Mac mini i7 server 2011 A1347 NO POWER, DEAD ALREADY?

[appleisnowbad]

Hi there,

Basically, my A1347 i7 2.0 GHz Quad Core Mac Mini is 13 months old and I left it on sleep overnight to wake up and find it stone cold dead. No startup chime, no light, nothing. I have tested the cable with a multimeter and all is fine. I have also done the obvious SMC and PRAM resets. I have removed the internal power suply and got a stready 12V DC supply on the motherboard end. I know that this does not verify that it is not dead as I would have to test current draw but it is very unlikely that it is the culprit from what I have read....

Anyway, I suspect it is the logic board!! Has anyone had success getting a logic board repaired or baking one in the oven? With such a new mac I can not believe it and am now not loving mac at all.

I had a 2.6 macbook pro also die this year... I was able to get it back in action by baking the logicboard in the oven at 200 degrees for around 8 minutes!! It had slightly different symptoms as I still had some sign of life but a repeating startup chime... This was common for these macs.

The mac mini is different as it is still the latest model and there is very little info... I think I am really unlucky for a server model to die just after the 1 year warranty... what a disaster... I think I have lost my faith in Apple as my 5 year old PC is still going strong


thanks for any possible insight,
Nicholas

 

[justperry]

Hi there,

Basically, my A1347 i7 2.0 GHz Quad Core Mac Mini is 13 months old and I left it on sleep overnight to wake up and find it stone cold dead. No startup chime, no light, nothing. I have tested the cable with a multimeter and all is fine. I have also done the obvious SMC and PRAM resets. I have removed the internal power suply and got a stready 12V DC supply on the motherboard end. I know that this does not verify that it is not dead as I would have to test current draw but it is very unlikely that it is the culprit from what I have read....

Anyway, I suspect it is the logic board!! Has anyone had success getting a logic board repaired or baking one in the oven? With such a new mac I can not believe it and am now not loving mac at all.

I had a 2.6 macbook pro also die this year... I was able to get it back in action by baking the logicboard in the oven at 200 degrees for around 8 minutes!! It had slightly different symptoms as I still had some sign of life but a repeating startup chime... This was common for these macs.

The mac mini is different as it is still the latest model and there is very little info... I think I am really unlucky for a server model to die just after the 1 year warranty... what a disaster... I think I have lost my faith in Apple as my 5 year old PC is still going strong


thanks for any possible insight,
Nicholas

You said it yourself, you really need to draw current to know if the power supply is faulty or not, even a cable can have those symptoms, for instance, if the cable/wire is barely making contact, as soon as you draw more current it fails.
Is the cable with a Euro plug, they are fairly common, that is the first thing you try, another cable.

 

[appleisnowbad]

Thanks... Yes I know that this is technically correct but in my experience, a healthy output voltage suggests everything with the power supply and cable is ok... very very unusual to have current problems when the voltage is there as power supplies tend to either work or they don't but then again I am no expert... Just getting a new power supply to rule it out seems pretty crazy given their price... Yes the cable is with a euro plug and I will try another one but it is so so unlikely I think...Anyway, I appreciate your comments as knowing what to do is really tough

 

[d21mike]

I had the same problem with a Mac Server. The mother board was gone. I was at 18 months so I was out of luck with the warranty. Fortunately for me I bought it with a credit card that either doubles the warranty or adds 1 year (not sure). Anyway, the credit card company gave me the money for repair which was almost the same as a new Mac Mini so I got a new one.

I felt the same about Apple Quality. Only been using Mac's for about 3 years now after about 30 years in the other camp. This is not my first mother board failure but was not expecting it after 18 months.

 

[LorenK]

Odd, my MacMini went down after eleven months, but I got a message that told me to shut down and then when I tried to restart, I got three flashing lights and it wouldn't boot. Fortunately, I was within warranty and have AppleCare as well. They ended up replacing the logic board twice and the bluetooth once, with no idea what the cause of the problem was. I am thinking that heat was the culprit, I have it in a cabinet with adequate ventilation, but had it flat and there really doesn't appear to be a way to give it good ventilation in that position and so now have it vertical, and going to get a stand to keep it that way.

Given the cost of a new logic board, having them replace it is a bit cheaper than a new one, but without warranty or AppleCare is a bit pricy. Good luck.

 

[djc6]

is 13 months old

Give them a call or go into a store - they might help you out anyways since so close to warranty expiration. I've had success with them repairing items just outside of warranty.

 

[Mojo1]

Unfortunately, for a number of years extended AppleCare has been a necessity rather than a luxury... It pains me to write that since I can remember a time when Apple hardware was considered relatively bullet-proof.

The best place to buy AppleCare in the U.S. is the L.A. Computer Company. It consistently meets or beats Apple's education discount.

Stay away from eBay AppleCare sellers unless you like being ripped-off...

 

[Omnius]

I've never had a mac permanently fail. I'm not sure what you guys are using these machines for that is causing failures? is there some trend related to usage?

 

[d21mike]

I've never had a mac permanently fail. I'm not sure what you guys are using these machines for that is causing failures? is there some trend related to usage?

My first PC was in 1981 when they first came out so I have had a lot of machines. The Mac Mini Server was being used as simply a desktop machine. I really got the Server because I want the dual disk drive setup and did not even use the Server Software Features. So, I was pretty surprised that the mother board failed so quickly and also they wanted around $700 to fix it. On my Windows Machine the Mother Board was around $150 (if I remember right). I just think these things happen and I was just unlucky.