Brand New Mac Mini - Activation Lock Hung

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Level 1

7 points

Brand New Mac Mini - Activation Lock Hung

My brand new Mac Mini which arrived today was working fine, I set it up with my AppleID, then for no reason it 'Hung' whilst I was processing images. I opened 'Activity Monitor' but that 'Hung' too. I had a 'Spinning Wheel' for about 30 minutes, so my only option was to power it down. It is connected to the Internet by a cable and by WiFi, (from another Mac I can see it in my list of Apple devices - it currently says it is Offline). Upon restart, it went into Activation Lock. It asked for my system password which was fine, then it asked for my AppleID password, which I entered. It then sat with a spinning wheel and would not progress. After around an hour I powered down and restarted, and it is stuck in exactly the same place. Any ideas?

Mac mini, macOS 15.6

Posted on Nov 10, 2025 10:02 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Nov 11, 2025 2:20 PM in response to AlecC27

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Unless it's some hardware failure of some sort I'm sure the Techs will be able to fix it while you wait. Since it was easy to carry in I took my Mini M4 into the local Apple store when I messed up the firmware on the machine. (Be sure to have a full and current Time Machine backup before taking it into Apple) They had a wired keyboard and mouse and a small monitor that they hooked up and in 45 minutes the had wiped my drive and reinstalled the system. All I had to do was take it home and use Migration Assistant to copy my user data from my Time Machine backup.

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Answer 2

Nov 10, 2025 10:11 AM in response to AlecC27

Did you buy this Mac mini directly from Apple?

If so, then you have a 14-day window within which to return the computer for a refund. Then buy another and try again.

Returns & Refunds - Shopping Help - Apple

Next time use only a single internet connection, cabled preferably.

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Answer 3

AlecC27 Author

Level 1

7 points

Nov 10, 2025 10:38 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

Yes, it was shipped directly from Apple, custom config. I did try with just a wired internet connection, and when that didn't work, second time around I clicked the WiFi link just in case.

I was hoping I was doing something silly and it would be a quick fix. I guess I'll probably have to take it into the Apple store for one of their Techies to have a look at it.

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