do you see this in the system log?

Your hypothesis seems plausible but improbable to me. I personally would suspect a problem with the external hard drive containing your Time Machine back up (or perhaps the cable). Is the drive old? Some external hard drives have more than one way to connect, like USB and FireWire. If yours does, you could try the other interface and see if the problems go away.

If there is a connection, what are the downfalls of running at 30 Hertz? I don’t seem to be able to tell any difference. I’m on my computer most of the day with general office stuff (Word, Excel) and the internet through Safari. I rarely play games but I do stream some video from a couple of websites.

As far as I know, the only downside to running your monitor at 30 Hz is that some people notice a flicker in the display. Some people even get headaches. If you don’t notice anything different, I don’t think there’s any downside.

 

[MIKX]

I have a late 2012 Core i5 Mac Mini. 16 gb RAM. internal 480gb sandisk Ultra 3D SSD running Mojave 10.14.6 This M.M. uses the aluminum chassis along with the internal fan for cooling.

have look here. Post #12

Mac Mini 2012, hot to the touch when doing nothing

I just came back to my Mac after a couple of hours and despite being sat on screensaver, the body is hot to the touch. I launched Activity Monitor to see if anything obvious was wrong, the only weird thing was Activity Monitor itself was reportedly using 20-40% CPU. The fan is not blasting, it's...

forums.macrumors.com

This was my first cooling solution.

I live in hot, humid Japan. Now that Japan's summer is approaching I have a cheap PC shop external USB fan aimed at the bottom of the Mac Mini - works extremely well.

Once a month I blow our internal dust with canned air.