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...
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
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 was wrong when I said it had a fixed HDMI cable! It has a DVI display female port on the monitor back which is connected to an adaptor that turns into HDMI male and on to the Mac Mini. My Thunderbolt ports, there are only 2 on the rear, are both being used but the front 2 are clear. I could rewire the cable from a DVI out on the monitor to a Thunderbolt in on the front of the Mac but I would need to purchase the cable to do so. Is it an issue that I need to do this and would it solve the problem? Maybe, but the infrequent interruption isn’t that big a deal, yet...
Only the one monitor. Yeah I think Sequoia had something to do with it. Installed the new 15.4 upgrade, which trashed my wall paper but nothing else. Waiting to see if my screen goes black, so far so good.
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
Had monitor connected to an older Mac Mini, worked fine, and has fixed cable, can’t replace.
HDMI should always be the last choice for a computer connection. Does the monitor support DisplayPort? If it does, use that.
Does not have a Display Cord. Somebody else was also having blackout issues that replacing the unit didn’t help.
Why?
Beats me. Not a major issue…yet.
FYI - I was replying to Kurt's message asking why he suggests not to use HDMI.
Got you. Did it again when performing a random act.
Should have asked this to begin with. What make and model monitor is this?
Viewsonic 22 “ HDMI LED VX2250 series.
Good to know before investing in new cables!
I'm beginning to think this is an issue with the M4 platform and not a monitor cable issue.
Mac mini M4 screen go black randomly
