Memory C2D Mac Mini

[FricoRico]

Hello everyone,

 

Recently my father bought a Mac Mini as a Media Center computer. We used Mac for a while but found it inappropriate to use with HD .wmv and .avi movie files. I understand that WMV is a Microsoft format and also know about the difficulties that come with it. We used XBMC, VLC and a variaty of other codec's to play our movie, but it simply didn't work. We did get the HD .wmv working in the end but it was slow, probably heavy to play on a C2D Mac Mini.

 

So, eventually we ended up using Windows Vista, which frankly... Works like a charm on playback (though it was kind of slow on booting and starting the movie. This all seems ilogical but this is because the graphic card used by Apple (an Nvidia 9400M) uses Nvidia Purevideo, which is hardware accalerated playback and only works with Windows and Linux (not 100% sure about Linux). So this takes a lot of stress of from the CPU.

 

Anyway, back to my concern. I bought my dad some new memory and a harddrive (the harddrive isn't installed yet). Just to make Vista work faster and for some extra space on putting the movies on the harddrive. I bought my dad some OCZ 4 GB DDR3-1333, which is a bit faster than the Mac's stock memory speeds (DDR3-1066).

 

Now, I know about PC's that the motherboard decides the speed that is used, so if it doesn't support more that 1066, that isn't a problem. I think the Mac Mini works the sameway, and it does. After booting Mac OSX it said that the bus speed was still 1066, but it noticed the 4Gb perfectly and it knew that the memory was 1333Mhz, so it works like a charm and Mac seems happy (Windows works perfectly aswell, and a LOT faster).

 

I hear you thinking, well what the {censored} is your point then is there a problem? Well yes, there is a problem concerning the powering on of the Mac Mini. As soon as you used it and turn it of it won't boot the next time, it keeps beeping and flashing with it's front light. Not at a fast pase, it has about 4 secs intervals. There is an easy way to bypass it, and this makes it more awkward: You need to pull out the powerplug and put it back in and then it boots again!?

 

So my guess is that this problem is caused by some setting that isn't stored right somewhere, but I know {censored} about EFI, I think it couldn't be THAT much different from a BIOS, so a setting that isn't stored right at powerdown might cause me trouble. But hey, I know {censored} about a Mac, and this is the first one I really use (my brother has a Macbook Pro, so it's not the first Mac in the house).

 

I hope you guys know some fix to this. Either way, sorry to take up so much of ur time but it's critical to describe my problem in detail, computer problems can be complex in the end.

 

Thanks in advance!

[FricoRico]

I guess noone has a clue about what the problem might be? How would I go from here then? Do you think Apple will give me support even though I haven't bought their own upgrade?

[Cottage_Cheeses]

I'm not to sure if I can help, since I don't have a Mac Mini myself, but I'll give it a try since no one else wants to. lol it must be your short story.

 

From what I've learned if something isn't working, try remembering what you did to it. In your situation, I believe it has to do with the RAM. The reason to why I say this is because if your computer's board says it only supports a maximum of 1066mhz then going over the limit may have done some negative effects to your Mini. For this part I'm just guessing, maybe it's overheated? Is your Mac Mini getting proper ventilation?

 

If all else fails, try calling customer service. Yes, I think they don't mind you upgrading their products with non-Apple bought hardware upgrades. Best to read before talking to customer service, you may say something that will just invalidate your warranty. If upgrading with non-apple bought upgrades isn't allowed then try lying, and say it's buggy to the customer service. (be vague, and act like you don't know how to use one) They may give you a new one, after convincing them it was faulty. But before that will happen, chances are you'll have to send it, hopefully their isn't a way to figure out you opened, and tinkered with it. For Mac Mini, I think they don't mind you upgrading it, but if anything is destroyed, it's your own fault.

 

 

Not sure if this helps, someone may say this is completely stupid, but i tried helping lol, just say i'm wrong and give your reasons, then try helping Rico... and lying to customer service is bad, and i'm pretty sure it is stealing, if you get a new mini because of lying.