Not my day

[porkenstein]

On a previous post I talked about struggling getting mac os back after running linux and I finally succeeded and mac running fine. Well I spoke to soon. Makes me want to stick with pc's which I know very well. Turned on my mac a little while ago and only have a gray screen. I have read some of the things that might fix it with no luck. Am I screwed. Beyond frustrated. Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[MacsBug]

A few questions...

1. When you boot your mini with the Option key held down, do you see the drive?
2. Have you tried booting from an external drive to see if the internal drive is still seen?
3. Is the drive that is in there the original, or has it been replaced with a newer drive or SSD?

 

[porkenstein]

when I boot with option key held down don't see anything. No luck booting from external drive as not seen. Repalced with a newer ssd and put the old drive back in with same results. Just a gray screen. I think it's fubarred.

 

[MacsBug]

Without knowing everything that you tried...

Have you tried reseating the PRAM? Have you made sure that all connectors are re-attached when you put the mini together?

 

[porkenstein]

I have tried resetting the pram. Nothing seems to happen when I do it. Screen just stays gray and have checked all connections. Just can't believe this. I bought this recently off of eBay and it's like brand new, not a mark on it and though I mainly use pc's I like to mess with other systems. Oh well. It was only $80.00 dollars but so disappointing as it was working perfect. I am a retired tech from Xerox Corp and have worked on many computers so this is so frustrating. Maybe I better stick with pc's.

 

[MacsBug]

One last thing to try..

Disconnect the power cord and all other cables.
Then after about 15 seconds hold down the power button.
Continue holding down the power button for 10 seconds and then plug only the power cord back in while continuing holding down the power button.
After another 10 seconds release the power button.
Wait another 15 seconds and then disconnect the power cord.
Reconnect your display, keyboard and display and power cord and see if the mini boots.

If this doesn’t work, perhaps someone else on the forum has other suggestions.

 

[porkenstein]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions but still just have a gray screen.

 

[porkenstein]

because these 2011 models sell for under 100.00 now days probably not worth taking it somewhere to see if an expert could fix it so I guess just lost money. :'(

 

[MacsBug]

I agree unfortunately.

 

[porkenstein]

Since I had nothing better to do I tried one more thing. Stripped it down and removed the pram or bios or whatever mac calls the battery and let it sit for a while. Well it's back together with same results, just a gray screen so looks like nothing else to do but tried my best. On a good note I can now strip down a mac mini and put it back together. I think I am crazy because I just bought another mini for 60 bucks. I am a glutton for punishment.