Mac mini mid-2011 2.5 GHz overheated - permanently ruined?

[CheesePuff]

I have a mid-2011 2.5 GHz Mac mini with the Radeon 6630M graphics, which last year I upgraded the HD to a Crucial m4 SSD and 8 GB of RAM. Running Yosemite 10.10.3.

The other day I was watching a YouTube video and the machine just suddenly restarted without error or warning. Then after it came back on, 10 minutes later it did the same thing.

Now it turns on, displays thick vertical purple or green stripes, shows the OS X boot up screen for a few seconds, then just goes blank (but the machine remains running).

When it first rebooted without warning, I felt the machine and it was very hot. Could it have overheated and permanently ruined the graphics card/logic board? Is this a known issue? Since it's not under warranty anymore I assume Apple will do nothing?

 

[yjchua95]

I have a mid-2011 2.5 GHz Mac mini with the Radeon 6630M graphics, which last year I upgraded the HD to a Crucial m4 SSD and 8 GB of RAM. Running Yosemite 10.10.3.

The other day I was watching a YouTube video and the machine just suddenly restarted without error or warning. Then after it came back on, 10 minutes later it did the same thing.

Now it turns on, displays thick vertical purple or green stripes, shows the OS X boot up screen for a few seconds, then just goes blank (but the machine remains running).

When it first rebooted without warning, I felt the machine and it was very hot. Could it have overheated and permanently ruined the graphics card/logic board? Is this a known issue? Since it's not under warranty anymore I assume Apple will do nothing?

Looks like Radeongate hit it. Just like how it hit the 2011 15" cMBPs.

 

[LorenK]

I think that yjchua95 is probably right. When my MacMini fried, I lost the motherboard and it wouldn't boot at all, though mine was still under AppleCare. Take it in and see if they will replace the graphics chip.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Looks like Radeongate hit it. Just like how it hit the 2011 15" cMBPs.

I had no idea it was that bad. Apple shouldn't continue to use AMD graphics on their new computers, as people prefer NVIDIA ones.

 

[BrettApple]

I had no idea it was that bad. Apple shouldn't continue to use AMD graphics on their new computers, as people prefer NVIDIA ones.

8600M anyone? Or 8XXX anything as known to the rest of the PC world. Also affected the iMac with the 8800GS. Pretty much the same issue as the ATI cards with the solder that was used.

Really this applies to any dedicated GPU where the solder joints fail, but the most notable are the Nvidia 8XXX and mobile ATI cards of 2011.

You don't hear a lot of them going out in the Mac Mini but I chalk that up to there being way fewer Mac Minis with the ATI card out there since it was an option and the MBP sells in higher volumes and tends to have higher loads on them in general.

It is unfortunate but that's probably what happened.

 

[SRLMJ23]

If it is a known issue and even though you are not covered by warranty anymore, I would have to assume Apple will do something about it. My advice, start at your local Apple Store with a Genius, if that does not work just keep going up the chain until possibly you find someone in Apple that will help.

I am really sorry this happened to you buddy.

 

[grcar]

What I find distressing is Apple continues to make these expensive machines that can fail under normal load conditions due to overheating simply because the company has a fetish about small cases with inadequate heat management. You expect the good design to be more than skin deep, but Apple compromises the innards to make the box look pretty. I would be happy with a larger plastic box whose insides would work under all loads.