When I went to remove said screw, it's not going anywhere. It spins, but won't go in or out. I'm assuming it's stripped badly on the inside. I tried the old tricks of using a putty knife to apply upward pressure when unscrewing and needle nose pliers, but it's not budging.

As a result of this, I can't get the power supply back in until I find a remedy. I suppose I can cut it off, but I'd prefer a less drastic method to get the screw out. Anyone seen this before or have a suggestion? Thanks for any help.

https://s18.postimg.org/et6m0bxvt/Screw....

⟐ Commented February 14, 2019 at 19:23 MST

Many thanks

⟐ Commented July 08, 2017 at 22:16 MST

⟐ Answer accepted April 02, 2014 at 3:54 MST

So this is what it looks like should I clear all this test the board etc it’s doing a full spin now. Hopefully these are easily fixed.

this is after a clean

this is what I get after all the steps I’m guessing there’s a much bigger issue there’s a longer spin with the fan now though

⟐ Commented July 03, 2025 at 4:25 MST

⟐ Answered November 13, 2024 at 15:56 MST

I successfully installed ChromeOS Flex on a four-core Mac mini Intel Core i7. This OS will run on almost any 64-bit PC or Mac hardware. It even works very well on my ancient but heavily upgraded Mid 2007 Core2Duo iMac, because after all that is an AMD64-based machine too. That is not the issue here and I have no complaints about how ChromeOS works. It is what it is and that’s just fine, and if you don’t like it then there are many other fine operating systems out there. I like ChromeOS quite a lot because it is so simple, secure and wicked fast.

ChromeOS has ONE MAJOR FLAW, however, and it is really serious and also remarkably stupid. Unlike almost every other operating system that has ever existed in the world, yes, even the Devil’s own OS, Windows, the ChromeOS installer DOES NOT let you pick which hard drive or partition you want to use! If you proceed, and your computer has only a single internal SSD or hard drive, the installer will simply erase that and wipe out any partitions and destroy every bit of information you may have on it and greedily, ruthlessly, gobble up the entire drive. And, of course, unlike every other OS, it won’t let you use external drives either.

In addition, ChromeOS uses a very funky partitioning scheme that not even the best Linux, Windows or Mac partitioning tools can handle properly. It uses a number of overlapping, unknown, home made, nonstandard partitions and other crazy things just to be extremely difficult. And while it is possible to clone a ChromeOS drive (and I have done it) it is not at all easy. Google REALLY does not want you to be free and will not allow you to make your own choices.

To make things a little clearer, below is the original drive configuration of that computer:

disk0 / APPLE SSD / Lower / SM 128E. This is an SSD made by Samsung.

disk1 / APPLE HDD / Upper / 1 TB HTS… and then some long and tedious number or other. This is a hard drive made by Hitachi.

These two form a logical “Hybrid Drive” that may have been a good idea in the summer of 2012 but a ridiculous thing today.

Now, when I installed ChromeOS Flex on this Mac mini, for some reason the installer picked the much slower disk1, wiped it squeaky clean and took it over. This worked very well, but the installer did not even bother to ask: “Now then, citizen, dear customer, do you want to use disk1 or disk0 for ChromeOS? Or perhaps some external drive of your choice?” Oh, nooooooo…. Freedom of choice… We can’t have that, can we?

This disk1 is a regular, old style, very worn, mechanical, spinning 1 TB Hitachi hard drive, and it’s in the “upper” and almost inaccessible slot, the drive bay closest to the Mac mini’s metal enclosure… but the lower drive when you see it from the perspective of most of us. To pull out disk1 you have to basically disassemble the whole Mac mini and even pull out the logic board. It is below the more accessible disk0, the drive bay that is located directly under the metal antenna plate and in this case holds a 128 GB Samsung SSD drive… This is the “lower” slot…

OK, so finally, after all this talking (and I apologize for boring you numb and senseless with my dreary blah), here is my absolutely fascinating question to you. Do any of you good people out there in the known universe happen to know how ChromeOS auto-magically picks the install drive? (And if there is a way to manually FORCE it to use either disk.) Why did it grab the slow disk1 and not the much faster disk0 in this case?

I will replace the old Hitachi hard drive and install a new SSD there as disk1, or move the existing 128 GB SSD to this position. Will the ChromeOS installer pick disk1 again or will it use disk0?

It will be interesting to see what your responses will be. I am very thankful for any advice or information you might have. :D

Thanks in advance!

skjell, new member

⟐ Answer edited January 18, 2024 at 8:27 MST

• It was working when i bought it ( 2,5 ghz processor, 8go Ram, Apple keyboard)
• carefully switched the internal 1To HDD with a samsung Evo SSD ( 500 gb)
• Did start the mac and heard the POST " chime" sound once. Did shut down ( I had no screen nor keyboard connected).
• After that , on next startup the "chime" POST sound never came back. I assumedthere was connection fault so I've checked everything and teardown/ remount several times since...
• connected it to a display with hdmi or mini display to vga ( both working with another mac) : no display whatsoever
• The power LED is working, no blinking
• The MAc mini heats but the Fan doesn't start
• caps lock of the USB apple keyboard doesn't work
• USB wired mouse does get power from usb and blnks
• external HDD mounted on a SATA / Usb 3 adaptor does get power and blinks
• no way to reinstall mac Os or to boot on the recovery , as I get no display and no keyboard access.
• did tryed to clone my MBP SSD to the internal SSD ( one more disassembly / assembly) , but no result.
• and now I just can't put the WI fi antenna back , maybe I've pinched the small connectors.. but I can live without WIFI :)
• 
  So I've heard about bootloader damaged or something like this, that could be helped with another mac and target disk mode start the Mac mini... That could work using a generic wired keyboard rather than the Apple USB wired keyboard, but it sounds weird.

