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Released on July 21, 2011. Core i5 or Core i7 Processor. Thunderbolt. This unit is also used to run the Mac mini Server configuration.

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SSD flex cable issues

Hello,

I hoping someone can help me here.

My Mac mini has a SSD fitted, it's been working great for a long time, suddenly the monitor went blue and the windows I had became disjointed and broken up by lines.

Anyway, I have since bought new flex cables 3 in fact, it seems to do the trick but very quickly the same things happen, only one of these cables is a cheap version from eBay, the others are genuine Apple. I can use the hard drive via USB cradle and is recognised by both this Mac mini and my laptop so I'm going to assume the drive is fine.

What I am wondering is can the SSD damage a cable so quickly or should I be looking at logic board or elsewhere, strangely when I boot up I get a proper Apple logo and progress bar, no question mark or anything then just a plain grey screen, no Apple logo, no progress.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks

Update (10/20/2017)

Thanks very much for getting back to me, My system is the 2.7GHz i7 mid 2011 model.

I'm running the latest OS with max RAM (16 GB). I did try the RAM before, I replaced it with the original RAM and I also replaced the hard drive to a SSD at the same time about a year ago, still no joy, the reason I keep thinking its the cable is because when I put a new one in it seems to work for a short while, once for a day and once for about ten minutes.

I no longer get the fuzzy blue screen but once it gets beyond the grey Apple Logo and progress bar, all I get is the grey background minus the Apple logo, it just stays grey so my logic says its' not the SSD as it tries to boot and will from a USB carriage in recovery mode.

It mounts easily as a second external drive on my laptop so I'm sure the SSD seems fine. I assumed RAM must be OK too. I guess if it's not the cable it could be something more serious with the logic board.

I will have time over the weekend and will check out the overheating. The fan kicked in a lot when I had a normal HD in which is one of the reasons I put an SSD in.

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I'm not understanding why you are over focused on the drive cable when you are stating the screen is showing disjointed image and a blue screen. The SSD drive wouldn't cause this.

So what could it be??

The Mac mini 2011 had two versions, the Mac mini 2.3 GHz i5 (Mid-2011) which uses the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 services. Whereas Mac mini 2.5 GHz i5 & 2.7 i7 (Mid-2011) which uses a dedicated GPU Radeon HD 6630M.

So lets start with the low end 2.3 GHz model it has some dedicated VRAM for the integrated graphics, but it also leverages some of your system RAM (shares 288 MB, 384 MB or 512 MB in a 2 GB, 4 GB or 16 GB system respectfully). So your RAM maybe the issue here!

Now lets look at the high end models they jump between the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 and the dedicated GPU Radeon HD 6630M which has 256 GB or onboard RAM when more GPU processing is needed. In these you can have either a RAM issue or the dedicated GPU could be failing.

For reference here is the two logic boards:

Block Image

Mac mini 2.3 GHz i5 (Mid-2011)

Block Image

Mac mini 2.5 GHz i5 & 2.7 i7 (Mid-2011)

The Red outlined part is either the PCH or a Combo GPU/PCH chip

OK how do I fix my system?

I would first make sure you've got the correct SO-DIMM's installed and if you can try a second pair (maybe its time to add more RAM?)

As you didn't tell us what you are running on the system you could be overheating your system. I would get this app so you can monitor the internal temps and the fan: TG Pro for less than $20 US its worth it. Take a snapshot of the main window so we can see what it shows, If possible take your phone and snap a pic of your screen when it shows the problem so we can see that as well.

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dean belcher will be eternally grateful.
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