Restoring a 2005 Mac Mini: Disassembly, Problems & HELP! (Part 1)

[@UzunKamis]

I have one of those and just installed MX Linux AHS with Klipper for my 3D Printer. It works fine...

[@intangibletingles3412]

Boot menu is press & hold "alt" on startup. Eject disks is press & hold the left mouse button. I've found 'press and hold intermittently' works best, when the disk is spinning up.

[@intangibletingles3412]

More 'forgot to mention', make sure you have a DVD drive and not an old CDRW, might be why it won't boot from the disk (should boot from CD automagically if there's no OS on the HDD). As far as booting from external CD drive goes it has to be done over Firewire, if memory serves.

[@RetroGamerVX]

Thanks, tried both of them to no avail :(

[@intangibletingles3412]

@@RetroGamerVX Well poop. In that case it sounds a little, to use a technical term, 'a wee bit buggered'! If all else fails and as a last resort, you could try doing a VM install on another Mac to the drive of the Mini. Unless of course you have another optical drive to swap it out with. Working on the old Macs can be a pain. We literally keep an ancient external 5.25" enclosure with Firewire at work for just such occasions.

[@RetroGamerVX]

@@intangibletingles3412 Yep, I'm suspecting will need a new motherboard, but gonna try the tips people have sent me first :)

[@wdd6864]

The fan ramping up to turbo is because there is a tiny wire that gets plugged in the front. If you have another Mac but you need specifically the Intel Version. They made two MacOS X for PPC and Intel. If the controller was bad I do not think the drive would spin up. But that DVD if you try an intel version. I have an identical one here at home

[@RetroGamerVX]

Yep, I tried snow leopard too, but that didn't work. I didn't think to look at the dvd to see which version it is, I'll have a look in the coming days, thanks :)

[@robertjohnson2464]

If you can restart your computer to eject the disc: Choose Apple menu > Restart, then click Restart while pressing and holding the mouse or trackpad button until the disc is ejected. You can also hold the Option key while restarting your Mac. When you see your CD or DVD appear on the screen, select it, then press the Eject key. I( thought it had the hole still, sorry about that!

[@RetroGamerVX]

Can't get it yo boot yo look at those options. Mouse buttons don't work either unfortunately. Will be doing a follow up video soon.

[@grahamroberts1833]

Hi Steve, to remove discs, hold left and right mouse button down and Power on. This might work.

[@RetroGamerVX]

I tried holding the left button, but not both, I'll give that a shot in the coming days, thanks :) I'll mention ya in the vid :)

[@grahamroberts1833]

@@RetroGamerVX Thanks, as with all things Mac, I find them lovely to use, a nightmare to work on. My first port of call would be to fit a known working drive with a known working OS X installed on it, scavenge one from an old Macbook. This should boot. I would then put an SSD in a caddy and using disk utility, format that.

[@RetroGamerVX]

@@grahamroberts1833 Unfortunatly, I've got no old Macbooks to do this with, the Imacs have systems way to young to try with it.

[@nouphil]

@RetroGamerVX Please retitle your video. Apple didn't even announce Intel hardware coming to their Mac minis until February 2006. Thx

[@beewee7895]

ask sir, my mac mini 2006 can't normaly boot, only hear a fan with big wind.. not sound apple chime and no display on monitor... why?

[@RetrogamerGenX]

Just a thought Steve, but I think it may be an issue with that drive control card. Could be a ram issue too. If you got another mini, swap out that drive controller card and see if she fires up.

[@RetroGamerVX]

Hmm, could be, I don't have another one to swap it with though, I've had a few people suggest about the ram so I'll look at that too. Also been told of a better way to put the os onto the flash drive so, I'll be trying that. Thanks :)

[@grahamroberts1833]

Also, from memory, holding down left shift and Power on gets you into boot menu.

