hi peter,

since you already took it apart, i think you don't need the guide

you already tried a few things, but i tell you what i would do in that case -s o if there is anything mentioned what you already did - ignore it ;-)

does the led flash a few times when you power it on ?

try to start from the setup dvd that came with the mini(press c when you switch on the mini)- (btw - what os do you use ?)

if it starts from the disk, try the disk utility to check/repair the permissions/harddisk

if that wont work - go the hard way

remove almost everything whats inside - ram, wifi card, hdd & dvd

try to power it on - normally the led should flash 2 times in that case - the mini would recognize that no ram is installed

normally there are beep codes - but i had a mini that didn't make any sound

1 beep = no RAM installed

2 beeps = incompatible RAM types

3 beeps = no good banks

4 beeps = no good boot images in the boot ROM (and/or bad sys config block)

5 beeps = processor is not usable

the flashing led is beep code plus 1 (no ram equals 2 flashes)

if that works, shut it down and try putting the ram in and start it again - if that also works, you should see a grey screen with a folder/question mark - shut the mini down

now connect the hdd and try booting the mini again - if it works - you should be able to start the system

now you can try the same thing with the optical drive and the wifi card - if the system stops on any point - you have found the faulty part.

you can also change the order or better - if the hdd won't work, try to go ahead with the optical drive and so on.

sometimes is the disconnecting/connecting game the only way to rule something out.

but keep in mind - the psu can be faulty

i hope that i didn't forgot anything ;-)

Check the voltage coming out of the power supply first. Maybe you got off easy.

Hello Guys

I have the exact same problem with my MAC MINI 1.66 duo early 2006 however did you find the solution to the problem peter?

James

I'm pretty sure that the main board was dead, so after fiddling with it for a while, I gave up and finally bought myself a new mini.

-/\/

I had a late 2007 Mac mini and took it in to have it looked at by an Apple staffer at a storefront (same situation as described in this post). He didn't do nearly as much as I had done, and seemed tethered to what he could do on the keyboard, which did nothing. He tried a separate power brick and the behavior was the same as described in this post. It was hot in the room the day it failed (screen went off in the middle of usage). His guess, which was no better than mine, was that the logic board failed. He offered to do more, but I asked him how much the repair would be and he agreed that any way I looked at it, probably $100's to fix. I parted and three cheery, un-caring sales clerks wished me a good day as I left, looking very sober and disappointed. I'm currently using a $6 SATA enclosure and pulling my data off and onto an NTFS storage drive using some HFS+ capable software from a SourceForge project.

I have a similar problem with an A1176. The screen froze when loading a new browser page. alt/cmd/esc did nothing but I did notice that the fan although not running fast did blow fairly hot air.

I lifted the lid and tried to start it again (cmdS mode) and the thing had a kernel panic right away with the CPU getting very hot. I tried installing the original 1G RAM but no difference. Shortly after switching on, the CPU got very hot and there was no longer any response from the k/b. My suspicion was that the CPU had fried so I replaced it with an Intel P7350 which I believe to be the right one.

Now when power is applied and the power switch pressed, the k/b has no effect (no caps lock light) and there is nothing on the screen at all. The fan runs but it will not accept a disk in the optical drive so I'm beginning to think that there is a power fault on the main board. A long shot I know but does anyone have experience with the main board?

Many thanks.

Same problem: my A1176 was running fine on the original 1.8 Core Duo, but I got the parts and went for the upgrade:

• Upgrade CPU to Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
• Upgrade RAM to 2GB
• Upgrade HD to 500GB WD Scorpio

Followed directions here, which were great and thorough. Completed the processor upgrade too, despite trepidation. Reassembled carefully (actually twice for troubleshooting)

Now nothing: or almost nothing... Mouse lights up at power on, fan starts, and HD spins up, but no LEDs and no startup image. I'm thinking I either got a bad CPU, or damaged the MB in the upgrade.

Did the PMU reset, disassembled and reseated all components and cables. No luck. Sometimes you win, other times............