Mac Mini Cannot Load At Startup

[ugadawgs311]

My Macally wired USB keyboard arrived. I plugged it into the Mini, turned the Mini on, and right when the start up sound started, I held the left Shift key. Nothing happened. Same startup as has been the case: Apple logo and progress bar appear, progress bar slowly fills to 100%, then nothing.

Next, I'll try the NVRAM rest by holding the Option, Command, P, and R keys as soon as the start up sound starts. The annoying thing is that to try each of these new methods, I have to hold down the power key on the Mini to force it off, then restart it again. Isn't that bad to keep doing that over and over again without some waiting time in between?

Also, will a new keyboard like the one I just bought actually work? Wouldn't I have to setup/install the keyboard with the Mini first prior to using it? Unfortunately, I can't do that since the Mini never fully boots up.

If a Bluetooth Apple keyboard, a wireless USB keyboard, and a wired USB keyboard all don't work, I'm afraid I've run out of options.

EDIT: Well I tried plugging in the new keyboard to my Windows PC, and the keyboard lit up and worked perfectly within a few seconds. When I plug it into the Mini, it does not light up, making me think that it's not even receiving power, so of course trying to start in safe mode won't work.

Is this normal (i.e. the USB ports not providing any power until full boot up)?

EDIT 2: Well, might've gotten somewhere. I tried restarting and holding Option, Command, P, and R, and finally something different happened! I heard the start up sound again, kept holding, then heard it a third time. I then let go and the Apple logo and progress bar appeared. Now just waiting to see what happens when the bar fills...

 

[for this]

The annoying thing is that to try each of these new methods, I have to hold down the power key on the Mini to force it off, then restart it again. Isn't that bad to keep doing that over and over again without some waiting time in between?

Wait about 10 secs before turning it on again.

Also, will a new keyboard like the one I just bought actually work? Wouldn't I have to setup/install the keyboard with the Mini first prior to using it? Unfortunately, I can't do that since the Mini never fully boots up.

For startup key usage, that step is not needed. So, yes, usually it will work.
(Think about it, how would a new Mac from the factory get macOS installed for the first time?)

 

[ugadawgs311]

Finally! Trying to start in safe mode and resetting the NVRAM yielded no results, but when I rebooted in recovery mode (holding Command and R at startup), I finally got a new screen where I had the option to restore from a Time Machine backup I had on an external drive. Now I'll see if she actually gets restored, and if I can log in to a functioning machine.

 

[philipma1957]

If you have two sticks of ram. pulling a stick often works.

It clears all ram memory since the rame was on two sticks and there is now just one stick.

let us know if you got it to work.

 

[chrfr]

It clears all ram memory since the rame was on two sticks and there is now just one stick.

RAM contents are cleared when the computer is restarted or shut down. Perhaps you mean NVRAM? (NVRAM contents are not cleared when the RAM configuration is changed, nor when the computer is restarted, however.)

 

[ugadawgs311]

If you have two sticks of ram. pulling a stick often works.

It clears all ram memory since the rame was on two sticks and there is now just one stick.

let us know if you got it to work.

Funny thing is, I tried removing both sticks of RAM a while ago. It didn't do anything. I never tried just removing one stick though, then restarting. Maybe that would have worked?

Either way, the Mini has booted up and is restored from a Time Machine backup. In the end, the Command + R keys at startup are what worked for me. Thankfully, I had a backup nearby.

 

[philipma1957]

Funny thing is, I tried removing both sticks of RAM a while ago. It didn't do anything. I never tried just removing one stick though, then restarting. Maybe that would have worked?

Either way, the Mini has booted up and is restored from a Time Machine backup. In the end, the Command + R keys at startup are what worked for me. Thankfully, I had a backup nearby.

It has worked on many minis. It acts as a full ram reset since there is only one stick.