Mac mini not showing on screen

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I just got a secondhand mac mini from my friend. He wiped it and showed me how to press cmd+r when I started it up to reinstall the OS. It definitely worked at his house. I plugged it into my screen at home (HDMI - HDMI) but I can't see anything on my screen. It cycles through the different inputs and just cycles past HDMI like it cycles through the other options which have nothing plugged in. When I switch on the Mac mini I hear the start up chime and I can feel that it's definitely switched on.

Mac Mini: not sure which model but box says 2014 Magic Keyboard (was wondering if this could be a problem but I've tried a lot of times with all the timings I can think of) Samsung P2450H screen HDMI cable: have tested with same screen and blu-ray player and definitely works.

Would appreciate some help on what to try. Unfortunately I don't have a spare screen or a USB keyboard to test with.
 
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Hi,

Mac Minis made after 2012 have a Fusion Drive with no DVD drive. To wipe Fusion Drives you need to be online and you'll use the built-in OS X Recovery tool. For Mac Minis with a DVD drive, just use your original OS X installation disk to wipe the hard drive.

I just got a secondhand mac mini from my friend. He wiped it

Once He /she had erased the data off the HD they should have taken you through a reinstall of the OS X operating system.

So is it fusion, or DVD?
 
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Hi,

Mac Minis made after 2012 have a Fusion Drive with no DVD drive. To wipe Fusion Drives you need to be online and you'll use the built-in OS X Recovery tool. For Mac Minis with a DVD drive, just use your original OS X installation disk to wipe the hard drive.



Once He /she had erased the data off the HD they should have taken you through a reinstall of the OS X operating system.

So is it fusion, or DVD?

Hi, it doesn't have a DVD drive but I do also have an external super drive (no OS disc though)
I guess he thought it would be OK if I did the new installation at home...
 
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Hi,

I plugged it into my screen at home

Is this a standard VGA monitor? as HDMI wont work, you need to use thunderbolt port apples mini display port to VGA adapter is what you need. Also thunderbolt is backwards compatible.
 
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Hi,



Is this a standard VGA monitor? as HDMI wont work, you need to use thunderbolt port apples mini display port to VGA adapter is what you need. Also thunderbolt is backwards compatible.

The screen has an hdmi input which i have used successfully with a chromecast and a blu Ray player. Why would it not work with a mac mini?
 
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Hi,

The HDMI port will drive digital connections—such as DVI—using the adapter that came with the Mac mini, but cannot be used for analog displays such as VGA.
 

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