Help I broke my Mac Mini

dingding

Hi, Any help would be apriciated as I usually just work in Windows. I tried to upgrade the hard disk in my Mac mini. When I put it together it did see the hard disk and just showed a folder with a flashing question mark.

When I put the HD into an external USB caddy it finds the disk and using the snow leopard disk I cna get it to boot from the caddy.

Both the original and repacement disk boot OK from the caddy.

However nether disk is recognised when I put the disk into the MAC, however the optical drive works OK.

THe connections look OK. Is there something I need to watch out for. THe MAC apparently does not have a Bios so I don't know where to go to find if it can see the disk at a hardware level.

Any help appriciated as I have been scratching my head on this for a couple of days.

Thanks in advance.

Sad Professor

Is it showing up in Disk Utility when booted from the install cd?

And just to clarify, neither hard drive is working in the Mini anymore, is that correct?

dingding

Sad Professor wrote: »

Is it showing up in Disk Utility when booted from the install cd?

And just to clarify, neither hard drive is working in the Mini anymore, is that correct?

Thanks.
It is not showing up on the install cd when installed in the Mac. But it is showing up as an external drive.

Yes. The disk does not work in the Mac mini anymore.

It is like the disk is not physically installed in the machine.

Sad Professor

While booted from the external drive, open Apple System Profiler (you'll find it in Apple menu > About this Mac > More info), and see if the internal drive is showing up in there.

dingding

Thanks,

I will have a look this evening and post what I see from that Menu.

Cheers

dingding

Hi, the drive is recognised.
This is the replacement drive and it works OK when I boot it from the USB in it.



Hitachi HTS541612J9SA00:

Capacity: 120.03 GB (120,034,123,776 bytes)
Model: Hitachi HTS541612J9SA00
Revision: SBDOC7KP
Serial Number: SB25DBH6HT1SBN
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk2
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
Michael Barrett HD:
Capacity: 79.68 GB (79,682,387,968 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk2s2

Sad Professor

That's the internal drive, yeah? Is it showing up in the Finder?

dingding

I can't see it in the finder.

In the finder under my computer I have 3 items:-

Teh DVD drive with the install DVD
The USB drive
Network (Which I am not using)

The internal disk as specified in the previous post can not be seen in Finder

Sad Professor

What about in Disk Utility?

Talisman

Boot the computer holding the 'alt' key - this will launch the boot manager built in to the computer's firmware. If the internal drive is shown then select it to boot the system.

dingding

Sad Professor wrote: »

What about in Disk Utility?

The drive does not appear in Disk Utility, Just the USB, Network and DVD as before.

Rebooting it now with ALT pressed.

The internal drive does not appear when I press ALT either.


Cheers

Talisman

Try resetting the PRAM (this is as close as you get to resetting the BIOS on a Mac): Switch the Mini on using the power button and immediately hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys on the keyboard until you hear the startup sound a second time.

If the PRAM reset doesn't work then I would say the hard drive connection on the interconnect board is damaged - if the logic board connection was damaged then the DVD drive wouldn't be visible either. Since the hard drives work when they are connected externally then they too can be eliminated as being the source of the problem.

With an internal hard drive connected, boot from the installation disc and run the Apple Hardware Test.

A replacement part interconnect board would cost about £50 if you want to do it yourself otherwise send it to one of the authorised repair centres. Mac Mini Intel interconnect board (2009)

dingding

Thanks very much. Great advice. Is there a way to replicate the same key presses using a windows keyboard.

I use a windows keyboard with it as it did not come with a keyboard or mouse.

I was thinking that board might be damaged as I think the fault is that physical connector.

I just noticed sometimes when looking at the S ATA device information it returns the disk information as above and other times it comes back with an error discovering the devices.

I will have a look at the board for physical damage now

Many thanks

Talisman

On a Windows keyboard hold down the Windows, Alt, P, and R keys.

dingding

Took it apart and removed the board that sits at right angles to the mother board.

The problem seems to be that the hard disk is loose in the connector.

I tried to fix it by putting selotape on the connector - the side without the pins and it seems a firmer fit, however it does not seem to have helped.

I will have another go later but I think that is the problem.

When I took it apart the hard disk was loose on the connector, it was not a smug fit.

Talisman

You'll be needing the replacement part then. I presumed that your Mac mini was the 2009 model because you mentioned Snow Leopard. If it's an earlier model it will need a different interconnect board.

dingding

No, it was an older one that I upgraded to Snow leopard.

I have it a couple of years, the memory is parallel to the mother board on mine while there is an older generation mac mini that has the memory at right angles to the mother board.

Would I be able to get the part on ebay or is there somewhere I could source it.

I checked the site linked above and they don't have it, I will submit a query form with them tonight when I get the part no and serial no.

dingding

Found the problem.

There were a couple of bent pins in the Hard disk connector on the interconnect board (Apple part no 922-7320) I got a replacement board from the US on ebay for €20 including delivery.

Hope this information helps anyone who may have a similar problem.

Thanks to all the posters here for their advice.

Many thanks.

dingding

Good news.

The riser board arrived today from the US and I fitted it and the MAC Mini is working again.

Thanks all.

Cheers