On November 22, 2010 I decided to do something I have always wanted to do, and that was to buy and use a mini as a HTPC. I have and still do use an apple tv, and have always owned and used macs at home, so using the mini was something that (for me) came with a very small learning curve. The first thing I did after buying the mini (same day) was purchase Vizio 42" from Wal Mart, that had a deal too god to pass up, to replace a dead Samsung 46" that samsung said that they would replace for free (arrived at my door just a couple of days ago). When I got home I set everything up with the mini and the Vizio.
My set up was:
Mini 2010 2.4 with 2 gig ram - HDMI to Vizio HDMI running plex.
after two weeks there were some problems occuring such as two or three computer freeezes (reboot required), a beach ball or two, but really didn't think too much about it. basically the mini didn't have the same feel as my 4 year old 2.16 macbook, but was working just fine. It seemed slower and very slightly more sluggish I guess?
Then last week I came home from work, and changed the input on the vizio from tv to the mini input to access my desktop, and the tv was reporting "no signal". after unsuccessfully trying to wake the mini, I went over to my entertainment center to re-boot the mini. I found that the mini was extremely hot. I powered down the mini and immdiately attempted a reboot, but was unable (not even safe mode would work). the mini would not complete the boot up and would just hang part way through the boot up with still nothing on the display. I confirmed that the mini was not booting up by attempting a screen share that would not make a connection, and even inserted a dvd to a drive that was lifeless. I turned off the mini and let it cool down for 1 minute (I'm impatient I guess) and then rebooted it. It made it farther this time in the reboot and I was able to see the apple logo and white screen for about 5 seconds, then it froze again and display went dark and tv reported "no signal". I let the mini cool for ten minutes this time, and rebooted the mini where it seemed fine for about an hour. I left it idle at the desktop, and watched it off and on for some time, then saw the display flicker off and on with some colored snow in between. this got more frequent in the space of about 45 seconds, then no display again at all and the mini gets real hot again, and reboots hangs again and again. I was able to cool down the mini so I could get my photos off the drive and do some quick house keeping and even ran a drive test that reported ok and reset pram created another user account with same problems exhibited. Now the mini is in service, and I called and they replaced logic board and and hard drive and I will pick it up next week and give it another go. Possibly there is some handshake issues with HDMI. I'll try the Samsung this time.
My set up was:
Mini 2010 2.4 with 2 gig ram - HDMI to Vizio HDMI running plex.
after two weeks there were some problems occuring such as two or three computer freeezes (reboot required), a beach ball or two, but really didn't think too much about it. basically the mini didn't have the same feel as my 4 year old 2.16 macbook, but was working just fine. It seemed slower and very slightly more sluggish I guess?
Then last week I came home from work, and changed the input on the vizio from tv to the mini input to access my desktop, and the tv was reporting "no signal". after unsuccessfully trying to wake the mini, I went over to my entertainment center to re-boot the mini. I found that the mini was extremely hot. I powered down the mini and immdiately attempted a reboot, but was unable (not even safe mode would work). the mini would not complete the boot up and would just hang part way through the boot up with still nothing on the display. I confirmed that the mini was not booting up by attempting a screen share that would not make a connection, and even inserted a dvd to a drive that was lifeless. I turned off the mini and let it cool down for 1 minute (I'm impatient I guess) and then rebooted it. It made it farther this time in the reboot and I was able to see the apple logo and white screen for about 5 seconds, then it froze again and display went dark and tv reported "no signal". I let the mini cool for ten minutes this time, and rebooted the mini where it seemed fine for about an hour. I left it idle at the desktop, and watched it off and on for some time, then saw the display flicker off and on with some colored snow in between. this got more frequent in the space of about 45 seconds, then no display again at all and the mini gets real hot again, and reboots hangs again and again. I was able to cool down the mini so I could get my photos off the drive and do some quick house keeping and even ran a drive test that reported ok and reset pram created another user account with same problems exhibited. Now the mini is in service, and I called and they replaced logic board and and hard drive and I will pick it up next week and give it another go. Possibly there is some handshake issues with HDMI. I'll try the Samsung this time.