Bought a Mac Mini M4 in Dec. 16 mb Ram, 250mb SSD, 2 TB External. Sequoia 15.2-15.3. My Mac Mini will suddenly go solid black while using it. Lasts for about 2-3 seconds and is fine with no changes afterword. I upgraded to 15.3 and it still continues to do it, maybe 1 or 2 times a day. Not a real detriment to using it but...
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Mac mini
It does depend on the quality of the monitor, but HDMI is, first and foremost, a TV connection. And by quality, I mean cheaper monitors often limit HDMI to the original HD resolution of 1920x1080, regardless of any higher resolutions the monitor can support under a DisplayPort or USB-C Thunderbolt connection.
That, and over the years, I've seen far too many posts here by folks trying to use HDMI. Issues which disappeared when they used their monitor's DisplayPort option.
I have an EIZO monitor that allows me to use DisplayPort, USB-C or HDMI. Given the cost of these monitors, I know HDMI would work (with a proper high speed HDMI cable), but I'm still going to use a connection meant for computer monitors before I'd even consider HDMI.
Having an HDMI port is intended for video work. It eliminates the need for a break-out box. You use DisplayPort or USB-C to a monitor for your work screen in Final Cut Pro, Avid, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, etc., and a separate HDMI output to a reference monitor (TV) to see how color will appear on a TV as you simultaneously work in your video editor.
I use an M4 mini Pro with a Dell U3818DW. The frequent blanking forced me to use on the of the scarce Thunderbolt/USB-C ports.
After testing a range of high quality 4K HDMI cables and almost giving up, I finally tried an Anker 8K HDMI cable.
It solved the problem.
Have you read all of this topic and the few solutions what worked for some, i.e. high quality cables, both HDMI and Thunderbolt and even one app that seemed to be causing the problem, Zoom. I can attest to Zoom as I read the post where deleting the app and its supporting files solved it for the user and tried it. It worked for me. How, I don't know but it did.
High quality cables seem to be the most common solution.
If you take it in to Apple and they test it with their cables they may find that it doesn't exhibit the problem. You may want to include your cable with it (be sure to mark you name on it somehow).
I upgraded to a Mac mini M4 a few months ago and have been having the same issue for a while. I use two Dell U2715H monitors. I previously used them with a Mac mini M1 for years and never had the issue. One is connected via HDMI to the HDMI port on the mini and the other is connected via DisplayPort to Mini Display port cable connected to an OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock. The monitor that has the issue with the 3-4 second black screen is the one connected via HDMI. The monitor connected via DP never has the issue.
I have replaced the HDMI cable today with an 8K version cable to see if it resolves the issue and will report back.
Reseat the connections of cable on the mini and the monitor. If that doesn't help, try a different cable.
Also check the power cord to the monitor. I had that happen where it was just loose enough that the monitor would blank out every so often, then come back.
Me again to relate my experiment with the alternative cable: a HDMI to DVI from macMini M4 to the Eizo monitor (which does not have a HDMI plug). No black screen at all !
Perhaps it could help to understand what's going on...
The macMini runs Sequoia 15.2
Here's the latest for me:
I opened a ticket with Apple support. They had me try various cables and that didn't fix my issue. I was a step away from a hardware replacement when I decided to flip the ports for my two monitors. The monitor with the issue is my "left" monitor that was connected to the Mac Mini HDMI port. I took the HDMI cables to my monitors out and flipped them. My "left" monitor is now connected to an external Thunderbolt hub. Since doing that about a week ago, I've see the issue maybe twice, which is WAY better than what was happening before. This leads me to believe that the issue is with the monitor and not the Mac Mini, the cable or the hub. Not critical since it's happening less, but still a little annoying.
My next logical step is to replace the left monitor....and if I'm replacing one, I'll probably need to replace both since the mismatch will trigger OCD.
I know this probably doesn't help all affected, but I'm seeing some positive results with this change.
@GFE
You do not need an expensive ThunderBolt hub.
You need to test a one piece high speed USB-C to HDMI cable in one of the Mac mini's rear TB/USB-C ports.
for example > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087213LB3/ref=sspa_dk_detail_4?
Or a high speed USB-C to HDMI adapter in one of the Mac mini's rear TB/USB-C ports and high speed HDMI cable.
for example > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5PW25C1/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?
After replacing the HDMI-to-HDMI cable with a USB-C-to-DisplayPort cable, the issue was resolved.
This is an update to my earlier post. I have the same issue with an HDMI connection. Generally I get a blank screen once or twice a day. This happens with different HDMI cables and different monitors. I contacted Apple support and they suggested that I try running in Safe mode and see what happens. Switching to Safe seemed to work initially, but eventually the screen blanking occurred again, although less frequently. The second suggestion was to try a Lightning cable instead of the HDMI. This seems to work. I have not had the issue for 6 or 7 days now while not in Safe mode. I have updated to Sequoia 15.4 and tested the HDMI cable, again having the same blanking issue. I am sticking to the USB-C Lightning cable. I have a Mac Mini G4, 32Gb connected to a Dell U2720Q monitor.
I know I'm gonna jinx myself, but I tried my MSI 4K 32" monitor again, with USBC > DisplayPort cable and after 3 days I have not had a single blackout. Still on Sequoia 15.5. It is running at 144Hz/4K. Be nice if this continued, love the bigger monitor.
Not sure why, but I have had no blackouts at all on my problematic MSI 4K 32" gaming monitor. I am currently using a USBC > DisplayPort cable and it hasn't done it once in 10 days now. Previously it would do it multiple times a day, sometimes within a few minutes of each other. The Mini defaulted to 144Hz too, and I'm afraid to touch it - no reason to since that's the max refresh of the monitor anyway.
I am using the USBC connector closest to the HDMI out on the M4 Mini, not sure I used this specific port before. But at the moment mine is working correctly and has been for a week and a half now. So strange.
I switched from HDMI to a Thunderbolt cable about a two months ago and no trouble since.
I think so too.
I tried 5 different HDMI cables and finally switched it over with a 40 Gbps USB-c cable, cured the problem so far. I tried all 5 HDMI cables with my TV and they all work.
Have a couple Samsung monitors that act up with my M4 Mac mini too. Suspect its a handshake issue of some kind either between Mac and monitor or a cable quality issue? I gave up on HDMI and switched to USB-C to DisplayPort because my monitors have that port. Can't say it solved the issue completely but has reduced it. I had a Dell monitor with built in dock and could never get a good reliable connection. Dell said that model series did not play nice with Mac's. They did offer me a firmware update that unfortunately did not help. Hard to say why something works for months and then doesn't? That is the frustrating part.
HDMI should always be the last choice for a computer connection. Does the monitor support DisplayPort? If it does, use that.
Mac mini M4 screen go black randomly
