Mac mini -won't wake up or keyboard won't work or both

I see that this has been an issue for quite some time for many Mac's of different stripes. Has there been a real fix other than disabling features like sleep and screen saver? Didn't help me. I did see a recommendation to replace the monitor wire-it's on order. 


Am I missing something? TIA




2024 Mac mini  


OS 15.6


wired MacAlly keyboard & mouse


all apps are from app store



Mac mini, macOS 15.6

Posted on Aug 2, 2025 3:50 PM

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Posted on Aug 3, 2025 4:53 AM

The new Mac mini's do not work well using cheap long poorly shielded video cables.


With that display, test a short ultra high speed HDMI 2.1 cable.

for example > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HXPZ1PQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?


Or a short high speed 8K USB-C to DisplayPort 1.4 cable.

for example > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NVV76FH/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 3, 2025 4:53 AM in response to 555steve

The new Mac mini's do not work well using cheap long poorly shielded video cables.


With that display, test a short ultra high speed HDMI 2.1 cable.

for example > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HXPZ1PQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?


Or a short high speed 8K USB-C to DisplayPort 1.4 cable.

for example > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NVV76FH/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?

Sep 1, 2025 11:29 AM in response to 555steve

You're welcome.


Not sure what Mac or macOS version you had before, but computer sleep has been causing problems for some for some time now


As a test


Turn On "Prevent automatic sleeping when display is off"



Set "Turn display off when inactive" to 5 or 10 minutes



Leave the Mac Mini On and only allow the display(s) to turn Off

Do not manually Sleep from the Apple Drop Down menu

Shut Down the Mac when away for a day or more


A solution may come, if enough folks send Feedback.

Feedback - Mac mini - Apple

Feedback - macOS - Apple

Aug 3, 2025 11:49 AM in response to 555steve

Did your LG monitor come with a HDMI cable?

Are you using that cable?

Have you tried not sleeping the Mini but just enabling the screensaver and then have the screen go black (shut down) after a predetermined time?


I have a new Mini M4 with an LG 32" monitor and am using the HDMI cable that came with it with no problems. I just made sure the cable was securely seated in both the monitor and Mini and do not use sleep.


If you can avoid using sleep and that fixes the problem you'll gain an extra USB-C port to use for other devices.


Sep 2, 2025 3:30 PM in response to 555steve

I've not seen any cases of the screen saver causing the problem but definitely the sleep function is a culprit.


I have a Mac Mini M4 with two drive docks with 4 SSDs and a couple of bare SSDs connected by a USB C to SATA adapter. I don't sleep my Mini and have had no issues with waking up, unmounting drives, etc.


All of my externals use self powered hubs or drives except the the bare SSDs.


Sep 1, 2025 11:04 AM in response to den.thed

So, after visiting Apple Store service ("no issues found, come back again if problems persist"). I searched the community for a weekend and followed everyone's tips to success.


Thanks to den.thed, old toad and others no more head scratching. I now know it's not "broken" - just flawed.


although not terribly happy about the solution-I like sleep, I like screen savers, I like using the rear ports and just using the Mac without thinking about it,,,,,,,,,,but I do like the faaaast functionality vs my old iMac or Mac clone


life's full of trade off's right?


Thanks all

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Mac mini -won't wake up or keyboard won't work or both

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