Timetec OEM MZ-EPC2560/0A2 256GB Compatible for Apple Mini SATA mSATA III 6 Gb/s SSD Flash for Mac Book Air Mid 2012 11’’ A1465 EMC 2558, 13' A1466 EMC 2559 (SSD 256GB) 4.8 out of 5. The USB ports stopped working. I tried resetting NVRAM, and all non- physical solutions. It seems it is a hardware malfunction, so is it possible to replace the USB port only on the logic board of a Mac mini Late 2012 - 2.3 ghz Core i7? Mac mini (Late 2012) - Technical Specifications. Four USB 3 ports (up to 5 Gbps). Your Mac mini comes with 90 days of free telephone support and a one-year. “This update is recommended for Mac mini (late 2012) models. This update addresses an issue that may prevent a USB keyboard from being recognized after the system wakes from sleep.” The above is taken from the Apple Support website. I loaded it onto my Mini recently as the USB ports weren’t working reliably.
Don’t know why but my Tiger’s DVD won’t load in my Mac mini PowerPC G4… Hopefully, I can read it from another DVD drive, namely my MacBook Pro’s one. Here’s how I booted the mini from a USB key to reinstall Mac OS X.
To build a bootable USB stick, you’ll have to copy the DVD’s content onto the USB key:
- Insert Mac OS X Install disc in the DVD tray ;
- Plug the USB stick ;
- Start the Disk Utility ;
- Select the USB stick and click on the “Partition” button ;
- Configure a “One partition” map, select the “Apple Partition Map” option, label it “osx” and format using “Extended Mac OS” ;
- Click “Apply” to create the partition ;
- Select the USB stick and click on the “Restore” button ;
- Drag “Mac OS X Install Disc 1 ” to the “source” input box ;
- Drag the “osx” partition to the “destination” input box ;
- Click the “Restore” button and wait till it’s done.
When finished, check the partition name (mine is disk2s3) and eject the USB stick.
Insert the USB stick in the Mac mini and power it on, holding Command-Option-O-F right after the machine is turned on. This will drop you to OpenFirmware.
When you get the prompt, issue the devalias command and check if you see any ud device. This would be the USB stick device. If so, let’s continue. If not, you’re stuck.
Issue the printenv boot-device command to check the booting configuration. You should see something like hd:,:tbxi. Issue the setenv boot-device ud:3,:tbxi ; the number “3 ” corresponds to the device partition disk2s3. If the command went well, you’ll get a ok. Check to be sure it’s all right issuing printenv boot-device again.
You should now see boot-device ud:3,:tbxi hd:,:tbxi. If so, you can now boot the Mac using mac-boot.
The Mac mini should now boot from the USB stick.
It’ll start the installation process and you’ll be able to install Mac OS X the usual way.
That’s All Folks!
Like most of you, we’ve been anticipating the launch of Big Sur - and it’s finally here. We know you’re thinking about updating your machines ASAP. We don’t blame you (so are we!). We’ve been testing the macOS 11 betas from the very beginning to provide you with the best information and we have a word of caution for 2012 and earlier Mac minis.
Next Mac Mini Release Date
Late 2012 Mac Mini
We knew from the get-go (thanks to 9to5Mac for sharing a compatibility list!) that Big Sur will be compatible with only 2014 and later Mac minis. This incompatibility with 2012 minis was confirmed during our beta testing. Our senior data center technician, Justin Weathersbee, found that after installing Big Sur on a 2012 Mac mini, the machine wouldn’t boot. The macOS 11 boot loader doesn’t work natively with the 2012 and older hardware and that means there is no recovery from this - nothing short of a complete wipe and reinstall of the correct OS, or pulling the drive mounting via external USB/thunderbolt sled and pulling your data off would bring the machine back to life.
To prevent any potential loss of data, we recommend that you either don’t update your 2012 Mac minis, backup your data before you do an update (this advice applies for any update!) or reach out to us about upgrading to later model Mac minis. We currently have several 2014 and 2018 Mac mini configurations that are Big Sur compatible, and we’ll be offering new M1 minis very soon. Note that it might take us a couple of weeks after the release to stage minis with Big Sur pre-installed for instant activation. However, since you have root access to all of your MacStadium infrastructure, you can install Big Sur to any machine when you’re ready. Have more questions? Let us know – a MacStadium sales engineer would be happy to help.