Static when waking up Mac Mini M1 (related to pink squares?)

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Level 1

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Static when waking up Mac Mini M1 (related to pink squares?)

I just bought a Mac Mini M1 (16gb/256gb/display via HDMI). When I turned it on for the first time, nothing was being output to the display. I restarted the machine, and got static (pictured below). Upon restarting again, everything worked for the most part, but I was experiencing the pink squares on the display that many other people have been experiencing.

The Mac Mini works perfectly, aside from the display issue. I haven't seen the pink squares in a week or so, but the screen goes to that static about 1/3 of the time I wake it from sleep. The static will go away on its own most of the time, after about 5-10 seconds.

I've tried two different HDMI cables, and those cables were not giving me any issues with my other computer (an old Mac Pro).

Luckily, this isn't much more than a slight inconvenience. I know a lot of threads have been made here regarding the pink square issue, but I haven't seen anybody agree on a solution.

Has anyone else had the problem I'm having with the static after waking up/sometimes after booting?

Mac mini, macOS 11.1

Posted on Jan 24, 2021 6:21 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

sheacago Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 30, 2021 9:35 PM in response to quangvietnguyen

Update:

I replaced the old 6' HDMI cable I had been using with a new 3' one, and this seems to have solved both the static and pink square issue. It's only been a few days, but the static and/or pink squares thing would happen at least once a day, so it's looking to me like a shorter and/or newer HDMI cable fixed the issues.

Thanks, hcsitas for the suggestion.

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Answer 2

hcsitas

Level 6

12,686 points

Jan 24, 2021 9:00 PM in response to sheacago

Disable sleep
Use a shorter cable 3 feet or less, preferably one that came with the HDMI certified label.

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Answer 3

Jan 27, 2021 7:55 PM in response to sheacago

I have the same problem but not frequently. I have made a call to Apple support today and they told me to call back if it happen again to determine that issue is belong to Mac Mini M1 or cable. ( I saw some cases like us and think it should be because of the Mac mini)

It is annoying and feel like the Apple's products is not perfect.

I am wondering how many people got the same problem too.

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Answer 4

Feb 26, 2021 1:09 AM in response to sheacago

Same here working with two Mac Minis M1 with a new HP HDMI cable. Maybe its not a certified HDMI cable but it came with a new monitor so it is strange. Here's the thing:

https://youtu.be/hvSxdC-uIDk

Solved using a USB-C to DisplayPort like this [ https://amzn.to/2ZQC47N ]

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Answer 5

Feb 28, 2021 7:14 AM in response to sheacago

I tried disabling sleep and trying 3 HDMI (certified) cables, but unfortunately pink pixels still present. Ugh...I just finished migrating over manually from an older system. Hopefully a firmware update will fix it in the future?

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Answer 6

Mar 24, 2021 9:38 PM in response to quangvietnguyen

I'm having the same issue with my brand new mac mini. First time turning the unit on out of the box this issue occurred. Tried deleting the OS and reinstalling along with several HDMI cables but the issue still exist. I heard the HDMI port on the mac mini is where the issue lies.

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