Received my new Mac Mini today with the intention of using it with my 20" Apple Cinema Display. Plugged everything in and the screen didn't turn on. Plugged the old Mini in and the Cinema Display worked. Tried the adapter with my old Mini and it worked. Plugged my new Mini into the TV and it worked. For some reason my new Mini isn't working with my old Cinema Display. Called Apple and they had me reinstall the hard drive.
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Mac Mini 2012 not working with 2003 20" ACD with ADC
- Thread starter misfit356tsw
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Using the Apple brand ADC-DVI and the Apple HDMI to DVI connector. So far we have eliminated the idea that it is a cord problem because I can get my old Mac Mini to work with every connection.
Is this the best cable to get?
http://www.monoprice.com/mobile/Pro...Id=102&categoryId=10246&subCategoryId=1024604
http://www.monoprice.com/mobile/Pro...Id=102&categoryId=10246&subCategoryId=1024604
The 2012 Mac Mini is no longer compatible with the ADC Apple Cinema Displays. This was passed to me from Apple engineering. Looks like I am retiring my old Cinema Display. 
The 2012 Mac Mini is no longer compatible with the ADC Apple Cinema Displays. This was passed to me from Apple engineering. Looks like I am retiring my old Cinema Display.
A shame. It truly is. Those old ADC screens are amazing. Even if they are 10+ years old, they are very nice to use. I'm surprised Apple supported them this long as far as the OS goes. 10.9 may drop all support for them.
From what I was told the issue it is not an OS level issue but instead an issue of too many adaptors between the Mini to the monitor. HDMI to DVI, DVI to ADC. I thought they were going to work with me but I know they have bigger fish to fry and yes it is a 9 year monitor if I remember correctly.
Yes, bought the mini-Displayport adapter (Apple brand) from Best Buy today and no luck. Apple just happened to call me back and the tech called engineering. To be fair all of the techs were awesome and seemed to genuinely care about my issue. Not only that but they were very knowledgable about old Apple products.
Trust me I was hoping it would too. That is a great monitor despite being almost 10 years old. It will now be relegated to the old Mac Mini in the upstairs office.
However it has many more years of good use ahead of it. 
We recently had a problem with a brand new 2012 mbp hooked up to a Viewsonic external display at work. Turned out after some swapping around with our other machines and cables that the thunderbolt to VGA cable didn't work but using a micro dvi to dvi cable in it's place did.
Yeah I tried the HDMI to DVI and Mini DisplayPort to DVI and no luck. It is an awesome computer though.
Just verifying that u are still confident it will not work with the ACD? I was going to try the exact same setup.
If so what monitors are u considering?
If so what monitors are u considering?
Absolutely positive it will not work with an Apple Cinema Display with ADC (even with the Apple ADC to DVI adaptor). Had a senior tech on the phone who got a hold of Engineering and they said because of the HDMI to DVI and the DVI to ADC there was signal loss and as such the monitor is no longer supported. Apple Cinema Displays without ADC will work with the new Mini.
On the subject of what monitor I will now use, I have went with a base model ACER monitor for now.
Works with 30" ACD
Works with my 30" ACD just fine via the dual-link adapter connected to the thunderbolt/mini display port. I have noticed 2 issues though:
1) The screen didn't scale correctly when I initially booted it up, this may be due to the OS configuring the display settings for for the first time.
2) I experienced a black screen when going into the first screen of the setup. With this, I just unplugged and re-plugged the mini display port lead back in and seems to work fine now.
Works with my 30" ACD just fine via the dual-link adapter connected to the thunderbolt/mini display port. I have noticed 2 issues though:
1) The screen didn't scale correctly when I initially booted it up, this may be due to the OS configuring the display settings for for the first time.
2) I experienced a black screen when going into the first screen of the setup. With this, I just unplugged and re-plugged the mini display port lead back in and seems to work fine now.
Thanks I assume you just did this, please keep us updated. Oh I just noticed does your ACD 30" require the adc to DVI adapter A1006?
Good point, it doesn't. The DVI cable is hard wired into the monitor, which may be the difference in this case.
I hope this won't be an issue with other monitors that require two adapters. Specifically, I'm going to have to use an analog to digital DVI adapter along with either an HDMI/DVI or Mini Display Port/DVI cable for my Wacom Cintiq. $3700 for a new Cintiq is not in my plans.
so the problem is only with the old ADC Displays, not with the "normal" 2004+ Cinema HD Display?
Got a 23" Aluminium Cinema HD and wanted to connect it in 90° rotation via the HDMI-DVI adapter to the new Mac mini as a secondary screen for reading and working on documents
Got a 23" Aluminium Cinema HD and wanted to connect it in 90° rotation via the HDMI-DVI adapter to the new Mac mini as a secondary screen for reading and working on documents