No boot after ram upgrade

[Marv87]

Hi all,

Bought a Mac Mini 2018. Upgraded RAM as done in the iFixit video. It booted correctly, but one slot came up empty. Took apart the Mini for a second time and made sure both RAM modules were correctly installed. Put it all back together again but now OSX doesn’t boot anymore. The fan is spinning and makes a loud blowing noise every 30 seconds. Any idea what could be wrong?

thanks,
Martijn

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Check and make sure all the motherboard connectors are seated correctly, especially the power supply connector on the mobo. If you have a magnifying glass, carefully look at the motherboard to see if you can spot something unusual. You might have to reinstall the original memory modules that came with the system to see if it will boot properly. You could have a bad memory module. I used the (16x2 GB) Crucial Vengeance memory sticks I purchased on Amazon.

 

[IowaLynn]

Does it call for resetting the motherboard SMC or anything?
Resetting Open Firmware use to be a must on old Macs and PCs.

 

[Marv87]

Does it call for resetting the motherboard SMC or anything?
Resetting Open Firmware use to be a must on old Macs and PCs.

No, it doesn’t.

Check and make sure all the motherboard connectors are seated correctly, especially the power supply connector on the mobo. If you have a magnifying glass, carefully look at the motherboard to see if you can spot something unusual. You might have to reinstall the original memory modules that came with the system to see if it will boot properly. You could have a bad memory module. I used the (16x2 GB) Crucial Vengeance memory sticks I purchased on Amazon.

I did. Couldn’t see anything inusual.

Assembled the Mini againd and tested without the antenna and bottom cover. It booted and showed 32 gb RAM in use. After attaching the antenna and bottom cover it wouldn’t boot again.

After that I removed the antenna again, but no dice. But after a minute it booted again, still 32 gigs RAM showing up. After restarting: a black screen.

Tried to open the hardware check when booting (D and Option-D) but it started system recovery instead. Right now I am reinstalling the OS, let’s see how that goes.

 

[Fishrrman]

a. Take non-factory RAM OUT
b. Put factory RAM back in
c. Return non-factory RAM for replacement or refund.

 

[Marv87]

Time for a little update.

Took the Mini apart once again. Inserted the RAM-modules one more time making sure they were placed perfectly. Booted the machine... And there was OSX running like it should and showing me that there was 32 gigs of RAM installed. So far so good. But after rebooting I only saw a black screen and my monitor shutting down every 30 seconds. Used the power button to shut the Mini down and start again. Then the password reset showed up. Didn't want to do that, clicked on restart and there was OSX again, showing the 32 gigs. But after rebooting the black screen showed up. So once again I used the power button and repeated the steps mentioned before while pulling the hairs out of my head.

After a few times I decided to disable FileVault and guess what: everything works as it should be. 32 gigs installed, running on 4k/60 hertz without a flickering monitor as I had with a HDMI-cable (I use Displayport to USB-C now) and everything is running smoothly Rebooted multiple times without any problems.

So I guess FileVault was giving me a hard time somehow although I cannot explain why!

 

[Spectrum]

Time for a little update.

Took the Mini apart once again. Inserted the RAM-modules one more time making sure they were placed perfectly. Booted the machine... And there was OSX running like it should and showing me that there was 32 gigs of RAM installed. So far so good. But after rebooting I only saw a black screen and my monitor shutting down every 30 seconds. Used the power button to shut the Mini down and start again. Then the password reset showed up. Didn't want to do that, clicked on restart and there was OSX again, showing the 32 gigs. But after rebooting the black screen showed up. So once again I used the power button and repeated the steps mentioned before while pulling the hairs out of my head.

After a few times I decided to disable FileVault and guess what: everything works as it should be. 32 gigs installed, running on 4k/60 hertz without a flickering monitor as I had with a HDMI-cable (I use Displayport to USB-C now) and everything is running smoothly Rebooted multiple times without any problems.

So I guess FileVault was giving me a hard time somehow although I cannot explain why!

Are you booting form the internal? And are screen attached directly or via a GPU?