* Does somebody know how I could fix that mess , or did i have bricked this cheap mac mini ? Is there another way to restore the system ?

• by the way thanks your for your helps and toolkit and advices.

⟐ Commented December 05, 2023 at 8:22 MST

I have checked the hard drive and only 15 GB has been used,

The total size of the pictures file is 516GB, so I think that there should be adequate room.

 I thought that it could be  the fault of an interrupted Hard Drive

⟐ Answer accepted November 09, 2023 at 10:53 MST

I would like to have my own power button as I can’t reach it where its located on the mini’s case.

Wake up on LAN is not what I want. On the older 2012 Mac Mini I just used the cable that went to the power button. Now its a ribbon cable, 6 pin I think, I can’t solder that.

Does anybody know what the unused connections on the power supply are good for. Can it be done with them?

Thanks

projekt2501

⟐ Commented September 25, 2023 at 6:07 MST

So I have a late 2012 Mac Mini it has a 1TB HDD (what it came with). I purchased a 500GB Samsung SSD (870 EVO) to switch the HDD with.

I cloned the HDD onto the SSD using CC Cloner. Then i took out the HDD and put in the SSD. On boot a circle with a diagonal popped up then it booted up fine. I tested the system and it seemed to work fine so I shut it down. I then powered it on and a folder with a question mark popped up and it did not boot. So I booted into recovery mode and went to disk utility. I then noticed that disk utility said the drive was uninitialized. So I tried initializing it by using first aid then erasing it etc. but it kept failing.

I then took out the SSD and put back in the HDD and booted up the pc and it booted fine. I then attached the SSD externally and initialized it using disk utility to MacOS Extended Journaled (The default settings). Then I put back the SSD in the Mac and did a fresh install of MacOS via recovery mode. MacOS Catalina was installed and i went through the setup and everything went well. I tested the system and everything was working excellent better than the HDD. So I said I will try and reboot the pc to see if I get the same issue, and unfortunately when I clicked restart the pc shut off and on boot the folder with the question mark popped up and it never came on again.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance.

Thank you !

⟐ Commented October 23, 2022 at 8:02 MST

When I attach the power cord, the fan does a quick spin then stops, then a quick spin again, then stops, and it just keeps doing this. This is without touching the power button. It’s looks like something is failing even before it can be in a state to be turned on.

There are some places that do logic board repairs, but maybe someone has an idea what the issue may be, as I’m a little concerned leaving my Mac mini with someone for several days with 2 drives full of all my personal stuff.

It’s a Mac Mini Late 2012 2.6GHz i7 (A1347)

Thank you,

Keith

Someone had a look, but can’t do repairs at a logic board level. Initial diagnosis, “Sadly it is the logic board and not the power supply. I don’t have a schematic for the board so can’t confirm the issue but one-wire communication for power on is working but the processor is not providing the start-up logic.”

⟐ Answer deleted March 19, 2022 at 5:59 MST

⟐ Answer unaccepted November 10, 2023 at 12:00 MST

I have wiped the entire HD and re-installed the MacOS (through the recovery mode), but even after that the mac mini only starts up normally after reset of the PRAM.

Does anyone know what could be the problem?

⟐ Answered August 29, 2020 at 9:23 MST

https://support.apple.com/downloads/Firm...

i'm stuck with Mac Mini late 2009

Three long tones, three short tones, three long tones: EFI ROM corruption is detected

⟐ Answered August 28, 2020 at 16:50 MST

I've an old Mac Mini (2014) with the original “Apple HHD“ HD.

I’d like to upgrade it for better performances installing an SSD but since i’m frightened of taking apart the whole machine i’m considering to buy a SAMSUNG SSD 512 GB 970 PRO M. 2

I have two questions though:

1) Is the Samsung SSD 970 Pro M2 PCIe suitable for my mac mini?

2) Is it possible to have both original HHD and the mentioned PCIe installed in the machine or it’s better to replace the old HHD with a brand-new SSD?

Thank you in advance

⟐ Comment deleted June 09, 2020 at 10:38 MST

Unfortunately I have no other power supply to test, and I fear the logic board is probably gone, even if I can't really understand how.

I've even tried SMC reset.

Apple store is not an option, this computer is ten years old.

Any other suggestion?

⟐ Answer edited September 01, 2019 at 20:16 MST

Please note: I had to select a machine for this question, so I just selected a 2012 Mac Mini.

⟐ Commented March 22, 2019 at 8:20 MST

I would guess, it's not dead, but either a life.

If you just plug the power supply, after 3 seconds, the fan starts like crazy. There are no lights on, no video and you can't turn off the machine. The only option it's to remove the power cable to turn it off.

The problems happen with the hard drive sensor cable plugged or not puggled into the motherboard.

I also tried resetting the SMC manager in many ways. Like, taking apart the machine and removing the clock battery.

⟐ Answered November 03, 2018 at 10:55 MST

⟐ Answer accepted June 28, 2018 at 5:11 MST

Input: AC 100-240V, 50-60Hz

Output: DC 18.5V 6.0A

Power: 110W

Outlet: 3-prong

Model: MA407LL/A

Condition: GENUINE/ORIGINAL New Apple Mac Mini PowerPC Adapter, with replacement power cords.

otherwise there is an 85 watt for the model a1105 (i dont think this is the right one though) Can anyone please verify if the 110 watt cord will be the right one??

thanks

⟐ Commented June 14, 2018 at 18:45 MST