Mac Minis won’t boot after (I assume) failed windows installs. Can’t get MacOS back.

[Tony Danger]

I’ve received 2 Mac minis i5 2011 recently and have weird issues with them both.

1: Chimes on power up, then does nothing
2: Chimes on power, attempts to boot into windows, fails and asks to restart.


I’ve reset NVRam on both, I cannot get into internet recovery, I cannot get into startup manager to select a USB to boot from.

I’m at a loss of what to do. Any suggestion?

 

[Kaida]

use a wired keyboard and hold on to alt or option key during boot

 

[Tony Danger]

Tried that, it won't go into the startup manager

 

[Tony Danger]

I could really use some help if anyone has any advice. Other than NVRam reset, none of the boot up commands work. I’m at a complete loss.

 

[Kenny99]

Have you asked “Apple Support” for help?

 

[Tony Danger]

Have you asked “Apple Support” for help?

It’s a 2011 Mac mini, Apple isn’t gonna support anything. I was hoping someone else may have an idea, I don’t believe I’m the first person to have a Mac that doesn’t respond to boot options.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

What keyboard?

 

[niteflyr]

A few random thoughts about things to try.

1. SMC reset for Intel Macs:
Desktop computer
Shut down your Mac, then unplug the power cord.
Wait 15 seconds, then plug the power cord back in.
Wait 5 seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.

2. Verbose mode startup. Command+V at startup.

3. Run Apple diagnostics. Option+D at startup.

edit: Apple Diagnostics

 

[macguru9999]

try taking out the drive and using a different one (maybe an ssd) or at least formatting the existing one several times outside the mini, or even leaving it in and formatting it from another mac in target mode if you dont want to take it apart, but make sure you get rid of all the partitions by low level formatting

 

[for this]

Other connections can mess with startup process. Try disconnecting unnecessary devices if you haven't done that. Having the issue with both of the computers points to something they are using/sharing. Perhaps they don't like the default monitor resolution. I would try switching to a different monitor or monitor's connection (monitor's connection can affect resolutions).

 

[Tony Danger]

A few random thoughts about things to try.

1. SMC reset for Intel Macs:
Desktop computer
Shut down your Mac, then unplug the power cord.
Wait 15 seconds, then plug the power cord back in.
Wait 5 seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.

2. Verbose mode startup. Command+V at startup.

3. Run Apple diagnostics. Option+D at startup.

edit: Apple Diagnostics

As I said in my OP, other than resetting NVRAM none of the startup commands respond.

It’s a wired keyboard that works fine, so that’s not the issue.

 

[Tony Danger]

A bit of clarity, the previous owner tried to install windows on each machine. He booted to the Windows ISO and formatted the drives. Then he started the install of Windows 8 on each one.

I’ve tried booting with a fresh drive in them and with no drive in them, I still cannot get into startup manager.

I have no idea what he’s done to them, but I just cannot get them going.

 

[Tony Danger]

Other connections can mess with startup process. Try disconnecting unnecessary devices if you haven't done that. Having the issue with both of the computers points to something they are using/sharing. Perhaps they don't like the default monitor resolution. I would try switching to a different monitor or monitor's connection (monitor's connection can affect resolutions).

Nothing extra connected to either one of them. Standard 1080p monitor over HDMI.

 

[macguru9999]

If changing the drive does not work, then the BOOTROM has probably been corrupted by the EFI windows install. I think you will need to work out how to flash the firmware but I am afraid I do not know. I am not sure its even worth the trouble on a 2011 mac. (unless its a mac pro). The other thing you could try is a windows 7 install and windows 10 upgrade but i know thats not what you want.

 

[Tony Danger]

I don’t mind putting windows on them. I was going to get Linux running on them, but I cannot boot from a USB.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Is it an Apple wired keyboard?

