Black screen after installing latest combo - won't reboot at all

Mini (MB463B/A) working fine with SL - decided to update using Updater and all was going well. Downloaded 1.16Gb (5 items) > completed installation > automatically restarted > and then up comes a black screen and that's it.

Did the usual turn off/on = black screen throughout.

Tried via original install disc = shows grey screen with Apple logo and spinning icon then black screen. Can still hear the machine whirring away for a few seconds more then nothing.

Could there be a video driver issue within the update?

Any other ideas? What else can I do?

Thanks

EDIT: I don't use Time Machine and don't have any files on this machine that I need.

EDIT: have checked out http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2490859&start=0&tstart=0 but still no joy.

If you can't boot the machine with your original install DVD (assuming that's what you meant), then there may be a hardware problem. Let's try to reset the PRAM | NVRAM first. LINK

I don't know how you tried to boot the machine with your install DVD, but why don't you try it again by holding down the OPTION key as soon as you hear the POST chime and keep it pressed until the Apple appears. If you can get it to boot from the DVD you can reinstall SL.

Hi chscag

I'm not sure I need to go down that route just yet because it appears there could be a problem with the video card/drivers from 10.6.3 onwards when running any res above 1440x900. Which is not good because I need a min of 1680x1050.

Managed to get the machine to reinstall from 10.5, then upgraded to 10.6. Fine, even at 1680x1050. Updated to 10.6.1 = fine. 10.6.2 = fine. But 10.6.3 = black screen. Went into safe mode at 1440x900 = fine. Changed res (with and without freq change) to 1600x1000 = black screen (and Return wouldn't switch back to previous res). Same with 1680x1050.

Going straight to 10.6.6 doesn't work either.

It's the early 2009 UK MB463 model (spec: Mac Mini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) with the 256Mb GeForce 9400.

Haven't found any relevant help on Google yet, so I'll be continuing my £35 call with Apple this morning.

In the meantime, do you think updating the video card separately might work? Or another fix? Or could this be something completely different?

Thanks

That's an unusual problem. You didn't mention the make and model monitor you're using but if it displayed OK up thru 10.6.2, it should have been OK even to the current 10.6.7. As far as I'm aware, Apple did not update or change the drivers for the nVidia 9400. And, according to the specs for your machine, you should be able to run all the way up to 1920 x 1200 using DVI.

Have you tried using another monitor as a test to see if you could get the resolution you want? If another monitor is not available, you may be able to use a late model TV instead.

Found another cable and now everything seems okay. Very weird that a cable will run all resolutions perfectly well up to 10.6.3 and then stop!

FTR, the adapter is a genuine Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (MB572Z/A) but it's not this that's the problem - it's the VGA cable itself.

Anyway, am now (hopefully) back up and running, with the exception of the clock resetting to 2001 and Airport losing the password every time the machine is restarted.

Will create a new post for this, but if you have any ideas they'd be much appreciated.

Thanks

Found another cable and now everything seems okay. Very weird that a cable will run all resolutions perfectly well up to 10.6.3 and then stop!

FTR, the adapter is a genuine Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (MB572Z/A) but it's not this that's the problem - it's the VGA cable itself.

Click to expand...

That is unusual. Also, for best results you should be using DVI rather than VGA. I have an external Samsung monitor I use at home and there is no comparison when using DVI versus VGA. Much clearer.

As to your other problem.... do you have to reset both the time and the airport password upon a reboot or is it just the airport password?

I received an e-mail from Brian Stucky today who runs MacMiniColo. He warned us not to run the 10.6.7 update as they have had a large number of mini's that haven't come back up after the update and are requiring hard reboots at a minimum and rebuilds in a number of cases.

chscag, I would prefer to run DVI but don't really need it because I only use the Mac for a handful of simple apps (stuff like Scrivener etc).

Yes, have to manually add the wifi pw in order for the clock to then update. Weird.

Having said that, maybe indychris has a point regarding 10.6.7 in that it messes this up. This problem has only appeared since that particular update ... although my MBP was updated on Saturday and has been fine.

I'm right in thinking there's no way to roll back to a previous update (without TM)?

You can't even do it with Time Machine. In order to roll back you would have to erase the drive and reinstall. Then download the updates one by one until you reach and stop at 10.6.6.

I would hang on for a bit more. If in fact there's a problem with updating the Mini to 10.6.7, Apple will likely issue a fix. Maybe in the form of a firmware update.