[@RetroGamerVX]

Websites said command key, but I'll give that a go on next days off, thanks :)

[@Magic-Enlightenment]

You need to restore you iso or dmg image to your usb using diskutility You might have to use an older intel Mac as Apple 🍏 crippled disk utility in later OS versions

[@RetroGamerVX]

Ahh, cheers Chris yes, I did try with the m1 but it kept failing. Could be a job for the 2010 :)

[@robertjohnson2464]

A Paper clip will get the cd out of the drive. Reset the PRAM, if all else fails, replace logic board.

[@RetroGamerVX]

I did have a poke around but saw no obvious hole for paperclip eject, I'll look again in the coming days, thanks :)

[@CaelThunderwing]

dont you haveto use a specalized utility to create a Tiger/leopard/snow leopard USB?

[@RetroGamerVX]

Tyebonebin the video supposed to work for tye job, found in forum, but I'll look more into it thanks :)

[@sprantozz503]

I am havin 2009 imac running mac os x leopard 10.5.8 but unable to access boot menu in it how can i upgrade plz help😢

[@sprantozz503]

Sir i am havin a 2009 imac running leopard 10.5.8 but unable to acess boot menu in it plz tell me how can i upgrade it i request

[@chaggydawg]

If I remember correctly does it matter which is USB port you plug keyboard into? At least as far as getting boot options? I have one of these and I figured it out forever ago, but I can't remember now. They are very underwhelming for a computer lol nice package tho.

[@chaggydawg]

And I believe hitting F11 rapid fire at boot will spit CD out (tho... my memory is foggy)

[@RetroGamerVX]

Yep, found loads of key sequences that supposedly sout it out, but not seen that one before. Not sure about which port I use, but I'll try that out too.

[@sprantozz503]

Sir i am havin a 2009 imac running leopard 10.5.8 but unable to acess boot menu in it plz tell me how can i upgrade it i request😂

[@RvYooK]

Try taking a stick of ram out, my 2007 mini had a bad slot and would only boot with one stick, try one slot then the other.

[@RetroGamerVX]

Ooh, good idea, I'll try that in the coming days, thanks, I'll mention ya in the vid :)

[@monkstandinglast]

Have you tried doing a system management controll reset and also been in the bios and reset, that looking at the hard drive was removed suggests that maybe the previous owner might have been tinkering with bits unknown to them set the primary boot option to usb or somewhere unknown also found a crackin site but I'll txt you that later lol

[@monkstandinglast]

Also take it fully appart and fully clean any new old busted up machine first before you switch it on lol will also give you chance to examine the board for any obvious errors like busted traces, caps, any chips/mosfets etc that might have been replaced (tell by the solder neatness usually looks either different silver colour or just blobbed on crap or melted plastic round edge of chips/mosfets etc), any possible bridges between components and clean the fans so when you do first switch on you can elimate those errors immediately and conclude its something else plus it'll make for a longer vid lol

[@RetroGamerVX]

Can't enter the bios in a Mac, can do a pram reset, tried that to no avail.

[@RetroGamerVX]

Good idea, but I'm a clumsy bugger so prefer to quickly test first lol.

[@dollarama8652]

HAHA! You got CAT-FISHED.. No HHD...🤣🤣

[@RetroGamerVX]

Well I could have sent it back but, better ideas :)

[@sprantozz503]

Sir i am havin a 2009 imac running leopard 10.5.8 but unable to acess boot menu in it plz tell me how can i upgrade it i request😢

[@sprantozz503]

Sir i am havin a 2009 imac running leopard 10.5.8 but unable to acess boot menu in it plz tell me how can i upgrade it i request😢

[@sprantozz503]

Sir i am havin a 2009 imac running leopard 10.5.8 but unable to acess boot menu in it plz tell me how can i upgrade it i request😢

[@sprantozz503]

Sir i am havin a 2009 imac running leopard 10.5.8 but unable to acess boot menu in it plz tell me how can i upgrade it i request😢

[@sprantozz503]

Sir i am havin a 2009 imac running leopard 10.5.8 but unable to acess boot menu in it plz tell me how can i upgrade it i request😢

[@sprantozz503]

Sir i am havin a 2009 imac running leopard 10.5.8 but unable to acess boot menu in it plz tell me how can i upgrade it i request😢