 

[DeltaMac]

You have a 13 year old mini, and likely is the original battery, and low/dead battery will sometimes cause some weird issues.
test the new battery before you install it (BR2032 is a good choice for a replacement, but can be hard to find - CR2032 will be OK if you can't find the more-correct BR2032. ("new" in package does NOT always mean the battery is full voltage... test it! )
I suggest you let the mini sit, with no battery installed, overnight if possible.
Bonus: replacing the battery teaches you more about getting into those minis. Take your time on the tiny, sometimes fragile connections.
When you have the mini opened up, are the internal drive/drives SSD, or spinner HDD? This will be the time to take the opportunity to swap out HDD with SSD...
When I have disturbed everything inside one of those older minis, I like to do what I call a full NVRAM reset. Do the usual boot while holding Cmd+Opt+p+r, but, after the first boot chime, continue to hold the same 4 keys until you hear the boot chime 4 more times, before releasing the keys.

 

[Fishrrman]

Will they power up into target disk mode?

Pull the power plug.
Plug it back in.
Hold down the T key continuously (no other keys).
Press power on button and keep holding the T key down.

Does this change anything?

 

[CaptTee]

Have you tried taking the RAM out and reseating it?

 

[macguru9999]

Only thing left is corrupt "bios" (firmware) caused by efi windows installs....
Does this work ? I have not tried it: (WIRED keyboard)
for all these shortcuts you need an HDMI connected monitor, too

How to enter BIOS on a Mac​

As we mentioned earlier, users can’t enter UEFI on Mac. On PowerPC Macs, you used to be able to press a key combination at startup to enter Open Firmware and view a diagram of connected devices, RAM configurations, and CPU information. You can’t do that on Macs, however. The closest thing you can do is boot in single-user mode and use the command-line interface to interrogate your Mac using Unix commands. However, it is only available for Intel-based Macs, meaning that the following steps will not work for Macs with Apple silicon.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Press the power button and hold down Command and Option keys and the letters O and F as your Mac starts up.
3. Release the keys when you see a black screen with white text on it.

Now, you can run UNIX commands to troubleshoot your computer.

 

[macguru9999]

That post i found does not make total sense, but its in the right direction. I think you need to hack the firmware ... "tsialex" on the mac pro forum does it. But they unsolder the eprom and flash it. Not sure its worth the trouble

 

[macguru9999]

That post i found does not make total sense, but its in the right direction. I think you need to hack the firmware ... "tsialex" on the mac pro forum does it. But they unsolder the eprom and flash it. Not sure its worth the trouble

I dont suppose you are in sydney by any chance ?

 

[chrfr]

Only thing left is corrupt "bios" (firmware) caused by efi windows installs....
Does this work ? I have not tried it: (WIRED keyboard)
for all these shortcuts you need an HDMI connected monitor, too

How to enter BIOS on a Mac​

As we mentioned earlier, users can’t enter UEFI on Mac. On PowerPC Macs, you used to be able to press a key combination at startup to enter Open Firmware and view a diagram of connected devices, RAM configurations, and CPU information. You can’t do that on Macs, however. The closest thing you can do is boot in single-user mode and use the command-line interface to interrogate your Mac using Unix commands. However, it is only available for Intel-based Macs, meaning that the following steps will not work for Macs with Apple silicon.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Press the power button and hold down Command and Option keys and the letters O and F as your Mac starts up.
3. Release the keys when you see a black screen with white text on it.

Now, you can run UNIX commands to troubleshoot your computer.

Open Firmware has been gone since Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel Macs back in 2005-6 so command-option-o-f will do nothing on anything that's doesn't have a PowerPC CPU (and the mini in question in this thread doesn't have one.)

 

[chrfr]

That post i found does not make total sense, but its in the right direction. I think you need to hack the firmware ... "tsialex" on the mac pro forum does it. But they unsolder the eprom and flash it. Not sure its worth the trouble

Also, the Mac Pros have substantially different firmware systems than the Mac mini does, so those tools also don't apply to minis.

 

[Nermal]

Open Firmware has been gone since Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel Macs back in 2005-6 so command-option-o-f will do nothing on anything that's doesn't have a PowerPC CPU (and the mini in question in this thread doesn't have one.)

Yeah, that post is almost completely wrong in every respect. No Intel Mac will boot to Open Firmware, and even if it did that wouldn't let you "run UNIX commands"!